About Me

Name: Katy Grimes
Email: fetchingjen@gmail.com Biography
Loading...

Create Your Own Blog Find Other Townhall Blogs

Comments

Blog Roll

 

Poaching In The Park Update

Several months ago I wrote about illegal hunting and poaching in the park by my house
Someone stole my geese. A couple of months ago, my geese, "Click" & "Clack," voluntarily moved from my backyard across the street to the big city park. There were other domestic geese living in the pond, and my geese joined them.

 
and the follow up
 
All of the geese in these photos are now gone.
 
I just ran into a fellow at the market that I've known for many years. He's a retired attorney now, and I see him running in the park everyday. He told me a horrible story.
 
A few months ago he and his wife were walking in the park when a woman ran up to them, frantically waving her arms and holding a cell phone. She pointed to another woman and screamed "you can't do that!" The other woman was an older Hmong woman. She had two little children with her, and had a goose under her arm. My friend and his wife approached her and told her that she could not steal a goose from the park. At this point the goose was already dead. She shoved the kids and the goose into her car and told them, "I paid for it. It's mine." She ran around her car and drove away before anyone could stop her.
 
And therein is the primary problem; there are immigrants living in Sacramento who believe that the fish in the ponds, the ducks and geese living in the parks and all other critters living on public or private property is their entitlement. 
 
The parks are being ravaged. The trash from  the fishermen is epidemic. The fishermen even dig hundreds of small holes in the grass to harvest worms. But they don't fill them in, and walkers and runners trip in them. I fell in one yesterday. My German Shepherd even tripped in one on a recent walk.
 
The City of Sacramento has talked about doing something about the poaching and illegal fishing. We now have a few signs posted about the illegal hunting and cruelty to birds here
 
We are waiting for action. Meanwhile, I've counted three ducks entangled in fishing line, and one with a fishing hook in it's neck (line still attached). Sometimes I am able to catch the bird and cut the line free, but not always.
 
I've asked the question before, but have not received an answer: If the City of Sacramento cannot enforce such simple laws as poaching, hunting and fishing in the parks, what else is not important enough for them to enforce?
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (5) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Sarah Barracuda For Vice President

I just heard someone call Sarah Palin, "Saracuda the Artic Fox."
 
It's a beautiful day again in the world. Conservatives and conservative values are once again the focus of the Republican party thanks to Sarah Barracuda Palin and John McCain.
 
No amount of hypocritical false criticism being heaped on Sarah Palin has altered the resolve felt by Conservatives for this woman and her family.
 
Liberals have long displayed that they are the party of loose morals and total hypocracy - as recently as John Edwards' affair and out of wedlock love child and girlfriend on the campaign payroll, Jesse Jackson's affair, subsequent out of wedlock love child  and girlfriend on the payroll, Bill Clinton's sex under his desk with an intern as well as his pre-White House sexual exploits and charges of rape, Congressman Barney Frank and his "Boy Toy" brothel (read all of the details HERE ), and who could forget Congressman Mel Reynolds (a Clinton pardon) and Teddy Kennedy?
 
Sarah Palin stood up last night and faced her accusers, and showed them for the pathetic, little people they really are. We Conservatives force our scumbags to resign (except the toe tapper just won't go away...). We recognize the shame that comes from real scandal and just hope and pray for the fallen and for their families. Liberals run for reelection. Sarah Palin has nothing to hide apparently - not her husband, not her 17-year old pregnant daughter and fiance, nor her beautiful down syndrome baby.
 
The attacks on Palin's family are unmerciful and unconscionable. But she stood up anyway and took it like a man - and eviscerated her critics. God, America is a great place.
 
 
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (1) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Sarah Palin Skewers Obama/Biden

Republican VP nominee eviscerated both Obama and Biden tonight with her speech. 
A Community Organizer vs. actual responsibility in a Mayor and Governor, should be painfully clear to anyone.
Talk vs. action.
Rhetoric vs. real experience.
Blather, platitudes, hope, and change or a real woman with five kids, a supportive spouse (and not one who runs her down),  real family issues of work, family, teens, military, pregnancy, special needs, boys and girls,  cannot replace attempted perfection, elitism, $10,000 summer camp and violin lessons...
Sarah Palin is a contender.
"It's over," according to convention attendees.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

The Dying Bee

It is tragic to see the failure of a once successful and useful newspaper; The Sacramento Bee.

I am not alone in my criticism of The Bee. For years, I have been critical of the biased, elitist slant of the stories, the Editorializing done under the guise of reporting and the obvious liberal politics.  

Readers have been watching as the Bee hacks off limbs, leaving it a mere shadow of what it once was. Today's paper is smaller than The Monterey Herald, and the quality is that of a high school newspaper - unprofessional, unsophisticated, underhanded and sophomoric.

Last Sunday was D-day for Ombudsman Armando Acuna - his column cancelled. What newspaper does away with the Ombudsman? An Editor who doesn't like any accountability.
 
Those of us in the community who have been critical of The Sacramento Bee did not want to see its demise; we just wanted unbiased reporting and editorials representing all aspects of the issues - not the half-truths, partial stories and removed facts tactics, frequently used by the Bee editorial staff. We wanted to see professionalism in our daily newspaper.
 
Instead, the Bee is dying a most unfortunate death - at it's own hands. The Sacramento Bee cannot blame outside sources for the causes of it's demise - The Bee is dying because of it's Publisher, Editor, and the relenting bias it tried to force feed Sacramento residents.
 
(disclosure: I write a political opinion column for The Sacramento Union)
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

The Audacity of Hypocrisy

There is nothing like a side-by-side comparison of qualifications and accomplishments to clarify the issues:
 
 

Credit goes to Jeff Emanuel, (original author) at Redstate.com for this work.

 

Sarah Palin

Barack Obama

Office being sought Vice President President of the United States and Leader of the Free World
Full name Sarah Louise Heath Palin Barack Hussein Obama II
Nickname Sarah Barracuda Barry Obama; “The One”
Public opinion Smoking hot in a “naughty librarian” sort of way May be The Messiah
Age 44 48
Children 5: two sons, three daughters 2: two daughters
Religion/Church attendance Evangelical Christian;attends Juneau Christian Center when in Juneau and grew up attending Wasilla Assembly of God Attended Trinity United Church of Christ for 20 years, a “black liberation theology” church formerly led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright and governed according to the Black Value System
Current Job Governor of Alaska Junior Senator from Illinois
Previous Public Jobs Mayor of Wasilla, AK (1996-2002); President of Alaska Conference of Mayors;City Council member (1992-1996) State Senator (1997-2004);Community Organizer
Executive Experience Governor for 2 years;Mayor for 10 years None
Foreign Relations experience Governor of state that borders two foreign countries (Canada and Russia) Chaired Senate subcommittee on Europe but never called it into session;once gave a speech to 200,000 screaming Germans
Military Affairs experience Commander in Chief of Alaska National Guard;Son is enlisted Infantryman in U.S. Army None
Private Sector Experience Sports reporter;Salmon fisherman Associate at civil rights law firm
Speaking ability Beautifully executed initial stump speech in Dayton, OH hockey arena without a teleprompter An enter…wait–did you say without a teleprompter??
Spouse’s name Todd Mitchell Palin Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama
Spouse’s occupation Salmon fisherman;Former North Slope production supervisor for BP Oil Vice President for Community and External Affairs at University of Chicago Hospitals;former Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago;former Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies;

 

former Assistant to the Mayor of Chicago;

former associate at Sidley Austin law firm

Reaction to spouse’s political success Quit 17-year BP oil job when BP became involved in natural gas pipeline negotiations with wife’s administration Promoted and given 160% pay raise by UofC hospitals within months of husband’s election to U.S. Senate;Employer received $1,000,000.00 federal earmark, requested by husband, after her promotion
Coolest thing about Spouse Tesoro Iron Dog Snowmobile race champion (longest snowmobile race in the world);In 2008, while defending his championship, was injured when he was thrown 70 feet from his machine. He was sent to the hospital but still finished in fourth place Sister of Oregon State University head basketball coach Craig Robinson
Most Courageous Moment in Public Service Resigned in protest from position of Ethics Commissioner of Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in order to expose legal violations and conflicts of interest of Alaska Republican leaders, including the former state Attorney General and the State GOP Chairman (who was also an Oil & Gas Commissioner), who was doing work for the party on public time and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail. Gave an anti-Iraq war speech to a crowd of anti-Iraq war demonstrators in Hyde Park in 2002
In Current Office Because… Upset sitting Governor in GOP primary due to public support for her efforts to clean up corrupt government establishment Republican opponent, who was leading in the polls, was forced to leave race after unsealing of divorce records exposed a sex scandal
Theme: Change and Clean Government Hope and Change;”Bringing Change from Outside Washington”
What they’ve done to live that theme: Replaced entire Board of Agriculture and Conservation because of conflict of interest;Resigned from position of Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in order to expose corruption among members of own party Selected 36-year incumbent Senator as running mate
Family Affairs May have removed State Public Safety Commissioner as part of effort to protect sister in messy divorce and child custody battle Often says, “I am my brother’s keeper”;Brother lives in a hut in Nairobi on $12 per year
Union affiliation Union member, married to Union member Endorsed by a union
Iraq and Troop Support Formerly (pre-surge) critical of apparent lack of long-term strategy for Iraq;Visited wounded U.S. soldiers in Germany;visited AK National Guard soldiers deployed to Kuwait;

 

Son deploying to Iraq on 9/11/08 as Army infantryman

Gave an anti-Iraq war speech to a crowd of anti-Iraq war demonstrators;almost visited wounded troops in Germany, but decided to go shopping in Berlin instead
Bipartisan/”maverick” credentials Married to a non-Republican;Exposed corruption within own party;Campaigned for Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell against corrupt GOP congressman Don Young;

 

Called out Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK) to “come clean” about financial dealings that are under fed investigation

Talks about bipartisanship
Legislative Record Passed a landmark ethics reform bill;Used veto to cut budgetary spending;Prevented “bridge to nowhere” that would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars. Voted “present” over 100 times as IL state senator
How they dealt with corrupt individuals in home city/state Exposed legal violations and conflicts of interest of Alaska Republican leaders;Campaigned against corrupt GOP Representative;Ran against and defeated corrupt incumbent governor in GOP primary Launched political career in home of unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers (and still refers to him as a part of “mainstream Democratic Chicago”;Purchased home with help of convicted felon Tony Rezko
Guns Lifetime member of NRA and avid hunter;video can be found on YouTube of Palin firing an M4 at a military firing range Worked to pass legislation in Illinois that would prevent all law-abiding citizens from owning firearms
Earmarks Opposed “Bridge to Nowhere” project;Said Alaska should avoid relying on federal money for projects;Campaigned against porker Don Young (R-AK) in 2008 primary Secured federal earmarks for wife’s employer and for campaign bundlers
Abortion Pro life;gave birth to 5th child knowing that he would have Down’s syndrome Pro-choice;only IL state sen. to speak against the Born Alive Infant’s Protection Act, which required medical care to be given to live infants who survived abortions
Energy Believes energy independence is a matter of national security;For drilling in ANWR, which is in her state Says Americans should “get tune-ups” and “check tire pressure”;Says “we can’t expect the world to be okay with” our use of heating and air conditioning
Environment Chair of Alaska Conservation Commission (2003-4);Announced plans to create sub-cabinet group of advisors to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in AK Talks about the environment a lot
Athletic prowess Runs marathons Has reporters tailing him to the gym

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Insider Snobs and the Liberal Media

The media and the desperate political "insiders," are infuriated by John McCain daring to pick an "outsider," and from that weird territory called Alaska.
 
 While I am part of the media, the newspaper I write for reports Conservative opinion as well as well-selected AP stories that actualy report the news. I am not embarrassed by my newspaper.
 
Yesterday, on KTKZ at noon, local political PR guy Doug Elmets filled in for Eric Hogue - a surprising choice. I had to turn the show off when he gleefully demonstrated his "insider" credentials, his years of working in Washington, and then called the Sarah Palin decision a "disaster."
 
What he failed to see as have many insiders is that citizens are tired of political insiders pontificating. Citizens are fed up with the pompousness and political dogma. And that's just from the Republicans. While the Republican insiders pontificate, the Democrats lie, cheat, steal and lecture citizens about how we need to shrink our carbon footprints while they fly around in private jets.
 
Sarah Palin represents real people. The excitement surrounding her pick as VP is that she's a classic working mother - she cooks for her family, she has kids, they are a family with real issues, and she went to a state college as most people do. What if she had gone to Junion College and then university? Gasp. She believes in God, and that's a big problem for the insider snobs and the atheistic media.
 
Citizens are so tired of the Ivy League snobbery and political blue bloods that Harvard and Yale produce - especially since most of the democrats who attended these schools did so courtesy of Affirmative Action.
 
Perhaps Eric Hogue strategically had Doug Elmets as a fill in on his show... because the callers were lighting up the lines in disagreement.
 
While the liberal media harpies like Sally Quinn and Maureen Dowd run Sarah Palin down for being a working mother and for her own family, Republican insiders are running her down for not being one of the "in" crowd. They are upset that no one asked them for their advise.
 
...while the rest of us are laughing at the squirming and whining of the insiders, and rolling our eyes at the hypocritical leftist harpie media hags, McCain and Palin will be storming those ""fly-over" states gaining popularity and votes.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (2) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Insider Snobbery

Watching the Republican Convention tonight, I was most struck by the snobbery of the Republican insiders and their snotty criticism of John McCain and Sarah Palin. 

I was not a early McCain fan. What is interesting is that two years ago my dad, told me to watch McCain. I questioned this prediction as he "was not a real conservative."

I should have listened to my dad - again. My dad and John McCain are exactly the same age. They both served in the Navy - McCain during the Vietnam war via the USNA and my dad via college and OCS (officer candidate school). Obviously, my dad connects with John McCain, and no one could fault his perspective. Over the past few months, many people have come to appreciate McCain's perspective, resolve and vision. And now we have Sarah Palin, VP nominee. What's not to love? Her pregnant daughter? Her new special needs baby? Is anyone really going to criticize that she's a "working mother?" I hope not. 

I am a working mother. I have worked since my son was born. I chose jobs with flexibility and willingly "sacrificed" upward mobility for being a working mom. I actually wanted to be a mom first, but also wanted to work. 

When Republicans attack each other, it is usually because of insider snobbery and unwillingness to wield to the citizen representation that made our party great. Unfortunately, we have too many examples of this: John Doolittle, Alaska's Ted Stevens,  Lindsay Graham, and far too many more.

When change is imminent, there are always insiders who balk; they have the most to lose. That's human nature. I am and was a George Bush/Cheney fan. He was right for the time. Now, the time is right for McCain and Palin - the Iraq war, the economy, strong conservative women are all issues. Not the liberals, especially not the leftists - we are sick of their politics as usual, and their "Hillary" ways. We are also sick of the Clintons and their ilk of convenient liberals - we call them users. It's time again for the givers, not the takers.

enough for now... more later...
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Crime versus Life: Biden vs. Palin

Isn't it interesting how the media is so focused on Sarah Palin's family? Let's see... she has a 17 year old daughter who is pregnant, and Palin's husband was arrested and charged in 1986 for driving under the influence, at the age of 22.
 
But the media is strangely silent about Democrat Joe Biden's son and brother, who are involved in a huge corruption lawsuit: The Washington post reported that "A son and a brother of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) are accused in two lawsuits of defrauding a former business partner and an investor of millions of dollars in a hedge fund deal that went sour, court records show."
 
There is more where that came from. I find the Biden family stories more compelling than a pregnant 17 year old girl who will do the right thing and will get married to her boyfriend or that her father, at the age of 22, got a DUI.

"Hunter Biden was made president with an annual salary of $1.2 million, despite his inexperience in the hedge fund industry, the lawsuit said. Before that, he had been part of the Washington law firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair, which earned $1.76 million in lobbying revenue in the first half of 2006, according to Congressional Quarterly's CQ MoneyLine. One of its biggest clients is the National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys, a District-based group representing law firms specializing in investment and corporate law.

Hunter Biden is one of many children and relatives of prominent members of Congress who have made their careers as lobbyists. He returned to lobbying after less than a year with Paradigm.

Lotito's lawsuit alleges that James Biden called him in January 2006 to arrange a job for Hunter Biden. It says James Biden told him that his brother (Sen. Biden) "was concerned with the impact that Hunter's lobbying activities might have on his expected campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination," and, "Biden told Lotito that, in light of these concerns, his brother had asked him to seek Lotito's assistance in finding employment for Hunter in a non-lobbying capacity."
 
read the rest HERE.
and here are a few of the court documents that investigative journalists at REALTIMEINVESTIGATORS found.
Original summons & complaint filed on behalf of Anthony Lotito;
Answer and Counterclaim of Hunter Biden, James Biden, et al;
Affadavit of James Biden;
Affadavit of R. Hunter Biden.
 

He writes, "Perhaps the most interesting thing I came across in the documents is the Bidens’ claim that they never would have entered the deal — which involved buying some hedge funds in a partnership with Lotito that was called LBB Holdings USA Inc. — if they were aware of Lotito’s background and the background of the corporate counsel Lotito hired for the venture — one John Fasciana. At the time that Lotito and the two Bidens hired Fasciana, he was awaiting sentencing on a 2005 fraud conviction. All I had to do to find those two DOJ press releases was to google John Fasciana — didn’t the Bidens do any due diligence in this $21 million deal? Apparently not"

For more on the Bidens, The American Thinker has some thoughts: HERE
Being a Senator's son paid off handsomely: Hunter Biden at 28, less than two years out of law  school, was already a "senior vice president" at Delaware-based credit card giant MBNA."
 
Be sure to read the comments section: Let's not forget Biden's other son (Joe jr, I believe) who is the Delaware Attorney General, and apparently did a huge favor for Obama. Last winter, a limo driver by the name of Larry Sinclair claimed he had done cocaine with Obama and had s*x with him in the back of his limo. On June 18, he was arrested in DC on a Delaware arrest warrant, issued by none other than Biden's son, apparently for stealing something from a Delaware diner.
Sinclair claims he is innocent, and as of July 25, Sinclair had yet to be presented with the arrest warrant. Also, his attorney is unable to locate any police reports relating to the matter. Hmmmm.
Could the veep slot be payback for silencing an embarrassing accuser? We'll probably never know.

Good lord. Who are these people? I'll take Sarah Palin anyday.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Convenient Statistics

.With every leftie and lamestream media outlet questioning McCain's VP pick Sarah Palin and her "lack of experience," her sparsley populated state, why has not one of these rocket scientists questioned Joe Biden's lack of executive experience or his tiny state?

In his last election, Biden garnered 130,000 votes out of a state of 850,000 residents. Wow. 

The State of Alaska has 670,000 residents. Sarah Palin received 48% of the vote to defeat the previous Governor.

Palin has Executive experience. Biden has only managed a senate office and the damage control after his frequent gaffes. Oops - Never mind; he has someone to do that for him.

I always love the "experience" arguments, whether a local board or a national office. Fortunately for America, Sarah Palin has been in elected office for 13 years, managed budgets, been in charge of the military, used her veto power - i.e. has experience.

In contrast, Obama's experience has been very insulated as a "Community Organizer," on to the Illinois state senate and 143 days in national senate. And for Biden's 36 years of "experience," he has used it unwisely, selfishly and to line his pockets and those of his family. He is a Washington insider. Palin is an economic reformer.

Denial is very ugly. The truth is there. Responsible voters will do their own homework.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (2) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Sarah Palin's Critics

The doom and gloom party has already tried to discredit and distort VP nominee Sarah Palin. Patrick Casey at The American Thinker takes them head on:
 
It's so good that I copied this directly from TheAmericanThinker:
**********
by Patrick J. Casey
As John McCain has shocked pretty much everybody with his pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, it's important to prepare for the attacks on her that will be launched, starting this afternoon, by the Democrats and the media. For attack they will, relentlessly. And they'll start with these three things:
First - "Palin has no experience". That's an easy one to dismiss. Sarah Palin has had more executive experience, meaning experience in running either a business or a government, than either Barack Obama or his running mate, Joe Biden. She has more executive experience than even her running mate, John McCain. Governor Palin served as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska from 1999 to 2002. She was elected as President of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. She was elected as Governor of Alaska in 2006. And she has quite a few concrete achievements, considering the amount of time she's been in office.

Second - "Palin's part of the corrupt GOP establishment in Alaska (Stevens, Young, etc.)". That's an even easier one to dismiss. Governor Palin has always run as the anti-corruption candidate. She served as Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004, when she resigned in protest over the actions of her fellow Alaskan GOP leaders, including then-Alaskan Governor Frank Murkowski. She was furious over the fact that they ignored her reports of rampant GOP corruption. When she chose to run for Governor, the GOP establishment ignored her and supported the incumbent Murkowski. Palin beat him, and went on to beat former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles with no support from Alaskan GOP leadership. She has actively supported and helped the GOP primary opponents of current indicted Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens and Representative Don Young, and denounced both of them often in public.

Oh, and the forthcoming claim that Palin's in the pocket of big-oil? Her ethics complaints were filed against people who really were in the pocket of big oil - she was on the outside, investigating.

Third - "Palin used her position as Governor to get back at the man whom her sister was divorcing, and fired the man who refused to fire her sister's ex-husband". This is the slimiest attack that the Democrats and the media will launch. It concerns a current investigation into allegations that Governor Palin fired former Alaskan Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because he would not bend to her will.
 
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Conservative Babes

Today we pay homage to Conservative Babes.

Sarah Pain, Governor of Alaska, has been chosen by Presidential Candidate John McCain to be his running mate.

Palin is a true conservative, an economic reformer, a sportswoman, and she doesn’t have to cover her ankles with a pantsuit.

This is going to be a very exciting election, thanks to McCain’s brilliant choice.Sarah Palin

 I always knew that it would be the convservatives who put a woman in the White House.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Politicians: You Gotta Love 'Em

Politicians are so predictable. 

Last evening my husband and I had a date… a lovely dinner and bottle of wine at a cool downtown restaurant. When we first arrived at the restaurant, the hostess tried to seat us in a booth exactly in the middle of the noisy bar. The crowd around our table was three deep with singles celebrating Friday eve.

We asked to be moved. While we were waiting for another table, I leaned against the booth. From the corner of my eye I saw… no, it couldn’t be… there, in the flesh was Papa Don Perata. I nudged my husband and discretely pointed at Godfather Don. As Don and his overall-wearing guest walked by, never one to pass up a great confrontation, my husband said, “Hey! It’s my favorite politician.” Perata looked at both of us, checked out my legs, and then said “Really?” He appeared excited to think he may have had a couple of fans in the bar. But then my husband deflated him. “No, not really,” he said. Don mumbled something about Arnold and turned to leave.  

You gotta love ‘em… Politicians cannot afford to snub anyone. We could have been big donors, or trial attorneys. You never know.

In the 1990’s when Willie Brown was still in power, we were at a downtown restaurant with my husband’s three older boys for a fancy night out. Willie Brown was at the restaurant with a couple of babes. Ny husband spotted him and said to the boys, “Hey, there’s Willie. One of the boys asked if he knew Willie. “OF course. Watch,” he said. As WIllie walked by flanked by blondes, my husband thrust his hand out and said “Willie! How are you?” As Willie gave a hearty handshake and hug, he then turned to our family and chatted up us for a minute. As he walked away all of the boys had looks of shock on their faces. My husband and I couldn’t keep straight faces. We finally explained to the boys that there isn’t a politician alive who would snub someone saying hi out in public - could be a big donor or some lofty Judge. 

You gotta love ‘em.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

The Flim-Flam of Sacramento's Racial profiling

From my column in thesacramentounion
 
 The city of Sacramento recently announced the results of a police department racial profiling “study.” Yet, the results were already determined.

The Sacramento Community Racial Profiling Commission, at the behest of Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo and the City Council, initiated a “comprehensive study” to analyze traffic stops made by Sacramento police. The “chosen” consultant, Lamberth Consulting, was hired by the city at a cost of $230,000 to do the “study” on Sacramento’s police department.

Unfortunately, the outcome was predictable.  

According to the Web site of the Racial Profiling Commission, “following a renewed commitment to unbiased policing in March 2006, the commission members meticulously chose the Study Consultant, Dr. John Lamberth…” to conduct the study. However, so does every other city in America looking to politically label their police departments as racists.

The Man and the Method
Dr. John Lamberth of Lamberth Consulting, founded in year 2000, has a vested interest in almost always finding the police departments he is hired to “study” as racially biased. He is paid enormously for these specific “findings,” and works with groups such as the ACLU, the NAACP and Amnesty International.

Lamberth has found many cities that have police departments whose police officers stop drivers because of race, including his almost identical reports for the cities of San Antonio, Texas and Grand Rapids, Mich.

Since Sacramento police officers were found by Lamberth to racially profile when making traffic stops, guess who is providing racial sensitivity training to our police department? Lamberth Consulting. The city of Sacramento paid Lamberth $230,000 up front. And now we are paying them for the sensitivity training to fix the problem they found? Can you say conflict of interest? Lamberth Consulting is reminiscent of a Jesse Jackson-style racial shakedown.

Unfortunately, the inevitable fallout will be Sacramento police reducing the number of traffic stops made in largely minority neighborhoods, which would be hit hardest by police backing off traffic stops. It will be Oak Park, Meadowview and Del Paso Heights that suffer. And Dr. Lamberth already knows this. It’s happened before. It is called “depolicing.”

Another View
Dr. Heather MacDonald, a Manhattan Institute scholar and fellow who has studied the fallacy of racial profiling extensively, writes, “Cincinnati is a perfect example of the ‘depolicing’ effect. In 2001, a Cincinnati police officer fatally shot an unarmed teenager, triggering three days of vicious race riots and a tsunami of unjustified media and political charges of racism. In response, the Cincinnati police department pulled way back. Arrests dropped 50 percent in the first three months after the riots; traffic stops fell nearly 55 percent. In the summer of 2001, Cincinnati resembled the Wild West—the city had never seen such violent crime. Drug dealers operated with near impunity on the streets.”

Is this what Sacramento leaders are really looking for?

MacDonald is highly critical of Lamberth for good reason: Two studies, both by Temple University social psychologist John Lamberth, have attempted to create a “violator” benchmark, a “violator” being that individual whom initiated actions warranting police intervention. The ACLU used one study to sue the Maryland state police; a criminal defense attorney in New Jersey used the other study to free 17 accused black drug traffickers.

Lamberth alleged that blacks in Maryland and southern New Jersey were stopped at higher rates than their representation in the violator population would seemingly warrant. But he defined “violator” so broadly – in Maryland, traveling at least one mile over the speed limit, and in New Jersey, traveling at least six miles over the speed limit – that he included virtually the entire driving population.

Lamberth must not have spent much time talking to real cops, for his definition of violator ignores how police actually decide whom to stop. Someone gliding sedately at 56 mph in a 55 mph zone has a radically different chance of being pulled over than someone barreling along at 80 mph down the same street. An adequate benchmark must capture the kind of driving likely to draw police attention.

Lamberth is the latest fad as a racial profiling guru and the new go-to-guy for misguided cities looking to throw money away. 

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Obamapolis: The Temple of Obama

The Temple of Obama has been erected and awaits the 85,000 faithful followers.
 
Oh c'mon. I am not kidding. Just look at the photos of this modern day Greek Temple here:
 

Obama God! Democrats build a temple for Barack

By Peter Mckay In Denver

Barack Obama  was mocked in the American press today for making the most important speech of his life on a set decked out like a Greek temple.

Finally nominated as the first black candidate for the US presidency, he moved the Democratic Party Convention from the conference hall to an 80,000-seater football stadium for his landmark address.

His challenge was to turn his trademark soaring rhetoric into simple ideas to improve the lives of hard-pressed American families - but the Greek pillars of his backdrop prompted ridicule before he stood up to speak.

Obama
First, the cute Mock up of Barack Obama in a toga in the New York Post

 

Lights, camera, action: The stage is set for Obama's speech tonight

obama temple

The Invesco Mile High Field, home of the Denver Broncos, where Obama will make his speech tonight
 
than there's the Air Force replica...
Presidential image: A full-scale replica of Air Force One fuselage arrives at Invesco Field before Mr Obama speaks
 
The lack of judgment shown by Obama is telltale. He cannot appeal to everyman and at the same time be so orgasmic over the throngs of swooning fans. He is not a rock star, but he loves his rock star status, which makes him a very dangerous and creepy man.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Obama/Biden: Dumb & Dumber? Or Liar & Thief?

Biden has a history of PRICELESS gaffes. He's the gift that keeps on giving:
 
(Politico)
He called Obama “articulate and bright and clean” and said that in his home state, “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”

During his first run for president, in 1987, Biden told a would-be voter, “I have a much higher IQ than you do” and cited academic accomplishments that turned out to be false.

“I exaggerate when I'm angry,” he later explained to The New York Times, though last year he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he’s kicked that tendency.

A few months later, however, Biden claimed during a Democratic presidential debate that he’d been “shot at” during a trip to the Green Zone in Baghdad. Days later, he tried to walk back the claim.

Biden told The Hill newspaper that what he should have said was “I was near where a shot landed.”

Biden, himself, seems aware of the perception that he strays towards hyperbole.

A handful of times on Tuesday, he assured supporters that he was being “sincere” and was not engaging in hyperbole, and also prefaced many remarks by saying “literally.”
He also cracked that “the only reason I accepted the nomination, one reason: so the Delaware delegation could be moved up front” in the convention hall (which it was).

And he kicked off his remarks at the roundtable by saying “Ladies and gentlemen — mostly ladies, thank God for small favors.”
 
Be sure to read this From the Los Angeles Times:

When Joe Biden's brother and son wanted to buy a hedge fund company two years ago, they turned for financing to a law firm that had lobbied the Delaware senator's office on an important piece of business in Congress -- and in fact had recently benefited from his vote. The firm promised James and Hunter Biden that it would invest $2 million, and quickly delivered half of it.
Obama is another story altogether, and a textbook example of a radical leftist, who will take any position that fulfills his egotistical, self-serving, self-promoting, power seeking that he so richly craves.
Be sure to read this interview that was never aired.

OBAMA IN NEW NIGHTLINE
A never-before-aired Nightline interview from 2004 may get Obama is some hot water.
 
And the terrorist connection will be problematic... From National Review:

Obama apologists dismiss all this as “guilt by association” based on a single joint appearance. But it was far from the only one.

In fact, by 1997 Obama and Ayers were collaborators on a far more significant level. They sat together for several years on the board of the Woods Fund, a left-wing Chicago charitable organization. There, they doled out tens of thousands of dollars to such beneficiaries as the Trinity Church (where Obama was a longtime member and where another Obama mentor, Jeremiah Wright, preached a radical, anti-American brand of Black Liberation Theology) and the Arab American Action Network (co-founded by Rashid Khalidi, a Yasser Arafat apologist who has supported attacks against Israel and now directs Columbia University’s notorious Middle East Institute, founded by Edward Said).
 
 
Finally, Victor Davis Hanson wrote this diddy at NRO:

Not a Greek Temple, but a Greek Tragedy   [Victor Davis Hanson]

I think it's called blind hubris...

Let me get this straight: Obama goes to Europe, does a garish outdoor extravaganza before thousands, returns to find himself dubbed a publicity-seeking celebrity, analogous to Paris Hilton—and abruptly begins a tailspin in the polls. And now in reaction, at the greatest moment of his life, he transfers his acceptance speech to an open-air stadium to handle tens of thousands of frenzied fans, replete with Greek temple (Olympian Zeus or Parthenon?) as the backdrop stage, and outspoken rock stars?

His handlers now seem as inept in the general elections as they were once adept in the primaries. I don't see how you win Ohio or Michigan with Golden Gate Park circa 1967.

More later.
 
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive