This statement is more than the sum of its parse

Way back in the 1980's the group Missing Persons had a quasi hit song called "Words". One of the lines in the refrain was "What are words for, if no one listens anyway." Looking back on the video today I am somewhat embarrassed to admit this was (actually still is) one of my favorite songs. It has also been playing in my mind quite a lot since the coronation of Barack Obama.

So much is made of the oratory skills of The ONE that I've made it a point to listen carefully to him every time he speaks. Sure, the majority of the time he is simply reading from his teleprompter but, on occasion, actual audio leaks of him speaking as extemporaneously as any President ever speaks. It is during these times the real Barack "above my pay grade to decide when Life begins" Obama is revealed.

The other day a New York Times reporter, in an interview on Air Force one, asked the First African American President of the United States if he was a socialist. Obama sort of laughed off the question but it must have left an impression. So much so that the President made it a point to call the reporter to clarify a few things.

Here is a portion of the audio from that Oval Office call and my painstakingly crafted transcription of it:

"...uuhh just one thing that uh I was thinking about as I was uh as I was getting on the uh copter cause uh ya know, it was hard for me to to believe you were entirely serious about that socialist question."

"Uh ah I I did think it might be useful to point out that uh it wasn’t under me that we started uh buying a whole bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch. And it wasn’t on my watch that we passed uh a massive new entitlement uh-– the prescription drug plan -- without a source of funding. Ah and so I think that uh it’s important just to note ah when you start uh hearing folks uh throw these words around that um uh we’ve actually been operating uh in a way that uh is entirely consistent with free-market principles uh and that uh uh some of the same folks who are uh throwing the word 'socialist' around can’t say the same."

The New York Times asked, "So whose watch are we talking about here sir?" but Obama wouldn't name names.

"Well ha ha ha, I I just think it’s clear by the time we had uh by the time we got here, uh err there already had been uh an enormous infusion of taxpayer money into the financial system. And eehhayyyeehh the the thing I constantly try to emphasize to people is that if that coming in, the market was doing fine, nobody would be happier than me uh to stay out of it. I eh you know uh I I have more than enough to do uh without having to worry the financial system. uh and the fact that uh we’ve had to take these extraordinary measures uh and intervene uh is uh not an indication of my ideological preference, uh but an indication of the degree to which uh ehhh lax regulation uh and extravagant risk taking uh has precipitated a crisis."

He concluded the brief call by saying, "I think that covers it."

-----End Transcription and resume scintillating commentary-----

That call may have covered it but it didn't answer it! Like learning what the meaning of "Is" is, often more is revealed in what isn't said than in what words are used. Let's look, just like the President said he would do at the budget in search of earmarks, line by line at uh the uh eloquence of The ONE and see if we can ascertain the meaning behind the uhs and the points he is trying to make.

Obama: "...uuhh just one thing that uh I was thinking about as I was uh as I was getting on the uh copter cause uh ya know, it was hard for me to to believe you were entirely serious about that socialist question."

Bald One: Right off the bat, the President needs to demonstrate his manliness while simultaneously establishing his authority by citing he rides in a "copter" to and from the corner grocery and not in a Prius like most reporters for the New York Times. He also finds it surprising, not that he was thought of as being a socialist but, that someone from his sycophantic media actually asked him the question out loud and on the record.

Obama: "Uh ah I I did think it might be useful to point out that uh it wasn’t under me that we started uh buying a whole bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch."

Bald One: Citing this as evidence that he isn't a socialist is akin to telling the nice Officer, after blowing a 0.08 on the breathalyzer, that you are aren't drunk because your buddy who's passed out in the back seat started drinking first. The ONE didn't start the bank bailouts but he and his tax evading Treasury Secretary sure aren't changing the strategy much.

Obama: "And it wasn’t on my watch that we passed uh a massive new entitlement uh-– the prescription drug plan -- without a source of funding."

Bald One: No, it was on his watch that a Trillion dollar stimulus package was passed, uh, without a source of funding. And now a nearly half trillion dollar spending package with close to 9,000 earmarks in it is about to pass and will be signed by him.

Obama: "Ah and so I think that uh it’s important just to note ah when you start uh hearing folks uh throw these words around that um uh we’ve actually been operating uh in a way that uh is entirely consistent with free-market principles uh and that uh uh some of the same folks who are uh throwing the word 'socialist' around can’t say the same."

Bald One: If by free market principles he means fascist control of banks and laying the groundwork for a socialist take over of our health care system and a Marxist redistribution of wealth through confiscatory taxation I don't disagree with anything he said there. Even former socialist country leaders think he is on the wrong path. So does the leader of my next homeland.

Obama: "Well ha ha ha, I I just think it’s clear by the time we had uh by the time we got here, uh err there already had been uh an enormous infusion of taxpayer money into the financial system. And eehhayyyeehh the the thing I constantly try to emphasize to people is that if that coming in, the market was doing fine, nobody would be happier than me uh to stay out of it."

Bald Man: The best "infusion" of "taxpayer" money in to any financial system would be to allow the taxpayer to keep a bit more of his or her hard earned money to infuse when and where he or she sees fit and let real free market principles work. But basically the main point to take away from this sentence is that the President is wrong. I, and millions like me, would be far happier if he stayed out of it.

Obama: I eh you know uh I I have more than enough to do uh without having to worry the financial system."

Bald One: He has plenty to do with a White House party night every Wednesday and attending every festivity that is a Copter flight away from the nearest runway large enough to land Air Force One. Is it any wonder he was "too tired" to properly receive the British Prime Minister last week?

Obama: uh and the fact that uh we’ve had to take these extraordinary measures uh and intervene uh is uh not an indication of my ideological preference, uh but an indication of the degree to which uh ehhh lax regulation uh and extravagant risk taking uh has precipitated a crisis."

Bald One: Actually the fact that he has taken these particular measures and ignored free market/capitalist solutions to these "extraordinary" measures is truly an indication of his ideological preference. Combine these actions with his rabid support of Card Check for Unions, disregard for the lives of the innocent in his support of the Freedom of Choice Act and reversal of Bush's Stem Cell Research ban and his effort of having government encroach in to virtually every aspect of a United States (and soon the World's) citizen's life and he reinforces his "ideological preference. I would mention his affiliation with Reverend "God Damn Amerikka" Wright and William "let me stand on this flag and blow up this building over here" Ayers but it seems these are being scrubbed from the public record.

Obama: "I think that covers it."

Bald One: This doesn't begin to cover it. It was true in the 1980's when Ronald Reagan said "Government is not the solution, it is the problem" (slightly paraphrased) and it is true today; Words mean things.

If Nancy Pelosi and her ilk in Congress have their way, soon the words of many free thinking Americans will be stifled under the latest incarnation of the Fairness Doctrine. We might lose our right to question out loud whether the President is a socialist. He is already rallying his Hitler Youth like base via the internet as the campaign has begun. Those on the left continue to call Republicans Nazi's without consequence and our public officials are becoming more and more arrogant.

The author of the Audacity of Hope who exhibits the arrogance of victory has nothing on these two:












I'd like to have a word or two with them sometime.

S2

Those who can do..those who can't legislate

The exposure of Timothy Geithner's, The ONE's pick for Treasury Secretary, failure to pay his taxes didn't come as much of a surprise to me. His kind don't play by the same rules as most of us. This mini-scandal slowed his approval by a Senate Committee about as much as freeway traffic slows passing a cop who already has someone pulled over. Sucks for them but we are making good time!

The silky haired John Edwards got it right when he said we live in two Americas. He just got the designation of them wrong. The divide isn't rich and poor. It is the privileged and the un. There is the America of apple pie eating, flag waiving, hard working, tax paying, beer drinking, law abiding regular folk (the un) and then there is the America of the self-serving, advantage taking, hypocritical, law bending others (the privileged). The latter of course are the elite of America, most of whom are in government positions.

If you or I were to have not paid our taxes for four years the IRS probably wouldn't have been as forgiving as they were with Geithner. I did read he paid all the taxes plus interest. No mention was made of penalties. He must have had Tax Masters working on his behalf.

What I find interesting is that during the entire three and a half hour love fest that was his hearing, Geithner wasn't once asked about the reimbursements he received on those taxes he "should have been more careful" in paying. For you see the IMF, Geithner's employer at the time, reimbursed employees for Self-Employment Taxes paid.

Byron York at the National Review wrote on January 14th:(The Bolds are mine)

Geithner Accepted IMF Reimbursement for Taxes He Didn’t Pay

The IMF did not withhold state and federal income taxes or self-employment taxes — Social Security and Medicare — from its employees’ paychecks. But the IMF took great care to explain to those employees, in detail and frequently, what their tax responsibilities were. First, each employee was given the IMF Employee Tax Manual. Then, employees were given quarterly wage statements for the specific purpose of calculating taxes. Then, they were given year-end wage statements. And then, each IMF employee was required to file what was known as an Annual Tax Allowance Request. Geithner received all those documents.

The tax allowance has turned out to be a key part of the Geithner situation. This is how it worked. IMF employees were expected to pay their taxes out of their own money. But the IMF then gave them an extra allowance, known as a “gross-up,” to cover those tax payments. This was done in the Annual Tax Allowance Request, in which the employee filled out some basic information — marital status, dependent children, etc. — and the IMF then estimated the amount of taxes the employee would owe and gave the employee a corresponding allowance.

At the end of the tax allowance form were the words, “I hereby certify that all the information contained herein is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and that I will pay the taxes for which I have received tax allowance payments from the Fund.” Geithner signed the form. He accepted the allowance payment. He didn’t pay the tax. For several years in a row.

Perhaps it was a four year running innocent mistake but I would like to toss the review flag on the field. Can we get a ruling on this? Probably not, we can't even get a question about it.

Every April most of us spend time doing our taxes, paying our taxes and grumbling about our taxes. Unfortunately the head of steam we work up during this time has bled off by the time the next election comes along in November. Is it any wonder election day and tax day are as far apart from each other on the calendar as possible? We small minded simpletons are expected to file and pay our taxes correctly and, if we can't figure them out ourselves, we are expected to pay more of our hard earned money to have someone figure them on our behalf. If the lines stretching around the H&R Block are any indication, most of us can't figure out the convoluted tax laws any better than the guy who is about to be in charge of the enforcers.

Hell, even those who write the laws seem unable to figure them out. Charlie Rangel, in the best swept under the rug story of 2008, has been under investigation for his own payment "mistakes". Rangel has been on the Ways and Means Committee (the one that writes tax law) for thirty years and is currently its chairman! Rangel claims he didn't know he was receiving income on the property. He supposedly also didn't realize the sweet deal of a mortgage he got too. He wasn't charged interest on after two years. He and Chris Dodd must have the same bankers.

We can rant all we want but those of us in the "other" America will never be able to compete with the privileged. Until we begin to stand up, take notice and call out these atrocities nothing will change. Tomorrow Mr. Geithner will be approved for his cabinet seat and the story of his tax scandal will be place on the back shelf of the filing cabinet. Charlie Rangel will be holding court in the House instead of being held until he is called to court for his financial sins. The media which should be pressing these issues will be busy being the new President's personal press.

Me? I am on my way to buy this year's edition of Turbo Tax. I just hope it works better for me than it did for Mr. Geithner.