October Bombshell: Obama on NPR calling for "redistribution of wealth"...

Last week Obama came dangerously close to quoting Karl Marx, the father of Communism, when he told Joe the Plumber that he wanted to "spread the wealth around".  Luckily for Obama, he gets the benefit of the doubt from nearly every major media outlet, so nobody seriously challenged the Senator on the point and it was quickly swept under the rug. However, this morning the DrudgeReport is breaking big news, an interview from 2001 in which Obama not only derides the Supreme Court for not actively "redistributing wealth" during the civil rights era, but also discusses how he thinks such redistribution could be accomplished today through legislation rather than from the bench. Sounds suspiciously like an argument for reparations to me, anyone else think so?

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NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg bails on GOP...

Mayor Bloomberg Quits the G.O.P. - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has thrown gasoline on the flames under the talking heads on the blogosphere and cable news, who have been predicting the media mogul and multi-Billionaire is eying a third-party run for the White House in 2008, when his office released a statement around 6pm (EST) tonight which stated:

I have filed papers with the New York City Board of Elections to change my status as a voter and register as unaffiliated with any political party. Although my plans for the future haven’t changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city.

A nonpartisan approach has worked wonders in New York: we’ve balanced budgets, grown our economy, improved public health, reformed the school system and made the nation’s safest city even safer.

We have achieved real progress by overcoming the partisanship that too often puts narrow interests above the common good. As a political independent, I will continue to work with those in all political parties to find common ground, to put partisanship aside and to achieve real solutions to the challenges we face.

Any successful elected executive knows that real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology. Working together, there’s no limit to what we can do.

Bloomberg is one of the wealthiest men in the world and could easily afford to drop $1Billion on a media blitz to raise his name recognition and pick apart the vitriol likely to be the centerpiece of the two major parties general election campaigns. It seems entirely reasonable to think that he could leverage his many media outlets and deep pockets to establish himself as the consensus reform candidate with an impressive resume. Rasmussen Reports, an independent polling agency, recently released a startling figure, which showed that 27% of respondents would vote for Bloomberg as an independent. This support base surges to over 1/3 when presented with the possibility that Bloomberg would recruit business leaders and other independent-minded politicians to run on behalf of his new party for Congress.

Though it is everything but exciting to consider an all New York ballot in 2008, analysis of a Bloomberg candidacy has been largely ignored and dismissed as fanciful, but Rasmussen aptly points out the fallacy in this dismissal. I will cover the details and implications of an election left undecided by the Electoral College in my next post...

Tags: Bloomberg, Third Party, Republicans, NYC, Mayor Bloomberg, GOP, Rasmussen, Electoral College

NY Times article focuses on growing popularity of community colleges...

For Achievers, a New Destination - New York Times

The Sunday edition of the New York Times included an interesting feature article on the growing importance of two-year community colleges, including profiles of the nation's most recognized institutions. Among the standard bearers was a school that I attended briefly, Oakton Community College, located in the northern suburbs of Chicago and serving one of the most affluent and educated communities in the nation. I have heard rumors that Oakton was planning to offer four-year degrees, and they have aggressively developed their facilities. I live all of six blocks from the school's Skokie campus and I can't speak highly enough for the efforts Oakton has made to improve the neighborhood.

Tags: new york times, oakton community college, skokie