Long Windy City Weekend

9 Slain In Bloody Holiday Weekend. 2 Incidents Of Murder-Suicide On Friday Alone

ACORN's Preferential Treatment

Obama/Holder Justice--no problem of taxpayer-funding ACORN under existing contracts, no investigation. Well. No end to the story nonetheless:

Whether or not ACORN workers are prosecuted, the tape is sufficient grounds for withholding federal housing funds. If HUD grants are supposed to help the poor find affordable housing, why should the agency waste resources subsidizing dishonest operators? Other agencies that had previously paid ACORN for services to the poor, including the Internal Revenue Service, came to this conclusion already.

Congress cannot and should not arbitrarily invalidate legal contracts. But there is ample precedent for government cutting off dealings with fraudsters. Medicare and Medicaid blacklist doctors who cheat the system. The Department of Defense has canceled contracts based in fraud -- for example, the sweetheart Boeing air tanker contract of 2001.

Given his political ties to ACORN from his days in Illinois, it is in President Obama's political interest to see that ACORN does not receive preferential treatment from any government agency. Otherwise, taxpayers should hold him personally responsible for wasting their money.

Yes we can.

ClimateGate Who's Who

Video via Breitbart.

More. A graphic explanation. HT The Corner: (One slide above)Spectacular!

Forbidden to Run

Muslim women can't even emulate a heroic holy woman:

"We are commemorating the act of a woman, someone who made a sacrifice not just for her child but to the building of an entire city," Sharif said, referring to the fact that the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine — and later Mecca itself — were built near the site of Hagar's suffering.

"And she was going through these extremes to provide for her child, without thinking about gender, and here it is now (they're) making it forbidden for women to run," said the 32-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia.

Welcome to Saudi Arabia. To add insult to injury--men impatient with lines crash into women's bathrooms?! How does that respect women's modesty?

But unlike many mosques, the Grand Mosque in Mecca allows women to pray side by side with the men.

P.S. Women lead Swiss in vote to ban minarets. London Times. Switzerland and the Minaret: Sunday's vote keeps European heads in the sand about Muslim immigrants. WSJ.

Ochoa Must Go

From William Kelly for Comptroller:

BLAGO’S “PAY TO PLAY” CRONY OCHOA "MUST GO" SAYS KELLY

GOP Candidate Lobbies Steele on RNC ‘12 Convention in Chicago

William J. Kelly, Republican candidate for Illinois Comptroller has issued this statement calling for the resignation of McPier CEO Juan Ochoa:

After the loss of four major conventions and counting, it is clear that McPier CEO and Blagojevich crony, Juan Ochoa needs to resign immediately. As is well-known, Ochoa won his $195,000 post after raising campaign cash for our disgraced former governor. Especially after the loss of the 2026 Olympics, what we need now are major conventions to help stimulate Illinois’ economy and create much needed jobs. As the Chicago Sun-Times reported recently, I had the opportunity to speak with RNC Chairman Michael Steele about bringing the Republican National Convention to Chicago in 2012. But in order to bring the RNC National Convention and restore our lost convention business from Florida, Nevada, and Texas to Chicago, it is time for Juan Ochoa to go.

Thanks to the mismanagement of the long-line of political hacks like Ochoa & Co., the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority will soon be yet another wasteland and a new drain on Illinois taxpayers. As has been reported, McPier’s projected operating losses will grow eightfold to $28.8 million in the fiscal year that started July and the State of Illinois will be on the hook for millions more to cover shortfalls in tourism taxes. To counter McPier’s shortfall, Chicago Tribune reports that the state’s general sales tax fund was tapped for $18.8 million this year and will be tapped $34 million in 2010. Reports indicate that McPier’s cumulative funding gap is expected to exceed $500 million by 2020.

Illinois and Chicago’s economic climate are collapsing under its long-standing culture of corruption, nepotism, and cronyism and McPier is the latest example of this. This kind of backroom double-dealing, price-gouging, greed, and incompetence cannot be allowed to continue – not when Illinois businesses and families are stuck with the tab and not when more Illinois jobs will continue to be lost. Today, I am calling on Governor Pat Quinn and Mayor Richard Daley to demand the immediate resignation McPier CEO Juan Ochoa.

William J. Kelly is running on a platform to be Illinois’ first “activist” comptroller. He is the former executive director of the National Taxpayers United of Illinois. He is also an entrepreneur with an Emmy award-winning TV production company and currently hosts the multi-state sports TV series, “Sportsaholic.” For information, visit www.friendsofwilliamjkelly.com.

Yeah, enough with the pricey pop. How emblematic of Chicago --corrupt and incompetent. We deserve better.

Honest Andy

From Proft for Governor. (Nice hair.) It starts out this way:

One of the value propositions of our campaign is to peel back the curtain and show folks who know they have been gamed by a system they finance just how the scams work—and who is running them, be they Republicans or Democrats. It is part of the knowledge I have acquired after 15 years working in Illinois politics and government. And I chose to run for governor because I knew, absent my candidacy, the same Chicago money men would attempt to put up another establishment cipher.

Enter Andy McKenna.

Read on.

School Reform Betrayal

Arne and Obama cave. Quelle surprise.

Related posts: Let my people go, The Making of Americans Under Assault, Wilmette Fuzzy Math, Obama Ayers Queering your Kids: Screw Math and Science

Another Obama (Job) Killer Chart

More here and here. Note to Obama.

Man-made meddling

Silence from the Tribune on the depth and implications of the ClimateGate scandal, following an initial cursory AP report. There was coverage of the Goracle's Chicago visit from other media, but not the Tribune. Now we find out the ClimateGate emails were released not by a hacker, but a whistleblower. Millions, no trillions of taxpayer dollars are at risk of being spent on this fraud. Yet on the eve of the Copenhagen gathering, we are still subjected to this kind of sappy crap, "Climate change is personal in La.":

Southeastern Louisiana is losing land at the rate of some 15 square miles a year, owing to a combination of rising sea levels and ground-level subsidence that scientists blame on human meddling with the natural drainage patterns of the Mississippi -- and on rising global temperatures.

Well, temperatures aren't rising (tho the BBC is still pretending not to notice the scandal)--so how about looking at the man-made meddling, hmm? How about playing politics with levees, (Sen. Mary Landrieu) how about New Orleans sinking for years--how about NOT rebuilding sunken areas, how about letting NOLA go back to nature, hmm? (The French Quarter will survive--it was built on higher ground way back, laissez les bon temps roulez.)

How about exploring in a story the man-made meddling on the global warming data? How about some reporting?

More. Gibbsy's BS. Christopher Booker, Climate change: this is the worst scientific scandal of our generation. Clive Crook, Financial Times, the stink of intellectual corruption. Ah yes, the "scientists" at the University of East Anglia threw their original data in the trash. The dog ate their homework before a FOIA request.

More. Via RCP, Gordon Crovitz, WSJ:The Web Discloses Inconvenient Climate Truths. The world cannot trust scientists who abuse their power.

Huck Out

The left didn't want to lay a glove on him, they figured he was a sure loser in the general election, storing up all their venom for their stereotypical rightie. But actually, the Huckster was a buddy of the Clintons back in Arkansas--as governor he was a foe of school choice, a big tax and spender, and yes, issued lots of pardons (tho Bill did his most damage exiting the White House).

As we see once again, actions have consequences, something liberals never want to consider. The Seattle cop-killer was pardoned by Governor Mike Huckabee.

So let's make this an easy decision for the Huckster. You're out.

Obama in the Labyrinth

A foreign policy maze of his own making.

Ostentation and political posturing grow old and threadbare. After only nine months.

The Obama narrative spins out of his grasp. Not the hero of the story. No. Not at all after all.

Good for you, Susan Boyle

Sing your heart out.

Pumpkin Leche Flan

The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I will be baking tomorrow, then making way in the kitchen for my spouse, the master chef!:) Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!

Three Trees in Siberia?

Per Rush, the tree ring study was based on three cherry-picked trees in Siberia. Cites UK Register:

Controversy has been raging since 1995, when an explosive paper by Keith Briffa (http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/people/briffa/) at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia asserted that that the medieval warm period was actually really cold, and recent warming is unusually warm. Both archaeology and the historical accounts, Briffa was declaring, were bunk. Briffa relied on just three cores from Siberia to demonstrate this.

Robert Tracinski on ClimateGate.

And this:

ClimateGate Development: CEI Notifies NASA of Intention to Sue [Chris Horner]

Today, on behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I filed three Notices of Intent to File Suit against NASA and its Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), for those bodies' refusal — for nearly three years — to provide documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

Is Al Gore bankrupt? How's that book-signing going today?

More. Minnesotans for Global Warming:)

Previous posts: Ha, Bogus Science Busted

Justice, The Chicago Way

Ronald Cass. The rule of law in jeopardy.

Yes She Can

Matthew Dowd, WaPo. Palin has a shot at the presidency. Given our President Barack Obama's shaky approval numbers so early in his presidency, he may still be under 50% when the time comes.(Latest flap-- Obama Bows Before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao...)

Some of Dowd's suggestions will soon be inoperative--after all, Gov. Palin is on a book tour, setting her record straight in a high profile way. She is naturally focused on taking on her critics, but she is also getting in touch with Americans across the country.

Palin has already shown humor, resilience, and a generosity of spirit. Before her pick as VP, she successfully took her own party to the woodshed on ethics and forged a remarkable record of bipartisan consensus to bring online a major energy project which had been stalled for 30 years.

Her book is candid, her story engaging and admirable.

(I especially like the map in front.)

Sarah Palin is on the map for 2012. She has courage and she speaks plainly, qualities not noted in our current president. Americans are looking for the common sense Sarah Palin has in abundance.

P.S. This is pretty funny. There is no one more provincial than a beltway elitist:

Be more serious. Don't nurse grievances. Don't be an attention hog. Stop blaming other people for your problems. Be more upbeat. Don't turn everything into a battle. Acknowledge your shortcomings.

Is this pundit talking about our President Barack Obama?

HT Memeorandum.

Previous posts: Sarah is Fierce on Greta, Waiting for Sarah Palin, Palin Ascendant, The New Amazons, Martha Stewart, Anal Retentive on the Prowl, Going Rogue, Taking on the Dysfunctional Elites. Sarah Palin, Good for Kirk, Sarahcuda in Play, Women of Accomplishment, Palin is Tweaking You, Lefties, Sarah America in Hong Kong

We the People Care

Rasmussen. Lowest presidential approval index yet. And on healthcare?

Support for the health care plan proposed by the President and Congressional Democrats has fallen to a new low of 38%. Sixty percent (60%) of voters believe passage of the bill will lead to higher health care costs.

Generic congressional shows a steady Republican lead. Indies go GOP 41% to 24%.

RCP average, presidential job approval.

Michael Barone, Are Democrats exiting the sinking ship? A case in Kansas. As for healthcare, any kind of meaningful choice, affordability, and quality of care is at risk. University of Chicago Law Professor Richard A. Epstein, Unmanageable Competition: How the health care bills will unravel private insurance. His libertarian prescription?

Deregulation of an overheated market should be the new focus. Slash state mandates on health care coverage; allow interstate competition in insurance markets; relax interstate licensing requirements; permit nonmedical institutions like Wal-Mart ( WMT - news - people ) and CVS pharmacy to enter the primary care markets; reform medical malpractice law; and thin out senseless privacy diktats. Lower costs will revive the voluntary market and reduce costs and increase access for seriously sick people.

Heritage looks at the mammogram rationing of ObamaCare. The nanny state dooms you to substandard care--you're just a statistic.

Well, we the people care. Call your Senator and Congressman while they're home.

More. The Chicago Tribune, Stimulus Snowjob. And Dennis Byrne, on the massive ObamaCare power grab:

You need to consider exactly what's in the health care legislation to understand why the breast cancer uproar is instructive and frightening. The legislation provides for the creation of a Health Choices Administration headed by a Health Choices commissioner. Their job is to establish "qualified health benefits plan standards . . . including the enforcement of such standards in coordination with state insurance regulators and the secretaries of labor and the treasury."

The commissioner is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The law creating this, the Affordable Care for America Act, goes on at some length describing their duties. But that's just the beginning because the duties are described so vaguely that the agency will certainly pad them out with volumes of clarifying regulations. Don't be confused. This is not the "public option" we keep hearing so much about. Whether or not there is a public option, the Health Choices Administration and its commissioner will decide what treatments and benefits you will get. This is not some government agency that you will have a voice in selecting; the law specifies who serves on it, and it's clearly not you or anyone you elect.

The Obama Master Plan.

More. WSJ on the Dem double talk and their accomplices in the media, including an obtuse bon mot from our crassly partisan Sen. Dick Durbin. Liberals and Mammography: Rationing? What rationing?

More. Seven big lies about the stimulus. Accountability and transparency are not hallmarks of government. Can we trust these guys with our lives? A Tale of Six Counties
Suburban voters are cooling on the Democrats.

More. ObamaCare an anti-jobs tax. How about a better alternative, real reform. Sen. Tom Coburn and Dr. Tevi Troy, Forbes:

There are smarter reform solutions that will not cripple our economic recovery and lower wages for millions of Americans. One such idea is the Patients Choice Act, supported by one out of five Republicans in the Senate, which is designed for a 2010, not 1940s, economy. The plan would give every American a tax credit and equalize the treatment of health insurance. This means that individuals, rather than just employers, would be empowered to purchase affordable insurance. In addition, state marketplaces would be established where consumers could get coverage, regardless of health status or pre-existing conditions.

Based on independent estimates, under this plan, nine out of 10 families would see a tax cut, and families earning under $250,000 annually would save money. And in contrast to the Democratic bills, which use Enron-style accounting, the policies of the Patients Choice Act "would reduce future budget deficits, relative to projections under current law, by amounts that increased over time," according to the non-partisan CBO.

Goracle Spectacle

On Tuesday, Nov. 24, activists will gather at Noon to protest Al Gore's book signing visit to the Borders book store at 150 N. State Street in downtown Chicago.

Anything to say, Al? Nah.

Sarah is Fierce on Greta

Calling out Obama on Afghanistan. Supporting our troops. God bless her.

More. Awesome interview. I've never seen Sarah so animated. She is fired up. Yeah.

More. Thousands at Fort Bragg. 700,000 copies sold in first week.

More. Video, part one. More at the site.

More. Dan Riehl fierce on the beltway know it alls. Yeah. Back off. We "rubes" are not clueless. We are the way forward. We are not stuck on ourselves. We are not PC. We don't give a rat's a@#! for that stuff. We've been called dangerous years ago. And we don't care. (Because we know we're right: ) And some of us have even gone to Ivy League schools. Go figure. Rat's a*@#.

Ha

Iowahawk Geographic: The Secret Life of Climate Researchers

Homo scientifica (liber-alles) dissected.

More...

...An insider may face the firing squad … when solar rifles are invented.

Rotten ACORN

San Diego ACORN Document Dump Scandal. Big Government. And Andrew Breitbart: ACORN Scandal, Part 2: The Evidentiary Phase

Book 'em, Danno.

Are you mad as hell? The corruption administration.

Talking Turkey on the NEA

Clear as day. They care about themselves, not the kids. Read and watch. Tribune.

Fleeting

Got my own wikio page now?

Does this mean I'm a celebrity? The Ross Douthat definition. Life is tough at the NY Times.

Oranges in Wisconsin

Charles Krauthammer on FoxNews tonight illustrates the idiocy of the Democrats' stance on healthcare. There is no provision in ObamaCare for tort reform, which would save half a trillion to a trillion dollars or two, nor is there the opportunity to buy health insurance across state lines.

As he suggests, the solution for no oranges being grown in Wisconsin in winter (or any other time outside of a greenhouse) is not to set up a public option for growing oranges (an expensive public greenhouse?), but to allow cheeseheads to buy oranges across state lines.

Enough of these Terrorist Enablers

Multicultural Masochism: The "war on terrorism" didn't cause the Fort Hood shootings. Christopher Hitchens.

Bringing Terror Home

Not content with forcing states to accept stimulus mandates that don't stimulate, and healthcare mandates on Medicaid that will cost states billions they don't have, the Obama administration is creating yet another nightmare--bringing terror home.

President Obama, his Attorney General Eric Holder and the Democrats who run this country are making national security an issue in our states and communities. Thomson, Illinois. Standish, Michigan. Florence, Colorado. New York City. The front lines begin at your front door.

Think I'm being alarmist? Think again. Reuel Marc Gerecht, WSJ:Major Hasan and Holy War. A domestic Islamic threat is real, and the FBI is unprepared to fight it.

Gobble Gobble Government

Winter is coming. Are you ready? The winter of our discontent. Heritage Morning Bell.The Impending Borrow and Spend Disaster.

Even the NY Times has figured it out:

The problem, many analysts say, is that record government deficits have arrived just as the long-feared explosion begins in spending on benefits under Medicare and Social Security. The nation’s oldest baby boomers are approaching 65, setting off what experts have warned for years will be a fiscal nightmare for the government.

“What a good country or a good squirrel should be doing is stashing away nuts for the winter,” said William H. Gross, managing director of the Pimco Group, the giant bond-management firm. “The United States is not only not saving nuts, it’s eating the ones left over from the last winter.”

The buck stops here, said one Harry Truman. Also known as give 'em hell Harry. But we don't have a plain-speaking president like that. So we have plain-speaking people. We'll give you hell at the ballot box. Because you're creating a hell on earth for our children and grandchildren.

And with Medicare cuts coming up under ObamaCare I imagine Boomers aren't going to be treated too well either. Nor women worried about breast cancer. And did you notice the latest version of the bill starts taxing us up front but the effective date of the new healthcare plan has been pushed back another year--from 2013 to 2014, so the Dems can better fudge the numbers.

There are alternatives. Start with starting over.

As we gather around the table this Thanksgiving be thankful for your family and friends. Because this government is gobbling up our prosperity and our future.

P.S. I don't agree with much of what Ross Douthat has to say in this piece, most notably on Sarah Palin, but he reminds us of Marty Feldstein's refreshing healthcare proposal, made last fall. ( I would add--he chose to be the NY Times' tame rightie)

Waiting for Sarah Palin

"I've never done this before". Sun Hee. Video in Roanoke.

P.S. Video--when Andrea meets Sarah. And this:)

More. 61% Realize Palin's Been 'Treated Unfairly by the Press' (how 'bout those independents:)

Previous posts: Palin Ascendant, The New Amazons

No. 82 on Bombs and Dollars Top List

...of conservative blogs. Check out the new site, Bombs and Dollars, America's Top Exports.

Palin Ascendant

An astute Canadian observer. Obama inspires; Palin connects. Rex Murphy, Globe and Mail.

Book tour--latest Roanoke.

P.S. SNL spoof. (But if she hadn't won, just think how much worse it would have been) Hmm?

P.P.S. (Guess Martha Stewart got the memo--do you think she chipped in 5 bucks? Dangerous.)

Tom --

Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn.

It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term "Death Panels" -- and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists.

Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform.

As we approach the final sprint on health reform, we can't afford more deception and delay. We need to be ready for anything -- and have the resources to respond with ads, events, and calls to Congress when the attacks come.

So we're setting a big goal: $500,000 in the next week to help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies. Please chip in $5 to help reach our goal.

Earlier this month, Palin publicly said that she hopes health reform will be "dead on arrival." And since then, she's been working fiercely toward that goal.

On Tuesday, Palin went on Rush Limbaugh's radio show where she outrageously -- and falsely -- suggested that Americans could "face jail time as punishment" if they don't buy insurance.

Palin has many more interviews scheduled on Hannity and other conservative shows in the next few weeks, with more platforms to go after the President. As soon as she does, the rest of our opponents will likely parrot those attacks.

We need to be prepared. And we're counting on you help. Can you chip in $5?

https://donate.barackobama.com/SarahPalin

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

As for jail time, judge for yourself. (Mega) Ditto for the death panel.

Our crassly parochial president

Along with his choreographic gaucherie goes his peculiar belief that all of human history is just a bit of colorful backstory in the Barack Obama biopic — or as he put it in his video address on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall:

“Few would have foreseen on that day that a united Germany would be led by a woman from Brandenburg or that their American ally would be led by a man of African descent.”

Tear down that wall . . . so they can get a better look at me!!! Is there no one in the White House grown-up enough to say, “Er, Mr. President, that’s really the kind of line you get someone else to say about you”? And maybe somebody could have pointed out that Nov. 9, 1989, isn’t about him but about millions of nobodies whose names are unknown, who lead dreary lives doing unglamorous jobs and going home to drab accommodations, but who at a critical moment in history decided they were no longer going to live in a prison state. They’re no big deal; they’re never going to land a photoshoot for Vanity Fair. But it’s their day, not yours. It’s not the narcissism, so much as the crassly parochial nature of it.

P.S. Apropos, our faux president:

Extreme Shepherding

This just in:) Video, Amazing sheep LED art.

OK, the sun is shining, I'm outta here.

Cynical and Cowardly

This administration is giving incentives for terrorists to attack American citizens on our soil. (Is this why Obama is dithering over Afganistan--he wants to bring the troops home--gee, if not there, will we win here?) Gee. (It's so ambiguous for the media)

This administration is pushing to locate terrorists in a prison in a small Illinois town. Probably where people don't even lock their doors.

Terror suspects have been arrested at O'Hare airport plotting to attack a Danish newspaper for publishing cartoons.

And Eric Zorn has the audacity to call us cynical and cowardly.

P.S. NY Times profile of the Chicago suspects. In other news, Nuclear Bomb Detectors Stopped by Material Shortage

You guessed it

Deny This: Guess Who Has the Highest Medical Claim Rejection Rate?

The New Amazons

New Girl Media Unplugs Old Girl Network. sisu.

Palinistas.

We're dangerous:)

Dangerous. Dangerous.

In 2007:

And at a time when the national debate has become poisonously partisan, governors like Napolitano, 49, and Palin, 43, are making their mark with a pragmatic, postpartisan approach to solving problems, a style that works especially well with the large numbers of independent voters in their respective states.

Hmm, independents. Dangerous.
Related post: Sarah America in Hong Kong

Burka Barbie

Daily Mail:

The company director of Laird Assessors from The Wirral, Cheshire, said: 'Bring it on Burkha Barbie, I think this is a great idea.

'I think this is really important for girls, wherever they are from they should have the opportunity to play with a Barbie that they feel represents them.

'I know Barbie was something seen as bad before as an image for girls, but in actual fact the message with Barbie for women is you can be whatever you want to be.

Really? Who speaks for Burka Barbie?

Who is giving them a choice?

Holder in the hot seat...

Another one. Andrew Breitbart challenges the feckless Obama AG to investigate ACORN.

Big Government has more tapes ready to go.

Martha Stewart, Anal Retentive on the Prowl

Says Sarah Palin is "boring" and "dangerous". Newsbusters with video from Showbiz Tonight.

Obama-san Bombs

About The One supposedly restoring our image overseas:

Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun cites an unnamed insider at the Foreign Ministry, who delivers a devastating account of not merely a failure to agree, but figurative slaps in the face of the rude president, delivered in retaliation. If true, President Obama has demonstrated high-handed arrogance once again, and antagonized a key ally, weakening a relationship of critical security and economic importance to the United States.

"To tell you the truth, it had to have been the worst US-Japan Summit Meeting in history,"a source of ours at the Foreign Ministry revealed to us.

How about that "close cooperation". Barack Obama, Ugly American. (Maybe that's his intent.)

HT Stix.

The Numbers Crunch

Hatch and the Children [NRO Staff]

From just a bit ago:

Mr. President, We are rapidly approaching perhaps one of the most important votes for each of us here in the United States Senate. This is bigger than us, our parties or our ideologies.

This about the very future of the greatest nation in the history of the world. It is about your children and my children. It is about your grandchildren and my children. It is about giving our future generations the same opportunities and the same sense of pride. It is about every American life and every American business that will be subject to this 2,074-page edict from Washington.

I am going to spend my time before this historic vote to highlight some very important numbers, so every member of this chamber understands what they are voting to advance. Make no mistake, our actions today will not be without consequences. History and our future generations will judge us on this. Here are some numbers:

· 0 – the number of provisions prohibiting the rationing of health care.

· 0 – the number of government-run entitlement programs that are financially sound over the long-term.

· 10.2 percent – our national unemployment rate, the highest in 26 years.

· 70 – total number of government programs authorized by the bill.

· 1,697 – times the Secretary of Health and Human Services is given authority to determine or define provisions in this bill.

· 2,074 – total pages in this bill.

· 2010 – the year Americans start paying higher taxes to pay for this bill

· 2014 – the year when this bill actually starts most of the major provisions of this bill

· $6.8 million – cost to taxpayers per word

· $8 billion – the total amount of new taxes on Americans who do not buy Washington-defined health care.

· $465 billion – Cuts in Medicare at a time when it faces a $38 trillion unfunded liability to finance more government spending.

· $494 billion – total amount of new taxes in this bill

· $2.5 trillion – the real cost of the bill

· $12 trillion – our total national debt

These numbers are facts. They are undisputable.

Let me finish by reading an excerpt from a letter from one of my fellow Utahans from Provo, who is worried just like me about what this bill will mean for our country:

“I am writing out of deep concern over the increasing expansion of government. I moved here from Germany 20 years ago. I love America because it is free – freer than Germany in that I have the freedom to choose, among other things, how I want to insure my family (we have six children). I’m all for affordable health insurance which requires affordable health care. I am self-employed and have been hit hard by the economy.

There is a good chance that we would actually benefit from [this bill]. Business has been so bad that we would qualify for free school lunches if we asked for it. But I don’t want more government handouts.

I don’t want the government telling me what kind of insurance I need to have. I don’t want the government telling me what services I can receive when I need them. I don’t want them taking an ever greater part of my income to help finance government programs such as the ‘public option’ and the army of government employees it will take to administer such a program. I do not want more government. I want less. A lot less.”

Bogus Science Busted

This is all over the net. Global warming fraud revealed.

Huge New Costs, Major FAIL on Care

GOP weekly address. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) on the Dem healthcare bill. Video.

Senate vote today to advance the bill.

More. Rational advice or rationed care? Sarah Palin.

More. Yes it really is that bad. A budget-buster in the making, David Broder, WaPo. The coming deficit disaster. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, WSJ.

Holder for Terror

When it comes to terrorists, you would think that an al Qaeda operative who targets an American mom sitting in her office or a child on a flight back home is many degrees worse than a Taliban soldier picked up after a firefight with U.S. Army troops.

Your instinct would be correct, because at the heart of terrorism is the monstrous idea that the former is as legitimate a target as the latter. Unfortunately, by dispatching Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other al Qaeda leaders to federal criminal court for trial, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be undermining this distinction. And the perverse message that decision will send to terrorists all over this dangerous world is this: If you kill civilians on American soil you will have greater protections than if you attack our military overseas.

Change of Venue for KSM?

Chris Muir.

And no way to Thomson. No terrorists in Illinois.com.

More. Andrew McCarthy, NRO on Sen. Durbin's misrepresentations. And will Osama bin Laden be read his Miranda rights?

More, in case you missed it. Kirk vs. Durbin on Thomsen. (Durbin--"A dream come true. Think of all the realtors selling homes.") Biggert vs. Schakowsky. conservativeBrand here and here.

Going Rogue

Look what I found at the local Wilmette Borders the other day. I don't recall any conservative getting such attention. Am halfway through Sarah's book, which I got today. Catching up on other news. Back blogging in a few days.

P.S. Sarah garners Oprah great ratings.

And even someone at Huffpo appalled at Newsweek sexism.

Jacksonian Democracy

A reminder. Greatness and humility. The pigeons are fans. That cannon's lookin' at you kid. Lafayette Park.

Taking a break. Back in a week or two.

Non-denial

Obama’s qualifications were will-o-the-wisp. His supporters cited his “potential,” as they had to, because his only actual feat was his first book — and the claims that this was ghosted have been met by non-denial. The Asia Times characterizes these rumors as “well-established,” which tells one something about current foreign assessments of Obama. The president’s long-standing ties to the radical left should have tipped the balance to the negative.

Related post: Barack Obama, America's Author in Chief

Taking on the Dysfunctional Elites. Sarah Palin

This is the most incisive piece I have read on the subject. James V. DeLong, Pajamas Media:

The frenetic hostility to Sarah Palin, even by many on the Republican side, is unnerving, because her qualifications to be president are objectively better than those of almost anyone who has been on the national ticket over the past decade.

A reasonable conclusion is that these qualifications are precisely the cause of the hostility. To admit to the reality that the dominant political class, including the MSM and the punditocracy of both parties, has been giving us abysmal presidential candidates, to accept that a hockey mom plucked from small-town Alaska is better than the best that the political class can come up with, would require recognition of the terrible truth that the system has become deeply dysfunctional. Doing this would force our political elites to look into an abyss of serious questions about the functioning of our democracy. Palin creates a cognitive dissonance so intense that it simply cannot be accepted.

Sarah is back, unfiltered. She's worked hard her whole life, worked her way up, and she knows what works. She's strong and she has rock-solid integrity. Unlike many of her critics.

Maleficent Maureen. Liberal Chauvinist Pigs. Snotty Stuff.

Sarah is the Fresh Air. Sarah is the fresh air. As DeLong says, we need more Palins, not fewer.

P.S. Matthew Continetti, TWS, The Palin Persuasion: A case for the new populism:

In a 1978 radio commentary that he wrote while overlooking traffic from a hotel room window, Reagan distilled the populist belief in individual ability. "They are not 'the masses,' or as the elitists would have it, 'the common man,' " Reagan said of the people driving cars on the highway below. "They are very uncommon. Individuals, each with his or her own hopes and dreams, plans and problems, and the kind of quiet courage that makes this whole country run better than just about any other place on earth." Reagan's mission was to remove the obstacles that prevented these men and women with "quiet courage" from realizing their potential.

Time for a cup of tea.

Previous posts: Good for Kirk, Sarahcuda in Play, Women of Accomplishment

Pungent Imagery from Pawlenty

The Middle Coast.

Pfizer Abandons Kelo Site

Doesn't this make you really steamed? After stealing Susette Kelo's property in cahoots with the city, now they decide they don't want it.

This is one of the reasons I started blogging. Government abuse of power, and media complacence.

We only see more of it these days. All the more reason to keep blogging.

Fire Bean 2010!

Bean is TOAST!!! Fire Melissa Bean 2010--join the TeaParty.

SEIU Shame

Dan Proft, GOP candidate for Illinois governor: SEIU: No Shame and No Give

State Worker Beat Up At SEIU Meeting. This time in California.

President Uses Sexual Slur to Demonize TeaPartiers, Others Extremists

Heritage Morning Bell:

Following last Tuesday’s election, the last thing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wanted to do was allow Members of Congress to go home and talk to their constituents about the $2.6 trillion health care bill she was marshaling through Congress. The centerpiece of Pelosi’s trap and pressure campaign was a Saturday address by President Barack Obama in the Cannon Office Building, where Obama warned Democrats: “Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit [Democratic voters] and it will encourage the extremists.”

The extremists. That is how the President of the Unites States describes Americans who do not want to see the federal government control over half of all health care spending. And just who are some of these extremists? Looking over just today’s papers we find:

• Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria: “Obama’s message to the country appears to be, “We have a dysfunctional health-care system with out-of-control costs, and let’s add 45 million people to it.” Americans see a health-care bill that has been produced by the old Democratic machine rather than the new Democratic technocrats — more Lyndon Johnson than Larry Summers. It might be the only way to get a law passed, and it might please the party’s base, but it will dismay independents.”
• The Washington Post’s Fred Hiatt: “Health-care reform should not add to the deficit. It should control health-care costs. And, once reform is passed, the government will get serious about deficit reduction. Unfortunately, the House bill fails his first test.”
• Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT): “If the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote.”

Everybody listed above acknowledges we desperately need to fix health care policy. They just do not believe that the House plan is the best way to go about doing so. Conservatives have our own, patient centered, vision for health care reform. There has even been some legislation introduced, some better than others, that reflect this vision. Supporting health care policy that empowers patients, and not a new Health Czar, is common sense, not extremism.

There is a reason the leaders on the left are desperate to keep Members of Congress in Washington and away from their constituents. If they had to face real Americans, defenders of the House health care bill would have to defend the facts that their bill:

• Has a true ten year cost of $2.6 trillion while our country already faces record deficits.
• Raises taxes by $700 billion while our country already faces 10.2% unemployment.
• Massively expands a Medicaid program that already provides substandard reimbursement rates, is bankrupting states, and is bankrupt itself.

And that does not even include the possibility that Obama’s Health Czar would use the authority granted in the bill to use the public option to destroy private health care entirely. Perhaps most striking about the President’s performance on Saturday is that he opened his 20 minute health care pep rally with some remarks about the tragic shootings at Fort Hood, Texas. That, Mr. President, is extremism. Opposing policies through democratic means is not.

Fashion on the Forefront in Pakistan

Models defy Taliban with 1st fashion week.

Related post: Not Enough Faith in the Virgins?

Death to America!

Iran accuses criminally clueless lefties, Berkeley grads, who had been arrested after wandering into Iran on a hiking holiday (complete with music video. "Bauer had been living in Damascus, Syria, with Shourd, his girlfriend") on its border with Iraq--of espionage.

Death to America!

P.S. Perhaps they will meet some fellow students in jail, those who survived. Iranian ones. Who actually understand the value of freedom.

Dems Would Have Us All Be Sheep

Last Thursday, even as lone-wolf Nidal Malik Hasan was gunning down his fellow soldiers, Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee stripped a provision from the Patriot Act which would allow tracking lone-wolf terrorists. Panel OKs revised antiterrorism law:

The bill went to the full House on a 16-10 vote along party lines; Republicans cast all the "no" votes. GOP lawmakers said the legislation would hinder law enforcement and intelligence agencies in fighting terrorism.

The legislation would allow the act's never-used "lone wolf" provision to expire at year's end. The provision lets the government spy on non-Americans even when they are not linked to a recognized terrorist group.

Clearly no biggie. It's just non-Americans who aren't a problem apparently.

Wrong on both counts. God help us.

More. (Yes it has to do with non-Americans. Yes, Americans are a problem.) Cato rolls out the snark. Perhaps Julian Sanchez should think about the chilling effect on those sworn to protect us to do their jobs--when they are being subjected to criminalizing policy decisions after the fact. Perhaps he should give some thought to the erosion of their civil liberties and our long-term freedom as a society. (Sharia does not sound promising to me.) Too much to ask apparently. Maybe you don't worry about terror in your city. But I do.

P.S. More on criminally clueless leftists for "peace". Rescue them with your pen.

P.P.S.

(b) "lone-wolf" surveillance was never opposed by anything but a fringe of privacy extremists: sensible people realize we have to be able to monitor someone who is obviously a terrorist even if the government hasn't yet developed enough evidence to connect him to a known terrorist organization — even if that's not intuitive, the Zacarias Moussaoui experience makes it easy to grasp.

More.Charles Krauthammer:

We have not had a second attack in the eight years and we have not had any significant scandals or abuse of these powers in violating the liberties of Americans. It is really quite a remarkable achievement.

Playing Quidditch at Northwestern?

Earthbound, it's called Muggle Quidditch. They have an intercollegiate league of their own, but I somehow don't think it will really catch on:

Here's brief look at the game: Each player needs a broom. One hand must be kept on the broom between your legs at all times as players run around trying to throw a slightly deflated volleyball, known as the "quaffle," past a goalie and into one of three goals, which are essentially Hula Hoops attached to PVC piping -- all this while trying to avoid being hit by rubber kick balls, or "bludgers."

That broom seems cruel.

Crime up 30% in Wilmette

It certainly seemed like the crime rate was rising to me. Now we have more than anecdotal evidence. Wilmette Life:

The Illinois crime rate fell 0.3 percent in 2008, with reports of arson showing the biggest decrease -- by nearly 10 percent -- but total numbers of burglaries, murders and robberies showing increases -- at 4.3 percent, 3.4 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.

The crime rate for all of suburban Cook County rose 1 percent in 2008 from 2007, but statistics for Chicago's individual northern suburbs were mixed.

The number of burglaries reported in Wilmette was five times higher in 2008 than a year earlier, helping that community's crime rate to jump 30 percent.

Theft reports climbed by nearly 50 percent in Glencoe in 2008 from 2007, contributing to the nearly 34 percent rise in that community's crime rate.

Not surprisingly, it's an issue in neighboring Chicago as well.

P.S. The print edition has a chart--Kenilworth is up 39%. With the exception of Winnetka, at 1.8%, the lakeshore communities are hit hardest. Winnetka follows the pattern, though, in thefts, up 27%.

An Important Great Lakes Case

Waukesha, Wisconsin looks for water from Lake Michigan. WSJ, City's Water Problems Test Great Lakes Agreement: Wisconsin City Wants to Tap Nearby Source, but Region's States Can Get in Its Way; Milwaukee Also Must Be Sold.

Wilmette is on the water and sells its excess to neighboring towns not so fortunate.

Remember this dispute when talk of ethanol comes up. It's a big water-waster. Actions have consequences--subsidizing non-economic activities distorts the wise use of resources.

As for Waukesha and its residents, they will have to make their case.