Is Obama using Control of Chrysler to pay off political donors?

The internet has been buzzing with the discovery that many of the Chrysler dealerships that were shut down were owned by Republican supporters who opposed Obama. However, this didn't seem like a solid argument to me at the time. First, I presume that most entrepeneurs who have to work for a living would oppose Obama, so maybe most all of the dealerships are Republicans. Second, we were told that the list of closures was generated by Chrysler, so there was no chance for Obama to interfere.

However, tonight Gateway Pundit is reporting new information that blows a hole in that theory, and strongly suggests that Obama is in fact using the power of the presidency, and the control he has over the car companies because of OUR TAX DOLLARS, to reward democratic donors and Obama supporters while driving better dealerships run by Republicans out of business.

From the Gateway Pundit:

Now there's this...RLJ-McLarty-Landers is owned by three men.One was the former Chief of Staff for President Clinton.One is the founder of Black Entertainment Television and a huge Obama supporter.All 6 of their Chrysler dealerships will remain open.And, get this... Their local competitors have been eliminated!
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More... The decision to close the dealerships was made by Obama officials and not Chrysler.

I dislike major stories reported from blogs. It is a shame that the major media outlets refuse to even investigate this story, as it could be a bigger scandal than Watergate, a greater abuse of presidential power than the teapot dome scandal.

Terry McCauliffe -- Bad for Virginia

OK, so it's not my party's primary. And it would be fun to attack McCauliffe in the general election with his record.

But what lesson have we learned from the 2008 elections? Once the Democrats pick their candidate, it won't matter even if we catch him with a dead girl AND a live boy in his bed, the Democrats will vote Democrat, and some independents will totter along if the candidate has enough money to sway them.

And McCauliffe has tons of money, which according to the Washington Post, he earned in the way that Obama says is evil.

The Post in fact deflates the bubble that is McCauliffe's ego, showing that his claims of creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and launching dozens of companies, ALL SUCCESSFUL, is just one more of Terri McCauliffe's lies:

Yet McAuliffe's business pedigree is not so simple. He is a dealmaker who made millions from investments. And many of his biggest deals came in partnership with prominent donors and politicians, creating a portrait over the years of a Washington insider who got rich as he rose to power within the Democratic Party.
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But they belie the complexity of a business career built mostly on intricate land deals and dot-com investments, often with wealthy political donors -- and sometimes with no jobs to show for it.

The Post details deal after deal which were little more than Terri paying off political allies in exchange to access. And it mentions a case where Terri seems to have taken advantage of the unions:

The pension fund put up virtually all the money -- about $40 million compared with McAuliffe's $100 -- even though McAuliffe would own a 50 percent share in the partnership. This detail would become a point of contention in a lawsuit filed against the fund trustees by the Department of Labor, which regulates the management of pension funds and which determined that it had not been a good investment for the electrical workers. In 2001, after two years of litigation, the trustees, including Moore, settled in U.S. District Court.

Terri had 5 companies in Virginia which he touts, but none had any employees:

And at a candidates' forum in December, in response to Moran's claim to be the only candidate who had run a business and raised a family in Virginia, McAuliffe boasted of launching five businesses in Virginia. It turned out that all five are investment partnerships, with no employees, registered to his home address in McLean.

At least he didn't try to claim a grass-cutting business. But he sure likes to "exaggerate", which is the Democrat's euphamism for "lie":

McAuliffe's tendency to exaggerate his successes adds to that perception. Describing the apartments he purchased with the union fund, McAuliffe said he "went through every apartment myself, like 1,600 of them, to make sure the toilets worked" -- but then added: "Well, I didn't go through 1,600. But I went through every property exhaustively. Sure I did! I owned them!" McAuliffe then claimed that his home-building company built 1,300 homes at its peak, but an adviser later clarified that the figure was closer to 800.

The post story is a must-read, which is something I very rarely say.

Train Show

One reason for light blogging is that I am lazy.

Another is that I am working on an exhibit for the 15th annual Manassas Railway Festival, to be held June 6, 2009 at the Manassas Rail Station.

I did this back in 2006, when I had my back problems. This year has been a lot easier, since I am not in constant pain. Also, the tables were already built, and I still have most of my models.

So of course, I took the opportunity to make it bigger and badder. I've added a full 2nd level, with an extra wing, so instead of an "L" I now have a "U". I'm also working on intermediate levels, giving a more "3-dimensional" look.

So here's hoping for a sunny, cool day on June 6th. It should be a lot of fun. There will also be live music and games for the kids.

You know you want to have fun, and you know you can't afford to travel this year, so come on out and spend a day with your neighbors looking at trains. You can also see the big empty lot where they don't have an annoying sign.

Sad fact: when I did the last train show, I was right next to that property, and I have pictures of the house that used to be there before they burned it down and made it into a neighborhood eyesore.

Still here.

I'm still around. Just don't have anything to say that isn't being said somewhere already. Anyway, in the era of Obama, it seems clear the best course of action is to hide under a rock.

You certainly don't want to say anything against what he's doing, because he seems quite willing to use the power of government against people who displease him. I figure if the guy can take over two car companies, what chance do I have?

It is interesting to note that a couple of months ago, we were all told how bad the economy would get by the end of the year if we didn't pass Obama's idea of a "stimulus package". But now that we DID pass Obama's bill, we've already reached all the milestones that were expected by the end of the year. Which would suggest that rather than "stimulating" the economy, Obama actually made it worse.

We have lost more jobs since Obama took office than he promised to "save or create". I once joked that when Obama promised to save 4 million jobs, that the other 100+ million jobholders better watch out. But we won't lose 100 million jobs, because Obama isn't going to cut any government positions. He'll probably hire people to help him run the car companies.

Gas prices dropped like a stone when we got rid of the stupid ban on offshore drilling. But now that Obama seems to be re-imposing the ban by dictatorial fiat, prices are shooting up again.

The problem with the Stimulus bill is that most of the money went to state and local governments. I was in Fair Oaks mall last saturday, and I looked all around, but I didn't see government shopping. If you give money to real people, they go spend it, which means businesses stay open and hire people who spend their earnings which means more business.

If you give money to the government, government doesn't go to the shopping mall, they generate new programs to waste the money where it will do no good. Oh, and they take forever to do no good, apparently after all the rush to enact the stimulus package, only about 15% of the money has been spent.

And when you are trying to figure out who to thank for the federal stimulus money we are getting, thank me. I'm a taxpayer, and it's my money they are giving out. And yours, if you are a taxpayer. Some people are thanking Connally, or Obama, or Webb/Warner. Sorry, they aren't giving you their money, they are giving you MY money. Might as well thank the robber who gives you money he just stole from the guy in the alley.