SAIGONBOB

Issues Presidential Candidates are Almost Ignoring

    It's been a while since I wrote about gang violence in Los Angeles--"cross cultural gang violence."
    But, there are a lot of these little governments, with Chieftains who carry weapons, and virtually lock down neighborhoods all across the big cities of America.
    There is a lot of talk about solving the war in Iraq, but virtually, nothing about taking down the violence of gangs killing children in the cities.
  It is a societal problem with drugs being the  Oil Wells of gangs.
    ----Transportation and rail:
    It would be nice to provide a new infrastructure of trains and rails, which would carry people, particularly in the west of the country, to business and and scenic sites.
    That means reducing some of the 14 billion dollars a month we spend fighting in the middle east.
    ---Of course health care, the environment, and our economic system all need CPR, but I would like to see our elected officials spend a lot of time on what would help average people in our great country.
    Thanks for reading:
    Bob Kholos

Will Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Cltinton Fight it out for the next Congress?

  Around January of 2009, a few people will start asking, who will carry the spotlight in the majority Democratic Congress.
    My guess is that Sen. Harry Reid (NV) will step down from his post, and there will be a movement to replace him with Senator Hillary Clinton(NY) as leader of the US Senate.
    On the House side, I assume the savvy Nancy Pelosi (D-SF) will keep her job as Speaker of the House, and start to develop those money bills on health care, the environment, and a military calm down in the middle east.

    If Barack Obama does, indeed, become President of the United States, there will be more fracas debate in the houses of the legislature, than if McCain gets the White House, under Hillary and Nancy.

    There is a reason for this: Ego.

    Hillary will want to put her stamp on any health care legislation, and will not want it watered down to what the House of Representatives decides.

    On the other hand, Nancy Pelosi, will have to deal with funding for the war on terror, and the the military pull-down in the middle east.

    She will have to visit  Obama's  medical care reform, for him, because it is different than Hillary's.

    This will cause immediate conflict to  Mrs. Clinton's ego on the matter....who blew it the first time under President Clinton, when she went to bat for health care.

    Look for a major league fight between, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton on these issues.

    McCain will have it easier, because he will have to do major compromise with both houses of the Legislature, in order to get anything passed.

    We may have a veto proof Democratic Congress, come 2009, and that will prove tough, if Senator McCain does make it to the White House.

    As long as Bill Clinton, doesn't get too wild in his rhetoric, while Obama is President, and Hillary heads the Senate, we Democrats may become one party again.

    Look for Hillary and Nancy to shake hands and come out fighting--each other--however.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

   

Jesse Jackson, Wesley Clark--"Friends of Obama???"

    This is what drives campaign management crazy.
    One or two of Senator Barack Obama's supporters, out of the 15 million supporters he got in the primary---gets on a talking head network or cable show, and are so stupid...they destroy the candidate for a day.
    1.  Jesse Jackson, who has preached love and peace, and supported the "Million Man March,"  tells --off mike--to a Fox News Host, that Obama, who is talking about Fatherless African American families, is therefore talking down to Black folks.
    Then JJ, in his not so peace loving mood off camera, but not off mike, says to the Fox host---"I would like to cut his nuts off." --speaking about the Democratic Nominee for President.
    This is the true Reverend Jesse Jackson---mean-vengeful--and constantly needing the media spotlight.
    As one long time supporter told me in his 80's campaign for president---"Jesse's home is on the road, and his road is his home."
    The same gentleman told me that the Martin Luther King people would not release any of their copyrighted film to him,  because there is such friction between them and Jackson.

    2.  Then we get retired (thank God) Wesley Clark, whose claim to fame, was to bomb the shit with his air force over the Bosnia conflict...and kill a lot of Serbians and Muslims....so they could be brought to the negotiating table.

    Clark then lambastes the honest, decent and tortured for 5 years, in a POW camp, Senator John McCain, as not being a real leader in military matters.

    When the well documented case of McCains abuse in a POW solitary confinement cell, where he had his shoulders beaten every time he gave his captives the finger----and when they said they would let him out early, which was against military rules---so they broke his shoulders again-----This makes Clark, look like a "Dr. Strange stupid."

    This is one reason why some folks feel that Generals shouldn't be politicians, and politicians shouldn't be Generals.

    Even though I am a strong supporter of Senator Barack Obama, John McCain is a true American hero, and someone who was dying in a Vietnamese brutal POW camp....when the Communist North wanted to give him early release, for PR reasons, because McCains Father was a Naval leader during that war.......John McCain refused and said to his captives: "First Man in-First Man out."

    His captives shoved him back into solitary confinement again....and broke his shoulders again.

    This is one reason why he can't raise his arm to comb his hair.

    To denigrate the service of John McCain in the time of war was just plain stupid by Clark.

    Once again, I support Obama for President, but he should make a strong statement of why Clark and Jesse Jackson, do not speak for him and the nature of his positive campaign.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

 

Having Chemotherapy While Listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong

    I started my first of six straight days of Chemotherapy, today, and decided to use my MP3 Player to pick up my mood.
    I picked up the CD of "Ella Fitzgerald--the Last Decca Years,1949-1954--and was listening to the cut, "Dream a Little Dream of Me."   When Louie Armstrong joins in with Ella, and they do a little "scat" singing---I'm sent to a better world--when all the medical equipment and hospital room, just disappear for a few moments.

    At some point, I'll have a lot of fatigue, but as long as I can listen to the "First Lady of Song," I'll be able to fight off this cancer to its demise.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

How Obama May Tie McCain's Hands on the War and the Economy

    John McCain is a smart guy---honest and experienced.
    Obama has been criticized (particularly by Fox News) for hedging his bets on the Iraq war, and when he will bring the troops home.
    Obama has less experience than McCain on foreign policy matters, but his knowledge of grass roots America and his organizing skills, are vastly apparent, especially when you examine his upset defeat of Senator Hillary Clinton, who was the odds on favorite to win the entire  Enchilada.
    So, Barack Obama is a smart guy---honest and experienced--with the addition of youthful energy.
    Senator Obama is just starting to tie together the issues of the economy and the war.
    Spending 14 billion dollars a month on the Iraq war (combined with Afghanistan---which most Democrats are still saying should be a priority within the war on terror)---and putting together the health care disaster, alternative energy, and creating a new infrastructure for America will prove a dynamic challenge to the GOP nominee.
    American's are hurting, and many see the war in Iraq,  as taking away, not only our treasure in men and women fighters, but hurting their pocket books, while the Sunni's and the Shia's continue to kill each other.

    There is a legitimate argument by Senator McCain, on leaving the Iraqi situation too soon, and allowing the Iranian's more power in the middle east---perhaps even taking over the Iraqi subculture.

    But there is a balance here....and I think once Senator Obama takes his trip to Iraq, and consults directly with the General's on the ground, he will be able to pull together a great new national debate on the war and the effects on our economy.

    This will be a tough situation for Senator McCain to counter on the political stage, once he and Obama start debating each other directly in the fall.

    McCain is going to have to explain the "end game" to the American people...and that is tough.

    He will also have to discuss the reason why we are still spending 14 billion dollars a month in a war, while millions of families are losing their homes, and to make things worse, food prices are starting to climb, at the same time gas prices are hitting over 4 bucks a gallon.

    The average family is really hurting.

    This always will give the advantage to the Democratic Party, because they are seen as the party of the middle class.

    The Senator from Illinois, may be able to politically tie Senator McCain's hands on this subject of double trouble.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

   
   

Why Eliminating the Electoral College is a Bad Idea

   
    There is a movement to eliminate the Electoral College, in Presidential races, for a national popular election.
    This is a political consultant's dream, and a nightmare for the rest of America.
    Big cities in big states will be the winners, while those in Iowa, Oregon, Montana, Vermont and other small states will lose everything.
    The political consultants---like the one Hillary Clinton hired for 4 million dollars, will concentrate their television ads on the largest cities, and can show early polling, how well they are doing.
    There may be  minority bashing, where in states where the voting population hates illegal immigrants, for example, are watching ads by candidates playing to their basic mean instincts and attracting millions of votes.
    There will be no balance in the election.
    Right now---and it is Independence Day today---independent minded voters in small states have a stake in the election, and when combined with their Electoral votes, with other small states, can block the mob rule of larger states.

    Our founders may have created the Electoral College, as a balance--among other factors--in our national elections.

    Its worked every time, except twice.

    Let's not turn our national election for President of the United States, into a national supermarket tabloid.

    HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos   

Will Caroline Kennedy Recommend a Conservitive VP for Obama?

 CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN,  reporting for Politico.com, today, July 3rd, 2008, reports that Caroline Kennedy, now 50 years old, and the daughter of JFK, is taking a very active role in Senator Barack Obama's Vice-Presidential search  committee.
    She, evidently has the class of her Mother and the smarts of her Father.
    Of course, John Kennedy, picked southern conservative, and tough negotiator, Senator Lyndon Johnson, (TX) for his second spot.
    As a perceived Boston "blue nose,"  John  F. Kennedy needed a  more balanced ticket...and that was the LBJ surprise of the 1960 election.
    If Obama is to "surprise" and pick a true right of center politician, who represents the south-----my choice would be Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.
    Sure, she may piss off some Hillary Clinton loyalists, but in the long run, she could bring along some southern states, which were devastated by Katrina.
    She is also a tough cookie on the campaign trail, and suffers no fools.
    Landrieu is Catholic, and the eldest of 9 children.
    No one can speak better than she, about the lack of domestic response by the GOP during the hurricanes, which devastated our southern borders.
    If Caroline Kennedy is smart---and I believe she is---she will "vet" Senator Mary Landrieu for Vice-President.
    Thanks for reading:
    Bob Kholos
   

My Stem Cell Transplant

    Hi, fellow bloggers and political crazies.
    Next week, I go into the hospital for three weeks for a stem-cell transplant.
    It means 6 straight days of heavy duty chemotherapy, where my white cells go down to zero, and then they re-introduce my stem cells through a blood transfusion.
    Last week they removed 200 million stem cells from my body and froze them.  Then they reintroduce them to my body again.
    Since they are using my own stem cells, there is a very rare chance of rejection.  However, even in this procedure that is a 3-5% death rate.
    It was recommended I do this procedure because I had two bouts of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  The second case of this cancer came just 4 months after my first round of Chemotherapy and Radiation.

    However, the most important thing:

    Is there WiFi in my hospital room.

    The answer is: Yes!

    Therefore, I will still try to blog from my hospital bed, on a periodic basis.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

Will Hillary Supporters Make Obama-McCain Contest--A Nixon-Humphrey 1968 Race?

    In 1968 VP Hubert H. Humphrey lost to Richard Nixon by about 700-thousand votes, out of 61 million votes cast.  It was basically less than 1% of the total vote..that the "happy warrior" lost to Nixon.
    Why?
    A couple of reasons.
    1. Humphrey was an integrationist...and Alabama Governor George Wallace, entered the election as the "southern" alternative to the Democratic and Republican nominees....thus taking almost the entire south---a major shift away from the traditional Democratic Party bloc, which controlled the south, until that election.
    2.  The Democratic left, stayed home, because they thought that Humphrey was too close to LBJ on the war in Vietnam.
    The Vice-President, couldn't stray that far from Johnson, but the word was that he would end the war, if elected.  That was not good enough for the left, so they stayed home during that election....and threw the Presidency to Richard Nixon, who kept up that war for another 5 years.

    The latest polls show that women who supported Hillary Clinton for President, are pretty upset at the Obama win.

    The indication, in late June, is that about 40-50% of them will either not vote, or even support the GOP nominee--John McCain.

    This could spell potential disaster for Senator Obama in his contest against McCain in the fall.

    Women, in this election, could sit on their hands and hand the election to the Republican Party again.

    By anger, they could put into the White House a pro-war, anti-abortion President.

    As the first African-American nominee by the Democratic Party, Mr. Obama is going to have a tough battle, and need all of the money and support he can get, in order to beat the GOP in the fall.

    A 1-2% shift by women voters, could destroy Obama's chances.

    Many of my old friends, who sat out the Nixon-Humphrey contest in 1968, have never forgiven themselves for that selfish act.

    I hope that Hillary's women supporters, can see past their anger, and give us a Democratic President and and Democratic Congress, come 2009.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

      

Israel Trades Monster for 2 Dead Soldiers:USA TODAY

    So, you don't think there is much difference between  Israel and the rest of the middle east?
    Just like Pakistan, the UN in 1948 gave the modern State of Israel, the right to exist.  Of course the Israeli's--Jews and Arabs--have lived under constant war for 60 straight years.
`Now, they have to give up a notorious murderer, who killed a Mother in front of her 4 year old child and then bashed the head in of the 4 year old, and killed others in the same attack---will be released to Hezbollah--for two Israeli soldiers, not at war, who were kidnapped, and then murdered.
    This story makes me sick.
    It also shows mentality of those who would destroy Israel...and anyone else that gets in their way.
    Part of USA Today story, June 29th, 2008 (www.usatoday.com)
   

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Cabinet voted overwhelmingly on Sunday in favor of an emotionally charged deal to swap a notorious Lebanese prisoner for the bodies of two soldiers declared earlier in the day to be dead.

The deal with the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group has sparked a fierce debate over whether Israel would be giving up too much — or carrying out its highest commitment to its soldiers to do everything possible to bring them home if they fell into enemy hands.

Hezbollah militants captured Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in a July 2006 cross-border raid that sparked a vicious, month-long war.

In return for their bodies, the Cabinet agreed to release Samir Kantar, a Lebanese guerrilla imprisoned for nearly 30 years for an attack etched in the Israeli psyche as one of the cruelest in the nation's history.

Hezbollah had offered no sign that Goldwasser and Regev were alive and the Red Cross was never allowed to see them. Ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said for the first time that Israel has concluded the two soldiers were dead — killed during the raid or shortly after.

---Bob Kholos