History Ceremony Honors
Firefighters Remembering those who died in pursuit of John Wilkes Booth.
By Brad Penney
A Memorial Service was
held on Sunday, April 24, honoring the soldiers and firefighters who perished
the night of April 23, 1865 during the collision of the steamship Massachusetts and the
canal barge Black Diamond. Among the casualties in the maritime tragedy were
four Alexandria
firefighters who were assigned to the Quartermaster Corps in search of John
Wilkes Booth, following the assassination of President Lincoln. The Black
Diamond was on picket duty on the Potomac, in
pursuit of Booth, at the time of the collision, which claimed a total of 87
lives.
The service was held at
the St. Clements Island Museum; the collision occurred just one mile off of the
island in southern Maryland, where military
intelligence expected Booth to undertake a night-time crossing of the Potomac
into Virginia.
The Alexandria Fire
Department Honor Guard participated in the ceremony, which was attended by a
number of city firefighters who laid a wreath at the museum overlooking the
site of the collision. The four Alexandria
firefighters are buried in the AlexandriaNationalCemetery
at 1450 Wilkes St.
The story of the pursuit
of Booth by civilian employees of the Alexandria Fire Department has been
largely forgotten and overshadowed by the momentous other events of April 1865,
which included the evacuation of Richmond; the surrender of General Robert E.
Lee at Appomattox and later General Joseph Johnston in North Carolina; the
assassination of President Lincoln; and — the day after Booth was killed at
Garrett’s Farm — the sinking of the steamship Sultana on the Mississippi with a
loss of 1,800 lives, more casualties than were sustained in the loss of the
Titanic.
The Black Diamond was an
iron hull steam propeller canal boat (or barge) built in 1842. Before bring
chartered by the Quartermaster Corps during the war, the Black Diamond’s normal
duties were transporting coal between Washington, D.C. and Alexandria.
The crew of 20 consisted
of men from the Alexandria
fire department. Unknown to the crew of the Black Diamond, Booth had already
crossed the Potomac into Virginia at the time
the collision with the Massachusetts
occurred.
Plans are currently
underway for a monument to be erected on St. Clements Island in honor of the 87
soldiers and firefighters who died in the collision of the Massachusetts and the Black Diamond.
Over three years ago Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the greatest nation on earth at a difficult time in our history.
He promised hope. He promised healing. He promised change.
And the people of America gave him a chance to deliver.
But instead of hope he gave us fear. Instead of healing he gave us class warfare. Instead of change he gave us paralysis.
His were words of promise, such lofty and ideal words for a new and better future.Now they have been given the test of time, and those inspirational words have been exposed as nothing more than the sham of political expediency so typical of our broken political system.
Barack Obama's promises were empty.
His strategy was divisive. His actions failed to deliver. In short, he failed America.
The people are the heart and soul of America and they deserve far better than being treated as pawns in an international chess game.You see, the people are not pawns in a game of political partisanship and social engineering.
For President Obama the record is clear, and the record is dismal.The conclusion is obvious.His policies of division, exploitation and paralysis must end.
It is time he recognize the obvious.His game has reached checkmate - his game is over.
The people will no longer accept being pawns in his game.It is time he put his chess board away and go back home to Chicago or Hollywood.
So today the people of American have a clear choice.
When the dust settles on the Republican primary your husband Mitt Romney will be the last one standing.
Mitt is not a rock star or a celebrity, he is a gladiator prepared to roll up his sleeves and lead us through the difficult decisions we must make in order to restore America.
Once upon a time America was the dream of all people on earth.Recapture the dream and you will stimulate the dreamers, those rugged patriots, entrepreneurs, pilgrims and freedom fighters, the melting pot called America.
In truth the vast majority of Americans reflect the richly diverse cultural background and diversity of those many generations who came to America as pioneers in the New World. It is our duty to guarantee our beloved nation and people that the dream that made us strong will be there for future generations to keep us strong.
Your Mitt can restore the American dream and guide America through the dangerous waters and dark clouds of our present into our future.
Perhaps he doesn't have a warm and fuzzy image but what he does have is a determination of steel.His style of leadership may not make him everyone's best friend but it most certainly will give us a tough chief executive and decisive commander in chief.
At this precarious point in the world and national affairs do we need a nice guy or a person of steel nerves and broad based experience?
Romney has been there.He has proven what leadership means and how it can foster success.
After graduating from BYU and Harvard law and business graduate schools with high honors no one can question his education or the methods of leadership and success, or theorize about his philosophy of executive decision making. He has demonstrated it over and over again.
Mitt proved that success does not come from New Age visualization but from the Old Age style of education and experience, of blood, sweat and tears, by fighting one battle after another, and climbing one step at a time.
Polarization, partisanship and cronyism have no place in politics or in oval offices.That is what has tarnished the American dream and disappointed the American people.
Mitt was not a career politician, a special interest lobbyist, or a charter member of the smoke filled rooms in Washington and Chicago where political deals are hatched and political payoffs are expected.
All his life he demonstrated a love for the challenge of leadership and welcomed the responsibility for improving the lives of those around him.It must have been a difficult task but one he was good at and his experience in the real world must have taught him a lot more than can be learned in the Halls of Congress or walls of an academic institution.
For example, he developed a strong faith in God, a strong family foundation and a strong desire to help and help not just a handful of friends, financial contributors or special interests but all people.
In the classic Midwest definition of "serving the public", that means transforming success into helping others and dedicating a few years of one's life to public service to help and serve all the people, not just a privileged few.
All must benefit from the fruits of their labor and realize the rewards of their success.
My question to the silent majority of Americans who don't complain, don't demand and don't expect favoritism is this.
Do you want lofty words or gritty determination? Do you want empty promises or bold actions? Do you want theoretical probability or proven experience?
We gave a young president full of bold promises a chance to prove he was true to his word. He could not deliver what he promised.The lack of experience he brought with him as president proved more than promises are needed to understand our problems, to develop meaningful plans to attack those problems, and to direct the forces and resources of government in executing the plan and solving those problems.
Mitt Romney has the education, experience and achievements needed to guide our nation out of these difficult times. He knows the price of leadership and the responsibilities of how to lead. And he knows effective leadership cannot be achieved through ill-conceived plans by inexperienced people or a world view of America that is not shared by your fellow country men and women.
Mitt must ignore the nitpicking media or the political pundits and just be Mitt Romney, not some figment of a consultants imagination. His strength is his resolve and his legacy is his years of unselfish performance.
We know he can figure out a way to fix the economy, immigration, education and energy issues because that is what a successful business executive can do while most politicians cannot be trusted to serve the public over special interests or their own interests.
Romney is not a professional politician.
He is a man that can be trusted.He proved that to the people of Massachusetts, the Olympic movement, and many others what happens when you are trusted. You succeed at solving the problems.
In the aftermath of the Super Tuesday primaries there is a stark lesson to be learned.It seems that those who know your husband best, the people he and you as first lady served in Massachusetts when Mitt was governor and chief executive, gave him the greatest victory margin of the campaign with over 72% voting for Romney.
Just when you think sex in the city couldn't get any worse Eric Massa, former Congressman from way Upstate New York (29th District), gave mainstream media a reason to remain in the gutter with the supermarket rags while the Godmother, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, added fuel to the meltdown.
Massa is giving us a whole new set of word definitions along with insight into the unusual party favors in Washington. It started off innocent enough Tuesday when the media got wind that Massa was having a meltdown because of another ethics problem but intensified when Massa went on the Glenn Beck Show and the show of the poster boy for health care reform, Larry King, to explain himself.
What a mistake. First we learned a whole new definition for the home Congressional District for Massa. And we always thought a swing district was one that went from being Republican to Democrat and back in elections.
There are Red states who vote Republican. They are called Red because the media wants you to associate Republicans with Communism. The Blue states are Democrat. Now Blue stands for being conservative and pure, like the Virgin Mary, neither having anything to do with Democrats. So you might say the media reference to Democrat states as Blue is an effort to make you forget what they really stand for.
Some states aren't really red or Blue because they vote Democrat one year and Republican the next. So they are called swing states. What color do you think the media assigned this group? Purple, the color that implies royalty, mystery, nobility and spirituality. Now that is a mouthful. But I guess what the media meant was the Swing states are the Holy Grail of politics, you win them you win the election.
Massa taught us a new meaning for his Swing District. It has nothing to do with politics. It is staff and associate interaction consisting of groping, tickling, pointing fingers while naked in the steam room, even snorkeling, which is a twisted sexual perversion performed under water. Apparently a Navy buddy of Massa said he was always trying to snorkel with them.
Larry King got into an extended battle of words with Massa over homosexual tendencies. Who knows what they were saying? Then just when we knew beyond doubt this guy has a serious mental meltdown, into the cameras jumps the Democrat's Godmother, Pelosi, never one to miss a press op, and claims she knew about his sickness last October. So Pelosi covered up the meltdown of a fellow Democrat for the last six months to hang on to her votes in the House.
If she knew he was groping staff back then did the thought ever occur to you, Godmother, that maybe you should turn his actions over to the ethics committee and get him out of Congress and into rehab before he could hurt anyone else? Well of course not.
So Obama leaves town to campaign and the only fund raiser he can get is for a Senate race for 2012. It seems Democrats running for election this year don't want to be seen around the president. And Obama continues to talk about health care as if he never stopped campaigning and got real.
What about the economy Mr. President? What about jobs and unemployment? What happened to Main Street? Why did you send Biden to negotiate peace in the middle east, you are the one with the Peace prize?
Poor Joe. He gets to Israel and gets slapped in the face before he even gets a word out as the Israelis announced thousands of more homes will be built in the Palestinian area, a move Obama and the United Nations warned Israel not to do. Some start for peace. Is this a sign of the Israeli attitude toward Obama or the peace process? It sure helped set back relations between the USA and Israel but then how could the Israelis negotiate peace if they are planning to go to war to stop Iran? It would be kind of like winning the Nobel Peace Prize then expanding the war in Afghanistan. Nothing makes sense.
So now the Godmother is busy sweeping the dirt under the rug and tying to get people to think all is well in her transparent world. Let's see, if what is going on is transparent then why didn't we know about Massa a lot time ago? Hummmm, Messa, Rangel and Paterson, not a bad start for the campaign cycle.
As if that weren't enough for one day, last night Congressman Patrick Kennedy goes on TV and rails against how the press and media are not covering the most important issue of the day, the war in Afghanistan, and he calls the fact only two press people are in the gallery as "despicable!" I'm beginning to think all the politicians in our nation's capitol are losing their marbles.
Politics is such an entertaining sport and all the more when the public and the real revolutionaries, those who think government should serve the people, not the politicians, join forces. This silly season we have already seen three cases where the president, congress, media, Democrats and Republicans have all blown it because they refuse to understand the people have a right to be heard.
New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts have all demonstrated that the experts, the pundits, the media and the politicians are clueless. I have written over and over that the Washington and Wall Street establishment have grossly under estimated the people, the anger of the people, and the will of the people to throw them out.
Cathe Chiomento, a faithful reader of the CPT and belle of Philly high society helps to keep me informed of the people's revolt against the crooks so I thank her for sending this video showing an advertisement run by Scott Brown during his greatly perplexing victory in Massachusetts, perplexing to those beltway bandits who have been robbing us blind.
The ad speaks for itself. The change America wanted is not Democrat or Republican, it is a change back to the core values that made America great. It is a call to arms of the people who are fed up with Washington, Wall Street, politicians and anyone else who no longer represent the people.
Let us hope the avalanche of dissent continues to sweep the choices of the back room politicians, fat cats, our capitol and our White House out of office so the voice of the people will be heard once again. We must save America before it is too late!!!
Let it not be said that those who report the news are not the news as that is one of the journalistic standards in this day and age of egocentric journalism. My stories often call attention to the violators of journalistic integrity disguised as our nation's news media, and the elitist media of major newspapers and television.
More often than not the elite reporters have agendas that checkmate their desire for objectivity, non-biased reporting or telling the story of the subject of the article. Such a mindset leads directly to the reporter judging rather than reporting on the person being discussed.
Another distraction from the truth for reporters of today is the intense pressure on them from bosses or peers to write books, once again essays in judgment and violations on the confidentiality of news sources for the purpose of creating celebrity status for the reporters. In the eyes of the newspaper or TV network such celebrity status translates to recognition, ratings and money.
Of course it is little different than the pressure put on university professors, especially scientists, who are viewed by the school administration as a revenue source more than a teaching instrument for kids. Often the grants brought in by these professors pay for the cost of the department or unit. It is an atmosphere for corruption as altered test results may make the difference between winning or losing millions of dollars.
In journalism, however, it never used to be that way until the reporter or TV anchor retired. No one ever wrote books while they were supposed to be reporting the news. When I was a reporter it was impossible to tell whether the seasoned old pros were Democrat or Republican, normally they were Independent, or how they felt on any topic. They reported the news, did not editorialize or inject bias into the stories.
Oh but for the good old days. Today most reporters are not like that. Once the press was highly respected and their writing was the protection of the people from corruption. The Fourth Estate, as I like to attribute to Edmund Burke in 1792 was the English reference to the press who covered the actions of the English government. In America the press was considered important enough to protect with the Bill of Rights and the shield of the Constitution.
Today the definition of press includes almost every kind of trash known to men along with a few good papers and TV programs. Thus reporters who seem to uphold the principles of our founding fathers are few and far between. Most are entertainers like the O'Rielly, Beck or Hannity of Fox News or Olbermann, Matthews, Schultz and Maddows of MSNBC.
While Fox dominates the ratings as conservatives must dominate in America where limited federal government and states rights have long been held sacred, none of those mentioned from the right and the left would ever be accused of objective reporting. As TV network news self-destructed over the past 30 years the audience has moved from the big boys to the cable news where the news of the world must be in sound bites and 2 minute stories. It also ceased being news and became entertainment.
Once in while I come across journalistic performances so foreign to our normal trash talk and sound bites that I must draw attention to these reporters as they may be the last of the endangered species and you should enjoy them while they exist.
Two major recent stories have resulted in new candidates for the Coltons Point Times "Who can you trust" news reporters Hall of Fame. The tragic earthquake in Haiti was the first in which the real news people stepped forward to tell the real story of what was going on in the rescue and recovery effort. I must say I was surprised and pleased to discover gems of reporting amongst the many people covering this disaster.
First and standing alone in superior reporting was Anderson Cooper of CNN, a network that at least tries to report the news and to remain somewhat unbiased. As a result few people watch the network except when in depth news is sought like in the case of Haiti. Cooper should earn a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage from being one of the first on the scene to his fearless travels to every nook and corner of the disaster.
His stories pointing out the flaws of the rescue and recovery efforts when the government officials were telling a different story probably saved many lives. He discovered medical facilities with no medicine first, mass burials with no identification of bodies, the failure to distribute food, water and medicine when it was sitting at the airport for days, and on and on.
When Cooper reports you get empathy, compassion, emotion and truth in doses not often seen in reporters and you just know he will not stop digging for information until he finds the truth. His stories told the horrors of the thousands of deaths, the potential for thousands more from untreated injuries, and the sad failure to search for the 100,000 or more trapped under the debris. Cooper and his 360 program on CNN are a must if you seek truth.
Most surprising to me was the addition of Doctor Sanjay Gupta also of CNN. May times before I had seen him but the seriousness of the stories were never much so I did not notice him. But in Haiti, he performed as no other using his skills as a medical reporter combined with his skills as a neurosurgeon to tell the story and save a life by treating victims he found.
One night when a Belgium hospital team abandoned patients on the operating table for fear of their own safety Sanjay stayed at the tent and spent all night treating the abandoned patients. His reporting deadlines were sacrificed while saving lives.
When Cooper and Sanjay did joint reports which they did often they were always humble while upset over the treatment of the victims. Very subtly they asked critical questions about the promises for help and the failure to deliver and many times their reports resulted in help arriving.
The third reporter deserving recognition for her Haiti performance was Ann Curry of the NBC Today program who was sent to the disaster and literally scoured the city from one end to the other with no regard for the danger to herself in order to make certain the true stories of the tragedy were broadcast on the Today show every morning. I must say Curry was also a pleasant surprise since I was so accustomed to the entertainment aspects of the morning news shows but now I know she has a great news presence.
In regards to the Massachusetts Senate race the coverage was generally lousy as the bias of reporters dominated their reports. Thus the right was overly rejoicing and the left was overly depressed. It does not occur to either of them that the Independents embrace neither the right or the left but the middle.
However, I have been watching the evolution of Savannah Guthrie of NBC and she came into her own recently when they made her co-host of a morning show on MSNBC, The Daily Rundown this year. Ever since she left a lucrative law practice to be a journalist she has been on a fast track spending about a year with Court TV, jumping to NBC, and soon becoming a White House correspondent with Chuck Todd.
I knew there was something about Savannah that made her special and it took a while to discover she was a Tucson, Arizona native who graduated with honors from the University of Arizona, my school, and Georgetown Law School. She was always first in everything. Unlike most network correspondents she seems to have no axe to grind and no political philosophy to advocate but actually reports the news as fair and unbiased as you will find.
The Los Angeles Times named her one of the top female entertainment personalities in the nation to watch in 2010 this past December, she ranked #3, and was the highest ranked from the news media. As long as MSNBC does not corrupt her and she seems far too strong for that to happen she is a delight to watch and a fountain of truth and information. Her new show is a must see.
So Ann Curry and Savannah Guthrie of NBC are the two newest additions to my very limited Hall of Fame along with Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN. You should give them a try as they are rocketing to fame based on talent and truth.
When a Republican running as an Independent for John and Ted Kennedy's Senate seat can beat the Democrat endorsed by the Kennedy family and President Obama by over 100,000 votes, it is a landslide of historic proportions that should strike fear into the hearts of all politicians. So goes Scott Brown of Massachusetts in a stunning upset over Obama, health care, liberals and the old political guard.
Contrary to the views of the Democratic and Republican strategists, this was not a victory for the Republicans but a victory for all Americans. It was the clearest signal to date that our leaders in Washington, DC no longer can be trusted to lead, leaders of both political parties.
Our new president along with the Democratic controlled House and Senate and the Republican minority have blown it. People can see through the lies and smokescreens. They know exactly what goes on behind closed doors in our nation's capitol and they know the president, Pelosi, Reid and our elected representatives have sold out our government to special interests, and sold their souls to money.
A failure to recognize these signs will spell doom to all politicians who miss the point. America stands on the precipice of revolution, peaceful revolution, against politics, political parties, and a burgeoning bureaucracy whose secret agenda is self-preservation over the needs and wishes of the people. The people know it and the people, like a sleeping giant, have been aroused.
Unfortunately our politicians continue to drink the Potomac waters and believe they are superior to the people. Politicians believe they know what is best. They ignore warning signs and polls that prove we are a nation in discontent. In the past few weeks in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts the unrest could not be clearer and the politicians could not be more stupid in missing the signs.
Independent voters are forming unexpected alliances with disgruntled Democrats and Republicans and state by state they are throwing out the establishment candidates in favor of candidates who have no strings attached. This juggernaut will not be stopped by clever legislative manipulations, by born again policy decisions of our political parties or by the bold faced lies and half-truths from our politicians. No, it is too late to expect to fool the public all the time.
While the politicians and political analysts who make their money keeping the politicians in office repeat their mantra that we know what is best for Americans, and that the work of congress is too complicated to explain to Americans, the public has figured it out. The public knows that politicians who criticize banks while accepting hundreds of millions of dollars from banks for their campaigns have lost their morality.
When millions of dollars flow into leading politicians from the health care and insurance industries as the politicians complain about the spiraling cost of health care, the public knows the magnitude of the bribes being paid by the immoral politicians. The Washington establishment is based on need, greed and deception and the masters at the game are no longer invisible to the people.
The principles of our great nation have been compromised by the greed of our politicians. Just look at the record of the Majority Leader of the House, Steny Hoyer, as he stands behind the president and castigates the banks, health care, pharmaceutical and insurance industries. He says one thing to the public, but behind the closed doors of Congress with the special interests and lobbyists inside look what happens to our protector from the bad boys of industry.
Top industry contributors to Hoyer's campaign committees are Lawyers, Lobbyists, Health Professionals, Electric Utilities, Real Estate, Insurance, Securities, Investments, Banks, Pharmaceuticals, Hospitals/Nursing Homes and Unions, a total of over $13 million for 2010 already. Now that covers most industries he calls the bad boys and to see just how extensive his support is from these industries take just the banks. He has received money from Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup and Credit Suisse among many others.
He attacks the banks but approves the bailouts. Then approves the insurance bailout while attacking healthcare costs, yet rakes in big bucks from the very industries he attacks. What do these industries know that the public does not know? Why are they pouring money into someone who attacks them? Does it have anything to do with the fact there is no prosecution of the crooks or changes in the regulation of the industries or does it mean they are being protected in other ways?
These are samples of the reason the people have had it with the old political guard in Washington. Elected officials are in bed with the enemy, have forgotten the meaning of truth and integrity, and continue to attempt to deceive the public. Hoyer is a protector of Wall Street and a protector of those who increase the cost of health care just like many other elected officials are and will remain. Money for campaigns, especially when it totals millions of dollars, come with a price tag and we have leaders too willing to pay the price.
That is why people do not trust politicians. That is why being a Washington insider may very well be the kiss of death to their careers. That is why America is controlled by special interests and lobbyists. That is why government aid goes to Wall Street, unions and special interests and not to the needs of the people. That is why the revolution of independents may well be the salvation of our nation.
With the White House positioning itself to blame everyone but themselves for the potential defeat in the Massachusetts Senate race for Ted Kennedy's seat, a continuation of the hard line bully mentality of the Rahm Emanuel school of political fisticuffs, America waits to see if our young and inexperienced president finally learns his lesson or is willing to let his entire presidency go up in flames.
Today's election has all the potential to be not a cliffhanger but an avalanche in favor of the Republican candidate who will win because he ran as an independent, not a Republican. The race between the once invincible Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican outsider Scott Brown is a classic textbook example of political arrogance and presidential indifference driving the prohibitive favorite Coakley into one of the greatest last minute campaign collapses in political history.
However, the signs were there since the Virginia and New Jersey governors races last November when the White House tried to interfere in local races and got trounced. It seems the boys at Pennsylvania Avenue just don't get it. The people of America, be they Democrat, Republican or Independent, are not going to stand by and let some rookies in the White House drive America into self-destruction with some pie in the sky view of what is best for the people.
Deficits, the economy, honesty and truth still are held sacred in this country and the Obama gang has lost sight of all of them. No, Mr. President, this is not your nation but of the people, by the people and for the people. When you made your last minute trip to Massachusetts to salvage your sputtering candidate you made, once again, a huge mistake.
The speech was peppered with "I" and "We" know what is best for you. It was condescending at best, arrogant at worst, and delivered as an elitist professor bored with teaching who is intent on telling his students what to think and why they are wrong in thinking different than he tells you. In short, it was more of the same partisan politics that seem to characterize this supposedly "new" politician who was going to lead us away from the mean-spirited world of politics as usual toward a new breath of fresh air in politics.
Obama proved once again he is nothing more than a Chicago South side politician who knows better than the public and who scolds the public for daring to challenge his words. Even the pro-life heckler who disrupted Obama for about three minutes left him startled and mad that someone, anyone, would dare challenge his credentials. What credentials?
In his latest speeches Obama suddenly saw the light and attacked the banks, the same ones he saved, the same ones who have given millions of dollars to his and other Democratic leaders campaign funds. He attacked pharmaceutical companies while helping Coatley raise money from them. He acts as if we will never know the House majority leader, his man Steny Hoyer, has raised nearly a million dollars from the bad guys and other Washington politicians have raised over $150 million from them.
If Obama does react to a potential loss with even more arrogance, and continues to try and slam unpopular trillion dollar spending bills down our throat, then he might as well lock the doors on the White House and Congress for the last three years of his term because he will be well on his way to being the most ineffective president of all time.
Maybe he learned all about socialism in Ivy League schools and from his many left wing radical friends but he didn't learn enough from the practical applications of socialism in the real world. Socialism only works when people are weak. Americans are not and never have been weak. The people will never stand for an agenda they did not know he intended to pursue and that the people have rejected over and over again throughout our history.
If our young president cannot learn the virtue of humility, and drop his idiotic spending bills and his fast track toward bankruptcy for our nation, he should resign. Our presidents are supposed to lead all the people, not just those few he likes or gave him money. In the 21st century the president of the United States cannot be an on the job training program and the White House is not a frat club for the elite. He must realize he serves us, we do not serve him.
If he cannot learn that simple lesson of Democracy then he should step aside. Because if he cannot learn that lesson of Democracy the people will have to throw him out. That is the Constitutional solution when a president does not serve the people. Wake up Mr. President before it is too late. You have awakened a sleeping giant in the American public and they are mad as hell at what you are doing to our nation. In America, people are Americans first, then members of political parties. When parties ignore the wishes of the public they no longer serve a useful purpose.
You don't mess around in Boston, the heart and soul of tea party movements in America, the citadel of freedom and the home of America's first tea party that sent shock waves throughout the world. I think people underestimate the Bostonians, take them for granted. Obama's Chicago gang thinks the people of Boston and Massachusetts will do whatever Obama tells them because they are the most liberal state in America. But the people of Boston are populists first. They do not like being told what to do by outsiders.
As the Massachusetts Senate race comes down to the wire next week and the White House goes into full blown panic mode because of the surge in polls by the Republican, Scott Brown, and the collapse of the Democrat, Martha Coakley, will this be the race that convinces our young president to stop meddling in the state races once and for all?
He did not read the mood of the public in New Jersey and Virginia where Democratic candidates for governor in states Obama won handily and with Democratic governors took a beating from the Republican candidates in spite of being outspent by huge margins. Yet here we are, just a few weeks later and the bullies in the White House once again want to tell state voters who to elect. Such arrogance, even from Chicago politicians, is rather stupid.
As a supporter of the Kennedys and supporter of Kennedy candidates in the past I can tell you Martha Coakley is not Ted Kennedy. If she were really in touch with the people, as John and Bobby Kennedy were, she would have campaigned with the people. She said she would not waste her time meeting workers when she could just meet with their bosses. Both John and Bobby would be shocked by such an elitist attitude.
I remember shaking Bobby Kennedy's hand in Nebraska in 1968, along with a crowd of people, when he was surging into the lead in the presidential race and just a couple of days before his assassination. The Kennedy's were always the people's choice, not the bosses and they never forgot it.
If Coakley wanted to be like the Kennedys she would not have squandered her time as Attorney General. She could have sued the banks of Wall Street and the hedge fund and derivative manipulators in Boston who ripped off the American Treasury, stole the retirement dreams from millions of Americans, and destroyed the dream of home ownership for millions more. But instead she asks them for money for her campaign.
She could have demanded accountability from the pharmaceutical companies, health companies and insurance companies for their role in health care price increases but instead gets their money from Democratic party officials. Her special interest campaign contributors read like a Wall Street who's who and we all know by now that when they give money they expect money in return. Just ask our young president with his bailouts, buyouts, loans and stimulus. Who did that money benefit?
And if Teddy Kennedy were still alive you can bet he would be outraged at the shape the Obama health care reform debacle has taken. There are more bribes, more backroom deals than constructive initiatives in this bill. I cannot believe Kennedy would stand for the Obama, Pelosi, Reid pyramid scheme intended to fill everyone's pockets with cash except the public who will be paying for it for generations.
Teddy Kennedy had integrity. He was patient for a generation waiting to get meaningful reform. He would not have endorsed this sham just to get anything approved so the president and congress would look like they did something this past year. The Obama health care bill is not reform but a bureaucratic boondoggle the likes of which we have never seen and no one understands. Coakley wants it, Brown does not. Maybe that has a lot to do with her falling star and his rising popularity.
If Obama fails again to impose his will on the people of yet another sovereign state in America maybe, just maybe, he will finally stop meddling in state affairs and get on with governing all the people. If not he will fill out his term maintaining his do nothing administration while achieving record deficits and national debt. Not a legacy one should seek.
