Secrets from the South Side of Chicago

  One of my favorite pol sites during 2008 was 'Hillbuzz.com'. I didnt always agree with the posts but it was pretty great to see how much I agree with a thirty some year old who is just about as different from me as you can get.
Which is to say.. Urban, Gay and black.
He'd been staunchly for Hillary as I recall but had no great love for the Democratic machine...
I have no idea how much of what I'm linking is true.. and how much is just scurrilous gossip.  But I think you can get a feel for his veracity from the comments section.  Not to mention the excellent prose in his posts.
I say again, some of the hearsay and observations he makes in the two posts I'm linking, Michael Savage might hesitate to offer.  But that doesn't make them false, either.

There is REALLY SHOCKING CONTROVERSIAL STUFF in these and I'm not about to have it searchable to my site..
But they might explain a few puzzling things.  You'll see why when you read them:

Prominent Members of Chicago Black Community Confirm: those closest to Obama know there is no second term coming

Once you finish that link, then go here, you aint read nothin' yet...

THINK SQUAD: Chicago blacks say Democrats are “clueless about how mad they’ve made black folk” in last year

 Members of the black community who are disgusted by how the Democrat Party treats blacks like animals and uses them as weapons or political pawns have formed these informal “Think Squad” groups coast to coast, which are underground salons of free thought wherever black professionals get together to talk openly about the anger black people feel about Democrats today.

...

As breakfast was being cleared away and we were all getting ready to leave the conversation turned toward what black preachers have been saying on Sundays about the election.  The Thinkers represented not just what’s going on here in Chicago, but what’s happening with their friends and relatives all across the country.  ”One thing you need to always remember is that black people all know each other,” a Thinker reminded me, “we all talk and have family all over so there’s a grapevine and it’s buzzing right now”.  It seems in all the states these Thinkers have friends or family black preachers really are — in subtle or obvious ways, depending on the congregation — telling the faithful that Democrats have turned against God and that the Democrat Convention in Charlotte, in particular, was an abomination.  For the last few years a realization has been building amongst black people that Democrats push abortion as a means of black population control and the abortion advocates are now being seen as virulent racists since it’s mostly black babies that are killed in the womb.

Which brings us to this on the Blaze:

Pastor Offers Fiery Rebuke of Fellow Blacks: End Your ‘Slavish Devotion to the Democrat Party’

Which can no longer be dismissed as an 'outlier' point of view.
So if you were thinking there's something just not quite right about those polls, or wonder why black Christians still put up with this.. there may be an answer coming up shortly.

Obama, Socialism, Romney and Bain - the basic truths

First lets get one thing straight, we may disagree strongly with his policies and programs but Barack Obama is not a closet 'commie' or a Marxist. All his speech and action, as well as his educational/formative years, point to his fitting the broad label of 'Social Democrat'.  He is not about to start nationalizing anything, whether financial trading or goods and services.
We see clearly -if we actually bother looking- that his MO will be central control through mandate and regulation. See Obamacare.

I think a case COULD  be made that it would be better for the country's economic health if he did nationalize all the country's raw resources. 
Then those revenues could be used to fund his social programs.  Seriously.. if I were him, that's what I would do.  Of course once they saw the results, not only would the landholders be howling but environmentalists, as well.  The US is freaking resource rich.. still!  And the Europeans are looking on with envy as the US is starting to regain the mantle, Energy Capitol of the World. 
- 'Peak Resource' alarmists are idiots, they NEVER consider technical solutions.. we are 'this close' to major breakthroughs in technologies that will not only reduce energy consumption per capita, but make it possible -for example- to convert coal into clean transport fuels.
- once the CO2 scam is fully exposed, that is.
I'm speaking in generalities, of course. The relative cost of heating or cooling your house isnt going to decrease, nationally. Nor is cost per mile of travel. 
Current indications of the EPA strangling resource recovery are transient, we hope. It wouldnt be hard for a 'reform from within' to reverse that narrative if revenue, now going to private leaseholders, from all mines, wells, and pipelines went straight into the Treasury.  See Alaska Oil.
 - Note: Obama saying that national lands oil leases were pulled, because the holders were just sitting on them is basically correct.  The question is if they are ever going to be re-sold.

Seriously, it would be easy to justify that 'Resource Grab' in the long run despite the near term upheavals. But it would take a 'centrist' doing it.. sort of like Nixon to China.  We bitch and moan about China now but you can't dispute that the world was changed for the better by pulling China into the global market economy.
- The global political 'Sphere of Influence' is a different matter, but once again it will be true that you don't go to war with your trading partners.  The only way of escalating to military conflict is if that trade is impeded or shut off.  Like huge tariffs, for example.

Don't look now but that energy resource grabber COULD be Mitt Romney.  Given promises made, and the difficulty in resolving our ballooned national debt, it's not unfeasible to assume the best of worse choices.

All that said.. let's address the Bain Capital bogeyman.
Charge: Bain snaps up perfectly good US companies, fires workers, cheats retirees on pension sucks out all the equity, and sends the work to China.


That's ridiculous and those making the charges know it if they even bother looking. Bain
Capital bought companies that were in deep trouble. There may be a few individual cases of Bain 'forcing the events' but, overall, Bain has saved and created many more jobs than if they -or any other capital equity group- hadn't intervened.  
How do you find out.. and how do you know it's true?

Simple.. just look at Bain Capital's track record as if you were an investor.  You want to look at their corporate buys and interventions, the profit from them and how successful were the transactions over time.
 Forbes -The Truth About Bain: Inside The House That Mitt Built

And especially look at those brands/businesses since Romney's not in charge. The focus didn't change because he was no longer there.  How many of those jobs could be shifted to China?

Damn few!

Added:  In the interest of full disclosure, Bain owns Sensata corp in Illinois which is closing down plant and 179 jobs.  which will be moved to China.
I researched the corporate tax rate in Illinois and found that there is no disclosure law in that state.  There should be if state leaders are truly wishing to be transparent.  Caterpillar and other large corporations have threatened to leave the state without some sort of relief. Which is a sticky wicket as IL wishes to bolster their revenue shortfalls with Corp taxes.
related:

CNN: Illinois tax hikes will hurt companies