Obama Completes New American Paradigm - Democrats Now Party of Big Banks, Big Pharma, Big Interests and Big Bucks

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Barack Obama ran on a platform of promising change and people have waited a year to see what kind of change he would deliver. The answer is finally in and the picture isn't easy to take for the lifelong members of the Democratic party. The Democrat party is no longer the people's party, the unique conglomeration of diverse partisans who had no other home for their cause.

Thanks to the new President from Harvard where money talks and money walks the Democrats have now become the political party of Wall Street, big banks, big pharma, big insurance and big money. Left in the debris of a once proud party of the people are the traditional Democrats from labor, teaching, minorities, Catholics and every other group that does not have extremely deep pockets.



How did our new president reverse the political landscape and take the Democrats from the populists to protectors of big money? Perhaps he spent too much time at Harvard researching the wealth of the Harvard endowment fund and the source of that wealth. Or maybe it was the dominating influence of his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who set out a couple of decades ago to become the poster boy for protecting Wall Street. Or maybe it was the stark realization that in today's world of politics money is everything as long as the campaign rules are not changed.

Whatever, while his domestic and foreign policy agendas fell flat on their face and the public revolted against the big government, big spending, big deficits and big taxes he proposed in health care, energy, the environment, housing, and many other areas, he was slamming through a seemingly dumbfounded congress the foundation for his new paradigm. He got bank bailouts, insurance bailouts, auto bailouts, Wall Street bailouts, housing bailouts, secret deals with big pharma, all were meant to guarantee the survival of the money mongers regardless of the impact on the people.



As a result the people's candidate became the beneficiary of all those bad guys he promised to stop when he was still a candidate, a promise his record demonstrated was just another political lie from just another Washington politician. Suddenly an avalanche of big money flooded in to Obama and all those who agreed to be his puppets. In fact over $429 million has flowed into congressional campaign funds for the 2010 elections and it is only mid-January.



Where are the Obama windfall campaign funds going? Democrats dominated the big business fund raising marathon capturing seven of the top ten places in the House and eight of the top ten places in the Senate. House Democrat Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland led all House members for receiving special interest funding to such an astounding degree that every major bank receiving Obama bailout funds contributed to his 2010 campaign funds. Even Charles Rangel, Democrat of New York hit the top ten and he is under a long delayed investigation for cheating big time on his taxes.



Any Democrat who voted for health care reform would share in the hundreds of millions of dollars paid out by the pharmaceutical and insurance industries to support health care reform. Why, you might ask, would the drug and insurance industries be paying for something that the president said would hurt them? It will not hurt them.



It will assure the drug companies can maintain their billion dollar profits on their drugs by keeping out foreign competition. Lawyers and their billions in legal fees for malpractice cases against the medical community are protected. Waivers of anti-trust laws for insurance providers will remain. Current health care providers who already charge too much will find their profits swelling from the flood of uninsured whose insurance will be paid for by new taxes.



The result? Industries such as pharmaceutical, hospitals, nursing homes, health professionals and insurance companies are pouring money into Democratic campaigns at a far greater rate than Republican campaigns.

The same is true in the financial sector. The bad boys on Wall Street, in the banking, housing and investment fields are pouring money into Democrat campaigns at almost the same rate as they are paying billion dollar bonuses. For the first time Obama has made the Democrats the favorite recipient of cash from Wall Street, banks, securities, investment, real estate, lawyers and lobbyists fields.



Republicans used to be the party of choice for Wall Street and big business. Obama has changed that long established paradigm. Indeed he has brought about the institutional change he promised, but it was not in the areas of social programs or policy initiatives. No, the Obama agenda was always about controlling the flow of dollars into campaigns.



Of course this leads to a couple of important questions about our new president. Why is he the new protector of Wall Street and big business? And who told him to do it? Certainly there is nothing in his published background that would indicate he would become the most effective fund raiser from big business in history. Nor that he could parlay his relationship with big business into controlling the money hungry minions on capitol hill by filling their campaign coffers.



Goldman Sachs, the bad boys of Wall Street, may hold the key to Obama and his conversion from populism to capitalism, Rothschild style. In numerous articles I have warned of the strange interaction between Obama during his climb to the top of the mountain and how Goldman came out of nowhere to help push him along the way. The media in America never got interested in pursuing the truth about this any more than they got interested in pursuing the truth about the Obama years after Columbia when he travelled in unusual places while his Ivy League education loans got paid off.

With the paradigm achieved and the media now learning this is not the president they were promised or expected, maybe now they will look into the background and find the truth. However, the public, especially the Democrats and Independents, know something is terribly wrong with the promise of Obama compared to the results.



Now that he or Emanuel are the new King Midas of the Democratic party and are dividing their efforts between raising money from big business to scolding big business, from financing congressional campaigns to protecting the people paying the money, maybe the traditional Democrats who have lost their party will lead a new effort to find the truth about Obama and his strange policy shifts.

Watch the flood of last minute money into the Massachusetts Senate race for Ted Kennedy's seat and look at where the money comes from and the truth will be obvious. Obama and his minions will pump into the campaign money from the very people they claim are the cause of our problems in the first place. How did they get their hands so deep into the pockets of big business? What was promised in return? Can we, all Americans, really afford the new Obama paradigm?

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Thousands Die in Haiti's Worst Earthquake in over 200 Years

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All Americans should join in prayer for the victims of Haiti. The following is an onsite report from the Catholic News Service from Haiti. Over 80% of residents of Haiti are Catholic.

Pope prays for victims of Haiti quake; archbishop's body found

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI prayed for victims of a massive earthquake in Haiti and urged the international community to provide generous assistance to the stricken population of the Caribbean nation.

The victims included Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince.

"The lifeless body of Archbishop Joseph Miot of Port-au-Prince was found this morning under the rubble of the archbishops' residence," L'Osservatore Romano said in a Page 1 story Jan. 13.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio in Haiti, told the Vatican missionary news agency Fides: "Port-au-Prince is completely devastated. The cathedral and the archbishop's residence, all the big churches, all the seminaries are reduced to rubble."



Pope Benedict made his appeal at the end of his general audience Jan. 13, some 12 hours after a magnitude 7 earthquake struck Haiti, toppling buildings and causing widespread destruction. The number of casualties was not immediately known, but local officials called it a major catastrophe.

Pope Benedict said he wanted to highlight the dramatic situation in Haiti following the "devastating earthquake, which resulted in serious loss of human life, a great number of homeless and missing, and enormous material damage."

"I appeal to the generosity of everyone, so that our brothers and sisters receive our concrete solidarity and the effective support of the international community in this moment of need and suffering," he said.

He said the Catholic Church's charity organizations would immediately move into action to assist those most in need.

"I invite everyone to join in my prayer to the Lord for the victims of this catastrophe and for those who are mourning their loss. I assure my spiritual closeness to people who have lost their homes and to all those affected in various ways by this calamity, imploring from God consolation and relief of their suffering," he said.



Archbishop Auza said he had toured the capital on the morning after the earthquake and found the country's ministry buildings, schools and supermarkets destroyed. He said the headquarters of the U.N. stabilization force in Port-au-Prince had completely collapsed, reportedly trapping hundreds in the debris.

"I found priests and nuns on the street, who no longer have homes. The rector of the seminary survived, and so did the dean, but the seminarians are under the rubble. Everywhere there are cries coming from under the rubble," he said.



He said a study institute for men and women religious had collapsed, with many students inside as they attended a conference. The nunciature withstood the quake, and there were no injuries there, he said.

"We cannot enter or stay inside for very long because the earth continues to tremble. So we're camped out in the garden," he said.

Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based umbrella organization for Catholic charities, said it was mobilizing to provide immediate assistance to Haiti. On Jan. 13 it had already assembled an emergency relief team to fly to Haiti to assist Caritas members already working in the country. It said there had not yet been contact with the Haitian Caritas office.

Caritas Internationalis humanitarian director Alistair Dutton was leading the emergency relief team, Caritas said in a statement.

"There is a strong Caritas presence in Haiti. We already know that Caritas staff will be providing support to survivors of the earthquake, such as food, shelter and comfort through churches and parish networks," Dutton said.

"A priority for Caritas will be to assess the damage and our local capacity to provide aid to survivors of the quake. Caritas runs more than 200 hospitals and medical centers in Haiti. It is experienced and prepared to respond to humanitarian disasters there as a result of the frequent hurricanes," he said.

"Communication with our staff on the ground is difficult, but we are piecing together a picture of desperate need. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Conflict, recent natural disasters, and poverty have left Haitians with weak infrastructure. Working in that environment will be difficult," he said.



In its statement, Caritas said the cathedral in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince was badly damaged.

Caritas also said the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services had been in communication with its staff in Haiti. The local CRS office was still standing and CRS staff present at the time of the quake were safe, it said. CRS staff described the quake as "a major hit ... a direct hit."

END

Congress Calls Banks to Testify - Why? Maybe Congress Should Testify as Well!

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Today the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is hearing testimony about the economic disaster of the past year from four of the nation’s leading bankers: Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase, John J. Mack of Morgan Stanley and Brian T. Moynihan of Bank of America.



What in the world is the point? Isn't this just another example of Congress sending up a smoke screen to hide the fact there is nothing they can do about the practices and billions of dollars in executive bonuses being paid out by the banks that just a few months ago faced bankruptcy until the American taxpayers bailed them out. How can they when they are taking millions in campaign bribes from these same people for elections this year?

This is the midterm election year. It just started. Yet the House members have already raised over $263 million and Senate members have already raised over $166 million to get re-elected. Now where in the world did that money come from? Well over $85 million came from banks and over $54 million came from lawyers and lobbyists. Is there any doubt why this Congress cannot slap the hand that feeds them?



In last year's election the banks poured $132 million and the lawyers and lobbyists poured over $95 million into the presidential race. Doesn't that explain why Obama has also been silent on exposing the co-dependence between our politicians and the institutions they are supposed to regulate.

Our economy collapsed over the last two years yet Congress has just started hearings on why the economy collapsed? When do they ever plan on getting to the point of telling us which of their contributors caused the collapse, and how they intend to punish them? Never! Our federal elected officials long ago sold their souls for campaign contributions and have been protecting the thieves in our midst ever since.



Hearings like these are an insult to the public, make a mockery of our governmental system, and do nothing to stop the high crimes and theft between Wall Street in NYC and Easy Street in our Nation's Capitol. Not a single soul in Washington seems to be saying anything about stopping the millions of campaign dollars from being collected by our elected officials from the same people ripping off the system and paying the multi-billion dollar bonuses.

Campaign reform, a pledge of Obama, the Democrats and Republicans, has vanished from the national debate. Well without campaign reform nothing can be done to stop the flow of money from the banks to the politicians. If $139 million has already been invested by the banks in our politicians this year, and it is only the middle of January, just imagine the price that will be paid before the year is out to buy our politicians.



Only the people of America can stop this nonsense. We must demand politicians stop taking the bribes. And we must throw out the politicians taking the bribes. There is no way a White House and Congress already dependent on the campaign funds will stop it.



We have been lied to over and over again. Politicians and the media, whose companies are also dependent on these same firms for advertising revenue, will never tell you the truth about how the politicians and media in America are for sale.

The American revolution was fought over an insensitive government, a corrupt government, and the influence of big business and the banks on the American way of life. Nothing seems to have changed in all the years since. Once again it is the people who must take back America and purge our nation of the evil, corruption, deceit and moral decay that rein supreme.



Freedom and democracy are again threatened by political institutions that think they know better than the people. Nothing could be further from the truth. The ballot is our first line of defense to stop the rape of America and now that the president and congress have demonstrated they cannot stand up to the people who own them, we must use the ballot to clean up the mess.

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Histories Mysteries - Next King of England (Prince William) Shares St. Clements Manor, Maryland bloodline

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When the late Princess Diana's son Prince William of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne and grandson to Queen Elizabeth II, becomes King, it will be the first time in history that an English monarch is 1/16th American. Ancestors of Prince William and his brother Harry, sons of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, are from Coltons Point, also know as St. Clements Manor, settled 375 years ago near the mouth of the Potomac River.



How could this be you might ask? Good question. Because we thought we had run the British out of America a couple of centuries ago. But alas, one of the enduring mysteries of St. Clements Island and Coltons Point is the very strange history that abounds in this quiet little place lost in time yet just an hour from our nation's capitol. The first colony in the world to guarantee religious freedom, at a time when Catholics were being persecuted in England, everything about this place is mysterious.



And nothing is more mysterious than the first proprietors of the original St. Clements Manor, the Gerard family of England. Two of the Gerards, a brother and sister, were on the Ark and Dove in 1634 listed on the manifest as investors and gentlemen or women.



Some history books indicate that in 1633 when the Charter was first granted for Mary Land by King Charles II to the Calverts, well before the ships left for America, the King and Calvert gave a grant to the Gerard family for any land they wanted in the New World north of the Potomac River. If they did it would be indicative of the power and respect for the family.



You see, according to English Heraldry the Gerards trace their English heritage back to the 1100's to William Fitzgerald, (the Gerard family name was shortened from Fitzgerald to Gerard and also spelled Gerrard and Girard). William traveled with Richard Strongbow and was part of the force that took control of Ireland for the King of England. After that there were a lot of Sirs in the family over the years.

By the time of King Henry VIII the Gerard family was one of the most powerful Catholic families in England and never seemed to be prosecuted for being Catholic under the reins of Henry and Elizabeth I. During the later years of Elizabeth Sir Thomas Gerard began making plans to set up a colony in America where Catholics would be free of persecution.

Thus with George Calvert, an investor in Queen Elizabeth's efforts to colonize foreign lands, he helped finance the Calvert Maryland colony. George Calvert had also become a Catholic just when England was banning Catholics. Whatever the agreement between Gerard, Calvert and King Charles, two of the Gerard family members were dispatched on the first ships.



But the real Gerard claim was the charter for St. Clements Manor because the Gerard family was entrusted with the most sacred site of the expedition to establish religious freedom in America, St. Clements Island. History conscious England would normally protect National Treasurers like the first landing site in the New World guaranteeing religious freedom. It was another sign of the trust of the British crown in the Gerard family. Though the area was finally certified by surveys in 1639, since the 1634 landing it had been occupied by those in the first expedition.



In Father Andrew White's historic journal of the colonization it talks of St. Clements Island, the first landing site in the New World. It was here the first fort was built, the first Catholic Mass performed and the first peaceful encounter with Native Americans established the long term peaceful relationship. It was also in the St. Clements Manor area that Father White, thanks to the Indians, set up the first Catholic chapel in the New World.

For the first five years after the landing the St. Clements Manor area was one of just five settlement sites in all of the Maryland area where the Jesuit priests could go and meet with the Native Americans. It was considered safe enough for such interaction with the Native Americans. The site of the St. Clements Manor House complex became Coltons Point and has been lived in ever since.



Historians know that places like Jamestown, Plymouth and St. Mary's City all ceased to exist in their original sites by the 1690's. Thus Coltons Point was settled in 1634, chartered in 1638 and surveyed in 1639. Because of these reasons the St. Clements Manor area, now Coltons Point, is the oldest continuously lived in chartered settlement in all of colonial America.

Dr. Thomas Gerard, whose brother and sister were on the first ships, was the family member designated to settle and develop the New World holdings and he arrived with his family in 1638, immediately settling at Coltons Point (St. Clements Manor). In time his manor grew to one of the largest in all of America including over 20,000 acres. He also owned land in Virginia and he was a partner owning Capitol Hill, the land where the US Congress, Supreme Court and much of our federal government was build.

Gerard was an unusual person, exactly what King Charles would prefer. While Charles was a Protestant King with a Catholic Queen, Henrietta Maria from the powerful Medici family of France no less, Gerard was a Catholic from a powerful English family with a Protestant wife. When he reached America he built the first chapel for Catholics and Protestants on the Manor.



His Manor House in Coltons Point sat on the riverbank and faced the little Island where the landing took place. St. Clements Manor House was burnt down by the Protestants around 1645, rebuilt, burnt down by the English in 1713 and rebuilt, and finally destroyed by a hurricane in 1933. One day maybe it will be rebuilt on it's original site.

Gerard was the first doctor in Maryland, a gentleman and successful businessman. He was often at odds with the Calverts, the Lords from England, over the rights of the people versus the rights of the crown. After the protestant revolt in England his lands were seized for a time and he moved to his Virginia land. He was the neighbor and friend of John Washington, George Washington's great grandfather. In time two of his daughters married John Washington thus were step great grandmothers of our first President.



For those of you who find it odd that two sisters would marry the same person, regardless of the fact it was George Washington's great grandfather, a note on the Colonial ways. Way back then women were a rather rare feature in the early colonial days. Also death came early for many of the men. So to protect those women who choose to help settle the New World the families would often have the next available male or female marry the widows.

This was an extension of the rules of the English monarchy, the same rules that proved to be King Henry VIII's undoing. You see, his brother was King and died at age 15 in 1502 when Henry was just 10. Henry was thus required to marry his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Queen Isabella I of Spain (the same Isabella who sent Columbus to discover America). Catherine was much older and Henry had to wait until he was 17 before the marriage took place.

Well Henry had difficulty adjusting to the older woman and was enamored by younger women like the Boleyn sisters, having an affair with one and marrying the second, Anne. Anne forced him to divorce Catherine. Thus began the religious wars that tore Britain apart for the next 150 years. For her part Anne got beheaded but her daughter with Henry, Elizabeth, became Elizabeth I, one of the most beloved Queens of England. She never married. Hummm.

Back in the colonies when he died Dr. Thomas Gerard was buried alongside his first wife at the St. Clements manor House overlooking St. Clements Island. We believe both grave sites have been located three centuries later and along with St. Clements Island they should become one of the most historical sites in Southern Maryland. Meanwhile, numerous smaller manors within St. Clements Manor were given as gifts or sold. Frances Scott Key, composer of our National Anthem, was even born on St. Clements Manor.



In England where the rest of the Gerard family remained their royal bloodlines continued and both Prince Charles of Wales and Princess Diana are blood relatives of the Gerards. When Prince William becomes King he will be the first British Monarch who is 1/16th American. He is also 1/16th German, 1/16th Hungarian, 1/32nd Irish and 1/64th French.



That means our Coltons Point bloodline (Gerards) will have a son of Princess Diana, Prince William, who becomes King of England who is related to King Henry VIII, a new King whose ancestors were step great grandmothers to George Washington who defeated the English, and who is the first British King who is 1/16 American. No wonder we always liked Princess Diana.



Prince William of Wales, heir to the English throne, can trace his family to St. Clements Island and Coltons Point. We even know the gravesite of his ancestors here in Coltons Point who first arrived 375 years ago. We really must celebrate when Prince William becomes King. Better yet, why not start now in honor of the future King of England whose ancestors were our founders.

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Sarah Palin Guaranteed Ongoing National Spotlight - Becomes Fox News Commentator

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On the first anniversary of Sarah Palin's shocking selection as vp candidate by John McLean last September 1 I wrote the following:

Coltons Point Times - September 1, 2009

The only thing worse for Obama and the liberal elitists than Palin hitting the international speaking circuit would be if Roger Ailes, the genius behind the Fox News rating machine, decides she deserves to host her own national TV show for the millions of Americans dissatisfied with the Obama gang and their efforts to hijack the American government.

Yesterday word leaked out and today it was confirmed that Sarah Palin would be joining the Fox News Network as a news commentator and would also host her own specials on issues stressing family and mainstream values. Way to go Roger and Sarah!!!

Finally, our trained journalist will have a forum she controls and pursue topics of interest to her and her millions of followers. You can bet it will be the springboard she needed to become an expert at all those things the liberal media said she didn't or doesn't know.



As for Roger Ailes taking my advice from 4 1/2 months ago, I'm glad he listened (just kidding). I happen to like Roger. When I was running congressional and senate campaigns he was the political advisor to my candidates. Later I worked with him and the late Greg Stevens, an Ailes associate, when I worked for the governor of New Jersey. Then I helped him out executing the largest single day newspaper buy in the nation at the time when I was in media in NYC.

Shortly after he joined Fox News and the Murdock News Corp as President of Fox News. Fox has blown away the competition ever since. One day recently the Fox News ratings equaled the combined ratings of MSNBC, CNN and all three major networks ABC, CBS and NBC. That is how successful Ailes has become. Late last summer I did a feature story about Roger and you can read more about his career with Mike Douglas, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh in that story.



Sarah Palin and her astounding ratings and growing popularity will be welcome additions to the Fox News machine and will give her an adequate forum to silence once and for all the unfair critics. It is going to be an interesting 2010.

Game Change Reinforces Senseless Wall Street-Washington DC Media Hysteria

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The release of the avalanche of tidbits from the new book Game Change by magazine reporters Mark Halperin, Time Magazine and John Heilemann, New York Magazine, will provide more senseless fodder for politicians in our capitol while reinforcing Main Street America's negative opinion on the elitist media of the liberal world.

Demonstrating an ability to jam the political news services with dozens of campaign stories meant to further raise the vicious attacks in the media against both parties and candidates, these MSNBC regulars, which hardly makes them objective reporters, will contribute to the further erosion of confidence in our politicians and institutions, contribute nothing to healing America, and proving beyond doubt that the only people of more danger to our democracy than out of touch politicians are out of touch journalists whose bible is not the code of journalistic objectivity but the pursuit of the Almighty dollar.

Liberals can blame themselves for this latest book by supposedly objective reporters since the liberal media is the platform for any book writer who will help trash America and our political institutions. Almost every guest on MSNBC, Fox, CNN and other news programs is hawking a book. These former news networks should be changed to the QVC Network of Journalistic Trivia and books might as well be sold during the interviews. Come to think of it, even the hosts of all these shows are selling books.



The news media is supposed to be reporting on the activities in the world that impact on or interest people. A book that does nothing more than give life to year old rumors and irresponsible statements made during the heat of a campaign, can serve only the purpose of making money for the authors. This is not news but political garbage. Anyone can get a disgruntled campaign worker to bash anyone else as campaigns are filled with enormous egos.

If Obama is failing as a president it is because of the adoring liberal media that put him in office and then turned on him. His enemy is from within his own support base. This book, like most liberal drivel, will rile up the other liberals and so called progressives and be ignored by the conservatives and moderates who already know the media is corrupted by money, drowning in egos and incapable of fair reporting.

If the reporters of the world were interested in news about the last campaign why don't they tell us about the president's long term relationship with Goldman Sachs, the same Goldman Sachs that will be telling us they are paying $25 billion more in executive bonuses thanks to our new president? That would be a story requiring journalistic integrity.

What about the role of the Obama White House economic team in changing rules the last year Clinton was president (1999) that opened the floodgates to the sub-prime mortgage market, the energy futures derivatives, the manipulation of commodities and the insurance scams that nearly destroyed our economy and remain the greatest unpunished crimes in our history?

Of course you won't hear the elitist media doing those stories. No, they will continue to say Chris Dodd is retiring because of a tough election, not because he got a sweetheart mortgage deal from the same company that bankrupted our mortgage market and destroyed the value of every home in America.

Do they write about how Al Gore and Goldman Sachs have made the Green movement, which Obama continues to throw billions of dollars into, a personal goldmine thanks to the cap and trade and emissions control nonsense? Not a chance. Nor will we ever get the truth about how conventional energy can be made much more efficient and cost effective. These stories require real investigative journalism. They require a lust for the truth, not individual recognition.

Truth may never be found in traditional media as there is no profit in it. It is a good thing that newspapers and magazines are failing, that television and radio news programs are losing viewers and listeners, and that people are turning to news blogs for news. Blogs may not always be right, but the independent blogs, not those controlled by the traditional media, at least try and find the truth.

So let our nation's capitol devour itself for a few weeks on the latest rumors and gossip from reporters with no news to write about. It serves them well. It also gives our nation a break from even more stupid actions by congress already consumed by Bush bashing and socialist agendas. In fact write your congressman and tell them to take a few months off to rest. After the do nothing agenda the past year we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. By then the rumors will have stopped circulating.

By the way, a note to the political insiders in DC. If you want to stay out of trouble stop talking to the media because you can no longer trust you are off the record or on background, today's journalists do not have the integrity of yesterday's reporters.

Elvis - The King of Rock and Roll

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January 8, 1935 - August 16, 1977

Today is the 75th anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley, husband of Priscilla Presley, father of Lisa Marie Presley and one time father-in-law to Michael Jackson. As I have written before, 32 years after his death Elvis continues to make far more money than he ever did during his 42 years of life, topping $55 million in 2009 alone with an international tour of his music scheduled for 2010.



In his early years the only way we could hear Elvis records in the Bible belt was when friends in the military were stationed in the south and would bring back Elvis recordings. Over time I got to see him twice in concert including during his last tour in 1977. It was June 19 in Omaha, Nebraska and RCA was recording the concert for a new Elvis project. One week later, June 26, he performed his last concert in Indianapolis and died three weeks later.



This much I can tell you. His voice was as powerful as ever that June in 1977 though he appeared to be physically exhausted. There was a certain melancholy in his voice as if he wanted one last time to give his fans what they expected. When he performed his ballets and gospel songs like My Way and The Impossible Dream there was not a dry eye in the auditorium.

Presley almost single-handedly created the genre of rockabilly and rock and roll and he was the first white person to merge the Black blues and gospel with country rock. In 1973 Elvis performed the first global concert via satellite and 1.5 billion people tuned in making it the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in history, including to this day.



The dance sequence from his movie Jailhouse Rock has been considered one of the best motion picture dance sequences ever recorded which he choreographed himself and I hope you will take a look at the number on the YouTube video I added. This is the Elvis we will always remember, the shy kid from Tupelo, Mississippi who grew up to become King of the world.

College Football Bowl Games - It was a Very Good Year

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Okay, I grew up in the Heartland where college football rules. It was a ritual going to the big games on Saturdays and the last time I went to games in my hometown of Iowa City, Iowa, home of the University of Iowa, Iowa played in the 1959 Rose Bowl for the second time in three years. They won. It was the last time they would win a major college bowl until yesterday in the Orange Bowl.



This year they played Georgia Tech, the favorite, and Iowa strong-armed their way to a 24-14 win over the ACC champion. Both my parents went to the University of Iowa along with a herd of relatives. It was a delight to sit with my Irish Wolfhound and watch the victory and I am thrilled for the University, my hometown and the state.



But that is not all. I lived in Nebraska for 14 years and spent a year taking classes at NU, while both my kids graduated from the University of Nebraska. I was there when the University of Nebraska rose to national football powerhouse and won five national championships. The 1971 Nebraska team is rated the greatest college football team in history. Check out these plays by the 1971 Cornhuskers.



At Nebraska winning was expected and over 300 straight stadium sellouts tell the story. This was a rebuilding year with a new coach and still Nebraska went 10-3 during the season with one loss to high ranked West Virginia in the last second. In the Big 12 championship game they lost to Texas by 1 point after time had expired. Texas is playing for the national championship. Nebraska then beat Arizona 33-0 in the San Diego Holiday Bowl.



Which brings up another of my teams, Arizona. The Wildcats were 8-4 and finished second in the PAC 10. I went to school at the University of Arizona and had mixed loyalties. One of those losses this year was to Iowa. But Arizona was in a major bowl and had a great year so losing to Nebraska was a great learning experience. Did I mention I was a jock at Arizona and was quite enamored with the cheerleaders? This UA coed was chosen national cheerleader of the month by Sports Illustrated.



All three of my teams will have most players back next year. Perhaps a national championship awaits?

Great work Hawkeyes, Cornhuskers and Wildcats. You made this a most enjoyable year.

Now a final note. When I was young I was enchanted by the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders, a group no one believes existed as where do you find college football bands composed of bagpipes? Well take a step back in time and watch the history and a performance by the Highlanders in videos in this story. I remember sneaking up to the stadium and watching the girls practice. Later I learned my ancestors on my mother's side were from Scotland.



Created in 1936 by Colonel George Dailey, the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders started out as an all male band, connected to the university's R.O.T.C. department. Introduced to the public, the enthusiasm was overwhelming as Dailey was approached by many male students who wanted to join this new and unique group. Col. Dailey then hired William Adamson of Boston, to instruct and direct the growing band.

In 1937, the Scottish Highlanders first began to perform at University of Iowa Hawkeye football games. The band continued to grow in numbers and popularity until the early 1940's, when World War Two depleted the male students on campus. In 1943, Adamson made the decision to open membership to female students. Hundreds applied, and soon, the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders became the largest all female bagpipe band in the world.



In the decades that followed, the Highlanders became extremely popular and world famous. Besides performing at halftime at Iowa Hawkeye football games (and one Big Ten away game per season), the Scottish Highlanders have performed before millions around the world, both in person and on television. Noteworthy appearances include The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, New York World's Fair, Chicago's St. Patrick's Day Parade, two Rose Bowls, and Disneyland plus Disneyworld.

The Highlanders have been ambassadors for their university, the state of Iowa, and the United States, during seven world tours, starting in 1952, where they were greeted by large, appreciative crowds in Scotland, England, France, and across Europe.



Sadly In the Spring of 1981, the University of Iowa eliminated the Highlander's budget, and the band's glory days were gone. The Scottish Highlanders continue today as a small student group on the Iowa campus. Thanks so much for the memories of my heritage.

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