Inflation, New Jersey Style

Who knew Illinois could be bested by Ms. New Jersey?:

Massachusetts is neck-and-neck with New Jersey in the political-corruption derby. Democratic House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi was indicted for alleged influence peddling in January and resigned. He is the third consecutive House speaker to be indicted. State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson was busted last October after investigators allegedly watched her stuff bribe money into her brassiere -- providing the only real evidence of inflation in two years. Gov. Patrick is under fire for appointing political cronies to high-paying posts despite a campaign pledge to end "politics as usual." If that phrase sounds familiar, it's because Obama's campaign advisor David Axelrod also advised Patrick's gubernatorial campaign.

Ms. New Jersey.

P.S.

Max D. Stern, Wilkerson's defense attorney, pushed back, telling Hillman his client had never been convicted of destroying records. "It's an occasion to engage in character assassination," he said. "There is no evidence whatsoever that she ever destroyed documents."

Emphasis mine. These guys are more entertaining than our guys. You gotta admit that. Encore:

According to a 32-page affidavit filed in the case, Wilkerson abrought along a grandchild when she accepted a $1,000 bribe on Aug. 31, 2007, at the Fill-A-Buster restaurant, which is directly across the street from the State House.

Awk, how admirable:

"There is no evidence that she shared her cash with anyone else," Sullivan said, adding that other Beacon Hill lawmakers are not implicated.

The charges, which were unsealed this morning, contend that Wilkerson accepted the bribes in exchange for, among other things, helping the Roxbury nightclub Deja Vu get a liquor license.

Enough, puh-leaze. Deja Vu? How tasteful.

Incoming from Massachusetts

Beacon Hill is a hotbed of delicious scandal. The national press will home in on the tawdry operation, presenting Democrats in Washington with a Category Five public-relations problem. The president, the Senate and Massachusetts political corruption all will be bound up in one sound bite. Journalists will remind us of the fiasco that ensued when Illinois Democrats hastily appointed Roland Burris to fill Obama's U.S. Senate seat. Burris faces a Senate ethics investigation for failing to disclose information about his relationship with former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was indicted on federal corruption charges. This sort of publicity likely will harm Obama's already wobbly popularity numbers.

Double Feature

Can we ever get too much of our President Barack Obama? Two teensy critiques, on video. Dick Morris and then Jon Voigt: One more: P.S. It's not just Rasmussen, Zogby shows really baaaad news for Barack.

Governor Do-Gooder

Buzz from the book. Blago and Rahmbo:

Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says in a new book that White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel wanted his help in arranging to leave the Obama administration after two years to reclaim his seat in Congress.

Blagojevich writes in "The Governor" that Emanuel spoke with him about whether it was possible to appoint a "placeholder" to the congressional seat Emanuel was giving up so that he could win back the seat in 2010 and continue his efforts to become speaker some day.

The Chicago machine shuffle--who knows, but it certainly sounds plausible. Then we have this trademark quote from our former love myself, love me governor (emphasis mine--I mean why not):

Blagojevich says he told his chief of staff, John Harris, to begin working on a deal to appoint Lisa Madigan. The deal was halted when both Blagojevich and Harris were arrested the next day, Dec. 9, 2008.

"Mr. Fitzgerald didn't stop a crime spree. He stopped me from doing a lot of good for a lot of people," Blagojevich writes.

Harris has since agreed to testify against Blagojevich after pleading guilty and admitting that he repeatedly talked to the then-governor about ways he could profit from his authority to appoint Obama's successor.

Take 'em all down with you, Rod. We'll love you for it. A do-gooder by hook or by crook.

P.S. Blago says Burris has good self-esteem. The only thing healthy about the guy.

Obama Lies to the Pope

Not to his face, but our President Barack Obama is in your face, Catholics, even while accusing us and others opposed to his plan of "bearing false witness".

You are not our Messiah, Barack.

Suffer the little children.

RCP Average Shows the Damage

Obama approval tanks.

Are we miserable yet?

Well, I'm a political blogger, not an economic prognosticator, but it surely looks to me like the misery index is back in play unless the Democrats and the Obama administration change their ways. Political risk for this economy is at an all-time high, and Democrats control all the levers of power in Washington--they are responsible.

The advent of high inflation and high unemployment under President Carter in the 70's coincided with my entering the workforce as a new college graduate. I was lucky to get a job and appalled at my after-tax paycheck. That lesson impelled me to switch from the Democrat party I was raised with to the GOP and Ronald Reagan and has stuck with me. Now as I approach retirement age I think about all the unsustainable promises government-loving politicians have made, and yet they make more.

What I look at are the level of state and federal taxes and the threats to raise them, the country's debt burden, and incentives or lack of them for economic growth. The unhealthy housing market is a huge drag and will be for a while. (After all, Democrats are invested in "affordable" housing.) If this fall President Obama rolls back the unspent stimulus, kills the ill-judged cap and trade bill, and starts from scratch on health care reform in a truly bipartisan manner, that would send a signal to millions of Americans that the economy can start moving again.

But if President Obama and his big government gurus and unaccountable czars don't get out of the way, I think the economy will stall until the 2010 election when we get more direction. Unemployment is at levels we haven't seen for decades, and if we don't get a handle on government spending high inflation may follow. A year from now, polls and the market may predict the election outcome, much as the Lehman collapse did in 2008, but this time the change may be back to a GOP Congress--a check on the party of The One, a vote for prosperity and limited government. Tea parties have arisen for a reason, and town halls may continue to be rowdy--until Americans have their say and make their ballot choice.

P.S. This post in response to a question by Carl Lavin of the Forbes' Bloggers Network:

Question:
September 15, 2009 marks the first anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers and the global financial meltdown.

What is your economic forecast for 2010? Are there specific economic markers that you find particularly useful and upon which you rely on in making your prediction?

The Institutional Menu

More cheery news from across the pond--UK the national healthcare model to the Dems, cautionary tale to the rest of us: Prison food 'beats NHS hospitals'. BBC.

But then we'll probably all be eating slop if the Dem elites have their way--pricing everything higher with their nannying taxes and regulations. The end result will be paying more for lower quality.

America the institution--just say no.

P.S. George Will: Obama an Ivy League Huey Long.

Sunset with Birds

GOP weekly address

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) a key bipartisan negotiator on healthcare. Video here.

Drombeg Stone Circle

County Cork, Ireland. You can see the sea beyond.

Don't Forget to Question Schakowsky

UPDATE: Joel Pollak, Drowning out the district.***
Town Hall Meeting
with
Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-9)

Click HERE to watch Congresswoman Schakowsky admit that the aim of the so-called "public option" is to put our country on the road to a "single-payer" government-run health care system.

Monday, August 31
6:30 - 7:30pm

Niles West High School Auditorium

5701 Oakton Street
Skokie, IL 60077

Bachmann a STAR!!!

Rep. Michele Bachmann to heckler: “I’ve given birth here probably more times than you, sir”. Video of her town meeting:

--crossposted at The Middle Coast

Climate Chains

The trailer: HT The AmSpec Blog.

Previous post: Biofuel Boom a Bust

Back Off, Dems

62% Like Tax Cuts Over More Government Spending. Rasmussen:

...taxpayers, not bureaucrats, are the best judges of how to spend their own money.

Even Democrats are evenly divided.

And this, via NRO:

Heritage Foundation study suggests Obamacare could cost businesses $49 billion dollars a year, putting 5.2 million employees at risk of unemployment or underemployment. Fox News

Even the Kossacks are worried: Weekly Tracking Poll: Summer Getting Hot and Ugly For Dems

Cure is worse than the disease

Consider another Obama assertion about overhaul of health care: It won't affect you if you're happy with your health insurance.

Democrats in the House, inspired by pent-up liberal aspirations and a huge voting majority, are writing a bill already more than 1,000 pages long -- and it's not even out of committee yet. Just wait till this measure gets released to the House floor, where the piling on can really begin.

Legislation at a thousand pages and counting can't be anything but an attempt by Washington to micromanage major aspects of our health care system. And Americans are expected to believe that won't touch their lives?

Biofuel Boom a Bust

Yet another reality check for the Obama lala land administration. WSJ:

The global credit crisis, a glut of capacity, lower oil prices and delayed government rules changes on fuel mixes are threatening the viability of two of the three main biofuel sectors -- biodiesel and next-generation fuels derived from feedstocks other than food. Ethanol, the largest biofuel sector, is also in financial trouble, although longstanding government support will likely protect it.

Earlier this year, GreenHunter Energy Inc., operator of the nation's largest biodiesel refinery, stopped production and in June said it may have to sell its Houston plant, only a year after politicians presided over its opening.

Would that we could dump those subsidies--but the politics of Iowa has a death grip on them. And wouldn't you know it, another biofuel producer was convicted of fraud:

Backed by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, Cello was expected to supply 70% of the 100.7 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels that the Environmental Protection Agency planned to blend into the U.S. fuel supply next year. The alleged fraud will almost certainly prevent the EPA from meeting its targets next year, energy analysts say.

Now their lobbyists want to throw good taxpayer money after bad--as if we can afford this.

And since we're on the subject of fraud--what about fraudulent science at the EPA--and their silencing an honest scientist?

Dem Scandal News

Blago and Patti will be on The View soon to promote his tell what he wants book. Michael Sneed.

DNC, Obama to Donate Arrested Fundraiser's Money. WaPo's 44. This good reminder in the comments:

DEMOCRATS SCRAMBLE TO DONATE THE MONEY TO CHARITY-WHY WHEN HE IS PRESUMED INNOCENT? GUESS THEY KNOW HE'S GOING TO BE FOUND GUILTY! D.C. POLITICS STINK ON ICE.
"The charges prompted a scramble among top Democrats to distance themselves from Nemazee, 59, who together with his wife has contributed more than $750,000 over the past 15 years to federal committees and candidates, including Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, records show."
Obama gave back very little of the 250 thousand dollars that the now convicted corrupter of politicians Tony Rezko gave him but not the 300 thousand dollar discount on his Chicago mansion Obama received when Rezko and his wife paid $650 thousand dollars to the seller the full asking price for the lot adjacent that had to be sold or no deal for Obama. Then Rezko sold off a piece of his lot to Obama to enhance the Obama back yard and which made his unneeded lot unbuildable under the code. Rezko then sold the empty unuseable lot he never wanted to buy in the first place to friends.
Rezko is waiting to be sentenced until after he testifies in the Gov. Blago corrruption trial.
Obama received this help from Rezko who had earlied received help from State Senator Obama when Obama wrote letters supporting Rezko's public housing projects which ended up failed, some in Obama's own district. Rats infested these projects and the tenants were not provided heat during the winter. Obama did say that he IT WAS BONEHEADED to deal with the notorious Rezko at the time. It sure was. Rezko was in all the Chicago newpapers as being under FBI heavy investigation and Obama first denied knowing it but then fessed up!
This was all over the Chicago newpapers but the MSM ignored it.

Keep up your pressure, Illinois

Tribune editorial.

More: Illinois Review asks GOP candidates for governor their vision for Illinois. And candidate Dan Proft on Gov. Quinn's veto.

Prairie Grass Roots

The Middle Coast.

The Tort Reform the Trial Lawyers don't want you to have

It would save billions but no matter, the trial lawyers own the Democrat party. Howard Dean lets the truth slip, Charles Krauthammer backs it up. They've both been doctors, interestingly. Video via RCP. And Krauthammer this morning, can the Dems rescue ObamaCare? God help us.

What the MSM doesn't want you to see

ABC & NBC Refuse to Air This Ad Critical of Obama’s Health Care Plan:

The elderly learn to use google

David Harsanyi finds a new use for those color-coded threat alerts:)

In other news, our President Barack Obama's job approval falls to new low. Mark Silva, LA Times.

Twitter Battle Begins

The Middle Coast.

Healthcare will not be pain free

Betsy McCaughey takes on Rahmbo's Dr. No brother and Obama healthcare adviser Ezekiel Emanuel once more with feeling.

Look at that graph. Does Barack Obama feel your pain? Barack Antoinette.

A Bitter and Dreadful Day

Daniel Henninger, WSJ, The War on Terror is Dead":

Shakespeare wrote, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." As we know, that didn't happen. Four hundred years later, they're killing us with the smothering pillow of hyper-proceduralism. Now the lawyers are about to smother the war on terror. [snip]

Mr. Holder's justification, that his own reading of the "available facts" gave him no choice, is close to a preordained conclusion that Mr. Durham will cite one of these CIA guys for criminal prosecution.

The day of Mr. Holder's announcement, CIA Director Leon Panetta said his agency received "multiple written assurances its methods were lawful." It's now clear that even playing by the rules cannot stop erosion by legal challenge.[snip]

This litigation nightmare, together with the chilling effect of the special prosecutor's potential indictments, has as its goal making the price of aggressive interrogation too high under any circumstance, including a one-hour-bomb scenario.

Andrew McCarthy, NRO: Remember ‘No Controlling Legal Authority’? The CIA probe shows once more that the law does not control this attorney general.

Who will protect us now that those who risked their lives and sacrificed countless hours and sleepless nights are being demonized and their families suffer? Who will be the new Sandy Pants Berger, hiding the evidence of criminal cowardice after innocent Americans have died in the thousands at the hands of terrorists? Death to America--from this administration.

Richardson Gets Pass on Pay to Play

Killed in Washington by the Chicago Way Obama administration:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former high-ranking members of his administration won't be criminally charged in a yearlong federal investigation into pay-to-play allegations involving one of the Democratic governor's large political donors, someone familiar with the case said.

The decision not to pursue indictments was made by top Justice Department officials, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified because federal officials had not disclosed results of the probe.

"It's over. There's nothing. It was killed in Washington," the person told The Associated Press.

No prizes for guessing why.

Kinzinger at the Fair

Candidate for the Illinois 11th Congressional District, Air Force veteran and reservist, and former McLean County Board Member, elected at age 20, Adam Kinzinger. Video interview: HT Illinois Review.

No Big Tent

Controversy in New Jersey. In the U.S. to address that dictator's haven, the U.N., Moammar Gadhafi may come to town, prompting outrage after the UK's release of the terrorist Lockerbie bomber and Libya's welcoming him as a hero. He wants to pitch a tent in the grounds of a Libyan-owned mansion. The next-door neighbor? WSJ:

Over the years, Englewood's Orthodox Jewish community has grown. It now numbers about 700 families. One of the newcomers was Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, whose Web site identifies him as "America's Rabbi," and who has gained fame for his book, "Kosher Sex." Rabbi Boteach's much more modest house is next door to Libya's.

"I wanted to go say hello, but there was never anybody to say hello to," he says. "It was a real hovel," he adds.

A month ago, Rabbi Boteach and his family awoke to noise. Workers next door had cut down some oak trees between the two properties. Libya's house was under total renovation.

The rabbi went over to complain, and received warm apologies. Then, the Lockerbie bomber was released, and the rabbi is ready to sue.

"I was prepared to give Gadhafi the benefit of the doubt -- that he really wanted to change," Rabbi Boteach says. "Now he's shown that he's the same guy. And they haven't replanted my trees, which they cut down."

As for Libya suing to put up a tent under religious freedom statutes, well, gee, can other faiths have reciprocity over there? I think not.

In the friendly confines...

Bradley accuses Cubs fans of racism

How about just play ball.

Profit is Key to Defining Choices

The health care bills are perfect examples. If competition is a discovery process, the congressional bills would impose the opposite of competition. They would forbid real choice.

In place of the variety of products that competition would generate, we would be forced "choose" among virtually identical insurance plans. Government would define these plans down to the last detail. Every one would have at least the same "basic" coverage, including physical exams, maternity benefits, well-baby care, alcoholism treatment and mental-health services. Consumers could not buy a cheap, high-deductible catastrophic policy. Every insurance company would have to use an identical government-designed pricing structure. Prices would be the same for sick and healthy.

In this respect, it wouldn't matter whether or not Congress created a "public option," a government insurance plan. In either case, bureaucrats would dictate virtually every aspect of the health-insurance business.

What Obama says in favor of a public option -- as of today, at least -- tells us how little he understands competition. The public option's virtue, he told Smerconish, is that "there wouldn't be a profit motive involved." But as St. Lawrence University economist Steven Horwitz writes in The Freeman magazine, profit is not just a motive. Profit (along with loss) is what enables competition to perform its discovery role:

The Michelle Shoe

Sculpture by Sole Sensations, Miami. This is What Michelle Obama Distilled Down to Shoe Form Would Look Like

And maybe these shoes could give you a workout too. Barack will require you to work. At least it's not a stiletto heel.

Get your email

America is restless tonight. All these emails circulating. I feel the need to share. You may have read them but whatever. Plus bonus video below!!! First one:

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaule decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaule said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible. Rusk responded "does that include
those who are buried here?

DeGuale did not respond. You could have heard a pin drop!



When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed over 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'


You could have heard a pin drop!

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe
it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you
wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.


AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.
"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs
officer asked sarcastically.. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. "Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."
The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have
to show it." "Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on
arrival in France !" The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."

You could have heard a pin drop.


If you are proud to be an American, pass this on! If not, delete it.

Next one:

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Sanders, please."

"Speaking."

"Mrs. Sanders, this is Dr. Jones at St. Agnes Laboratory. When your husband's doctor sent his biopsy to the lab last week, a biopsy from another Mr. Sanders arrived as well. We are now uncertain which one belongs to your husband. Frankly, either way the results are not too
good."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Sanders asks nervously.

"Well, one of the specimens tested positive for Alzheimer's and the other one tested positive for HIV. We can't tell which is which."

"That's dreadful! Can you do the test again?" questioned Mrs. Sanders.

"Normally we can, but the new health care system will only pay for these expensive tests just one time."

''Well, what am I supposed to do now? "

"The folks at ObamaCare recommend that you drop your husband off somewhere in the middle of town. If he finds his way home, don't sleep with him."

And this one, version by Director Blue, emailed to me by Alex, who headed it, "They're all broke". Bonus video!!!:

And that's the way it is, America. Good night.

P.S. TOTUS kicker.

The Private Option

LA Unified School District chooses private-sector competition

Plus, this CityJournal article is a gem: Whatever happened to the work ethic?

Previous post: Civil Rights Travesty

Mitt in the Senate?

Go for it.

What's the definition of SNAFU?

Cash for Clunkers. Your government at work. (SNAFU)

The worm has turned

An ACORN thug cuts a deal with Nevada prosecutors. Matthew Vadum, TAS:

The Edwards plea bargain came the same week that CCI, the financial heart of the ACORN network, was accused of filing false lobbying disclosure reports with Congress. That revelation is important because, as former D.C. ACORN housing committee member Charles Turner said earlier this year, CCI "is where the shell game begins."

ACORN also owes millions in back taxes.

The Universe is the Limit

Some mothers may choose home births but all moms would want the choice of a hospital if need be. But in the UK babies are born in haphazard places:

Thousands of women are having to give birth outside maternity wards because of a lack of midwives and hospital beds.

The lives of mothers and babies are being put at risk as births in locations ranging from lifts to toilets - even a caravan - went up 15 per cent last year to almost 4,000.

Health chiefs admit a lack of maternity beds is partly to blame for the crisis, with hundreds of women in labour being turned away from hospitals because they are full.

I guess that's what they mean over there by universal healthcare--you could be born anywhere.

Civil Rights Travesty

Bad stats on math and science again for the U.S. CNN:

In math, U.S. high schoolers were in the bottom quarter of the countries that participated, trailing countries including Finland, China and Estonia.

According to the report, the U.S. math scores were not measurably different in 2006 from the previous scores in 2003. But while other countries have improved, the United States has remained stagnant.

In science, the United States falls behind countries such as Canada, Japan and the Czech Republic.

Merit pay works, with an impact even on AP kids. Boston Globe:

TEACHERS UNIONS see red on the subject of merit pay. But the results released yesterday on a bold education experiment suggest that paying teachers for performance helps in preparing students for college-level work.

Teachers union "leadership" is so mean-spirited and mediocre they don't even care about rewarding excellence among their own members--why would they care about encouraging it in your kids and mine?

Are you listening all you Dems who claim to care about kids? What will it take to break the NEA stranglehold on our schools? Leadership. Are you listening Barack Obama?

How about starting with D.C. school choice? Yeah, right:

As children in D.C. head back to school this week, the Obama administration’s decision to phase-out the very-successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program is going to start having an impact on affected students. The bottom line is that 216 children have been denied the chance to go to a school of their parents’ choice. Many of these kids will have no choice but to attend low-performing and, tragically, often dangerous schools. Secretary Duncan and the Obama administration should continue to be reminded of this mistake and pushed to fix it.

If you want a lasting legacy, Mr. President, this is it. For good or for ill--if you don't fix this you will go down in history as a civil rights travesty.

The Pelosi-Obama Deficits

Taking us into disaster, taking away our freedoms. WSJ:

We've never fretted over budget deficits, at least if they finance tax cuts to promote growth or spending to win a war. But these deficit estimates are driven entirely by more domestic spending and already assume huge new tax increases. CBO predicts that debt held by the public as a share of GDP, which was 40.8% in 2008, will rise to 67.8% in 2019—and then keep climbing after that. CBO says this is "unsustainable," but even this forecast may be optimistic.

Read on for the gory details. And needless to say, this duplicitous estimate does not include the minimum $1 TRILLION the Big Brother government health care bill will cost.

This administration is taking a radical and monstrously selfish path that imperils us in our old age and condemns our children and grandchildren to be old before their time, burdened with a crushing debt--we are just cogs in the wheel of his statist vision.

The Obama Master Plan.

Ted is Dead

Anatreptic. I would just add, rest in peace. Maybe now the next generation of Kennedys can forge their own lives.

Dirty Tricks

Busted!... Dem Headquarters Vandalized By SEIU Activist!!... Dems Blamed GOP

And this, via the Instapundit:

OUCH: “A few weeks ago, Eric Holder saw nothing wrong with Black Panthers using billy clubs to intimidate voters. Today, he thinks intimidating terrorists with cigars is a crime. Holder is the one who should be answering tough questions under oath.”

Oh, yes, and while Democrats and their paid goons are treating and framing their fellow Americans as the enemy, what about next time?

Katie Couric, Fighting for YOU!!!

A new "elite interrogation unit", that President Barack Obama has appointed to quiz terrorism detainees, will apparently be run by CBS News anchor Katie Couric, rather than the Central Intelligence Agency.

If the report from anonymous sources proves accurate, the former NBC "Today" hostess, would head up the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG, under the president's National Security Council. Detainee-questioning sessions would be filmed before a live studio audience in Burbank, California.

Record Deficits

Our President Barack Obama announced the reappointment of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to try to overshadow the horrendous deficit news. CNBC:

The US economy will shrink far more than expected this year and will rebound much more slowly than forecast after that, according to a bleak new assessment by the White House Budget Office.

The federal government also faces exploding deficits and mounting debt over the next decade, far worse than what the Obama administration had estimated just a few months ago.

The revised estimates project that the economy will contract by 2.8 percent this year, more than twice what the White House predicted earlier this year.

Well, but everyone but the Obamabots knew their projections were too rosy, as they were more optimistic than even the nonpartisan CBO, which in a Dem Congress already leaned a bit left of center. We're at NINE TRILLION now, up TWO TRILLION from their May estimate--gee that much difference in 3 months, but then this administration has been setting all kinds of records for recklessness. But we're not done yet, no, no, no:

Moreover, the figures show the public debt doubling by 2019 and reaching three-quarters the size of the entire national economy.

Is it any wonder Americans don't want to go into massive debt for Big Brother healthcare? Washington needs to get out of the way and let our American resilience reassert itself. Figure it out, Barack. Figure it out.

Going after Obey

Two GOP challengers face off to take down that crusty old tax and spender, Wisconsin 7th district Dem David Obey. Washington Times. Support Sean Duffy for Congress.

Currently Ashland County District Attorney, he's originally from Hayward, near my old hometown. Duffy is the 10th of 11 kids, and his logrolling from the age of 5 and win at the World Lumberjack Championship got him a spot on The Real World, where he met and later married Rachel Campos.

Big Turnout for Kirk Town Hall

So packed he added a second session. Tribune.

I was unable to attend. Conservative Brand with pre-townhall remarks.

Nine conservatives protest Kirk's candidacy to county chairmen. Illinois Review. Attorney Patrick Hughes is their choice.

Right now I'm leaning Eric Wallace for Senate in the Republican primary.

Single Payer. The Musical:)

The video: HT NRO.

That's all, folks!

No Rust Belt

Some of you may think this is wonderful for the rest of the U.S. (I'm not one of them, I may move there), but it may not be just Texas that can secede from the union. I like this part:

2. We refine over 90% of the gasoline in the United States

And especially this:

4. Oil — we can supply all the oil that the Republic of TEXISIANSAS will need for the next 300 years. What will the other states do? Gee, we don’t know. Why not ask Obama?

5. Natural Gas — again, we have all we need and it’s too bad about those Northern States. John Kerry and Al Gore will just have to figure out a way to keep them warm…

And nothing rusts down there.

Obama and Holder Betrayal

Like other reports that have been made public, the CIA IG's "Special Review" shows that the Bush administration was determined not to torture detainees or to treat them with undue harshness. It reflects that guidelines were promulgated to ensure reasonably humane treatment, despite the urgent imperative of getting life-saving information from al Qaeda terrorists. And it shows that those guidelines were followed, but for a handful of abuses that occurred mostly in the early days after September 11.

The report also notes that six years ago, the incidents it describes were referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution, and DOJ determined that there was nothing there that merited prosecution. For Barack Obama and Eric Holder to reverse that decision six years later, in hopes of political gain, is deeply contemptible.

Dems to Vets: Drop Dead

Death Book in use by V.A. FoxNews:

My problem with the document, Chris, is that the author of it is a proponent of assisted suicide. He's way out there on that issue. And the V.A. has been using this. A new directive just came out in July, urging providers to refer patients to it. So in my view, there should be a balanced treatment. And this is a slippery slope that kind of makes people — when you look at the document, it makes people feel like they're a burden and that they should do the decent thing and die.

Tammy Duckworth lying for Obama. Just a disgrace. Plus, great news!: 1,200 veterans wrongly told they got fatal disease.

The new pariahs

Whole Foods is under siege. If you can afford it, buy a few things at Whole Foods, maybe even some arugula for the cause of freedom--because under the Dear Leader PC Obamanation dissent is not patriotic any more. Nor is choice--do you think food choice is in our future? They're taxing candy now--it's the new sin. Pretty soon we'll have to take it outside, crunching on our snickers bars out in the cold. The new pariahs, dodging the foodie police. Yes You Can kiss that Blue Moon Belgian White goodbye (sorry, the orange won't save you.)

And then they'll mark it on our healthcare report card--a zero for attitude. Won't look good in front of the death panel apparachiks.

P.S. Whole Foods boycott a bust. IBD.

A Million YouTube Views

Physician and Rep. Tom Price admonishes govt-takeover of healthcare--remember, the Dems wanted to cram this through without coming home to listen to constituents. Watch it again: P.S. Here's his Saturday response to the president. And Heritage deals with myths and facts of Obamacare.

Say Yes to Heidi's Healthcare

...the country of Switzerland has achieved universal coverage and excellent health care outcomes at costs 40 percent lower than ours, as a percentage of GDP, without a public program or government-run market. Instead, ferocious competition among the country's 87 private insurers has driven their general and administrative expenses down to 5 percent, a percentage lower than Medicare's.

The key to Switzerland's success is that it is consumer-driven - people buy their own health insurance. No employers or degrading government programs are involved. Instead, the poor receive money from the government so they can buy the same insurance as the average Swiss. The sick among the Swiss are not discriminated against either - the private insurers reinsure each other so that sick enrollees pay the same prices as the average person.

The Art of Politically Correct Apology by Bill Maher

Ralph Alter, The American Thinker.

(Thanks for the link by the way.)

Protecting Our Seniors

GOP Principles for Health Care. Michael Steele, WaPo. Brushing back Steele here.

More: Health Care Reform: "Better, cheaper, and a right. Pick any two." Reason.

Government Should Get Back to the Basics on Health Care. Harvard B school prof Regina Herzlinger, RCP.

And in case you missed this, The Competition Cure. WSJ.

Obama's Plan to Desecrate 9/11

Matthew Vadum, TAS. Yes, ACORN and their ilk are involved. Another chapter in the takeover--U.S. of A-CORN.

Just throw the flag and our real sacrifices away--this is the new national emblem.

P.S. ACORN gets $$$ from bailed out banks. Deja vu all over again. Video, Fox Business, via Weasel Zippers.

Sun Times Shines but Black Eye

Sun Times wins honors for Blago-Burris reporting.

Ah yes, but recall, their bigwigs did endorse him for re-election:

The governor said the charges against Rezko, if true, represent a personal betrayal by Rezko, and that he himself has never been involved in any unethical or illegal fund-raising. Our experience with Blagojevich prompts us to take him at his word.

That was a black eye then and is now.

Beating up on Star Bright Baby

How the new consumer "protection" law mandates tests that cost more than the manufacturing. Penalizing your knitting granny and putting your mom entrepreneur out of business. HotAir.

Where is our America?

Negative Double Digits

O's polling. Rasmussen. Gee, what could account for this? Perhaps his debt-laden policies and lack of leadership?

Mark Steyn:

Perhaps if President Obama were to have his all-seeing O logo lovingly hand-painted onto each sign, it would stimulate the economy even more, if only when they were taken down and auctioned on eBay.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, India, China, Japan and much of Continental Europe, the recession has ended. In the second quarter this year, both the French and German economies grew by 0.3 percent, while the U.S. economy shrank by 1 percent. How can that be? Unlike America, France and Germany had no government stimulus worth speaking of; the Germans declined to go the Obama route on the quaint grounds that they couldn't afford it.

They did not invest in the critical signage-in-front-of-holes-in-the-road sector.

The President may not know it, but we do--the buck stops here.

Melissa Bean's Cowardly Town Hall

Not blogging the rest of this week:) but you don't want to miss this. Marathon Pundit with the details. It's tonight.

Willow, wild and tame

Taking a break. Back next week.

Bill Ayers: Unregistered foreign agent?

Did Hugo bankroll Bill? Accuracy in Media:

A state Freedom of Information Act request for official information on the foreign travel of University of Illinois Professor Bill Ayers has disclosed trips to Taiwan, Germany, and Amsterdam for "educational" purposes over the last several years, but nothing to Venezuela, which is where we know that he was in 2006, propagandizing for Hugo Chavez. So it appears that Ayers' trip to celebrate Chavez's "Socialism of the 21st Century" was financed by someone or something other than the taxpayers who pay Ayers' $126,000 annual salary at a public university. Did Chavez pick up the tab?

The complete results of several Freedom of Information Act requests to the University of Illinois about Ayers will be discussed at an August 20 conference in Washington, D.C. that I am convening.

We are told that Ayers, a political associate of Barack Obama, has abandoned his activities as a communist terrorist, and that he and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, another former leader of the Weather Underground, are now "respectable" academics. Ayers is formally known as a "Distinguished Professor" of Education and "University Scholar," while Dohrn, a one-time booster of mass murderer Charles Manson, teaches law and discusses "human rights" issues at Northwestern University. But the Chavez regime that they are aiding and abetting is backed by terrorist Iran and directly implicated in the activities of the communist narco-terrorists in Colombia. Perhaps their continuing influence over Obama helps explain why the President has been so accommodating toward Chavez.

HT Babalu blog. Mary Anastasia O'Grady, WSJ wonders why Obama is so supportive of Chavez on Honduras? More Ayers' Venezuelan connections--Ayers and Dohrn raised Boudin. From my post back last April:

And Bill Ayers' relationship with Chesa Boudin. NY Times:

They have also brought up Chesa Boudin, 21, the son of David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin, who are serving prison terms for a 1981 robbery of a Brinks truck in Rockland County, N.Y., that left four people dead. Last month, Ms. Boudin's application for parole was rejected.

resurfaces in the news in relationship to Hugo Chavez, and the Woods Fund. Obama and Ayers served on the board of the Woods Fund together, and Ayers is still on the board of the Woods Fund, as well as on the advisory board to Chavez (click on Directorio)

Presidencia

Luis Bonilla Molina

Directorio

Haiman El Troudi

Maximilien Sánchez A.

Gilberto Giménez

Héctor Navarro

Pedro González

Edgardo Lander

Asesores

Marta Harnecker

Michael Lebowitz

Juan Carlos Monedero

Victor Ríos

Algunos Cooperantes Internacionales

Bill Ayers

Peter Mclaren

Theotonio dos Santos

Nathalia Jaramillo

Eva Golinger

Jorge Gantiva

Ezequiel Ander Egg

Paulo Padilha

Chesa Boudin

Al Campbell

HT Pat Hickey. As we know, Chavez bankrolled FARC terrorists, who heart Obama. Who told FARC so much about Barack anyway, hmm? Among others. Quite the foreign fan club. Gee, why didn't the NY Times bring this up about Boudin, hmm?

Ayers is off the roster for Hugo's "think tank" but most likely not off the team.

Bill Ayers, Barack's Bomber Buddy. Obama-Che Chavista.

Related posts: "Retired Terrorist" Ayers, Ayers-Dohrn Road Show, The God Damn America Duo, Bill Ayers and his Acolytes, Ayers, Dohrn Accused of Bombing, The Trouble with Ayers, Ayers' Murderous Intent, Wright Wrong Again, Taking Stock of Barack: A primer on his radical friends, Whiner Ayers, Ayers-Dohrn SDS Reunion Tapes,

NBC Sells Obama Merchandise in Company Store

The network a captive market to our President Barack Obama's success (or failure). MSNBC is a more blatant example--and it's failing. Quite the interview here. Watch:

Chicago Alderman Chased by Citizens

No, they didn't brandish canes or threaten with shoes, Schakowsky style vs. Rostenkowski, they shouted. The meeting was billed as a discussion of the 2016 Olympics but the main reason people were there was crime on the north side. Yes, crime is an issue in Chicago. (And it's not just the city.) Um, how did that community organizing work out? Raw video via Chicago News Bench: Deja vu, hmm? Do you find this "shameful" and "despicable" Jan? Aren't these protests part of the rich tapestry of America? (though I leave Code Pinkos out of it, thank you very much.)

Lake Minnewanka's Camera Hog, uh Squirrel

Video:

Conservative Nation

Don't forget The Middle Coast. (most of the country by these lights)

Cost too much, done too little

Poll: 57% don't see stimulus working. USA Today/Gallup.

Obama Misread His Mandate. Jay Cost, RCP.

Obama's Health-Care Mess. Victor Davis Hanson.

Ramirez cartoon.

More. Rasmussen:Voters Skeptical About Health Care Reform Claims Made By Pelosi and Hoyer

She was just his voice

The latest shady Dem entrant to the Illinois Senate race, Illinois Urban league head Cheryle Jackson, claims as our impeached Gov. Blago's deputy chief of staff she had nothing to do with a questionable deal. Sun Times:

But a series of previously undisclosed e-mails between Blagojevich staffers call that assertion into question. The e-mails were flying as the then-governor's staff scrambled to fulfill his promise to give $1million in state aid to Pilgrim Baptist Church, a Bronzeville landmark destroyed by fire.

Blagojevich's promise, made with TV cameras rolling in January 2006 as he was seeking re-election, blew up in his face last year when the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that the money intended for the church went instead to a clout-heavy private school, the Loop Lab School, that had rented space from the church in a building next to its sanctuary at 3300 S. Indiana.

Jackson no longer was on Blagojevich's staff at the time the story was published March 3, 2008. But Blagojevich aides discussed her involvement in the matter in e-mails retrieved by Illinois Auditor General William Holland and reviewed by the Sun-Times.

"Cheryle Jackson ... indicated that Loop Lab School -- an entity that leased space from the Church -- would be the actual recipient" of the money, then-Blagojevich deputy chief of staff Kristin Richards wrote that same day.

That $1 million is still outstanding with nothing to show for it--the church doesn't have it (of course that raises a whole other issue) and the school has not re-opened after a fire destroyed the church. Jackson claims she was just Blago's "voice" and takes no responsibility. How reassuring.

Seriously, how can anyone expect Ms. Jackson to be a voice of the people of Illinois in the U.S. Senate?