Richard's Blog

EXTREMISM IS WILTING HOPE

2009-11-18T23:53:00Z

This week, I am using a viewer e-mail (see below with accompanying chart) as the basis for my blog since they are indicative of the extreme views we are seeing in our government today and the concerns viewers have about extreme views. It is those repeated concerns expressed from our viewers which have led me to put some thoughts in written form.

What is very obvious to me as I read e-mails and scan information on the Internet each day, is this; more and more people are starting to investigate what is going on, as they learn more are become increasingly concerned. In addition, there is a feeling of unrest and concern that overriding the general populace wanting to believe things will be better soon.

Why is this happening? What I believe has happened this; most people voted for President Obama hoping for a CHANGE in the way politics was enacted in Washington, believing his promises of government of "complete transparency", with the elimination of lobbyist and the influence of special interests.

Voters were enamored with the ideals of HOPE in this new President, who was able to emote such charisma and dynamic presence would unite people by eliminating issues of race, gender, etc. and do so bringing people towards the cooperative center.

As the Obama Presidency started, and we all saw the week of amazing inauguration ceremonies, even his opponents had great hope and expectations, and with this HOPE, Obama's approval rating the week after his election was topped off at 70%, However, as I write this blog (Wednesday November 18, 2009), today’s polls show President Obama has an average of a 50% approval rating, with 42% disapproving and 8 % undecided.

Interestingly, despite the fact President continues to see declining approval ratings, there continues to see a substantial disconnect between his personal approval rating and what Americans feel is the direction his policies are taking the country. In reviewing even the most liberal polls (Daily KOS) to CBS, CNN, Gallup and Rasmussen, every single poll shows 55-60% of Americans disapprove with the direction the country is headed. In addition, virtually 75% of the people polled disagree with how congress is doing their job.

It seems obvious President Obama still has the residue of the HOPE based on the aura of promise delivered during his campaign. Evidently continue to be people hoping Obama is really not what he appears to increasingly proven to be, a very far left of center President.

Unfortunately, what is becoming increasingly apparent based on President Obama's decisions, including those people he puts in close proximity to the white house, Obama is committed to pushing forward a extreme left ideology, complete with increased government controls while individual free agency is eradicated.

This week, while the President is in Asia, we have seen another example of what seems to be an increasing dedication to making decisions the President believes he needs to make regardless of how the majority of American’s might want him to govern. Last Friday (November 13th), President Obama outraged the majority of the populace by announcing the Justice Department will have a trial for the 9/11 terrorists in a New York courtroom with constitutional rules instead of in a military court or tribunal, which was used for the criminals during the Nuremberg Trials in Germany.

As you would expect, Republican Senator John McCain, said this; "We are at war, and we must bring terrorists to justice in a manner consistent with the horrific acts of war they have committed."

The same day McCain made his comments, a CNN poll showed almost two-thirds of Americans disagree with President Obama's decision. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said Mohammed should be tried in a military court, while only 34 percent agreed with Obama that the civilian judicial system was the best way forward.

It isn’t just the polls who disagree with this illogical and ill advised decision since the criticism of the President is bi-partisan. Most people feel no matter how the trial turns out, it is a "no-win" situation for the U.S.

Here is just one example; within 24 hours of each other the Democratic Governor of New York, David Paterson, agreed with former New York Republican Mayor, Rudi Giuliani in strongly condemning the President’s decision. Even the President’s Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, declined direct support for the decision, saying merely that she would not “second-guess” it.

In addition, the President’s rush to close the terrorist holding facility at Guantanamo is in direct contradiction to “the will of the people”, and yesterday (Tuesday, November 17th) the President’s home state, Illinois, saw politicians and law-makers objecting to the administration's plan to move the terrorist to that state. To quote one liberal blogger; “if the trials go haywire, America will be in serious trouble. And the Obamacratic Party will be destroyed. May God forbid it”.

The candidate Obama campaigned on a platform of restoring America's standing in the world. It is not the bowing to the Saudi King, or the Japan's Emperor that really has caused the President a problem, it is his constant apologist approach in speaking to foreign countries or his inference we are not a Judeo-Christian nation in his talks to the Muslim countries which has incensed the patriotic masses. Again and again it seems the President has been embarrassed by what America has accomplished, and is on the wrong side of how most Americans view the world, and especially how they view Europe.

It was American blood, shed by many valiant men and women gave their lives to protect that European soil which is why they reacted negatively to his April European speeches where he went further than any President in history to criticize his country including saying the U.S. had "failed to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world". Unfortunately, all the President received for this approach was a rejection to support the U.S. troop effort in Afghanistan, and a demand for a Europe to participate in a redistribution of global power.

The President had an election campaign which rich in promise, full of messages of CHANGE and HOPE, but he is now dealing with the reality of governing. Unfortunately, his concept of change through more government is not what the people had in mind when the bought into his message of change. Additionally, it is now obvious that Obama as President, freed from the burden of appearances necessitated to be an elected candidate, Obama is clearly a very committed and devoted secularist in a country founded on HOPE and FAITH.

Compounding the problem, we now have extreme secularist, a radical left San Francisco ideologue, Nancy Pelosi, as one of the most powerful people in the country and as the Speaker of the House and pushing her minority held ideas through congress as law for everyone, regardless of the opposing majority belief structure.

The polling figures from today show that only 35% of Americans want to have the Health Care bill as they currently understand it, but it was announced this morning the leader of the senate, another far left politician, Harry Reid, who is likely to not be re-elected in his home state of Nevada, is making private deals to pass the bill with Vice President Biden "behind closed doors in the White House", obviating the “transparency” repeatedly promised in the campaign of HOPE espoused by candidate Obama.

So, now we have growing unrest, a feeling of doubt in people's stomachs, which is becoming increasingly pervasive across all segments of this country. I believe this is happening due to extreme left leaning views being forced on the populace who we know by all the polls, is 80% against this extreme left way of thinking and governing.

This unrest continues to grow as we are seemingly told by our current politicians they know better than we do what is best for us. These are the same politicians telling us their bailouts and high spending programs are saving millions of jobs while this month the jobless rate in America hit 10.2% (although economists tell us when you calculate the part-time and people who have given up looking for work, the real figure is more like 15-16%).

As our national (and with it our individual debt) continues to grow wildly, and our individual freedoms seem to be more and more fleeting, and we as we see taxes inevitably spiral upward, there is little doubt we will see people grow increasingly concerned. Debt is a hard task-master, and you cannot get out of it by just ignoring while continuing to spend more and more. Eventually those “markers” come due, and then we will all need to pay them.

In addition, when you run on a campaign of HOPE and CHANGE, but your personal idea of what those two ideals mean is the opposite of many of the people who elected you, you eventually run out of good will and cooperation. This is also why the huge block of the Independent voters, who were responsible for the Obama election, are now switching their political support and that fact alone spells trouble for the President.

It is illustrative to remember in Obama's position as "senior lecturer" (important to note Obama was not a professor-he was a lecturer-quoting Hilary Clinton 3/27/08) at University of Chicago, Obama openly taught the tactics and principles of Saul Alinsky, who was an anarchist, socialist, a Chicago community organizer, and the author of "Rules for Anarchists".

Here is a quote from Chapter 2 of "Rules for Anarchists": "The means-and-ends moralists, constantly obsessed with the ethics of the means used by the Have-Nots against the Haves, should search themselves as to their real political position. In fact, they are passive — but real — allies of the Haves…The most unethical of all means is the non-use of any means... The standards of judgment must be rooted in the whys and wherefores of life as it is lived, the world as it is, not our wished-for fantasy of the world as it should be."

Here is the quote from the son of Saul Alinsky, which should concern any of the 80% who have never heard it. The quote comes from a letter David Alinksy wrote to the Boston Globe immediately after the Democratic National Convention. In this letter, Alinsky boasted how Barack Obama had made effective use of his training in the methods of his late father.

This is what he said; “I am proud to see that my father’s model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday.”

This fact should concern every single one of the 80% of the Americans as they contemplate what type of change our President has in mind for us. To help you further understanding what Alinsky intended with his strategies, here are some quotes from his biographers:

"Alinsky wanted a radical change of America’s social and economic structure, and he planned to achieve that through creating public discontent and moral confusion. Alinsky developed strategies to achieve power through mass organization, and organizing was his word for revolution".

"Alinsky didn’t want just talkers. He wanted radicals who were prepared to take bold action to organize the discontented, precipitate crises, grab power and transform society. He taught his organizers how to infiltrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties, gain influence in them and introduce change".

“When his students told Alinsky they were thinking about picketing or disrupting Bush’s address he rejoined them for using the wrong approach and not being very creative. Alinksy cautioned the student that besides causing a disruption they might get them thrown out of school. He told them, instead, to go to hear the speech dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan, and whenever Bush said something in defense of the Vietnam War, they should cheer and wave placards reading, ‘The KKK supports Bush.’ And that is what they did, with very successful, attention-getting results.”

Finally, look at the dedication to SATAN who Saul Alinsky gave to his book, and you will get another perspective on the true nature of the man our President idolizes and whose tactics he assiduously follows:

“Lest we forget, an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical from all our legends, mythology, and history the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”

As you read these four paragraphs regarding Alinsky, you should be concerned enough to ask yourself some questions about the tactics being employed by this administration. As you do so, remember again that Obama openly taught Alinsky tactics in his role of senior lecturer at University of Chicago. You can also read about his true feelings in his own two autobiographies, including "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from my Father". It is still amazing to learn how few people have actually read what Obama has already written.

I will close with this blog entry with this humorous note, also received yesterday from a viewer…I have no idea if it is a true story, but to paraphrase it, this is what was said; “as we left church on Sunday, the traffic was moving slowly, and a car in front of us had an Obama bumper sticker on it. It read: Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8 I couldn't believe what it said but when I read it, I had a good laugh; Psalm 109:8: "Let his days be few; and let another take his office."

This is a funny story, but what is happening in America right now is not. We need to pray the CHANGES taking place will not remove all HOPE, and in the future we will all be able to still be able to laugh at our circumstances.

From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 9:56 AM
To: Richard Doutre Jones
Subject: Fw: Your Czar list..unbelievable!

If this doesn't scare you nothing will....are you telling your viewers what is going on? Please read through this and see what kind of people Obama has surrounded himself with...if in a hurry, just note the highlighted parts.

OBAMA'S "CZARS"-- Read who they are and realize what they want to do.

OBAMA'S CZARS
CZAR	Czar Position	Summary
Richard Holbrooke	Afghanistan Czar	Ultra liberal anti gun former Gov. of New Mexico. Pro Abortion and legal drug use. Dissolve the 2nd Amendment
Ed Montgomery	Auto recovery Czar	Black radical anti business activist. Affirmative Action and Job Preference for blacks. Univ of Maryland Business School Dean teaches US business has caused world poverty. ACORN board member. Communist DuBois Club member.
Jeffrey Crowley	AIDS Czar	Radical Gay Rights activist. Aside from supporting Gay Marriage he also has an agenda to create a special Status for gay & lesbians only, including complete free health care.
Alan Bersin	Border Czar	The former failed superintendent of San Diego . Ultra Liberal friend of Hilary Clinton. Served as Border Czar under Janet Reno - to keep borders open to illegal's without interference from US
David J. Hayes	California Water Czar	Sr. Fellow of radical environmentalist group, "Progress Policy". No training or experience in water management whatsoever.
Ron Bloom	Car Czar	Auto Union worker. Anti business & anti nuclear. Has worked hard to force US auto makers out of business. Sits on the Board of Chrysler which is now Auto Union owned. How did this happen?
Dennis Ross	Central Region Czar	Believes US policy has caused Mid East wars. Obama apologist to the world. Anti gun and completely pro abortion.
Lynn Rosenthal	Domestic Violence Czar	Director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Vicious anti male feminist. Supported male castration. Imagine?
Gil Kerlikowske	Drug Czar	devoted lobbyist for every restrictive gun law proposal, Former Chief of Police in Liberal Seattle. Believes no American should own a firearm. Supports legalization of all drugs
Paul Volcker	E conomic Czar	Head of Fed Reserve under Jimmy Carter when US economy nearly failed. Obama appointed head of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board which engineered the Obama economic disaster to US economy. Member of anti business "Progressive Policy" organization
Carol Brower	Energy and Environment Czar	Political Radical Former head of EPA - known for anti-business activism. Strong anti-gun ownership.
Joshua DuBois	Faith Based Czar	Political Black activist-Degree in Black Nationalism. Anti gun ownership lobbyist.
Cameron Davis	Great Lakes Czar	Chicago radical anti business environmentalist. Blames George Bush for "Poisoning the water that minorities have to drink." No experience or training in water management. Former ACORN Board member (what does that tell us?)
Van Jones	Green Jobs Czar	(since resigned).. Black activist Member of American communist Party and San Francisco Communist Party who said Geo Bush caused the 911 attack and wanted Bush investigated by the World Court for war crimes. Black activist with strong anti-white views.
Daniel Fried	Guantanamo Closure Czar	Human Rights activist for Foreign Terrorists. Believes America has caused the war on terrorism. Believes terrorists have rights above and beyond Americans.
Nancy-Ann DeParle.	Health Czar	Former head of Medicare / Medicaid. Strong Health Care Rationing proponent. She is married to a reporter for The New York Times.
Vivek Kundra	Information Czar	Born in New Delhi, India. Controls all public information, including labels and news releases. Monitors all private Internet emails. (hello?)
Todd Stern	International Climate Czar	Anti business former White House chief of Staff- Strong supportrer of the Kyoto Accord. Pushing hard for Cap and Trade. Blames US business for Global warming. Anti- US business prosperity.
Dennis Blair	Intelligence Czar	Ret Navy. Stopped US guided missile program as "provocative". Chair of ultra liberal "Council on Foreign Relations" which blames American organizations for regional wars.
George Mitchell	Mideast Peace Czar	Fmr. Sen from Maine Left wing radical. Has said Israel should be split up into "2 or 3 " smaller more manageable plots". (God forbid) A true Anti-nuclear anti-gun & pro gay & lesbian "special rights" advocate
Kenneth Feinberg	Pay Czar	Chief of Staff to TED KENNEDY. Lawyer who got rich off the 911 victims payoffs. (horribly true)
Cass Sunstein	Regulatory Czar	Liberal activist judge believes free speech needs to be limited for the "common good". Essentially against 1st amendment. Rules against personal freedoms many times -like private gun ownership and right to free speech.
John Holdren	Science Czar	Fierce ideological environmentalist, Sierra Club, Anti business activist. Claims US business has caused world poverty. No Science training.
Earl Devaney	Stimulus Accountability Czar	Spent career trying to take guns away from American citizens. Believes in Open Borders to Mexico . Author of statement blaming US gun stores for drug war in Mexico .
J. Scott Gration	Sudan Czar	Native of Democratic Republic of Congo. Believes US does little to help Third World countries. Council of foreign relations, asking for higher US taxes to support United Nations
Herb Allison	TARP Czar	Fannie May CEO responsible for the US recession by using real estate mortgages to back up the US stock market. Caused millions of people to lose their life savings.
John Brennan	Terrorism Czar	Anti CIA activist. No training in diplomatic or gov. affairs. Believes Open Borders to Mexico and a dialog with terrorists and has suggested Obama disband US military
Aneesh Chopra	Technology Czar	No Technology training. Worked for the Advisory Board Company, a health care think tank for hospitals. Anti doctor activist. Supports Obama Health care Rationing and salaried doctors working exclusively for the Gov. health care plan
Adolfo Carrion Jr..	Urban Affairs Czar	Puerto Rican born Anti American activist and leftist group member in Latin America . Millionaire "slum lord" of the Bronx , NY. Owns many lavish homes and condos which he got from "sweetheart" deals with labor unions. Wants higher taxes on middle class to pay for minority housing and health care
Ashton Carter	Weapons Czar	Leftist. Wants all private weapons in US destroyed. Supports UN ban on firearms ownership in America .. No Other "policy"
Gary Samore	WMD Policy Czar	Former US Communist. Wants US to destroy all WMD unilaterally as a show of good faith. Has no other "policy".

How lucky are we that these are the people who are helping President Obama in the RUNNING of our country and the White House? ARE YOU MAD YET? ARE YOU SCARED? YOU SHOULD BE…NONE OF THESE PEOPLE WERE ELECTED BUT ARE SHAPING OUR POLICIES AND OUR LIVES.

PASSING THE BUCK

2009-11-06T07:35:00Z

Today America came to face with yet another inconceivable tragedy when one of America’s “finest”, an officer doctor (a mental health professional) went on a murderous shooting rampage, killing 12 people and wounding another 31 in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. Military base. Amazingly, even though he was shot four times, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39 year old psychiatrist lies in a hospital bed under armed guard.

A life-long Muslim, Major Hasan, was born in suburban Washington D.C., graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in biochemistry and his medical degree at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He then spent six years at Walter Reed for his internship, residency and a fellowship. The taxpayers of this country (literally) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars educating this man, who, as an army officer, took an oath to serve and protect the land of his birth.

However, despite this oath of fealty and honor, this officer trained in drug rehab, disaster and preventive psychiatry ran into problems with patients and army protocol at Walter Reed Hospital and received a poor performance evaluation, stymieing his potential for further rank advancement and necessitating his transfer to Fort Hood.

At the same he came to Texas, Husan was also under suspicion by homeland security and law enforcement due to his frequent outbursts against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He frequently engaged in arguments with others in the military for supporting the wars, and he had tried hard to prevent his pending deployment to Iraq.

In addition to his verbal altercations, including quotes from fellow officers who said Major Hasan had told them Muslims should "rise up" and attack Americans in retaliation for the US war in Iraq, he also listed his nationality as “Palestinian” despite the he was born in the United States.

Further worrying the authorities was the fact that in the last six months Major Hasan started going to the radical Muslim Internet sites, participating in postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.

According to a retired Colonel who worked with him, Hasan he said he was "happy" when a US soldier was killed in an attack on a military recruitment centre in Arkansas in June by an American convert to Islam. Major Hasan had also said "maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Time Square" in New York. Regardless of freedom of speech, that type of rhetoric hardly seems the kind of talk that should be espoused by an officer in the U.S. Army.

As all this information poured out into the television and radio broadcasts and more information was detailed on the Internet, Hasan’s Aunt and cousin were contacted and proclaimed Major Hasan was a true American and a deeply religious man, attending a Mosque daily and saying prayers. They talked about his education, his brilliance, his gentle nature, and how he made a six figure income…they could not believe he could ever commit these types of murderous acts.

His relatives said Hasan’s must has “snapped” due to the high stress of his treating soldiers returning from war, and the persecution he had received since 9/11. His aunt said he had been the recipient of name calling and harassment for his faith.

On TV news shows, several of Hasan’s colleagues talked about how disturbed they were with his perceived sympathies to the Muslim terrorists, and another associate said he was “not surprised” to learn of Hasan’s actions.

However, as the day became night and the various cable and radio talk shows heated up, many of the hosts started talking about how unfair it was for this man to receive poor treatment due to his Muslim faith, and some callers expressed their concerns that someone who had principles against the war, should not have been “forced” to be deployed to Iraq. Of course, as they said this, they seemed to be missing the obvious point, there were talking about MAJOR Hasan, who was a ranking officer and well compensated, this was not a private who didn’t know what he was doing or had far less choices.

Later in the evening as I listened to Sirius radio, switching stations as I drove home, the cacophony of excuses only grew in excuses and recriminations, especially as I switched to listen to the responses on different left and liberal leaning talk show stations and their listeners.

One host said it was obvious that Hasan was driven to this act by the way he was treated for his Muslim beliefs. Another host said it was “sickening” to have Hasan accused on committing a terrorist act just because he had a Muslim name. He was angry that it was always Muslims whose religion was in question when these type of tragedies occur.

Some of the listeners calling in said that these types of actions were actually originated by the constant fears and accusations of ignorant Americans who believe Muslims are out to kill us. Other callers said that Muslims were not terrorists but peace-loving, and another host made fun of and mocked the several callers who questioned why such a religious man would make such a calculated attack on his fellow soldiers unless he was a Muslim sympathizer and terrorist supporter.

In the middle of all of this discussion, another caller called in to say this type of action was a direct cause and effect of discrimination and racism. The host readily agreed and then the listener and host talked about the consequences of not following President Obama’s example to reach out to the Islamic nations.

Another caller said our institutionalized racism had created a series of “slave camps”, which he called our jail and prison system, because such a high percentage of blacks were incarcerated in these correctional institutions. The host said African Americans, who are 12.4 percent of the population, are more than half of all prison inmates, compared to one-third twenty years ago. According to the host and caller, both of whom were white, this was due to the discrimination of “white America” we had to change this situation.

The host said one of the ways to correct it would be to require the next four generations to inter-marry-black, white and Hispanic and “that would solve the situation once and for all”. Somehow, one of the statistics the host and caller neglected to mention is the fact that based on current statistics, 70% of black children are being raised in single parent households and the lack of fathers has created severe problems in black society.

Frankly, listening to all of this imbecilic, finger-pointing drivel made me ask myself, “what the heck is going on in America?” It seems obvious we are being overwhelmed by apologists and pseudo intellectual insincerity. We are drowning in political correctness and playing the “it’s not my fault” game. Many of our politicians are contributing to this same attitude, with a do as I say, don’t do as I do attitude on taxes, health care and conservation.

In regards to Nidal Malik Hasan fortunately, or unfortunately, he is going to live and be able to answer questions and hopefully take responsibility for his actions. We will be able to learn if he was influenced by radical Islam and with any luck we will be able to find out if he had connections with terrorist influences. Regardless of any real or imagined slights or suspicions he might have felt for his Muslim faith we will be able to find out why a religious man would feel it is acceptable at any time and for any reason to kill the very men and women he was called to serve, lead and protect.

Finally, as part of a military tribunal, we should also see full accountability demanded for Hasan’s actions. Since he was the only “shooter”, he should also be found guilty of multiple murders and scores of attempted murders and since he also irreparably destroyed so many family relationships, Hasan will make restitution in front of an army firing squad.

When I was very young, my Dad told me that President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk which said: "the buck stops here". In other words, someone has to make the decision and accept the responsibility for that decision. This saying came from the slang expression "pass the buck" which means passing the responsibility on to someone else.

The latter expression is said to have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the "buck," as the counter came to be called, to the next player.

In January 1953, the same month and year that I was born, President Truman gave his farewell speech to the American people saying, "The President--whoever he is--has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job”.

What a refreshing and ethical notion. Wouldn’t it be great if that were the case today? Unfortunately, we have become a society that is obsessed with “passing the buck” and blaming others for anything that does not go our way. This attitude of it’s “not my fault” and always blaming others for our actions, has become so pervasive that it permeates every aspect of our society; extending throughout our schools and universities, in the every level of the workplace and throughout our entertainment and media industries.

Unfortunately, unlike the example that President Truman set for the nation, it is also happening from the very top down. As recently as this week, more than a year past his election date, President Obama continues to blame former President Bush for anything that goes wrong in the economy or in the world. In these times of extreme challenge what we really need more than ever before is a nation, with our leaders setting the leaders accepting the responsibility of setting the example of living, the buck stops here.

THE BLAME GAME or TWO DRAMATIC EXAMPLES OF FAMOUS BLAME SHIFTING

2009-10-04T09:18:00Z

THE BLAME GAME or TWO DRAMATIC EXAMPLES OF FAMOUS BLAME SHIFTING

“If you blame others for your failures, do you credit them with your success?”

This anonymous quote certainly seems to fit the events of the past two weeks, during which we have seen almost child-like demonstrations of “buck passing” and blame shifting for very public figures and failures. Last week gave us two of the most dramatic and public examples of how the “blame game” works, with the arrest of 76 year old Oscar winning Director Roman Polanski in Switzerland, and with Chicago finishing fourth out of four in the Olympic bid for 2016.

Thirty-two years ago, in 1977, when he was 44 years old, Roman Polanski was arrested in LA and pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, a 13-year-old girl. He was released after a 42-day psychiatric evaluation, and then immediately boarded a plane to France. He has been under a U.S. arrest warrant since 1978, and an international arrest warrant since 2005.

In actuality, Mr. Polanski was guilty and admitted to raping 13 year old Samantha Geimer, who visited with him for the purpose of having a “photo session” at the home of actor Jack Nicholson. During this “photo session”, Polanski gave Ms Geimer champagne and combined it with the sedative Quaaludes. Legally, ethically and morally, just this act was heinous since Ms Geimer was 13 and Quaaludes combined with alcohol increase the sedative effects to the nervous system and can result in serious illness, coma or death.

In a 2003 interview, Ms Geimer, who is now married and has four children, said this;"we did photos with me drinking champagne, and toward the end it got a little scary, and I realized he had other intentions and I knew I was not where I should be. I just didn't quite know how to get myself out of there."

She then related how Polanski forced her to lie on down on a bed and how she attempted to resist, saying; “No, no. I don't want to go in there. No, I don't want to do this. No!” “I didn't know what else to do…we were alone and I didn’t know what else would happen if I made a scene. So I was just scared, and after giving some resistance, I figured well, I guess I’ll get to come home after this". Despite her protests, Geimer testified that Polanski performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her despite being told no and being asked to “stop”.

In this same 2003 interview, Samantha Geimer said, "Straight up, what he did to me was wrong. But I wish he would return to America so the whole ordeal can be put to rest for both of us." Furthermore, "I'm sure if he could go back, he wouldn't do it again. He made a terrible mistake but he's paid for it."

In a 2008 interview Geimer said, "I think he's sorry, I think he knows it was wrong. I don't think he's a danger to society. I don't think he needs to be locked up forever and no one has ever come out ever — besides me — and accused him of anything. It was 30 years ago now. It's an unpleasant memory ... (but) I can live with it."

What was the “slant” put on the news about Polanski and his arrest for all of America to see and hear? In just one small example of that was replicated over and over on many network and cable outlets, the hosts and reporters on Good Morning America excitedly reported the arrest of Roman Polanski for child rape three decades ago. Co-anchor Diane Sawyer said the detention of the director accused of child rape has created a "true international incident." Co-host Robin Roberts talked about the “complexity of situation”, referring to the event as an "international chess game."

The GMA reporter Nick Watt said; "When Polanski, who is a French citizen, walked into a police trap here at Zurich Airport, he sparked an international row." And he also wanted us to know, "This morning, another French minister said, ‘There is a scary America that has just shown its face.’"

“Scary America”? What is being reported here? Are we blaming America for arresting a child rapist? Let’s all remember this, Polanski is an admitted felon for drugging and raping a 13 year old girl and has been a fugitive for over 30 years. But suddenly it was the United States who was the villain, detaining a man and angering the French because as GMA’s Sawyer described "His films are revered in Europe. It's a true international incident this morning. The French cultural minister called it absolutely horrifying."

Au contraire my dear French cultural minister…here is what is “absolutely horrifying”, this young woman was drugged, and raped orally, vaginally and rectally, by a man 31 years her senior. Amazingly, and with great credit to her, Ms Geimer, for her own personal sanity and well-being she has forgiven Polanski and moved on with her life, but the real question is, what has the reaction been of far too many people, including many in Hollywood?

Swiss filmmaker Otto Weisser called Polanski's admitted 1977rape “a little mistake.” Polanski’s former sister-in-law, Debra Tate, says, “there’s rape and then there’s rape.” Whoopi Goldberg, an outspoken advocate for women’s rights and pro-choice infamously professed on THE VIEW the exact same judicial theory: "I don't believe it was rape - rape," and even said she wouldn’t say she wouldn’t necessarily like her 13 year old daughter to participate in sex. How nice for her daughter! Actress Melissa Gilbert said the difference with Polanski’s rape was the “Mom was in the building.” So if a parent it in the building when a rape of the child is taking place, even though they cannot see what is happening that it must be ok?

A petition signed at last count by more than 100 movie and TV stars including American and European film luminaries, including Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen (A paragon of morals having slept with and married his adopted daughter), and Pedro Almovodar have signed a petition calling for the director's release from a Swiss house arrest and exportation to the United States to be prosecuted for his admitted crime. Others who signed the free Polanski petition, backed by France's Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers, include David Lynch, Michael Mann, Darren Aronofsky, Terry Gilliam, Harvey Weinstein, Tilda Swinton and Monica Bellucci and the list goes on and on and is continuing to grow.

What happened to the facts? Rape-rape…Samantha Geimer might have forgiven Polanski after 32 years, and that is a credit to her personal character, but she also testified she told him “NO”. As a man, I thought “NO meant NO”? Don’t forget, to get Gaimer to the point of being able to repeatedly rape (including sodomize), her as a 13 year old child, Polanski gave her a combo of drugs and alcohol, the act of which removes 100% of his credibility, no matter how good his movies are!

Finally, in what does not seem to be troubling to all those defending him, court documents which have now been released show in October 1993 there was a confidential deal reached between Mr Polanski and the victim, Samantha Geimer. In this agreement Roman Polanski agreed to pay Ms Geimer, his victim of sexual assault, $500,000, but he fled the US, failing to comply with this agreement, according to court documents released to the media. The last court filing in August 1996 stated that he owed Ms Geimer $604,416.22, including interest but according to the Associated Press the court records did not reveal whether the 76-year-old director had ever paid his debt.

So, who is to blame for arresting Polanski for his admitted odious crime against a young girl for which he plead guilty? Even if we put aside the alleged judicial misconduct which led Polanski to flee the U.S. after his lawyer had worked out a deal in which he would not serve jail time for statutory rape and remember, his victim, now 45, has publicly asked that the charges be dropped, not because Polanski is not guilty, but because she does not want all the attending publicity to overwhelm her family. Where does that leave us?

There is no statute of limitations on sentencing; Polanski pled guilty and then fled sentencing because he thought the judge would "renege". He also promised to pay the victim in a settlement made 16 years ago and there is no evidence he lived up to that agreement. If Polanski had stayed and completed his sentence, he would long ago been free and clear. It is Polanski who prolonged this case with his unnecessary actions and refusal to take his justified punishment for his admitted actions.

The fact is it is a sad commentary that anyone would be blaming anyone other than the criminal for the crime he committed and has now spent 32 years avoiding. So Polanski was finally arrested after 32 years and is now being asked to pay for his crimes.

But before anyone but Polanski is blamed perhaps this is the final question we should ask; if you were a parent of a 13 year old girl, would you think it is acceptable for a 44 year old man, who is also a creative, brilliant and famous film director to repeatedly rape and sodomize your daughter while she cried and said “NO”? To whom would you assign blame?

As I said earlier, another public example of assigning blame came when Chicago, when one of the two favorites to win the 2016 Olympic Bid, ended up dead last. When the votes on the first Olympic ballot were counted and Chicago only got 18 votes out of 94 for the 2016 games people started to ask, “how could this happen”? “How could only 19% of the voters be persuaded to vote for Chicago?” Only 18 votes after Chicago spent 4 years, $50M dollars in bid preparation and even had what Katie Couric of the CBS Evening News called, “the “Dream Team” pushing Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic summer games?

As all of us know, the “Dream Team” so excitedly described by Ms. Couric, was First Lady Michelle Obama with Oprah Winfrey (even Nadia Comaneci), and as detailed by Couric in her Thursday night (10/1) broadcast “The team captain, President Obama, arrives Friday ahead of the final vote”.

In the week before the Olympic bid results, the majority of the media were united with Katie Couric’s fait accompli assessment of an Olympic bid led by President Obama, his wife and the most powerful women in the world, Oprah.

Talking about the Olympic “pitch” Good Morning America reported that Valerie Jarrett, a top White House adviser, said first lady Michelle Obama was planning to make a dramatic presentation “There won’t be a dry eye in the room,” “I’m sure that it will touch the hearts of each of the IOC members”.

Here is an example of Mrs. Obama’s “dramatic” presentation: "Sports were a gift I shared with my dad, especially the

Olympic Games," "But I never dreamed that the Olympic flame might one day light up lives in my neighborhood," she said. "But today, I can dream, and I am dreaming of an Olympic and Paralympics Games in Chicago that will light up lives in neighborhoods all across America and all across the world." “Having the Olympics in Chicago would be important to let people know that we understand that sports saves lives, that it makes dreams come true, that it creates visions in kids’ heads to make them think they can be the next David Robinson, the next Barack Obama, the next Nadia Comaneci, the next Oprah Winfrey,"

President Obama said this about his wife’s presentation when he got up to speak; "I'm sure you'd all agree that she's a pretty big selling point."

Among his many comments he said; "There is nothing I would like more than to step just a few blocks from my family's home and with Michelle and our two girls welcome the world back to our neighborhood" "At the beginning of this new century, the nation that has been shaped by people from around the world wants a chance to inspire it once more."

It seems obvious that Ms. Jarrett and the President misjudged Mrs. Obama’s oratory persuasion power. Without a doubt the majority of the media misjudged the persuasive power of the Dream Team, even though immediately after their speeches ABC, NBC, CBS and blogs such as Huffington Post fell over themselves describing the “deeply personal, passionate and moving speeches” by the Obama’s.

As an example, CNN's lead story immediately after the pitch was this; "Michelle Obama steals the show in Copenhagen." Unfortunately, none of this was true. The fact is our 18 votes and first round knock-out was a worse defeat for Chicago than our last defeat, when New York received 19 votes in the 2^nd round of the 2012 Olympic vote.

Perhaps it was just my personal perception and I admit it was colored by being late at night after working a 14 hour day, but I did stay up and watched the pitch for the Olympics by our Dream Team, During those presentations, I was struck by a message that seemed very loud and clear.

Unlike the pitches from Madrid, Brazil and Japan, the American pitch sure seemed to have a lot of “ME, ME, ME”; There was “my dad”, “my family”, “my wife”, “my girls”, “my backyard” and of course, "The next Barack Obama" the Dream Team “captain”.

The next day, several analysts actually said they believed some of the IOC members resented the fact that President Obama came into Copenhagen for five hours, jetting back down the runway toward Washington hours before the result was even announced. "It can be that some IOC members see it as a lack of respect," said former IOC member Kai Holm.

So what happened? No one really know for sure, although it seems the real question is why didn’t Chicago finish closer to their expected top two finish and did the Dream Team actually hurt more than help our quest for the Olympics? It is important to remember that Brazil was representing South America’s first Olympic games and despite not having a Dream Team, they did have compelling and emotional story to tell. Everyone loves the “underdog” and the “first time”.

As you would expect, after landing in Washington D.C. (he learned of the Chicago loss while on Air Force 1) President Obama called Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to congratulate him on the IOC's decision to award the games to Rio de Janeiro. President Obama said while he was disappointed by the committee’s decision, he also had "no doubt that [Chicago's] was the strongest bid possible." "One of the things that I think is most valuable about sports is that you can play a great game and still not win," Obama said.

However, from that point on, everyone else supporting the President and the Chicago bid started into a massive and unrelenting blame game including Robert Ctvrtlik, the U.S.O.C. vice president for international relations who said; “The United States, within the Olympic movement, hasn’t engaged as well as we could have for a long time,” there’s a lot of politics going on. This isn’t just on the merits. I don’t think it’s anti-American. Maybe we still don’t have the horsepower to do some of the politicking within the movement.”

Frankly this excuse does not sound too gracious and is actually perilously close to being an “ugly American” diatribe. But the sad fact is, other than President Obama’s brief comments of disappointment, Mr Otvertlik was the high point for the blame game of those representing the President and the failure of the Chicago Olympic bid.

David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and Senior Advisor to President Obama blamed “dishonest backroom politics for rigging the decision. “We thought it was all set. There’s no way we would’ve let the President and First Lady expose themselves to such an overtly public show if we didn’t think it was already a done deal. We’ve been double-crossed. We won’t forget.”

Wow, that is pretty tough language from the President Obama’s #1 advisor. He said the loss of Chicago Olympic bid was a “rigged decision” and the President was “double-crossed”, and the administration said “we won’t forget”? I am not sure how this blame attack will help the United States image abroad, and it calls into question the sincerity of President Obama’s gracious statements of disappointment.

Hubert Humphrey, a U.S. Senator and the 38^th Vice President of the United States (with Lyndon Johnson) once said; “We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics.”

There was also a different kind of blame hitting coming out about the Olympic defeat since conservative bloggers and most Republicans (and may Independent voters) are accusing President Obama of wasting his time and skirting his executive responsibilities to be the first U.S. President to go pitch an Olympics when the U.S. jobless rate was hitting close to 10% when the President promised his stimulus package would prevent it from hitting 8%.

According to conservatives, economics should be the President’s #1 concern, especially with consumer confidence hitting all-time lows. Republican congress people immediately asked why President Obama, who has met with his Afghan commander ONE time in 70 days, would continue to waste his time with publicity grabbing Olympic pitches and spending more time with Oprah and David Letterman, than he has with McChrystal in the last 70 days. In addition, they blame President Obama for spending another $1M (some say $10M) to fly over to Denmark for no other reason than to back up his big-moneyed donors from Chicago.

Instantaneously, another type of blame started up as well, put in place to shift the focus of our Olympic defeat since anyone who is anyone has to know there must be another reason that our President, first lady and Oprah lost to a city that needed to spend $16B on police protection just to host the games. In fact, some of the Chicago officials started saying “anti-American resentments” likely played a role in Chicago’s Olympic bid dying so quickly and embarrassingly in the first round of the voting.

“There must be” resentment against America, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, near the stage where he had hoped to give a victory speech in Daley Plaza. “The way we [refused to sign] the Kyoto Treaty, we mislead the world into Iraq. The world had a very bad taste in its mouth about us. But there was such a turnaround after last November. The world now feels better about America and about Americans. That’s why I thought the president’s going was the deal-maker.”

This blame attack was quickly followed by assigning blame to a familiar villain who continues to be used for any problem or failure, constantly targeted by the majority of the media. According to his political supporters, “President Obama could not undo in one year the resentment against America that President Bush and others built up for decades before”.

According to MSNBC host Ed Schultz the real culprit for the Olympic loss; “right-wing talkers”. Schultz insisted this was a failure not only for Obama, but “society as a whole”. "This is not a failure of President Obama," Schultz continued. "This is a failure of the Republican Party. The right-wing talkers in this country that openly, openly campaigned against the Olympics by denigrating our president again”.

Rep. Janet Schakowsky, D-Ill., went after conservative talkers as well - "You're right, the Republicans are just naysayers," Schakowsky said. "How dare Rush Limbaugh. How dare he say that this president goes around talking about how bad our country is. He has finally been able to establish us as real participants in the world community and if anything would have stopped us from getting it is the last eight years where we have turned off the rest of the world”.

Michael Froomkin, Professor at the University Of Miami School Of Law, is convinced that in spite of President Obama’s lobbying efforts, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) may have chosen to reject hosting the 2016 summer Olympic games in Chicago due to the post-9/11 visa tourist policies established by his predecessor, George W. Bush. Professor Froomkin said the “the same stupid anti-visitor policy that is destroying American higher education” also sunk Chicago’s Olympic bid.

Senator Rowland Burris of Illinois, the Senator who was appointed by a corrupt Governor under question of ethics to fill President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, also blamed George Bush for Chicago not getting the Olympics in 2016. Just after the announcement, in an interview on the streets of Chicago, Burris said “the image of the U. S. has been so tarnished in the last 8 years that, even Barack Obama making an unprecedented pitch for the games could not overcome the hatred the world has for us as a result of George Bush”.

The rule of liberal thought is to use the same approach that started after Bush won his first election, no matter what, “Blame Bush”…Senator Burris went on to say that this is just another way Bush is now hurting Chicago. Yes, without a doubt, Bush is in Texas plotting how to hurt Chicago…and he is the reason Chicago lost the Olympic vote. Senator Burris should pay more attention to how to help Chicago remove its moniker of political corruption and being home to a high rate of domestic crime and stop worrying about a man who is no longer President.

Excuse my frustration, but for goodness sake, President Bush has been out of office for almost 10 months and there has been 100% democratic control of congress for over four years, but “blame Bush” is still the #1 method of attack for anything that goes wrong in the world. If swine flu becomes a pandemic, “blame Bush” will be the cry. I am sure this outlandish blame game attack will soon be part of Saturday Night Live skit. Interestingly, tonight (10/3) when the SNL opened it did so with an opening skit (before “Live from New York”) making fun of Obama not just for Olympics, but for other failures to accomplish what he promised in his campaign for President.

Wouldn’t it be great if instead of blaming everyone else, we simply had the ethics and personal integrity to do as Livestrong.com suggests and “dare to change your life”. When it comes to blame, wouldn’t it be great to follow the advice posted on this website to promote personal improvement and recognize the following truths about accepting personal responsibility?

· Acknowledging that you are solely responsible for the choices in your life.

· Accepting that you are responsible for what you choose to feel or think.

· Accepting that you choose the direction for your life.

· Accepting that you cannot blame others for the choices you have made.

· Tearing down the mask of defense or rationale for why others are responsible for who you are, what has happened to you and what you are bound to become.

· The rational belief that you are responsible for determining who you are, and how your choices affect your life.

· Pointing the finger of responsibility back to yourself and away from others when you are discussing the consequences of your actions

Years ago I read a quote by Dave Checkett, who at 28 became the GM Utah Jazz, the youngest chief executive of a sports team in history. He said; “success builds character, failure reveals it”.

We need to always remember that it is often in the trial of adversity we learn those critical lessons that will form our character and affect our destiny and blaming others only degrades and cheapens those who point the finger in the blame game. When that happens, regardless of our political position or social outlook, we will all be better off.

Things that go thump in the night

2009-09-22T05:34:00Z

This morning I received another e-mail from a viewer with documents questioning President Obama’s American birthplace. The e-mail showed his Indonesia grade school application and it had a picture of Barak Obama when he was living in Jakarta, Indonesia as Barry Setero. The picture showed 9 year old Obama with his mother, step-father (Lolo Setoro) and his baby step-sister. The viewer who sent the e-mail was very concerned since the document included indicated the 9 year Barry Setoro had an Indonesian Nationality and his religion was listed as Islam. This viewer wanted to know how the freedom of information act could be circumvented to hide Obama’s true birth identity. He was also very concerned about this story below, which was posted last Friday in WorldNetDaily:

Judge stalls access to Obama birth data
WorldNetDaily ^ | SEPTEMBER 18, 2009 | Bob Unruh - Posted on Friday, September 18, 2009 5:27:55 PM by RobinMasters

A judge has told lawyers whose clients are challenging Barack Obama's eligibility to be president they cannot start digging into the president's historical records right now, and he'll adjust a scheduled Jan. 26, 2010, trial date if they end up needing more time for their research.

The ruling comes from U.S. District Judge David Carter in a California lawsuit brought by several political candidates and party officials, including former U.S. ambassador Alan Keyes and Wiley Drake and Markham Robinson of the American Independent Party.

They are suing Obama alleging that he was not and is not eligible to be president under the U.S. Constitution's demand for a "natural born" citizen in the Oval Office. They are represented by Orly Taitz, who has worked on a multitude of lawsuits over Obama's eligibility, and Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation.

Kreep had responded to the government's motion requesting a stay in the discovery process, the procedures through which valuable evidence is assembled in a lawsuit, by requesting immediate access to Obama's records such as his original long-form birth certificate and his Occidental College records.

The plaintiffs' suspicion is that those records would, in fact, undermine the president's statements that he is a "natural born" citizen, which could disqualify him. For example, an original birth certificate could indicate that it was a "delayed" filing, which could open the door for a birth location outside the United States.

Likewise, the Occidental College records could be significant if Obama attended on a program for foreign students, or represented himself as a foreign student at the time.

At San Diego 6 we have a policy of responding to our viewers who take the time to write to us. We also have a firm commitment to keep our news reporting balanced, regardless of personal feeling. I thanked the viewer for his information and told him if this ever became a story we would certainly cover it.

Frankly, this is an old story which I have seen many times before. It is also a story the liberal bloggers and biased network news outlets such as MSNBC have spent a great deal of time mocking and belittling as crazy. They also take great delight in attacking as “extremist loons” all those who continue to repeat this information. However, to completely discount this type of fear of the unknown would be just a “crazy” as those they are trying to discount. The fact is, this type of reaction is a continuing symptom of an ongoing problem regarding President Obama.

While the majority of Americans voted for President Obama (53.7% Obama vs. 46.2% McCain), many of the people who originally voted for Obama are having second thoughts and getting increasingly fearful about the type of changes taking place in our country. Many of those same people are discovering President Obama’s actual vision of change is not the change they were voting for in November 2008.

People who voted for Obama because they were concerned about the long-running war in Iraq and the downturn in the economy that started in 2008 are now wondering how President Obama can been considering adding more troops into Afghanistan than we ever had in Iraq. They are also questioning how they were told they had to pass bail-out bills to save jobs, and now find the U.S. jobless rate the highest since the Great Depression (9/1/09-The U.S. jobless rate is 9.7% and it is 10.2% in California) and according to all the leading economic indicators, it is still going higher.

People not only want to know why the government bailouts have not stemmed the flow of lost jobs, but how will we possible pay down a national debt that is now $1.8 Trillion and, according to the National Treasury department, is going to jump another $1 Trillion by the end of the year. Even worse, the Congressional Budget Office has projected the policies laid out in Obama's first budget would require an additional $9 trillion in borrowing over the next decade and that is before we add-in the additional deficit created through the passage of the Cap & Trade Bill (global warming) or the potential Health Care Bill.

More and more people are saying this type of radical and lightning quick change is not the type of change they voted for when they elected a President who ran on a platform of hope and change. What was hope for so many has turned into outright fear for many others, and that is one of the reasons why this type of e-mail keeps repeating and re-circulating. These e-mail chains are part of the same concern that has sparked the town hall meetings and march on Washington. More and more people have grown increasingly frightened by the fast growing debt combined with increased government control of our country.

As I have said in previous viewer e-mail responses and my personal blog, while it’s true that no one has ever seen an original birth certificate for President Obama, the most important question is not where he was born, but where was President Obama raised? What are the real background and values of our President and how do those affect each and every one of us who are impacted by his decision-making processes?

The problem that many people are having right now is it is increasingly apparent we have a President who does not share the traditional American values which built America and made it prosper. This should not be so surprising since it would be difficult to share those same values if your upbringing was so different than most Americans. Regardless of where he was born, Obama’s birth father was a Kenyan socialist activist and his mother was an American socialist idealist.

His father finished his degree in Hawaii and left baby Barak and his mother to attend university in Cambridge when Obama was less than a year old. After he left, despite a short visit in Cambridge, Obama was raised by his mother, with his parents divorcing before he was three. Before he was seven his mother remarried a man from Indonesia (Lolo Setoro) and they moved to Jakarta where his parents enrolled him in a Muslim school. At ten years old Obama moved back to Hawaii and lived with his grandparents, but as anyone who has resided in Hawaii for any period of time knows full well, that is not a state which resembles mainland U.S. and it has always been one of the most socialist of our 50 states.

Famously, Obama’s primary work experience was centered on community organizing, including a stint as a director at the infamous ACORN. In fact, before starting political office, other than teaching at University of Chicago Law school, virtually all of his career experiences were involved with extreme leftist community organizing and teaching.

Another unique element of President Obama’s upbringing is the now proven evidence that until he met his wife and started to attend Reverend Wright’s extreme anti-white black Christian church, President Obama’s religious reference points were always Muslim. While this was adamantly denied as a democratic candidate and during his presidential campaign, just before he addressed the Muslim world this year his deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said "the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to -- or before he's been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world -- you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a Muslim father -- obviously Muslim Americans (are) a key part of Illinois and Chicago."

To quote the very pro-Obama ABC News: “Given widespread unease and prejudice against Muslims among Americans, especially in the wake of 9/11, the Obama campaign was perhaps understandably very sensitive during the primaries and general election to downplay the candidate's Muslim roots. With insane rumors suggesting he was some sort of Muslim Manchurian candidate, then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and his campaign did everything they could to emphasize his Christianity and de-emphasize the fact that his father, Barack Obama Sr., was born Muslim character shaping, his only Christian background was in anti-white radical black racist church, led by a preacher who openly taught hatred of America”.

So, with all these different facts about the President’s life, including many unanswered questioned about how he lived and spent some of his younger life, questions continue to abound. In addition, as he makes efforts to change our government into a more socialized version of his own political beliefs, people’s fears continue to generate more and more concerns for his origins.

Regardless of the President’s genesis, the bottom line is this; the country is split and getting more deeply split with every passing day. After the initial rush and warm glow that attended his inauguration, and the heady early days of his Presidency, Obama now has more people disapproving of his actions as President than approving. In fact, his rapid approval fall has continued precipitously despite the fact he has appeared in front of the American public on Television (and through prime-time television cut-ins) more than any President in the history of the office.

Today’s (9/21/09) Rasmussen daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President but thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.

Also in today’s Rasmussen Poll: Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters nationwide now oppose the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s the highest level of opposition yet measured and includes 44% who are Strongly Opposed. Just 43% now favor the proposal, including 24% who Strongly Favor it.

Here is some other feedback regarding health care reform from the recent Rasmussen poll: Part of the president’s problem is that he has so far been unsuccessful in winning over those who already have health insurance. Instead, 53% say the plan will force them to change their coverage. The plan faces many obstacles because it touches so many aspects of life. One of its contested provisions is coverage of abortions, and 48% believe any government-subsidized health care plan should be prohibited from covering abortion procedures. Just 13% support such coverage.

A South Carolina Republican’s outburst during Obama’s speech was prompted by another hot-button issue – health care subsidies for illegal immigrants - although some Democrats (including former President Carter) have suggested his comment was due to racism. But just 12% of voters nationwide believe that most opponents of the president’s health care reform plan are racist. As for the underlying issue of immigration, 83% believe that people should have to prove their citizenship to receive government subsidized health benefits

What continues to happen is support is continuing to erode for the President and for his health care plan despite the constant media barrage philosophical attack to push it forward. Frankly, as a person who has spent his entire professional life in the television business I am shocked at the current level of bias in the media. It is obvious that NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN are “cheerleading” for the President and not reporting the facts.

In the series of network interviews recorded Friday at the White House for airing on the ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC Sunday morning interview shows, all highlighted Jimmy Carter's charge that racism is fueling the anti-Obamacare protests – with CNN's John King and NBC's David Gregory following up with Nancy Pelosi's claim the heated rhetoric may incite violence – and CBS's Bob Schieffer asserted the "meanness that has settled over our political dialogue" had "started this summer at these town hall meetings."

Amazingly, only NBC's Gregory chastised Obama for not taking on the left on malpractice reform and only ABC's George Stephanopoulos brought up ACORN, but painted Obama as a victim: "Have some of your allies made it easier for, handed your opponents some ammunition, like ACORN, for example?" Schieffer and King, but not Stephanopoulos or Gregory, pressed Obama on how seven former CIA directors urged him to drop the criminal probe of interrogations of terror suspects

Right now one of the proposals to establish health care reform is to force every single person to buy health care…which is estimated at $3800/each. We should be asking the question; “is that proposal a tax increase?” President Obama said no one under making under $250,000 would be taxed. If everyone will be forced to buy health insurance, even if it is a public option, how will the poor pay this tax? Also, what will happen to the millions of illegal immigrants who show up now at hospitals and get treated? Will they be forced to pay for health insurance? Here is another question, is it constitutional to demand everyone buys health insurance? All are good questions, but none of them were asked of President Obama this weekend.

As listed earlier in this article, President Obama worked as a Director for ACORN and for years and funneled money to them. During his election campaign ACORN was a key part of the campaign, including telling them during the year before his election to President if he was elected, ACORN would help shape his Presidential agenda. Yet this past Sunday, when asked about ACORN and the scandal surrounding them, the President actually said this; “I didn’t know ACORN was getting a lot of federal money…it’s not something I’m paying a lot of attention to”.

What? He didn’t know ACORN was getting federal money and didn’t pay a lot of attention to them? Good grief, this man’s elective life-blood was through ACORN. Since 1994 ACORN has been given $53 million dollars and was earmarked to collect billions from the stimulus bill before the huge outcry caused by a couple of FOX Cable commentators and two young film-makers.

In what has to be a complete challenge to realistic credibility, we are supposed to believe the President doesn’t pay any attention to ACORN and their corrupt practices, but he is going to push forward and prosecute CIA officers for “torturing terrorists” despite the fact the Justice department investigated already and declined to prosecute. This investigation is going to press forward even though the CIA already took administrative action, including disciplinary action against those officers whose conduct it deemed warranted such responses. In addition, this past week, in an unprecedented move, seven former CIA directors, who served both Democratic and Republican Presidents, wrote to the President, strongly opposing this action. However, undeterred, and despite saying he would not do this during the election, President Obama and his attorney general are moving forward to investigate the CIA for interrogating the 9/11 murderers, while they are unconcerned about the overwhelming corruption of ACORN.

We now have a President who promised change in many ways, including giving us complete transparency and openness as he governed “towards the center”. In reality we less transparency than ever before, with members of his own party, including some it’s most senior members, openly expressing worry and concern about the transfer of power to non-elected officials. The fear of government takeover included the fear for having so many Czars (34) including; California Water Green, Climate, Guantanamo Closure, Intelligence, and WMD Czars. What is most concerning is the czars in this administration seem to have more power and authority in this Presidency than Cabinet positions.

People are also increasingly concerned that President Obama and his White House seem to withhold everything except for the image and propaganda they release without substantiation. In polls out last week Pew Research Center for the People & the Press said nearly two-thirds of Americans think the news stories they read, hear and watch are frequently inaccurate. That marks the highest level of skepticism recorded since 1985, when this study of public perceptions of the media was first done. The survey polled 1,506 adults on the phone in late July and found that 63 percent of the respondents thought the information they get from the media was often off base. In 2007, the same Pew Research survey, said 53 percent of the people expressed that same doubt about accuracy.

In a move that is unprecedented in my lifetime, this weekend President Obama actually spent the weekend appearing on various networks attacking FOX News Channel as being out of control, dangerous and biased for not agreeing with him. He was (literally) on every other network, including Univision, and even appeared on the anti-FOX, anti-Bush and openly pro Obama David Letterman to pitch his health plan. However, he refused to go on Fox News Sunday and meet with Chris Wallace who is one of the most fair minded journalist broadcasters I have heard.

Chris Wallace told Fox & Friends the White House is being petty and childish. Wallace went on to say he asks “tough and fair questions but the administration does not like it”. “We have a President who has promised to reach out to all citizens and he is going back on that promise” Wallace continued; “I have to say there is a pettiness about this White House…we don’t like you do this, we don’t like you do that”. “I have covered a lot of white houses in my 30 years in the business”…I covered Ronald Regan, you come in and do a tough piece on day and it didn’t seem the facts were favorable to the President” and another day you do a piece that might be more favorable…but the white house only treated you as a professional”. “There is a childishness to this Whitehouse” they only see the networks favorable to them and Univision told me the White House came to them for the interview.

As of Sunday President Obama has conducted 124 print and broadcast interviews since the start of his Presidency. During the same exact period of time, President W Bush did 40 interviews and President Clinton conducted 46. Many people are wondering why so many interview but almost none with Fox News Channel.

This is what was reported by www.examiner.com:

What many critics are calling a weak kneed policy to avoid Fox fits the mould of Obama’s developing personality. Europe is crying that Obama is weak and caved to Russian demands and threats which is reinforced by his aversion to appear on FOX.

Buck it up Mr. President, beside you got O’Reilly in your corner!

Get this format: an assembly line of network anchors file in and out quickly from the West Wing.. All get the same venue located in the Roosevelt Room just outside the Oval Office. They each get 15 minutes in the hot seat with Obama then five minutes to swap the fawning talent.

I’m guessing he’ll knock this out in just under two hours,” a White House aide was reported to have said.

The fact is, we are living in a world gone insane. We have just started to dial down the troops in Iraq and now we are being told by commanders on ground in Afghanistan we need more combat troops in that country than we had in Iraq. Today, the head of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, once again denied the holocaust, saying; he was “proud he had managed to enrage the West by denying the Holocaust during a speech he made in Tehran in honor of Jerusalem day”. Ahmadinejad was quoted by the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) as saying that the angering of "professional man-slayers is a source of pride for us and will not stand in our way". We are seeing threats from all over the world and our President seems to think the way to with these people is to set up a lectern, fire up the teleprompter, and talk. Amazingly, our President has a Secretary of State who has become almost invisible due to some type of political struggle and it seems as though we have no clear direction against the people who want to see us dead.

At San Diego 6 we perform an important service, we report on as much local news as is important, as well as some of our national news stories. As a local news operation we are not here to slant the news. Unlike the bias seen on cable and what has unfortunately become the “standards of rigor” for the broadcast networks, at San Diego 6 news we do our best to present the news without “slanting”, or delivering “angles” with our opinion. We present the news and give both sides to our stories.

For example, even during a story tonight about a local “Sneak a Peek” Coffee stand, our reporter gave both sides to the entrepreneurial young ladies who set up a bikini coffee and drink stand across from a Starbucks in Freemont. He included parents and civic leader who wanted to stop the stand from operating and the statements of the young ladies who created the stand. At the end of our 10pm news we also posted the comment sent in from our viewers about this story. Our goal is to deliver our viewers the best news and all the facts possible and then our viewers make up their own minds how to interpret those stories.

Blogs like this one are for opinions, but opinions are not news…they are opinions. In my opinion, we now have a President who is an exact reflection of our time. President Obama uses a Blackberry, can talk in short text language and glib speech, and he is very photogenic, handsome and seemingly erudite, but he continually seems to be all surface and appearance, and that is not enough to lead or to govern effectively.

Unfortunately, too much of the national and local media is covering up any shortcomings or flaws or contradictions or mistakes of our President. The problem is NOT the color of his skin (see my last blog is “Is Racism the new swear word”). Frankly, President Obama’s partial black ancestry was wonderful for America and the world, and added to the excitement of our shared hopes for a better society.

However, if President Obama’s election was a statement of our true liberty and a glorious song of democracy, the current attacks on those who disagree with him as racist is orchestrating the once beautiful music with the most dissident and ugly chords formed by xenophobic rhetoric.

The color in question has nothing to do with President Obama’s race, but it has everything to do with the black hole created by his lack of experience and naïve approach to government. All of his actions are pushing us further and further into economic disaster as the threat of trillions of dollars of additional deficits are needed to cover his bailouts and social change programs.

President Obama has never run a business, met a payroll, or delivered an ROI, and now that he is putting his idealistic concepts into practice, his over-reaching grab for absolute governmental power to accomplish these ideas, while also seemingly ignoring the potentially fatal conflicts on the world stage, is panicking more and more of those people who value the freedoms which made America great.

IS THE "R" WORD THE NEW SWEAR WORD?

2009-09-06T23:20:00Z

I grew up in the 60’s and early 70’s…a time of personal exploration, civil rights, Vietnam War protests, and the birth of rock & roll. We didn’t have the Internet or cell phones, cable or broadband but it was still an exciting time to live. It was a time when choices became both multitudinous and varied, and this was challenging for parents who grew up and lived in a time when the world was simpler and choices seemed clear.

However, as all this tumult was taking place, my parents were adamant that every person was equal, only differentiated by education and circumstances. Additionally, two of the principles of character and behavior which my parents demanded of themselves and expected from their children were honesty and courtesy. The expectations of integrity and civility extended to an expectation on how we spoke.

This anticipation of proper behavior wasn’t just for conversational language, but to speak without the curses of profanity and slang words which were too frequently used to describe gender, sexual preference or ethnic groups. My parent’s standards were very clear, this type of language was never acceptable and if spoken would be deal with immediately and very harshly.

The result of these values for child and teen-hood character building were very positive since there are many words I have never spoken and I have never thought to speak because they are not a part of my conscious or unconscious thoughts.

Unfortunately, we are living in a time when these types of words are not just common-place but a part of every-day language, extending to movies and cable programming. However, in the times we live in now, we are seeing a new paradigm in hurtful language and word use which is used to effect change in political and social thought and life-style. It seems clear that the new swear word is racism, or using the word racist to paint people with the mud of disparagement and slur and stain of bigotry.

This is not hyperbole, it is fact. The problem is, most people do not believe it is really happening. Unfortunately, those who speak out about this practice are being ridiculed and are called extremists and liars. Interestingly, this was all mapped out long-ago…during the same time I was growing up as I described earlier. This attack is all according the rules of engagement as described by Saul D. Alinsky in his 1971 published work: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals.

These policies, as laid out by Alinsky, were studied and incorporated by the leftist political structure that is currently loudly (and quickly) advocating changing the American System of government and liberties. In stark contrast with my parents admonition of integrity, Alinsky said this; “The judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position of those sitting in judgment”. He also said, “the less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage in ethical evaluations of means” and also “Generally, success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics”.

How is it possible for political positioning to determine ethics or you can only afford ethics if the end desired is not really important? Truth is truth. For example, either the world is flat, or is round, or is it as it has always been, egg shaped. Did the world change shape just because the majority of people believed the wrong information? The truth is the world was always slightly egg-shaped no matter what viewpoint or politician controlled prevailing the prevailing thought.

Here is “Rule 12” in Alinksy’s Rules for Radicals; “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)”

Does this rule seem to be in place by much of the liberal/progressive political machine and their corresponding media mouthpieces today? Is it difficult to see this exact type of targeting, polarization and personal attack? It doesn’t require much analysis or thought process.

It is also a fact that President Barak Obama was strongly influenced by Alinsky’s teaching in the days he spent on the far south side of Chicago. During his time of being an “organizer”, President Obama worked for Gerald Kellman's Developing Communities Project, where he both learned and taught Alinsky's methods for community organizing.

Most Americans, regardless of political preference, were also excited to have the first black American President because it proved once and for all that America was the land of equality and opportunity. However, what started to become apparent was a disreputable practice that was quickly employed by the staff of Mr. Obama. Frankly, no one should have been surprised since it was simply an insidious and effective use of Rule 12: to call those who disagreed with candidate Obama, racist.

This is a fact that President and Mrs. Clinton quickly learned and protested during the democratic campaign, and they publicized the fact it was part of the “rule book” for the Obama Campaign. Paradoxically, the fact the Clintons brought up this tactic only increased the racist accusations and so they backed off. The next to feel this attack was Senator McCain during the Presidential Campaign, and he called out candidate Obama since Senator McCain had a very clear record of being no respecter of persons and was justifiably outraged by this accusation.

Mr. Obama backtracked on this portrayal and tried to separate himself from those who had spread these slanderous statements, but, unfortunately, this strategy has never gone away, and we have seen this scenario repeated again. It is used by President Obama’s operatives over and over as they have painted many of those who object to his political process with the racist brush, and do it through a number of different sources and outlets.

In February, the newly appointed Attorney General Eric Holder immediately invoked the racist card when he said; "Though the nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," Holder said. "Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we average Americans simply do not talk enough with each other about race."

Part of the problem we all face is these racial accusations are readily thrown around to anyone who might disagree with a “black” president: because they do not agree with his actions, not because there is any problem with his racial heritage. To be called cowards for having issues with policies only exacerbates racial misunderstandings and causes anger and frustration.

This practice of racial slandering is so pervasive that it continues to be used, not just by extensions of the administration, but also by members of the “Pro-Obama” press, in a pervasive and continuous manner. As just one example, CNN called Governor Palin a racist during the presidential campaign, and MSNBC called those “fighting” President Obama’s change as racist.

We see this type of language in print and in broadcast in many different forms. HBO television “political commentator” Bill Maher repeatedly cites Republican “racism”, including a few months ago when he said; “Not just that, but also the people who are buying guns and ammunition since Election Day are doing so "because they're afraid that Obama and his Negro army are going to come and get" them.

Several times last month “actress” Janeane Garofalo, accused those who disagree with President Obama as racist. For example, she said this; "Let's be very honest about what this is about. This is not about bashing Democrats. It's not about taxes. They have no idea what the Boston Tea Party was about. They don't know their history at all. It's about hating a black man in the White House. That is racism straight up. This is nothing but a bunch of teabagging rednecks”.

We have seen innumerable leftist blogs attack President Bush, *** Chaney, Rush Limbaugh and all manner of Republicans as racists. In August Frank Rich of the NY Times called Republicans racist for not following President Obama’s direction. NY Times Op-Ed Columnist, Charles M. Blow, actually seemed to call for a police state to keep people in line who are not following our President when he wrote; “Society needs to do a much better job of creating an environment where hateful beliefs are never ignored and suspicious behavior never goes unreported.”

This sounds like Blow is advocating a police state, reporting those who disagree with (to quote Alinsky) “the political position of those sitting in judgment”. What kind of “hateful beliefs” need to be reported? Perhaps it is those attacked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who seemed to prevaricate about anti-Obama protesters she didn’t even see, claiming that they’re “carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare.”

Yet, look at the media outrage when Fox News Channel commentator, Glenn Beck spoke out at the way he felt President Obama miss-handled the arrest of Harvard University Scholar. Despite the fact Professor Gates was verified to have been abusive to a white policeman who, ironically, had a long and positive history of social interaction as well as many commendations for racial tolerance and community outreach.

Beck said Obama has exposed himself as a person with "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture”, and cited, among other things, President Obama’s 20 year attendance and close personal relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who the NY Post called “Obama’s Minister of Hate”. Beck has also used President Obama own text which is replete with anti-white language; “I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.” (Dreams of My Father) “I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race.” (Dreams of My Father)

However, after the liberal blogs called for a boycott of Beck, 33 advertisers asked to not be placed in Beck’s program, fearing retribution after Beck himself was called racist for making this statement. Something seems a little out-of-whack with this type of reaction. Are we supposed to believe that racism can only go one way? How is that possible and how can any right thinking person believe that is true?

Last week, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel, used a racist claim at a town hall meeting; "Why do we have to wait for the right to vote? Why can't we get what God has given us? That is the right to live as human beings and not negotiate with white southerners and not count the votes. Just do the right thing," "Some Americans have not gotten over the fact that Obama is president of the United States. They go to sleep wondering, 'How did this happen?'... "

Frankly, Mr. Rangel is himself using the worst kind of racist insinuation, implying racism where there is no evidence of any kind. It seems obvious that Mr. Rangel is doing his best to deflect attention away from his own legal problems since last week Ms. Pelosi, the same person who falsely accused town hall protesters whom she never saw or met as “Nazi’s”, said that Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel can keep his chairmanship despite escalating evidence of multiple scandals involving his personal finances.

The Buffalo News, New York Post, and Washington Post have all called on Mr. Rangel to resign his chairmanship for corruption and ethics violations. Speaker Pelosi says she will consider a demotion only if the Ethics Committee finds a violation of House Rules or prosecutors file charges against Mr. Rangel. Unfortunately, this “discovery” might take a long time since earlier this year; the politically liberal Sunlight Foundation found that Mr. Rangel's problems with paperwork go back decades. The Sunlight Foundation claims Rangel failed to report purchases, sales or his ownership of assets at least 28 times since 1978. "I understand being sloppy, missing an asset once or twice," says Sunlight fellow Bill Allison. "But what this shows is he doesn't take financial disclosure seriously."

It seems quite ironic to have Mr. Rangel making accusations of racial slander and questioning societal moral principles while he, the same man charged with writing the nation's tax laws, is also under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for illegally maintaining three rent-subsidized apartments in New York, for using his congressional stationery to solicit funds for a policy center bearing his name, and for claiming three homes as primary residences. Mr. Rangel also faces complaints of failing to pay property taxes, failing to report $75,000 of rental income and failing to declare more than $650,000 in assets on his 2007 financial disclosure forms.

"When I was entering college George Carlin famously came up with a monologue that declared there were “Seven words you cannot say on television”. Most of those words still stand today, and my own Mother considered them unspeakable and would have beaten me soundly and grounded me for a month if any of the seven crossed my lips in her presence.

However, in my mother’s opinion, aside from taking the Lord’s name in vain, which is really the ultimate use of unacceptable language, there a few words which were above all other pornographic words in their obscenity due to their ignorant and xenophobic nature; the C-word for women (actually one of the “Carlin 7”), the N-word for Blacks, the S-word for Hispanics, and the F-word for gays.

Thanks to my mother’s expectations, I am grateful to say that I have never used the Lord’s name in vain, nor even thought of using any of these other four words. However, if my mother were alive today, I think she would be disgusted and appalled by how the word racism, and racist are being used in the same way the actual racist words she so abhorred were used to spread racial intolerance and hatred.

I know my hero and my life-time idol, my 84 year old father, feels this way. Dad is the most honest, ethical, and principled man I have ever known and it is unfortunate in our current word, which is so dominated by political dialogue, were are too often following Alinksy’s principles of; “success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics”. The fact is, the world would be a much better place if we all lived by my parent’s adherence to honesty and personal integrity.

Who best interest is being served?

2009-08-25T00:17:00Z

With every passing week I keep asking myself more and more, “what the heck is going on?” It really feels like the world is turning upside down. Everything that we believe in is being twisted and distorted and what has always been right is now proclaimed as being wrong.

We are seeing public opinion being attacked as inflammatory, idiotic, neanderthal, and even racist. We are being told how we are “supposed to think” by a government who is telling us they are doing what they think is best for its citizens despite what the citizens who elected them don’t agree with them.

Let’s talk about some specific examples in the past two weeks that have made me question whose interest is really being served?

Last week the British Government (read Scottish Court and it’s “Justice Minister”) released the architect of the 1988 Lockerbie Airline bombing, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi. This terrorist gangster, who was directly responsible for slaughtering 270 people (most of whom were Americans) was released from prison because al-Megrahi is terminally ill with prostate cancer.

This release took place over the objection of most of the civilized countries of the world since most people asked the same question, “why does it matter that al-Megrahi is dying of prostate cancer, did he care about the 270 innocent men, women and children he murdered?” The answer to that question is “no, he has never shown any remorse or regret for his bombing”.

On Thursday August 20^th he was returned to his native Libya where he was greeted by crowds waving Libyan and Scottish flags who proclaimed him a hero to the Muslim people. In a poll that came out today (August 24^th) 96% of the American people felt it was a mistake to let al-Megrahi be released, but despite that fact, the Justice Minister of Scotland justified letting this terrorist go free.

By stark contrast let’s jump forward to today, Monday August 24^th. The Obama administration announced today that it is launching a criminal probe into "unauthorized ... inhumane" interrogations of terror suspects during President George W. Bush's war on terrorism, spurred by newly declassified revelations of CIA tactics.

Additionally, President Barack Obama ordered changes in future questioning of detainees, bringing in other agencies besides the CIA under direction of the FBI and supervised by his own national security adviser. The administration pledged questioning would be controlled by the Army Field Manual, with strict rules on tactics. However, the White House said it would “keep its hands off” the professional investigators doing the work.

This is all happening despite the fact a 2004 Congressional report stated that the CIA interrogations had been an “unqualified success in getting information from terrorists to protect America”. In addition, the most recent polls have shown that 94% of the American public feels that the CIA officials should not be interrogated or investigated for interrogating terrorist.

The Director of the CIA Leon Panetta is opposed to this action, and so are all past heads of the CIA. Why? It will cripple our intelligence gathering capability and make foreign nations unwilling to participate when they now under the “threat of investigation”.

Most people feel as though if terrorists need water-boarded and treated harshly to get information to protect innocent men, women and children, then let’s go for it. After, we are talking about terrorists who want to see us dead, and dead in horrific, appalling despicable ways, but we now think the rights of these sub-humans are more important than the people we have hired to protect us from them.

The next bit of crazy and contradictory news came on Tuesday August 18th when Obama Administration announced it is financing oil exploration off Brazil. This is not a typo, the President is supporting drilling for oil in Brazil. President Obama has authorized the U.S. to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees.

Very suspiciously, one of President Obama’s biggest supporters, George Soros, has massive financial interest in Petrobas. This is the same George Soros, who is also the supporter many other liberal and leftist group such as Moveon.org, Acorn and anti-American drilling lobbyists.

Does any right-thinking person actually think this is a coincidence to have President Obama support drilling in Brazil but not in the U.S.? Already this year, under direction from the Obama administration Congress introduced billed to ban offshore drilling, scrap oil and gas leases in Utah and produced a bill to permanently prohibit drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). That was topped of with the Cap & Trade Bill which will make energy production and use in the U.S. cripplingly difficult and in many cases economically impossible…but how is it ok to give Billions to Brazil to drill for oil?

According all the gas and oil scientists and exploration experts it is estimated that we have more oil and natural gas reserves in the United States than exits in all of Saudi Arabia, but unlike every other country on earth, we are BLOCKING the exploration of these reserves. Instead, we a subject to terrorists nations who control oil in the Mid-East and South America and now we are giving money to Brazil instead of simply allowing America to drill for oil and natural gas in America.

The fact is, every single national poll shows 75% of American’s support off-shore drilling and exploring more oil and natural gas reserves all over America. Even in New Jersey, a heavily Democratic state, in it’s most recent poll on August 18^th Quinnipiac University poll made it clear, New Jerseyans say gasoline prices is the economic issue that worries them the most, and by a 64%-34% margin, their voters support offshore oil drilling. New Jersey voters also support new nuclear power plants (61%-32%) and drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuse (53%-41%).

In the biggest “green state” in the U.S., California, the August 5^th Public Policy Institute of California came out with the 2^nd year in a row of public support for offshore oil drilling among all registered voters. 51% in 2008 and 53% in 2009 said they favor allowing oil drilling off the California coast while 43% were opposed and 10% “were not sure”.

Still, the President, Al Gore and our congress all think they know better than the populace of America and they are not allowing off-shore drilling and are banning Alaskan oil exploration despite the fact it has been proven there have been NO environment negatives. How is this possible in a sane world?

Speaking of drilling and global warming, in an interview on the BBC last week the head of Green Peace actually admits that their statements about Global Warming and the destructions of the Greenland Ice Cap melting is simply a lie (remember, massive amounts of An Inconvenient Truth is also a complete lie). This gentleman called this “emotionalizing the truth” for the “benefit” of people.

What the heck is emotionalizing the truth? In other words, a complete lie and fabrication about global warming is perfectly fine (all the new evidence shows the ice packs are now expanding) because this is for the good of the world? What utter arrogant twaddle (to quote the British) but don’t believe me…look at the clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC7bE9jopXE

Unfortunately, due to attitudes formed from dubious and false information and fears of environmental damage, virtually every portion of our off-shore waters as well as most of the state of Alaska is off-limits and the losers in all of this are the American people...despite the fact the majority of all American's want us to drill for oil and gas!

Here is another mind-boggling turn of events…tomorrow, Tuesday August 25^th, the White House and a financial scrutiny arm of Congress will release separate government budget estimates and updated economic forecasts highlighting the deficit problem plaguing the Obama administration.

According to an anonymous official in the Office of Management and Budget will release the mid-term review of the federal government budget for fiscal year 2010, which starts October 1. According to this official, President Barack Obama's administration's budget update will add nearly two trillion dollars to the forecast of the government's $7.1 Trillion…which means the 10-year budget deficit will now be over NINE trillion dollars.

These latest budget figures BEG all Americans to ask this important question…what the heck is going on?

Why are we trying to add another trillion dollars to nationalize health care and then add another two trillion to the deficit by passing a Cap & Trade bill, which will also destroy the ability of America to compete in the world market because no other country is going to take the same strict energy and conservation steps?

Worse, why would we take these drastic steps when the majority of Americans do not want to see these type of radical changes?

Unfortunately, our President and elected officials, all of whom are supposed to be the employees of the American people now feel they know what is best for us and like a strict and inflexible parent, regardless of what we might think they are going to make sure they institute those changes for us.

The best example of our politicians knowing more than the stupid and unwashed electorate was demonstrated on Monday, August 17th by Eric Massa (D-NY). This congressman was caught on film by the Washington Times telling participants of the radical leftist extremist NetRoots Nation (formerly called YearlyKos Convention) conference that he would vote against the interests of his district.

One could also ask, why was this congressman addressing such a far left organization and why was it so important to him that he pander to their support and votes? Regardless of the answer, Congressman’s Massa’s exact words were this: "I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district".

Remember, this is a congressman elected to represent the interests of his district. He then showed his complete arrogance by saying: "I will vote against their opinion if I actually believe it will help them." This video has been extremely popular on YouTube…in case you missed it, or simply cannot believe a congressman would say this about the people who elected him, you can find it here:

http://www.atr.org/rep-massa-d-ny-vote-against-a3708

These are just a few of the examples of a world that has turned upside down and is doing that on an almost daily basis. Each of these examples is proof of the fact we have lost contact with reality and have lost ourselves in the demands to be politically correct.

Unfortunately, we are not only not correct, we have lost what is most important, the truth and common sense. To quote Howard Beale, the iconic character from the 1976 Academy Award Winning Film, Network, we should all be “as mad as hell and not going to take it any more”.

None of us should accept politics, or political posturing, and now that we need it most, we need to demand common sense. We need to stop blaming invisible ghosts and cease the demonizing rhetoric, and start dealing with practical realities that will help America and the ideals that have made it great throughout its history.

The reality is 70-75% of the voters in the United States are NOT for government control of every aspect of our lives. The citizens of the U.S. do not believe that government knows best. The vast majority of Americans believe in freedom and self determination. We need to remember what is says in the preamble to the Constitution of the United States

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Americans believe in free agency and they would also prefer to have reasonable answers for our problems and our issues. We need be “as mad as hell” that we are not getting this type of response from too many of our elected employees.

Too many of us are asking “what the heck is going on” and we are left incredulous at the complete lack of good answers. We need to demand positive answers and reasonable attitudes from our elected officials because when we get that attitude in Washington perhaps we will actually have some good solutions.

Speeding towards Oblivion

2009-07-18T00:27:00Z

As I start this blog, I want to remind our viewers this is my opinion, and unlike our newscasts which are dedicated to providing balanced coverage and information as well as giving both sides to the story, this blog is an expression of personal observations and opinions.

In speaking about getting universal health care, President Obama has said “we must act now”, we “cannot slow down”, we must move forward “as quickly as possible”. My question is why?

How many of you have purchased a car? Times have changed in the car business, but as I listened again today to President Obama warn of “dire consequences” if we do not pass a health care bill immediately. I flashed back to what I felt like when I first purchased a car as a young man. The salesman pitched me hard on why I should “buy today”, and I ended up sequestered in a sales manager office for hours as the sales person, sales manager and finance manager worked me over to sign today because “you will not get the same deal tomorrow”.

As I listen to the President (and Nancy Pelosi and others) do their best to push through various legislation and make new laws at lightning speed with proclamations of “we must have this now” I keep getting a disconnect. As a businessman I keep asking the same thing that I hear more and more people asking as well: “how will you pay for this”? Unfortunately, the more this question is asked, the more we hear the same type unsubstantiated promises without any evidence of fact. Frankly, the President is giving the impression of a suitor who is trying to convince his fiancée to marry him before she discovers his weaknesses and changes her mind.

What are the dire consequences which would require the congress and senate to pass “thousand page bills” they have not read? Since when is it a proper business practice to sign long-term agreements, which include incomprehensible spending (we currently have a trillion dollar national debt deficit and the estimates for Universal Health Care are from $1.2-$2.2 trillion dollars), without reading the consequences of the contract? Most managers would lose their jobs if they signed contracts they did not read or understand. Unfortunately, our politicians continue to freely admit they have not read the bills they are signing.

For example, the majority of the congress said they did not read the stimulus bill. They said the same thing about the Cap & Trade Bill. Now we are hearing they have not been able to read the Universal Health Care Bill. The difference is, unlike what would happen in private business, these politicians are not getting fired for their failings. Even worse, these politicians have now burdened all the people who elected them as well as several generations of people who will suffer the effects of their non-reading decisions long after they have left office, going to their guaranteed pensions on the backs of a struggling citizenry.

When I was in college, I sold books door-to-door. Clearly printed in our contracts, which we were required to point out was a clause to protect the consumer. This was a “3-day cooling off period”, meaning that the customer had three working days to change their mind after you sold them the books. This cooling off period was a law put in place to protect the consumer from the aggressive and rushed tactics of unscrupulous salespeople. I can tell you that as a young college student and salesman, nothing could be worse than losing your sale after you have put in the time and effort to make the sale. I decided that the only way to avoid this consequence was to have the customer fully understand every aspect of what they were purchasing as well as the method they were using to purchase or finance the product. This proved to be a good strategy, since not only was I one of the top book salesman in the country, I was even more proud of the fact I had the lowest return rate…in two summers of selling, I only had 3 people cancel their sales.

Let’s contrast this concept with what we have seen manifesting itself in the laws the congress have passed or are trying to pass. The insanely large “stimulus bill” was passed because we were told that we must have it to keep unemployment under 8% and the end of Wall Street, and to protect our car companies from bankruptcy. Congress didn’t read the bill, but passed it full of entitlements and pork projects and what has happened? Unemployment is now almost 10% and headed for 15%, GM and Chrysler are bankrupt and Wall Street just came out this week with huge profit margins while everyone else suffered. How could this bill pass the congress and senate without being read? We were told it was “too big” and the politicians didn’t have sufficient time to read it!

Congress then passed the CAP & Trade bill, which is another bill loaded with special interest entitlements. This bill has financial incentives that will make a few companies wealthy while making the majority of U.S. business and consumers suffer due to punitive restrictions. Congress passed this and sent it to the Senate for ratification and did this despite the fact this bill will make the U.S. non-competitive versus every other country in the world at a time we can ill-afford to be less competitive. The CAP &TRADE BILL WAS IN EXCESS OF 1300 PAGES. It included a 300 page amendment added (literally) a few hours before the vote. Once again, no one read this bill, and yet is passed congress. Cap & Bill went through congress despite the fact it lacked the support of an organization who you would think would be its greatest advocate, Green Peace. It passed despite the fact more and more experts are coming out against the concept of global warming, with over 7oo scientists going on record to oppose it.

The facts are since 2001 the earth’s temperatures have flat-lined, and that has happened despite growing concentrations of the C02 gasses. Scientist’s peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. No one seems to be listening because anyone disagreeing is shouted down by strident voices and mocking media reactions. Here is some worse news; the global financial crisis has leaders in all other countries saying they will not support taking the same type of extreme measures the Cap & Trade bill espouses. These world leaders know the science proposed under Cap & Trade would require them to hamstring their economies in order to rein in carbon, and virtually every one of the developed countries and all of the developing countries including China and India have flat out refused to participate.

Once again, the methodology is the same…rush, rush, rush. Don’t think, just react. Pass bills without reading what they say. Health care is our current emergency. We must pass a bill now, we cannot delay or wait. Every single day the President is on camera pushing this agenda. Next week he has “twittered” that he intends to speak about this subject again in prime time. Why is this essential? How is this more important than job creation and turning around our economic malaise? There are many questions to answer about statements we are being told, including how many of those 50 million uninsured are really uninsured? How many of that number are actually citizens and how many voluntarily choose to not be insured. The real numbers of need seem to be much less…perhaps 12-15 million. What is the correct figure and how do we arrive at it?

Most importantly, how will we pay for this universal health care because we cannot do it by simply “taxing the rich”…everyone agrees that won’t come close to covering the cost. This week we heard the proposal of raising the top tax rate to 55% versus the top tax rate in France, which is 43%. Perhaps this is why a friend told me today that several huge companies from the U.S. are investigating the relocation of their corporate HQ to Vancouver, Canada because the executives of these U.S. companies are increasingly concerned as to what is happening in the U.S.

As we consider universal health care we should look at what happened in Massachusetts this week, Boston Medical sued the state for their unfair practices in doing the state universal health coverage and the legislation has proposed dropping all “legal” tax-paying immigrants from the universal coverage system. There is a 50 day wait in Massachusetts for major medical care…what will happen if universal health care is put in place all over the U.S.

In addition, what will happen to the U.S. medicine and treatment, which is currently the best in the world? Will it cease to exist? For example, here is a small part of the 1008 pages (currently) on the health care bill. INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | (Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:20 PM PT) got their hands on the bill and found this: "Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.

This means, after the date this bill becomes law...no private insurer can sign up new clients. That is note theory, it is fact. According to the House Ways and Means Committee this means: Private individual market plans in existence in 2013 won't be able to enroll new members (except dependents) and no new plans can form. Of those in place, they also can't change their benefit package cost-sharing etc. All new individual policies must be sold via exchange starting in 2013 Health Insurance Exchange run by a commissioner (Second 141 and 142), Gov run plan Second sets up (Sec 221) of bill.

Translated into simple terms that we can all understand, this means the federal government, the same ones who have Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in virtual Chapter 11 will be running the Exchange and private insurance will cease. What does any unbiased third party think will happen with just this small portion of the “Universal Health Plan”? One word: disaster.

Here is a message that we as citizens need to be giving each of our congress people and to each of our senators. It is one word: S-T-O-P. Ok, perhaps it is two words, STOP NOW. We cannot continue to be told the stimulus bill is working when it is not. We cannot be told we must speed up when everyone who has any common sense can see that obvious that we must slow way down and evaluate what we are doing.

Here is what we do know. Financially things are the worst they have been since the great depression. People are losing jobs and homes because businesses are laying off people, giving them furloughs, or shutting their doors. Government controlled business is NOT the answer. Nationalizing business efforts has never been the answer. If businesses continue to go out of business, we will not be able to recover.

When I drive to work I see for sales signs and empty spaces where, just a few months ago, there were car dealerships, retails stores, fast food outlets, and many other places of business. We need to do whatever it takes to encourage businesses to stay in business or open up a business. That is what we need to incentivize. We need to provide the method to give our businesses the ability to hire more people to work in those businesses.

Finally, we need to create real jobs, not some new government bureaucracy jobs that will give nothing back to our economy. If we want to stimulate the housing market, let’s give people bigger tax credits or allowances for buying them. If we want to create jobs, let’s incentivize business to create more jobs. If we want more energy, let’s go to every part of our country and our oceans that we already know have natural gas, oil and coal, and go get it. Let’s build more refineries to produce it for our energy needs. Then, with that energy, let’s require a percentage of those energy profits to create additional green energy sources. Let’s be smart with what we have, and use it develop what we don’t have. Let’s not restrict, repress and drive up prices and dependence on foreign oil by not using our own natural resources.

Can we turn all of this around? Yes we can, but government control is not the answer…it has never been the answer. We were told we would have 600,000 new jobs with the stimulus bill by the end of September and so far we have lost 2.6 million jobs since the stimulus bill was passed. As I was writing this blog our vice-president said the only way to avoid bankruptcy as a nation is to continue spending. In addition, it was announced that China, who own much of our debt, grew at +7.9% and it seems obvious, American is now at risk at losing its financial place on top of the world.

In addition, we cannot do it by rushing ahead without thinking. This will not happen with legislation that our politicians have not studied, debated or READ before making them the law!!! Let’s demand of our politicians what we would demand of ourselves. Let’s be smart which means we need to take the time to know what you are doing before you do it. In other words, do not rush, be thoughtful, and come up with alternative solutions and discuss different ideas that might give us better choices.

For goodness sake, let’s not rush off the cliff before knowing if there is water deep enough to break our fall. We need to speak up, exercise our right for free speech, and use the same language with our President and Congress that our school guard uses on drivers entering the school drop off zone; JUST SLOW DOWN!

Fame (Michael Jackson) & the Media

2009-07-06T23:24:00Z

Tomorrow is the Michael Jackson World-wide Memorial Service, and yes, San Diego 6 will be covering the event. One of our fine young reporters, Elex Michaelson, who is also our Sat/Sun 7-9AM co-anchor went up today, along with a photographer, to report to local angle on this unique event.

Elex will be giving us live reports and observations and we will live-streaming the entire event on sandiego6.com. Elex (and Jenny Hamel) did the same thing during President Obama's inauguration and together gave San Diego the only local reporters “on the ground” for this event…not just on-air, but through live streaming and facebook and myspace.

These Michael Jackson updates will start in our 5A-9AM San Diego 6 in the Morning broadcast. The first live remote coming to our viewers around 530AM and will continue each 30 minutes throughout the morning. Elex will also be in our 10pm news and 11@11, and will be available on Twitter and Facebook and myspace.

With Los Angeles being so close to San Diego, and since fans from San Diego were among those randomly picked for the memorial service, we felt that it would be a good idea to have a local slant on what is likely the biggest world-wide celebrity interest event since the funeral of Princess Diana.

Many people have commented to us asking why the news services have so much Michael Jackson coverage? What is wrong with the media to spend so much time on this man? Why do you care about all of this? The simple answer is, because so many of our viewers care and would like to know what is happening.

Actually, I don’t think San Diego 6 has gone overboard on the coverage…unlike most of the other stations in San Diego, we didn’t break into our programming during the self-serving press conference by Michael’s father, Joe Jackson and Al Sharpton to talk about a future service and the forming of a record label to make money off the death of Michael Jackson. We have kept our reporting on whatever updated facts there have been to the conditions of Michael Jackson’s death.

However, Michael Jackson was a part of the fabric of culture that many, many people of all nations and language shared together. His descent into freakishness and bizarre behavior became the fodder that many found either fascinating or we drawn to the information like people watching a car-wreck, not being able to stop themselves. Whatever the reason; his music, his fame, his strange life-style, his fantastic wealth, his even more fantastic spending habits, his altruism, his adopted children, the accusations of abuse…all were reasons people are interested in Michael Jackson, and the media and news has reflected that interest.

I would recommend you watch our own Dr. Keith Kanner, from Your Family Matters, who discussed this very subject today on San Diego 6 in his usual insightful and articulate manner: “Michael Jackson, Why Legends leave Impressions” I have included the link:

http://blogs.sandiego6.com/blogs/post.aspx?App=your_family_matters&y=2009&m=07&d=03&PostID=4196391

I would hope that as we give you some new insights on this world-wide event, we will not forget the real news and real heroes of this country. I am refering to precious lives of those men and women who continue to place their lives in “harm’s way” to protect our ability to have the freedom to choose to watch this type of activity.

Today in Afghanistan, seven more American marines lost their lives and another marine was announced as kidnapped by the Taliban. These are the true heroes who we should recognize. They leave their families behind and go out to protect each of us. The fact is, while these latest casualties will be in our news tonight at 10pm, and these fatalities have already been mentioned on other news services…it will simply be a "mention" compared to the massive amount of coverage on Michael Jackson.

Frankly, that is a sad commentary on what is wrong with the values that exist not just in California, and in America, but in the world today.

Why is there a FOX/CW affiliation change? Here's the answer from the GM.

2008-07-17T20:09:00Z

Since there are many who have questions about this subject, I thought I would publish an actual e-mail from one of our viewers who wrote to us from Vista. To protect his identity, I have removed his e-mail address, phone number, and last name:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:03 PM
To: Viewer Feedback
Subject: Viewer Feedback: Network switch

name:   David xxxxxxxxx
email:   xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
city/neighborhood:   Vista
phone:   760-9xx-xxxx
message:   Because I am the curious type, I would like to know why the network switch? I watch Fox mostly, so when Fox moves I just use my remote to move to where ever it is. I know stations have played the switch o roo in other cities, but to Joe viewer, it's just a click on the dial. What is the purpose for station swapping? Curious minds want to know.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear David, you asked some good questions and I think you deserve a complete answer.   Evidently you missed it, but during our newscasts we have actually done stories and announcements about the affiliation switch. This change was not our decision or choice, but it will be happening on August 1st.

In regards to the “why”... I am afraid I cannot actually answer that part of the question. To be honest, we still don’t know why FOX decided to make the move to another station. A little historical fact is XETV was the very first and original FOX affiliate.

22 years ago, when Rupert Murdoch started the new FOX Network, XETV was the very first station, along with the six owned and operated FOX stations, to sign up. Since that time XETV has been one of their top affiliates in the country, a constant member of the #1 Club, and even honored as Station of the Year.

XETV has not only been the #1 station in prime-time, but we are also San Diego's #1 AM news and Late news, as well as the #1 access and #1 late fringe programming. Ironically, in the months preceding FOX's denial to our affiliation renewal we were told XETV was their "model affiliate", and FOX even sent their interns to XETV in order to understand our station operation.

In other words, there was no reason for us to imagine that FOX would ever contemplate making an affiliation switch in San Diego. Unfortunately, in these troubled times, it seems as though there is no honor or loyalty any more. With no warning or discussion of any kind, FOX informed us they were not renewing our affiliation agreement and our only explanation from FOX was "these things happen".

All we can surmise was this change was initiated because the Tribune Company, who is the owner of the TV station receiving the FOX affiliation, preemptively offered FOX Network some type of additional compensation to make the affiliation change. However this is speculation since despite our 22 years of being their San Diego partner, FOX never provided us an opportunity to know or compete with Tribune’s affiliation offer.

Making this decision all the more confusing is the fact that the station FOX is moving the affiliation had no local news and will be required to building one “from the ground up”.

David, the good news is the change of FOX only affects our M-SUN 8-10pm programming, and sports. All the other programming on XETV/San Diego 6 will remain the same.
This is an important concept to understand since unlike ABC, CBS or NBC, our Morning Show, Daytime programming (including San Diego Living), Early Fringe (including That 70’s Show, Simpsons, and Seinfeld) and Late Night programming are all locally owned and not controlled by FOX Network.

Effective August 1st, we will join with the CW Network as a CW affiliate station, which means they will provide our prime programming M-F 8-10pm and Saturday 5-10pm. We will also have CW Kids programming Saturday 5-7am, and Saturday 9am-12Noon…we will still have our San Diego 6 Weekend News Saturday/Sunday 7-9am.

CW stands for CBS/Warner Bros, the two owners of the CW Network and two of the most successful producers of television programs, which includes America’s Next Top Model, the New 90210, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, Stylista, Privileged, etc. (you can go to www.cwtv.com for all the details).

Just as important to our viewers, XETV/San Diego 6 produces almost 40 hours of Local News and other local programming each week:

*M-F 5-9AM San Diego 6 in the Morning

*M-F 9-10AM San Diego Living

*M-SUN 10-11pm San Diego 6 News (Sunday news is 10-1030pm and That Sunday Sports Show is 1030-11pm)

*M-F 11@11pm News (in case you miss the 10pm we have all of today’s news and tomorrows weather in 11 non-stop minutes-no commercials)

*SAT/SUN 7-9AM San Diego6 in the Morning Weekend Edition

As you know by watching San Diego 6 News, we have great news teams. At 10pm, Jim Patton, Heather Myers, Aloha Taylor, CS Keys deliver news, weather, and sports along with our terrific reporters and support staff.

From 5-9am, we have the best morning news team in San Diego with Marc Bailey, Lynda Martin, and Ruben Galvan. Our morning show has many other great features, including Dr. Kanner with “Your Family Matters”, Donald Buffamanti with “Auto Spies”, Sherri Palmeri with “Day Trippin’”, Dusty Skellett with “Scratching the SURFace”, Kelli Gillespie with weekly Hollywood movie reviews and celebrity interviews, and many others.

On Monday, August 4th we will add a brand new viewer benefit feature to our newscasts at 11pm with “11@11”. “11@11” is going to be 11 straight minutes of "today's news and tomorrows weather" with no commercial interruption, which is exactly the type of late news our viewers need for their hectic and rushed lifestyle.

This means if for some reason you missed our full and in depth #1 10-11pm San Diego Newscast, “11@11” will provide you will all the important news of the day as well as tomorrow's weather forecast. After a short commercial break we will follow “11@11” with a five minute sportscast and then have a lifestyle segment about San Diego, followed by a minute feature from comedy.com before we start Seinfeld at 11:30pm.

Finally, if you would like to watch one of the best written comedy/satires on TV, on Monday August 4th we will also be moving South Park from 12Midnight to air at 5-6pm (this is a specially sanitized version for broadcast TV, edited by a wonderful and very talented Mom from Poway). This change will give us an even stronger comedy line-up from 4-8pm: King of the Hill (4-5pm), South Park (5-6pm), That 70's Show (6-7pm), and Simpsons (7-8pm).

In closing, I wanted to make sure you saw one of the press releases that announced our change to the CW Network on August 1st:

        On August 1st, 2008 XETV Channel 6 becomes “San Diego 6 The CW” and the proud new home of The CW Television Network. “We believe that The CW’s new fall line-up, with the new 90210 joining the critically acclaimed Gossip Girl, will be a very exciting and promotable schedule that will fit perfectly with the #1 local station in San Diego. We are looking forward to a great new partnership,” said VP/General Manager, Richard Doutre Jones.
        The station logo and primetime programming will change, but the rest of the program schedule will remain the same. “We will continue our popular 5a-9a morning newscast, and 9-10am San Diego Living, as well as our full hour of news at 10PM. We also have our top-rated syndicated programs including The Simpsons, That 70’s Show, South Park and Seinfeld.   Viewers will wake up with San Diego 6 in the Morning anchors Marc Bailey, Lynda Martin and man about town Ruben Galvan weekdays 5-9a. San Diego 6 News @ 10PM will continue to bring balanced news coverage to San Diego, with anchors Jim Patton, Heather Myers, meteorologist Aloha Taylor and C.S. Keys on sports. According to the May ’08 Nielsen Media Research rating survey, our 10pm and morning newscasts were rated number 1 among adults 18-54,” said Jones   “XETV has been serving San Diego for over 55 years. We will continue to bring viewers the balanced news they trust and the great entertainment programming they love”.
        The CW fall 2008 prime time schedule lineup includes returning hits America’s Next Top Model, Smallville, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, and this year’s wildly-anticipated new show, 90210.
        “We are thrilled to be affiliated with XETV, the number one station in San Diego,” said John Maatta, Chief Operating Officer, The CW. “This station has a huge local identity, which perfectly complements The CW Network. The combination of XETV and The CW will be an explosive one which will rock the San Diego market. This vibrant and happening West Coast market now has a vibrant and happening combination with the hook-up of The CW and XETV. This will be a great thing for the station, the network and most importantly, the viewers in San Diego.”
        XETV signed on the air in January 1953 as San Diego’s second television station. From 1956 to 1972 XETV operated as an ABC affiliate. The station became independent in 1972 and was the first station to affiliate with the fledgling FOX network in 1986.

Richard Doutre Jones
VP/GM Bay City Television, Inc.
XETV/San Diego6
8253 Ronson Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Justice is not Served in San Diego

2007-04-26T01:39:00Z

As many of San Diegan's know, Friday April 20th brought a ruling in the trial of Sam Suleiman and his wife. Unfortunately, instead of a trial, and a conviction, a deal was made between the District Attorney's office and the Suleiman's: Sam Suleiman pleaded guilty to felony assault and his wife, Rosa pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. In return for the guilty pleas, the district attorney's office has dropped several other charges against the couple, and instead of facing prison time, Sam Suleiman will likely receive probation.

I am shocked at the response of the court to the actions of the Suleiman's...to have them be able to get a plea bargain and pleading guilty to a felony, and misdemeanor assault and then have "probation" be their only consequences is a shockingly lenient judgment considering the heinousness of their crimes.

Crimes not just to John Mattes, who, without the intervention of BK, the brave witness to whom we at FOX6 are eternally grateful for his willingness to put himself in harms-way to protect John, could have experienced even more physical harm than his bloodied lacerations and broken ribs. Crimes which were also committed to many other people who have been victimized, cheated, and threatened with violence and death!

Amazingly, before this “plea-bargain” deal was even completed, the Suleiman’s were sued again by an elderly woman who owned a San Diego bail bonds business, who also asked the court for a temporary restraining order on the Suleiman’s..

In her pleading this woman charged Suleiman refused to pay his bond premium and then entered into a real estate transaction, selling her the Suleiman's home at a reduced price. The suit explains that the Suleiman's then moved into the woman's old home but failed to pay the agreed upon rent. The suit alleges that Suleiman became increasingly aggressive and threatening and at one point, in the presence of Rosa Barraza, threatened to kill the woman if she did not give him her property in exchange for Suleiman's old house.

She alleges that Suleiman claimed to be connected to the Mexican Mafia and "knew how to make people disappear." In a later phone threat, Suleiman is alleged to have threatened to slit her throat. Read the Court Document

The story of this ederly woman is the same story we at FOX6 have heard many times since John’s video was made public, as scores of people have come forward (many of whom are ederly or retired) with the same story about the Suleiman’s…even a postal carrier was physically threatened with physical violence by Sam Suleiman.

We as citizens are shocked at the horrific events at Virginia Tech, and we are concerned at the increasing violence in our society, and yet our court system continues to allow people like the Suleiman's to continue to be free to threaten and physically assault others. How can we expect to be protected from violence and physical harm when our system of laws allows the perpetrators to continue to go free?

Sadly, the majority of people who the Suleiman’s go after with extortion and threats of physical violence are people who have the least ability to protect themselves, and are most in need of our system of laws and courts to protect them.

At the end of court procedure on Friday, Sam Suleiman, exultant with the probation deal he had made in return for his guilty plea, continued to threaten John Mattes and FOX6 management (you can see the report on fox6.com under “hot topics”) which is in direct opposition to the intent of the probation offered by the court!

In regards to Sam Suleiman, it seems obvious he has many more court proceedings ahead of him, including civil trials for assault and threats of murder, and at this point we can only hope the legal system will finally be able to protect law abiding citizens and properly execute justice by incarcerating the Suleiman’s for their many violent and serious crimes.

Fox Rox Hits The Mute Button

2007-03-15T01:59:00Z

As many of you have already heard, FOX ROX, will make its last appearance on Thursday, March 29th (12M-1230A with an encore Saturday March 31st 1230-1A) and will feature the band, Unwritten Law.

The March 29th episode will be the 233rd episode, and to put that in perspective, this is an amazing number of episodes, with only a very few national programs (such as Simpsons) ever producing more original programs. Fox Rox was the only local music show in California, and one of the very few local music shows existing anywhere in the U.S.

Fox Rox premiered on May 2, 2002 and has been hosted by Troy Johnson, writer and editor at San Diego CityBeat Magazine. Fox Rox featured music news and live performances from local (and National) bands. In the past five years the program won 2 local Emmy Awards and was one of the first media outlets to showcase bands such as Maroon 5, Switchfoot, and Ozomatli, which have since skyrocketed to sell millions of albums and win several Grammy Awards.

It is important to state that we at FOX6 love Fox Rox. As the General Manager of FOX6 I have always believed in this program and have been proud of our ability to air it each week. However, the sad truth this, Fox Rox fell victim to the economic business realities of television.

Earlier this year, we lost our Fox Rox sponsors, and with that loss we could no longer afford to keep Fox Rox in production. In addition, we also made the decision to produce future local programming through free-lance production units in order to mitigate our expenses.

However, as I said previously, FOX ROX did have a very long and very strong "run"...much more than most of the shows that have ever made it broadcast on network or cable. At FOX6 we hope that at some date in the future we can bring this program back..perhaps in an entirely different format which would make the program more accessible to our viewers, but at the same time would keep our costs lower, which would enable this local music program to be reborn.

Re: Shocked by your station's insensitivity

2007-02-01T05:50:00Z

The following was an email we received thru Viewer Feedback. Without a return email address I cannot respond, but wanted to post the response here as an open response to all of our viewers concerns about one of our news stories:

Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:46 PM
name: Michelle R.
subject: Shocked by your station's insensitivity
message: My two teenaged children, along with my husband and I saw a short news update about the 14 year old San Dieguito Academy student that was killed today while walking back to school from lunch, when he was crushed by a truck being driven by a fellow SDA student. My son, also a freshman at SDA, is devistated by this tragic accident that happened in front of the eyes of many fellow students. If you could have seen the look on my sons face and the tears that filled his eyes when he saw the pillar and blood that you so graphically diplayed on television.
What is the purpose of showing such a gruesome scene? Does shock value and sensationalism over-ride basic decency and respect for this boys family who are grieving and his fellow classmates that are both grieving and suffering from the trauma of witnessing this horrible accident. Shame on you FOX 6! You owe Ryan Huong's family and this community an
apology!

Michelle, I have checked the specific spot in question and I think that there is a misperception of what was in the actual video. The fact is, there is a shot of a concrete pillar, with what looks like some dirt and fluorescent paint on the ground. I understand how this could have been confused for blood; especially since the video was filmed under a freeway overpass. However, this is not blood spatter and that is also the opinion of our news staff.

Michelle, I am the father of four children and two grandsons...one of my children is 15 years old and he is a sophomore at Poway High School where in the past two weeks, students have been tragically killed in traffic accidents. I understand how upsetting this type of tragedy can

be and while I am happy to apologize to you and your family for any trauma you experienced, the truth is, in this particular case, perception was not reality.

I hope you have a nice evening and thank you for watching FOX 6.

Sincerely,

Richard Doutre' Jones

VP/GM Bay City Television, Inc.

FOX6 & MYTV13

Cancellation of OJ Simpson Interview

2006-11-21T16:09:00Z

To all of our FOX6 viewers, I am grateful the Fox Network (and Mr. Murdoch) made the correct choice to cancel the offensive OJ Simpson interviews. As you can all imagine, as the GM of the San Diego FOX affiliate, this decision was a huge relief to me. I am sure someone thought this program was a good idea, but it was not thought through all the way, or as Mr. Murdoch said so perfectly, “the project was ill considered”. Obviously no one at FOX fully realized what a pariah OJ Simpson has become, nor did they correctly estimate the depth of negative emotions OJ Simpson engenders.

As many of you know, I had been waiting to make my final decision on whether we would air the interviews until later this week. What very few viewers knew was since the time of the announcement, I was working behind the scenes with other members of the FOX Board to put pressure on the FOX NETWORK since all of the affiliates wanted the Fox Network to make the correct decision and cancel the interviews. I am very pleased and grateful the Network has made the decision to pull the interviews, and in so doing, corrected a horrible lapse in judgment and ethics.

Here is an article from Broadcasting and Cable that explains the decision in more detail:

News Corp. Kills O.J. TV Special, Book-By Jim Benson and Caroline Palmer -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/20/2006 7:31:00 PM

With the growing controversy over O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened, News Corp. has cancelled publisher Judith Regan’s Fox interview of Simpson in a two-part sweeps special, as well as the publication of the book.

In a statement issued Monday, News Corp. leader Rupert Murdoch called the project "ill-considered"—though declined to elaborate on how it originated—and apologized for any pain it caused the families of the murdered victims.

The decision follows several affiliates' decision to not air it. Over the weekend, Pappas Broadcasting and Lin Broadcasting announced they would preempt the show in a total of nine Fox affiliate markets and more were anticipated.

Speaking Monday on Fox News Channel, Pappas said the program was "un-airable because it was a farce" and "the reaction of the American people wasn't visceral, it was intelligent."

Of the viewer comments, he said, "You should have heard first their disbelief, then their outrage, that anyone would consider aiding and abetting a criminal."

He praised the decision to ax both the TV special and book, saying "principle was finally established over profit" at News Corp.

Pappas had planned to preempt the special on its stations in Omaha and Lincoln, Neb.; Fresno, Calif.; and Dakota Dunes, S.D. Lin was looking to do the same on Fox affiliates in Mobile, Ala.; Toledo, Ohio; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Providence, R.I.

According to an AP report, the Pappas stations said they did not want to help Simpson profit from the project.

On Friday, after worldwide condemnation of Fox’s two-part sweeps special O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened, North Dakota’s Prime Cities Broadcasting was the first to announce it would refuse to air the interview.

Historically, affiliates topple like dominoes after the first bows out and Pappas and Lin quickly followed. The special, dubbed by one critic as "the most despicable sweeps-month stunt in history," was scheduled to air next week on Nov 27 and Nov. 29, the final day of sweeps.

Problems with the project had mounted dramatically after Fox announced last week that it would air the two-part interview with Simpson just prior to the book’s Nov. 30 release from Regan’s imprint at Harper Collins, which is also owned by News Corp.

Attacked from a variety of quarters, including such Fox News notables as Bill O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera, the TV project had faced poor advertising prospects.

Sponsors appeared unlikely to want to be associated with the special, which could have subjected them to boycotts by angry viewers. Also, if it had aired commercial-free, Nielsen would not have counted it toward Fox’s November average, erasing any ratings spike it would have otherwise received for the sweeps period.

Beyond Monday’s statement, Fox has remained silent on the subject. In its initial announcement last week, Mike Darnell, executive VP of alternative programming, said, "This is an interview that no one thought would ever happen. It’s the definitive last chapter in the Trial of the Century."

But John Tupper, chairman-emeritus of the Fox affiliate board and head of Prime Cities, which operates KNDX Bismarck and KXND Minot, the 160th-ranked market, and low-power stations in Dickinson and Williston, N.D., described the special as "unsuitable" for broadcasting.

"We have recorded our concerns with the network, and we are waiting for a response at this point," he says. "My stations will not be running the shows."

Tupper had previously refused to air Fox movies with violence and sexual issues but this marked the first time he had not run a special, mainly because the network had unveiled them too late for advanced station screenings.

This time, however, Fox gave plenty of advanced notice that it would run an interview turned down by other networks.

If News Corp. had pulled the plug on TV special but kept the book alive, it could have faced even more grief. On Monday, B&C had speculated that its intention may have been to announce the TV interview, then pull it after gaining attention for the book that hypothetically describes how Simpson would have killed ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and bystander Ron Goldman in 1994. The former football great was acquitted of the crimes the following year but held liable at a 1997 civil trial.

Having lived through previous controversies originating from Darnell’s reality domain, most notably the 2000 special Who Wants To Marry a Multimillionaire?, Fox and News Corp. were undoubtedly aware of the outcry a Simpson special would cause.

News of the Fox special, which the network described as an unrestricted two-hour interview, had dominated TV and radio talk shows for nearly a week since it was announced. The victims’ families were prominently featured discussing the pain that the show and book had dredged up for them.

On Wednesday, Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, told CNN’s Larry King, "Don’t watch the show. Don’t buy the book. Send a message loud and clear." Meanwhile, ABC’s Barbara Walters said on The View that she had turned down a Simpson interview.

But analysts had nonetheless expected curiosity to drive viewers to the special in huge numbers.

There had been some support for the special among major Fox affiliates. One station executive, who asked not to be identified, said the special represented the logical conclusion to the "freak show" that characterized the criminal trial more than a decade ago. He had no intention to preempt what would be an astronomically rated special.

Even without commercials, the interview would have boosted ratings for local newscasts following it, which is where stations make most of their ad revenue.

While many stations had reported getting scores of angry viewer emails and phone calls, some said that received few protests, and noted the ones they did appeared to be part of an organized campaign.

Fox had sent speaking points to affiliates to address the concerns of advertisers and viewers, according to affiliates.

Richard Jones, VP-general manager of Fox affiliate XETV San Diego for the past five years, had said if the special aired, he would have run it commercial-free with PSAs for victims’ rights and abused women, while dedicating his newscasts to those subjects.

Jones had detailed the station’s plans in email responses to 150 outraged viewers, one of whom called XETV’s strategy a “public service.”

Personally, Jones said he found the Fox special “obscene” and “immoral,” calling it a “wink-wink” confession on Simpson’s part. He believes Simpson’s motivation was to get back into the spotlight after previously enjoying “30 years of public adulation.”

But Jones admitted to having a difficult time deciding whether the program would be considered obscene by broadcast standards.

He had labeled Fox’s silence on the subject “odd” and, prior to Monday’s announcement withdrawing the TV special and book, said, “This is the first time that I’ve been embarrassed to say that I’m a Fox affiliate.”

THE OJ INTERVIEW-YOU GUYS ARE DISGUSTING

2006-11-15T23:54:00Z

UPDATE 11/20/06: Over the last few days I forwarded many of your messages and feedback emails on to FOX and am now thrilled to be able to report that News Corp/FOX made the wise decision to cancel the two hours of the Simpson Interview. For ongoing information be sure to watch Fox 6 News.

On Wednesday, November 15, Fox Broadcasting announced that on Monday, November 27^th and Wednesday November 29^th at 9pm (PST) both nights the FOX Network will be airing an interview with OJ Simpson. This interview, conducted by ReganBooks Publisher Judith Regan will be in advance of the November 30^th release of a new book by OJ Simpson called: If I Did It.

We understand that FOX broadcasting did not pay OJ Simpson to do this interview, but in the interest of full disclosure, ReganBooks is a subsidiary of HarperCollins, which is part of the News Corporation who also owns Fox Broadcasting and it has been alleged that Regan Books has paid Simpson $3.5M to write “If I did it”.

This book or this accompanying interview should not be a surprise to anyone who is vaguely familiar with Ms. Regan, who first became famous writing books such as, Little Girl Lost (Drew Barrymore) and I Can't Believe I Said That! (Kathy Lee Gifford).

Ms. Regan is arguably the most influential (in regards to number of books sold) publisher in the world and is responsible for many books on controversial figures such as Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern and of course, Jenna Jameson's best selling title, How To Make Love Like a Porn Star.

Although we have not seen this book, nor have we seen any footage of this program, sources have told us that both the book and the Fox interview will contain explicit descriptions from Simpson of how the murders of Ron Goldman and OJ Simpson’s former wife, Nicole Brown were carried out and how the murderer left the scene of the crime without being caught. This is the worst possible nightmare scenario for the “double-jeopardy” protection provided by our legal system.

As soon as the announcement about the OJ interview was announced, the phone lines and e-mails at FOX6 lit up…here are a few actual examples of the type of e-mails we have received (no names or e-mail addresses to protect privacy):

“You have got to be the lowest, sickest group of newscasters in the entire world. How dare you insult the families of his victims and air such disgusting trash! As a reporting station, you should be ashamed of the tactics used to get more viewers. OJ is a hard core, cold-hearted piece of you-know-what and you are telling the whole world you approve”!

“I think to even acknowledge that O.J. is still out there, and flaunting the fact that he got away with murder is unforgivable. Shame on you for giving him another moment in the spotlight”.

“I have been a Fox fan for years. I have trusted the honesty & standards of your reporting, so I have to ask - Have you lost your freakin heads??? Giving OJ television air time on "How I would Have done it (killing wife" What are you thinking?? I cannot find the words to express my outrage in your decision to do this. You have just gone lower than any other news station. I am bitterly disappointed in your decision”.

“You are the biggest bunch of idiotic, hypocritical, fools I have ever seen. You are being punked and played…to air an interview with a liar and murderer and then allow him to tell everyone how he killed his wife and an innocent bystander, but then hide behind saying, “if I did it” , only allows a human scum to have publicity that no one should ever hear again.”

"I am disgusted by your decision to air the OJ Simpson "If I did It" story. You are proving to the community that your only God is money! Seriously, disgusting and everyone who works there should feel shame for working for such a scum bag company".

I have answered these e-mails privately, but I thought it was appropriate to take a moment and write this response to all of our viewers who are concerned about the decision by FOX to air this interview.

First, we at FOX6 do share your concerns about this type of program. In fact, I have no doubt that we reacted much like everyone else did when we heard the news about the OJ interview on Tuesday (11/14) afternoon…we were shocked.

Like most of our viewers, I was very concerned that this "alleged" murderer (In February 1997 OJ Simpson was convicted of the murders of his wife and Goldman in a civil trial) would have any type of public forum and I strongly expressed our opposition to the program directly to the executives at the Fox Network multiple times since the announcement. It is hard to believe that OJ can have a public voice, or worse, the court system would allow him to continue to escape justice.

Unfortunately, the OJ program is just another sad chapter and damning commentary on the period of time in which we currently reside. We live in a world where the "personal lives of famous people" seem to be at the forefront of the public’s interest. This is why Magazines such as People, US, The Star, National Enquirer, and other “gossip” trades sell so many copies each week, while Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report and even Sport Illustrated continue to lose circulation.

The degrading of our society to the lowest common denominator is also why movies with offensive themes such as Borat, JackAss and SawIII have been #1 at the Movie Box-Office and why anti-establishment, anti-social video games such as Grand Theft Auto, which show police killed and women raped can sell many millions of videos games. This is also why we are besieged with negative political ads. Despite protestations to the contrary, they work, which is why they continue to proliferate and amazingly, get worse.

Remember, this OJ interview is NOT a FOX6 originated program. As the FOX affiliate in San Diego, we are obligated to carry this program because we have a FOX Affiliate contract. Frankly, it seems very likely based on the massive amount of publicity and attending emotion on this subject that a large number of viewers, despite their disgust and protestations, will watch this interview.

However, it is certainly each viewer’s right to “vote” on this program by not watching, just as our viewers have voted YES by watching our FOX6 in the Morning and our 10pm news…as well as many of our other great FOX shows and sports.

Currently, we are still investigating all of our options but if we do air these interviews, they will air without any local commercials and they will contain PSA’s to support Victims Rights and Abused Women’s Organizations. IMPORTANT: FOX 6 IS NOT MAKING ANY MONEY FROM THIS PROGRAM, IN FACT, WE ARE LOSING MONEY WITH NO COMMERCIALS OR ADVERTISEMENTS.

We would suggest that you make your feelings known by contacting FOX NETWORK directly at: (310) 369-3066, or askfox@fox.com

Let’s speak frankly, no matter what “spin” is put on this interview, the mere fact that OJ is able to have this type of national forum is both deplorable and disgusting. At the very best, it is very disconcerting. I can only hope that through OJ’s apparently overwhelming personal conceit and arrogance and his seemingly unquenchable desire to stay in the spotlight, he will slip up during the interview and say something that will lead to some type of justice for his crimes.

However, no matter what happens or to put it in his words, does not happen to OJ in this mortal life, one fact is very clear. Just like every person who has lived on earth, someday OJ Simpson will stand at the pleasing bar of God, and at that time no amount of lies or clever, high-paid lawyers will be able to prevent him from being judged correctly and fairly for his actions.

Video statement broadcasted Nov 16th: http://www.fox6.com/?video=246206

The Reaction to the Pope-an upside down world.

2006-09-17T00:49:00Z

This week, during a meeting with Catholic Church leaders in Germany, the Pope gave a talk that contained strong language against any religious motivation for endorsing or promoting violence. As part of this communication the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

The pontiff did not endorse that description, but he did not question it, and his words set off a firestorm of protests across the Muslim world. In the past two days since this quote was made public we have seen Muslims actually torch and burn two Christian churches in the east bank. We have seen crowds of Muslims screaming epithets of hatred and violence against the Pope and the Catholic church and we have seen others burn the Pope in effigy. In addition, all over the mid-east and parts of Europe, Muslim men and women have called for a holy jihad against Rome.

In Iraq an insurgent group threatened the Vatican with a suicide attack over the pope's remarks on Islam. According to a statement posted today (Saturday) on the Web: "We swear to God to send you people who adore death as much as you adore life." This message was posted in the name of the Mujahedeen Army on a Web site frequently used by militant groups. This message's authenticity could not be independently verified but the statement was addressed to "you dog of Rome" and threatens to "shake your thrones and break your crosses in your home."

The Saudi Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh said: "This is all a lie ... Islam is far from terrorism and was spread only through the conviction of peoples who saw the good and justice of Islam". In the past 48 hours, virtually all the leaders from every Muslim country have issued statements condemning the Pope and have demanded a retraction.

I am not a Catholic, and I have no religious reason to follow the Pope, but I do believe that using violence in the name of God, or killing people in the name of any religion would seem to be the exact opposite of what God would want from His children. However, the strong reactions from much of Muslim world to the Pope's comments would seem to be in direct contradiction to this viewpoint.

In the world today it now seems acceptable for Muslim leaders to make outrageous statements about anyone they feel does not support Islam, including statements of hatred and death directed towards the U.S. In the last couple of months, the leader of Iran actually said the holocaust did not happen and Israel should cease to exist, but that does not seem to create more than a ripple of a reaction or more than a flicker of outrage in the remainder of the civilized word.

Let me share an e-mail I received today from a man who was born in the middle-east and is an Arab by nationality. I have eliminated his name and e-mail address to protect his anonymity, but his comments seem to be a perfect summary for what has been happening in the past two days:

Dear Fox6, when a Muslim Sheikh in his weekly Friday sermon on Palestinian TV calls Christians and Jews devils, and when other sheikhs echo this hate daily on Arab TV and call for "jihad" in the sense of Martyrdom, I do not see mass demonstrations, and I never see any apologies.

I only see extremist-Muslims being further allowed to express their racist, extreme views in Hide Park in London and in NYC 4 years after the attacks, under the Umbrella of Freedom of Expression. They call for death to those who will not follow Islam and the think nothing of killing innocent women and children in their bombing attacks.

Well, the Pope´s words, whatever they meant, are protected and allowed under this same Umbrella of Freedom of expression and Muslims should learn that the same way they are freely allowed to express their views, so are others allowed too. If you want to deny this right to others, it shall be denied to you too. They should learn to live with it.

Signed: An Arab Christian.

“Terror is a pronounced state of fear, an overwhelming sense of imminent danger”. In the world we live in today it seems we are now dealing with people who are determined to make terror a constant condition for anyone who does not to agree with their outlook on life or in the way they choose to worship God.

More and more, it seems that the world is upside down, that too many people are trying to portray what is wrong, as right. We can only hope that people will continue to have the courage to speak up for what is right, and when they do, this freedom of communication will be able to be enjoyed without the resultant threat violence or imminent danger.