Politics Daily

Did Michael Jackson Know Too Much?

Ken Layne — 2009-06-27T08:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Scandal, Race, Ken Layne's Outrage

With the passing of the legendary dancing singer Michael Jackson, truly we are a nation challenged. But now that the tears have dried, and we are back to the crushing grind of everyday political life, it is time to ask the hard questions. Did Micheal Jackson, friend of presidents and other powerful people, simply know too much?

No musical performer before or since has had such access to the White House, with the exception of maybe Frank Sinatra and Willie Nelson. From the twin triumphant terms of the Reagan Presidency to the first Bush Administration, it seemed as if Michael Jackson was always there, always in the political limelight.

And, as history as shown so many times, it is nearly impossible to be in proximity of such power without learning some of the secrets behind this charade we call democracy, or communism, or theocracy, or whatever a particular country may practice, in terms of governing style.

When another American legend, the film director Steven Spielberg, screened his powerful blockbuster feature "The Extra-Terrestrial" to Ronald Reagan, it led to a stunning (if unverified) disclosure. Reagan reportedly said to the young movie genius: "Not a half-dozen people in this room know how true this story is."

While we do not have absolute proof that Ronald Reagan shared our alien secrets with Steven Spielberg, the official biography of Reagan -- Dutch, by Edmund Morris -- has this to say about the bizarre and frightening episode:

The President saw E.T., The Extraterrestrial at a private showing in the White House and paid the picture its finest tribute. The President had visited planetariums as a child. When the two hours and forty minutes of camera reporting at last were over, he rose from his chair and wiped his eyes. "It is," he said, "like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true."

One can only imagine what "The Gipper" told Michael Jackson over the course of their many meetings and private correspondence.

And what might the elder George H.W. Bush have whispered to the King of Pop, during America's most dangerous era? It is easy to forget the turmoil of 1989-1993 today, because it was so long ago, but a few hours on Wikipedia can bring back terrible memories, such as the U.S. War against Panama and the Collapse of Communism and the troubling reunification of Germany. With all of these scandals, there were secrets... the kind of secrets it must have been all too tempting to share with musical genius who sang "Ben," a love song to a rat.

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Iran's Brutal Riots Have Finally Validated Twitter

Ken Layne — 2009-06-16T00:09:00 00:00

Filed under: Iran, Scandal, Ken Layne's Outrage, Foreign Policy

Since the dawn of Twitter, the annoying status-message service which allows millions to broadcast their most banal thoughts about lunch and teevee to dozens of followers, we have all awaited the moment happening right now in Iran.

We have all waited for some sort of important news event to justify our use of Twitter and Facebook, those pointless time sinks we engage instead of talking to our families, or occassionally braving our own neighborhoods.

And now, even though few of us in America have anything to do with it, big events are happening in Iran -- and a few people are using the favorite text update service of Oprah Winfrey and Newt Gingrich to share violent street news from the Iranian post-election riots.

The Harvard Twitter expert Jonathan Zittrain told the New York Times on Monday, "The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful."

Indeed. Not since FDR changed America with the previously useless medium of radio has such an unlikely fad found a worthy purpose.

Will that purpose last? No, of course not. Just as the great heroics of early CB radio soon led to the usual prostitution and drug dealing behind truck stops, Twitter will quickly escape its brief moment of relevance. The Iranian situation will resolve, one way or another, and many thousands of excited Twitter voyeurs will quickly forget which one's got the ayatollah and which one has the war with 140,000 American troops. Who can tell, really, in the long run?

A popular post-9/11 country song proudly noted that the singer didn't know the difference between Iraq and Iran, and there's absolutely no reason to believe that will change just because of this week's big news, or because America has been fighting a terrible war in one of those countries for a half-dozen years.

In other words, Twitter is changing the way we live. Don't be shy, just sign up for a Twitter tonight. I sure did, and my life has never been better.

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Is Barack Obama Secretly a Zen Buddhist Master?

Ken Layne — 2009-06-12T15:55:00 00:00

Filed under: Religion, Scandal, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

From the angry fringe right of America, we sometimes hear confused yelling about how Barack Obama is secretly a Kenyan, or a Muslim, or an intellectual, or an elitist, or a talented writer and speaker, or a very successful man with a seemingly happy family life, or a rich and powerful leader, or a thoughtful man or even the important fictional space alien, Mr. Spock -- basically, everything that the rapidly aging and increasingly isolated Republican voter is not.

This is a tactic that says a lot more about the accuser than the accused, but there's no denying that in Barack Obama, the nation once again has an exceptional, almost otherworldly individual serving as president. And after two solid decades of bumbling Bushes and sleazy Clintons occupying the White House, the very idea of a president who is better than you is almost too weird to accept.

Yet presidents -- the good ones, at least -- are supposed to be extraordinary. Even if they came from humble beginnings, the great presidents were great because they transcended the petty squabbles and backstabbing of the political process and managed to do tremendous things, with dignity.

But Obama's actions and personality suggest he is something far more foreign to the common American than a Muslim or a Kenyan. He may actually be a Zen Master, operating on a level so far above regular people that we can only hope to gain a bit of enlightenment from his calm demeanor.

While most Americans have only learned from one master -- the wise green monster muppet "Yoda" in the Star Wars saga -- they may eventually learn mindfulness, conflict resolution and anger management from our own president of Zen.

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Is Barack Obama a Wall Street Wizard?

Ken Layne — 2009-06-01T08:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Barack Obama, Economy, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

Barack Obama means different things to different people. Kids say he's the "cool uncle" who plays basketball and wears fancy sunglasses. Adults know him as the popular new president of the United States. And some old nuts here and there who listen to AM talk radio are certain Obama is some kind of evil space alien who will bring prosperity and education to the nation.

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Is Gay Marriage a Threat To Our Culture?

Ken Layne — 2009-05-27T15:15:00 00:00

Filed under: Republicans, Scandal, Gay Rights, Ken Layne's Outrage

The crucial topic of gay people getting married once again made headlines this week when the California Supreme Court ruled that some gay people can stay married while others cannot become married. It's a good thing there are no pressing issues in America, or on Earth, because otherwise you could say it's sort of frivolous to be so concerned about something that affects so very few people -- people who generally live in much better neighborhoods than those simple folk who oppose the faraway homosexuals having a wedding.

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Can We Stop Obama By Destroying Our Interstates?

Ken Layne — 2009-05-20T08:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Environment, Taxes, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

Dangerous times call for bold ideas, which is why I was so excited after reading my colleague George Will's insightful column on Tuesday about how the socialist Eisenhower government forced Americans to become drivers of automobiles because of the Interstate Highway System.

"That explains a lot," I told my secret friend who reads all the various columnists and blogs to me over the telephone.

Now, Barack Obama and his liberal Republican Transportation Secretary are trying to "improve" or "update" things we all know certainly do not need updating. If roads and trains and other such modes of transport needed "updating" all the time, why, they may as well be computers.

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Does Obama Love America's Media?

Ken Layne — 2009-05-10T02:17:00 00:00

Whatever you think of the very popular new president Barack Obama, there is one aspect of this historical era we can all agree on: Does Obama care enough about our important Washington journalists?

After Saturday night's very exclusive White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, the answer appears to be so very clear.

Barack Obama loves our nation's reporters in D.C. He made jokes about them, but at the end, he proved he cared about America's newspapers. This president may be a hero, after all.

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Will Obama Protect the Media From Pig Flu?

Ken Layne — 2009-05-02T00:34:00 00:00

Filed under: Scandal, Media, Health Care, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

No matter what the crisis, Barack Obama and his do-gooder administration seem ready to personally save whatever is in trouble: car companies, banks, even people without jobs and people who cannot afford their house payments.

But in one crucial department, this young new president offers no solution, no bailout. When it comes to newspapers, Obama has been silent.

Now that the terrible pandemic looms over America, it is time for the president to make the hard choices and announce to the world that his first priority must be saving Washington journalists from the H1N1 flu.

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Could Surgeon General Save U.S. From Flu?

Ken Layne — 2009-04-25T22:52:00 00:00

Filed under: Barack Obama, Featured Stories, Health Care, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

While news of the swine flu epidemic shocked Americans on Friday, my thoughts turned to the empty Surgeon General's office in Washington.

Who will help us, I wondered. Who will tell us "It's okay."

And then, as so many Americans do when they are frightened, I turned to the cable news. And I waited for the comforting words from Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

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Should Anti-Obama People Be Allowed To 'Blow Off Steam'?

Ken Layne — 2009-04-21T00:54:00 00:00

Filed under: Barack Obama, Featured Stories, Religion, Scandal, Race, Social Security, Ken Layne's Outrage, 2012 President

A recent article in my favorite magazine, a British newsweekly we all know as The Economist, noted something I myself had not yet noticed in America. Apparently, there are some voters who do not pay the proper respect to their newly elected ruler, President Barack Obama.

Is it simply racial predjudice? No, of course not. Nothing is quite so simple. Yet perhaps racial intolerance is but one of many "factors," as Bill O'Reilly might say, within the small yet noisy anti-Obama movement. It is certainly not for me to judge.

There are two parts to this fringe culture, according to The Economist: Some U.S. social conservatives of lesser means are simply frustrated by the rapidly widening gap between a very small group of extremely wealthy elitists and the vast unhappy 80% of the country which cannot afford our finer restaurants and country clubs, while another group hopes to bring the quaint and pleasant English tradition of "afternoon tea" back to a nation which has, in large part, become barbaric.

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Why Is the Obama Administration Seizing Our Tea Bags?

Ken Layne — 2009-04-10T14:01:00 00:00

Filed under: Barack Obama, Featured Stories, Economy, Nancy Pelosi, Scandal, Budget, Taxes, Race, Ken Layne's Outrage

In the midst of an unprecedented economic tidal wave, the U.S. government has chosen a most peculiar form of "big government" shakedown. From across the country, we are hearing that Congress is collecting our tea bags.

The lower classes and uneducated swarms seem to be the primary target for this "collection by coercion," in which the Senate and House of Representatives have dug in their heels and embarked on a crusade to take all the tea bags from our most humble citizens.

This, I am sure, smacks of an unconstitutional power grab. If the government can take our tea, what will they take next?

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Why Won't Obama Honor Our Queen?

Ken Layne — 2009-04-04T00:26:00 00:00

Filed under: Barack Obama, Featured Stories, Economy, Scandal, Gaffes, Gay Rights, Terror, Ken Layne's Outrage, National Security

Not for nothing was Barack Obama called to London. Queen Elizabeth II invited him. One does not go to Buckingham Palace, one of the Queen's many castles, unless one is invited.

And so, history was made this week when America's current president had the special opportunity of an audience with our Queen. What did he do? He brought his wife, who has arms, and he brought a computer musical device called "the I-pod."

He may as well have brought a message of war against England.

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Does Barack Obama Hate Our Important Newspapers?

Ken Layne — 2009-03-28T16:20:00 00:00

Filed under: Barack Obama, Scandal, Media, Obits, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

It was another grim week for the newspaper business, with lesser-known newspapers closing down to little notice or consequence, even as our most important newspapers experienced the bitter sting of salary freezes and a few layoffs.

As the forces of modern corporate anti-newspaper life continue to wreak havoc on the very skeleton of our democracy and our nation, a new Enemy Within has been discovered -- and he is within the White House press briefing room.

He is the president himself, and also his press secretary. These two Americans, if you can call them that, are single-handedly destroying what is literally the only thing worth saving in America: newspaper printed on tree pulp.

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Marijuana In the White House Garden?

Ken Layne — 2009-03-21T00:49:00 00:00

Filed under: Scandal, Media, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

Washington was in a tizzy Friday as the new first lady, Michelle Obama, broke ground on a White House garden -- the first serious garden at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue since World War II, when Eleanor Roosevelt began the FDR Victory Garden.

There is quite a lot of difference between then, the era of the Greatest Generation, and today. From what I've heard, this new Obama Garden will be "organic."

This, to my ears, sounds like these Obamas are planning no less than a marijuana garden, just steps from our nation's Executive Mansion.

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Barack Obama Finally Makes History, Will Appear On Funnyman Jay Leno's Talk Show

Ken Layne — 2009-03-16T23:48:00 00:00

Filed under: Democrats, Barack Obama, Economy, Education, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

Say what you want about Barack Obama, but there's one thing absolutely nobody can argue with ever again: Our new president will make History this week when he becomes the very first U.S. president to be a guest on legendary late-night teevee sensation Jay Leno's television program.

Many Americans will get their "first look" at the president during this program which usually comes on after the local sports broadcast. What will they think?

More than a few people will be shocked by Barack Obama's appearance -- fans of Jay Leno tend to think everyone has a weird protruding jaw and scary white hair.

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Greatly Depressing: Will USA Go Communist?

Ken Layne — 2009-03-09T00:23:00 00:00

Filed under: Featured Stories, Economy, Ron Paul, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

People "from all walks of life" are lining up for donated bread in San Diego, 11% of U.S. mortgages are either late or in foreclosure, 8.3 million homeowners owe more than their house is worth, unemployment hasn't been so awful since 1948, 20% of Los Angeles County residents are on Public Assistance, 12.5 million jobless Americans are actively looking for work, and 84,000 homes in Maryland will have the power turned off next month due to lack of payment.

Will angry, hungry people rise up in revolution? Will the unemployed, bloated masses get off their sofas, turn off the teevees and launch a violent overthrow of the capitalist system?

Are working Americans ready to take the country back from Barack Obama and his team of Wall Street-Ivy League fat cat investment bankers?

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And Now You Know ... He's Dead

Ken Layne — 2009-02-28T23:54:00 00:00

Filed under: Republicans, Fred Thompson, Featured Stories, Media, Obits, Ken Layne's Outrage

He had a face for radio and the political compass of the Inquisition. Born to a long line of Baptist preachers, he became the biggest snake oil salesmen of them all. Although known as a full-bore right wing nut, he broke with Nixon on Cambodia and (so he claimed) Joe McCarthy on some minor point or another.

His father was murdered by a gang of highwaymen, in 1921. He himself was arrested by federal police in 1951 -- for inexplicably trying to break into Argonne National Laboratory, a federal atomic research facility in Illinois.

But that wasn't the end for this weird American. His radio show and segments would be heard nationwide for another six decades. His name was ... Paul Harvey. And now you know ... he's dead.

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Is God To Blame For America's Collapse?

Ken Layne — 2009-02-24T16:10:00 00:00

Filed under: Barack Obama, Religion, State of the Union, Ken Layne's Outrage, Predictions, Obama Administration

In hard times, people often turn to booze or religion or Snuggies or whatever, because of the tragic need for numbing comfort.

So it's no surprise that during this awful new Great Depression, many Americans are experimenting with Christianity and its holy books, such as the "Left Behind" adventure novels.

What does the author of the popular paperbacks have to say about the terrible decline of the United States? And what do Christian "Megachurch" preachers have to say as far as predicting the impending apocalypse? The answer may terrify you!

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Happy Washington's Birthday, George Washington!

Ken Layne — 2009-02-16T00:20:00 00:00

Filed under: Barack Obama, Featured Stories, Ron Paul, Obits, Race, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

If you're wondering why you are home today, on a Monday, it's probably because this is our national celebration holiday of George Washington's birthday! (You may also be unemployed.)

Was this man, George Washington, truly our greatest president? No, not at all! Most historians put him in the "Top 50," at best. But he was the first president, of America, and for that we honor his service to our country.

A funny thing to consider on this holiday is how President Washington might react to seeing Barack Obama in the White House. Washington would probably just think a slave had wandered off from the kitchen, by mistake, and then the Father of Our Country would order 50 lashings or something, and then somebody would sort of awkwardly say, "Ah dude we don't have slavery anymore," and Washington would sort of raise one eyebrow.

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Your Guide To Profiting From Obama's Package

Ken Layne — 2009-02-09T18:21:00 00:00

Filed under: Barack Obama, Economy, Ken Layne's Outrage, Obama Administration

Did you hear about the Economy? Pretty bad, it sounds like! Luckily, we just got a new president who will fix everything -- but not for everybody.

It stands to reason that Republican voters won't get a dime from the Economic Stimulus Package. If we've learned anything from the Bible, it's that losers have to be punished. So, most Republicans will either starve to death over the next 12 years, in special jails, or they'll convert! (You can learn more about conversion here, in the Bible.)

What about for the rest of us, America's Winners? We'll all profit mightily from the Economic Stimulation Package, but it's best to keep the real perks sort of secret. Remember how angry people got when that one company, AIG, had a fancy party even though it took government bailout billions?

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