To leftists, only good intentions count. Actual results are not important.

Some of the residents of Grove Parc say they are angry that Obama did not notice their plight.

Let 'em eat hope?

Charles are you going to delve into the birth certificate thing? I think they're onto something this time.

business the old fashioned Chicago way...

Let's give him a country!

The Globe printed this? Wow. Someone's waking up.

re: #3 Killgore Trout

Charles are you going to delve into the birth certificate thing? I think they're onto something this time.

I would be interested in another discussion as well. There's another interesting story on it that's in the LGF links.

No investment, no incentive

re: #3 Killgore Trout

Charles are you going to delve into the birth certificate thing? I think they're onto something this time.

I'm not seeing it, sorry. That article in Israel Insider doesn't change my opinion that there's nothing to it.

"Grove Parc and several other prominent failures were developed and managed by Obama’s close friends and political supporters. Those people profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama’s constituents suffered."

It would be interesting to know if Obama's developer pal Tony Rezko was involved in creating any of these developments. I'm sure the media will get right on this. Or not ...

The photographs are just shocking.

About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks.

Nice legacy, barry.

he's a power monger and a money grubber.
there is nothing messianic abt. the bastard.

re: #6 MandyManners

The Globe printed this? Wow. Someone's waking up.

They're still pissed about the funding, methinks.

By their works, ye shall know them.

And we're surprised ?
Lefty has always had these effed up ideas how humanity needs to be stored , and they always conveniently live about 150 miles away from it.

re: #6 MandyManners

The Globe printed this? Wow. Someone's waking up.

The only reliable section of that paper is Sports. Someone will be fired or reassigned for this story, guaranteed.

re: #11 Sharmuta

Do you dare question Barry? He is the Messiah!

Obama, July 1 National Security Speech.

"We cannot to continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we have set. We have got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."

What color shirts will this civilian national security force have?
Brown?
Black?
Red?

communists don't care abt. people.

re: #17 freedombilly

Remember, MA went for Hillary in the primary. MA has had Obama Jr. (Deval Patrick) as Governor for a couple of years. MA is on to BHO's rap.

re: #11 Sharmuta

The photographs are just shocking.

Nice legacy, barry.

I doubt that the rodents mentioned are mice, more like rats the sizr of frigging house cats!

re: #19 jcm

Che?

re: #2 pre-Boomer Marine brat

Some of the residents of Grove Parc say they are angry that Obama did not notice their plight.

Let 'em eat hope?

But they'll all still vote for him.

Heaven forbid I see that headline referring to the entire nation someday.

I sure HOPE no one notices the real CHANGEs I have been able to accomplish.

- B-HO

re: #21 Reno911

Remember, MA went for Hillary in the primary. MA has had Obama Jr. (Deval Patrick) as Governor for a couple of years. MA is on to BHO's rap.

Boy I hope you are right. But he will get 90% of the vote come November in MA (sadly my home state).

re: #19 jcm

Actually what BHO is talking about is Thomas PM Barnett's "Sys-Admin" force. There is some merit to the idea.

re: #9 Charles

That was poorly written an unconvincing but this one from the spinoffs is starting to convince me; Update: Daily Kos, an Obama Activist, and Forged Birth Certificates

There's an anomaly that appears in the blanks and the version kos posted. Both documents have the same dot but the blank doesn't have the backwards stamp and the crease that the kos version has. I'm getting pretty convinced.

After Rezko's assistance in Obama's home purchase became a campaign issue, at a time when the developer was awaiting trial in an unrelated bribery case, Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times that the deterioration of Rezmar's buildings never came to his attention. He said he would have distanced himself from Rezko if he had known.

Other local politicians say they knew of the problems.

If other local politicians were aware of the problems, it's hard to believe obama wasn't. And if he truly wasn't aware, it's a pathetic testament to the depth of his concern for these communities that he wouldn't follow up on his own activism.

If you didn't build it yourself or sweat for the money to pay for it, you're not going to give a damn about it. This fundamental fact of life escapes the likes of Barking Insane Obama and his fellow "Progressives".

His message is just the same old Socialist smoke being blown by just another Chicago Democratic Party hack.

re: #29 Reno911

Actually what BHO is talking about is Thomas PM Barnett's "Sys-Admin" force. There is some merit to the idea.

"We cannot to continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we have set. We have got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."

Doesn't sound "sys-admin" to me.

re: #34 jcm

"We cannot to continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we have set. We have got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."

Doesn't sound "sys-admin" to me.

It sounds like a Mahdi Army type group. I wonder how they will all vote every election?

re: #6 MandyManners

Evening All! Mandy, trust me, no one at the Boston Globe is waking up, the Moonbatitis is so overwhelming there, I can smell it from here, a hundred miles south of the Globe itself, but, it must be REALLY, REALLY, REALLY bad for them to print a story like this. And, from the pics, it is even worse. The governor, here, an Obama carbon copy is even pissing off the 99.999% democratic legislature with his ego. Not easy for a Dem governor to do in Massachusetts.

“community organizer and activist”

TRANSLATION: COKE DEALER

...don't blame me (BET founder Robert Johnson suggested this a few months back)

But a Globe review found that thousands of apartments across Chicago that had been built with local, state, and federal subsidies - including several hundred in Obama’s former district - deteriorated so completely that they were no longer habitable.

/I wonder how many Resko owns?

re: #29 Reno911

Actually what BHO is talking about is Thomas PM Barnett's "Sys-Admin" force. There is some merit to the idea.

There is "some merit to the idea" as long as you are the one in charge.

I must reject this idea. We have a military, we have law enforcement agencies, and we have intelligence services already in place. The rules of engagement for each can be altered as circumstances dictate. There is no need for a new force of any kind especially now with the nitwits who might end up in charge of it.

Inside O's head:
"Let's see, civilian national security force... "Civsec?" No , too long; make it more national...NAS-E? No, sound nosy.
Something patriotic sounding... Secure America! that's it! SA for short!"

re: #6 MandyManners

The Globe printed this? Wow. Someone's waking up.

My thought exactly, around here, it's known as the Boston Globe Democrat.

I heard this report on Hugh Hewitt's show yesterday. The globe had some pretty high production values in the descriptive music concerning these apartments, interviews with the tenants, descriptions of the immediate money problems for Rezko's company. I was surprised it was coming out of boston.

re: #19 jcm

Obama, July 1 National Security Speech.

What color shirts will this civilian national security force have?
Brown?
Black?
Red?

What colour does the Nation of Islam wear?

re: #40 jaunte

Inside O's head:
"Let's see, civilian national security force... "Civsec?" No , too long; make it more national...NAS-E? No, sound nosy.
Something patriotic sounding... Secure America! that's it! SA for short!"

Right. Then later it can be changed to Secure Security...

re: #39 USBeast

Take a look at Barnett's "The Pentagon's New Map". Sys-Admin is described in detail there. Barnett is a lib so BHO probably took his idea.

Boxing on HBO...Diaz - Pacquio!

re: #12 buzzsawmonkey

The buildings shown in the first two photos of the link are clearly vintage Chicago buildings from about 1917. Buildings of that sort have been rotting away in the ghetto areas for 40 years. The remainder of the buildings shown are new-ish construction.

I hold no brief for Obama--far from it--but unless some of the contracts that he was involved with had to do with renovating older Chicago buildings rather than building new ones (which they may well have), some of the buildings being shown as part of his failure do not belong in the picture series.

I'm with you on that buzzsaw. I had a friend who lived there back in the 70's. Her husband did the maintenance on the apt. building they lived in. He couldn't keep up. The tenants were constantly breaking stuff on purpose and then bitch about it. She told me at least every other month or so her husband would find a baby's skeleton in the furnace. They couldn't take it and moved to California.

There is audio from the news piece here. [Link: www.townhall.com...]

re: #25 Shay4l

Heaven forbid I see that headline referring to the entire nation someday.

That just chilled me to the bone.

Obama is corrupt, inside and out.

re: #44 USBeast

After the night of the Long Buses.

The sad thing is that it took the friggin' BOSTON GLOBE

Remember Bush the Elder's boat tour of Boston Harbor in '88?

This could be equally effective for McCain, if he'd use it. I'm sure, though, that the RNC will.

re: #50 Bob in Breckenridge

The sad thing is that it took the friggin' BOSTON GLOBE

To find this out. Where are the Chicago Sun-Times and Tribune? Oh that's right, they're too busy cheerleading for the Obamessiah.

re: #2 pre-Boomer Marine brat

Let 'em eat hope?

But they'll still vote for him come November. Guaranteed.

re: #45 Reno911

Take a look at Barnett's "The Pentagon's New Map". Sys-Admin is described in detail there. Barnett is a lib so BHO probably took his idea.

Boxing on HBO...Diaz - Pacquio!

Military National Security Force.
First problem.
Posse Comitatus.
Funding. Defense is approx $500 billion, an equal force would be another $500 billion.

WTF is this buffoon talking about?

My brother lived in the South Side of Chicago in the early 80s getting his masters in meteorology from the UNiversity of. My parents & I went to visit him once. Yeesh - what a nightmare that hood was. And the cockroaches were the size of rats.

re: #55 buzzsawmonkey

I see. It just seems no matter how new or old the buildings are they turn into slums in short order for some reason.

This environment must serve some purpose to keep people roiled and mean and poor. Or it is just plain stupidity and incompetence and corruption.

Or all of the above. I feel the worst for the innocent children who must live in that filth.

Michelle Obama must not be proud of Barak's constituents' neighborhood.

"Poor people have been voting for Democrats for 50 years, and they're still poor." - Charles Barkley

re: #58 buzzsawmonkey

Odd how that works.

I think we both know why. If you don't have to work for anything you have you don't appreciate it.
There will be more where that came from.

Re Obama's Counterfeit Birth Certificate

Forget all the arguments about where he was born, blah, blah, blah.

This is much, much juicier.

Obama now has this forgery on his website claiming to be his birth certificate. It is clearly a counterfeit, a forgery.

Now, it matters not whether he produces the real birth certificate.

These certificates are sent only with an embossed state seal. Embossing is where paper is crimped on BOTH sides to reform the paper into a 3D-like image.

The forged document on Obama's website has no such embossed state seal.

re: #62 buzzsawmonkey

It's a forgery. Now that Obama has this on his website saying it's real, it's very, very damaging.

When it was just floating around the Internet, ie Kos, it was no big deal.

re: #62 buzzsawmonkey

I fail to see why people are obsessing over the Obama birth certificate. If someone could state the reasons clearly, I would appreciate it.

It's possible that his mother had him oversees then registered his birth in Hawaii.

I don't believe he was born overseas. Makes no sense to me. Why would someone leave the country to have a baby? I've never heard of that.

re: #65 buzzsawmonkey

Sorry, "it's a forgery" is not an answer. Why should you or I or anyone care if it is a forgery?

I think even the MSM would have a hard time defending Obama if he tried to pass off a counterfeit birth certificate as his own. Not to mention, he is doing this on his 'fightthesmears' website.

He may be trying to hide something merely embarrassing. Perhaps Stanley and Barack Sr. were not actually married, and/or perhaps the name on the birth certificate is Barry.

I'm curious to know, who was Obama working for when he was a "Community Organizer". Was it a government position ? civil rights group ?
a para-church organization ?

What does the position pay? and what are the actual responsibilities of a person in that position? Welfare advocate, Landlord-tenant mediation, democrat get out the vote drives? Who were his supervisors/Coworkers ? I'm sure they'd endorse him and give us some incite into his personality.

My community seems to work fine with out any professional "organizers"! Why would I want one for president.

McCain walking the projects. "Barack Obama walked these streets as a community organizer (ducks to avoid drive-by shooting) and helped wealthy friends like Tony Rezco to secure government funds to build these housing complexes. (pauses to observe street dealing/scroll on bottom of the screen lists comparative crime statistics). Don't vote for unwelcome change in your neighborhood.

Second ad in the series would show the same projects. "BHO funneled xxx-millions of Illinois citizens tax dollars into these projects built by his developer friends at the same time he was moving into this house next door to convicted developer Tony Rezco. In fact Rezco arranged financing so BHO could afford such accommodations." Bringing Chicago style politics (briefcase of money/ Rezco in court) to Washington is not the change Americans need"

re: #70 monumentlizard

I wish I could vote twice for this comment.

Obama is just another Lefty climbing to the top on the necks of the everlasting poor.

Re: Obama's counterfeit birth certificate

It would be very wise to stay far away (no pun intended) from any extraneous issues (born overseas, muslim religion, weird name, etc.). I'm sure Obama has a great sob story lined up.

Best to stick with simply forged birth certificate.

re: #67 faraway

I don't believe he was born overseas. Makes no sense to me. Why would someone leave the country to have a baby? I've never heard of that.

She was living oversees.

re: #74 DistantThunder

She was going to college and living with her folks in Hawaii.

re: #70 monumentlizard

I'm curious to know, who was Obama working for when he was a "Community Organizer". Was it a government position ? civil rights group ?
a para-church organization ?

What does the position pay? and what are the actual responsibilities of a person in that position? Welfare advocate, Landlord-tenant mediation, democrat get out the vote drives? Who were his supervisors/Coworkers ? I'm sure they'd endorse him and give us some incite into his personality.

My community seems to work fine with out any professional "organizers"! Why would I want one for president.

McCain walking the projects. "Barack Obama walked these streets as a community organizer (ducks to avoid drive-by shooting) and helped wealthy friends like Tony Rezco to secure government funds to build these housing complexes. (pauses to observe street dealing/scroll on bottom of the screen lists comparative crime statistics). Don't vote for unwelcome change in your neighborhood.

Second ad in the series would show the same projects. "BHO funneled xxx-millions of Illinois citizens tax dollars into these projects built by his developer friends at the same time he was moving into this house next door to convicted developer Tony Rezco. In fact Rezco arranged financing so BHO could afford such accommodations." Bringing Chicago style politics (briefcase of money/ Rezco in court) to Washington is not the change Americans need"

Worse than a skunk stench of Chicago corruption.

re: #32 buzzsawmonkey

To clarify, I am referring to the aerial shots in the Ross link. The buildings with caved-in roofs in the first two shots are not recent construction.

The two shots are the same building but diffrent angles. Thye fact is their proximity blights the entire area.

re: #61 faraway

I've never thought much of the birth certificate thing but I'm starting to wonder. It just seems implausible that the guy could make blank fakes (including some anomalies and excluding others) so quickly from the Document Kos posted. It just doesn't make sense. The Kos version had to come from those blanks, not the other way around.

re: #78 Killgore Trout

How long would it take a Photoshop person to make it? A few hours? How many thousands of forged birth certificates are already out there anyway?

re: #79 faraway

How long would it take a Photoshop person to make it?

More than that. To get rid of the crease, all the information (except the date) and get rid of the backwards stamp would take a good 8 hours at least.

We have got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."

What, like a Moonbat militia?

re: #80 Killgore Trout

But, of course, they did not start with a real one. They must have started from scratch. Why would someone remove the seal?

There must be a Federal or Hawaii state law regarding presenting forged birth certificates as real.

After reading this I am very disturbed. I am a real estate developer and a member a local zoning board. I can not understand unless someone is being paid off how such a project can get approved . We have many work force housing projects here and they are working very well, the building department in Chicago is not doing there job!

re: #50 Bob in Breckenridge

That freaked me out...they are owned by al_NYT, who also actually do not seem to ♥ Hussein...amazing for 2 lefty rags. They both have had articles about him that are less than flattering.

The Boston Globe was not like that when I was a kid, nor when we lived in Boston for 3 years when we were first married, in the early 1960's. I have lived in NY for most of my life.

Al_NYT, et al? I honestly think they will be gone in a decade at the most.

re: #82 faraway

They might have started with a real one. The guy had connections and i think it's possible he started with a real blank document.

BTW, although I'm starting to think the certificate might be fake even I'll defer judgement to Charles on this one. He's pretty damn good at this stuff and if he think there's nothing to it he's probably right.

I lived on 56th and Maryland for a couple years while attending U of C. The muggings, rapes and occasional shooting were a constant concern even though this was considered a "safer" neighborhood -- read: close to and maintained by the university. Only one block south or east was criminal chaos.

This is Obama's zone of influence, the South side of Chicago. His wife worked for the university and he was a supposed "community organizer" -- a fluffy, meaningless job that brought him sleazy contacts and backroom deals.

Just disgusting.

re: #86 Killgore Trout

We should not be distracted.

Obama will say others did this and he was unaware.

Then he will produce his real birth certificate (with some type of embarrassing info) with some sad sob story.

The real issue here is the forgery on his 'smears' website.

Obama is just another product of the corrupt and corrupting Chicago Democrat machine. If elected, he'll spread this political sickness to the entire nation.

Interesting, re Hussein and his mother being on food stamps...somewhere there is the real story waiting to be told, and if it broke at the Demonrat convention? 2+2=5 in all of this.

A show of hands, please, for anyone who puts this out of the realm of possibility for the Billaries.

re: #1 Sharmuta

To leftists, only the appearance of good intentions count. Actual results are not important.

fixed it.

"Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks."

Where is Bookman when you need him?

re: #91 NY Nana

Interesting, re Hussein and his mother being on food stamps...somewhere there is the real story waiting to be told, and if it broke at the Demonrat convention? 2+2=5 in all of this.

A show of hands, please, for anyone who puts this out of the realm of possibility for the Billaries.

If there were some smoking gun in all of this, Billary would have dropped it some time ago. And look what Hussein has already survived unscathed.

re: #94 neocon hippie

If there were some smoking gun in all of this, Billary would have dropped it some time ago. And look what Hussein has already survived unscathed.

Right. It's not as if there were no other contestants for the Democratic nomination. If there were any way the other campaigns could have proven that he was not born in the USA, he would not be the nominee now.

There is a real need for work force housing and no one here can tell me that it is not true but what pisses me off is someone that is taking advantage of it and does not keep there end of the agreement. Strong management is all it takes and I have been there and done that. I have been in some bad ass locations but have kept good housing for some very good people.

re: #94 neocon hippie

If there were some smoking gun in all of this, Billary would have dropped it some time ago. And look what Hussein has already survived unscathed.

They would love the shock effect, and the fact that there would be no alternative but to hand it over to Shrill...

He has survived so far, but a lot of voters seem to be removing the blinders from their eyes, and also, like any faux rock star/false idol, Hussein could be a has-been in the blink of an eye.

re: #97 NY Nana

From your lips to God's ears.

I'm of the opinion that Obama's expending his rock-star status to get some bitter pills out of the way, like his moves to the center. Unlike Clinton, he seems to be treating his popularity as a resource that can be used, and not just a way to keep score. A really good choice - fame is a fleeting thing, after all.

The 50-state strategy is a good example of that mindset. Obama's got a slender chance in Georgia at best, but actively campaigning here does help the Democrats in general.

If I'm right, it's an interesting tactical choice. I'd like to think that it reflects well on Obama's character.

he has no character.

He set up his buddies to build substandard housing while "flexing" his "community activist" muscle to make himself look good and magnanimous as a mover and shaker. And then he walked away and left the roofs to cave in and the sewage to back up in the kitchen sinks.
BUT HE'S MAKING HIS CAMPAIGN about how he champions "them poor folks on the south side of Chicago" WHEN HE SHOULD BE HANGING HIS HEAD, BEGGING FOR THEIR FORGIVENESS and expressing some effing humility for making THE WHOLE THING ABOUT HIM instead of making it all about good affordable housing and help for the poor.

his slime factor just keeps growing

BTW. I am NOT for Osama but there is a real need for work force housing. I have had many business owners come to me over the years looking for housing that is affordable and there are so many land lords that want the max in the market. I don’t see life that way, I would rather have a good person at a lower rent and stays a long time then a person that is an ass that stays a short time.

re: #100 LeonidasOfSparta

That is all wrong and the local building department needs to be held accountable. Most city's that I know are under "International Code"

re: #1 Sharmuta

To leftists, only good intentions count. Actual results are not important.

You are so utterly right about that. If they were forced to look at the results they might realize they aren't the "force for good" they think they are.

re: #93 sleepyone

"Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks."

Where is Bookman when you need him?

He got hooked on crack and now he's as skinny as JJ.

Pretty much anything that government takes charge of, which should be left to the private sector, turns to crap, even before they attempt it.

Government has a specific role in the U.S., one that is spelled out clearly in the U.S. Constitution, and when adhered to, works out quite well, yet, these bleeding heart leftists think, "this time things will be different", as they try yet again, things that have failed every time in the history of mankind.

The exact defenition of insanity, doing the same things over and over, expecting different results every time.

Insanity = leftist Democrats

The really hilarious thing is that Obama is trying to make America think that his "service" in getting paid to keep this place in squalor was somehow of equivalent merit or value to McCain's service in uniform.

re: #99 Irving

I'm of the opinion that Obama's expending his rock-star status to get some bitter pills out of the way, like his moves to the center. Unlike Clinton, he seems to be treating his popularity as a resource that can be used, and not just a way to keep score. A really good choice - fame is a fleeting thing, after all.

The 50-state strategy is a good example of that mindset. Obama's got a slender chance in Georgia at best, but actively campaigning here does help the Democrats in general.

If I'm right, it's an interesting tactical choice. I'd like to think that it reflects well on Obama's character.

It's "57 states", not 50, and Obama has such a dismal leftist record, the most left in all of Washington politics, that he can't attempt to move to the center.

Every day that Obama tries to move to the center, he loses more and more voters.

His leftist record is so stark, that even sleeping Americans know that he is an empty suit when he tries to "move to the center".

He flip flops 2-3 times daily, he looks like a complete idiot, and people are really trying to notice.

I'm starting to be glad that the media hyped him up as early and often as they did, because what they didn't realize, is that after all of the hype, comes the substance, of which Obama has none.

re: #105 republic

Pretty much anything that government takes charge of, which should be left to the private sector, turns to crap, even before they attempt it.

Government has a specific role in the U.S., one that is spelled out clearly in the U.S. Constitution, and when adhered to, works out quite well, yet, these bleeding heart leftists think, "this time things will be different", as they try yet again, things that have failed every time in the history of mankind.

The exact defenition of insanity, doing the same things over and over, expecting different results every time.
That is why I will never build under any government restriction such as getting government money to build and being beholden on price or cost of rent.
Insanity = leftist Democrats

re: #108 BBev

WTF something did not come through,,, sorry

That is why I will never build under any government restriction such as getting government money to build and being beholden on price or cost of rent.

even the "good" and newer buildings look like a old abdonend building with squatters living it it.

re: #110 mattm

even the "good" and newer buildings look like a old abdonend building with squatters living it it.

Well I would guess you have never lived in one of my designs.

Subsidy... this is the reason thirdworld countries like mine stay thirdworld... obama will be worst thing to happen to the great US of A. happy 4th of july to you all.

re: #112 bisi

Subsidy... this is the reason thirdworld countries like mine stay thirdworld... obama will be worst thing to happen to the great US of A. happy 4th of july to you all.

Amen

Maybe they can get a loan from Country Wide...

re: #87 Killgore Trout

BTW, although I'm starting to think the certificate might be fake even I'll defer judgement to Charles on this one. He's pretty damn good at this stuff and if he think there's nothing to it he's probably right.

I thought that the fact that what was posted was a certified copy rendered this moot?
(not rhetorical, I wasn't following it closely.)

re: #105 republic

Pretty much anything that government takes charge of, which should be left to the private sector, turns to crap, even before they attempt it.

I thought pretty much the same thing until we had to deal with lead-tainted toys from China. Or tomatoes tainted with a disease carried in human feces. Or a mortgage system riddled with graft and fraud.

The "free market" quite literally turned our food supply into crap. Think of that when you eat a 4th of July burger with tomatoes on it.

We need an activist government to watch over public health. No, not universal health care - just fundamental stuff like the FDA. Bush underfunded that agency tremendously.

The mortgage market, probably, just maybe, could have used a little more governmental oversight. Or at least someone, anyone, to say "no" to some of the excesses. You think?

And nobody tell me that speculators aren't in the oil market. *Everyone* is in the oil market - your pension fund, everyone. How could there *not* be speculators in there? How many speculators? We have no idea. No one's minding the store. And the day the speculators sell out, your pension fund tanks. Scary, isn't it?

We need an activist government to monitor markets. The FDA is something that matters. So are laws limiting financial markets. The idea that the "invisible hand" will eliminate the bad actors is a quaint Gilded Age notion that simply no longer applies. Global markets are too big and too fast to permit genteel social pressure to prevent people from making a quick buck.

But conservatives will always value free enterprise over regulation... so this year, I'm voting Democrat. I've had enough.

(Yes, I'm changing the subject. This is something that's been bugging me for a while. I'd like to talk about it. I don't know if Obama's responsible for this housing mess - I need to read more and decide. Until then, feel free to argue with my rant, or ignore if you'd prefer.
Carry on.)

And just to drag my little rant back onto topic...

"Government is just not as good at owning and managing as the private sector because the incentives are not there," said Jarrett, whose company manages more than 23,000 apartments. "I would argue that someone living in a poor neighborhood that isn't 100 percent public housing is by definition better off."

Sound like a good conservative opinion?

Now go read the actual article. Don't rely on Charles's word or the bit he excerpted - read the whole thing. (That piece of advice pretty much applies to every blogger, everywhere, this whole campaign season, by the by.)

Was Obama too liberal? Or too centrist? This is a classic conservative belief, one that Obama supported... and it failed. Miserably.

Or do you believe that the government should have built these housing projects, instead of the private sector?

re: #117 Irving

Dude this is the biggest lie ever “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”

re: #117 Irving

What no responce?

re: #117 Irving

Typical dimocrat.

re: #118 BBev

Dude this is the biggest lie ever “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”

Prove it. Give me an example. Stop quoting what someone else told you. Show me you can think for yourself.

And for mercy's sake, give me time to eat my breakfast. I don't hover over this thread, after all. It's the 4th. I fully expect to spend most of the day away from the computer.

#40 - I think the words you are looking for is Obama's Secret Police. Every good marxist dictator has them.

There is a reason for "no videos" and a lack of close up photographs. Its the same reason the "media" doesn't cover these hell holes...these areas are so unsafe that even the police are reluctant to patrol them. The communities are lawless, social nightmares; children as parents, no "families", babies murdered by preteen siblings, rapists posing as protectors, politicians using teen girls, schools that are so dysfunctional it defies imagination, stores with clerks that operate behind bulletproof glassed counters. People so desperate that they believe the convoluted messages of hope from a long line of welfare/handout/free ride "pimps"...you know their names.
Obama, like most other (I'd say "all other" but there MUST be an honest one somewhere...) politicians representing these districts, simply mines them for government handouts which support him and his cronies.
If these "constituents" ever figured a way out the politicians would be left high and dry...no one to feed off of. But they will never leave. The belief of the average ghetto resident is that the white neighborhoods are unsafe for blacks, they would be lynched in the suburbs or turned into "oreos" and forced to give up their authentic selves.
Yup, these photos from high flying 'copters are all you need to know of the well organized communities served by the prophet Obama.

Is is just me, or is this globe piece as much an indictment of the private sector as it is as it is about Obama's cronyism? It is the Globe after all, and it sounds as though they're leading you to conclude that Obama's mistake was to involve the private sector at all.

re: #117 Irving

Or do you believe that the government should have built these housing projects, instead of the private sector?

The problem, Irving, is that there's any government involvement at all. The projects built and "maintained" by the government in Chicago look the same way...or at least they did before they were knocked down and erased.

re: #125 FlakMusic

The problem, Irving, is that there's any government involvement at all. The projects built and "maintained" by the government in Chicago look the same way...or at least they did before they were knocked down and erased.

You may well be right, to be honest. There may well be no good answer to the problem of projects/low income housing/where you put the poor to live, no matter how you do it.

But as you pointed out in the comment right before this, using this incident as a indictment of Obama's liberal policies is a distinct misinterpretation of the article. If anything, it's an indictment of his conservative policies.

Now, it's possible that this is an example of cronyism or kickbacks by the developers to Obama. But that's only a possibility. The article doesn't prove it in any way. We need more information to make that judgment. Bear in mind that not only has the public/private approach been tried in many other cities (often with greater success), this approach is a very conservative one. "The private sector always does a better job than the government", remember?

If you want to believe that Obama was once in the pockets of big developers, go ahead. That's opinion for now, though, not truth. You'd need more evidence than this article provides to prove it.

Barack Obama’s image as a “community organizer and activist” suffers when you take a closer look at the Chicago neighborhoods where he put his ideas for hope and change into action:

There, fixed it for you.

Irving,
The fact that this is private housing, a distinctly conservative idea, does not prove Barrack is mainstream; maybe that is the only way that he could obtain housing now, through government funds directed to private builders. Since the old projects were eliminated, just about everybody believes government owned and run housing doesn't work.
Also, based on Obama's voting record, it is problematic to think that he
was the driving force behind this mess. Maybe it was an unscrupulous
republican, for all we know, and he just added his name for political expediency. Gee, that never happens!
Also, in spite of their complaints, how many of the voting residents of
these neo-slums will vote against BHO...do you think?"
I maintain, as an opinion, that drugs, and it's criminal culture, the mindset of the people living there (generally speaking), and lack of ownership by the residents, contribute largely to the problem.
There can be no American Dream if people don't believe in America.

"White flight" is involved. (Although in this case, I'm not simply referring to "white" people.)

Government housing is built. Poor people of all types move in. The producers(of all colors) of the neighborhood move to the suburbs, close their shops, et cetera. Neighborhood becomes run-down as the decent poor move on up and out to the suburbs(or at least obtain Section 8 Housing, where lower income folks can--with taxpayer help--rent an apartment or home in a decent neighborhood until they get on their feet to live on their own). Crime runs rampant; eventually it spreads throughout the city as it starts to look like Gotham City at night.

In sum, "white flight" is the pejorative liberal form of "voting with your feet & dollars".

It's really not fair. The majority of poor Americans are decent, law-abiding citizens falling on hard times (for many reasons). If someone were willing to go into these dead zone neighborhoods and rebuild--for real; show how to be productive citizens (they were never taught to budget beyond living paycheck to paycheck), that person would be a real hero.

I don't know; this is top of my head stuff.

“community organizer and activist”

The old Soviet term for this was agitprop.

valerie jarrett, the O's brain, ran Habitat, the Grove Parc management company and now she runs O. This smells just like the Clinton crime family. and here i was hoping for change

re: #70 monumentlizard

Anyone with some video editing skills? McCain and his campaign certainly aren't going to use all the fodder that obama has given him. The MSM also doesn't care. I'm sure the Lizard army could compile enough video, audio, and other sources to bury Barry O.

I must protest. How dare you point out the sordid little details of the great 'obamas'. shady dealings. Of course, he is a closet capitalist of the worst kind! Of course, like so many politicians he uses position and power to garner wealth. But you, you try and expose these facts with stories like this and that business about 'the Obamas' real estate and finacial shenanigans. Really Charles you are being entirely unfair, and unreasonable.

Not!

re: #128 jayfen

...Also, based on Obama's voting record, it is problematic to think that he
was the driving force behind this mess. Maybe it was an unscrupulous
republican, for all we know, and he just added his name for political expediency. Gee, that never happens!

As recent news has pointed out, Obama seems entirely capable of adopting centrist positions. You can argue that his recent shift to the center is just a cunning disguise for a very liberal politician... a disguise that he adopted for no demonstrable reason in the past, as this article illustrates.

Or you can assume that he, like most of us, is not obsessively doctrinaire.

Of course, it's McCain's campaign that has been busy labeling Obama The Most Liberal Senator Alive. Somehow, when Charles posted this article, I don't think he set out to disprove a Republican talking point...

Yes, it's about time somebody checked up on O's only work experience. What the hell was that? Is there some way to gauge the performance of a "community organizer?" Also, how about Michelle's work experience. She now makes over $300K as a "community liaison" for a hospital. Huh? I know hospital administrators at some of NY's largest, and they don't make that kind of money. Also, a Harvard lawyer who works for a bank--and nowhere near that kind of $. Helooo investigative reporters.

"Hope and Change"

"Yes we can"

Ha!

re: #126 Irving

But as you pointed out in the comment right before this, using this incident as a indictment of Obama's liberal policies is a distinct misinterpretation of the article. If anything, it's an indictment of his conservative policies.

If you read my comment again, you'll see that I said it's as much of an indictment of the private sector as it is of Obama's liberal policies.

Now, it's possible that this is an example of cronyism or kickbacks by the developers to Obama. But that's only a possibility.

Highly possible. One might even say probable. Or even dead certain that it's an example of Chicago style, liberal cronyism.

The article doesn't prove it in any way.

Right. Just keep repeating that over and over...

If you want to believe that Obama was once in the pockets of big developers, go ahead.

OK, thanks. I will.

Criticizing BHO's Illinois and Chicago experience will soon be classified as cases of the latest political disease 'Obamaphobia' and those infected will be shut down by the progressive defenders of cleansed speech.

Give people something for nothing and they do not appreciate it - and what's worse, they demand more, more, more. Then the lack of respect they have for themselves results in an attitude similar to that of the not-so Rev. Wright.
The democrat-sponsored welfare state has caused this problem and I'm afraid there's little we can do about it without a major change of heart among our politicians.

The first time I heard of Obama's close association with ACORN (talk about radical) was yesterday...that ought to have been BIG news. Good grief, this guy is a full-blown lefty nutburger, and he's being passed off as reasonable and moderate.

Heaven help us.

re:134 Irving "You can argue that his recent shift to the center is just a cunning disguise for a very liberal politician... a disguise that he adopted for no demonstrable reason in the past, as this article illustrates.

Or you can assume that he, like most of us, is not obsessively doctrinaire."

Based on his associations, and his voting record, I choose to believe the former. I believe when he agrees with conservatives, it's a "no brainer" . As far as the privately built housing, he still gets it done for
his own aggrandizement. I admit, as an aside, that this is just an opinion on my part.