Part 4-More on Character of a President

Posted Wednesday, May 6, 2009, at 8:02 AM

8. He criticized pork barrel spending, told everyone that changes needed to be made in the way that Congress adopts spending proposals, then passes a bill that contains over 8,000 earmarks.

9. He only asked his own Cabinet to cut .0027% of their costs in order to show that "everyone" is having to tighten the belt. Excuse me? Millions are out of work and the rest of us are paying for those govt. spending and salaries and that's the best he can do is ask for that?

10. In early February, the 2010 census was moved out of the Department of Commerce and into the White House, politicizing how federal aid is distributed and electoral districts are drawn. Even worse, ACORN is given the project even though this organization was guilty of voter fraud among other things.

11. He overturned the adult stem-cell research for no apparent reason other than it was connected to Bush. Instead he overturns the ban on using any new embryonic stem cells. Keep in mind that this research has continued but the use of new stem cells had been stopped. This research has yet to show any evidence of helping any diseases when adult stem cell research has been directly responsible for aiding with over 70 diseases.

12. "Mr. Obama is an accomplished orator but is becoming known in America as the 'teleprompt president' over his reliance on the machine when he gives a speech." -- Sky News, 3/18 He speaks robotically as long as he is fed the words, then stumbles when there are no words on the screen. I know for a fact that many others have lost their speech on the teleprompter and managed to speak eloquently and factual without it. They knew their speech and knew their passion.

The President surrounds himself with people with shaddy character. Are these the birds of a feather?

13. Obama taps Nancy Killefer for a new administration job, First Chief Performance Officer -- to police government spending. But it surfaces that Killefer had performance issues of her own -- a tax lien was slapped on her DC home in 2005 for failure to pay unemployment compensation tax on household help. She withdrew.

14. Timothy Geithner nomination as Secretary of Treasury was almost torpedoed when it was discovered he had failed to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes. He also employed an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper. He was confirmed anyway.

15. Not so lucky, Annette Nazareth, who was nominated for Deputy Treasury Secretary. She withdrew her name for undisclosed "personal reasons" after a month long probe into her taxes .

16. Or Caroline Atkinson, who withdrew as nominee for Undersecretary of International Affairs in Treasury Department, with a source blaming the long vetting process. Geithner still has a skeleton crew at Treasury, with no one qualified -- or willing -- to take jobs there.

17. Then another great nomination: Tom Daschle, who worked as a top lobbyist yet was going to be appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services -- until his failure to pay income taxes derailed his nomination. Obama spoke out against lobbyist and the damage they do, yet continues to hand them jobs.

18. Adolfo Carrion was confirmed as Director of White House Office of Urban Affairs, but is serving under a cloud after allegations that he accepted thousands of dollars in cash from developers whose projects he approved.

19. Prioritizing: The problem of a crumbling infrastructure. Consider this: David Walker, former comptroller general of the US, said "we are the 'highest in the world' on education. We are 'the highest in the world' on healthcare. 'Nobody comes even close.' On infrastructure, by contrast, we are 'below average' in both critical new investments and in much-needed maintenance spending." And, as Democratic governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell said "when President Dwight Eisenhower left office, infrastructure spending was about 12.5% of non-military domestic spending. Today, it's about 2.5%.The stimulus was a once-in-a-generation chance to change this. Instead, it made the situation worse."

20. Yet, Obama makes the following comment: "We have begun to modernize 75% of all federal building space, which has the potential to reduce long-term energy costs by billions of dollars on behalf of taxpayers. We are providing grants to states to help weatherize hundreds of thousands of homes, which will save the families that benefit about $350 each year. That's like a $350 tax cut." --describing something that doesn't cut taxes. Truth: The average American can only see a tax credit for weatherizing if they can manage to come up with the large sum of money it cost to pay for these projects and only a maximium credit of $1500 (on a project that could cost over $10,000, like a new roof) and only if the products they use are the exact products deemed worthy of being called, renewable-energy home improvements. And considering that more people owe more than their home is worth, getting a home-equity loan is impossible.

I will continue another day. The time is now 7am. Thank you for reading.

Comments
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Now can you please do the same type of article on President Bush. I would like to see the difference in what he said and did and what the truth was. I think it is only far that you compare the two instead of just bashing the one. Lets see how truthful President Bush was.

-- Posted by small town on Wed, May 6, 2009, at 10:08 AM

Detailed, thoughtful, insightful, and ever so skewed. Writing about politics is like debating religion. There really never are clear answers as to why or how.

-- Posted by twilcox1978 on Wed, May 6, 2009, at 11:51 AM

"10. In early February, the 2010 census was moved out of the Department of Commerce and into the White House, politicizing how federal aid is distributed and electoral districts are drawn. Even worse, ACORN is given the project even though this organization was guilty of voter fraud among other things."

No, it wasn't, the IDEA to do so was floated, but ultimately not pursued. Also the Census, whether its part of the Commerce Department or answers directly to the White House DOES NOT draw congressional district boundaries or "electoral districts," that's done by each state independently. ACORN was not "given" the project and the voter REGISTRATION fraud allegations - and yes, there is a difference between registration fraud and voter fraud - have not been proven in any court and are JUST allegations.

Five factual errors in item 10 alone.

-- Posted by ExInternMike on Wed, May 6, 2009, at 1:33 PM

If you had to compare Obama to Bush then you would have to compare him to every single other President. The standing President at this time is the one we are concerned with. Bush was criticised in his day, so was Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton, and so on. Now -- it is the one and only Obama time. Everyone has to forget about Bush and his Democratic congress. This is now Obama and his Democratic Congress. Wow, do I see something that matches in the last 2 sentences. Ummmm.

We can't blame another President for this President's actions or rules. He has made his "demands" and he is to be held accountable for his budget and spending, his comments,decisions, remarks, and appointees. He and only he, is responsible for what HE does.

The subject is what OBAMA has said and done.

-- Posted by midea on Wed, May 6, 2009, at 2:28 PM

This is from the official census bureau website. I'm getting the idea that ExInternMike should do a little more research before he tries to undo factual information. Read it for yourselves.

http://www.census.gov/

Census affects your voice in Congress

Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the census is also used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and to redistrict state legislatures

Census affects your representation in state and local government

Census data are used to define legislature districts, school district assignment areas and other important functional areas of government.

-- Posted by KRKJR on Wed, May 6, 2009, at 3:42 PM

Before I respond about who draws congressional boundaries, Ken, the underlying point is still that the Census Bureau has not been "moved out of the Department of Commerce," as Kim claims. As this March article from FoxNews.com shows-

"'Gov. Locke (then recently nominated to be Commerce Secretary) must promise to keep politics out of the census by retaining control over a fair and accurate count in the Commerce Department,' House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement last week.

Locke told reporters on Thursday that the White House 'has assured me they plan no change in operations or procedures from the past' with regard to the 2010 Census. But he also said he would consult with administration officials about how to count heads."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/...

Now, as to drawing congressional districts -

"In the early 1990s, Idaho established a six-member Commission for Reapportionment. 2001 will be the first year Idaho will have used this method of redistricting.

The Commission for Reapportionment draws both congressional and legislative districts. The Commission has six members; no member can be an elected or appointed official. Leaders of the two largest parties in the house and the senate appoint one member for a total of four, and the chairpersons of the two parties with the most votes for governor appoint one each. There is no gubernatorial veto power of either plan."

http://www.fairvote.org/?page=302

A google search shows a variety of articles explaining how different states decide how to draw their respective boundary lines. Montana's state legislature turned it over to a commission as well

http://leg.mt.gov/content/publications/r...

To summarize, "Unless a state's constitution provides otherwise, each legislature has the authority to draw its state's congressional district boundaries."

http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/redist/proces...

As I said, the states draw the boundary lines. Yes, they use census data to do so. But the final decisions, and whether those decisions are "politicized" rest with each state. Not with the Census Bureau, not with the Commerce Department it will still answer to.

I guess she could allege the administration will politicize the methodology of counting people, but drawing congressional boundaries? No.

-- Posted by ExInternMike on Thu, May 7, 2009, at 1:31 AM

Although the census issue is up in the air and I need more time to research that one. The statement was made, the movement of the census was considered and ACORN was the organization mentioned. The allegations against this organization is also still up in the air, however since they were largely instrumental in the election of Obama, I doubt we will evr know the full extent of their crimes.

Keep in mind, my writing is about the character of the President. These points are factual examples of mistakes made that speak loudly about Obama's character. The fact that he has surrounded himself with questionable people shows alot about him. That being my point.

The thing that pleases me the most is the points I make cause you to think, to question. And as long as we are questioning, then we are not complacent. This is a good thing.

And I am not concerned with the character of Bush. His time is over. It would take a life-time to questions the character of that man and every other man who held that office. Midea is correct on that.

By the way, the time is now 6:33am.

-- Posted by kimkovac on Thu, May 7, 2009, at 7:34 AM

Funny how we "forget" that President Bush went to congress regarding Fannie and Fred in 2001 and asked congress to regulate them. The Dems elected to do NOTHING. Bush stated that they were lending in a risky manner and were headed for a huge fall. Again, Dems elected to IGNORE what was going on.

To say the problems of today are a result of the last 8 years is just stupid. This mess is more than 20 years in the making which means MANY Presidents. However, Obama's recent spending, with no limits, is 100 days in the making with nobody else to thank but Obama and his non-tax paying pals. Good day.

Here is the link to that video that I mention above. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnSp4qEX...

I know, I know---Fox News is not to be trusted unless they say good things about Obama...then it is okay to listen.

-- Posted by OpinionMissy on Thu, May 7, 2009, at 9:32 AM

Economics and the system are so overwhelmingly complex that asking a few people to steer the ship is like asking one person to watch 10000 kids and not lose track of anyone or anything.

-- Posted by twilcox1978 on Thu, May 7, 2009, at 10:48 AM

I guess I should jump in about character. Does spinning and fabricating the "truth" tell about a man's character?

Just this past week Obama was out front again telling us how he single handedly closed up loopholes used by large companies to keep from paying taxes. Now before some of you go off half cocked, I agree that EVERYONE should pay their share around here. Actually I think it's atrocious that we have to pay at all. Anyways, Obama said that he had saved the taxpayers 210 BILLION dollars over the next ten years. He said that this move would also create more jobs. Now here's the question: How does a company create more jobs if they now have to pay all the taxes they owe? And how does taxing these companies "save" us anything. All it does is pour more $$ into the goverment coffers.

So here comes Obama in the white hat to "save" the populace of the United States AGAIN by making the greedy corporations PAY UP. Funny how he's finding ways to get more money out of us yet his administration just posted the largest government budget EVER.

OHH...and before I forget, better check your pay stubs sports fans. A report issued last week showed the extra money that you are getting from the tax stimulus that Obama got for ya is gonna cost you MORE in taxes this year. On average millions of middle income families will have to pony up around $200-$400 to cover the "extra" money you got back. I for one like that I get a bit back at the end of the year. To have to PAY for a tax rebate sounds kind of ridiculus...I report, you decide.

-- Posted by mhbouncer on Thu, May 7, 2009, at 12:04 PM

No president ever elected nor any that will ever will be elected can speak the truth in blunt, logical, black-and-white fashion. Why? Because Americans dont like to hear the cut-and-dry. We like to hear a positive spin. Go work customer service and you will find out. Politicians, to get elected, have to master the art of mincing their words and always putting a positive spin on everything. Telling Americans that they have to finally not live beyond their means would get one burned at the stake. I am not an Obama supporter but maybe I am too logical for my own good.

-- Posted by twilcox1978 on Thu, May 7, 2009, at 2:55 PM

And when was the last time the news or anyone in office had ANYTHING positive to say truth or not? All that I hear about is more taxes, banks raising rates to raise more money for the Feds., and record numbers of people not able to afford their homes because one or both are unemployed. So, what was the positive spin? That maybe in 4-5 years we will all have $6.00 per hour jobs with no insurance ans will be able to "afford" nothing? Now that sounds fun.

-- Posted by OpinionMissy on Fri, May 8, 2009, at 9:05 AM

If a politician were to speak the truth bluntly and say that Americans need to accept lower wages, forego some spending, and that it is mostly not going to get any better due to decreased demand for the products that we make they would either be ridiculed to death or not elected. Now they get up there and say, "Americans, times are tough now but they will get better. There is considerable progress being made on X front and with Y we can expect rapid gains", people listen and shrug it off. The point is that most Americans like sugarcoating or at least that is what I found out in 3 years of customer service.

-- Posted by twilcox1978 on Fri, May 8, 2009, at 11:13 AM

So what you're sayin Twil is that we liked to be lied to so we can get a warm, fuzzy feeling. Well apparently that isn't working. I want to hear the TRUTH.

Yes twil times will get better, they always do. Nothing stays down forever and the ebb and flow of ecomnomics dictates it will again come up. But for a sitting president to sit there and try to claim he's saving us money, that taxing large corporation more will create jobs is just BS and there's no way around it.

I too work customer service and I take great offense in what you say Twil. My customers are never lied to, at least not by me. I take pride in the fact that my customers come back to me with a smile and ask for my help over and over again. If I lie to my customers they are my customers ONCE! Yes, sometimes they ask about things and I tell them it's a good product, not because I'm trying to fleece them but because most of the things I sell ARE good products. If I see an opportunity to turn them on to a better product or to save them money on something that is just as good, I will. Maybe I'm too honest but my customers are customers for LIFE not just for today.

The same can be said for politicians. By your own words Twil, politicians are in the customer service profession. And it's high time they thought like that. They work for US not the other way around. They are no longer turning out a product for us but are dictating to us what we need and what we will pay for it. Try that in the real world and see what happens. President Obama and his band of thieves had better enjoy the next 4 years. The way they are treating not only republicans but EVERYONE will have most of them out of work in 2012. It has only taken 100 days for the true Obama stand out from the crowd. He now shows what Joe Biden and Hillary said about him in the primaries, he's to green, he's too inexperienced to handle the job. The funny things is neither of them are stepping up to help him since at least one of them has eyes for his job in 4 years...lol. How smart was that? OR is it the old adage of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Guess if he turns loose those murderers at Gitmo he can find cushy goverment jobs for them while they are here.

-- Posted by mhbouncer on Fri, May 8, 2009, at 3:17 PM

When i worked customer service and I would tell someone that their computer had seen its better days, they resented me and I was reprimanded. Now i only said this after thorough research and plenty of troubleshooting but they simply could not handle that I did not sugar coat it for them. For example, I almost lost my job because an individual who worked for Merrill Lynch called up and told me that he put his C:/Windows/System32 folder in the recycle bin. I bluntly told them that it was too late for any repair and that his OS was hosed. Anybody who knows anything about computers knows that there is no fixing this. I knew programming and the science but yet I am the villain for speaking the truth.

I guess we will have to disagree because most people in my 30 years do not like cold hard truth. Politicians enact these policies because they know that Americans want to continue to live beyond their means. Americans will only elect those that give them what they want. Most do not want to sacrifice and think long term.

-- Posted by twilcox1978 on Fri, May 8, 2009, at 7:23 PM

There's a reason for the saying, "Truth hurts." Everyone has heard of tough-love and most of us have practiced it a time or two, I imagine, with great results. However, nobody wants to hear or be treated to it. It's human nature to run from the fire whenever possible, though getting a little hot may be the best thing to kick us in the backside and put us back on track. Customer service is a people-art of telling someone what they need to hear in such a way that they are helped. Politicians have a very tough job. I recognize that. I know that it is hard for them as well as us to hold fast to the truth, even if it means our jobs. I've been there. However, the job can't rule your life and truth must prevail. The state of our inner self, soul if you will, is of greater importance than our job. Doing the right Thing is never the easy road and many times, you will suffer and doubt. But your soul will grow and strengthen. Honesty and integrity will nourish the soul. On our deathbed, how important will that be?

-- Posted by kimkovac on Sun, May 10, 2009, at 10:20 AM

Just got back from a 9-day trip to Arizona...Twil.........you wanted me to jump in on this earlier. Ok, but it will probably be one of my last blog inputs EVER. Things are beginning to move, that I am not willing to publicly comment on, and time for talk is about over.

You can wear yourself into a frazzle debating liberals like Ex-Intern Mike. It usually generates more heat than light, and results in little more than an exercise in frustration.

First of all, no liberal is EVER wrong about ANYTHING. Don't believe that? Just ask one.

In the first 100 days, Obama has turned his "inherited" trillion dollar debt into FOUR, and we still have over 3 and a half years to go!

But it doesn't matter......it's Bush's fault. It'll ALWAYS be Bush's fault.

Only three republicans voted for that "blind-signed" stimulous package, but it'll still be the fault of the GOP when everything crashes. Watch and see.

The CIA says Pelosi and friends were thoroughly briefed on interogation procedures YEARS AGO...........but Nancy and cohorts are suddenly STARTLED that it's been used. Bush's fault, of course.

You must understand that the Democrats had NOTHING to do with any of the spending deficit. even though they controlled the pursestrings in Congress over the last few years.

On the other side of the coin..........even though the GOP controlled the money for 6 of Clinton's 8 years, it was ALL "slick Willie" who made it happen.

A governor who runs an entire STATE isn't "experienced" enough to be VICE-president, but a Senator with 143 days of running NOTHING but his mouth can be PRESIDENT. Absolutely....I understand that TOTALLY.........and I STILL am NOT convinced he's an American citizen, and those Kenyan records remain barred. Why? Nobody asks, not on CNN or MSNBC anyway.

The guy who voted "present" 129 times has clearly demonstrated his managerial expertese by the very caliber of people he has chosen to surround himself with since taking office. Looks like a revolving door.

He IS smart though.......when he manages to get his amnesty program passed (and he will........they DO control all 3 branches now), he will secure for his party yet ANOTHER 12-13 million votes from the grateful throngs who will leech on our economy some more. When that happens, it will be Cheney's fault (don't wanna blame Bush for everything, ya know!)

ACORN is gonna "help" with the census..........(and can't you just SEE where THAT'S going!)

You see, Twil........few Democrats ever display the brains to look outside of their party and will fill in the circle with a "D" beside the candidate's name. PARTY FIRST......always.....no matter who or what.

There ARE Republicans who do that but an awful lot of THEM always vote their conscience.......

..............example? Look at the large margin of votes between McCain and Obama. With the registered number of voters being fairly close between the two parties, why such a huge gap? Did a bunch of Republicans switch over the the left?...............hardly. A lot of them sat it out, rather than vote for the RINO McCain.

Your everyday Democrat will vote for Charles manson, if his name was on a ballot with a "D" beside it.

Brings to mind..........I have a certain amount of respect for Arlyn Specter.........he finally at least came clean about it. He's always been a RINO. John McCain should just be honest about it and follow suit.

Obama's administration is going to turn a bunch of GITMO prisoners loose in OUR country on OUR nickel because (are you ready for this?) their home countries won't accept them!

WHY won't they accept them?....and WHY is it OUR responsibility?....most of them were captured from terrorist training camps.........BUT, let's not be "arrogant" about it......I'm sure we owe them the life of luxury now, while they start forming up terrorist cells.

Twilcox old buddy...........In all of my 61 years, I have NEVER seen a government more corrupt than THIS one...........never even CLOSE!

They all need to be ousted. Since voters on both sides obviously lack the fortitude to do what's right for the COUNTRY (instead of what"s "correct" for the party), it's going to have to be done as our founding fathers did.

Obama is a liar and a fraud, as are most of those who surround him, but I do not hold any malice toward him..............I do NOT!

My disgust is with TWO factions.....

1. The ignorant people who continue to support this Socialist even NOW.....after he should have proven even to THEM by now, what he really is

and.........

2. The Republican Party of today, who not only sat back and allowed Bush to wage a war in the wrong country........but pushed aside Huckabee and Paul, allowing a RINO to carry the banners against a slick-talking salesman..........one who virtually ran un-opposed in November. They all but HANDED Obama the keys to the White House.

I called the "annointed one" a liar and a fraud............let me amend that a bit................he didn't lie about EVERYTHING...............

He DID promise change.

......And if you think your medical care is expensive now?................wait til it's "free."

Well, there's more "change" coming than even Barack planned on, which is why I've not only pulled the plug on my OWN blog, but am pulling out of the "comments" as well.

The internet has never been "secure", so from this point on, I've gonna be like "Sgt Schultz" from Hogan's Heroes................I see NOTHING, I know NOTHING...and for SURE......I SAY nothing!

Those of you out there who truly savvy what's coming, you guys will be ok.

The libs? As far as I'm concerned, they can get steam-rolled in their own making. I concede all blog arguments. You guys are eternally right..........always HAVE been.

All of you out there are going to see a LOT of things (both good and bad) that you NEVER thought "could happen here."

-- Posted by bazookaman on Sun, May 10, 2009, at 6:04 PM

No one is always right but thats for another day. I just like hearing both sides of the story. Best thing that can be said about an opinion is that it sparks interest and provokes response. I would say that you (Bazookaman) have accomplished that task.

-- Posted by twilcox1978 on Mon, May 11, 2009, at 9:15 AM

Welcome back Mike. I hope you had a nice trip.

-- Posted by OpinionMissy on Mon, May 11, 2009, at 9:57 AM

What matters MOST, Twil..........is that our GOVERNMENT is right, and it isn't. Nowhere near it, and short of the revolution, it will NEVER be again.

There are a few bloggers out there who claim to be authoritive historians, thus, they all seem to be able to quote numbers, figures, etc.

Anyone out there who knows how despots like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler came to power, can CLEARLY see what's going on RIGHT NOW in America.

Anyone who claims to be educated at all in world history, and CANNOT see what's happening right in front of them..............has NO credibility, as far as I'm concerned.

What the government is doing right now is no different than burglars walking out of someone's house in broad daylight, carrying off the television set and the furniture, and all the victim does is try to "rationalize, comprimise and DENY" by saying something like........."Well, it isn't REALLY what is looks like...........and they aren't taking EVERYTHING.........we still have our ashtrays and dishes!"

People tend to be judged by the company they keep, and look at the cheats, liars, and corrupted ones the "annointed one" has appointed to help him steer the ship.

That big dinner they had the other night........Wanda Sykes' joke about Cheney being one of the terrorists at 9/11. Obama laughed openly. Thought that was funny............

If a REPUBLICAN would have said something like that about a DEMOCRAT.................It would have been primetime and front-page all over this country.

Through the door-to-door GPS system, ACORN is continuing to help Obama stack the deck some more, even in light of the PROVEN voter fraud during the election...............ok by the media.

And hey.......if it takes a little water-boarding to save THOUSANDS of Americans by gaining the info needed to foil further attacks, so be it..............I don't see the ACLU or the mainstream media screaming up and down about the BEHEADINGS by the other side..............that's DIFFERENT of course.

The liberals are so simple and selectively-blind, they knew nothing else, but to play the Race-Card, concerning the tea parties. Didn't matter that almost EVERY sign was anti-GOVERNMENT, anti-IRS, anti-FEDERAL RESERVE, anti-TAXES, anti-SPENDING.....................oh, NOT SO on the Communist News Network (CNN)..............it was RACIST!!.........all the tea parties were about, was having a black president.......that was all it was!

I wonder if the black protestors who were marching WITH us in Boise, were aware of that? In a rare ray of hope, we even had a few Democrats marching with us, carrying signs!

Doesn't matter though.............it was all racist!

You know, I can understand how a lot of people voted for this regime. Bush ran a lot of things into the ground...........hell, he alienated a lot of REPUBLICANS. In the Obama-McCain election, where it was basically one Democrat running against the other, it is also very easy to see how so many could fall for the sales pitch (people are sucked into telemarketer schemes on a daily basis). It's no crime to be gullible.

But to see the damage and recklessness ALREADY over the first 100 days, and STILL support these liars, frauds and traitors who if unchecked, will turn us over to the U.N., is unacceptable and repulsive.

How can they pretend NOT to see? It's going to TAKE a revolt now, to get it back....especially with another 12-13 million new "Democrats" coming on board when Obama clears all of these illegals to become "citizens."

Two point six.....ring a bell? It SHOULD.......2.6 million of our tax dollars are going to CHINA to educate PROSTITUTES on the virtues of drinking responsibly, and how to practice safe sex!

THIS is the reason for the tea parties and the angry "right wing extremists".............

Oops........I'm so sorry..I forgot..........it's actually the "race" thing. We just don't like Obama 'cause he's black.

If ignorance was music, Capitol Hill would be a philharmonic orchestra.

-- Posted by bazookaman on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 5:40 PM