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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (204133)	4/25/2007 1:23:40 PM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793963

Obama's friend Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he had no idea longtime friend and now-indicted fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko was behind problem buildings in the South Side Chicago district that Mr. Obama once represented as a state senator. "Should I have known these buildings were in a state of disrepair? My answer would be that it wasn't brought to my attention," Mr. Obama told newspapers Monday. Mr. Rezko's Rezmar Corp. obtained millions in government funds to rehabilitate apartment buildings for the needy, the Associated Press reports. Court and city documents show 30 of the apartment buildings owned and managed by Rezmar have since been subject to foreclosures, code violations and lawsuits filed by the city, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in its Monday editions. About a third of those 30 buildings were in Mr. Obama's Illinois Senate district. "One of the perils of public life is that you end up being responsible for, or you're held responsible for, associations that you didn't necessarily know were a problem," Mr. Obama said.

To: KLP who wrote (204133)	4/25/2007 3:46:51 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 793963

K, Presidents are a bit more than mindless drones who just act as figureheads. As King George II himself says, he is "The Decider". He really does think about things and decide what the USA is going to do. It isn't just underlings running around doing things and him just sitting there. Even Queen Elizabeth, who is not supposed to be in the daily fray doing the deciding, stays on top of what's going on, getting regular meetings with the prime minister who is a very busy person. Presidents really do make a very big difference, not their underlings who merely provide information. The invasion of Iraq was his thing. He was gung ho for that even against Colin Powell's advice who was a reasonably astute military person, not to mention Brent Scowcroft's and a lot of other people's, such as Mqurice, the registered international geopolitical expert, soothsayer extraordinaire. Bill Clinton got it right with the Mexican bail out. That could have led directly to a financial implosion. In the particular instance we were discussing, there was specifically information available and those who should have taken an interest deliberately ignored it while they selected more important things to do, such as golf, makeup, and haircuts. Having been in corporations and seen idiot management ignoring things which they should not have, despite having it presented to them carefully and in detail, it is a pet peeve of mine. It's almost as though they get their jollies by showing they are so important they can ignore people below them even if they are saying stuff which is significant. It's a dominance submission thing. Speak of the devil, I have here an article on the very subject.http://www.fredoneverything.net/FOE_Frame_Column.htm "Politics as a Perversion" aka "What, Me Twisted"? I have never thought about S&M people, so I found the article interesting and it fits what I know. I think we can put the Iraq war into that category. I think we can put the rejection of the information about 911 in that category. Big alpha males and their females don't need to, as President Yeltsin said, which amused me, "Do chickens". There was some issue with foreign trade and fowl. He said "Presidents don't do chickens", obviously in Russian and I am only reporting the translation which might or might not be correct. Since life is made up of details, and the butterfly principle is how things work - a silly little O ring brought down a space shuttle and a lot more besides - it's best to have somebody who is very good at lots of details and also the big picture. A bit of damage from a bit of loose foam caused another space shuttle to burn up. If Rudy can't get the logic right, he's not so likely to get other things right. Being a member of an extreme right wing political party, act.org.nz whose members are the well-heeled end of the political spectrum [which doesn't mean much in NZ economics] I have noticed that wealthy people are far too important to worry about details and they are quite wasteful of money too. So in some ways they are the last people I want to have running the country. The lefties, not used to having money, mind the pennies more carefully. They fiddle with the details until the cows come home. Unfortunately, having the wrong ideas means the details are irrelevant. Worrying about the ecological details of Lake Taupo is silly when it's all going to be blown up soon enough in a monstrous eruption, along with all the people in the city. I suppose it's fair enough that the city be nice and the lake ecologically pure while people are there, but it would be better not to have a city full of people waiting to die. Not that I'd make it illegal to live there, but I wouldn't spend long term money in the area. Economics is harsh and so is nature. People have earned many lifetimes of profits from the area, and young people have grown up there and left, so if the remainder is destroyed, it has all been worthwhile. But it still seems very nasty. Same with living on the coast. Many lifetimes have been enjoyed with the ocean at the door. When they are killed en masse and everything destroyed, it will seem bad, but I suppose it has been worthwhile as enjoyment of life has got a lot to do with life. The Rabid Republican Right gets things wrong and Rudy will do that too. He already got a big thing wrong - logic. He said if he had been in charge, 911 wouldn't have happened. Well, KGII and Condoleezza ignored the warnings. Maybe he wouldn't. I wouldn't bet on that. Hubris is one of the key ways of getting big things very wrong. Unfortunately, by the very act of seeking to be president, one is showing great hubris. Ipso facto, by wanting to be president, one disqualifies oneself from being it. Rudi and hubris even rhyme. And the history of hubris goes back 2000 years and more. History rhymes and repeats they say. Those who fail to learn from history, .... Mqurice