And The Nominees For The Best Supporting Cabinet Position are.....Dwindling !

The GOP has elected Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of the State of Maryland, as it's new chairman. Steele is a Black man and I guess the Republicans figured, "The democrats got them one, so let's get us one." Michael Steele happens to be articulate, talented and well qualified for the job, but if I were him, I would have never accepted the position. If the republicans were really looking to set a precedent, they should have elected Mr. Steele before it became fashionable to politically adopt a black family.

You can probably count the number of Black republicans on your hands, but if the the GOP wants to expand their base, they will need to look at Blacks and Latins as a source. I'm not real sure how many they will find, especially when in a recent interview, Mr. Steele said, "I'm looking for hip-hop republicans as well as Frank Sinatra republicans." Huh?......, or as we say in the vernacular, "say what" ?

Nadya Suleman is an unemployed, thirty-three year old single woman who already had six children when she recently gave birth to octuplets. Only days after giving birth, Ms. Suleman has hired a publicist to sort through offers she has received because of the notoriety of the octuplets. She's gone as far as stating that she wants Oprah to interview her first and is asking $2,000,000.00 for the interview. This delusional "mother" says she wants a career as an "expert" on being a mother.

What is wrong with this picture? I have no problem with invitro fertilization for women who have problems conceiving children. I have major problems with opportunistic stupid people with illusions of grandeur being allowed to procreate.

Tom Daschle, Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (formerly known as Health, Education and "Welfare"), has withdrawn his name from nomination. I can't imagine why, with the exception of the fact that he failed to claim $120,000 in income on his tax returns (aka income tax evasion). Oh, and although he's not registered as a lobbyist, he also receives over 2.1 million per year as for his opinions from a lobbyist firm that derives it's income from the same drug companies that Daschle would have overseen. It's nice to see "change" really means "business as usual".

This is the third Obama nominee that has had income tax violations and the second two to withdraw at a time when proposed bailout spending approaches one trillion dollars. If Obama cannot even ascertain if his own political nominees have evaded paying income tax or failed to pay owed taxes, methinks we're in a world of hurt. If we need to find new monies in order to fund proposed spending, I think a good source for coming up with these funds would be to audit every politician in Washington instead of asking the American public to pay for it.

This Date In History: 1789; George Washington becomes the first president of the United States. 1929; Britain’s first Green Belt area was approved on land 5 miles from Hendon, Middlesex. 1945; The Yalta Conference convenes with Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin to establish the formulation of Allied military strategy in World War II. 2003; The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia votes to disband itself, and is renamed Serbia and Montenegro.

Picture Of The Day: Since changing the financial landscape seems to be the theme of the nation, I thought I'd use landscapes as today's theme. These pictures are from National Geographic and are largely from the Grand Canyon area. Mountains, canyons and caves have always intrigued me (no Freudian slip intended) so I selected these pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming:

A man had an appointment to see a urologist who shared an office with several other doctors. The waiting room was the size of a small auditorium, and it was filled with patients. He approached the desk and gave his name to the receptionist, a large, imposing woman who looked like a wrestler. In a very loud voice she repeated the man's name, then said, "Yes, I see your name here. You want to see the doctor about IMPOTENCE, right?

The man was stunned and embarrassed, but recovered his composure sufficiently to reply in an equally loud voice, "No, I've come to inquire about a sex change operation and I'd like the same doctor who did yours!!"

A Georgia man got in his pickup and drove to a nearby cattle ranch and knocked at the door. A young boy, about 9, opened the door. The Man said, "Is your Dad home?" The boy said, "No sir, he ain't. He went into town." The man asked, "is your Mom here?" The boy replied, "No, sir, she ain't here neither. She went into town with Dad." The farmer then asked, "How about your brother, Bubba? Is he here?" The boy said, "He went with Mom and Dad."

The man stood there for a few minutes, shifting from one foot to the other and mumbling to himself. The boy asked, "Is there anything I can do fer ya? I knows where all the tools are, if you want to borrow one. Or maybe I could take a message for Dad. The man said, "Well, I really wanted to talk to your Dad. It's about your brother Bubba getting my daughter pregnant."The boy considered for a moment. "You would have to talk to Pa about that, but if it helps you any, I know that Pa charges a $500 stud fee for the bull, but, I really don't know how much he gets fer Bubba."

That's it for today my little diamond rock collectors. More on Friday.

Stay Tuned !