So isn't it interesting that we keep hearing about Sarah Palin's peccadilloes--most lately, that she used her private email account to conduct government business--while the major media continues to ignore the George Obama scandal? Here is a guy living in Third World destitution and his half-brother is the leading candidate to become the next president of the United States! How can we be blind to this national disgrace? Are the networks and major newspapers so exhilarated at the prospect of an African American president that they have become cheerleaders and cover-up specialists for the Obama campaign?
My modest campaign to help out George Obama has been coming nicely. Sean Hannity mentioned it on his show on the Fox News Channel, and I appeared on a handful of radio shows to talk about the idea. Interestingly the George Obama Compassion Fund was reported on by Kenya's leading newspaper "The Nation." So far I have received more than $1,000 in small contributions. With my kickoff contribution of $1,000, that's upwards of $2,000 for George Obama.
This is not a huge sum, but I specifically asked people to send gifts of $5, $10 and $25. The reason is that even a relatively modest sum by American standards is a considerable sum by Kenyan standards. George Obama has said that he is living on a dollar a month. This seems an impossibly small sum to survive on, so I checked the poverty line in Kenya. That is around $100 a year. By this measure, our little fund has provided for George for 20 years. Alternatively, George can move out of his 6 foot-by-10-foot hut and into a more comfortable dwelling. He can also get the training he needs to become a mechanic.
The reporter for "The Nation" thought he had me cornered when he asked, "Are you doing this to embarrass Barack Obama?" To which I answered, "Absolutely. He deserves to be embarrassed." The reporter went on to ask me since when I had developed this great interest in African poverty. I responded that I had only a slight and distant interest in African poverty. I happen to come from a very poor country, India, and my philanthropic work is directed there. In fact,I I only took up the George Obama cause when I heard what a jerk and a hypocrite Barack Obama is being about his sibling. One Obamoron emailed me to say, "Why don't you use your money to help your own impoverished relatives in India?" The answer is that my relatives don't live in huts!
The George Obama Compassion Fund elicited some interesting comments from donors, which I'll be forwarding to George along with the funds. "This is for the poor brother long forgotten." "A brother is a terrible thing to waste." "I wish I had a brother, or even a step-brother. George is not my relative and not my race or religion but I still want to contribute to his welfare." "When Obama said that not taking care of the least of our brothers is our greatest moral failure, who knew that he was talking literally about the least of his brothers?" "I never thought I'd be writing a check to anyone named Obama, but I do want to be a true Christian and help this man in this shameful situation." "I'd send more, but I make $9.10 per hour." "I'm unemployed, but I can spare $5 for the Obama Compassion Fund."
Not one of the atheists who regularly appears on this blog contributed a penny. (This is very much in line with sociologist Arthur Brooks' data showing that the most secular people are much less generous both with money and time than their religious counterparts.) As Brooks might have predicted, most of my donations came from self-identified Christians, some of them in difficult circumstances themselves. Thanks to this generosity, Barack Obama's half-brother can look forward to the prospect of a better life. George Obama, start packing!
Reader Comments ( Page 18 of 19)
256. OBAMA IS THE WRONG PERSON TO BE PRESIDENT, I AM LEANING TOWARDS MCCAIN BECAUSE THE ONLY LOGICAL CHOICE WAS REMOVED BY OBAMA'S BACKWOODS TACKTICTS THAT HE HAS NOW DECIDED THAT FLORIDA AND PEN. BE ALLOWED TO VOTE, WELL HAD THEY BEEN ALLOWED TO HAVE THEIR DELIGATES COUNTED OBAMA WOULD BE OUT AS HIDIE KLUM SAY'S AND HILLARY WOULD BE IN. GO FIGURE WHAT A HUGE A$$ MESS, I AM BEING BLINDED BY THE REDDERICK BUT I AM HELPLESS BECAUSE THE MEDIA CONTINUES TO FAVOR OBAMA AND GIVE HIM MORE AIR TIME AND MORE OF THEIR TIME SO WHAT DO YOU DO, I DON'T KNOW, BUT I SURE WISH HILLARY WAS STANDING UP THERE NOW BECAUSE SHE IS THE SMART ONE OUT OF THE BUNCH AND SHE WOULD KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO, FIRE OBAMA, AND GET RID OF BIDDEN AND KICK MCCAINS BUTT, BUT THAT FAIRTALE ENDED WHEN THE ANTI CHRIST HIMSELF JUMPED IN THE MIX.
Sandie at 4:50PM on Sep 24th 2008
257. Dinesh you are a big hypocrite in the name of the LORD. People like you bring God's name to shame. Just like the Pharisee's this "christian act of kindness" is done in bad faith.
It is amazing that you claim not to have any relative that is poor. What a rich Indian kid you must have been.
Well borrowing from your words, charity still begins at home. So go back to india and help your poor relatives first, then you can help others. It must be that you hope to make name for yourself as well.
Your sins have found you out. Now repent and go back to India and help your relatives first. And while you are at it, do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing then you will be the real christian when you stop blowing your trumpet.
starstar at 4:57PM on Sep 24th 2008
258. What a pile. You're concerned about the morality of the candidates? Then how about focusing on McCain and how he started screwing around on his disabled, disfigured first wife as soon as he got out of the service -- and then married a younger richer one only a month after their divorce was finalized? About McCain's nasty temper, how he bullied, intimidated and then cursed out a private citizen -- who appeared as a witness before a Senate subcommittee when he disagrees with her, his frequent and vitriolic blow-ups with others -- notably, an incident where he lost his temper in publich with his wife when she chided him gently about his thinning hair, told her she put her makeup on with a trowel and then called her the C-word. What about the Keating Five scandal? McCain's record of brokering sweetheart deals for wealthy friends and contributors so that they can make out like fat cats from federal land deals/programs? What about the endless and flagrant lies of his presidential campaign? You want to discuss the morality of the candidates? You yourself have neither the moral authority/fortitude nor the intellectual honesty to broach the subject in a manner that bears any semblance to legitimacy. Your concern for Gregory Obama is as fake as your politics.
deecee at 10:50PM on Sep 24th 2008
259. TACKTICTS? DELIGATES? HIDIE? REDDERICK? BIDDEN? FAIRTALE? I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT MS. CAPS LOCK!
Mokele Mbembe at 5:19PM on Sep 24th 2008
260. OBAMA IS THE WRONG PERSON TO BE PRESIDENT, I AM LEANING TOWARDS MCCAIN BECAUSE THE ONLY LOGICAL CHOICE WAS REMOVED BY OBAMA'S BACKWOODS TACKTICTS THAT HE HAS NOW DECIDED THAT FLORIDA AND PEN. BE ALLOWED TO VOTE, WELL HAD THEY BEEN ALLOWED TO HAVE THEIR DELIGATES COUNTED OBAMA WOULD BE OUT AS HIDIE KLUM SAY'S AND HILLARY WOULD BE IN. GO FIGURE WHAT A HUGE A$$ MESS, I AM BEING BLINDED BY THE REDDERICK BUT I AM HELPLESS BECAUSE THE MEDIA CONTINUES TO FAVOR OBAMA AND GIVE HIM MORE AIR TIME AND MORE OF THEIR TIME SO WHAT DO YOU DO, I DON'T KNOW, BUT I SURE WISH HILLARY WAS STANDING UP THERE NOW BECAUSE SHE IS THE SMART ONE OUT OF THE BUNCH AND SHE WOULD KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO, FIRE OBAMA, AND GET RID OF BIDDEN AND KICK MCCAINS BUTT, BUT THAT FAIRTALE ENDED WHEN THE ANTI CHRIST HIMSELF JUMPED IN THE MIX.
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Our economy isn't the only thing broken. This fine piece illustrates the state of our educational system, which works in tandem with our economics. If the word rhetoric is too much for you to handle, the complexities of an unregulated "free market" are a bit over your head.
My tax dollars were wasted on trying to educate this person. I want my money back.
How do you know you're a redneck? BACKWOODS REDDERICK. Functional illiteracy isn't a crime, but you aren't doing yourself any favors by not learning the basics...
ex-christian at 5:34PM on Sep 24th 2008
261. It is time for Change!!!Lets take dinershit,and all the jackass's who resemble him in look and thought and put them on the island of patmos, to live equally stupid and live dumb after ever! The other user was worried about the white house being painted black, well to that I say, Fuck you!!!! Did bush put a Deer head on the front door and put his doublewide inthe backyard....Racist piece of shit, eat a dick!
cj5international at 5:40PM on Sep 24th 2008
262. First of all, it wouldn't generate 400bln in "capital." It would generate 400 bln (maybe) in tax revenue.
xxxx
for all intents and purposes, capital.
When economists start having credentials in chaos theory, I'll be interested. Until then, they're essentially preachers until they have a single paradigm.
xxxx
CEO salries of 400k? My CEO oversees a corporation of 100,000 people and you're only going to pay him 400k.
xxxxxx
That may be far too much.
If his salary is not related to performance, and if it is more than forty times the lowest salary, his company needs restructuring.
This highlights the very reason trusts of that size, 100,000 strong should never be tolerated without question, and further why government should never be privatized.
Consider:
This 'ceo' who must earn more than the president of a nation of 300 MILLION would become an immovable blight if he were in charge of a privatized company doing the work of a government agency authorized under art I sec viii as Mccain and all deregulators and privatizers advocate as a matter of party platform.
Also his excessive salary would be a burden taxpayers carried *in addition* to administrative costs and corruption, which is constant under either system but under privatization now beyond the control of the vote.
If a company is 'too large to be allowed to fail' and their CEO can't get along on what the president makes, it is too large to be allowed to exist.
It is in fact illegal already.
I base this analysis on Rule Of Law, viz. the Sherman and Clayton Acts, and not their blatant violation by libertarians.
Obama's recovery points touch on this and a need to get away from supply side and trickle down theories.
xxxxxx
Remember, if you restrict the amount of money people make, you also restrict the amount of tax revenue generated.
xxxx
false. History simply proves you wrong. We're talking about the richest segment of society here, the 400 who profited by more than 670 billion under neoconomics.
Under progressive taxes (justified by the way by progressively greater use of the Commons by the taxpayers in highest brackets per Teddy Roosevelt) more revenue is generated historically.
I know this is true in my lifetime and I've been around for more than 25% of the time the US has been a nation.
The reason more revenue is generated is if you can't remove 40 million dollars from your company without it being taxed away, you'll keep it invested.
This expands the strong manufacturing base associated with liberalism and mercantilism, and historically federal revenues grew and distribution of income was to all Americans.
We grew the middle class that way.
It could be said we created it that way, by regulating the size of corporate growth and regulating corporate activity just enough to ensure that it aligns with the interests of the U.S. and Public Policy - accountability to an electorate. this is in step with our mission statement of preserving the blessings of prosperity to our heirs, establishing domestic tranquility and promoting general welfare.
Huge economic dragons aren't allowed to roam the economic kingdom eating all the subjects tilled the soil to produce.
Also prosperity was more evenly distributed, not redistributed to the wealthiest scofflaws among us who take usurious advantage of the violations of Clayton and Sherman. Paulson's attitude and 'plan' reflect this basic republican instinct.
xxxx
What "assets" would be sold at a profit and where is this gaurantee coming from that they will be profitable.
xxxx
this flames me, personally.
Capitalism involves risk as this fiasco should illustrate.
Failure has consequences for those involved in driving the bus or taking a discount trip and not vetting the driver.
A bailout will damn sure involve risk too, and sacrifice. Punitive sacrifice certainly isn't out of the question. The FBI agrees.
there is no guarantee that the profits enjoyed are really anyone's property yet since they were obtained unlawfully, viz. in violation of Sherman and Clayton.
The surtax on millionaires is a substantial part of a federally regulated solution and it can be extended.
xxxxxxxxx
Buyouts? This supposed "crisis" had nothing to do with buyouts. Do you mean LBOs? I'm not even sure what you mean by that.
xxxx
I'm talking about valuation of assets of a company in receivership by a group of unregulated Paulson toadies who sat on the board or were in some other form of collusion and had fiduciary authority over some part of the 700 bil.
The opportunity to overvalue the assets and magic up the books to make too hard to trace needs diligent oversight for prevention.
The allegation that anyone involved is a 'socialist' is just silly. Socialism advocates only government ownership and distribution of wealth to each as suits the needs of the government.
Understanding the need for government to regulate capitalism to the end of ensuring that its participants conform to Public Policy and the security of our nation and understanding that capitalism is NOT a governing philosophy but merely an economic practice that can be engaged in by individuals or groups in any kind of government is an essential distinction to make.
Democrats are not socialists, and the constitution is not a socialist instrument.
Clif Kuplen at 6:47PM on Sep 24th 2008
263. CAPS LOCK!
Mokele Mbembe at 5:19PM on Sep 24th 200
DID YOU MEAN CAPS SCHLOCK?
Clif Kuplen at 6:51PM on Sep 24th 2008
264. Why does a guy with a high school diploma and a union card working on an assembly line in Detroit make twice what I earn with an engineering degree?
All the union workers in Detroit keep voting Democrats into office in Michigan. If you want the rest of America to look like Detroit, vote Democratic.
Just saying.
GearHedEd at 7:08PM on Sep 24th 2008
265. Dinesh, you are a complete and utter moron. A pompous, arrogant, OFFENSIVE moron at that.
For being someone who touts his education and supposed 'mental superiority' to such a degree, you are most certainly lacking in cultural familiarity and MANNERS.
George Obama is doing well for himself, and he lives like everyone in Kenya lives. Just because it isn't THE EXACT SAME AS HOW YOU LIVE does not mean that it's bad, or somehow subpar. I hope that when you attempt to present him with your "charity" he refuses and spits in your face.
If you were a real Christian you would take the lessons of Jesus to heart. You would be kind, gracious, charitable, and above all -- GENUINE.
With all of your talk of religion and being a good person, I would have thought you would have more sense than to do something as deplorable and utterly mean-spirited as to call into question a grown man's pride and integrity.
I hope a meteorite lands right on top of you.
MsNina at 11:19AM on Sep 25th 2008
266. Why stop at Obama's brother? McCain's sister-in-law lives in poverty in a trailer park. Why not include her on your list too? McCain isn't doing anything to help his sister-in-law. Maybe you should help her too.
Get The Facts at 7:56PM on Sep 24th 2008
267. Obama does have his brother in mind. The proverbial check is in the mail. Here's an obscure fact you might not be aware of...
Back in February of this year Obama introduced a bill entitled "The Global Poverty Act." (S. 2433 / 110th Congress)
This Bill dedicates 0.7 percent of the U.S. gross national product (GNP) to foreign aid, which over 13 years Obama said would amount to $845 billion "over and above what the U.S. already spends."
The Global Poverty Act is committed to increase aid to Africa from the current $25,000,000,000 (25 Billion) annually to $50,000,000,000 (50 Billion) by 2010, and to cancel 100 percent of the debt obligations owed to the World Bank, African Development Bank, and International Monetary Fund by 18 of the world's poorest nations
The legislation requires the president to do whatever is required to fulfill a strategy that would result in "the elimination of extreme global poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide … who live on less than $1 per day."
You can view this and other Obama legislation here:
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/obamanomics/
You can view the press release specifically regarding the "Global Poverty Act" here:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56405
You can read the entire bill (S. 2433)here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.2433:
willnevergiveup at 9:08PM on Sep 24th 2008
268. 261. Why does a guy with a high school diploma and a union card working on an assembly line in Detroit make twice what I earn with an engineering degree?
xx
he doesn't.
But let's say he did just for argument. the answer is Unions and collective bargaining and demand for union made products and laborers to make them as opposed to the demand for engineers and designs they can get more cheaply overseas.
If you want to organize, get busy. You're a tradesman just like the other guy except he usually gets his hands a little dirtier and his back a little more worn out during the day. If you need to get yours dirty to protect your trade, you'll be part of a fine American tradition - labor v. management.
Clif Kuplen at 12:08AM on Sep 25th 2008
269. The ironic thing is that while Obama may not have given his own half-brother a dime, George Bush recently pleged some 40 million of the American tax payers' dollars to help Africa with Aids and poverty. I think Bush was correct to commit us to help Africa like this, but it is interesting how one never hears much from the American news media about Bush's efforts in this regard.
Go figure -
Ken at 2:52PM on Sep 25th 2008
270. New Post up on my blog...
Where Do We Get Our Morality?
http://saintbrianthegodless.blogspot.com/
Saint Brian the Godless at 3:22PM on Sep 25th 2008