"Obama's Approval Rating Down After Photos Surface Of Him Eating Big Sandwich All Alone" Headline on The Onion accompanied by Pres. Obama sitting on a park bench eating a sandwich all alone.
- I was listening to an interesting debate this morning on a local radio talk show out of Philadelphia. The topic was about "cool" vs. "competence." In this debate, Pres. Obama was identified as being cooler than Romney. However, Romney was portrayed as being more competent than Obama. The question thrown out to the listeners was straightforward: Do you think most Americans prefer a president who is considered "cool" or a president who is considered "competent?" If I had the opportunity to answer that question, I would have simply said most of the really stupid people in America would prefer a president who appears to be cool rather than one who appears to be competent. In other words, those people always become infatuated with style over substance. That, quite frankly, is how Pres. Obama became president in the first place You can add Bill Clinton to this list too. So what conclusion does one arrive at when it comes down to those two factors. I contend it's this simple: If more stupids turn out to vote, Obama will be re-elected. If not, Romney will be our next president.
- By the way, I've always contended: if you try hard being cool---you're not. The guy above was cool because he never worked at it---he was it. You know it when you see it.
- First time unemployment claims were at 388,000. In addition, employers only added 120,000 jobs in March, the least since October. Both numbers are miserable. Add to this data the fact that consumer confidence fell, March new home sales fell and durable good orders fell---why are they trying to convince us the economy is improving? The economy will REALLY start improving when home sales start improving.
- Anyone who follows me knows how much I support the military. In fact, I regularly publish a blog dedicated to the military, law enforcement and firefighters (http://dedicatedtoheroes.blogspot.com/). I've also been clear that I do not support this current administration. Having said that, Marine Sergeant Gary Stein was wrong when he wrote on his Facebook page, "I say screw Obama and I will not follow orders from him. I will not salute him." With that statement, he crossed the line in my opinion. However, I do not support his getting an "other than honorable discharge" for using bad judgement. This means he will probably lose all of his benefits. He's been in the Marines for 9 years. He's an Iraq veteran. Give him an "honorable discharge," and let him go on with his life. I think he deserves that much because he's earned it.
- By all accounts, the first day of deliberation by the Supreme Court regarding Arizona's illegal immigration law did NOT go well for the administration. Even Justice Sotomayor, a liberal justice, said to the government's attorney: "You can see it's not selling very well...Why don't you try to come up with something else?" USA TODAY. And as I and others have said over and over again, the only reason these states are coming up with their own legislation regarding immigration is because Congress has failed to do so. Even USA TODAY in their editorial wrote, "Washington ignored a rising tide of illegal immigration..."
- If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I want George Zimmerman to stand trial. But something was always bothering me. We heard a lot about Trayvon's past but nothing about Zimmerman's past. So let's look at him now. Zimmerman was raised in a racially ethnic household. In fact, his roots are black on his paternal side. His father, a Vietnam vet, met his Peruvian wife in 1974. His mother would include George in many Catholic activities including home visits to the poor. For several years, his family cared for two African-American girls who ate their meals in the Zimmerman household. The girls went back and forth to school with the Zimmerman children. George is bilingual and was often asked by his school principal to help translate between the administration and immigrant parents. George was in ROTC after school and he also worked 3 part-time jobs starting when he was 15. At 18, he began selling insurance. In mid-2000's, he ran into some problems with his business failing. He did have a restraining order from a woman he had been engaged too. Does all of this excuse what he did last February in killing Trayvon Martin? No, it does not. But it certainly gives me the clear impression we're not dealing with some kind of racist as the media and others have tried to portray him. And it's why I want all the facts to come out at trial. Reuters and NY Post
- Oh, yes, one more item. The photos of George Zimmerman above? That's him as a kid too. Just wanted to add that considering the media has been obsessed with using only photos of Trayvon as a 10 to 12 year old youngster.
