HillaryCare Debunked

Ace of Trump has a link on the debunking of a Harvard study which claimed nearly half of all personal bankruptcies were caused by expensive illnesses. The study was being used to justify HillaryCare, universal healthcare.

Stepping up to the plate are researchers from Northwestern's Kellogg School who reanalyzed the data: the percentage is considerably less.

Ideas that Work

The blueprint by House conservatives for a New Republican Contract with America, per Congressman Mike Pence, (R-Indiana). Ramesh Ponnuru at NRO, via GOP Bloggers.

I especially like making the tax cuts permanent and the restoring the President's line-item veto.

And earmark reform and private social security accounts.

Good ideas that work for us and for our children.

Hate Crime Mockery

The Republican Jewish Coalition calls on Governor Blagojevich to remove a Farrakhan advisor from his Hate Crime Panel.

This is akin to having Cuba and Sudan on the UN Human Rights Commission.

Farrakhan has repeatedly made blatant anti-Semitic remarks. Surely the governor can find someone to appoint who has not spoken in hate:

At the annual Nation of Islam’s Saviours' Day conference in Chicago Sunday, Farrakhan told an audience of thousands, “your country has been taken from you by the synagogue of Satan.” [Saviours’ Day, Chicago, Illinois, 2/26/2006]

Please. What a mockery.

Governments Hit the Pension Wall

Local pension cash is running low. Soon, munipalities will have to fully account for their unfunded liabilities, rather than just report their pay-as-you-go expenses, on health care benefits as well as pensions. Of course, with retirees, it's a double cost. (See my earlier post Pension Reform in your Neighborhood) Story in the Sun Times here.

It is of course, also an issue for the states (See post on Pension Pain), and Illinois Governor Blagojevich has made the problem worse by continuing to underfund the state's pensions. Tribune story here.

Reform with portable 401K plans is a promising option. But Blagojevich is not the guy who can get it done. He blew it.

A Monument to Mass Murder

Stalin is enjoying a revival in Russia, doubtless encouraged by President Putin, who has become more dictatorial himself lately.

Here in the West, Stalin's crimes have never been explored by a left still enamored with communism, just as the left refuses to acknowledge Saddam Hussein's torture chamber of a country and its mass graves.

Here is Cathy Young:

On to Russia, where from the early 1930s and until his death in 1953 Stalin slaughtered his own people on a Holocaust-like scale. It is estimated that at least 20 million died. The extermination was not as systematically deliberate as the Nazis', but the victims, in the end, were just as dead....

In recent years, Russian president Vladimir Putin has been advocating a more positive view of the country's Soviet past. Cities have erected monuments to Stalin.

The British paper The Independent said a Stalin museum is scheduled to open in March in Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad.

Polls show that 30 to 40 percent of Russians now regard Stalin's role in history as mostly ''positive," crediting him with turning the Soviet Union into a superpower and defeating Hitler.

Compared with this amnesia about state crimes against humanity, the German experience is certainly a good model -- whatever one thinks of Germany's Holocaust denial laws. Sadly, amnesia about the crimes of communism is common in the West as well.

Taking Their Innocence

Armed with the threat of a lawsuit and the veiled charge of "bigot", Me-First-At-All-Costs activists are once again breaking down the school house doors and taking our children hostage.

Once again we have a teacher undergoing a sex-change operation and coming back to the same school. It happened in the school district next door a few years ago, the principal at the junior high.

Now we have a teacher coming back to an elementary school, having taught there for 5 years as a man, now a woman. The Modesto Bee:

Several parents said children in the school - which consists of kindergarten through sixth grade - were not old enough to understand the concept of changing one's gender.

"I, as a parent, am appalled to have this issue brought into my child's psychology," Steve Bond said.

Vincent Mustacchio predicted "chaos" at the school when the students learned of McBeth's surgery.

Young children will be confused by the conflicting appearance of McBeth, who has a deep voice and masculine features but otherwise looks like a woman, other parents said.

"I will not allow you to put my kids in a petri dish and hope it all turns out fine," said Mark Schnepp, who had taken out an ad in a local newspaper urging parents to turn out for the meeting.

Several people spoke in support of McBeth, including three transgender people, two former students of McBeth's and a handful of others, saying that the fact that she is a good teacher was more important than whether she appears as a man or a woman in class.

I don't have a problem with a teacher deciding to change their sex, or switching to another school district after the operation. I do have a problem with the teacher returning to the same school or district.

I think it is wrong to subject children to graphic sex.

Common sense revolts.

Parents have enough difficulty trying to protect their children from violent images without having to deal with it in the public schools, and then explain it at home.

Mind images and anxieties about the surgery are the stuff of children's nightmares.

Most teachers at least profess to put children first.

These teachers and their professional advocacy groups assault our children with sex and rob them of their innocence.

The Peak Experience

Ah, yes, the New York Times. Here's a story on aging hippies building a "retirement commune".

According to a gerontologist and housing consultant, ""the social consciousness of the 1960's can get re-expressed." Baby boomers, she predicted, "are going to want to recreate the peak experience of their lives. Whether a commune or a college dorm, the common denominator was community."

And this:

The design-by-democracy may not work for everyone. The architect, Julie Haney, 49, said tension broke out over the color of gutters and trim on their bungalow-style homes. As Ms. Haney explained, "Ann likes blue, Stan wanted brown, Ann hates brown, everyone liked purple."

Reliving your peak with purple gutters in the "progressive university town" of Davis, California.

The Answer is B

Iran accused a foreign government of being behind the Samarra, Iraq golden dome mosque bombing.

What government did Iran accuse?

a. The Israelis (insert epithet here)

b. The Americans (the Great Satan)

c. The British

The answer this time is b. Don't ask me why.

All the World's a Stage

The Royal Shakespeare Company is staging the Complete Works of the bard this year, starting in April, in London and Stratford.

My favorite actor, Patrick Stewart, will appear in Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest, and there will be a Japanese Titus Andronicus, an Indian and Sri Lankan Midsummer Night's Dream, and a Pan-Arab version of Richard III, "focusing on Saddam Hussein's early days as a secular Arab hero."

We are All Danes Now

Here's a report on the pro-Denmark demonstration from Anne Sorock, a local source, with a direct quote of Christopher Hitchens' great impromptu speech!

Whatever Floats your Boat

Maybe they'll anchor a dual use boat off Wilmette Harbor, housing and a casino....

Check out the Wilmette blog.

Bumping Up against Reality

From the BBC of all places:

Democrats do not have a message on the key issues of our time...
The American left has faded away.

Only their bumper stickers remain, like cockroaches after a nuclear holocaust.

"Re-defeat George Bush," they whine. Not knowing, not caring that the world has changed.

So I remembered this sad sack sign which has been hanging around in my neighborhood since 2004.

Bumper stickers aren't big around here. People usually have some discreet school or sports signs on their cars. Political ones usually pop up for hotly contested races, but then disappear. Being that this is Illinois, a virtual one-party Democrat state, we don't have too many of those.

Then I went to look for more signs of disaffection from the left. The train station lot was dull, as would be expected, only one standard sticker each of Kerry and Bush.

But over by the library I hit paydirt---and this was just one car!

A defensive Deaniac....







Anti-Bush in a big way.













But then there was this just opposite.














Heading home I practically plowed into this car, coming around a curve.

It was parked ILLEGALLY.


So much for sticking to the rules.

Update on Illinois bill to limit Eminent Domain

New sponsors of the bill have come in from both sides of the aisle, which is a positive development, including, my State Senator, Jeff Schoenberg.

Perhaps he is trying to redeem himself after foisting the so-called "affordable housing" act on us which overrides local zoning.

Here is an update and links to the bill's progress from State Senator Susan Garrett's site.

Flavor du Jour in Iran

Bombs rock Iran's southern oil-rich region, not for the first time. An Arab separatist group claims credit. BBC here.

As there was no immediate claim of responsibility, the Iranian government blamed:

a. The Israelis (fill in epithet here)

b. The Americans (The Great Satan)

c. The British

If you picked the Brits you were right. The blame foreigners first flavor du jour.

Live Free or Die

Maybe we should make some signs of our own, have a demonstration in front of the Iranian embassy with the New Hampshire motto before it fades away.

Come on New Hampshire, don't give it up now!

See Day by Day by Chris Muir, our cartoonist leader.

Save the World a bit

Rather than saving the world in large chunks of print, I have decided to save it a little bit at a time, (so I am attempting shorter posts:)

In this spirit, in lieu of more words, I offer a picture from a trip last November to Colonia, Uruguay, a UN world heritage site. (One of the few good things the UN has done.)

The Iran No Compromise Compromise

Iran wants to claim it has a compromise with Russia on nuclear weapon production, but intends for now to keep producing at home.

This does not inspire confidence. The drop dead date is March 6 when the IAEA issues a report on the status of the deal which may move it to the Security Council.

BBC story here.

Triple Tax Free Health

Good news on Health Savings Accounts from Sally Pipes, via RCP:

In short, Health Savings Accounts put the insurance back into health insurance, provide Americans with a triple tax free means to save for future expenses, and deliver a strong incentive to economize on the use of health care.

And even at Wendy's, an employee base which includes the working poor, a group not uniformly healthy, the switch to HSA's caused premiums to rise only one percent.
David Hogberg at the American Spectator on the President's proposed HSA expansion:

Bush's agenda permits a low-income family to take a refundable tax credit to purchase an HSA. It also allows small businesses and civic and religious groups to form associations that enable them to pool their resources to purchase insurance for their members. Finally, Bush enables employers to put additional contributions in the HSA of an employee with a chronic health condition.

Bush was Right: Saddam had WMD

From Investor's Business Daily:

WMD: Now that Leno and Letterman have had their way with Vice President Cheney's hunting accident and the port controversy, maybe we can get back to something really important — like Saddam's WMD program.

Yes, the linchpin of opposition to the Iraq War — never really strong to begin with — has taken some real hits in recent weeks. And "Bush lied" — the anti-war mantra about the president, Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction — looks the most battered.

Inconveniently for critics of the war, Saddam made tapes in his version of the Oval Office. These tapes landed in the hands of American intelligence and were recently aired publicly.

The first 12 hours of the tapes — there are hundreds more waiting to be translated — are damning, to say the least. They show conclusively that Bush didn't lie when he cited Saddam's WMD plans as one of the big reasons for taking the dictator out.

Nobody disputes the tapes' authenticity. On them, Saddam talks openly of programs involving biological, chemical and, yes, nuclear weapons.

War foes have long asserted that Saddam halted his WMD programs in the wake of his defeat in the first Gulf War in 1991. Saddam's abandonment of WMD programs was confirmed by subsequent U.N. inspections.

Again, not true. In a tape dating to April 1995, Saddam and several aides discuss the fact that U.N. inspectors had found traces of Iraq's biological weapons program. On the tape, Hussein Kamel, Saddam's son-in-law, is heard gloating about fooling the inspectors.

"We did not reveal all that we have," he says. "Not the type of weapons, not the volume of the materials we imported, not the volume of the production we told them about, not the volume of use. None of this was correct."

There's more. Indeed, as late as 2000, Saddam can be heard in his office talking with Iraqi scientists about his ongoing plans to build a nuclear device. At one point, he discusses Iraq's plasma uranium program — something that was missed entirely by U.N. weapons inspectors combing Iraq for WMD.

This is particularly troubling, since it indicates an active, ongoing attempt by Saddam to build an Iraqi nuclear bomb.

"What was most disturbing," said John Tierney, the ex- FBI agent who translated the tapes, "was the fact that the individuals briefing Saddam were totally unknown to the U.N. Special Commission (or UNSCOM, the group set up to look into Iraq's WMD programs)."

Perhaps most chillingly, the tapes record Iraq Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz talking about how easy it would be to set off a WMD in Washington. The comments come shortly after Saddam muses about using "proxies" in a terror attack.

9-11, anyone?

In short, let us repeat: President Bush was right. We had to invade to disarm Saddam — otherwise, he would have completely reconstituted his chemical, nuclear and bio-weapons programs when inspectors left.

There is more corroborating evidence. Read the whole thing.

And as Powerline says, why isn't this news in the MSM?

We are the World

Globalization is here to stay.

Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek:

Those who want to stop it—and it's not clear how you could do that—should remember that the United States' prosperity has come from its very willingness to open itself up to the world. Over the last 60 years, manufacturing employment in the United States has plummeted as those industries went abroad—and yet average American incomes have risen to be the highest in the world. Over the last 20 years, as globalization has quickened, American companies have outsourced first goods, then services—and American incomes have risen faster than those of any other major industrial country.

Amost as many Americans work for foreign companies here as foreigners work for US companies overseas, according to LaSalle Bank's chief economist, in today's Tribune.

And the US has been universally regarded as a safe haven for investors all over the world, which helps keep our interests rates down and provides capital to grow US business and create jobs.

Dubai is unusual for the middle east, hosting a vibrant free trade zone and is known for its religious tolerance, allowing non-Muslims to practice their religions.

We need to cultivate allies such as Dubai overseas for the future of our economy and for our national security.

Otherwise we may fall behind, as Europe has, and overseas investors and ingenuity may look elsewhere, to countries like Dubai and India:

No matter the outcome, the flap is likely to tarnish this country's reputation in the Muslim world as a safe place to invest, one international expert says.

"Muslim investment is bigger than Arab investment. If you're Muslim, you start getting the message that this is not a place that welcomes my investment," said Adil Najam, an associate professor of international negotiation and diplomacy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

"If you're an Arab with $10million of disposable income, maybe you think, `Let me go to India, a place where I'm welcome, where I don't feel this bigoted sense of hostility.'"

With a large, growing middle class and strong democratic traditions, legally and culturally, India is a valued trading partner for us as well.

Free trade and free societies go hand in hand. We need to recognize our friends around the world and stand by them.

As Jim Hoagland put it in the Washington Post, highlighting the significance of President Bush's upcoming trip to Pakistan and India,

I think of it as the Rice Doctrine, since the secretary of state has stated it most clearly: "The fundamental character of regimes matters more today than the international distribution of power." Only democracy ensures "lasting peace and security between states, because it is the only guarantee of freedom and justice within states," she wrote in a Post op-ed on Dec. 11.

Like it or not, we are connected to the rest of the world as never before, and we can't go back, nor should we. Countries are making the choice, whether they are with us or against us in the war on terror, because it is a battle for the future.

Multiculti Surrender to Sharia

Mark Steyn, the most prescient commentator around:

In five years' time, how many Jews will be living in France? Two years ago, a 23-year-old Paris disc jockey called Sebastien Selam was heading off to work from his parents' apartment when he was jumped in the parking garage by his Muslim neighbor Adel. Selam's throat was slit twice, to the point of near-decapitation; his face was ripped off with a fork; and his eyes were gouged out. Adel climbed the stairs of the apartment house dripping blood and yelling, "I have killed my Jew. I will go to heaven."

Is that an gripping story? You'd think so. Particularly when, in the same city, on the same night, a Jewish woman was brutally murdered in the presence of her daughter by another Muslim. You've got the making of a mini-trend there, and the media love trends.

Yet no major French newspaper carried the story....

This month, there was another murder. Ilan Halimi, also 23, also Jewish, was found by a railway track outside Paris with burns and knife wounds all over his body. He died en route to the hospital, having been held prisoner, hooded and naked, and brutally tortured for almost three weeks by a gang that had demanded half a million dollars from his family. Can you take a wild guess at the particular identity of the gang? During the ransom phone calls, his uncle reported that they were made to listen to Ilan's screams as he was being burned while his torturers read out verses from the Quran.

This time around, the French media did carry the story, yet every public official insisted there was no anti-Jewish element.....

A lot of folks are, to put it at its mildest, indifferent to Jews. In 2003, a survey by the European Commission found that 59 percent of Europeans regard Israel as the "greatest menace to world peace." Only 59 percent? What the hell's wrong with the rest of 'em? Well, don't worry: In Germany, it was 65 percent; Austria, 69 percent; the Netherlands, 74 percent. Since then, Iran has sportingly offered to solve the problem of the Israeli threat to world peace by wiping the Zionist Entity off the face of the map. But what a tragedy that those peace-loving Iranians have been provoked into launching nuclear armageddon by those pushy Jews....

The Jews are playing their traditional role of the canaries in history's coal mine.

Something very remarkable is happening around the globe and, if you want the short version, a Muslim demonstrator in Toronto the other day put it very well:

''We won't stop the protests until the world obeys Islamic law.''

Stated that baldly it sounds ridiculous. But, simply as a matter of fact, every year more and more of the world lives under Islamic law: Pakistan adopted Islamic law in 1977, Iran in 1979, Sudan in 1984. Four decades ago, Nigeria lived under English common law; now, half of it's in the grip of sharia, and the other half's feeling the squeeze, as the death toll from the cartoon jihad indicates. But just as telling is how swiftly the developed world has internalized an essentially Islamic perspective. In their pitiful coverage of the low-level intifada that's been going on in France for five years, the European press has been barely any less loopy than the Middle Eastern media....

Now in the cartoon jihad and other episodes, the restraints of Islamic law are being extended piecemeal to the advanced world, by intimidation and violence but also by the usual cooing promotion of a spurious multicultural "respect" by Bill Clinton, the United Church of Canada, European foreign ministers, etc.

The I'd-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing-in-perfect-harmonee crowd have always spoken favorably of one-worldism. From the op-ed pages of Jutland newspapers to les banlieues of Paris, the Pan-Islamists are getting on with it.

Why Mommy is a Democrat

Via Powerline. Well, I've just seen the sample pages. Written by some man, the world is a scary place outside of the warm and fuzzy perpetual childhood of mamaland, made possible by Democrats.

At least the Republicans are people and not squirrels. And they look like they are married, which according to Powerline is the key. Mama squirrel is a Dem because there is no Daddy squirrel.

It's not on Amazon yet, but when I searched I found this book which I like a lot better: (The next time I searched I got mommy wars books.)












I still like Goodnight Moon the best, though. No squirrels, rogue elephants or liberals lurking under the bed, just a cow of infinite possibilities jumping over the moon.

The First Line of Defense

Many of US ports are foreign-operated.

Since 9-11 the UAE has been a strong ally in the War on Terror, as far as arresting terrorists, tracking illicit funding of terror, inspecting goods before they come to the US, and providing facilities for our military to prosecute the war. These protests smack of political opportunism. See the WSJ, "Ports of Gall: The new protectionists use national security as their cover."

And it's Islamophobia. (See Larry Kudlow)

Quite a turnabout for those critics of the Patriot Act and NSA surveillance, and of the war in Iraq. Apparently they will fight on the union docks, if nowhere else.

US port security remains in the hands of Homeland Security, with work done by American longshoremen.

The best security, though, according to those who have looked at the issue carefully, is achieved overseas, and needs to be more broadly defined. Veronique de Rugy, "Bipartisan Hysteria is Not Security":

Our nation's port security shouldn't rely on who owns what in our ports. Effective port security should keep terrorists and their bombs as far as possible from U.S. shores. In other words, securing U.S. ports at home should be our last line of defense. Not our first.

Our first line of defense should be to make sure that terrorists do not get the dangerous materials necessary to build a bomb. The most cost effective solution would be to keep close tabs on fissile materials. It is easier to monitor a lump of uranium at a known location than to detect uranium smuggling. Part of this exercise might include buying foreign stockpiles or helping foreign governments protect or destroy their stockpiles.

Our second line of defense should be security mechanisms to prevent nuclear devices from arriving in the United States. For instance, we should help officials abroad to tighten security at the foreign ports that feed shipments to the U.S. These efforts could include helping fund systems to bolster foreign countries' ability to detect nuclear material in their ports or placing U.S. agents on site in foreign ports.

Another cost-effective strategy would be to create partnerships with foreign manufacturers and importers. Partners would agree to meet "supply chain" standards establishing a secure chain of custody for every unit of cargo traded overseas. This would ensure that their shipment methods repel potential terrorist attempts to use those shipments for introducing weapons of mass destruction into our ports.

Finally, our last line of defense should be direct on-site protection at local ports. Security measures could include fencing, surveillance cameras, and thorough background checks for foreign companies operating ports in the U.S. Of all defense strategies, on-site port protection is the least cost effective. It is hard to detect highly enriched uranium and almost impossible to detect anything if it is shielded. As such, the effectiveness of the detection devices in use now is dubious. And even if the detection devices were capable of detecting dangerous material, it would still be riskier than the other solutions because the stakes are so high: if the system fails, the illicit material ends up inside the country.

Our current policy focuses on local ports while overlooking the most cost effective security measures. Out of a $2.03 billion port security budget, only $200 million is spent on programs to secure foreign ports. And according to experts, we barely spend $250 million protecting stockpiles of fissile material abroad.

By obsessing about the nationality of a respected ports operator, instead of thinking about what would actually make our nation safer, members of Congress are not enhancing American security.

Condi for President!

All class all the time

Courtesy No Paseran
(Condi graciously snubs Syria's puppet in Lebanon)

The Lonesome Death of Ilan Halimi

I wrote about this earlier, when there was still denial of an anti-Semitic motive in France:
Anti-Semitic Kidnapping, Torture, Murder in Paris.

Here is Michelle Malkin, The Funeral of Ilan Halimi....Paris mourned the death of Ilan Halimi.

Just down the street...

Standing with Denmark in DC

Christopher Hitchens started the ball rolling, Andrew Sullivan joined him, along with others, at noon in DC to stand with Denmark.

Here's Andrew, with pix.

Danish TV was there.

Here's Andrew's link to a Danish report.

UPDATE: More great links, pix from Powerline.

Victor Davis Hanson from Iraq

Victor Davis Hanson reports from Iraq:

Almost every media stereotype about the American military vanishes when visiting frontline bases. The world still sees dated Abu Ghraib photos, not Iraqi civilians receiving topflight care in the emergency room in the American-run hospital in Baghdad.

We hear that the U.S. Army is worn out — propped up by national guardsmen and reserves. Yet young enlistees differ. They claim instead that more mature reservists are a godsend for reconstruction efforts since so many back home were successful contractors, businessmen, teachers and mechanics. Complaints circulate about the weight, not the dearth, of body and truck armor. I saw hundreds of Humvees on the roads, but not one was unarmored. I shot AK-47s with professional Iraqi soldiers and felt far safer amid their professional live fire than back at home at the local municipal range.

Critics dub our military a "mercenary" force and sometimes call for renewal of the draft. But it is hardly a late-imperial Roman legion filled with foreigners and malcontents, but rather a true volunteer force, whose diversity in age, gender, race and religion would shame a university faculty or newsroom. Most of the colonels I met are as well educated as academics, but far more willing to debate and question their own beliefs.

Saddam Hussein destroyed Iraq — butchering, traumatizing and dividing 25 million. His baleful legacy is clear from helicopter rides over the sewers of Baghdad or a visit to one of his repugnant palaces where non-potable water pours out of his gold faucets.

It was nearly an impossible task to remove Saddam Hussein, foster democracy in the heart of the ancient caliphate and restore on a relatively short timetable what took the Husseins three decades to destroy. Meanwhile, all this must be done surrounded by Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia; in the midst of a larger war against Islamic fundamentalism; and while under global scrutiny from a largely hostile audience.

Yet what amazes is not so much the audacity of even thinking the United States could attempt such a thing, but rather that it may just pull it off after all — if only we remain patient.

Need Proof of Liberal Bias? CNN obliges

Via GOP Bloggers (It's about our oh so unhip Gov. Blagojevich):

Spiegel Butchers Hughes

Well here's another media publication where the English language version differs considerably from that offered up to the locals.

No, we're not talking about Egypt, or Palestine under Arafat, we're talking about Germany. And in the best tradition of Maureen Dowd, Spiegel's interview with State Dept. spokesman Karen Hughes has been totally butchered in the German.

Via No Paseran (who points out Germans don't use the word "fuhrer", which simply means leader, except when they choose to), here is an example from Davids Medienkritik:

Unfortunately, as has been the case so often in the past, the German version was noticeably different from the English version. What you see is not always what you get at SPIEGEL ONLINE. Here is a summary of serious discrepancies:

• In her response to the second question on the recent release of Abu Ghraib photos, Hughes says: "We don't want to be defined by those pictures, any more than the people of Germany would want your country to be defined by pictures of crimes." The segment in bold (emphasis ours) is omitted from the German version.
• In a response on Guantanamo, Hughes states in the English version: "I hope that the people of Germany would be able to recognize that we should not allow a difference over how we handle 490 terrorists who have pledged to kill Americans and others to divide our two countries and our historic friendship." The segments in bold (emphasis ours) are omitted from the German version.

Read the whole thing.

Maybe Rumsfeld wasn't talking about Karen Hughes when he said we were losing the media war overseas, but clearly we need someone who knows who she's dealing with, so that her judicious words aren't butchered.

Hillary Unhinged

Hillary sounds unhinged when she talks like this. She manages to insult just about everybody. I'm a Catholic and I am offended when she talks about other religions this way.

(Hillary and Bill sent their own daughter to Sidwell Friends, an exclusive Quaker private school in DC.)

Via Right Wing News, in Newsday:

"First family that comes and says 'I want to send my daughter to St. Peter's Roman Catholic School' and you say 'Great, wonderful school, here's your voucher,'" Clinton said. "Next parent that comes and says, 'I want to send my child to the school of the Church of the White Supremacist ...' The parent says, 'The way that I read Genesis, Cain was marked, therefore I believe in white supremacy. ... You gave it to a Catholic parent, you gave it to a Jewish parent, under the Constitution, you can't discriminate against me.'"

As an adoring, if somewhat puzzled, audience of Bronx activists looked on, Clinton added, "So what if the next parent comes and says, 'I want to send my child to the School of the Jihad? ... I won't stand for it."

She also is misinformed:

Andrew Coulson, who works on education issues for the conservative Cato Institute, differed on the voucher issue, saying, "It's misleading because under federal law no one would be permitted to open a school that advocates violence against the country."

Vatican asks for Reciprocity

Even the Vatican has had enough of turning the other cheek. Via Reuters:

After criticizing both the cartoons and the violent protests in Muslim countries that followed, the Vatican this week linked the issue to its long-standing concern that the rights of other faiths are limited, sometimes severely, in Muslim countries.

Vatican prelates have been concerned by recent killings of two Catholic priests in Turkey and Nigeria. Turkish media linked the death there to the cartoons row. At least 146 Christians and Muslims have died in five days of religious riots in Nigeria.


"If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us," Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State (prime minister), told journalists in Rome.

"We must always stress our demand for reciprocity in political contacts with authorities in Islamic countries and, even more, in cultural contacts," Foreign Minister Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo told the daily Corriere della Sera.

Reciprocity -- allowing Christian minorities the same rights as Muslims generally have in Western countries, such as building houses of worship or practicing religion freely -- is at the heart of Vatican diplomacy toward Muslim states.

Vatican diplomats argue that limits on Christians in some Islamic countries are far harsher than restrictions in the West that Muslims decry, such as France's ban on headscarves in state schools.

Saudi Arabia bans all public expression of any non-Muslim religion and sometimes arrests Christians even for worshipping privately. Pakistan allows churches to operate but its Islamic laws effectively deprive Christians of many rights.

Iraqis Demonstrate for Unity, Rebuild

What's being underreported in the MSM, Via Bill Baar and Powerline:

Reader Haider Ajina has forwarded us his translation of a two articles and provided his own commentary on the mosque bombing that John wrote about last night. First Haider provides the translations:

The following is my translation of a headline and news published by the Iraqi Arabic newspaper "Aswataliraq" on February 23.

"Iraqis of Samarah start rebuilding bombed Shrine..., and demonstrate for national unity."

"People of Samarah started local campaign to clean up rubble and start rebuilding the bombed Shrine, while other residence joined a demonstration calling for national unity. The crowd chanted 'Not Sunni Not Shiite...one one national unity.' The governor of Salahudien province announced that the province had received four billion Iraqi Dinars (2,800,000 USD) from the National Government & the Sunni Endowment party to help with rebuilding efforts. Local police reported that thousand of residences have voluntarily gathered at the damaged shrine to clean up debris since sun up.

"Local police further reported that thousands of local residences formed a demonstration, which headed to city hall. Demonstrators were chanting 'Not Sunni Not Shiite...one one national unity.' The demonstration dispersed by noon with out incidents.

UPDATE: There are some reports that rogue Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, just back from a nice little trip to Lebanon and Iran, is behind the bombings of his co-religionists. And here's this, in the Tribune:

In a sign of how the political climate has changed, Sunni leaders who have insisted that a timetable for American withdrawal be set called on U.S. forces to protect them.

Everyone's a Sox Fan!

Men in Kilts!






Here's Mark!

Ozzie has announced that Mark Buehrle will be his Opening Day starter for the fifth consecutive season.

FBI anti-terrorism unit in Chicago

Via Marathon Pundit:
Fatal Suburban Chicago Car accident draws attention of FBI anti-terrorism unit.

On Wednesday morning in the Chicago suburb of Forest View, near Midway airport, there was a deadly multi-car accident. Normally investigations of this sort involve the local police, on rare occasion the National Transportation and Safety Bureau get involved.

But with this accident, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is on the scene.

One of the victims was Dr. Nofal Lafi Hussein, a native of Palestine....

Police found checks worth a lot of money, unused credit cards and some other items that to some "could suggest" sinister activities.

UPDATE: FBI now says no longer under suspicion.

US Cartoonists Fight Back

Brave US Cartoonists and their cartoons here, via Instapundit.

Kind of amazing, cartoonists on the "front lines".

Though I guess after 9-11 the front lines came home.

This is another reminder.

The Young Senator Obama

According to RealClearPolitics, another Obama cover story is coming out in Chicago magazine, with the obligatory Democrat speculation about his chances in 2008.

If Obama wants to be President, he should run for governor first.

He needs to manage something besides his own campaign.

The last sitting Senator to win the White House was JFK, and his dad had some help from someone else's dad in stealing the election for him in Chicago. That might be tough to duplicate these days.

Though if he can knock Hillary out of the race it would be a great public service.

Then he might be the first real black president.

But why does he want to be president?

What would he really do?

What does he really believe?

So far Obama, while very smart, is just an amazingly articulate and charming young man.

Can he drag his party kicking and screaming into the mainstream?

Illinois would be a good place to start.

But if he's the Veep candidate, my money's on Condi.

War in the Information Age

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld:

Although the enemy is increasingly skillful at manipulating the media and using the tools of communications to its advantage, it should be noted that we have an advantage as well. And that is, quite simply, that truth is on our side. Ultimately, the truth wins out.

I believe with every bone in my body that free people, exposed to sufficient information, will, over time, find their way to the right decisions.

We are fighting a battle in which the survival of our free way of life is at stake. It is a test of wills, and it will be won or lost with our public and the publics of free nations around the world. We need to do all we can to correct the lies being told, shatter the appeal of the enemy and attract supporters to our noble and necessary efforts to defeat violent extremism around the globe.

Think Twice about HillaryCare

Why HillaryCare, universal health care, is not the answer. From the WSJ:

Why is cancer death falling? One leading reason has been the positive health effects from a decline in smoking. Tobacco use has tumbled by about half since the 1964 Surgeon General's report on the health hazards of smoking. The other major factors are early detection and better treatment. Both are the result of medical innovation funded by government, private donations, and profit-making bio-medical and pharmaceutical companies. Colonoscopies, mammograms and other tests are more widely publicized and utilized. And new drug therapies, less punishing and invasive than surgery or chemotherapy, have been developed thanks to the incentives of a private medical marketplace.

This is in marked contrast to the anti-cancer record of government-run health systems elsewhere in the world. As Michael Tanner, health-care expert at the Cato Institute, notes: "Because cancer is a slow moving and expensive disease to treat, it is not cost-effective under socialized medicine to treat the disease too aggressively. This saves governments money but at a high human cost.

And there is progress on the environmental front as well:

One myth about cancer is that our industrial society is pumping poisons into the air and water that put us at ever greater risk of cancer. But studies indicate that about 2% of cancer diagnoses are a result of environmental pollutants. Air and water quality have dramatically improved over the past 30 years, and air pollution carcinogens are down by 54% nationwide, according to Environmental Protection Agency data. Only 4% of cancers are a result of occupational hazards, despite lawsuits from such things as exposure to asbestos. Economic growth and the freedom that produces it are reducing, rather than increasing, cancer risks.

Kudos to Kirk

I'm glad to read that Congressman Kirk is in support of reforms to make the budget process more transparent and enforce accountability. I hope Congress' top priority is full disclosure, if not elimination, of all earmarks. From the Tribune:

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who is pushing to eliminate pensions for lawmakers convicted of felonies, said the legislation will be hard to oppose publicly despite the closed-door grumbling.

"My read on this is that regardless of people's concerns in private, when we get to the House floor, we will have an overwhelming majority for very hard-line reform," Kirk said.

While the reform zeal has slowed in the House, it does not seem to have diminished in the Senate. A bipartisan group including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has been working on legislation that could serve as the basis for a final Senate bill.

That proposal may include a ban on lobbyist-funded meals, gifts and travel; greater disclosure of earmarks that are considered in House-Senate conference committees; and greater disclosure by lobbyists and senators of their interactions.

Veritas Gutted

I heard Larry Summers speak at my 25th reunion. He was just taking over the reins at Harvard, and though I'm on the other side of the political divide, I liked what I heard, then and since. I especially appreciated his honesty. His resignation, I think, is a step back for Harvard. Via RCP, Thomas Sowell:

Despite incessant repetition of the word "diversity" in academe, the tragic fact is that the academic world is one of the most intolerant places in America when it comes to diversity of ideas. Even the president of Harvard dare not step out of line.

Parents pay the kind of money on which whole families could live, in order to have their children "educated" at elite academic institutions, hearing only one side of a whole range of issues -- race and sex being just two.

The Neighborhood Outpost

California is now the first state to designate second hand tobacco smoke a toxic air pollutant. (Hmm, wonder why they stipulated "tobacco" smoke...)

Now the town of Calabasas, CA has banned smoking in the entire town, with a few exceptions, once you step off your property. Here are highlights of the ordinance from The Acorn:

(The ordinance creates) Designated smoking “outposts” in shopping mall common areas that are at least five feet away from any doorway or opening that leads to an enclosed area....

Business owners will be responsible for ensuring that all employees and patrons comply with the new law.... (Guess the police don't want to touch this one)

Individual citizens can report offenders to the city and officials will determine how to handle fines on a case-by-case basis, said Tony Coroalles, Calabasas city manager.

Sounds like a plan. Guess Tony's bored with his job.

A few neighborly citizens' arrests to mediate.

Tony might need his own outpost.

Unintended Consequences Target You

From the Pioneer Press, Oak Leaves "Talk Targets Affordable Housing":

Her infant son in her arms, Mary Shiffer embodied Friday's affordable housing discussion by the Business and Civic Council of Oak Park.

When she moved to Oak Park in 2000, Shiffer said, her tax bill was $5,000. Six years later, it was up to $15,000.

In 10 years in Massachusetts, her property tax bill went up no more than $400 total, Shiffer said. She lived in a suburb of Boston similar to Oak Park.

"I wasn't hit with these sizable increases," she said. "I'm just stunned at the rate of increases we see every year."

Shiffer told council members her child may never get a chance to take advantage of the quality education at Oak Park-River Forest High School.

"I'm trying very hard to stay here," she said following Friday's council meeting. "I really don't want to move."

The civic council's panel discussion featured Greenplan Management president Bill Planek, Realtor Nancy Leavy, real estate executive Tom Gallagher, University of Illinois in Chicago census expert Max Dieber and diversity consultant Sherlynn Reid.

Panelists discussed the housing environment in Oak Park and also provided a few suggestions to address affordable housing issues.

Gallagher suggested that, if people wanted one, the village could set up an affordable housing program to support ownership or tenancy. Last year, he said, the village issued 5,000 permits for work on residential properties.

"If each of those was $10 more, each one of them would have paid," Gallagher said.

The money raised could be put into a trust fund and subsidies provided to people such as teachers or other civic employees.

"I don't think governments should ever get into the ownership business or be in the developer business," Gallagher said. Financial assistance programs, he said, are roles government can take on.

Ok, let's get this straight. This woman's property taxes have tripled in the last 6 years and the answer from the "Business and Civic Council" (the political cover committee for local officials) is to raise fees even more on property owners who are repairing or remodeling their homes. Then take her money and that of other homeowners and give it to "civic employees" to subsidize their housing. Unless Ms. Shiffer is in this preferred group she is out of luck.

And homeowners across the country who live in areas of towns desirable to developers, and who can't afford the taxes or fees to keep up their homes, are in danger of being declared blighted and taken over by eminent domain. Many local governments, swollen with administrative employees, are driving eminent domain to raise revenues, but often end up pricing people out of their communities to benefit their own employees.

Institute for Justice:

Even Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the majority opinion in Kelo, made clear that states were free to impose greater limits on condemnation. Justice Stevens said mere months after the decision that he believes eminent domain for economic development is bad policy and hopes that the country would find a political solution. He said, “I would have opposed it if I were a legislator . . . . My own view is that the free play of market forces is more likely to produce acceptable results in the long run than the best-intentioned plans of public officials.”

Biased BBC

Via No Paseran, Biased BBC, Drinking from Home here.

Pension Pain

From the Heartland Institute:

Blagojevich appointed the Governor's Pension Commission in 2004 to study the state's pension system and recommend improvements. The 13-member commission's recommendations went largely ignored by the governor and lawmakers.

The state issued $10.1 billion in pension obligation bonds in 2003 to reduce unfunded liabilities. The borrowing is a gamble because the state must repay the money with interest over 30 years. To do this without turning to taxpayers, the state will have to earn average annual returns on investments that exceed the 5.05 percent interest rate on the obligation bonds. There is no guarantee that will happen.

Unfunded Liability Is Huge

Despite the infusion of borrowed money, the state's unfunded pension liability stands at an estimated $38 billion, the largest unfunded liability in the nation, according to State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), who served on the Governor's Pension Commission.....

"The governor has begun stealing $4 billion from the pensions," Brady said, "$1.1 billion last year, $1.2 billion this year, and then smaller amounts in the later years. What the governor did is drop the numbers [the amounts for pension funding] now and through 2010. Now instead of putting in 20 percent of payroll over 40 years, we will pay 22 percent over 40 years, which dramatically increases the total cost but gives him short-term monies to do with what he wants."

More on the Merits of the Port Deal

Let's not be knee-jerk Ugly Americans on the merits of the port deal, but recognize an ally.

Mansoor Ijaz, in National Review supports the President's approval, but has words for Capitol Hill:

Washington's bout with Islamophobia also ignores the reality of Dubai's future direction. A metropolis already, it is rapidly becoming the prototype city-state that could serve as an important example for the future in Muslim societies bedeviled by high unemployment, low literacy rates, bad trade policies, and authoritarian political structures. It is managed and led by a cadre of young, highly educated Arab and Muslim professionals who seek to transform the world's stereotype of Islam by developing and running businesses transparently, with integrity and with an increasingly democratic and accountable corporate culture.

Chicago Recruits for Jihad

Tribune:

WASHINGTON -- Three northwest Ohio men studied the use of suicide belts and improvised explosive devices in a plot to carry out terror attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and other overseas targets, according to a five-count conspiracy indictment unsealed Tuesday in Cleveland.

The plot also included plans to set up a dummy foundation to raise money for the terrorist operation, funneling funds and computers to co-conspirators in the Middle East, and recruiting at least two people, both from Chicago, for jihadist training, court papers state.

The Gov's Mythical Job Creation

From the Sun Times, evidence Governor Blagojevich has been inflating his administration's job creation numbers:

Auditor General William Holland said Gov. Rod Blagojevich's commerce department counts jobs it expects will be created through grant programs instead of tracking the number actually created.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity also changed its methods so that people undergoing training are counted as new jobs, even though the trainees are people who already have jobs, auditors said.

Auditors also found errors in the department's math and a lack of documents to support some figures.

Teamsters on Board Against Terror

In a positive move reminiscent of American union efforts to help bring democracy to their Soviet and Solidarity (Poland) counterparts during the Cold War, the Teamsters join the War on Terror. Iran, the Terror State, is cracking down on its own people.

Via Bill Baar:

Teamsters Join Washington DC protest in support of Iranian Bus Drivers

McCain Stands with President

Via Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online:

MCCAIN STANDS WITH THE PRESIDENT

Makes the right points:

Statement by Senator John McCain on the debate over the Bush Administration’s decision to allow Dubai Ports World of the United Arab Emirates manage U.S. sea ports.

“We all need to take a moment and not rush to judgment on this matter without knowing all the facts. The President’s leadership has earned our trust in the war on terror, and surely his administration deserves the presumption that they would not sell our security short. Dubai has cooperated with us in the war and deserves to be treated respectfully. By all means, let’s do due diligence, get briefings, seek answers to all relevant questions and assurances that defense officials and the intelligence community were involved in the examination and approval of this transaction. In other words, let’s make a judgment when we possess all the pertinent facts. Until then, all we can offer is heat and little light to the discussion.”

Supply Side Success

Via GOP Bloggers:

Sen. Frist's Supply-Side Lesson

Bill Frist has a good USA Today opinion piece explaining the virtues of tax cuts.

Ever since the Senate approved the last major tax relief bill, in 2003, revenues have increased every year. In 2004, they went up 5.5%. Last year, they rose 14.5%, the largest increase in nearly 25 years.

Total government collections, in fact, increased more after President Bush's 2003 tax cuts than they did after President Clinton's 1994 tax hikes...

Republicans' decision to reduce taxes on capital gains and dividends provides a good case study in effective tax policy. When we enacted these measures in 2003, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that revenues would decline by $27 billion over the next two years. Instead, it turned out that the tax cut stimulated investment and increased revenues by $26 billion — a $53 billion difference.

Hamas, FIGHTING For YOU II

As I understand it, the collection by Israel of taxes on trade with Palestine, on their behalf, was set forth in the Oslo accords, which Hamas has refused to recognize.

Hamas has not only refused to recognize the Oslo accords, it has refused to recognize Israel, and that is putting it politely. Israel is holding back these funds, as they have no assurance they will not be used to fund terrorist attacks against its citizens.

Hamas is an avowedly terrorist organization.

Here is Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in the Tribune:

He also criticized Israel's decision Sunday to freeze the transfer of tax money to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas took control of the parliament.

"The Israelis are trying to starve innocent people by taking money from our taxes, and we are going to fight this by all legal means," he said.

Hamas, which calls for the destruction of Israel, is trying to get other Palestinian factions to join a coalition, hoping to persuade the world that the new Cabinet represents all Palestinians and should not be the target of a boycott.

And the Tribune headlines this, "Hamas 'reaches out' to rivals". You've got to be kidding.

And if Hamas is fighting using all legal means, that would be a first.

The Anti-Semitic Enablers of the Democrat Party

I believe it is important to shed the light of day on the organizations with whom local Democrats choose to associate.

At the recent Cindy Sheehan rally last Saturday in Evanston,(see my post) the organizers, the North Shore Anti-War Coalition, publicly thanked the Democrat party for their help, right at the beginning of the program. The Sheehan rally was promoted on the Democracy for Illinois website. Some local members pictured here:



The Tribune story last Friday on the rally also featured a picture of some of the organizers, which included Lee Goodman, who ran for congress as the Democrat candidate in the Illinois 10th district.

And if they say it is unfair to be so associated, then let them act responsibly and repudiate these groups, some of whom are openly communist, terrorist sympathizers, anti-semitic, and despicable.

Here are the endorsing groups for the day's events and the rally:

Affordable Power to the People
Afghan News Network web
Albany Park, North Park, Mayfair Neighbors for Peace & Justice email 773 250-3335
American Friends Service Committee web
American Muslim Alliance Mid-west Region
Andersonville Neighbors for Peace email 773 250-3225
ANSWER/Chicago web email 773 463-0311
Anti-War Majority web
Batey Urbano
Beyond Today
Billionaires for Bush web email
Campus Anti-War Network web email
CAPES (Chicago Area Participatory Economics Society) web email 866 222 6016
Centro Sin Fronteras web email
Chicagoans Against War and Injustice
Chicago Area CodePINK web
Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights web
Chicago Committee to Free the Cuban Five
Chicago Jobs With Justice
Chicago Labor For Peace Prosperity & Justice
Chicago Media Action
Chicago Socialist Party web
Chicagoland Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights web email
Chicagoland Coalition Opposed to Militarization of Youth web email 773 536-0098
Coalition of Labor Union Women – Chicago Chapter
Comité Anti-Militarización
Committee For New Priorities
Communist Party of Illinois
DAWN (DuPage Against War Now) web email
DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice
DePaul Students Against the War
DuPage Peace Through Justice Coalition web
El Socalo Urbano
Episcopal Peace Fellowship
Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice
Freedom Road Socialist Organization web
Gay Liberation Network web
Gold Star Families For Peace web
Hammerhard Media Works web
Humboldt Park Food Not Bombs web email
International Socialist Organization web email 773 551-5780
International Solidarity Movement--Chicago web email 773 489-3505
Hyde Park Committee Against War and Racism
Kuumba Lynx
League of Revolutionaries for a New America web
Logan Square Neighbors for Peace and Justice
National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
National Boricua Human Rights Network web
National Lawyers Guild - DePaul University Chapter email
Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice
Neighbors for Peace web
NEIU Students Against the War
Nicaragua Solidarity Network web email 773 973-6529
Northbrook Peace Committee web
North Shore Anti-War Coalition web
North Suburban Peace Initiative web
North Shore Women for Peace
Northwest Indiana Coalition Against the Iraq War
Northwest Suburban Illinois NOW web
Northwestern Faculty Against the War
Not In My Name web
NOWAR (Northwestern Opposing War and Racism)
Open Door Center for Community Change
Orgullo en Accion web email
Palestine Solidarity Group Chicago web
Party for Socialism and Liberation
Pashtoon Association of North America
Peace and Justice Commission, Episcopal Diocese of Chicago
Peace and Justice Committee of Lake Street Church
Peace and Justice Committee of St. Nicolas Parish
Peace and Justice Committee of the Unitarian Church of Evanston
Peace and Justice Dialog Committee of the Jewish Reconstructionist
Congregation, Evanston (endorsement limited to the Committee)
Peace Pledge
Prairie Fire Organizing Committee
Prisoner Relief Foundation
Resources Unlimited Foundation:
Dialogues in Democracy Peace and Justice Network web
Sangat
Save Senn Coalition
SOAR 31-9
South Siders For Peace web
Students for Social Justice--UIC email 773 401-4648
Third Unitarian Church Social Action Committee
UAW 2320
UE District 11
Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Young Communist League

Women's Republican Club of New Trier Township Endorses Brady

Press Release:

The Women’s Republican Club of New Trier Township has voted to endorse State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) for governor and DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett for lieutenant governor in the March 21, 2006 Republican primary.

The Women’s Republican Club of New Trier Township takes an active role in serving the community through education, advocacy and community service. As the only Chicago area women’s Republican club that endorses candidates for primary elections, the group began its process in January by conducting interviews with candidates oissues including taxes, tort reform, education, eminent domain, ethics and public safety. All of the candidates were asked about the state’s finances and reported that future pension obligations have essentially placed the state on the road to bankruptcy.

After the candidates’ endorsement committee completed its interviews, its members voted to recommend Brady and Birkett to the full Board of Directors, which concurred with the committee’s selections. A general membership meeting took place on February 16, 2006 at the Wilmette Public Library with Brady and Birkett each winning endorsement by secret ballot in separate votes.

President Eva Sorock:"The committee found that Senator Bill Brady came to the campaign with no hint of corruption in his political portfolio, which covers two terms in the State House of Representatives and one term in the State Senate. The Senator is a principled conservative with a record of working across party lines in Springfield. As an entrepreneur, he brings experience with creating jobs and supporting small businesses, the backbone of an economic recovery. In person and during debates, Senator Brady has demonstrated a consistent grasp of Illinois issues, along with integrity and a natural charm reminiscent of the young Ronald Reagan."

Big shot Lawyers

The trial lawyers have one of their own running in a contested Democrat state senate primary in the 33rd District, just west of me. Mr. Morici has invested $225,000 himself and is spending big bucks on the campaign, including a survey of local voters. According to the Arlington Heights Post:

But it's the phone survey of area residents last month that has raised some eyebrows in the political arena. Besides asking questions about voters' preferences for officeholders such as Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9th, the survey ended with questions about how often the participant shops at Wal-Mart and whether or not the person considers himself a NASCAR fan.

Well, Walmart is a polarizing company right now, so that's voter ID. And according to Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien, for whatever reason, NASCAR fans usually vote Republican:

Morici's large investment and Haymarket's involvement indicate Chicago Democrats are increasingly directing their interest and money to the suburbs.

Skoien said the most interesting thing about the race, however, is that two Democratic candidates are fighting to campaign for a seat long-held by Republicans.

From the Schaumberg Review:

The 33rd state Senate race is garnering significant attention because the district is considered by some to be a swing district. Axley, the former Elk Grove Township Republican Committeeman, was appointed, not elected to the post, after her predecessor, Dave Sullivan, a Republican, retired, Skoien noted.

A former Cook County State's Attorney prosecutor, Morici is a founding partner at his Chicago law firm -- Morici, Figlioli & Associates -- specializing in personal injury and workers compensation law.

Maybe the Republicans need to bring in reinforcements, bring Cheney in to campaign.

After all, according to the Dilbert blog, Cheney has experience handling "big shot lawyers", and goes on to say, "I think it's the worst kind of pandering to shoot a lawyer just because your popularity is low. But I'll bet it works."