No Money From PACS or Lobbyists, Eh?

Obama has been making a big noise that he's "not taking any money from lobbyists." Nor is he using PAC money.

But, is this true?

According to the Boston Globe, it's not.

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A Globe review of Obama's campaign finance records shows that he collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from lobbyists and PACs as a state legislator in Illinois, a US senator, and a presidential aspirant.

In Obama's eight years in the Illinois Senate, from 1996 to 2004, almost two-thirds of the money he raised for his campaigns -- $296,000 of $461,000 -- came from PACs, corporate contributions, or unions, according to Illinois Board of Elections records. He tapped financial services firms, real estate developers, healthcare providers, oil companies, and many other corporate interests, the records show.
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8% of Obama's campaign money comes from PACs. Hillary had only 4%.

In fact, he has his own PAC, Hopefund, which took in contributions from other PACs to the tune of $115,000 in the '05/'06 election cycle. These contributions included those from "defense contractors, law firms, and the securities and insurance industries."

So, what was that about no lobbyist or PAC money?

For The Apprentice Fans

So, who else felt like throttling Omarosa last night - besides Piers?

Her behavior was reprehensible considering the topic of this season; to raise charity funds.

Not only the snide and disgusting remarks she made to Piers - using his family, his children, as tools for her attacks - but also for her condescending and insulting laughter in the boardroom segment. Lennox hit the nail on the head when he called her attacks, "ghetto."

For my money, because of the seriousness of the situation, at her first fit of sniggering, as Trump, I'd've canned her from the game there and then.

She has a far overblown sense of self-importance, a facade that was torn to shreds in last night's episode when she came face to face with the fact that she is, truly, not a celebrity. Her "celebrity" status only comes from being a complete twit in the first season of Apprentice as the contestant everyone loved to hate. Her claim to fame is as a failure on national TV and her consequent appearances on other shows stem from that failure. As a result, she was unable to raise a cent for her team's goal, when the true celebrities were able to raise thousands. Almost $40-thousand, as it turned out.

Gotta say, though, from Trump's point of view, his pairing of Omarosa with Piers made for an excellent episode. So, she was used by Trump; a tool. Piers, also, to an extent, but not so much, I don't think, as Omarosa was.

About That Consensus

This site shatters that fallacy of anthropogenic global warming.

Not that it takes an anti-AGW stance, but that it seems - after a cursory glance - to fairly present both sides.

And, the fact that there are two sides to the issue- one of which staunchly in opposition - disproves any claims to consensus.

And, in a way, the mere fact that there is such a large following that goes against the AGW grain would lend credence to their argument; that more research is needed. That the answer has not been found. That even the cause of global warming is still in question.

At any rate, for the lay person, or the undecided, this site looks like a good read.

In A Quandary

For the first time in my voting life, I am unsure of where to cast my vote.

If Romney or Huckabee win the nomination, then I will have to do as I did with Bush; bite the bullet and vote for them to do my part in keeping a dem out.

But, if McCain wins - which seems likely - my vote will be less certain.

If Hillary wins the dem nomination, then I'll be forced to go with McCain, but I won't like it.

If Obama wins is where I have the real problem - and, I'm thinking it looks like he will. In this case, my vote could go 50/50 either way. I still won't like it, but my loathing for McCain is greater than my loathing for a democrat by enough to offset his party bonus.

Actually, I probably have a three-way tie. McCain/Obama/Independent by 35/35/30.

Well, I said a long time ago, this would be an interesting election year.