SAIGONBOB

Meg Whitnam Spends $100 Million of Her Personal Wealth for CA. Gov.

She could have binged, and started 10 million new business projects,hiring 100-thousand new people instead of this ego driven pig like demand to satisfy her own ego.

Television stations will be happy with the new income.  Otherwise the voters---"let them eat cake."

If she wins, the first thing she will do----is start downsizing government, throwing middle class workers on the street.

These are wonderful people with terrific families...but not good enough for MS. Whitman, who probably pays her domestic help----making her beds, cleaning up, etc., for minimum wage.

-----Bob Kholos

sorry everyone. but my Cancer has slowed me down

Should VP Joe Biden be Obama's new Chief of Staff?

President Obama's current C of S, Rahm Emananuel, will probably vacate that position, in order to run for Mayor of Chicago.

With the Obama administration looking weak against the GOP during falls election, we need a "tough guy," in  the upcoming eleciion.

Mr. Biden is a true blue collar democat, and can help the party get back on its feet.

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Has President Obama Lost His " Mo-Jo"?

   As Chris Mathews, of Hardball, on MSNBC says, even in small groups, President Obama uses a teleprompter.

  Perhaps this is the reason, the president looks so laid back in his news presentations.

  In reality.  the Republicans are beating him to the ground, politically, and as a result may take over congress in this falls election.

  I support President Obama, but when I watch his 20 second news bites on the evening news, he looks politically boring.

  We still have two months in order to save the Democratic majority.

  He is doing a great job with important issues, such as health care.  You would think people would be lining the streets  to kiss his feet.

  Instead, he is being tossed aside, with such things as, "Obama care".  This while the soon to be Republican majority are touting no social security until 70 years of age and investing your Social Security money into the stock market.

If I were in charge, I would bring in a new political team.

----Bob Kholos

My cancer is back. At this point it is not a threat to my life. I will meet with the doc's to determine if I am eligable for a radiation protocol.
Also, I am going home, thank God, at the end of the week

My Cancer - Democrats- Glenn Beck-President Obama

     After two adult stem cell transplants,and three years of trying to defeat my various cancers, I have been cancer free.

     However, today I noticed a major lump near my belly button, and my doctor will do a biopsy on Monday.    

Like worrying about right winger, Glenn Beck and his speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in D.C, on Saturday ...I have no idea of the results of this political biopsy.   

Will multi-millionaire Beck catch on as a new GOP messiah and destroy any chance of the Democratic party holding and controlling Congress majority?    

Because President Obama pushed through important health care legislation, toned down Wall Street, and got over 100,000 teachers, firefighters and police without any taxation, he has been called a "racist," by the recovering alcoholic, Beck, has whipped up all of the crazies from the extreme right.   

You know that President Obama made sure that children with pre-existing conditions, such as cancer, can now be helped, with this new health care legislation.   

Beck has lied his way to the top. Yet the news media have bought into his craziness.   

In recent polling, Sarah Palin has a popularity rating of 70% among republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire , which gives her a leg up for the for the GOP nomination in 2012.   

However,  should Beck go over the top in Saturday's speech, he may enter the Presidential race in competition with Palin, who will speak, along with  baseball player Albert Pulholtz . 

I hope I don't have cancer, and I hope against hope that Glenn Beck will fail.

Bob Kholos

   

    

Healthcare law backers plan counteroffensive - latimes.com

Healthcare law backers plan counteroffensive - latimes.com.

Bring the National Guard Home

  It, evidently, started with President Regan, where the NG could get modern weapons, but they had to agree to serve wherever the Pentagon needed them.

  This was not a problem, until the 1990's when both Bushes, used them as a "backdoor draft," for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Up until then the NG was happy fighting fires, flooding, and earthquake's.  As usual they did and do a great job.

Now, that President Obama is downsizing our troops in Irag and proposing to reduce our military in Afghanistan----It is time to bring our National Guard home.

It's not that they have been just used as backup and front line troops, but they has been abused by our government.

Some troops have served three and four tours at these misguided wars.

The aftermath of deaths, injuries and PTSD have created a bottomless pit of domestic terror for these individuals.

Clearly, the upper crust of the GOP, are too busy playing golf and protecting BP, to get involved.

It is therefore up to the Democratic Party, to get involved in bringing home the National Guard.

---Bob Kholos

Revenue Sharing with Iraq?

  After we have spent over a trillion dollars in Iraq, and sending home over 100,000 troops and a loss of more than 4,000 uniformed personnel, most of Iraq still has no electricity, or infrastructure of hope.

  With 50,000 troops in that country, and over 100,000 private contractors (who pays for them?), we and they are not better off more than 7 years later.

  We will still spend billions of dollars a year trying to do something that we couldn't do---peace in Iraq and winning the "hearts and minds," of the people.

 Meanwhile, we are suffering at home, with high unemployment and a deteriorating  infrastructure.

 When we spend a billion dollars in Iraq, why don't we claim a few hundred million dollars with states, such as Oregon, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Vermont, and others?

A small state revenue program from Iraq to America, could at least help education, roads, and rural medical care, so much needed in these small states.

After a couple of years, we could do this backwards revenue sharing with larger states.

---Bob Kholos

Target Corp. feels backlash from shareholders - latimes.com

Target Corp. feels backlash from shareholders - latimes.com.

Does Obama Deserve a Vacation?

  Of course, he deserves a vacation.

  Mr. Obama is bringing with him, the National Security Adviser---which doesn't sound like much of a holiday to me.

Candidate Obama promised an end to the Iraq war, which has cost us over 1 trillion dollars (just think what that amount of money,put into our states, would have done) and over 4,000 lives.

He has come through with a lot of promises made--Iraq, Wall Street, money to hire and rehire over 100,000 teachers, firefighters and police, and a vibrant health care policy, where every American will eventually  will have medical insurance.

Now, that 100,000 combat troops have been removed from Iraq (two weeks earlier than publicly stated by the President), I am happy that he is taking time off in Martha's Vineyard.

 As President, he has given every American  hope------so he deserves some down time.

The truth is:  The President of the United States brings the White House with him, wherever he travels.I'm happy he can take some time off with his family.

---Bob Kholos

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USS Truman Opposite Hormuz. Heating Up Middle East

 

USS Truman posted opposite Hormuz as Iranian threats spiral
DEBKAfile Special Report August 11, 2010, 12:00 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Hormuz   Iranian Navy   USS Truman 

Iran digs "mass graves for US soldiers"

To meet increasingly defiant Iranian threats to US regional military forces, Washington has detached the USS Truman carrier from support duty for Afghanistan in the Arabian Sea and reassigned it to Dubai opposite the Gulf of Oman and the Straits of Hormuz with thousands of marines aboard.
Reporting this, debkafile's military sources note that the Iranian submarine attack on a Japanese oil supertanker last month near Hormuz underlined the urgency of heightened security for keeping the vital straits open.
Tuesday, Aug. 10, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy (which is Iran's only real naval force), remarked: "Aircraft Carrier USS Truman is currently at Jebel Ali" - 35 kilometers southwest of Dubai - "and will quickly leave the region."
Speaking to reporters at the Bandar Abbas naval base, the admiral announced the addition of twelve torpedo and missile cruisers to the IRGC Navy and the purchase of a British Bladerunner speedboat. "What worries the Americans is that we have equipped (the speedboat) with military gear," he said.
Our Iranian sources note that Tehran keeps track of - and responds instantly with fleet deployments of its own - to every US naval movement in a broad radius from its shores - from the Red Sea in the North, to the Gulfs of Aden and Oman in the East, the Horn of Africa in the west and the southern approaches to the Indian Ocean.

debkafile of April 22, 2010, first revealed that Iran was preparing a fleet of speedboats for striking American air carriers. (To read this article click here.)
By announcing that Iran had equipped the speedboats with military gear added, Fadavi unveiled Iran's counter-threat to US air carriers in general and the USS Truman in particular. Our military sources report that the souped-up Bladerunners have a speed of 61/5 MPH. They Russian-made Shkval torpedoes they carry had travel up to 360 knots per hour, the fastest of any comparable torpedo in service today, a speed which defies radar detection.

Two days earlier, on Aug. 8, Iran launched four Ghadir-type mini-submarines from the same base at Bandar Abbas.

The USS Truman Strike force carries 6,000 marines and sailors and Carrier Wing Three consisting of seven Battle Axe squadrons. It leads a flotilla of  four more vessels: the guided missile cruiser USS Normandy, the guided missile destroyer USSWinston S. Churchill, the USS Oscar Austin destroyer and the guided missile destroyer USS Ross.

Another carrier, the USS Peleliu and its marine force are in the Arabian Sea waiting for permission to enter Karachi port and render aid to the millions of flood-stricken Pakistanis. The USS Nassau is cruising in the Gulf Aden.

In a bid to further dramatize Iran's readiness for war, IRGC Deputy Chief Gen. Hossein Kan'ani Moghadam announced Tuesday, Aug. 10: "The mass graves that were used for burying Saddam's soldiers [in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s] have now been prepared for US soldiers - and this is the reason for digging a large number of graves."
The Iranian media ran this statement as a headline with large photos of the fresh graves.
debkafile's military sources report that Tehran is also flexing its muscles against the United States in Lebanon. After the Lebanese army's Aug. 3 clash with Israel, the Iranian ambassador called on the Lebanese chief of staff and offered Tehran's support for Beirut. He also proposed Iranian military assistance to take the place of the American hardware which US Congress proposes to cut off after the Lebanese army instigated the clash.
The Iranian diplomat proposed invoking the 2008 Iranian-Lebanese military accord which provides for Iranian arms, including heavy weapons, to be supplied to Lebanon together with Iranian military instructors.
This proposition was dismissed by US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley when he said Tuesday: "Iran's activities compromise Lebanese sovereignty."
Stepping up the pressure on Beirut to abandon its pro-Western orientation, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced he will pay a visit Beirut after Ramadan (which began Tuesday night, Aug, 10 and runs for 30 days).

President Obama Getting Bad Advice?

  The republicans are having a field day with Obama's support of the Mosque( actually a community center) which may be built a few blocks away from ground zero. 

There is nothing wrong with the issue of Muslim's who want to build this project on private property.  However, all the President had to say was, "The government should not get involved in religious freedom, because we cannot support one religion over another---the government is prevented from choosing any religion, due to the US Constitution which provides a protection and separation of church and state." 

Is the President getting bad advice from senior advisers:  the short answer is, YES.

He signed legislation to support the jobs of over 100,000 teachers, thousand of police and fire--yet he can't get through the media noise of issues such as the Mosque, and Mrs. Obama's vacation to Spain, among other distractions.  

The fact is that everyone in the United States will have health insurance by 2014, and children, who have life threatening diseases,will now be treated.  They were denied such care in the past. 

He pushed wall street reform, and got it, over protests by the GOP. 

Mr. Obama has already begun the draw down of troops in Iraq, saving billions of dollars---yet has hardly  made enough news noise to breakthrough.   

He has also signed legislation providing $600 million dollars to provide protection along our border. 

Yet, the President has barely made his case on these issues, and the republicans have the entire Executive Branch on the defensive. 

Even his Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, has gotten into a fight with the democratic base. 

All of these issues, makes me think that the President of the United States, is getting bad or no advice at all.  I hope he gets it together prior to the November election.  Otherwise we will see a GOP takeover of the House of Representatives, and draw even in the United States Senate.

---Bob Kholos

Democrats: Save Congress and Obama---Shop in September

  One of the ways to get out of our recession, is for average folks to spend money.

  Everyone is so afraid, that many who have jobs and are middle class, are saving money, waiting for this crisis to end. 

  The government is spending gobs of taxpayer money, but it doesn't seem to help much, at this point.

  However, if private citizens spend a little more money in September, it may kick start the economy, prior to this years fall election where the republicans are geared to win the majority seats in the House of Representatives and come close to winning the US Senate

The only chance we have (democrats) is to kick start the economy ourselves. 
 Save Obama and congress, and start spending in September. 
----bob kholos

France presses Gypsies to settle down - CSMonitor.com

France presses Gypsies to settle down - CSMonitor.com.

The Case of Robert Gibbs

 Robert Gibbs, who is the current Press Secretary to President Barack Obama, has been criticized, particularly on cable news, for his caustic comments about dealing with the new left within the democratic party. 

  As a former Press Secretary to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (his first--1973) i have been very impressed on how Gibbs handled himself on the campaign trail, as well as, in front of the White House press corps. 

There is a problem, however: The spokesperson for the President of the United States, must not get involved in controversy, which may overshadow the issues that, in this case, Mr. Obama is trying to get out to the public.  These distractions are bad for the Executive Branch.

It is not unusual, behind the scenes for politicians to be caustic and critical at their base.   I remember when California Speaker of the Assembly, Jesse Unruh, would regularly refer to the powerful l unions, who were a major basis of his support, as "labor fakers."  It was never for public consumption....but it was a way of releasing frustration for impossible demands by them.

It is therefore, probably a benefit to the Obama administration, for Mr. Gibbs to take another job within the administration.
---Bob Kholos

Democrats: Beware of the Humphrey-Nixon Syndrome

  As a democrat, are you thinking of sitting on your hands during this November mid term election? 

  During the 1968 general election, VP Hubert Humphrey lost to Nixon by a few votes, because liberals were upset with how close Humphrey was to LBJ and the Vietnam war.Nixon said he had a secret plan to end the war, but years later the war was still raging.

Most analysts knew that HHH would get us out of Vietnam, but liberals stayed home during that election and threw the Presidency to Nixon, for six years.

President Obama has done everything possible to get us out of Iraq, and will start withdrawing troops from the corrupt country, known as Afghanistan, next year.

He has also come to bat for health care, and funding schools and teachers, among other issues.Yet, polling shows that democratic voters are less enthusiastic when it comes to voting this fall, than their republican counterparts.

If we (democrats) lose the House and US Senate to the GOP.....the front burner of politics will be abortion, not allowing citizens to get Social Security until age 70, and investing your Social Security money into the stock Market(privatization).

I'm enthused about Obama and speaker Pelosi, now.Please don't hand over the power of the legislative branch to the conservative, BP types during this year's fall election.

---Bob Kholos

LOVING PELOSI

House approves $26.1 billion in aid to states

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi has done to every student and every teacher something the GOP couldn't do:   She brought congress back in August for a vote on aiding schools and got it passed.

I've been challenging the speaker to become more direct in her public communications.  She has yet to develop that special technique---but she did the most important and dramatic thing possible... Helping states maintain their firefighters and police force, while we are having such a bad economic downturn.

I don't know what is going to happen in November's election, but I hope we will bring back a majority Democratic congress, so Mrs. Pelosi can continue to work her magic.

----Bob Kholos

ANOTHER ISRAELI-LEBANON WAR?

Four armies on alert, Khamenei takes charge of Lebanese crisis

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 9, 2010, 9:29 AM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Iran   Lebanon   Nasrallah   Syria 

An Iranian no to Lebanese FM Ali Al-Shami's SOS

Tehranthrew all its weight behind Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah ahead of his contentious speech Monday, Aug. 9, by declaring that "Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan are Iran's security belt," and sending its National Security Council Director Saeed Jalili, who is also lead nuclear negotiator, to Beirut Sunday to strengthen his hand. This is reported by debkafile's Iranian sources.
Upon arrival, the NSC head went into conference with Nasrallah and the spiritual leader's special aide Ali Akbar Velayati, who arrived in Beirut last Thursday, Aug. 5 after the Lebanese-Israeli border clash, and is still there.
Jalilee then took off for Damascus to give Syrian president Bashar Assad a piece of his mind. According to our sources, in a conversation that went on till early Monday, the Iranian official made it clear that Tehran would not tolerate the deal Assad concluded with Saudi king Abdullah to pull away from - or even reduce - Syrian relations with Hizballah.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has clearly taken charge of the Lebanese situation. He is maintaining control through two top officials kept standing by in Beirut and Damascus as Nasrallah prepares to accuse Israel of assassinating Rafiq Hariri, four-time prime minister of Lebanon, in February 2005.
This is the gambit Nasrallah is using to blackmail the Hariri government by a threat of civil war and/or a military confrontation with Israel into disbanding the UN special tribunal and so avoid surrendering indicted Hizballah leaders to the court.
 With Tehran ranged solidly behind him at the highest level, the Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian war planners have put their armies, along with Hzballah, on the ready for trouble.
Iran made sure border tensions remained high after Lebanese army snipers killed an Israeli officer in a clash last Tuesday, Aug. 5.  As debkafile reported at the time, a group of Iranian intelligence and commando officers Friday openly toured the South Lebanese-Israeli borders and studied Israeli positions, making sure they were seen on the Israeli side.
They are still present at Hizballah's forward positions.
Sunday, Lebanese foreign minister Ali Al-Shami flew to Tehran to appeal for help in toning down the ultimatum posed by Nasrallah for Prime Minister Saad Hariri to disband the special tribunal established by the UN and Lebanon to probe his father's murder and instead accuse Israel before the UN Security Council. Al-Shami maintained that this move would break up Lebanon's unity government and open the gates to a recurrence of civil warfare and fighting with Israel.
His appeal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fell on deaf ears. Instead, Jalilee was put on a special plane to Beirut to strengthen the Hizballah leader's hand. This was clear from his remark: "The power of resistance and unity of the Lebanese Army does not let the Zionist regime to even cut a tree. Earlier, the Zionist regime could advance to the borders of Beirut fearlessly. Today the Zionist army gets a strong response from Islamic Resistance…"
His words meant that, for Tehran, the Lebanese Army's 9th Battalion is no longer a separate, autonomous entity but integral to Hizballah and a partner in its radical mission.  

Some Republicans are on the endangered list - latimes.com

Some Republicans are on the endangered list - latimes.com.

Terrific analysis of 3rd CA. district and other congressional races by Mark Z. Barabak.

---Bob Kholos

Elena Kagan

From Politico.com

LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT? – President Obama celebrated the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court on Friday by saying her achievement is “exhilarating.”

“While she may be feeling a twinge of sadness about giving up the title of general — a cool title — I think we can all agree that ‘Justice Elena Kagan’ has a pretty nice ring to it,” Obama said at the beginning of a reception for her.

Obama praised Kagan’s judicial philosophy and “commitment to the rule of law” and said she is held in “high esteem” by diverse crowds.

Kagan, in turn, thanked the Senate Judiciary Committee for giving her a “serious” and “courteous” hearing – and she noted that she had met privately with 83 senators. “But really, who’s counting?” she said.

The new justice vowed to uphold the notion of “equal justice under law” as she imagined what her parents would think if they could witness her accomplishment. “What I can almost hear them saying — and I think I can hear Justice Marshall saying this to me right now as well — is that this appointment is not just an honor,” she said. “Much more importantly, it is an obligation, an obligation to protect and preserve the rule of law in this country.”