Bevan on Obama

I have to say, I am already tired of the Obamamania. But it is just beginning.

Tom Bevan, RCP blog with some sage thoughts.

It should be interesting watching how the Obama 2008 drama plays out against the backdrop of the Feds' investigations of Governor Blagojevich and their mutual friend Tony Rezko.


Previous posts: Obama Revealed, Fresh-Faced Obama

"Gentleman" Jim

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., The American Spectator, with some insight on "Gentleman" Jim Webb and his Dem friends.

Market at Work

Housing slowdown, reported in Wilmette Life.

The market makes housing more affordable.


Related post: You Think it's Your Land

Dear Mayor Daley

Hugh Hewitt writes the mayor a letter, in the best Christmas spirit.

Listen to WIND 560AM for details on tickets for the special screening of The Nativity Story tomorrow, 11 AM downtown. Also in other theatres.


Previous posts: Chicago's War on Christmas, Bureaucratic Bigotry in Chicago.

Bella the Movie

Robert Novak introduces us to a pro-life movie looking for screening space. "Bella" was a surprise winner of the People's Choice Award, voted on by audiences at the Toronto film festival:

''Bella'' was conceived by three young conservative Catholic Mexican men -- producer, director and lead actor -- who want to make movies removed from Hollywood's culture of sex and violence. Bankrolled by a Catholic Philadelphia family, they shot the film in 24 days in New York City.

The star is Eduardo Verastegui, a Mexican heartthrob as a performer in TV soap operas who now lives in Los Angeles. A devout Catholic, he told me he was tired of movies showing Latinos as disreputable and immoral. He has learned to speak English in three years well enough to play the lead role mostly in English (with subtitles over the Spanish).

Trailer here.

In Search of Moderate Muslims

Pope Benedict visits Turkey to heal a centuries old schism between Catholic and Orthodox Christians, even as the number of Christians there dwindles to thousands. But of course, his visit brings the relationship of Islam and modern society to the fore.

Turkey is supposedly a secular, moderate Muslim country, yet we have Christians prosecuted for practicing their religion, accused of "insulting Turkishness". Robert Spencer, via Michelle Malkin:

Two converts from Islam to Christianity, Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal, are currently on trial on charges of “insulting ‘Turkishness’” and inciting hatred of Islam. What seems to be behind the charges is that Tastan and Topal were proselytizing – which, while not officially illegal, is frowned upon and has sometimes resulted in beatings of Christians trying to hand out religious literature. On November 4, a Protestant church in western Turkey was firebombed, after months of harassment that was ignored by Turkish authorities. The murderer of a Catholic priest, Fr. Andrea Santoro, last February in the Turkish city of Trabzon was recently sentenced to only eighteen years in prison. (The killer shouted “Allahu akbar!” as he fired shots at the priest.)

Irshad Manji, in the London Times, RCP, asks "What is a 'moderate' Muslim?". She prefers to call herself a reformer, as some self-identified moderates reacted to her earlier defense of the pope.....

(The irony is, my defence of the Pope played up the Quran’s non-violence. I pointed out that Islam’s holy book encourages Muslims to reflect far more than to retaliate. Even if someone is mocking your religion, the Quran advises, walk away. Once tempers have cooled, engage in dialogue.)

.....with this (emphasis mine):

Consider, for example, this message from Imran, a self-described “moderate Muslim” and American citizen who works for the US government:

“You said that how Muslims are reacting to the Pope is like reducing the Quran to its most bloodthirsty passages. There is no such thing, Missy… You are looking for cheap publicity for your book and bashing Islam is the easiest way to get it nowadays. It used to be sleeping with the publisher, but for that you require looks. One more thing, if you are a Jew, you should not be ashamed of it."

Sonya is another Muslim American who benefits from her country’s free speech guarantees. She told me that I should be ashamed of myself for stating my heretical views publicly. Sonya went on:

“Do you blame the people who give you death threats? Or try to psychically harm you? I happen to agree with them. If you know how to talk to people, it will get you somewhere. If you don't, you will have many enemies...”

Daniel Johnson, NY Sun, points out a conversation with the prime minister of Turkey, wherein he repudiated the idea of moderate Islam, and made no distinction between Islam the religion and its use in the political ideology of Islamism.

The pope asks for reciprocity of religious tolerance, and for religion to be independent of the state.

Not only religious freedom, but freedom itself is at stake.

UPDATE: Pope visits Blue Mosque.

Related posts: Multiculti Meets its Limits, Full Text, Persecution of Biblical Proportions, Morally Obtuse, Reciprocity in Religion.

Media Turnabout

Giving the grey lady a few gray hairs, a frequent target of the NY Times, retired insurance mogul Hank Greenberg is buying up shares of the paper to challenge the Sulzberger family management. New York Post:

Shareholder watchdogs have slammed Times management as overpaid - criticism that forced Sulzberger and his cousin, Vice Chairman Michael Golden, to say in September they would forgo about $2 million in stock awards and pump it into a bonus pool for the company's employees.

Greenberg, a legendary figure in the New York financial community, ran AIG for nearly 40 years before being deposed in a bitter boardroom coup after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer alleged the company engaged in accounting improprieties.

Spitzer eventually filed charges against Greenberg and ex-AIG CFO Howard Smith. Fighting back bitterly in the courts and the media, Greenberg eventually got Spitzer to drop all criminal charges against him.

There are also reports Greenberg is considering other media properties, including the Tribune.

You Think it's Your Land

Stories of people paying more in taxes than they do on their mortgage:

"You don't have any choice -- you pay it or you have to move," said Leonard Gilbert, whose taxes on his Rogers Park home are jumping from $4,604 to $6,513 unless the protection bill passes. "I pay more in taxes now than on my mortgage."

Eminent domain abuse post-Kelo.

What is fueling this movement to take our property away from us, aside from increasingly onerous property taxes?

Liberal Democrats and their allies among professional planners, whose theme song could be Woody Guthrie run amok---

"You think it's your land, it's really "our" land, from California, to the New York Island, old Chicago suburbs, we'll pave them over, this land was made for "community"."

For turning it all into wealth-destroying high-density no-man's land---the communitarian vision. Soon we'll all be landless, toothless, broke wards of the state.

Here's an upcoming seminar in Chicago on Dec. 12th, from one of its proponents, Prof. Eric Freyfogle, University of Illinois:

With ballot initiatives similar to Measure 37 in Oregon sweeping the country, the idea of "protecting" private property rights from regulation is again at the forefront of public debate. Eric Freyfogle, Max L. Rowe Professor of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has spoken and written widely on private property and land conservation for numerous years. Embedded in today's political debate, Freyfogle contends, are two quite different visions of land ownership — a highly individualist vision put forth clearly by the "property rights" movement and a more murky, communitarian vision that would enjoy greater support if better understood.

Come hear about this hot-button political conflict that threatens to challenge even long-standing land use rules.

Professor Eric Freyfogle received his J.D. degree summa cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. Since 1983 he has taught property, environmental law, and land use courses at the College of Law of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of a wide-ranging inquiry into private rights in nature: The Land We Share: Private Property and the Common Good (2003). His other books include the recently published Why Conservation is Failing and How It Can Regain Ground (Yale University Press, 2006), as well as The New Agrarianism (2001); Bounded People, Boundless Lands (1998); and Justice and the Earth (1993).

Ah yes, people who like to own their property are viewed as "highly individualistic" and if we only weren't so ignorant we could see what's good for us---a communitarian approach. Why bother building up our home equity nest egg to help with our retirement? ( Wasn't the "common good" one of the Democrats emerging themes this election?) And of course our tax dollars are supporting this guy.

Liberals like to claim they don't want to get into our bedrooms---but they don't need to---they just take the house.

Chicago's War on Christmas

Tribune covers the banned Nativity Story flap at the Christkindlmarket. Kass has his own twist. And there's a War on Christmas poll. Have at it.

Previous post here.

Deathstyles in Iran

From the Powerline blog of the week, Gay Patriot on the execution of 100,000 in Iran, including gays. Text and video. Boys as young as 15, girls as young as 9, can be executed.

Chavez the anti-Semite

The Venezuelan presidential election is this Sunday, and incumbent leftist demagogue Hugo Chavez is fanning anti-Semitism for votes. Hot Air.

The opposition candidate has asked for paper reciepts to be issued to voters with their electronic choices which they will then deposit into poll boxes before they leave the polling place. The two methods will be counted and compared. Digital thumbprint devices will be used by 40% of the voters. Full story here.

Brady Proposes Illinois GOP Reform

Sen. Bill Brady in the Freeport Journal-Standard on the future of the Republican Party in Illinois:

We must launch internal reforms if we are ever to bring any shade of red back to the political hue of Illinois.

We can start by giving Republican primary voters the right to elect their party officials. We can demand that party leaders who divide rather than unite step aside. We must move beyond the blindness of the old guard to the promise of energetic new leaders with innovative new ideas. We must speak to the future, for without a clear vision for this great state, we stand for nothing. Without respect for the values that made Illinois strong, we fail. Without inspiring confidence and welcoming all, we risk truly being irrelevant. Once the party of Lincoln and Reagan, the Republican Party must reclaim its voice as a party of compassion, free enterprise, fiscal restraint, personal responsibility and common sense. It indeed will take a new generation of leadership in the Republican Party to successfully bring Republican and independent voters back to our ranks.

I supported Bill Brady in the GOP primary for governor. He is a clear voice, the next generation of leadership.

Bureaucratic Bigotry in Chicago

Taking the Christ out of Christmas in Chicago. Anti-Christian bigotry and a violation of free speech. ResPublica here. More at Wizbang. It's a wonderful event, we go every year, then to see the Christmas windows on State St.

UPDATE: And yes, the ban is even more idiotic given that common sense and the law prevailed in allowing a Nativity Scene at the same location in Daley Plaza, where the Christkindlmarket is being held. Info and pix here.

Imperial Dems of Cook County

Well, I can hardly stand to write about Cook County corrupt behavior any more. Newly elected Todd Stroger breaks a campaign promise before he even officially takes office, refusing to fire his father's patronage boss, who still draws a six-figure salary for doing nothing. The Sun Times, after cynically endorsing him as one who will "reform from within" apparently has buyer's remorse.

Meanwhile, Bobbie Steele, who has stood in for Todd's ailing father these last few months, is pulling a fast one, opting to retire at the higher Cook County Board President pension level, rather than at her still generous commissioner salary level. Eric Zorn digs up a curious little pension loophole for Cook County alone.

Oh, and Steele suggests her son take over her commissioner spot.

Why even bother having elections in bankrupt Cook County? It's the Imperial Dems. All noblesse, no oblige. The obligations are all ours as taxpayers.

Multiculti Meets its Limits

In case you missed this at Powerline:

Today's Denver Post runs a great column by David Harsanyi on the expedition of Colorado Attorney General John Suthers to Saudi Arabia: "Saudis need a mirror to see injustice." Suthers was dispatched by the State Department to soothe Saudi sensibilties inflamed over the conviction and sentencing of Homaidan Al-Turki -- a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Colorad at Boulder -- for keeping his Indonesian maid a sex slave. Harsanyi's column seethes with righteous indignation and implicates issues of Islam, multiculturalism, immigration and diplomacy. Don't miss this one.

Multiculti moral relativism out the window. Janet Daley, Daily Telegraph, RCP discusses how we handle an intolerant minority in a tolerant society.

I recently read, can't remember where, a story about British colonial rule in India. A man about to burn alive the widow along with her dead spouse defended the local practice as part of the culture. The British governor responded in our culture men who burn women alive are hanged by the neck until dead---so you follow your practice, and we will follow ours.

Anti-Black Minimum Wage

William F. Buckley, RCP weighs in on the minimum wage:

Milton Friedman taught that "the substitution of contract arrangements for status arrangements was the first step toward the freeing of the serfs in the Middle Ages." He cautioned against set prices. "The high rate of unemployment among teenagers, and especially black teenagers, is both a scandal and a serious source of social unrest. Yet it is largely a result of minimum-wage laws." Those laws are "one of the most, if not the most, anti-black laws on the statute books."

It's a feel-good measure with pernicious results.

UPDATE: More on this from Gary Becker and Richard Posner of the University of Chicago. And in a related article, Michael Barone, RCP talks about the high taxes facing Blue States, including Illinois, which the Dems will need to address.

Lyric Notes

Wilmette native Matthew Polenzani is Romeo (most productions) in the Lyric Opera's offering of Gounod's Romeo et Juliette.

There are a few weeks left. If you haven't been to the Lyric, it has been beautifully restored.

Gore Again

Al Gore's latest rant:)

(Hat tip a 20 something)

Vlad the Murderer

Vladimir Putin, former KGB head, leader of Russia, and murderer.

David Frum, via RCP. David Satter, WSJ.

Can't ignore it any more. Russia, the new terror state. The vestiges of the evil empire join the axis of evil.


Related post: Cleansing Anna.

I choose not to live

Well, this is a very sad story. I found out about it on RCP Buzztracker today.

But it illustrates the culture of death brought home--a suicide immolation vs. a suicide bomber--- and the suicidal nature of the anti-America, anti-war movement, giving up on our enlightened civilization so easily. Giving up on life and a future.

"I choose not to live in your world".

UPDATE: And now we find AP edited out his suicide note, where he revealed he had planned to slash Sec. Rumsfeld's throat in 2002. AllahPundit at Hot Air. And where was his family intervention to try to prevent his death?

Mental health experts say virtually no suicides occur without some kind of a diagnosable mental illness. But Ritscher's family disagrees about whether he had severe mental problems.

In a statement, Ritscher's parents and siblings called him an intellectually gifted man who suffered from bouts of depression. They stopped short of saying he'd ever received a clinical diagnosis of mental illness.

Unschooling and Do Unto Others

The lackadaisical, child-centered approach to learning has some education "experts" sounding off alarm bells. Are they concerned about the abysmal New York and Chicago public schools? No, but the child-centered approach which many public schools advocate has rubbed off on more than a few parents, who want to try it their way, for their kids, most likely with better results. They are the "Unschoolers", a subset of usually conservative homeschoolers. NY Times:

Each child gets a small weekly allowance that is deposited directly into her own bank account, then the adding and multiplying begins. The lessons have inadvertently, and painlessly, extended to taxes, shipping fees and postage, which she sees as another benefit of unschooling.

“It’s more real-world stuff,” Ms. Walter said. “How many kids get out of high school and don’t know how to balance a checkbook?”

The United States Department of Education last did a survey on home schooling in 2003. That study did not ask about unschooling. But it found that the number of children who were educated at home had soared, increasing by 29 percent, to 1.1 million, from 1999 to 2003.

Experts assume that the upward trend has continued, and some worry that the general public is unaware of the movement’s laissez-faire approach to learning.

“As school choice expands and home-schooling in general grows, this is one of those models that I think the larger public sphere needs to be aware of because the folks who are engaging in these radical forms of school are doing so legally,” said Professor Huerta of Columbia. “If the public and policy makers don’t feel that this is a form of schooling that is producing productive citizens, then people should vote to make changes accordingly.”

They seem the heirs to the flower children, but who can really say their kids will be worse off? Motivation is important in learning, like anything else. And even loose parental discipline may work better than what passes for discipline in many schools. Note another NY Times story today that worries people are making too much money pursuing their interests, neglecting "useful" fields like public interest law and government jobs. But "useful" is a matter of opinion. What the market values is one way of measuring what people value, and allocating resources productively.

“When my mom talks of Marconi’s dental plan and a safe retirement,” he said, “she really means lifestyle security based on job security.”

But “for my generation,” Mr. McCullar said, “lifestyle security comes from financial independence. I’m doing what I want to do and it just so happens that is where the money is.”

And the same story reveals that those who enjoy financial independence as a reward for their ideas and hard work are often generous philanthropists. Who can say they won't do a better job than government bureaucrats in identifying projects that serve the public interest?

And here's a WikiHow with some food for thought.

So better to be unschooled than uneducated or uninspired. It is probably not a coincidence that one major chapter of the Unschooled is in Chicago. And it may afford a little more "Do Unto Others" along the way.

Dunce Cap

The Illinois legislature continues to consider extending a rate freeze on ComEd, supposedly to protect consumers. In reality, more deregulation not less leads to reliable power at lower prices. This cap would have disastrous consequences for power and the state economy. Tribune:

ComEd would almost certainly file for bankruptcy to protect its assets. It would curtail spending on preventive maintenance and storm damage repairs--either on its own or by order of a bankruptcy judge. Ultimately, ComEd and its customers would end up paying more for power when its first auction contract expired and it went back to market a year from February. That is, if companies were willing to take a chance on contracting with ComEd.

This isn't a bluff. Michael Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, said he shudders to think that Illinois is on the verge of making the mistake--freezing rates that guaranteed a gap between the cost of power and the price utilities can charge--that California did. California's mistake led to a monumental, cascading screw-up that drove its utilities into bankruptcy. In Illinois, this would be accomplished by a single willful act of the legislature.

So when storms hit and your power isn't quickly restored, look to the Illinois legislature---they can only offer you their Dunce Cap for some cold comfort.

Get Real

Victor Davis Hanson.

Daniel Henninger.

Robert Kagan and Bill Kristol.

Mark Steyn.

Give Thanks

Obama Revealed

Obama reveals himself as a liberal and a pacifist, who will stand by as people are slaughtered. He offers only muddled words, no matter the relentless brutality of the evil we face. There will always be for him a better battle, an easier war to fight---and the time for fighting to protect what is right and good will never come.

The US is the linchpin of freedom in the world today, at a critical moment in history. If we retreat now, what kind of world would we and our children live in?

New Ideas

Michael Barone, RCP with some new policy ideas for 2008 to win back the suburbs. While I'm not in favor of his "big government" conservatism, Barone directs us to the states, which have been laboratories of conservative reform before and offer us direction now:

They would do well to look to the states, and especially to Florida, where Jeb Bush has enacted innovative policies on school choice and healthcare. They could look at some Democrats, as well, like Tennessee's Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has been reforming an overly generous Medicaid program. They could highlight the proposal of Republican Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona to allow people to buy health insurance across state lines. They could consider Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin's proposal to get lower-income workers to save and invest with tax credits for IRA contributions.

This earlier from David Frum, WSJ (Nov. 9):

President Bush has repeatedly asked Congress to make permanent his cuts in the income, dividend, estate and capital-gains taxes, as well as his doubling of the child tax credit. Congress has hesitated, citing fears of the impact of permanent tax cuts on the U.S. fiscal balance. These cuts constitute the most valuable element of Mr. Bush's domestic legacy. It's worth fighting to remind the country that Democrats would allow the president's tax relief to lapse -- and that if Democrats are allowed to return to power, taxes will shoot back up in 2010.

The president should send Congress a tax-reform proposal now, shaping it so that it appeals to enough Democrats to split the opposition. Here's one way to do that: Democrats have made a great theme of "energy independence." The president has likewise denounced America's "addiction to oil" and often presented nuclear power as a crucial element of an ideal energy policy. What if he baited the Democrats with some kind of energy tax (or, better, a carbon tax -- which exempts nuclear-generated energy) in exchange for permanent cuts in taxes on work, savings and investment. "Tax waste, not work" is not a bad slogan.

On education:

George Bush entered politics as an educational reformer. Now, he can return to the good fight by scooping an idea from an opponent. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has proposed a voucher system that would grant progressively larger vouchers to children from poorer families. Given how much taxpayers already pay to support the nation's worst schools -- the District of Columbia spends more per child than any other jurisdiction -- Mr. Reich's idea might even save money. But it would certainly put the cat among the Democratic pigeons, especially if the president recruited Mr. Reich to lobby for it.

Good ideas all.

Pork Off the Menu

A heroic few porkbusters in the Senate have presumably blocked a "favor factory" ominibus spending bill, as described by Robert Novak, Sun Times, RCP.

Sen. John McCain was in the lead.

A Better Way

Conservative, free market outreach in Africa inspires a dedicated young man in Kenya. Second (first here) in a series on the Mackinac Center by the NY Times:

Mr. Shikwati said, “I get all these letters, ‘I saw the children with flies in their eyes — how can you be so cruel?’ ” He responds with the calm of true belief: “We have to stop looking for other people to save us. We need to look for ways to save ourselves.”

Mr. Shikwati is hoping to do just that here in Bukura with a plan to fight malaria, a disease that kills 800,000 African children a year. He is not just running a think tank, he said, but a “do tank,” too, since he said Africans will buy his theories only after they see results. One theory is that business, not aid, can best fight poverty and disease.

To prove it, he is trying to commercialize the anti-malaria effort by hiring Bukura youths to spray homes with pesticides. For about 75 cents, villagers can get an introductory treatment, with subsequent sprayings running $4.25 every six months. That is twice the average daily wage of a Kenyan laborer, but cheaper than the $17 it takes to treat a malaria case here.

As the business grows, Mr. Shikwati sees a dawning cycle of virtue: medical savings will buy fertilizer and seed; profits from the fields will bankroll businesses; and the emerging proto-middle class will lobby the government for freer markets, reinforcing the prosperity loop.

Mr. Shikwati describes his work as not just a think tank, but a "do tank".

Too often, US foreign aid goes to corrupt dictators, never reaching the people, and discouraging individual initiative. This is a better way, sustainable in the long run.

Jeff Sachs, quoted in the article, is one of my Harvard classmates. I heard him speak on a globalization panel at my 25th reunion, 5 years ago. He was concerned about the spread of disease, especially AIDS, a valid concern, but talked about top down approaches. One gentleman in the audience of alums rose, identified himself as from a developing country, and said please do not forget about simple basic needs such as clean water, and killing disease-bearing mosquitoes.

Illinois institutes affiliated with Mackinac here.

Sad State

Tribune on the sad state of the Illinois Republican party. I concur. Dump Kjellander! And, so this doesn't happen again---

Let Us Vote!

Help Zahra and her children

Pajamas Media, story and video, via Instapundit:

Iranian dissident Zahra Kamalfar has been living with her children under unspeakable conditions in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for 73 days. A one-time demonstrator against the extremist theocracy, she escaped from an Iranian prison when on a two-day furlough to visit her children.

The Russians are planning to send her back to Iran tomorrow.

Please sign this petition and send it now. Help save Zahra and her children.

UPDATE: at Michelle Malkin.

Common Sense Conservatism

John McCain, "Common Sense Conservatism", via RCP:

Some on both the Left and Right argue that our advocacy of democratic values in Iraq and elsewhere is reckless and vain; that freedom only works for wealthy nations and Western cultures. But a world where our political and economic values had a realistic chance at becoming a global creed was the principal object of our foreign policy in the last century. We conservatives were its most effective advocates, and it must remain our principal object today. We understood that our security interests and the global advance of our ideals are inextricably linked, and we surely didn't accept the notion that freedom was the product of our power and wealth. Our wealth and power are the product of our freedom.

Freedom at home and abroad. That's the vision.

Housing Fraud

Tribune:

A former North Chicago librarian was sentenced Friday to probation for 2 years for her part in defrauding the North Chicago Housing Authority.

Barbara Anderson, 60, pleaded guilty a year ago to attempted state benefits fraud, a misdemeanor, in exchange for testimony against her husband, Calvin Warren, 51. Warren was sentenced Thursday to 30 months of probation for lying about his income so he and Anderson could live in publicly subsidized housing from 2000 to 2003.

Who Really Cares

Only liberals are surprised by this one. Liberal Syracuse University professor Arthur Brooks:

He writes in his new book "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism" that: "conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure.

Hat tip Diane, Respublica.

I remember at my Harvard 25th, now 5 years ago, the class survey showed very few volunteered. Guess I was an outlier even in that.

UPDATE: More on this and related research from Northwestern Law School professor James Lindgren, posting at the Volokh Conspiracy.

Let Us Vote

Let us vote for our leaders of the Illinois Republican Party, in this land of Lincoln, or we won't vote at all.

In the governor's race, I didn't vote for Judy Baar Topinka. I just couldn't stomach the combine culture of sleaze. So I didn't cast a vote at all.

This is your chance to clean house---open it up, or you will lose and lose and lose again.

You see, you have lost our trust.

Sunset Along the River

Speaks for itself

Even Presidential Candidates Agree: Wal-Mart is the Best Place to Shop for Hot Electronics Items this Christmas Season

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Just like the millions of Americans who turn to their neighborhood Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT - News) for their holiday shopping needs, Wal-Mart announced today that former Sen. John Edwards is seeking to be one of the first to get a Sony PlayStation3, one of the most coveted holiday gift items this Christmas season.

Yesterday, a staff person for former Sen. Edwards contacted a Wal-Mart electronics manager in Raleigh, North Carolina to obtain a Sony PlayStation3 on behalf of the Senator's family. Later that night, Sen. Edwards reportedly re-told a homespun story to participants of a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union-sponsored call about how his son had chided a fellow student for purchasing shoes at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart welcomes Sen. Edwards to visit his local Wal-Mart store and explore the extensive line of home electronics as well as the Metro7 line shoes for men and boys.

The Company noted the PlayStation3 is an extremely popular item this Christmas season, and while the rest of America's working families are waiting patiently in line, Senator Edwards wants to cut to the front. While, we cannot guarantee that Sen. Edwards will be among one of the first to obtain a PlayStation3, we are certain Sen. Edwards will be able to find great gifts for everyone on his Christmas list - many at Wal-Mart's "roll-back prices."

Hallowed Ground?

Mallinckrodt cause for controversy yet again, this time within the hallowed confines of a Wilmette Park District board meeting. What to name the new park, aquired at a cost of $20 million, less the acreage of the private condos and more than a few venerable trees lining the parkway? Wilmette Life:

Commissioner Richard Marcus, author of the idea of a contest to name the park, shed new doubt Monday on the possibility of naming it Mallinckrodt: a possible conflict with the constitutional separation of church and state.

Commissioners voted unanimously to ask the district's lawyer to investigate that issue. The district's Financial Planning and Policy Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at Village Hall to discuss changing the district's park naming policy to make a contest possible.

So we taxpayers are going to fund this legal inquiry. While he or she is at it, perhaps they could ask neighboring suburb St. Charles for their take, or maybe St. Louis, and investigate the propriety of the Rev. Martin Luther King day. But maybe Mr. Marcus has something else in mind, the _____ _______ Memorial Park.

Patti, Dancing with Tony

How many realtors does it take to change a light bulb? Or bake a nice little pay-to-play cake?

Governor Blagojevich's wife Pattycake, Pattycake Patti is in the news again for another real estate deal involving one Tony Rezko, making about $50,000. Sun Times:

The chain of events in December 2002 and January 2003 is detailed in records obtained by the Sun-Times. It's the first record of Patti Blagojevich making money off a Rezko deal around the time Rezko began seeking favors from the governor.

The governor's spokesman said one transaction had nothing to do with the other---because Patti represented not Rezko, the buyer, but the seller.

Of the two other brokers in the deal, one had no comment, but the other had this to say about Patti's firm, River Realty:

A principal with the other broker, Podolsky Northstar in north suburban Riverwoods, said his firm represented the seller and didn't know what River Realty did on the deal.

"I have no further recollection on anything else," Randy D. Podolsky said. "I did not handle the transaction personally."

A month later, Rezko's list of preferred appointees was faxed to the Blagojevich house by one of the governor's top aides.

Related posts: Gutierrez' Rezko Real Estate, Obama, Dancing with Tony, Dogpatch Democrats

They're in charge

The Three Stooges' atmosphere is too much even for liberal Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, as he describes Nancy Pelosi's first test as Speaker of the House, backing loser Murtha. They put out extra flags to flank the trio:

Pelosi and Hoyer emerged together and clasped hands in an exaggerated show of camaraderie. Behind them, Murtha wore a miserable expression, even when Pelosi hailed his "magnificent contribution." She continued: "I was proud to support him for majority leader, because I thought that would be the best way to bring an end to the war in Iraq." Now it was Hoyer's turn for discomfort; he listened slightly agape.

So now we have it----Nancy's plan to end the war!!!!

And it's all good! She prefaced her remarks with this sentiment, circa 1968:

"We've had our debates, we've had our disagreements in that room," Pelosi acknowledged as she left the Cannon caucus room to face more than 200 reporters and cameras. "And now," she added hopefully, "that is over. . . . Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with us. Let the healing begin."

Mouthing liberal pieties, these Democrats can't even handle their leadership election without blood on the floor.

Oh, and Nancy described Rahm as "cold-blooded". (I vote for Nancy as Moe.)

Hey, they're in charge now!

P.S: "This won't be a love fest. We're not going to sing Kumbaya today,'' said Rep. Albert Wynn of Maryland, who backed Hoyer.

Aw...

More on Salah Choudhury

Janet Albrechtsen, The Australian, tells Choudhury's story:

From his home in Dhaka he told The Australian he watched, with apprehension, the massive expansion of what he calls kindergarten madrassas. "I discovered they were teaching almost the same thing that was being taught in the other madrassas, spreading the message of religious hatred and jihad." He is talking about children as young as five to up to 18 from both poor and affluent families being indoctrinated with Islamist revolution and the implementation of sharia law.

When mainstream newspapers refused to carry his investigative reports, he set up The Weekly Blitz. From May 2003, his newspaper, handed out in local markets and published online to an international audience, carried reports on the rise of Islamic militancy in Bangladesh and the propaganda campaign waged against Jews. Choudhury pressed for inter-faith dialogue between Jews and Muslims. Soon enough he started receiving threats from local radicals on a daily basis.

He has been arrested and beaten and his family threatened. His trial for sedition has been deferred until January. Choudhury believes Al Qaeda is moving into Bangladesh. We need to pay attention.

Rep. Mark Kirk has intervened on his behalf to get him released from jail, but will tomorrow introduce a resolution in Congress to have the charges dropped.

Previous post here.

Milton Friedman 1912-2006

WSJ report. Bless him and his family.

He was one of the greats. His book, "Capitalism and Freedom" one of the best.

UPDATE: Statement of the Friedman Foundation. Larry Kudlow, RCP.

Flight Risk

Via Drudge:

A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying more than $78,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide.

Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday after a dog caught the scent of narcotics on cash he was carrying, according to an affidavit filed in court.

Quite an itinerary for the itinerant---he's from Dallas, arrives in Detroit from Nigeria via Amsterdam, headed for Phoenix. A very busy "unemployed" guy.

Boehner, Blunt have to go

We need new GOP leadership in the House. The few moderates left in the House may not agree with conservatives on every issue, but they have to grant that conservatives usually stick to their small government principles. Those principles are big-tent principles and the road back to the majority. Ryan Sager, RCP:

The GOP hasn't just allowed itself to become corrupt in the dollar-and-cents sense. It's also undergone a full-blown corruption of its ideas and ideals -- giving up on limited government and instead signing onto any scheme it thought would keep it in power.

The voters noticed. A survey by the conservative Club for Growth, taken in 15 battleground districts in the days before election, found that voters trusted the Democrats over the Republicans by a margin of 15 points to "eliminate wasteful spending." Asked which was the "party of big government," voters chose the GOP by a margin of 10 points.

And Blunt was post-election at the Heritage Foundation making the case for earmarks! How tone-deaf can he be?!!

VOTE Pence and Shadegg for real reform.

UPDATE: McCain endorses Shadegg, Redstate.

Negatives of a body

Woke up to pictures of this horror in the paper. Tribune story and photo.

What does this evoke in you? Robert Klein Engler:

What Lynn Ridgeway and her neighbors don’t understand is that “beautiful” has nothing to do with public sculpture anymore. Public sculpture gave up any consideration of beauty over a generation ago. Magdalena Abakanowicz says “the figures are hollowed out and missing arms and heads because they are negatives of a body, like bark fallen off a tree.” What’s beautiful about that?

The American poet Robert Frost remarked once that poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom. Modern sculpture, however, begins in materials and ends in concepts. Now, there is hardly any delight, wisdom, or beauty left in what remains standing.

A public sculpture should convey some nobility of the human spirit. There is none here.

Barack "Blank" Obama

Open minded or empty headed? Ben Shapiro, Townhall on Obama's "politics of understanding".

Previous post: Fresh-Faced Obama

Free Salah Choudhury

WSJ today on Rep. Mark Kirk's efforts to free moderate Muslim journalist Salah Choudhury. His only crime is to be a friend of Israel.

Bangladesh receives $64 million a year in American aid.

Do we have your attention?

Significant Support

Interesting analysis of the Jewish vote in the country as a whole, and particularly in the 10th congressional, where incumbent Republican Mark Kirk was reelected despite the blue wave, and in a blue state to boot.

Richard Baehr, The American Thinker. Baehr disputes the small sample exit poll touted by Dems, showing an 87%-12% advantage trending back Democrat among the group, and questions the premise that the Republican Jewish Committee ads were ineffective by " looking at the actual vote totals in particular areas of high Jewish voter concentration":

The precinct by precinct votes in Lake County, one of two counties partially in the district, reveals that Dan Seals, the Democrat, won the Jewish areas in Highland Park, but not with anywhere close to 87% of the votes. His victory margin was by an average of 2 to 1 or 3 to 2 in most of the Jewish majority precincts. It should be noted that in this district, the RJC ad campaign had been very visible. The Finkelstein survey indicated that Jews who had been exposed to the ads voted Republican by as much as 10% more than the average for all the Jews they surveyed. That would be consistent with the results in Illinois 10 for Jewish voters in Highland Park.

Jews remain very loyal to the Democratic Party. No one is disputing that. But the numbers this year, as in 2004, are more on the order of 3 to 1 support for Democrats over Republicans, not the 7 or 8 to 1 ratio suggested by the exit poll survey. In a very difficult year for Republican candidates, Jewish voters may have even slightly increased their support for Republican candidates as compared to 2004.

And that is significant.

We Need Mike Pence

Pence is the choice for real reform, signalling a return to the principles of limited government which animated the successful 1994 Contract with America. IndyStar, RCP:

Pence gives Republicans a clear choice of direction. He is a Reagan Republican, who has notably deviated from his party on key issues such as the new Medicare prescription drug entitlement and the No Child Left Behind Law, both which Boehner supported. In fact, as chairman of the Education Committee, Boehner played a major role pushing NCLB, which required states to implement myriad testing and reporting requirements in return for federal aid. "My vote against NCLB has ripened like a fine wine in a cool cellar," Pence said, describing the law as "manifestly unpopular" on the left and right.

While I did reluctantly support NCLB as the only way to begin to bust the teachers' union, Mike Pence has the right instincts and the right principles. The prescription drug entitlement was a huge mistake. We need a successor to Reagan, to wrestle big government back and make it as honest as possible.

Hitler's Revenge

Just watched all of Obsession, the movie. Training little children to hate non-believers as pigs, and raising them to be suicide bombers. Hitler's revenge on the West.

Sen. McCain is right. Send more troops. And let them do their jobs. Kill the bad guys. Ralph Peters, RCP is right:

Our "humanity" is cowardice masquerading as morality. We're protecting self-appointed religious executioners with our emphasis on a "universal code of behavior" that only exists in our fantasies. By letting the thugs run the streets, we've abandoned the millions of Iraqis who really would prefer peaceful lives and a modicum of progress.

We're blind to the fundamental moral travesty in Iraq (and elsewhere): Spare the killers in the name of human rights, and you deprive the overwhelming majority of the population of their human rights. Instead of being proud of ourselves for our "moral superiority," we should be ashamed to the depths of our souls.

Here's one of the bad guys. You will note the source is Iran Focus.

We've got to do it, or enable a new holocaust.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, in Indonesia, a place where we have not been remotely involved, the hate goes on nonetheless. (Pay attention liberals) A few Christian schoolgirls are the targets of some Islamofascist "charity". Powerline.

UPDATE: From a veteran of Iraq, at RedState:

Going into Iraq sent a message that the West was strong – and it made those who would do us harm take note.

Unfortunately, what has been happening since then has also done the latter, but not in a good way. The enemy has long since taken note of America’s tendency to be queasy – and thus less than courageous – at the first sight of bloodshed; thus, they have made sure to put on a spectacularly bloody show. The enemy has long since taken note of America’s tendency to be queasy – and thus less than courageous – at the continued sight of soldiers in flag-draped coffins; thus, they have made sure to kill very steadily. The enemy has long since taken note of America’s refusal to enter mosques (although they are perfectly willing to blow up their own mosques), to return fire when civilians may be in danger (though they have zero compunction about slaughtering their own innocent), or to save the lives of its own soldiers when the trade-off is a soldier’s life vs. the appearance of possibly insulting or offending a foreign people or religion; thus, they have made sure to use each of these to their advantage, happily taking our sacrificial offer of young lives in exchange for their possible forgiveness for any offense we may have committed. The enemy has long since learned how to use America’s media against her; thus, they have done so, and spectacularly.

What must be done to reverse this trend (or, more aptly, this tsunami) of insurgent and terrorist advantage? What must we accomplish to call Iraq a success and to be able to leave?

The latter is something which must be decided immediately. We must - must - define the mission, both in the short-term and over the long haul.

Then, the next step must be taken: not only must the hands be unbound, but the gloves must come off.

Dem This and That

Good posts by my best blogger friends:

Marathon Pundit on Obama and Wal-Mart.

Diane, Respublica on Obama and Hillary.

Bill Baar on the "new" Dem "leadership".

Mediocrity Rules

This story repeated across the country, for years, as parents and their children suffered through fuzzy math. NY Times:

“When my oldest child, an A-plus stellar student, was in sixth grade, I realized he had no idea, no idea at all, how to do long division,” Ms. Backman said, “so I went to school and talked to the teacher, who said, ‘We don’t teach long division; it stifles their creativity.’

Of course, their concerns are only being given validity now that the abysmal results are so unmistakable that the "best practices experts" at the NCTM have had to endorse back to basics. Even in supposed lighthouse districts children are being tutored after school for math.

Meanwhile, in the same issue, parents who moved from the city to the suburbs for the public schools are dissatisfied and are going private. Of course, now they have to pay private school tuition on top of taxes for public schools.

Mediocrity rules at the public schools. Silly curricula take a liberal arts approach to math primarily to improve the comfort level of math-averse teachers, and only manage to confuse and disappoint children.

Empower parents---they will respect and value good teachers, and their children will value learning. And school choice will empower good teachers as well. In fact, some of the best are earning outside income as math tutors---one way to arrive at merit pay---teaching the math curriculum they are not allowed to teach in school.

Let's not waste the next generation on a dumbed down curriculum.

And if the schools will persist in showing movies to babysit children, at least they could show an instructive one---Apollo 13. Being creative is fine, but at some point you need to know the facts and put them together precisely. No computers, the astronauts had to use a slide rule. Calculation made the difference between bouncing off into space, burning up, or coming home.


Previous post: Fuzzy Math Fizzles

Jihad TV Stateside

Jihad TV comes to America--Al Jazeera live. LGF here:

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s a show that aired on the Arabic version of Al Jazeera October 31, 2006, an interview with an “Iraqi researcher” who lives in Europe: The Nobel Prize Is Racist and Stems from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The "Iraqi researcher" asks, why has the prize been awarded to 167 Jews?

Who knows? Maybe because they spend their time making useful discoveries. Got a theory?


Previous post: Lil' ole al-Jazeera.

Hindsight of History

Clear-eyed Dennis Prager, via RCP:

In this week's New York Times Book Review, a historian reviewing a major new work of 20th-century history, Oxford and Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson's "The War of the World," notes that "Ferguson argues that the Western powers should have gone to war in 1938, which would most likely have avoided much of the horror of World War II . . . . "

Imagine that. The New York Times publishes a favorable book review of a book arguing that a pre-emptive war in 1938 would have saved tens of millions of lives aside from preventing the Holocaust, "without parallel . . . the most wicked act in all history."....

That was then, this is now:

Of course, the critics look right because we hardly seem to be winning the war in Iraq. But even here the critics are too smug. We have not won the war in Iraq because of something completely unforeseeable: widespread massacres of Iraqi civilians by other Iraqis and Muslims. We have never seen mass murder of fellow citizens in order to remove an outside occupier. No Japanese blew up Japanese temples in order to rid Japan of the American occupier. No Germans mass murdered German schoolchildren and teachers to rid Germany of the American, British, French and Soviet occupiers.

It was unimaginable. But now we imagine it all too well. We haven't a failure of imagination now, but of will. Let's learn from history, not repeat its tragedies. Iraq? Iran? We have to confront, not retreat.

Bipartisan for Bolton

John Bolton deserves confirmation as UN Ambassador. Both Trib and Sun Times endorse Bolton. Michelle Malkin is all over it.

This is a test for the new Dem-led Congress. Want us to respect you on national security? Come on Hillary, take that bipartisan, harmonious village.

Confirm John Bolton.

Gutierrez' Rezko Real Estate

Tony Rezko, what a generous guy. The thing is, the biggest beneficiaries of his generosity are Democrat politicians. Now Luis Gutierrez surfaces in another questionable real estate deal. Sun Times:

Rep. Luis Gutierrez got a deal on a riverfront town house built by Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a developer and prominent political fund-raiser now under indictment for an alleged kickback scheme involving state pension funds.

Gutierrez paid $434,900 three years ago for the town house along the Chicago River just north of Diversey. That's far less than his neighbors paid for any of the other riverfront town houses in the development, records show.

Gutierrez no longer lives there. In March, he sold the town house for $610,000 -- a 40 percent profit.

Will Luis join the Dogpatch Democrats in giving his $19,000 campaign donation from Rezko to charity? Not to mention his little windfall profit.

Hamas at Home

Latest on the Hamas trial in Chicago. The defendent and his lawyers have claimed he was "tortured" by Israeli agents. Former NY Times reporter Judith Miller testifies otherwise. Tribune:

She said she watched an Israeli agent known as "Nadav" begin talking to Salah, who seemed very calm. At one point she heard Salah discuss the coffee he had been given.

"He complained that he usually took it this way, and Nadav had forgotten to bring something," she said. Nadav began to ask about Salah's Hamas activities, and Salah seemed to speak freely about his involvement, she said.

"I was struck by the fact that he seemed very comfortable talking about it," she said. He was boasting and jaunty, Miller said. "He was almost goading [Nadav] about how Hamas was getting the better of the Israelis. "He said, `You shut Hamas down three or four times a year, and every time we regroup,'" she said.

Hamas' Salah very at home while in custody, complaining that his coffee was not just right. Presumably this will be the basis of the next torture claim.

Previous post: Terror Ties in US

Unholy Alliance

A chastened Rumsfeld leaves, and the senior Bush's realists are back. Michael Rubin, AEI and editor of the Middle East Quarterly, in the WSJ:

Saddam's career is a model of realist blowback.....

Both realism and progressivism have become misnomers. Realists deny reality, and embrace an ideology where talk is productive and governments are sincere. While 9/11 showed the consequences of chardonnay diplomacy, deal-cutting with dictators and a band-aid approach to national security, realists continue to discount the importance of adversaries' ideologies and the need for long-term strategies. And by embracing such realism, progressives sacrifice their core liberalism. Both may celebrate Mr. Rumsfeld's departure and the Baker-Hamilton recommendations, but at some point, it is fair to ask what are the lessons of history and what is the cost of abandoning principle.

It's an unholy alliance---"realists" and "progressives" for blowback. And the cost may well be borne at home this time---not just over there.

Call President Bush naive to want to nation-build, but grant him well-intentioned. And Rumsfeld this time round as well.

Fresh-Faced Obama

Speculation on Obama running for president in the Washington Post, via RCP. As the field seems practically all Senators, with the exception of Dem. Governor Vilsack of Iowa, and Republican Governor Romney of Massachusetts, lack of experience as a Senator would seem to be a plus, according to the beltway conventional wisdom. Usually governors win, but can a fresh-faced freshman Senator beat the odds?

Given Sen. McCain's military background and foreign policy expertise, it seems like he has executive experience. Then there's Mayor Guiliani who distinguished himself on Sept. 11th and the days thereafter. Hillary can claim some experience by proximity to Bill I suppose, though her biggest solo venture of HillaryCare was a total disaster.

Obama's run is complicated by Democrats winning the Senate and Lieberman winning as an independent in Connecticut. The Dems are now in charge in Congress, Lieberman protects Hillary's right flank on the war, and an antiwar stance by Obama is now not so simple. And he will have more votes to explain to the voters.

Will Obama still be a fresh face as we get closer to 2008, or will he have passed the sell-by date?

Will Illinois' scandals taint Obama in the next two years?

Previous posts: Obama, Dancing with Tony, Business as Usual Obama, Dogpatch Democrats

Reform is the Road Back

It's the post-election battle for the Republican House leadership. Robert Novak:

Rep. Mike Pence, current chairman of the RSC and a leader of reform, is an underdog candidate opposing Boehner. Rep. John Shadegg, Pence's predecessor at the RSC who finished third in the race for leader last February, is running uphill against Blunt for whip on a reform platform. The conventional wisdom on the Hill is that at best, only one of them can win because the Republicans would not dare elect two conservatives to the two top House leadership positions.

In fact, the voting records of Boehner and Blunt are nearly identical to Pence's and Shadegg's. The difference between them was demonstrated last Thursday when Blunt went to the Heritage Foundation to campaign for his retention as whip. He delivered a defense of earmarking.

From his Meet the Press interview, via RCP, the leading Republican candidate for president:

SEN. McCAIN: We need an independent board, in my view, to decide whether the Ethics Committee should take up and investigate charges or allegations. I think we all realize the dissatisfaction that many of us have with the Ethics Committees in Congress. And so I feel that to have an outside board that when an allegation’s made, they say this deserves to be investigated by the Ethics Committees, then I think that’s an appropriate way to go. I hope we’ll pursue that. I hope we’ll pursue lobbying reform, other ethics reforms, earmarking—elimination of earmarking. The system of earmarking is corrupting. There’s sufficient proof of that now to—for anyone’s satisfaction. And we need the kind of leadership in both the House and the Senate that will address those.

We need leaders from the Republican Study Group in the house leadership---Mike Pence, John Shadegg.

It's what motivates the base and brings in independents who want fiscal accountability and transparency, and smaller government.

It's the road back to the majority.

A Little Pointed Humor

Am off for a planned break. Check out my blogroll on the right, and for a little pointed humor every day, Day by Day.

Where to now?

The Democrats swept the country in the sixth year of the Bush presidency, taking back at least one house of Congress and a number of governorships. The Senate hangs in the balance.

Republicans lost all across America, in an election that was nationalized. Much as the 1994 election brought Republicans into power in Congress after half a century of Democrat rule, the Democrats now take charge after 12 years. The difference is in 1994 the Republicans ran on the reformist Contract with America. What is the Democrat platform? Largely a negative--- the anti-Bush party.

The key question for Republicans is the lesson they take from this debacle. Will they think they need to move to the squishy moderate middle? The answer is no. Part of the sentiment that the country was moving in the wrong direction came from the conservative base of the Republican party. I started my blog Backyard Conservative this January because of my outrage over earmarks. The fact that the Republican Congress oversaw an explosion in earmarks allied with runaway spending alienated small government conservatives. Republicans did make some reforms, but not nearly enough. The Bush tax cuts, which led to real economic growth, were a plus. But they were only part of the Ownership Society platform the President championed but later too easily abandoned, coupled with lack of support in Congress. Individual accounts and Social Security reform stalled. Medical Savings Accounts were limited. The boondoggle prescription drug benefit created a new unsustainably expensive entitlement in health care, undermining conservative support, yet not buying enough votes from the mushy middle to compensate. No Child Left Behind didn’t go far enough in enabling parental choice for excellence in education, and the provisions that did help a few inner city children weren’t consistently enforced.

Some Democrat winners say they want to work in a bipartisan manner for reform. We shall see how that turns out, given their shrill leadership in Nancy Pelosi, and their aging far left liberals who will head committees. My guess is they will spend more time mired in the past trying to rewrite history, than in looking toward the future, and to solutions.

Now we turn to the war. The Democrats would like to view Iraq in a vacuum and lock it into the Vietnam template. They say we have failed in Iraq, as we did in Vietnam. But the loss in Vietnam came after a Democrat Congress cut off funds to our troops and to our ally there. We did buy time for the now successful Asian Tiger countries to emerge, but there was a bloodbath of millions in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Those who had placed their hope in a fledgeling democracy paid with their lives. Democrats do the same in Iraq at our peril. For as Sen. John McCain, who suffered as a POW in Vietnam, has pointed out---the Vietcong did not follow us here---the terrorists will. And as we know, some are already here. Some we have found and foiled. We have to assume there are others here who wish us harm. That is why we need to have the tools to be able to focus surveillance on potential terrorists so we can break up their plots in time---tools which have thankfully been voted into law. Democrats overwhelmingly voted against these common sense measures to protect us at home from catastrophic death.

Democrats are always looking for a better war to prove their commitment to our national security. Most Democrats opposed the first Gulf War, when Iraq invaded little Kuwait. That war had the support of a multinational force, most of the Middle East and the UN, and the Democrats were still opposed. They grudgingly approved the war in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11^th, but not going after Saddam Hussein, who was uncontainable in the new post-Sept. 11^th era of asymmetrical warfare. Hussein had invaded his neighbors, had used chemical weapons on them and his own people, and had harbored and financed terrorists. Now Democrats say Iraq is distracting us from North Korean nuclear development, but offer no solutions beyond the appeasement they indulged in during the Clinton years. And what is the Democrat solution for Iran, who has openly threatened Israel with destruction?

Democrats will finally have to take responsibility for our foreign policy, for which the war in Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. Will Democrats step up? They purged Joe Lieberman from the party this year over the war. Lieberman had been one of their party standard bearers, their Vice Presidential candidate not so long ago. Will they honor him as a statesman, now that he has won as an Independent?

I don’t think so.

The debate will now unfold in the 2008 presidential campaign. It’ll be the next Red State-Blue State battle. I’m in an outpost of Red in a Blue state. My congressman, Republican Mark Kirk, was reelected in a Blue State despite the Blue wave. It’ll be interesting.

Kirk, Roskam Win

Illinois congressional results here. Tribune story here.

In the 10th congressional, Mark Kirk wins it over Dan Seals, 52-47, countering the blue Dem wave. Seals was an attractive candidate, but did not live in the district, was clearly a liberal backed by Chicago Dems, and was the subject of FEC investigations and an investigation by the attorney general about his fundraising.

Kirk, a commander in the Naval Reserves, emphasized his reasoned commitment to the environment, support for the war on terror and our ally Israel, and more fiscal accountability and transparency. (Previous post here.)

Peter Roskam, in the open seat vacated by Republican Henry Hyde, battled another outsider, Tammy Duckworth, who was the poster figure for anti-war Democrats around the country. They poured in money and outside campaign help, but it wasn't enough to deny Roskam a victory. Roskam, a social and fiscal conservative, ran on local issues and carried the day. Video here.

Peraica-Stroger race for Cook County still in contention. Amazing.

As far as the rest of the election---it's going to be a long two years!

PS: There were some confused Democrat voters at my polling place yesterday. Now that part is not news, but they lived in the 9th and were disappointed they couldn't vote for Dan Seals. Maybe I should cut them some slack, as Seals actually lives in the 9th, not the 10th where he ran for office.

So I have a suggestion for Dan Seals---run against flaming liberal Jan "Tax Cheat" Schakowsky next time in the 9th. And you'll have crossover appeal---even I'll vote for you.

UPDATE: Vis-vis Cook County voting fiasco and other assorted Illinois fiascos, The Indignant Citizen. Also hat tip Wilmette blog--Does Peraica have it?!!!? Who knows, it's the Cook County official website. Tribune shows more votes counted with different results, Stroger leading--unofficial AP.

UPDATE: AP unofficial call, via Tribune--Stroger is the winner. Sun Times, Peraica:"I smell a rat here":

Two hours earlier, however, Orr emerged from his office to say "hooligans" were trying to break into boxes with election cartridges inside.

"Drunks or whoever, they were trying to block people from bringing them up," Orr said. "And the freight elevator was broken."

Still, Orr said the integrity of the election hadn't been compromised.

Media cameras captured boxes being ripped open by unknown people, and others lying over the boxes to protect them. One man was arrested for allegedly damaging the elevator.

"It's just absolute anarchy over here," Peraica spokesman Dan Proft said. "We just saw a box coming in that was open . . . it's just been chaos."

Cook County officials said all of the ballot materials had been accounted for.

The free-for-all started after Peraica urged his supporters to leave the election night party at the Hotel Intercontinental and march about a mile to the building at 69 W. Washington.

Once they arrived, a Stroger campaign volunteer was seen briefly wedging himself into the revolving door. Eventually, most supporters were allowed in, and Peraica and six supporters met with Orr, along with seven Stroger supporters.

"I smell a rat here," Peraica said, citing $60 million in upgrades county taxpayers funded to improve voting equipment since a similar debacle in the March primary.

Peraica's venomous response was a stark contrast to Stroger's reaction. Stroger, a Democrat, giggled as he told supporters he was going to bed for the night and would wake up today "just like Christmas" and celebrate.

Peraica, a Republican, said he was ready for the long haul. "This is going to go on for as long as it takes," he said. "We are not going to have this election stolen from us."

VOTE and GOTV!

Just voted. No lines. Not too many signs at the polling place, so here's my contribution. And one longtime Dem friend in Chicago called me last night and told me she was voting for Peraica.

Christine Radogno for Treasurer

Christine Radogno is challenging Alexi Giannoulious, of the alleged mob ties, in the race for State Treasurer. Crain's Chicago Business had this to say recently about more questionable dealings:

Former state Sen. John D’Arco — twice convicted of federal corruption charges — is involved in a land deal financed by a bank that’s owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic candidate for Illinois treasurer.

Official records in Florida indicate that Mr. D’Arco and two convicted bookmakers joined in March 2001, to incorporate a company that acquired the Lorraine Hotel in Miami Beach, Fla. Two months later, the firm received the first of a series of mortgage loans from Broadway Bank, where Mr. Giannoulias is a vice-president.

Mr. Giannoulias and the bank Tuesday released nearly identical statements saying that Mr. D’Arco, whose name does not appear on mortgage papers, “has never been a loan applicant, recipient, co-signer, guarantor or customer” of Broadway, and does not hold an ownership share in the hotel deal.

But Florida records also indicate that Mr. D’Arco signed legal papers in connection with renovation of the hotel in October 2001 — four months after Broadway issued its first mortgage loan.

Another party to the deal is Michael "Jaws" Giorango. Crain's:

Mr. D’Arco was convicted in 1991 and 1995 of taking a bribe to introduce legislation in Springfield and of seeking to fix a court case. His father, John D’Arco Sr., was long the Democratic boss of Chicago’s 1st Ward, a reputed base for organized crime.

News of the D’Arco matter may reignite questions over Broadway Bank’s loans to crime figures and whether Mr. Giannoulias knew or should have known about them, given that he often cites his Broadway experience as a credential to become one of the state’s top fiscal officers.

Crain’s first reported last spring that Broadway had loaned money to Mr. Giorango, who has been convicted of federal bookmaking and prostitution charges. Mr. Giorango says he has “paid my debt” on the first offense, that the second involved only a misdemeanor offense in which he was a client, not a brothel operator.

Mitigating circumstances indeed. Here is Christine Radogno's latest ad.

Please. No more corruption.

VOTE Christine Radogno for a State Treasurer with experience and integrity.

VOTE Peraica for Reform

The malleable favorite son of the Chicago bosses, Todd Stroger spent Sunday trolling for votes in churches on the South Side, sharing the limelight at the Rev. Meeks' church with other moral exemplars, invited guests Alexi Giannoulious and Rod Blagojevich. Tony Peraica campaigned as well. Sun Times with more:

Tony Peraica, meanwhile, took his word to the street, as the Republican challenger walked Milwaukee Avenue, shaking hands with shoppers and those on bar stools watching the Bears game.

Sunday's activities were a symbolic close to a campaign that has shown two vastly different candidates: Stroger relying on organized support from churches, labor unions and political machines to lead him to victory, while Peraica is primarily self- funding his campaign and receiving scant help from pastors, politicians or machines.

Still, polls have shown it could be the closest big race in the state.

Tribune take here:

Peraica courted ethnic voters along North Milwaukee Avenue, but said he would continue working in African-American majority wards on the South Side.

"I am not conceding one inch here," Peraica said of the home base of his rival Ald. Todd Stroger (8th).

Stroger joined Blagojevich at the House of Hope on Sunday morning and visited African-American churches well into Sunday evening.

"Why are the churches important? Really, the base of my candidacy is the South Side," Stroger said to reporters after he spoke at Salem Baptist.

Stroger stays in his comfort zone, while Peraica battles for every vote. Tribune editorial:

If Peraica loses: The Chicago ward bosses who lied for months about County Board President John Stroger's health in order to scam his pliable son onto the ballot will have cheated their way to continued clout over contracts and jobs. They'll have gotten away with mugging every progressive Democrat who voted for Forrest Claypool in the March primary. And they'll have beaten back the reform agenda that many county voters first demanded in a 2002 election.

Peraica has the guts and smarts to initiate honest reform.

Break the bosses' stranglehold. You may not get another chance.

VOTE Tony Peraica.

Kirk Commitment Clear

The Wilmette blog endorses Mark Kirk in the 10th, with these key points:

Seals, whose support comes from the usual sources of Democrat funding and from entrenched Democratic politicians, has had the luxury of being a full-time candidate for Congress for the past year. Six years ago Congressman Mark Kirk, then Congressman John Porter's Chief-of-Staff, beat out nine other candidates in a hotly contested primary. Since that time he has unified both Porter's independent base and supporters of his opponents' primary campaign.

Wilmette has details of the investigation of Seals' fundraising by Atty. General Madigan, and also of an FEC letter to the Seals campaign concerning its fundraising compliance. (Lots of $$$ coming in from liberal California--and Sen. Kerry's tantrum, uh stomping grounds, in Massachusetts.) The Tribune also noted an additional FEC investigation here:

An FEC spokeswoman confirmed that the agency is looking into a complaint that Seals failed to properly disclose who was paying for a fundraising solicitation letter on his behalf that was written by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Evanston Democrat. Richard Ringer, Seals' campaign spokesman, called it "a minor staff error" that had been corrected.

Is this starting to look like a pattern? You'd think the machine Democrats and their candidates would have this fundraising drill down pat. But apparently old habits, or not so old ones, are hard to break. Schakowsky's husband Robert Creamer, who wrote bad checks to fuel her campaign, was just released from prison Friday. Previous post here.)

Seals earlier last week ducked a previously agreed to debate. Lake County News-Sun:

Seals' campaign had announced last month that the candidate would appear with Kirk in Waukegan.

"We never agreed to the format," Mogge said. "And when we tried to negotiate a debate that would actually serve the public interest, the organizers were not interested."

"That's nonsense ... They should be ashamed of themselves," said Jordan Madorsky, who moderates City Club political forums.

The format Tuesday was to be the same format used by the City Club for decades, he said: Candidates make statements and then take verbal questions from club members.

This does raise the question again, Can you count on Dan Seals?

Kirk gave Waukegan his attention:

Kirk showed up with his wife, Kimberly, a newly appointed analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, and spoke mainly about a proposed $32 million cleanup of Waukegan Harbor and projects under way at Great Lakes Naval Station and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in North Chicago.

A $32 million mostly federally funded cleanup of Waukegan Harbor will be announced next month, Kirk predicted. The project will "ignite an economic boom" in Waukegan, he said.

Having grown up here, Mark Kirk has a deep knowledge and commitment to the district, and it shows.

UPDATE: More outsider contributions coming in to Seals from Friends of John Kerry, (apparently Seals has no problem taking his money and didn't ask for an apology, unlike Hillary and even Howard Dean.) and money from Evanston, Chicago and other liberal hotspots around the country.

Saddam Finds Religion

Via RCP, FoxNews:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Saddam Hussein, the iron-fisted dictator who ruled Iraq for nearly a quarter of a century, was found guilty of crimes against humanity Sunday and sentenced to death by hanging.

The so-called Butcher of Baghdad, who was president of Iraq from 1979 until he was deposed by Coalition forces in April 2003, was convicted of the 1982 killings of 148 Shiites in the city of Dujail.

The visibly shaken former leader shouted "God is great!" as Iraq's High Tribunal announced his sentence.

Witnesses to terror in another trial continue on, and this sentence will be appealed. But Saddam gets a glimpse of his final judgement.

Lil' ole al-Jazeera

Democrat columnist for the Sun Times Lynn Sweet, based in Washington, is campaigning for Duckworth in her latest column, "In shot at rival, Roskam points to...al Jazeera? (Earlier column went to bat for Bean.)

Sweet defends al-Jazeera as just another news organization, which just happens to like the convenience of O'Hare airport to cover the race of an anti-war former member of the military.

Here's a look at lil' ole al-Jazeera by the British newspaper The Independent. Apparently the "news organization" is having a little trouble launching its international news wing.
First there's the manner of its sudden entrance into the Saudi market:

It is said that al-Jazeera, the Arabic news channel funded by the Emir of Qatar, owes its growth to pornography. One year after launch in 1996, desperate to expand from humble beginnings, it sought access to a Saudi-controlled satellite used by the French network Canal France International (CFI). Enquiries revealed that no space was available. But then a CFI engineer pressed the wrong button and transmitted hardcore porn into Saudi homes, so infuriating the Saudi authorities. CFI was expelled from its slot and Al-Jazeera got bargain distribution.

Then there is the matter of, ahem, journalistic integrity:

"Morale has been plummeting throughout the year," says a source at al-Jazeera's Knightsbridge bureau. "There is serious confusion about what the station is for and real tension between al-Jazeera's Arabic programme makers and the new international team."

Wadah Khanfar, director general of the al-Jazeera network, has said: "The launching of the English channel offers the chance to reach out to a new audience that is used to hearing the name of al-Jazeera without being able to watch it or understand the language." But British sources describe huge difficulties in reconciling al-Jazeera's established editorial identity with Western ideals of balance and impartiality. One describes the visit of a Qatar-based editorial consultant to al-Jazeera's London offices in August: "He told journalists that the events in Iraq and Palestine which we usually refer to as suicide-bombings should be referred to on air as 'martyrdom operations'."

This is perhaps not a surprise to most, except perhaps a few liberal journalists, (see previous post for, at best, presumed future al-Jazeera reporter) as al-Jazeera has a tradition of being Osama bin Laden's preferred broadcast network. (Perhaps they will elicit a testimonial from OBL for their projected international debut later this month.) They also are the conduit for graphic hostage tapes, which, of course, need no translation. But not to worry, according to the head of the new international network, al-Jazeera will not be a direct translation:

Nigel Parsons, the former Associated Press television executive who is managing director of al-Jazeera International, has sought to reassure his staff that comparing Arabic language al-Jazeera and the new AJI is pointless. "The brief is emphatically not to do an English translation of the Arabic channel. It will have international appeal and fill a lot of gaps in existing output."

Very reassuring indeed. But apparently not reassuring enough even for staff recruited from those weak reeds of the liberal MSM---BBC, CNN, "people with real public service records" who wanted to deliver the "death knell" to "blue-blazered, square-jawed imperialists" presenting the news. (Figuratively speaking, of course.) Even these guys have found the guts to say no to al-Jazeera---I take that back---the story gives no indication that they have left, only that "morale has plummeted". More from the visionary head of AJI:

Parsons has said: "CNN have been dragged to the right by Fox... They have lost some credibility on the international stage."

The mind boggles.

CNN, the Contemptible News Network---a tool of FoxNews---who knew?

Quite an example of clear-eyed journalistic impartiality. Granted, it's an opinion piece, but here is one sample from their English language website:

True debate between the Muslim world and the West may well help assuage tensions, political tensions in particular, but the West - especially the US - has a track record of choosing war over debate.

And in debate's absence, while Muslims continue to die as a result of Western aggression and arrogance, the world can be assured that the response from Muslims will grow more violent still.

Laith Saud is an Iraqi academic researcher and lecturer in the United States.

Of course, isn't it obvious? We attacked ourselves on Sept. 11th. Here's another:

If the Democratic party seizes congress or senate, or both, the sycophantic congress will disappear. This might even open the door for impeachment - which would never happen under this Republican legislature.

Incidentally, barring impeachment and conviction or death, Bush will be president until January 20, 2009.

But who is Laith Saud? Does he lecture at Penn? Check this out (scroll down a tad). You be the judge--is it the same person? As al-Jazeera apparently has a crack columnist in the Chicagoland area, perhaps he doesn't even need to take advantage of conveniently located O'Hare airport. Automated translation of main al-Jazeera site here. More background on election coverage and sympathies here. See also previous post, "Terrorists for Democrats".

Should these people with diminished morals, umm morale, finally decide to leave Lil' ole al-Jazeera International, as even CNN is too far-right for them, perhaps they could find a home as a guest writer of Lynn Sweet's column. After all, at least one guy is based here, while Sweet is in Washington.

And Ms. Sweet may want to give fellow Sun Times columnist Mark Steyn a call to get up to speed on the Contemptible Kerry, Duckworth's biggest backer.

By the way, the VFW endorses Peter Roskam.

Martyrdom Chic at Penn

University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, whose father fled Nazi Germany in the 1930's, poses at a Halloween Party held at her residence with self- described student "freedom martyr".

Ms. Gutmann was disguised as the Good Witch of the North.

Sorry, Ms. Gutmann, Glinda can't really help you if the "freedom martyr" is not just a pose.

Thinking about Penn for your kid? Think again.

Full story here.

Kerry Offers Fresh Insult

Kerry posts editorial on his campaign website from liberal Seattle newspaper that whether he meant to insult the troops or President Bush, "he was right either way".

At Captain's Quarters, "Kerry's Big Dig":

But all this is separate from the political decision to put this on the Kerry website after insisting that he didn't intend on casting aspersions on the intellectual capacity of the troops. If he really didn't mean to call them lazy and uneducated, then why did he go out of his way to host an editorial on his site that does exactly that?

Hat tip Pejman Yousefzadeh, RedState:

I have no problem, by the way, with this being a campaign issue. Democrats nominated John Kerry for the Presidency a mere two years ago. They should be made to comment on his beliefs, now that he has been so nice as to specify them with excruciating exactitude. The very essence of the volunteer armed forces is being questioned without any justification for the questions themselves. The very character of the volunteers themselves is being impugned. And someone should answer the sneers--especially when they are made by one who currently is the standard-bearer of one of the two major American parties, and would like to be the standard-bearer again in 2008.

Fresh insult to our troops by the elitist blueblood John Kerry.

UPDATE: Kerry un-un-apologizes, if he's offended us. Still no simple sorry.

Obsession Airs This Weekend

Obsession the Movie airs this weekend on Fox.

Saturday night at 8pm EST (7pm Central), 1am (12am Central, and 5am (4am Central), and Sunday at 4pm (3pm Central) and 10pm (9pm Central).

(Saw the promos yesterday, thanks for the reminder), hat tip Marathon Pundit.

VFW Endorses Roskam

The Veterans of Foreign Wars endorsed Peter Roskam, Republican candidate for Congress, Illinois 6th.

Apparently Duckworth was surprised by this.

But why would the VFW support a candidate whose biggest fundraiser is the contemptible Sen. John Kerry, who has maliciously slammed his fellow veterans for years, and recently.

And Duckworth did not ask Kerry to apologize, nor did she return the tainted money. After all, she needs it, as 97% of her money comes from outside the district, and she has to pay "volunteers".

Veterans in Duckworth's own unit have endorsed Roskam.

As has war hero Senator John McCain.

Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak)

In case you missed John Kass yesterday, here is part of it:

Readers of this column sometimes ask me why I use Tomczak in references to U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Democrat heading his party's national push to regain control of Congress.

When I mention him, I do it this way: U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak).

That's how Emanuel got elected, defeating a non-machine liberal Democrat. Daley sent his patronage armies out for Rahm. One was commanded by Tomczak.

They had thugs and tough guys on the city payroll, goons and eager apprentices, some of them even qualified for their government jobs, but most of them were qualified to muscle the vote for Emanuel.

Tomczak testified to helping Emanuel and others in federal court at the trial of Daley's patronage chief, the convicted Robert Sorich.

Though Tomczak missed his court date on Wednesday, Emanuel was busy with reporters, talking about how Democrats would fight corruption better than Republicans, and they gushed all over him.

Rahm has an opponent. His name is Kevin White.


Related posts: Duckworth Pays "Volunteers", More on Demnet, Chicago Dems Muscle In, Checks and Balances for Seals, WWRD?, The Gall of Rahm, An Invasion of Crooked Carpetbaggers, Rahm the Recent Convert.

Land of Lincoln

When my kids were younger, we took them to Springfield. We visited New Salem, where Lincoln lived, his law office, his married home in Springfield, the old state capitol.

And on the way home, we visited his grave.

Now my kids can all vote.

We should take Lincoln off the license plate.

Because right now, it's a big lie.

In the Crunch for Kirk

Tom Bevan analyzes the Kirk-Seals race in the 10th. Latest poll shows challenger Seals with a thin lead. Analysis at Real Clear Politics blog here, poll info here.

Make those phone calls, pound those sidewalks for Kirk. Don't let a Hyde Park liberal who doesn't even live in the district take it away from you and hand it to corrupt Chicago Democrats on a silver platter.

Previous post: Can You Count on Dan Seals? Seals Ducks Debate. Kirk Earns Support.

NY Times Makes the Case for War

The New York Times's November surprise: Iraq was building nukes! The Left wants to be able to have their yellowcake and eat it too. At RedState.

And lots of buzz via RealClear Politics. Also Jim Geraghty at TKS:

Let's go back and clarify: IRAQ HAD NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLANS SO ADVANCED AND DETAILED THAT ANY COUNTRY COULD HAVE USED THEM.

I think the Times editors are counting on this being spun as a "Boy, did Bush screw up" meme; the problem is, to do it, they have to knock down the "there was no threat in Iraq" meme, once and for all. Because obviously, Saddam could have sold this information to anybody, any other state, or any well-funded terrorist group that had publicly pledged to kill millions of Americans and had expressed interest in nuclear arms. You know, like, oh... al-Qaeda.

The New York Times just tore the heart out of the antiwar argument, and they are apparently completely oblivous to it.

The antiwar crowd is going to have to argue that the information somehow wasn't dangerous in the hands of Saddam Hussein, but was dangerous posted on the Internet. It doesn't work. It can't be both no threat to America and yet also somehow a threat to America once it's in the hands of Iran. Game, set, and match.

The NY Times inadverdently makes the case for war---on the eve of the election. And according to the documents, Saddam was only a year away from developing an atom bomb.

UPDATE: Via Michelle Malkin, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committte, Rep. Pete Hoekstra:

"I am pleased that the document release program continues to stimulate public discussion of these issues.

"With respect to the possibility that documents may have been released that should not have been released, I have always been clear that the Director of National Intelligence should take whatever steps necessary to withhold sensitive documents. In fact, as of today the DNI had withheld 59 percent of the documents that it had reviewed, and has become more risk-averse over time. If the DNI believes that the documents that were released were in the safe 40 percent, imagine what the 60 percent being withheld must contain.....

"Second, my staff's preliminary review of the documents in question suggests that at least some of them may be internal IAEA documents. There is a serious question of why and how the Iraqis obtained these documents in the first place. We need to explore that carefully - I certainly hope there will be no evidence that the IAEA had been penetrated by Saddam's regime.

"Finally, it is disappointing but not surprising that the New York Times would continue to participate in such blatant and transparent political ploys, including what I believe are improper efforts by the IAEA to interfere with U.S. domestic affairs. The sad reality is that the New York Times has done far more damage to U.S. national security by the disclosure of vital, classified, intelligence programs than is likely to be caused by the inadvertent disclosure of decades-old information that had already been in the hands of Saddam's regime."

And, should they win the House, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats want to install Rep. Alcee Hastings, who was impeached for extortion and perjury by a Democrat House, (at the time he was a judge, but later his constituents elected him to Congress), as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee!!!!! God Help us all.

Please, not the 70's again!

Wall St. Journal with the latest numbers on the continued strong performance of this economy, adding 92,000 jobs with 4.4% unemployment, this latest report overall better than expected.

U.S. payrolls posted moderate growth last month but prior months were revised sharply higher. The unemployment rate fell to a five-and-a-half year low. The report, which comes just ahead of the midterm election, suggests that labor-market conditions remain very favorable for U.S. workers.

A separate report showed that service-sector activity in the U.S. accelerated more than expected in October.

OMB Director Rob Portman also pointed out recently on FoxNews that during the Bush years, despite 9/11 and Katrina, the economy has been resilient and since 2003 has created 6.8 million jobs. And Portman put the higher take-home pay numbers in perspective, stating that the Bush tax cuts have resulted in wage growth that tops that of the Clinton years---28 months of growth vs. 18 under Clinton. Real after-tax income per person has risen by 9.8 percent – $2,660 – since the President took office. Michael Barone also had an interview with Portman:

George W. Bush promised to cut the 2004 budget deficit of $521 billion in half by 2009. He has met this goal three years ahead of time. The deficit, projected at $423 billion for this year, is actually only $248 billion. That's 1.9 percent of gross domestic product, in line with the norm for the past 40 years and not particularly difficult to finance......

Why has the budget deficit declined so much more than anyone projected? The short answer is: gushers of revenue. Federal revenue was up 14 percent in 2005 and 12 percent in 2006. Portman credits the Bush tax cuts, especially the 2003 cuts in capital gains and dividend taxes, with producing more economic activity and therefore government revenues.

So please, let's fend off the Back to the 70's San Francisco Democrats and their Pelosinomics.

Their Non-Contract With America will bring us tax increases, choke off economic growth, stunt development of new drug cures with counterproductive price controls, give union thugs free reign to intimidate their members and the rest of us, and virtually shut down new energy development, making us even more dependant on foreign oil.

I graduated in the 70's and I wouldn't wish that Carter economy on anybody. Remember the misery index?

We want jobs for the next generation--after all, we need them working to support our Social Security until it's reformed!

As National Review puts it, the Democrats' slogan could be "Tough on Taxpayers, Soft on Terrorism".

Nuts!! to that---VOTE Republican.

Duckworth Refuses to Return Kerry $$$

Democrat candidate, Tammy Duckworth, Illinois 6th, refuses to return Blueblood Kerry's $209,000 in donations to her campaign, raised by slamming our troops and veterans.

She just said about Kerry's "poorly stated joke" "It is a poor choice of words." Video here. Even Hillary and Howard Dean did better than that, demanding an apology.

Duckworth is the NUMBER ONE recipient of John Kerry's fundraising for congressional candidates.

I guess the reason she needs so much money is because she has to pay "volunteers".

VOTE Peter Roskam, for integrity and a lifelong commitment to the district.

Terrorists for Democrats

Terrorists for Democrats, "Fighting for You", uh AGAINST YOU.

The terrorists told WorldNetDaily an electoral win for the Democrats would prove to them Americans are "tired."

They rejected statements from some prominent Democrats in the U.S. that a withdrawal from Iraq would end the insurgency, explaining an evacuation would prove resistance works and would compel jihadists to continue fighting until America is destroyed.

They said a withdrawal would also embolden their own terror groups to enhance "resistance" against Israel. "Of course Americans should vote Democrat," Jihad Jaara, a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group and the infamous leader of the 2002 siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, told WND.

(The latest siege, this time at a mosque,where terrorists had taken shelter after firing rockets at Israel, then demanded women and children provide a human shield for them. At least one woman has died.) What tough guys those terrorists are, hiding in sacred places of worship behind veiled women.

Together with the Islamic Jihad terror group, the Brigades has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing inside Israel the past two years, including an attack in Tel Aviv in April that killed American teenager Daniel Wultz and nine Israelis.

And killing teenagers. At the time, terror leaders rejoiced that Daniel was the "best target combination---American and Zionist".

The Israelis have withdrawn from Gaza in good faith but the rockets have not stopped.

In a recent interview with CBS's "60 Minutes," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, stated, "The jihadists (are) in Iraq. But that doesn't mean we stay there. They'll stay there as long as we're there." Pelosi would become House speaker if the Democrats win the majority of seats in next week's elections.

WND read Pelosi's remarks to the terror leaders, who unanimously rejected her contention an American withdrawal would end the insurgency.

Islamic Jihad's Saadi, laughing, stated, "There is no chance that the resistance will stop."

He said an American withdrawal from Iraq would "prove the resistance is the most important tool and that this tool works. The victory of the Iraqi revolution will mark an important step in the history of the region and in the attitude regarding the United States."

Jihad Jaara said an American withdrawal would "mark the beginning of the collapse of this tyrant empire (America)."

"Therefore, a victory in Iraq would be a greater defeat for America than in Vietnam."

Jaara said vacating Iraq would also "reinforce Palestinian resistance organizations, especially from the moral point of view.

And this:

Hamas' Abu Abdullah argued a withdrawal from Iraq would "convince those among the Palestinians who still have doubts in the efficiency of the resistance."

Meanwhile the terror-state Iran continues on its nuclear path and is test-firing missiles that can reach Israel, and Somalia, where much of it started with our withdrawal, is firing up as well.

And new details are emerging about the US-bound London plane plot that was averted at the last minute---they wanted to blow them up not over the ocean, but over US cities to maximize casualties.

They were targeting 10 flights.

UPDATE: And one more thing, Jihad Jarra was speaking from an island off the coast of England, (uh, London's still the capitol of England ya know) "speaking to WND from exile in Ireland, where he was sent as part of an internationally brokered deal that ended the church siege." Erin Go Bragh?

UPDATE: Via RedState, Winston-Salem Journal:

Mershon told those attending the cybersecurity conference that representatives of MI5, the British intelligence service, had briefed the FBI on the liquid-explosives case in recent weeks. "It would make your hair stand up to be in the room to hear that presentation," Mershon said, according to GSN.

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert and Georgetown University professor, said the case indicates that Islamic extremists remain focused on attacking U.S. cities.

"They were clearly desirous of exceeding 9/11," Hoffman said. "The loss of life in the air and on the ground would be significant."

Update:Also discussed at Powerline.

Economic Sensitivity

A referendum rumble next door in Evanston. Liberals there want a yes vote on another tax increase. Saw a lone sign across the border from me. Evanston Review. Tribune:

The measure on the ballot Tuesday will ask voters to approve a $1 increase in the transfer tax, earmarked for affordable housing. The seller of a $300,000 house, for instance, would pay $1,800 instead of $1,500 in transfer taxes, an increase of $300. The proposal has irked some homeowners and real estate agents who say that Evanston's taxes are already high and that it could make housing more expensive, not less.

Up until now the city has relied on developers, but it's not enough for them. Evanston has started down the path of fooling around in the housing market and the economics can't work without extra money from somewhere. They already have a $10,000 demolition tax on the nest egg of little old ladies. For those who fool themselves into thinking it will always be someone else who pays the tax for "affordable" housing, this is the message from the city fathers and mothers---you're next:

"It's just such an unstable method [of collecting revenue]," Rainey said of the fund's reliance on developers. "It's not a steady stream."

Taxing homeowners, on the other hand, is likely to provide a constant flow of funds that could be used to help first-time homeowners make a down payment or to build lower-cost housing, Rainey said.

So let's recap. The City of Evanston is taxing homeowners, thereby raising the cost to own a home and forcing some fixed-income seniors out to "help first-time homeowners make a down payment or to build lower-cost housing".

Who gains? A very few lucky new homeowners. And those profitable non-profits that even Alderman Rainey raised questions about, but that was then, this is now.

North-Shore Barrington Realtors:

"It sounds like one dollar," said Terry Penza, president and chief executive officer of the association. "It's a 20 percent increase."

Want affordable housing? Keep taxes low. And vote no on this one.

Perhaps also a little economic sensitivity training is in order for some aldermen and State Rep. Julie Hamos (D-18th), (who paid for the "yes" signs and is one of the major proponents of this idiocy at the state level)---an Econ 101 class at a major educational institution nearby.

Care at Risk at Cook County

The head of Cook County Hospitals, hours after he was forced to resign, said he had no say in hiring---even doctors. Sun Times:

Dr. Daniel Winship was hired to run the $1 billion Cook County hospital system, but says he had no say on who was hired to fill thousands of jobs.

That control was closely guarded by former County Board President John Stroger and his allies, Winship said Thursday.

"I couldn't do anything," he said, just hours after Board President Bobbie Steele announced his resignation.

Jobs, he said, were filled only through Stroger's office and political patronage affected all hires, including doctors, though he doesn't think it "adversely affected the delivery of care to patients.

Federal agents are now investigating the influence of patronage in deciding who is hired, but what about quality of care for patients?

That very real concern makes it even more urgent for a responsible, independent leader to take charge in Cook County. Voters have a clear choice in Tony Peraica. And it's no exaggeration to say peoples' lives are at risk.

Re-Elect Maureen Murphy

News Flash---Evanston Review endorses another Republican! Not only Tony Peraica for Cook County Board but now Maureen Murphy for the Cook County Board of Review:

Voters in District 1 of the Cook County Board of Review should re-elect Maureen Murphy to a third term on the board, which hears and rules on taxpayer complaints about their assessments of residential, condominium, commercial and industrial property.

During her second term on the board, Murphy, a Republican, has continued the outreach efforts she began after she was first elected in 1998. As of last month, Murphy's office has held 365 outreach seminars countywide to educate taxpayers on how to file successful assessment appeals. As a result, the Board of Review has seen the number of complaint filings by individual taxpayers increase, from 12,109 in 1998 to an all-time high of 36,870 in 2003.

If re-elected, she pledges to continue encouraging greater interaction among the Board of Review and local elected offices, by holding more outreach seminars and providing information about the assessment appeal process. Murphy also hopes to expand use of the board's satellite offices in five suburban courthouses, to permit oral tax appeal hearings in those locations. The move would save time and money for suburban taxpayers, who now must travel to the board's office in downtown Chicago to get a hearing.

Given there are more voters in suburban Cook County than in the city, suburban voters need to counter with a little clout of our own and get our tax appeals heard closer to home. And this is an especially important vote as her opponent is backed by the Cook County Assessor himself, whose assessments the board is elected to review.

VOTE Maureen Murphy

Beth Coulson in 17th

In the Illinois 17th, State Representative Beth Coulson:

This past year was a year of hard choices in the state legislature. The overriding concern during this session was how to provide for the critical needs of Illinois citizens and still balance the budget, all in the face of an estimated revenue shortfall.

While Illinois ' economy shows signs of improving, we still face budget difficulties. The budget, of course, affects every state program and every one of us. Last year's budget essentially raided various state pension funds – this cannot continue. The State's Medicaid debt alone stands at $1.8 billion – money owed to doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. We cannot continue to employ short-term borrowing to pay these bills, and these health care providers still have to wait months before being paid. I will continue to fight and negotiate for a more responsible state budget.

Endorsements:

The Chicago Tribune in its endorsement called Rep. Coulson, “one of the easiest endorsement choices in the entire legislature. Smart, honest, independent, hard-working and respected on both sides of the aisle, Coulson is a moderate Republican whose genuine interest in public policy is revealed by her mastery of complex policy details...”

Wilmette Life:

She's also worked to retain and attract physicians to the state, via insurance and litigation reforms and a loan repayment assistance program for young physicians who elect to practice here.

VOTE Beth Coulson

McSweeney Stands Firm

Recall the AARP definition in their survey, which has become a hot campaign issue in the closely contested McSweeney-Bean race:

"Would you support or oppose a balanced Social Security plan to continue the program's guaranteed benefits for future generations? Will you support or oppose using Social Security taxes to fund private accounts?"

And added this:

"AARP believes that a bipartisan plan that balances additional contributions from high income workers with modest adjustments in future benefits can maintain guaranteed Social Security benefits for future generations."

Previous post "Load of Pap from AARP". Wall Street Journal, ("AARP's Tax Trap" Nov. 1), on Melissa Bean's Social Security dodge (full text easily accessed at McSweeney site):

Those italics are ours, because in Washington "additional contributions" means a tax increase. And by "high income workers," AARP can only mean anyone earning more than $94,200, which is the 2006 income level above which the 12.4% Social Security portion of the payroll tax no longer applies. Employers and workers each pay half of the payroll levy, and the income cap already rises each year with inflation.

Thus if you make, say, $100,000 a year but live in pricey Los Angeles, tough luck; the folks at AARP think you're rich. They supported the elimination of the income cap for Medicare's portion of the payroll tax (2.9%) as part of the Clinton 1993 tax increase, and now they want to do it for the other 12.4%. A worker earning $150,000 would pay roughly $6,900 more each year in "additional contributions" under this AARP definition of "balance."

Or if you live in the pricey Chicago suburbs, included in Bean's district, the AARP wants to raise your taxes.

David McSweeney refused to sign the AARP pledge because he recognized it as a hefty tax increase on middle and upper income wage earners.

But Bean did. Now she's trying to wiggle out of it.

Democrat Melissa Bean -- who is trying to hold her seat in an affluent district near Chicago -- now claims she never supported the tax increase she plainly endorsed in answering AARP's questionnaire. And AARP is helping her disavow her pledge by sending a letter to her district's AARP members (as well as to the districts of other vulnerable Democrats who took its pledge). The letter from AARP President William Novelli slams Ms. Bean's opponent David McSweeney for his "ads trying to scare voters."This AARP complaint about Social Security "scare" tactics is certainly novel, given that its own political clout has been built entirely on scaring seniors.

But this is what an AARP spokesman said to the Daily Herald:

AARP spokesman Dave Sloane said the organization does believe lifting the cap on Social Security taxes on income above $90,000 and cutting future benefits may be necessary to keep the system afloat.

Yet he says taking Bean’s questionnaire statement to mean she wants to raise taxes or cut benefits “is an outrageous leap that is not even close to the truth.”

But this from the Journal:

That's not what Mr. Sloane said in previous statements about the purpose of AARP's candidate survey. He was quoted in the Palm Beach Post as saying that the intent of the questionnaire was to "gauge support for the group's position on Social Security . . . We presume that all the candidates would have read the background material and understood our positions."

Melissa Bean---ignorant or _____.

VOTE David McSweeney for smart and honest representation, standing firm for the best interests of the 8th.

Obama, Dancing with Tony

John Kass, Tribune, the best political columnist in Chicago (emphasis mine):

At best, it is a gamy story of a presidential hopeful displaying a lack of judgment by getting involved with Rezko in a real estate arrangement in which the Obamas benefited.

At worst, it could be a few steps along the Chicago way.

Part of that deal took place in January, as Obama was becoming the Democratic poster boy to highlight Republican corruption, just as all of political Illinois figured Rezko for a federal indictment.....

But Obama felt comfortable lecturing Africans and Republicans about corruption, while privately dancing with Tony Rezko. That's what will hurt him.

He couldn't bring himself to lecture City Hall on the deals there, and he skipped a recent anti-corruption address to the Chicago Better Government Association. Did he miss the BGA dinner because this story was coming down?

Read the whole thing.

Oh, and Obama endorses the ethically challenged party pick Stroger. Eric Zorn "Letter to voters a letdown for Obama idealists".

Previous post: Business as Usual Obama.

Wilmette Life Makes Fun of Bipolar Candidate

Wilmette Life:

The Cook County Republican Party was so desperate to find candidates to fill the Nov. 7 ballot that it recruited a mentally ill man who lives in a nursing home.

James Batek, 55, has been living in a Chicago nursing home for treatment of his bipolar disorder and schizophrenia for 14 years. He said he was contacted this spring by Tom Swiss, executive director for the Cook County GOP, and was asked to run against State Rep. Harry Osterman, D-14th.

No Republican ran in the primary for the spot, and Swiss found Batek's name on a list of GOP election judges in Osterman's district, Batek said.

We read buried in the story:

Batek, who earned an economics degree from Yale University in 1973, said he was homeless for eight years during the 1980s.

"It taught me discipline to survive without money," he said.

In many cases, the GOP in Cook County isn't picky when it solicits candidates, instead merely hoping to find people "willing to be on the ballot," Swiss said. "These are not competitive districts. We don't want to get people's hopes up. There's no chance they can win these."

Batek, presumably about 56, now lives in a nursing home. At least he'll be able to keep an eye on things when Democrats sweep in to "help" residents make their choices on the ballot---assuming they have a choice.

Big Undecided in Treasurer Race

Story at Rich Miller's Capitol Fax.

Dogpatch Democrats

Republican candidate for governor, Judy Baar Topinka, who has dramatically narrowed the gap in polls with our Governor Empty Suit Blagojevich, makes a good point about First Lady Patricia "Pattycake" Blagojevich. Tribune:

Republican governor candidate Judy Baar Topinka on Wednesday proposed restricting outside income for the families of statewide elected officials, citing the real-estate business of First Lady Patricia Blagojevich.

Topinka's proposal was in response to a recent Tribune report that found Patricia Blagojevich received $113,000 in real estate commissions on behalf of a longtime no-bid state contractor whose husband also had bank regulatory issues pending before the state. The four commissions were the only ones she made so far this year.

The article goes on to detail an astonishing (but this is Illinois so sadly not astonishing) web of interlocking relationships, Dem politics as the family business. Here's a sampling:

On the Sunday before the election, Patricia Blagojevich is scheduled to serve as an honorary co-chair of a fashion show in Rosemont to benefit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The chair of the event is Rita Rezko, the wife of Tony Rezko, who is a longtime patron of the charity. Rezko Enterprises is a sponsor of the event.

The wives of several others with ties to Rezko or Blagojevich are serving on the event committee or have donated raffle prizes, including a former business partner, a former Blagojevich Cabinet member whom Rezko recommended to the post, and Blagojevich's former communications director. The Tribune also is a sponsor.

The "special guest" for the event is Michelle Obama, wife of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Patty Blagojevich counts the indicted Rezko as a friend and has had real estate dealings with him. Rezko shows up as buying the lot next door to the Obamas, detailed yesterday.

You might say it verges on incestuous---the Dogpatch Democrats.

UPDATE: More on family connections, including the governor's brother Robert, and NO-BID contracts. At Reverse Spin, "Will Rod take the Fifth about Fifth Third?"

Duckworth Pays "Volunteers"

From Eric Krol's Animal Farm blog in the Daily Herald:

Democrat Tammy Duckworth's camp has been bragging about her vaunted volunteer corps and field operation for quite a while now in the 6th Congressional District. Turns out she's also paying volunteers to work. An Animal Farm snoop noticed her campaign blanketed cars in the College of DuPage parking lot with fliers telling the students they could make $75-$85 per day working Saturday through Tuesday on get out the vote efforts for Duckworth. We seem to recall a similar move in the primary.

Guess Rahm is having trouble getting enough liberal ringer "volunteers" in from Chicago and Evanston. Krol:

If you're keeping score at home, add the paid Duckworth workers to the busloads of Chicago volunteers the city Democrats have been sending out off-and-on during weekends this fall.

Yes, major campaigns bring in outside help, but Chicago Dems are flooding the suburbs big time.

Don't let the Chicago Machine get away with it.

Volunteer and VOTE Republican for true independence.

Can You Count on Dan Seals?

After being AWOL on demanding an apology from Blueblood Kerry to our troops in the field and all veterans, where is Dan Seals? He ducks a debate (oh, I guess he was in Chicago), makes common cause with liberal imports from Chicago slamming the Coast Guard, and appears to be hiding out (maybe at home, which is outside the district), presumably ducking other questions about the FEC investigation of illegal fundraising for his campaign by Chicago and Evanston-based Dem operatives. (Note--again outside the district.) The Wilmette blog asks a few questions.

And then there's his noticable absence at the rally for Israel last summer at such a critical time after they were attacked by Hezbollah. Hezbollah is supplied and funded by Iran, a state which has openly called for the destruction of Israel and is seeking nuclear weapons.

When it counts, can you count on Dan Seals?

WE know where Seals stands. He is a liberal and a peacenik.

VOTE Mark KIRK for the 10th district.

UPDATE: Liberal Nutroots candidate Seals featured on John Kerry website.

UPDATE: From the Wilmette blog:

IL-10 Congressional Candidate Dan Seals recently changed his website to calling for Redeployment from Iraq rather than withdrawal from Iraq, and I figured maybe he had learned that the Naval Station at Great Lakes is in the Heart of the District from which he seeks to be elected.

Publia notes Seals has yet to comment on Kerry's nasty slur on our troops. More illuminating commentary there.

Enough Already

The Coast Guard held a public hearing yesterday on the live fire training exercises they will be conducting under Homeland Security mandates. Typically some liberals (allied with anti-war rhetoric) have made hysterical pronouncements suggesting it will be open season on boaters out there, a gratuitous swipe at those who serve in our Coast Guard. (Update Note: if you look at their post you notice they are trolling for more imports from Chicago to come up on the train. Where have we seen this before? Also more here. And Seals supports them and sends a grandstanding letter to the Coast Guard, attempting to delay their training and our protection.)

Wiser heads, including amazingly eventually even the NY Times (buried in a story that led off with suggestions that we're just a bunch of drunken boaters out in flyover country) , have had to admit that the Coast Guard has carefully worked with members of the community to allay their concerns, and has the support of local law enforcement.

Previous post "Put the Security in Homeland Security".

Definitive quote from the Tribune:

Crowley said Coast Guard crews would train at least 5 miles off shore and in water that's at least 30 feet deep, but they wouldn't go out any farther in case they're needed for emergencies along the shore.

Each live-fire zone would be used for target practice by local Guard members two or three times a year and for two to six hours at a time, Crowley said.

"For the whole year, the area would probably be restricted for less than 24 hours total," he said.

Enough already.

Blueblood Kerry's Calumnies

Kerry's words rang so true and sparked a firestorm of revulsion because we have heard them before. Via Drudge, RCP, AP, "Kerry's '72 Army Comments Mirror Latest":

During a Vietnam-era run for Congress three decades ago, John Kerry said he opposed a volunteer Army because it would be dominated by the underprivileged, be less accountable and be more prone to "the perpetuation of war crimes."

No wonder the overwhelming majority of his fellow Swift Boat veterans did not support his run for president. No wonder the American Legion and Amvets immediately demanded an apology. No wonder some Democrat candidates are repudiating his remarks now. But not all. Not Seals. Not Duckworth. John Kerry has campaigned for many of these candidates, raising money with his malicious and dishonest words which wound our troops and betray his blueblood disdain for their commitment to our country.

On the moral scale, John Kerry, you are beneath contempt.

UPDATE: Duckworth had her chance, but did NOT call on Kerry to apologize. Trib's The Swamp late yesterday. There is nothing posted on her website. Also, in case you missed it, the facts on our volunteer, well-educated, solidly middle class army. The troops in the above picture are from Minnesota. God bless them.

UPDATE: The troops aren't buying Kerry's "weasel word" apology. Hugh Hewitt, Townhall.

UPDATE: NY Times flacks for Kerry, totally lying about what he actually said. Patterico, hat tip Reverse Spin.

Roskam to Duckworth: Give Back Kerry's Money

(Press release from Roskam campaign. Duckworth has been silent on Kerry's slur on our troops which he compounded during yesterday's "I apologize to no one" rant, finally apologizing very belatedly late today, very grudgingly and unpersuasively given his past statements maligning our military. Emphasis mine in press release.)

ROSKAM CALLS ON DUCKWORTH TO GIVE BACK JOHN
KERRY'S MONEY

WHEATON - Sixth District Congressional candidate Senator Peter Roskam called for Tammy Duckworth to return the $209,000 in campaign funds she has received from John Kerry this campaign cycle.

"I find Senator Kerry's remarks about the brave men and women serving in Iraq outrageous, as do the people of the Sixth District," said Peter Roskam. "Democrats in other states are distancing themselves from Kerry, and rightly so. Tammy Duckworth should join her fellow Democrats by giving back the $209,000 that Kerry has raised for her campaign."

On Monday, Kerry told a college crowd "You know education, if you make the most of it, and you study hard, and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Kerry has gone to great lengths to support Duckworth, having raised more for her campaign than any of the fifteen other House candidates that Kerry has raised money for nationwide. Kerry raised more money for Duckworth than most Senatorial candidates he is supporting. He has also sent out five email solicitations on Duckworth's behalf to national donors who do not share the values and concerns of the Sixth District.

"Sen. Kerry has been a tremendous help to my campaign for change from the very beginning" Duckworth was quoted as saying on the Johnkerry.com website. Duckworth's photo was removed from the front page of Kerry's website mid-day on Wednesday.

Perhaps most telling of Kerry's support of Duckworth is a May comment by her political mentor, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, in Roll Call "Give me five more John Kerry's" says Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). "He's a fighter, and he puts his money where his mouth is."

By mid-day Wednesday, several Democratic House candidates had turned down support from the unapologetic Senator. Tim Walz, a Democratic House candidate in Minnesota canceled an event with Kerry scheduled for the final days of the campaign, as did Bruce Braley, another Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives in Iowa. A Pennsylvania candidate has followed suit.

6th District resident Lori Tompos, who served as a Lieutenant in the 32nd Air Defense Artillery Command said "John Kerry should know that the military needs people with a wide range of abilities to be able to function; the cooks and mechanics are just as valuable as the staff officers and generals. A lot of my friends who have served with me are now in Iraq, they believe in what they're doing and are proud to be there. I just feel that Senator Kerry's comments are insensitive".

Earlier this week, three veterans who served with Tammy Duckworth endorsed Peter Roskam.

UPDATE: Kerry removes from website pix with $$$ amounts of candidates he campaigned and raised money for. At RedState.

Linked to this earlier, but in case you haven't seen it, God Bless Our Troops

Dead Heat Gov Race

Latest poll shows Blagojevich and Topinka in a dead heat, 44-40 within the 4 pt. margin of error. Green party at 7 %, 9% undecided. State Journal Register, via RCP:

Mason-Dixon Polling & Research conducted the poll of 625 likely voters Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 30-31.

The poll also shows that large numbers of votes still have unfavorable opinions of both Topinka and Blagojevich, but recent stories about federal investigations into corruption in state government are taking a toll on Blagojevich's support.

With a week left, the numbers are starting to move.

Seals Ducks Debate

Seals abruptly ducks out of a debate yesterday. Is he afraid to face Mark Kirk? Eric Krol, in his Animal Farm blog, Daily Herald:

For a guy who clamored for more debates against Republican Congressman Mark Kirk, Democrat Dan Seals sure treats his rare chances to debate Kirk funnily. At the last minute, Seals pulled out of today's debate in Waukegan. That's the kind of behavior usually reserved for incumbents. True, it was a private event, but the public would have learned about the contrasting positions of Kirk and Seals through the newspaper reporting on the event. Seals did, however, have the time to stage a downtown news conference to try to keep alive an unflattering story about a Kirk staffer that's now a week old.

Could it be Seals realized he stuffed up the last debate, or could it have anything to do with Kerry's slur against our troops, for which he has not yet apologized? Could it be Seals did not want to have to disavow Kerry's remarks? Perhaps he has no intention of repudiating them.

Or maybe it had to do with an FEC investigation of his own fundraising.

UPDATE: Apparently the debate Seals ducked was open mike. Seals obviously prefers the Liberal League of Women Voters format of the first debate, where they pre-screen the questions to give him softballs and give Kirk the tough ones. Obviously Kirk carried the day at that one. So much for Seals promoting himself as Mr. Town Meeting.

Apologize

Apologize to our troops John Kerry.

Apologize. Simply say you're sorry.

Is that too much too ask?


Redstate on the "uneducation" of our troops.

UPDATE: Mayor Daley, Tribune:

Mayor Richard Daley, whose son is a soldier, said today that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) should say he is sorry for telling students that they will "get stuck in Iraq" if they don't make the most of their educational opportunities.

The remark was "uncalled for," Daley asserted. "I think he should apologize." Kerry suggested that "they are dumb and they are stupid and that is why they went into the military, and they are over in Iraq," the mayor said. "He owes them an apology (and) all their families."

If the comment was meant as a joke, it was "a sad joke," he said.

UPDATE:Finally, 24 hours later, Kerry's very grudging, awkward apology---doesn't it make you feel like he thinks Republicans are a subspecies?

Still don't find any statement on Tammy Duckworth's website.

The Moral Scale

So the Tribune print edition today has a front page picture and story featuring the body count of our men and women in the armed forces, accompanied by a chart tallying it all up.

Notch another body on the belt of the swaggering anti-war crowd.

Jeers at the sacrifice of those who give their lives, so we may enjoy freedom at home.

Tribune reporters, doing a head count.

Shall we count heads? The severed heads of Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg, and Margaret Hassan, the aid-worker--oh, guess they just shot her in the head. And we have video, not charts. You may find those for yourselves if you haven't seen them on the MSM.

Heads vs. bodies.

Which should weigh more on the moral scale?

Business as Usual Obama

So we learn the other day that recently indicted Dem fundraiser Tony Rezko can't pledge his Wilmette house for his bond, as it is tied up in some kind of trust. But apparently he has some other property he can pledge---

next door to Barack Obama, Senator from Illinois.

Somehow when Obama bought a $1.65 million dollar home, Rezko was there. Tribune:

When Sen. Barack Obama decided to buy a stately $1.65 million home last year on Chicago's South Side, Antoin "Tony" Rezko and his wife wasted no time. The same day the Obamas closed on the house, the Rezkos closed on the purchase of the adjoining vacant lot, which once was the estate's lush side yard.

In normal circumstances, the two real estate transactions probably wouldn't have raised an eyebrow. There is, after all, nothing illegal or untoward about an aggressive developer buying hot property next door to a rising political star.

The mark of a true friend, wanting to "live" right next door, and even accepting the price your friend Obama set to buy an adjoining 10 ft. of "your" property, so that the fence Obama's wife wanted, that you, Rezko paid for (only you've stiffed the contractor) would look nice.

This does not look nice. It looks niiiiiiice.

So this takes me back to another friend of the rising star Senator Obama, one Alexi "of the alleged mob ties" Giannoulious, who just happens to now be running for state Treasurer) and who bankrolled Obama's rise.

The only conclusion to make, sadly, is Obama is just another business as usual politician.

And with Obama's feet of clay firmly planted in the muck of Chicago and Cook County corruption, can his star continue to rise in the Democrat firmament?

(Maybe if your competition is Hillary.)

Peraica for Real Reform

Candidate for Cook County Board President Tony Peraica was on the stump in suburban Cook County last week. I met him at a crowded coffee. Orphaned at age 11, through brains, hard work and the engaging force of his personality, Peraica the immigrant is an American success story. He has an impressive command of the facts and the needed determination to reform Cook County. Peraica promised to reduce payroll at bloated Patronage Central "through attrition or indictment" and estimates corruption "costs us $200 million a year".

I was especially charmed by the news of the $86,000 a year picnic table inspector.

Apparently the Sun Times cut their news group loose to make their best judgement on this race after making their embarassing endorsement of Stroger's boss-backed son.
Evanston Review:

Anthony Peraica has the experience and the ideas to succeed as president of the Cook County Board. His opponent, Todd Stroger, has neither. Therefore, we endorse Peraica for county board president.

As a member of the County Board, Peraica has fought the cronyism, nepotism, bloated patronage and rampant spending that has made Cook County government notorious.

As board president, he will be in a strong position to build consensus with reform-minded Democrats on the board. And building such a consensus must be a priority.

Peraica doesn't believe that fiscal responsibility is the same as eliminating services. He recognizes that many county services, such as health care to the poor, are vital. He doesn't want to eliminate such services, but find better ways to deliver them, and to improve them.

The overwhelming choice is Peraica. Endorsements roll in from newspapers and community groups all around Chicago.

The Tribune in its editorial yesterday exposed the reckless disregard for the truth in the "fill-in-the-blanks" attack ads of the Stroger camp.

And today's challenges the citizens of Cook County to vote for Tony Peraica:

Come Tuesday, we'll also learn how many citizens want to overthrow an entrenched regime that has tried to cover up hellish abuse of girls and boys at the county's juvenile detention center. We'll learn whether citizens will endorse--or reject--shabby health services for poor people at Stroger Hospital and other county patronage pits. We'll learn whether citizens who whine about paying high taxes to a corrupt county government choose to keep on whining impotently--or vote to cut the county's vast bureaucracy.

Come Tuesday, finally, we'll learn who most wants control of this $3 billion enterprise--the clout crowd, or the citizens who pay the bills.

Cook County government is the 18th largest in the country, larger than 32 states. Must we continue to be the butt of jokes around the country for the corruption of our county?

This may be the only chance you have in your lifetime to break the bosses' stranglehold on Cook County.

Reject the reckless and grasping dishonesty embodied in Todd Stroger.

Say yes to an honest and persevering reformer.

VOTE Tony Peraica.

Kirk Earns Support

From the Sun Times endorsement:

Kirk has been a real force for improvements in his district and emerged as an advocate for cleaning up the earmark abuses in Congress with his opposition to the bridge to nowhere project in Alaska.

The Tribune and Daily Herald have also endorsed Kirk, as has the Pioneer Press.

Mark Kirk saved the Veterans Hospital in North Chicago, securing proper health care for 55,000 veterans and active duty Navy in northern Illinois. He pushed for a joint facility with the VA to replace the naval hospital at Great Lakes, and upgrade facilites for both.

On the environment, he worked with the Navy, conservation groups and local officials to create the Fort Sheridan Lakefront Preserve and has a strong environmental record.

Mark Kirk helped unlock funds to convert an old freight train line to metra commuter rail, the first new such line in 70 years. The North Central line relieves expressway congestion from the northwest suburbs to O'Hare and downtown as well. (Nice Sinatra too on this video.)

Kirk killed the bridge to nowhere, and is in favor of the line-item veto to enforce fiscal discipline and accountability.

And he has intervened to help a moderate Muslim journalist in Bangladesh, persecuted for being a friend of Israel.

Kirk grew up in the 10th district, and has worked hard to represent us all in Washington. He has earned our support, and deserves our vote.

Kirk for Congress.