Ch-ch-changes

Today's New York Times features a story about the conviction of Tony Rezko, the longtime Obama fundraiser and rainmaker, on 16 counts of bribery, fraud, and money laundering.

Swell guy.

In the piece, a statement from Obama was quoted. (What's this with a "statement?" I thought Obama never met a camera he didn't like. Oh, right: that only applies to when things are going well for him. The bad stuff gets a "statement.")

Obama said he was "saddened" by the verdict. (There goes the gravy train!)

And then this: "That's not the Tony Rezko I knew."

Sound familiar? After the Reverend Wright controversy blew up, Obama said that the man seen ranting and raving, full of anti-American vitriol, was "not the man he knew."

Father Michael Pfleger? When his racist sermons came to light, Obama said the exact same thing about him: not the guy I knew!

Bill Ayers? Hardly knew him. Bernadine Dorhn? Ditto.

How is it that all of these people, to whom he was close (most for 20+ years) have all changed? Suddenly, all of them are different people. Now that Obama is a national figure, suddenly, miraculously, they've all changed. For the worse.

Are you buying this?

Obama can dress up his radicalism in a pretty package, and he does it well. But fraud is fraud (ask Mr. Rezko.)

Obama is inflicting a fraud on us: inviting us to believe he's one thing, when his past and his associations indicate he's someone else entirely.

Maybe someday we'll say: "That's not the Barack Obama we knew."

That's assuming we ever do get to "know him."

Comments

[emineid]

There is no rest for Obama.

First, the undying chthonic beast that is Hillary. Caravaggio's 1597 rendering of Medusa bears an unbelievable resemblance to this modern-day Gorgon that is Hillary.

Then, the unending eruption of dirt that his comrades in the media are digging up: Rezko, Wright, Pfleger, Ayers.

And now, Drudge reporting the Bush plan for perpetuating the US military presence in Iraq.

Once that plan goes into effect, Obama would have more luck brining all the troops home from Germany, Japan and Korea than withdrawing from Iraq. In a word, not!

Bush is doing the right thing. This is what is going to happen:

1. US will establish a long-term military presence in Iraq. Just like it did in the Philippines in 1899. Just like it did in Germany, Japan and South Korea in the aftermath of WWII.

2. There will be minor eruptions of protest against the US presence in Iraq for decades to come, in the form of the perfunctory newspaper articles on slow news days and university students protesting with Molotov cocktails when they get tired of sitting in the classroom.

3. The benefit of the US presence on the regional stability will outweigh the risk of withdrawal and the Bosnification of Iraq. Think of it this way: How are you going to go grocery shopping for milk and diapers when there are riotors looting and torching the supermarket all the time? The Middle East is one of the MANY grocery stores from which America shops.

4. US military officers and enlisted men and women who seek career advancement will request for the Iraqi assignment, the way they used to request Germany or Korea during the height of the Cold War.

5. It took the US 97 years to close its last military base in the Philippines. NINETY SEVEN YEARS! We are still in Germany and Japan and Korea. There will be the occasional cretans in the US military who commit unspeakable crimes against the Iraqis, especially the women. And each time, there will be an uproar, just like in Okinawa. I propose death penalty, Iraqi-style, for these mutants who commit such astrocities.

6. Iraq is different from Germany or Japan or Korea in one important aspect: It is a multi-ethnic entity, all vying for a stake in the game. Who is going to argue that the Kurds are going to be better off with us gone?

7. If McCain wins, he will continue what America has done in the past after winning a major war: Establish perpetual military presence, as irritating as it may be to the locals. In the end, both Iraq and America and the world will be better off for our presence. Just think how history could have played out differently: Germany under Stalin, South Korea under Kim Jong-il. Would either have been better off? Who are we kidding?

8. If Obama wins, he is NOT going to pull out. This whole Iraq thing is not really his game. But he gets along well enough with everybody, so he will listen carefully and with consideration to all the parties involved, and do the right thing, more less against his instincts and his own campaign promises.

[gringoman]

from GRINGOBRO to MONICA,

Rezko? Pastor Wright? Bill Air? Father Flake?

Monca, it like this. You know what color Obama? He black. You hear me? Barack Hossein Obama, he black.

Now how somebuddy gonna vote 'gainst him an' not be a racist? Axe the Demcrats. They tell you.

Monca, you know what I sayin'?

[gringoman]

from CUCHIGRINGO to MONICA

Hiya Moneeca:

(An' I want gringoBro to hear thees too.)

You know, every black gonna vote for Senyor Obama, no?

Rezko? What they care? Nada.

That Pastor Wright, curse America. What they care? No importa.

That Bill Air-head, try to bomb Pentagon. They care? No es nada.

Father Flaco, attack los blancos. How they care? Nada por nada.

So here what I say to my amigo gringoBro:

Hombre, how you all gonna vote for Senyor Obama and not--I repeat---not be racist?

Martin Luther King, you know him? He say vote for character, not for color, no? Why you not listen to your King? I gonna listen to your King. That why I not gonna vote for Senyor Obama. How you like that, amigo?

Tu sabes?

[SteveOk]

Monica, saw you on Bill O'Reilly and enjoyed the debate with M. Hoover and O'Reilly. You did a great job. It was interesting that Pat Buchanan was also on O'Reilly's show tonight also. My two favorite conservatives on my favorite show.

There are two great threats to American national interests in the World today. North Korea, where we have thousands of troops permanently stationed in South Korea, and Iran, where we must keep thousands of troops permanently stationed in Iraq. These two countries, more than any other countries threaten our national security and we must maintain a military presence in their backdoor.

[Dgscol]

Well, Feinstein and the Clintons has a powpow, and ....
Barra boy is convinced they are crazy.

[FK]

You all like to talk about how illegal immigrants are criminals and a drain on the economy. I thought you might be interested in an illegal immigrant who is valedictorian of his class, but I guess you're all in favor of deporting him:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/05/armenian.valedictorian/index.html

Valedictorian's academic plans threatened by deportation

(CNN) -- A high school valedictorian's plans to study medicine at a California state university have run headlong into the federal government's attempts to return him and his family to Armenia.

"I haven't been in Armenia since I was 2, so I don't really know anything about the place," said Arthur Mkoyan, 17. "All I've seen is just videos my mom has watched on the Internet."

Mkoyan's long-term plans were turned upside down one morning in April when two immigration officers arrived at the door of his family's house.

"They took both of my parents, and they released my mom because she had to take care of us, since me and my brother are minors," he recalled. "But instead they took my dad away to a detention center in Arizona."

Mkoyan, who has a grade-point average above 4.0 -- extra credit for Advanced Placement classes makes that possible -- is set to graduate next week from Bullard High School in Fresno, California.

Ten days later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to deport him and his family to the Armenian capital city of Yerevan, the same city his family fled in fear 16 years ago.

Back then, Mkoyan's father, Ruben Mkoian (he and his son spell their last names differently), was a sergeant in an Armenian equivalent of a department of motor vehicles, according to a court document.

"He was approached with a bribe to register stolen vehicles. He refused. A co-worker took the bribe. Mkoian reported the incident to the chief of the DMV, who told him to mind his own business," the document states.

"Subsequently, he and his family were subjected to attacks he believed were attempts to silence him about corruption at the DMV."

In what the family considers one such attempt, their house was set on fire in 1992. That led the father to send his family to Russia and then to the United States, Arthur Mkoyan said.

They arrived in the United States in 1995 on six-month tourist visas, according to Virginia Kice, a public information officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The family settled in Fresno, where Mkoian worked as a truck driver and his wife worked in a jewelry store. They set about living their lives, which soon included a younger brother for Arthur.

But after the visas expired, the family's application to remain in the United States was denied. In 2002, an immigration judge ruled that they had no legal basis to remain in the country, Kice said.

After their application to the Board of Immigration Appeals was rejected, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year denied their petition for a hearing.

The court was unpersuaded by the father's assertion that he might still be subject to reprisal if he were to return.

"Mkoian's fear that Armenian officials would be unable or unwilling to protect him seems unfounded because he provided little evidence that they were unable or unwilling to protect him in the past," the appeals court said.

To Kice, it's a simple matter of enforcing the law.

"I would remind people that this family had ample access to due process," she said. "The case has been in litigation for more than 10 years. Immigration experts on every level determined that they had no legal basis to be in the United States."

She noted that the government agreed to delay their deportation so Arthur can graduate with his class.

Arthur's schoolmates at Bullard are shocked that his academic achievements haven't helped his case.

"It's really hard to get good grades in this school," freshman Alex Stewart told affiliate KGPE. "It's a challenging school, so to get a 4.0, you really gotta try."

Still, a longer-term reprieve remains possible, if unlikely. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, may attempt to pass a "private bill" that would allow the family to remain in the United States.

"Our office is looking into the case," said Scott Gerber, a spokesman for the senator.

But the odds against it are long. There is "almost no chance" that the family's quest for a private bill will succeed, said Daniel Kowalski, editor-in-chief of Bender's Immigration Bulletin.

"Very few are being passed," he said.

In fact, of the 21 private immigration bills introduced last year, none was enacted. In 2006, 117 were introduced, and none was enacted; in 2005, 98 were introduced, and four were enacted.

But the filing itself would buy the family time, since it suspends any efforts to deport the family until the bill's fate is determined.

Arthur appeared undaunted. He appealed to a reporter to publicize his e-mail address ([email protected]) so he can forward any letters of support to Feinstein.

Meanwhile, the academic skills he has displayed in Fresno may not easily translate to college in Armenia. Arthur said he understands only a few words of Armenian.

[SteveOk]

(Fred)You all like to talk about how illegal immigrants are criminals and a drain on the economy. I thought you might be interested in an illegal immigrant who is valedictorian of his class, but I guess you're all in favor of deporting him:
-----------------------------------
Fred, nice try. This is your typical leftie tactic. Haul out a heart rending sad story to portray America as the big bad ugly country because we want to enforce border security and illegal immigration. We are sooooo bad bad bad. Fred, we have every right in the world to enforce border security and illegal immigration and that doesn't make us bad. There is not question that many of the illegals are hard working and dedicated people but does that mean we throw out our laws. The main thing lefties want to do is validate the illegals because they believe they will vote Democratic in larger numbers. THAT'S THE MORAL OF THAT STORY, DUH.

[FK]

No, Steveok, how the illegals would vote if they were granted citizenship did not even enter my mind. I suspect that, like all Americans, they would be of varying views and vote accordingly.

I just wanted to remind you all that illegal immigrants are human beings, many came here for good reason, they are not all criminals, and many are just attempting to live the American dream. It would be a shame to send a valedictorian to a country he has not been in since he was 2, where they speak a language he does not know, just because the proper paperwork was not done.

I think you should re-read your post because you come off sounding much crueler than I think you intended.

[FK]

Also note: Conservatives do the equivalent of what you accuse me of doing when they "haul out" stories of illegal immigrants that engaged in criminal behavior. Those stories don't represent all immigrants either.

[SteveOk]

Fred, there is always exceptions to everything but please don't foxtrot out these isolated cases to promote your open borders position. If you want open borders then just come out and say so, don't throw out a smoke screen to hide your position. If you want open borders, then say so. Is that your point? I'm for fences, a crack down on employers, heavy fines, and strict enforcement for those that break the law. Those that have a sad sob story can be heard on a case by case basis, but you don't make national policy based on isolated sob stories.

[FK]

I'm not for open borders. Don't set up a strawman and knock it down (typical conservative strategy). I am for being reasonable (unlike someone like Ummah) and just assuming that all illegal immigrants are criminals.

The best proposal you have made is to crack down on the employers who employ illegals to avoid paying decent wages and social security and other costs of hiring Americans and legal immigrants.

[Ummahgummah]

SteveOK.. you NAILED it! So if the guy's so smart and has a 4.0 then why can't he learn his native tongue Armenian?!

The libs never continue to amaze me!

[Ummahgummah]

Fool-K.. put forth: "I am for being reasonable (unlike someone like Ummah) and just assuming that all illegal immigrants are criminals."

Wow.. that's SO reasonable.. the fool didn't notice the little word ILLEGAL in his own sentence!

Being an illegal automatically puts you in conflict with the Law, fool.

Therefore per definitionem.. *illegal "immigrants" as you call them ARE criminals the moment they enter the country ILLEGALLY.

Ah, but the Law means nothing to the libs. Only the Tax Law does so they can take our money to pay for the social costs their favorite little pets incur.. healthcare.. maternity wards.. and on and on.

[FK]

I know that's how you feel, Ummah. Illegal immigrant = criminal. It must be so easy never to have to look at the underlying issues. It disgusts me that I live in a country where people like you live.

For you, just entering the country without the proper paperwork puts a person on par with murderers and rapists. I guess my mind is just a little more open than that. That's why I'm glad I'm not you.

[Dgscol]

He could always leave and return on a student visa. Many Iranians live here in perpetuity. To get a green card they have to marry an American before they graduate. Actually, he could even get married now, even to a gay person : $45 plus a guardian for anyone under 18.

[Dgscol]

He could always leave and return on a student visa. Many Iranians live here in perpetuity. To get a green card they have to marry an American before they graduate. Actually, he could even get married now, even to a gay person : $45 plus a guardian for anyone under 18.

Wake up : Feinstein is using this, for the sake of pushing amnesty.

[Dgscol]

He could always leave and return on a student visa. Many Iranians live here in perpetuity. To get a green card they have to marry an American before they graduate. Actually, he could even get married now, even to a gay person : $45 plus a guardian for anyone under 18.

Feinstein is using this, for the sake of pushing amnesty.

[Dgscol]

Wow! I got a triple. Please accept my apologies.

[emineid]

If I may add some thoughts to this immigration question.

I should know something about the experience of being an immigrant who got the grades.

First of all, much like the minimum wage issue, and probably like oil drilling in Alaskan Wild Life Preserve, the immigration issue in this country has been framed in such a way as to perpetuate the argument without offering any realistic insights.

Who benefits from the immigration issue?

Democrats benefit:

1. The people living in Scarsdale, NY, who get their half-acre properties landscaped are not gonna pay a high wage to some Stanford-bound high school graduate to cut their grass.

2. The guys running the meat-packing factories in Kansas just want to see the fake green card, wave their hand, and pay whoever shows up to work, because getting productive hard workers is not easy, and who wants to hire some white American citizen fresh out of prison with a lot of tattoos and hepatitis C?

3. The "social consciousness" argument sits well with getting votes and sympathies. Nobody wants to look like a mean, selfish person.

4. There is an entire generation of recent immigrants who will NEVER vote Republican because they are trying to get the green card for their brothers, sisters, etc.

5. I have never seen treatment refused in any emergency room because of immigration status. Sure, the hospital loses money, but they just treat 'em and street 'em, unless they have an appendix that needs to come out. The corollary is that the accountant living in Scarsdale is NOT paying those hospital bills if the guy fixing his roof pulled a muscle. We all are.

Republicans benefit:

1. The dilution of the culture is a real problem. What nobody is talking about is, do you want all these folks from south of the border coming over only to have their children and grandchildren drop out of high school and be consigned to low-paying labor and teen pregnancy for the next five hundred years? If you are gonna let people in, shouldn't they have a reasonable shot at achieving the American dream?

2. And the real solution to some of the immigrants falling into that crack of generation and generation of "just getting by" is... there is no "easy" solution! Look, if you are seventeen and your mom thinks you should get all the pregnancies out of the way before age 20, hell with marriage or education, the there is a chance you will live up to that expectation. When people talk about the immigration issue, NOBODY is talking about the chemical engineer from Japan who is married to the post-doc working at NIH.

3. Sure, xenophobia plays a part. But go and sit in on family conversations at dinner. What are most Americans concerned about? Paying the mortgage, not getting fired, keeping the car running, their cell phone company not screwing them, sending their kids to a high school that is not a "prison without the barbed wire," as are many, many public schools. Xenophobia or whatever phobia comes into play when someone feels that any of the above goals are in jeopardy.

4. Does anyone think that these immigrants come over to America dreaming of living in some ethnic slum, socially isolated from cultural Americans? Who doesn't want to have a three-bedroom house, a couple of cars in the garage, and a chance for their children to do better? It's insane to keep the fences open without regard for WHAT these people are in for. Does ANY immigrant NOT get conned about what their life in America will be like? That's one thing I am glad to see more and more: People speaking out against these false expectations.

5. There is the theoretical consideration of a large pool of low-wage workers negatively influencing technological developments. My point is: Don't just bring people over to do your laundry beating the bed sheets against a rock with a stick--get a washing machine. Let's invent the next labor-saving devices to free up people from not-so-well-paying jobs.

As a final thought, borders and borders and laws are laws. But look at the history of Texas. Mexico had Texas, but they couldn't get their own people to settle the area so they paid Americans to come in and set up their ranches and so forth, as long as they swore fealty to the Catholic Church and the government of Mexico.

Then we had the Alamo.

Our own history validates this point: People who are willing to live and work in a place tend to "inherit the Earth."

If we are not willing to pay our citizens and residents to trim our hedges and carve our steaks, then those who do will tend to inherit their right to live there. I cannot conceive that the divine providence had any other plans for humanity.

But if we automate some of these work and pay our people enough money for the rest, then maybe we can take time out to REALLY help the immigrants achieve the American dream.

[leewolf]

"How is it that all these people, to whom he was close (most for 20+ years) have all changed?"

Oh could it be that this is the "Change" to which he refers in his campaign rhetoric??

[emineid]

Good one, LEEWOLF!

I would suggest that Obama can hire Scott McClellan to ghost-write his next book.

"Change" is a tempestuous mistress, indeed!

[SteveOk]

Unfortunately for America, the main streaming media refuses to ask the hard questions of Obama, so after months and months of campaigning we don't known anything about him other than he hangs around nutty leftwing people. All the leftie media want to ask him is stuff like how does it feel to be the first black Democratic nominee.

The fact that Obama had a 20 year friendship with crazies like Jeremiah Wright and "Father" Michael Pfleger is swept under the rug by the main stream media. The fact that Obama would negotiate American interests with a terrorist like Ahameddinnerjacket without any preconditions is shocking. The state of Israel must really being asking what is this guy doing. How could you negotiate with a terrorist without any preconditions?

[FK]

Wow, Emineid. I really like your discussion of the immigration issue. You make a lot of good points.

[gringoman]

NOTICE FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY:

To show how much the US media has evolved into a remarkably sensitive, humane group of dedicated and wonderfully liberal J-School graduates, more educated than the "ink-stained wretches" of previous generations, the Gringo Advisory Board has located (at Pajamas Media) and is pleased to present this revised version of the historic Normandy invasion......

June 6, 1944. -NORMANDY- Three hundred French civilians were killed and thousands more wounded today in the first hours of America’s invasion of continental Europe. Casualties were heaviest among women and children.

Most of the French casualties were the result of the artillery fire from American ships attempting to knock out German fortifications prior to the landing of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops. Reports from a makeshift hospital in the French town of St. Mere Eglise said the carnage was far worse than the French had anticipated and reaction against the American invasion was running high. “We are dying for no reason,” said a Frenchman speaking on condition of anonymity. “Americans can’t even shoot straight. I never thought I’d say this, but life was better under Adolph Hitler.”

The invasion also caused severe environmental damage. American troops, tanks, trucks and machinery destroyed miles of pristine shoreline and thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive wetlands. It was believed that the habitat of the spineless French crab was completely wiped out, threatening the species with extinction.

http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/06/06/breaking-news-us-army-pinned-down-in-bungled-assault-huge-civilian-casualties-experts-fear-grave-damage-to-the-environment/

[Account Deleted]

Gringoman - from the last post ... apologies for the delay in answering your questions. 1) I believe McCain should not only sign the Drill Here/Drill Now petition, he should make it a plank in his platform. 2) Yes, we need to know whether he signed. I understand the petition was delivered to the Presidential candiates and to Congress. The campaign lives on: with radio ads and other efforts. Please see the American Solutions web site.

Emineid: I am not sure why you feel the American dream is filled with false expectations or is a "con". The elegance of this dream is that anyone can be successful, however they define success, irrespective of background. The genius of the American system of government (as designed by the framers, not as implemented by the two parties today) is in the foundation it provides to enable this dream for everyone. The Conservative challenge today is to recalibrate our thinking to that of the framers.

Your observations about landscapers in Scarsdale confirms the theory of free markets--of products/services and of labor. And so, paradoxically, does your example of the chemical engineer from Japan. Both demonstrate that capital, labor, and products should find their respective markets freely where they are most in demand.

Rather than depreciating the American dream in the eyes of the aspiring immigrant, and our own citizens, why not elevate it locally to foster indigenous people's capability to build their dream in their own countries?

This resolves two problems contemporaneously: that of political and economic freedom south of the border and that of illegal immigration here. It has the subsidiary effect of making us appreciate our own system.

Regards,

[Account Deleted]

Gringoman,

Whatever PajamasMedia is, their parody is not amusing and in poor taste. I hope you agree. Anyone who has visited the beaches of Normandy and the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer not far from St. Mere Eglise cannot help but be moved by the sacrifice of the Americans and the French who helped them behind the scenes. I stood over the steepest cliffs in Normandy looking down at the Channel with Frenchmen who, with only their imagination because they were too young to remember directly, envisioned the toil and bravery of the invading forces, and who turned to me – an American also lacking direct experience with WWII – with tears in their eyes struggling to say, “Our country owes you much.” This is their heritage; it is our heritage. And we are forever friends by this bond.

For their part, there were no braver fighters than those of the French Resistance.

The beauty of Normandy today is the natural perpetuation of its pristine nature that serves only to reinforce the enormity of what happened during the liberation of Europe.

I highly recommend a visit.

Have the local cheese, apple torte, and Calvados …

Salut,

[bkkc]

Hi Monica,

I can see that that your are a racist, republican, midless puppet. You and that bias foxnews station. "Fair and Balanced my bleep".You can continue to trash a dead story. It will not work.