White Horse

I saw white horses in Ireland. The Land of Youth.

"Thou shalt have horses of the fairy breed,
Thou shalt have hounds that can outrun the wind;
A hundred chiefs shall follow thee in war,
A hundred maidens sing thee to thy sleep.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Ugly Truth

Sometimes, when it comes to an issue like abortion, people slip up and say what they mean. It’s seldom a point deemed appropriate for public discussion, but on occasion someone will point out that a hugely disproportionate number of abortions are executed upon black and Hispanic children. Occasionally, a pro-life person will even go so far as to wonder whether, for many supporters of legalized abortions, this fact is a feature of the system, not a bug. Supporters of legalized abortion at this point, offended by the idea, will typically recoil in horror at the suggestion, insisting that no responsible supporter of legalized abortion feels that way. Most abortion proponents will then insist that the disproportionate numbers of minority abortions is an unintended (and surely undesirable!) consequence of this nonetheless important social policy.

Thankfully, we have people like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg around to remind us what an insidious lie this is, as she does in this weekend’s New York Times.

Joel Pollack in Wilmette

A former Democrat, the Harvard Law student who asked Barney Frank the questions the MSM wouldn't. Remember--about Frank's giving Fannie and Freddie glowing reviews before they crashed, costing us billions and the health of our economy.

Sunday, July 19th, 1:00 p.m. Wilmette Library Auditorium

Pollack has written a book, Don't Tell me Words Don't Matter, and is considering running against flaming liberal Dem Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the 9th Congressional District.

Steyn's Advice for The One

In for El Rushbo today, Mark Steyn with a stimulus slogan for our President Barack Obama: Do NOT urinate in the same spot twice.

Peut-etre un peu Sensitivity Training

Mais oui, the Europeans most admired by the liberal elites here, les Francais are, shall we say, a bit provincial. Reuters:

French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant, according to a survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world. [snip]

"It's mainly the fact that they speak little or no English when they're abroad, and they don't speak much of the local language," Expedia Marketing Director Timothee de Roux told radio station France Info.

"The French don't go abroad very much. We're lucky enough to have a country which is magnificent in terms of its landscape and culture," he said, adding that 90 per cent of French people did their traveling at home.

Of course it's the Brits reporting here, but somehow this is not a surprise. Perhaps they should strive to be a bit more multicultural in their outlook.

Palin's Super Powers

Excellent piece by Tom Bevan, RCP who gently suggests the Tribune's Steve Chapman has gone off the rails on this one. I couldn't agree more.

P.S. Liberal Dahlia Lithwick on Palin:

Think of an American visiting France who believes that if he just speaks louder, he will be speaking French.

Think of the liberal MSM as a French tourist in America.

Matt Continetti, We'll be hearing from Palin for a long time. David Warren, What Sarah Palin Represents:

The word "populist" could mean many things, both good and bad. To my mind, Palin currently has both good and bad populist qualities. But these include the very best quality: a real, visceral identification, amounting to love, for the people who actually do America's work, take America's risks, raise America's children, and believe in God. These people are held in contempt by the progressive elites -- they are tax fodder -- just as Palin is held in contempt, as "Caribou Barbie."

Um, and our President Barack Obama is trying to reach out to non-urban America. Perhaps a dim light dawns.

And to those who are so flippant "teething cookie crumbles?" and don't understand the level of outrage about these unprecedented personal attacks, and the attacks on her children, I would add this from my friend, and would say I have some personal knowledge of this kind of malicious behavior as well.

More. Via Rockford's Sweeny Report, Carl Cannon, Politics Daily: "Sarah 'Barracuda' Palin and the Piranhas of the Press". And yes, the MSM in some instances merged with leftwing bloggers and lied repeatedly about her record, positions, and personal life.

Related posts: Mika is Fired Up, This is NOT a Photo-op, Maleficent Maureen, Happy Fourth!, Palin, Angelina Jolie of Politics, Snark City, No Surprise, AOL Playboy Cover-up, Classy Post Christie, Personal Attack After Attack, Miss FIRE, Why do they hate her?, Liberal Chauvinist Pigs.

Iran: Death to the Dictator

It's not Death to America from the students in the streets. Times Online:

Iranian police fired tear-gas and shots into the air today to disperse thousands of demonstrators who had defied official warnings and staged a march to mark the 10th anniversary of a bloody student uprising.

Protesters chanted “Death to the dictator” as they gathered in the streets around Tehran University, the epicentre of the 1999 protests, which were crushed by police and Basiji vigilantes.

Today, police deployed reinforcements after a first volley of tear-gas failed to disperse the demonstrators, who continued to grow in number, according to eyewitnesses. Police then fired a second volley of the gas.

NY Times:

But the effort to halt the protest quickly turned violent. A middle-age woman ran through the crowd, her coat covered with blood stains. Trash fires burned, cloaking the streets in black smoke, as protesters lobbed rocks at security forces. Two men held a huge floral arrangement of yellow and purple flowers on green leaves aloft through the smoke in commemoration of those killed in the last month and 1999, a witness said.

“Tell the world what is happening here,” one 26-year old engineering student demonstrator said. “This is our revolution. We will not give up.”

Asked what he wanted, he said: “We want democracy.”

A 55-year-old woman on the streets in support the marchers said: “This is Iran. We are all together.”

Our President Barack Obama? And what about those nukes?

P.S. Why so hesitant, Mr. President? ObaMOCKracy.

Further Poll Plunge

-8% today. There's a gender gap, but even women now are closely divided on our President Barack Obama's performance. Rasmussen. New GOP ad below. And how's Obama's buddy and Axelrod model for The One's campaign--you know overpromising and underdelivering, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick doing? "Nothing":

New GOP Crop of Candidates

Geraghty gives the rundown, it's a bumper year for congressional challengers, with Adam Kinzinger, running in Illinois' 11th, getting a mention, as well as a couple of strong candidates in Wisconsin.

Obama, Policies Failing

Morning Bell. EPA admits cap and tax won't materially fix global warming. Oh, and the CBO analysis merely is an accounting of the bill, not an economic analysis of the damage to the economy and the cost to the American family:

When the economic costs of Waxman-Markey are included, the harm to American families skyrockets. According to Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis Waxman-Markey will decrease GDP in 2020 by $161 billion (2009 dollars). For a family of four, that is $1,870 that the CBO simply ignores.

For a while his popularity was unaffected by the profligate spending (for no jobs) and radical liberal agenda he shares with the Dem-run Congress, but that's changing, as we've seen in recent polling. Obama's job approval is slipping, (no wonder) among a key group. Politico:

But a source of the shift appears to be independent voters, who seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control.

“This is a huge sea change that is playing itself out in American politics,” said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. “Independents who had become effectively operational Democrats in 2006 and 2008 are now up for grabs and are trending Republican.

“They’re saying, ‘Costing too much, no results, see the downside, not sure of the upside,’” he said.

The Tea Party movement and many in the GOP are running against the power of the center--Obama and his Chicago Way Crony [Illinois still managed to screw it up] Big Government. As President Obama once at least paid lip service to, Americans want a government that works. And Americans want a country that prospers--a government that's part of the problem needs to get out of the way, or we'll throw them out of office. Roll back the planned big government spending, cut debt, cut taxes to put money back in people's pockets and get America moving again.

P.S. And that's why many of us were so upset with Rep. Mark Kirk on cap and tax--he went for a massive tax increase, skyrocketing energy costs and a huge expansion of government--with a bogus (based on questionable science) bill that will not work to reduce the emissions he claims to care about.

More polling on independents around the country.

Prevention not a Cure-All

Those purported healthcare savings the Obama administration is hyping are elusive to non-existent. In fact, the reverse is true--especially with an aging population.

Health care questions? Senate Doctors on call today at 3 pm central, and every Tuesday and Thursday, same time:

Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) – an orthopedic trauma surgeon and former President of the Wyoming Medical Society – and Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) – a family practice physician specializing in obstetrics – will be regular hosts, with guests making appearances. The show will focus on policy discussions, with constituents sharing their questions, stories, concerns, and comments about health care proposals being debated in Congress.

I know it sounds like a soap opera. Better it's not your own personal soap opera if Big Brother ObamaCare passes.

More: Regina Herzlinger, Harvard Business School Professor, the danger of limited choices under a government plan.

Michelle Style

The world as style. The purple shall govern. First Lady O as history:

“Why are people so interested in what I wear?” Jackie Kennedy once asked a friend. That naïveté could be forgiven, considered charming even, of a fledgling First Lady in 1961. But almost half a century later, we were craving a First Lady who was culturally astute and media-smart. One who understood full well the power of clothes and the profound influence of image. And on this historic night in 2008, with her symbolically rich purple sheath punctuated with carefully edited accessories, Michelle Obama looked like she might be the one to deliver the goods.

This was, indeed, a defining political and fashion moment.

"Women-who-rule pearls"? Should Barack step aside now?

P.S. What's the meaning of the splashy big flowers?

P.P.S. LA Times:

However, the White House, which had Mrs. Obama actively announce millions in economic stimulus spending last week, might want to be careful mixing her up with policy initiatives a la Hillary Clinton. Very few (9%) think the unelected first lady should have a lot of influence over government policy (14% of Democrats, 8% of independents and 5% of Republicans). Back in 2006, 13% thought that was a good idea.

Oh, and Michelle Obama Wears a Green Flower Pin to Italy! Michelle Obama Look Book. The Cut. Illuminating comments.

Perhaps a CPS Product

White House misspills President Obama's name on diplomatic dokument. Andrew Malcolm.

Chicago public schools Cappuccino Curriculum bites Barack in the butt.

Durbin the Dick

Skulking around, tailing GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell. It has come to this. The Hill.

McConnell: Do your tricks, Democrats.

Honest Steny, For Once

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that the health-care reform bill now pending in Congress would garner very few votes if lawmakers actually had to read the entire bill before voting on it.

“If every member pledged to not vote for it if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes,” Hoyer told CNSNews.com at his regular weekly news conference.

(Sox win.)

Blago Top Aide Pleads Guilty

His former chief of staff, John Harris. CBS2:

A former top aide to ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich has pleaded guilty to taking part in a plan to sell or trade President Barack Obama's former Senate seat in exchange for financial benefits for the governor or his wife.

Charged with one count of wire fraud, reportedly Harris is cooperating with the Feds:

"I have never met a person who is going to be a better witness than John Harris is going to be," Ekl told reporters after his client pleaded guilty.

There are lots more shoes to drop. Blago's earlier chief of staff, Lon Monk, is also expected to plead guilty later this month. Harris also served as Mayor Daley's chief of staff.

And once again we hear the names of FObama Valerie Jarrett and the ubiquitous SEIU.

More: Tribune, including discussion and reaction from Senate Candidate D.

Stimulus Killing Renewable Energy Industry

However, the uncertainty created by a centrally planned recovery jeopardizes America’s long-term economic health. The stated purpose of Obama’s stimulus is to create jobs via government largesse. Permitting people the liberty to make their own investment decisions by easing their tax burden would have been far better.

And--it's called incentives!

Does Obama Want to Own the Airlines?

Holman Jenkins, WSJ:

These incentives would very likely prevail in the highly flexible airline alliances. Such alliances are no miracle cure for what ails the domestic carriers, but they would open a window to let us see beyond antitrust's indiscriminate prejudice against cooperative acts by competitors.

Of course, this would fly in the face of Ms. Varney's agenda, which is to expand the bailiwick of the Washington antitrust bar. Even now, she has turned her attention from airlines to the mobile-phone business on the theory that any industry that hasn't collapsed into government receivership must be doing something wrong.

Where does this end? Government Air, Aeroflop? Too big to crash? God help us, Obama probably does want to take them over. Then he can paint his logo on the tail.

Kirk is in?

Politico reports Kirk's going to announce for Senate. Jim Geraghty, the Campaign Spot, correctly characterizes Kirk's loss of many of his former supporters over his vote on cap and tax, but is wrong about cutting off our noses to spite our faces. The last time we held our nose and voted for someone like that, someone who can't even vote against the LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN AMERICAN HISTORY during a deep recession, we ended up losing it all. I refer to Gov. George Ryan, who flipped on every position, becoming indistinguishable from a Democrat. With this key vote, Kirk has done it before even running for higher office.

We lost every state office. We lost the state Senate. Our ranks in the state House tanked.

We need someone with more guts to represent us in the US Senate. I'll back someone who has more integrity, and can actually articulate a consistent fiscally conservative ANTI-TAX message. That has appeal across party lines in bankrupt Illinois.

P.S. Another example, (another useful idiot) Republican state Sen. Kirk Dillard, recently announced candidate for governor. Capitol Fax "Dillard jumps in, all but endorses LMadigan, Proft pounces". Earlier reaction of GOP Illinois gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft to Dillard's declaration:PROFT SURPRISED BY DILLARD’S ENTRANCE INTO THE RACE, AS A REPUBLICAN

Slip 'n Slide Obama

Rasmussen records a -5%. And the generic Congressional ballot gives the GOP a slight edge, the second week running. This follows his 13 point slip in a poll in swing state Ohio, released yesterday. For some comic relief, food fight in California budget battle. The president is out of the country. How will he fare when he comes back? He's apparently sending the hapless Joe Biden to Ohio. From slip to slide.

More. Dem-leaning pollsters show Obama sliding in Virginia.

LaHood is your new bicycle

Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi spoofs Obama Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood. This is not hard, as you will read.

Ray LaHood, the kind of amiable dunce Illinois Republican our President Barack Obama likes to rely on.

Competing with Joe Biden for stupid scary statements.

Madigan Ducks

Lisa, that is. Illinois under the Dems is in such bad shape even she doesn't want to tackle it as Senator or Governor...and then there's the issue of her dad, who shares lots of responsibility for the mess, the elephant, uh donkey, let's say ass, on the dance floor down in Springfield.

More: The Politico. Kirk hurt himself for a statewide run with his cap and TAX vote, drawing protests from core Republicans. I assume he's also just running for reelection, which is why I presume party chairman Andy McKenna is throwing himself once again into the ring. A sure loser. Again. Sigh. How about Eric Wallace for Senate, a fresh face?

And this really opens things up for the GOP in the governor's race.

Obama's Strategic Mistake

He deferred to Congress and his special interest union allies, putting them ahead of the best interests of the American people. That's why we don't have jobs now. The stimulus was not timely, nor targeted at those who needed it most. Job losses may be a lagging indicator, but they inflict real pain on real people. But we couldn't have a real debate, no, no, no! Jay Cost, RCP:

What's odd is that when the stimulus bill was under consideration, the President said there was no time for a real debate. Why the need for speed if the bill wouldn't begin to take effect for months? This seemed like a rhetorical trick designed to deflect criticism from what was a questionable bill.

No kidding. The other foot on the throat of the American people is the enormous tax and debt burden this Democrat administration and Congress has run up in just a few months-- and they continue to spend like there's no tomorrow. At this rate there won't be--our kids and grandkids will be wage slaves their entire lives. The cap and tax bill--the largest tax increase in American history--was rushed through the same way. At least the Senate has yet to vote on it, hopefully it will die there.

All this haste and waste does not inspire confidence in Congress and the administration's actually tackling healthcare reform in a cost-effective and workable way. Obama's strategy, or lack of one, has come back to haunt him. He squandered our money and our goodwill:

Without their lower administrative cost talking point, the left knows their justification for government run health care in a time of dangerously high deficits evaporates.

Dangerously high deficits they created. Man does not live by bread alone, but earning and eating our daily bread is pretty damn important. We can't afford to go into huge debt without dealing with what's already on our plate. It's the economy, stupid.

P.S. Newsbusters with the background on ObamaRahmbo and the left's game on healthcare.

More, on the supposed third way healthcare option:

If health care were expensive because much of it is provided by for-profit entities, then why haven't not-for-profit entities already solved the problem? "Non-profit organizations could go in and undercut the people who are making these supposedly unwarranted profits, lowering the cost of health care for all of us," Sowell said. "Why don't they do it?" Because, of course, they cannot.

"All the examples I have been able to find," Sowell continued, "show that profit-making organizations operate so efficiently that they are encroaching on the non-profits." Consider, to name just one instance, colleges and universities. One institution of higher learning after another has hired private, for-profit enterprises to run its student bookstores. Has any college or university ever asked the government to do so? Sowell thought not.

Most people know this, it's common sense. But it's in short supply in Washington. And this on the Obameconomy, from Politico:

"Right now, every headline across the board is the stimulus isn’t enough, states are in bankruptcy, states aren’t paying their bills,” says Wendy Schiller, a Brown University political scientist. “This is really deadly for the Democratic Party, because what it suggests is the Democratic Party cannot run the country.”

"60"

New NRSC ad:

McKenna a Sure Loser

Look, he's a nice guy but you might as well surrender any chance for the Senate seat now.

When Barry Met Michelle

Guess he needed TOTUS even for that. Our President Barack Obama muffs the story of how he met Michelle (or just lies in a perfunctory way). Video.

(Maybe that's why she's wearing heels in this pix and sort of standing off.)

Konerko Grand Slam

Sox are hot:)

Mika is Fired Up

Tells (a patronizing hack of a) Eugene Robinson he's wrong on Palin. Maria Bartiromo backs her up. Watch.

Pearls before swine.

Obamageddon?

Watch: "America is heading for an economic 9/11". His site here.

P.S. Obama drops lower in negative territory. Rasmussen.

First Lady O

Michelle requires twenty ladies in waiting, uh attendants. Some commentary:

“In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much,” she said. “See, that’s why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, “ Michelle Obama

No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn’t perform any official duties. But this hasn’t deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.

NPR worries, "Is the White House changing Michelle Obama?" Actually, I think she's blossoming. Full-blown.

Roskam's Medi-Fraud Blog

Republican Rep. Peter Roskam, Illinois' 6th, has a blog detailing the fraud of the day.

Previous post: Mythbusters on Healthcare.

Browsing wikiHow

Wanna get away from MJ? Well, this certainly never occurred to me. How to choose a surfboard for your dog.

This I might try, Japanese pizza, Okonomiyaki. Sorta more like a pancake.

This is NOT a photo-op

How many politicians do you know who actually do the work? For whom putting on the gear is NOT a photo-op. Sarah Palin, one in a million. Roger Simon, Politico:

Today, it is hard to see who the next guy in line is, but the party mandarins, the pooh-bahs, are agreed on one thing: Sarah Palin ain’t it.

She is a dumb hick, a nobody from nowhere. She hunts moose with a chainsaw from the back of a snowmobile or something. Just listen to her resignation speech. It was not slick or polished or written by somebody else. She appeared to deliver it off the top of her head as if she were a real person. What a doofus!

Doesn’t she know that the highest form of political communication today is to exactly regurgitate a speech written for you by a speechwriter who has crafted, vetted and polled every phrase, line and word?But listen to Palin. Listen to how “rambling” and “disjointed” she is. Once upon a time in American politics, this was known as being “plain-spoken,” but that time has gone. An entire industry of political consultants has grown up to make sure politicians are never plain-spoken.

Give 'em hell, Sarah!

More. From the Time interview:

What do you think is particularly wrong with what Obama is doing now?
President Obama is growing government outrageously, and it's immoral and it's uneconomic, his plan that he tries to sell America. His plan to "put America on the right track" economically, incurring the debt that our nation is incurring, trillions of dollars that we're passing on to our kids, expecting them to pay off for us, is immoral and doesn't even make economic sense. So his growth of government agenda needs to be ratcheted back, and it's going to take good people who have the guts to stand up to him, stand up to him and debate policy, not personalities, not partisan politics, but policy to effect the change that we need there. And allow free enterprise and the industrious Americans who run our small businesses and want to raise a family, allowing our families to grow and prosper and thrive, Americans who still believe in those ideals to get in there and effect change. I want to work for people who believe in that.

Another view, from Purdum's colleague at VF, Michael Wolff--Palin as a long distance runner, not a train wreck. Fox interview.

Mythbusters on Healthcare

UPDATE: Great videos at Tom's Place--clear illustrations of cost.***Heritage blasts apart the Left's bogus numbers--government healthcare administrative costs are higher than the private sector's, with Medicare the example.

WSJ on healthcare rationing in the UK. Of NICE and men--the horror stories. How about this one:

The U.K. has recently been absorbed by the cases of several young women who developed cervical cancer after being denied pap smears by a related health authority, the Cervical Screening Programme, which in order to reduce government health-care spending has refused the screens to women under age 25.

This is our future...or should we say no future, unless we push back against a government healthcare monopoly. No government "option"--that's a myth. It'll kill our choices.

Stimulus the Chicago Way

Is this worth it?

$1 million to study the health benefits of living in "green" public housing. The study will look at 300 people living in the City of Chicago to determine whether living in ‘green’ public housing will lead to lower healthcare costs.

No mention of what the green public housing will cost us. More unaffordable affordable housing. (Then there's the collateral damage to us--chumps for the pols lining their pockets.) And what about the environment surrounding the housing? How healthy will that be. (Is this a plan to bring back Cabrini-Green?)

Scanning the States

Cast your eye on Ohio, where our President Barack Obama's approval rating has slipped under 50%, impacting their Senate race. RCP Blog. Then there's basket-case California, a harbinger for other states, like Illinois, and the country, unless we choose another path.

Isaac Hayes at Navy Pier Tea Party

Via Illinois Review. A powerful speaker, a new voice for Illinois. Watch: And Wallace for Senate. A black conservative declares for Obama's old Senate seat. Help him out, folks!

Illinois Dems Drop the Ball AGAIN

State stimulus money, jobs, held up in Springfield. CBS2 video. HT The Sixth Ward. Zorn offers a "tiny apology". Dennis Byrne, "Public employee unions have become the deadly enemy of Chicago's commonweal." Interesting comments on a Crain's story on non-profit pain. Here's one:

Ana F. wrote:

The State of Illinois must bring expenses in line with existing revenue immediately, period! Let the programs find other sources of donation and/or adjust accordingly. Do not add to the existing debt. Then, twelve months from now, we can discuss a tax increase to pay the existing debt. That is what I had to do in my small business and home.

And this:

J J. wrote:

@Vincent B.

I'm not advocating cutting services to the most needy. BUT I am also not falling for the politicians scare tactics. There are lots of other places to cut the budget. Although this isn't very scientific, take a look at an LA Times "state budget balancer" program, that shows where cuts can be made to balance their $26 billion dollar deficit: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-statebudget-fl,0,95571.htmlstory

As you can see there are many places where the budget can be cut to make up the gap, not just cutting from cutting services for the most needy. Of course Illinois is run by powerful unions who will make sure that those vital services are cut before their benefits are.

One more time--the Illinois Policy Institute's blueprint for streamlining Illinois without raising taxes.

Big Whoop from Kirk

Releases campaign contribution numbers. Pre the cap and tax vote. We used to contribute, even tho we got redistricted into Jan the commie's. No more.

Next up--tracking your personal emissions.

P.S. Even Dems admit cap and tax is a job killer.

Multiculti Superheroes?

What is the world coming to? Looks kind of like Jasmine, Aladdin. Truth, justice and the Islamic way, American style?

They are superheroes battling injustice and fighting evil the Islamic way, and they are teaming up with some of the west's biggest comic book icons. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are among those joining forces with The 99, who personify the 99 attributes of Allah, according to Islamic tradition.

What will unfold on the pages of the collaboration between DC Comics in the US and Teshkeel Comics in Kuwait is yet to be seen, but the appearance of The 99 – who already appear in comics in the Muslim world – alongside archetypal American heroes would have been unlikely during the Bush years. DC Comics' president and publisher, Paul Levitz, believes the cross-cultural project is unprecedented.

Could be just the thing in Iran. No more death to America. And you can see the women's faces, though there is a "burka-wearing Bettina the Hidden". But what to do about Wonder Woman?

And magic isn't allowed? Sorry Harry Potter.

But an improvement over the Hamas children's programs.

What emerging progressive majority?

Sean Trende (don't you just love the name) on the polls. RCP.

Obama's Katrina

The Tribune likens it to a hurricane. Now the (stimulus, spend and spend but no jobs) disaster that is our economy is Obama's. James Pinkerton:

The problem the Democrats have--and come to think of it, the country has it, too--is that even if you want to build something, you can't do it. That is, you can't do it without plowing through years' worth of lawyers and environmental-impact-statement-writers, nor without enduring endless hearings and lawsuits where every last NIMBY gets a whack at the project. And so even before this terrible recession, America's capacity actually to build anything--build a highway, build a bullet train, build a power plant -- had been crippled.

So piling on new money does no good, because the old money hasn't been getting spent. Getting spent, that is, on bricks and mortar and technology, as opposed to lawyers and consultants. In the past, "stimulus" was a way to put blue collars and hardhats back to work. Yet now, the only people being stimulated are white-collar lobbyists and litigators.

Roll back the wasteful spending and the repressive regulations. NOW. Give us some air to breathe and Americans will recover on their own.

Where stars are born

A new look at the Milky Way.

Hitchens asks a question

Did the toppling of Saddam Hussein lead to recent events in Iran?

Democracy is catching.

I blame Bush.

P.S. Iran exports terror, we export democracy. Well, who really knows with Obama. Reuel Marc Gerecht with more on the mullahs' rebellion.

Barack's AmeriCorps Scandal

While our President Barack Obama is swanning around in commie-aristo Russia, what about this?

And Michelle O's role?

P.S. Barack Obama Student Radical. His "writings" unearthed.

Maleficent Maureen

Maureen Dowd writing about narcissistic personalities in positions of power. Now that's rich.

Sitting on her perch, top of the liberal elite pecking order at the NY Times, she gives women a bad name. Any woman who doesn't agree with her she viciously name-calls, as if she never advanced beyond junior high social mores.

She and her media friends consider this kind of behavior as a badge of honor.

But much of the rest of the country considers it unkind and a disgrace.

I don't know what Sarah Palin has planned. But I have to say, if all she achieves is standing up for herself and her family, and establishing herself in the public eye as the unique individual she is, she will have struck a blow for women and men everywhere who are sick of sneers from those who appoint themselves as our betters, but behave in the most uncivil and poisonously petty way.

So let's objectify you, Maureen. The Maleficent One.

I imagine Sarah Palin will be more gracious.

P.S. A woman of the left defends Palin:

It seems that some blamers know that the bullshit published about Palin (and unfortunately repeated here) was just that — bullshit. Palin considers herself a feminist, and except for the abortion thing, she’s more explicitly feminist than the average American. When a regular Jane with that kind of background proclaims her feminist sympathies, it doesn’t seem terribly productive to ridicule her or indulge in the misogynist slander put out by the political hacks running against her. I mean, sure, by the standards of pure feminism, she’s an enabling godbag. But so are most American women.

"Like the NAACP sponsoring a lynching". Politics always trumps principle among leftist feminist "leaders". Always. The lie is king. The lie for The One this time. Angry haters. More:

Her speech also delivered some welcome punctures to the national gasbag known as Obama. And that’s another thing: it has not escaped my attention that many of the things Palin is accused of, falsely, are actually true of Obama. This is a guy who, as a U.S. senator from Illinois, didn’t even know which Senate committees he was on or which states bordered his own. (And don’t even get me started on Joe “The Talking Donkey” Biden, who thinks FDR was president during the stock market crash and that people watched TV in those days.) I’m not saying Obama’s a moron, but he’s sure as hell no genius. People say Sarah Palin rambles; excuse me, but have you actually heard Obama speak extemporaneously? As for being a diva, surely we all remember the Possomus sign and the special embroidered pillow on the Obama campaign plane. The fact is, Obama is an intellectually mediocre narcissist with a thin resume who’s lost without a teleprompter and whose entire campaign had all the substance and gravity of a Pepsi commercial. Yet people say Sarah Palin is a fluffy bunny diva.

I saw Palin's speech at the convention, she successfully mocked Obama's mystique. This woman is going to be pilloried by the left herself. Welcome to the rest of America.

Finally--I said back then Sarah is the Fresh Air. She could be just what we need now. At the time I was blogging at BlogHer, but got so much vituperation they turfed me out--I was disturbing their readers too much. Ya think they'll invite me back now that The One's halo has slipped?

Oh, and The Other McCain on Palin:

The punditocracy can't predict Palin because she shares neither their perspective nor their assumptions. Her ascent to political stardom has been treated as a fluke by most of the GOP establishment for the simple reason that she doesn't slavishly follow the standard script of Republican politicians.

Of course, in recent years this script usually has ended with "…and then the Democrats won," suggesting the need for a re-write.

Related posts: Happy Fourth!, Palin, Angelina Jolie of Politics, Snark City, No Surprise, AOL Playboy Cover-up, Classy Post Christie, Personal Attack After Attack, Miss FIRE, Why do they hate her?, Liberal Chauvinist Pigs.

Civil Wars Everywhere

Chicago had six murders over the weekend, more than 20 injured. [Make that 10 slayings, 63 shootings] Honduras? Maybe two and the MSM is pushing civil war, featuring the same rabble-rousing old man as exhibit A in photos, whom a resourceful blogger saw smear blood on his shirt. It looks like there were maybe 300 people protesting for their ousted dictator at the airport--fewer than we had in Chicago at our first Tea Party in February. Do we have a Civil War here?

Maybe even at Kirk's office the other day?

Back to Honduras--why is the Obama administration not supporting the rule of law?

P.S. MSM fauxtography meet Stalinesque fakery from The One.

Freedom's Light Dims

Ramirez. Among the wonders of Waxman-Markey:

21. The bill regulates every light fixture under the sun. Actually, the sun might be the only light source that isn’t regulated specifically in this legislation. There are rules governing fluorescent lamps, incandescent lamps, intermediate base lamps, candelabra base lamps, outdoor luminaires, portable light fixtures — you get the idea. The government actually started down this road by regulating light bulbs in the 2005 energy bill. This bill merely tightens the regulations, which means the unintended consequences produced by the 2005 bill — more expensive light bulbs that burn out quicker — will probably get worse.

Then there are all the appliances that come under the EPA's harsh eye--and your home. Will your leaded-glass windows cost you an arm and a leg? Will your old house become an eyesore to the eco-police? Will you go broke being forced to green-up your home? There goes more of your shrinking retirement nest egg. All in thrall to an iffy possibility of a slight shift in climate in a hundred years--from people who can barely predict tomorrow's weather. Dump this dim bulb of a bill that will ruin us.

Coffee Therapy

Good morning! Some good news with that morning brew--it may reverse Alzheimers...at least for mice.

Obama the UnCool

Mark Steyn the other day--global warming is so last century:

The Obama administration is getting into the global-warming beads and kaftan just as everyone else is beginning to toss 'em into the recycling bin. Same with government automobiles: Been there, drove that – from Eastern Europe to Northern Ireland.

There's something weirdly parochial about Obama, the supposed "citizen of the world."

Yeah, he's like a prissy old hippie lady.

Earth to Kirk

The scheme will cause gas and electricity prices to skyrocket - to the immediate benefit of the big private energy conglomerates (thus setting them up for further demonization, and the next round of nationalization). By triggering a massive inflation of energy prices, it will do most harm to those on fixed incomes - to the poor and the elderly most of all. Like all such gargantuan schemes, it will create a circus of fraud and corruption. And yet, at the end of the day, it will have no significant impact on the environment.

P.S. Crain's: Local winners and losers. Carbon trading is sure to be a scam. Stop this bill in the Senate. 50 ways to ditch this loser.

More: Tax Foundation tuneful video on the cost of cap and trade. Calculate your cap and trade cost here.

Happy Fourth!

More: deadvoterThank you to citizens frozen, starved, were outnumbered, ill equipped, untrained, never gave up & defeated world's best army for our freedom.*** Reason. Watch: Still digesting the Palin announcement. I have faith in her judgment, however this pans out. And some valued commentary on that and Kirk from my friend Eva at Conservative Brand.

More: Just watched the Palin announcement video. A gutsy and unconventional move, characteristic of Sarah Palin. Could be a real power play. Remember Reagan's GE years.

More: And it just could be she doesn't want to put her family (and her state--millions fending off spurious attacks) through this any more. Mark Steyn.

And Liz Mair, whom I met at the convention, and like and respect.

Legal Insurrection. He's right.

Palin, Angelina Jolie of Politics

Gotta read this, it's right on. And this. Previous post: Snark City.