Shabbat Shalom 18 Iyar 5768

Political Stunt Backfires
Seals promises cheap gas, but delivers cheap stunt

Hundreds of motorists lined up outside a gas station in an affluent Chicago suburb to take advantage of a political gimmick that was offering gasoline at $1.85 a gallon. Dan Seals, Democratic candidate for congress in Illinois 10Th congressional district, was trying to emphasize the high cost of gasoline. His ploy backfired when hundreds of motorists were turned away due to the traffic jam caused by motorists lined up along a major thoroughfare during the busy lunch hour.

Seals choose the $1.85 price to remind voters what the cost of gas was when rep. Mark Kirk (R) was elected in 2000. His campaign picked-up the additional cost of the current $4.14 per gallon price tag, but were limiting purchases to ten gallons per customer and the low price was only available for one hour.

When it was all over with, only fifty motorists were able to take advantage of the reduced price, while at least three times as many vehicles waited line for nearly an hour and were turned away.

Even though your brilliant blogger whole heartily endorses taking advantage of politicians trying to buy your vote with such gimmicks, Seals choice of area shows how little he cares for those suffering the most from high fuel costs.

The town of Lincolnshire where the gas station is located, serves an upper-middle and upper economic class of people. About 25 minutes north is the lower-middle class and poor community of Waukegan. Such a political gimmick could of truly helped out struggling families in this economically depressed area. However Seals, in true Democratic fashion, needs people to suffer or be victims if he has any chance winning.

The truth slowly emerges

Coincidentally as Seals is trying to blame Republicans, especially his opponent for high gas prices, the CBS affiliate in Chicago did a report on why 20 percent of the price at the pump in Chicago are all taxes. The report revealed that Gov. Rod Blagojevich is counting on high prices to bring in an additional 220 million dollars into the "way-out-of-balance budget." This explains why he and his fellow Democrats are rejecting all GOP proposals to suspend the gas-tax for the summer.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who played a pivotal role in Seals 2006 campaign for congress, made recent headlines for chiding oil company executives for the high prices and their record profits. What Dishonest Dick doesn't mention is that he refuses to lower or suspend gas taxes, is against increased drilling in the United States and is a big recipient of environmental lobby/PAC funds. Dick also conveniently forgets that Big Government makes more money from a gallon a gas than Big Oil.

Illinois Democrats and honesty mix about as well as water and oil...or should I say overtaxed gasoline.

Obama's Jewish problem is now racism
Prominent Illinois Democrat admits Jewish concerns legit

Yesterday was an important day for Barack Obama or at least for his blind-followers at MSNBC and the Jewish far-left or as I like to call them, "Corned Beef Communists." The Illinois senator addressed a large audience at a synagogue in Boca Raton, Florida.

During his speech to the group Obama did everything he possibly could to demonstrate he would be a staunch supporter Israel. At one point during the speech I thought he would eventually start reading from the Torah and be Bar Mitzvah in front of a national audience. Oy what a spectacle.

While Jews have legitimate reasons to be concerned about an Obama Presidency, I have noticed a new trend in the media coverage that is very offensive and even anti-Semitic. The far-left press is starting to deny Jewish concerns based on Obama's circle of anti-Israel advisers, Jew-hating spiritual leader and desire to meet with leaders who advocate a second Holocaust. Instead they are putting the blame on Jews themselves by using the race card.

A few weeks back media outlets started analyzing Clinton wins over Obama, stressing the fact that working class whites and whites without a college education were overwhelmingly supporting Clinton. Not having higher education degrees or being blue collar workers apparently translates to racists. Newspapers and cable news outlets even found voters to showcase who admitted race played a part in their decision to support Clinton. They are now doing the same with the Jewish community.

There is no doubt that racism still exits in America. However it amazes me that when Obama gets 95% of the black vote, racism is never the reason why. However if Clinton gets 65% of the white vote or polls show John McCain getting over 30% of the Jewish vote against Obama, it must be racism.

Former Illinois senate colleague Ira Silverstein, an Orthodox Jew who used to share an office with Obama, also wants more specific answers regarding Israel and Middle East policies. "Barack is an extremely intelligent person, but you can't go dancing around here," Silverstein said. "People come to me wanting answers, and I try to do my best. He has some more work to do."

No matter how the media spins it, Silverstein is highly educated, supported by the black community and calls Obama a friend. Yet when it comes to Obama and Jewish concerns, he still wants answers. Would you call him a racist? I didn't think so.

Paulie