Michelle's Edible Chocolate Sculpture Style

Dining out last night at Co Co. Sala:

A Yeas & Nays source tells us she dined with seven friends for dinner and, of course, dessert -- which featured an edible chocolate sculpture and house-made artisanal chocolates by Chef Santosh Tiptur. We're told Obama's favorite savory was Chef Tiptur's Moroccan Swordfish Sliders with chermoula marinade, fennel salad, aged pecorino and hazelnut coffee dressing.

Obesity lecture today. The corporate shakedown continues, cuz they don't wanna be on the wrong side (read on for the back story) of this punitive administration.

Then there's the fashion book, inspiring this kind of reaction, which I think is about right:

I do not remember Laura Bush having to live with so many experts about her fashion choices.- Karen, New York USA, 30/11/2011 13:24 Laura Bush was never compared to Mrs. Kennedy. She was never held up as a fashion icon the way Michele is. I don't remember any other president's wife since Jacqueline Kennedy who has had the beauty, charm, and fashion sense that she had, but only Michele has been compared to her. She doesn't even come close. Thus the criticism.

- Francesca, France, 30/11/2011 16:47

Less is more, Michelle.

That goes for the campaign trail too. You might tell your spouse.

Related post: Barack Obama, Man of Mystery

Fugitive ex-cop's wife takes the Fifth at pension hearing

Quite a headline. But then this is Chicago, IL.

Another one: Pension abuse crackdown heads to Quinn State lawmakers target union leaders but fail to address system's huge debt

Dem union bosses and their PR hacks hide behind the Illinois Constitution--as if it's worth the paper it's written on.  

The state is bankrupt--there's no more other people's money. 

I've said it before--the entire Dem state is run as one big patronage system, and there's so much looting going on the state is stiffing basic safety net service providers to prop up public union salaries and benefits. This can't go on.

Barack Obama, Man of Mystery

No more? There's Ayers tossing off explosive asides, Project Vote/ACORN getting blatant as can be, O himself is on tape bragging on the Rev. Wright, and the president's long festering...

 who is our president.

And the Midwest Academy folks, maybe they’re kicking themselves right now – I hope they are – for putting their files on record. And when I finally dug up these files, I truly was amazed because what we really had here was a living, breathing, Socialist front group as if it had been taken from the 1930s and transported into the ’80s and the ’90s and beyond in the United States.

...now naked class warfare is losing him independents. Meanwhile, in sleepy PA, another veil is ripped aside:

Have a nice day, Barack. We're on the trail too.

P.S. The "English" embassy? ...crony Camelot. And Jay Cost on O's emperor with no clothes campaign strategy.

Related posts: Matthews Savages Obama,  The Bolshie Chicago Mob in the White House: Shakedown

Ayers Speaks up Again, Challenges O's Story

Busted: Ayers Admits To Obama Fundraiser That Obama Campaign Called ‘Myth’Yessiree, the Obama campaign has been caught flat-footed on this one.

Could it be Me-chelle forgot to send Bill Ayers a fat-free fruitcake to ensure his silence?

I'm sure Ayers wants the recognition...and the royalties.

How rich, richer than a full-freight fruitcake, Bill Ayers speaks truth to power. #OccupyObama

P.S. Back in the day. Barack O-yeah. Doncha know.

Do we trust one-child China to make our vaccines?

Do we? The country that exported poisonous dog food, toothpaste, and sold killer milk to its own children? The country that forcibly aborts babies? Allegedly harvests organs from prisoners? Jails and tortures human rights protestors and bloggers?

Do they have the kind of ethics we should trust with the lives of our children?

Should we pay for drugs from a state monopoly?

What are the national security implications at being so dependent, should their state subsidies knock out our free-market pharmaceutical companies?

Where will the research innovation come from if American and other free-market private sector entities are left with little or no profitability to invest in the next life-saving drugs?

How will we know China's not lying to us? And if there's a shortage, well then, who gets meds first.

Commie party bosses and their hangers on.

Who can forget China's earthquake anguish, the shoddily-constructed schools that buried the only children of countless families.

Can we trust China to care and be accountable.

And yet they hold much of our debt.

Another reason to free this country from the Dems tax and spend stranglehold and the Obama administration's heedless path to penury and slavery.

My rant. My reaction. On this one issue.

Now we know why most Americans hate Obamacare. Because it's the same kind of (lying pols and) faceless bureaucracy making life and death decisions...yes they can.

O's True Confessions

Audacity of mendacity. Daily Caller:

Hey Barack, these neighborhoods are all the same or worse off than when you began your "community organizing" with your hate-mongering philosophy, your race-baiting pastor of nearly 20 years.

Why don't you tell the truth--your leftist class warfare and policies are failure on a massive scale.

And most Americans know it, even if the PC media largely won't hold you accountable for it.

Just drawing squares would be better

Than this computer-assisted misery of a map.

In years past I was offended by the Wilmette Jr. High Social Studies teacher who assigned students to color and label a map. I thought that was pretty poor for their age. Maybe they did actually learn the location of states and countries, though, I don't know.

But I do know this--we'd be better off in the state of Illinois if I drew squares to make legislative districts.

Herman, why?

A sad way to end a campaign. I've defended him from anonymous accusations and opportunistic ones, and this charge of an affair is not sexual harassment. I've concluded he wasn't serious on the issues.

But why embark on this entire effort if you knew there was kind of relationship, or even a question about it, in your past--apparently recent past.

Why would you do that to your supporters.

Why would you do that to your wife of 40 years.

OccupyChicago Shrinks, O Abandons Working Americans

With the winds in the city howling this morning will they slink away soon? Video of the pitiful group.

Sunny LA goes softly, softly but even the leftist Times is getting antsy. Maybe they've seen this kind of thing too often.

NY Times admits The One is kissing off any pretense of being for a big swath of Americans--the little guy.

Pethokoukis on the income-inequality myth, El Rushbo pithy.

P.S. #OccupyUncleBarney

More. In case you missed it:  Obama Keeps Turning His Back on Jobs

...Obama Abandons the Working Class - William McGurn, Wall Street Journal:

...places like Scranton, where the 9.7% unemployment rate is the worst in the state. When the Obama stimulus came, Lackawanna County spent nearly half of the $39 million it received on education, which means teachers. The city has been deemed "finally distressed" for two decades, and just this month the mayor released a new budget that includes a 29% hike in property taxes.

If these citizens weren't bitter before, they sure have reason to be now. For the white working class, the private sector was what gave them jobs and propelled them into the middle class. Yet whether it's drilling for oil or putting up a shopping mall, today's Democratic Party seems opposed to most of the private-sector jobs that deliver opportunity to those without a college degree. [snip]
Above all, the way to win is by asking Americans whether they want a future for their children that looks like Texas and Indiana—or like Michigan and Illinois?

Howling winds.

That Smokin' Volt!

Such a deal. GM offers loaners:

The move comes after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Friday that the government is investigating fires involving the Volt’s lithium-ion batteries. NHTSA said a Volt battery pack that was being monitored after a crash test caught fire on Thursday. The agency says another battery that recently was crash-tested gave off smoke and sparks. The latest fires are in addition to a battery fire at a test facility in Wisconsin back in June.

What, another Volt?

Pigs Perilously Close to Flying

Uncle Barney is retiring.

White House press corps presses hard.

Liberalism indefensible and bankrupt.

P.S.  #OcccupyUncleBarney

Is there a Monday song?

Clean up and cyber-shop.

I did read one thing this weekend:
What Is Constitutional Conservatism? - Yuval Levin, National Review

A bit of Newt, a bit of Krauthammer.

We are feisty today.

And WFMT plays the Nutcracker on the radio.

This Blessed Country

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving

Romney had a bad night

He gets smacked down by Ron Paul, who gets smacked down by Newt, who gets gnat-attacked by the over the top Romney-Bachmann team.

Save our can-only-be-hand-picked peaches emerges as the surprise of the night.

Perry stellar on defending Defense, Newt smacks Pakistan.

Cain does the Blitz.

I am off to bake pies and God Bless America.

 ---Ramirez   ...Barone

Small Business Strides in Wisconsin

Courtesy of the GOP and Gov. Walker. The Wisconsin model: ...Next door, Dem Illinois struggles.

We just imagined ObamaRezko. Orwellian

Yes, we can forget about all that Yes We Can (buy that house, etcetera, etcetera) stuff. My friend Marathon Pundit joins me in the disgust, as do Trib commenters below:

CaptAhab2 at 7:40 AM November 22, 2011 Tony Rezko is a witness to corruption on an outrageous scale right up to the President. He could testify to unprecedented levels of wrongdoing. Instead, he is being swept  under a rug as quietly as possible. Crime is to be exposed and punished whereaver it leads. In this case the tip of the Rezko iceberg is all we have purposely been given.
The prosecutor has made the decision that the public does not need to know what lies beneath what little has been released about this man's relationships. The prosecutor is wrong, it needs to be exposed and all participants must be punished.
This criminal made a carreer out of criminalizing Illinois politics, that's all he did bribe, curry favor and profit from his crimes. All he did was bribe and steal. He had a lot of helpfrom politicians and unions, however Mr Fitzgerald and his handlers don't think you should have any more involvement that paying for it all.
Expose the corruption wherever it leads. That is the law.

catface at 7:54 AM November 22, 2011 This is why Obama hired Eric Holder to act as a "fire wall" between himself and "Operation Board Games"...Eric Holder would have been thrown under the bus months ago with the "fast and furious' scandal but Obama needs Holder and now Holder needs Obama...What a cute couple...make me sick!!! and what is Patrick Fitzgerald doing??? A lot of nothing...If anyone thinks this guy cares about corruption they are very much mistaken...He didn't even question Tony Rezko about the implications Frawley made in sworn depositions about the President...and the press has completely ignored the players in the Companion Security scam, I can see them not being able to get to Tony Rezko but Daniel T. Frawley, Dan Mahru, Stuart Levine, John Thomas/Bernard Barton are all out walking around free as birds and not one interview with the press....IF this was George Bush or a republican, they would be camping on thier front lawns.

P.S. Chicago Daily Observer: Will Tony Rezko Walk from Wisconsin Jail?

Update: Rezko gets 10 years plus in the pen, he's served 4 already. Still no mention of his connection to Obama--he was his top money man, even as Bill Ayers was his political godfather.

Sun Times with this bit:

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve said she found it offensive that Rezko put at risk the Teachers’ Retirement System by scheming for kickbacks with a board member in 2004.

Yes, it's all Rezko's fault the piggy teachers union and Dem pols unsustainably rich pensions are at risk. Rezko and Blago are the whipping boys for the flagrant corruption and incompetence in this state--you think it's going to stop? This is the Obama/Dem modus operandi.

More. Trib no mention of O at all, the Sun Times just says he was a "friend", Crain's does a better job:

Rezko was convicted in 2008 of fraud, money laundering and plotting to squeeze $7 million in kickbacks from firms that wanted to do business with the state during Blagojevich's tenure. The governor was arrested six months later and convicted this year on charges that included trying to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama's old Senate seat. He is set to be sentenced next month and is expected to get about 10 years.

The 56-year-old Rezko also was a political fundraiser for Obama during his campaigns for Illinois senator, though not for his presidential campaign. Obama has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case, but his relationship with Rezko became an issue during the 2008 election.

Ha.

Related post:  Another uncompetitive greenie Dem project bites dust

Another uncompetitive greenie Dem project bites dust

So we have Solyndra, whose costs have just ratcheted up again, the O administration shoving taxpayers on the hook for worker training. Oh yeah, Solyndra's suffered from uncompetitive conditions. Ha. Back home in O's Dem-run-into-the-ground-Illinois, power utilities have had enough:

Nicor Inc. is the latest natural-gas utility to throw a wrench into plans to build a massive synthetic-gas plant on Chicago's South Side. Naperville-based Nicor filed suit Nov. 14 against the developers of the project and the Illinois Power Agency, alleging, among other things, that it would be required to purchase more of the expensive gas from the plant than is permitted by the state law authorizing the project.

The lawsuit is the latest blow to New York-based developer Leucadia National Corp., which earlier this year won a hard-fought victory when the governor signed a bill that forces the state's largest gas utilities either to sign 30-year contracts to buy the output from the $3-billion coal-to-gas plant or face three rate reviews over the next six years by state utility regulators.[snip]

In justifying their moves to reject synthetic gas, Peoples and North Shore estimated that the Leucadia plant and another, similarly authorized plant Downstate would have raised the cost of gas to their customers by about 9% in the decade following the plants' construction.

What's the effect of this cumulative Dem stupidity? Green meets blue state, bleeds red ink...bleeds Americans dry.

Your evil charts of the day

An Obama/Dems special delivery as a prelude to the holidays:

Of course, for our President Barack Obama, every day's a holiday.

No Jake, uppity means she's an elitist

ABC. And a leftist elitist to boot. The most insufferable because not only are they elitist in their taste--they want to shove it down everyone else's throats--and make us suck it up and pay for it.

Don't look for racism here, that won't take any more. Most folks are worse off than ME-chelle O. And she knows it. She flaunts it. She's pushing class warfare and she's full of it.

I'll tell you something else. We don't like paying millions of dollars for Mrs. Obama's vacations. The NASCAR crowd doesn't quite understand why when the husband and the wife are going to the same place, the first lady has to take her own Boeing 757 with family and kids and hangers-on four hours earlier than her husband, who will be on his 747. NASCAR people understand that's a little bit of a waste. They understand it's a little bit of uppity-ism. First ladies have not been known to hop their own 757s four hours ahead of their husband when they're both going to the same place. The NASCAR people and the rest of the country are not so hip to 12- and 15-day vacations in Spain with 35 people along for the ride while they can't get work, while they can't get raises. While the price of gasoline is going up and the price of jet fuel and airline tickets, the Obamas are flying around like nothing costs them anything. Oh, it doesn't. Sorry.

Rush is right.

And that goes for her worse half too.

...Frankly, in Chicago pols are booed all the time at games.

#OccupyYourNeighborhood

Yup. Saw this a street away the other day. At least it was parked in front of a house, no one camped out in a car. Other lovely OWS news, and some can't stomach it, elitist hypocrites that they are.

Meanwhile, what the heck's being undercovered in the PC media: "Al Qaeda sympathizer" accused of NYC bomb plots

And then there was that Springfield IL cyber attack.

After years without passing a budget, Dems punt in DC again.

Where's waldObama?

Matthews Savages Obama

In a despairing, no more tingly kind of way. "Nothing to root for". This eerie presidency.

Barack--on the trail in AirForce One, the Vader bus, or holed up, not in the Oval.

P.S. Well, there are some people someone talks to. With Bill Daley on the way out, Valerie's running things solo in the WH now, with Rahmbo picking up the slack here and there. Might be just going through the motions with Rahmbo, though. He knows we're really going broke, and unlike Barack and Valerie I think he loves the city and this country.

P.P.S. Is it now OK to say Barack Obama is out of touch

Looking for a new Newt?

I wish we had Sarah but I know I don't want Romney. No trust there at all. And remember, as far as electability goes, so far Romney's gotten a pass, though Rahmbo (ha) went after him last night.

Perry had a good debate last round on foreign policy, of all issues, but can the top job-creating governor make a comeback?

Cain I defend on these spurious, anonymous, dated, single source Chicago Way-based National Restaurant Association complaints but he's been too flippant on foreign policy and, sadly, not serious enough it seems to me.

So is Newt, a product of the vibrant Atlanta corridor, the minority leader in Congress who brought the GOP our first majority in years in '94, the answer?

I don't know, the Freddie Mac take bothers me, clearly it's lobbying by any other name, but also illustrates that government is too big. Fannie/Freddie need to die, as quasi government institutions they are an abuse in itself, but many companies, and individuals with special interests pay lobbyists to give them a collective voice and protect themselves from Big Gov. Too often they become vested interests and are part of the problem.

Is Newt now more disciplined, has he learned from his mistakes, will he be Uncle Newt, senior statesman?

Debate Tuesday.

At least satire is sacred in France

Finally the French are useful beyond food, wine, couture, and mellifluous tones. The French have found some guts: Once Again, Islamists Bully Europe on Free Speech. But this time, France shows backbone.

Ok, backbone.

Banish Vichy France to the dustbin of history.

Raise a glass to France today.

Michelle O on the Trail. OccupyThat

O sure, Michelle is "upbeat" according to the NY Times:

If the initial stage of her time as first lady was identified with glamour (magazine covers, a high-flying social secretary) and the second was about advocacy (for child obesity prevention and military families), she is entering a third stage: as an upbeat ambassador for a struggling administration, and more than at any time since the inauguration, a designated narrator of her husband’s story.

At her White House events, she avoids any mention of re-election, to avoid seeming overtly political. And there are no big public campaign events yet, no huge crowds she is rallying to vote. But she is stepping up her private events, with one goal: throwing the considerable force of her personality into rousing deflated, restive fund-raisers and volunteers.

“Her mission is to energize folks and give them encouragement to go out and do the work,” David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s chief strategist, said in an interview.

A play for a kinder, gentler, "Barack will make you work", but we have seen her in action already on the campaign trail and it's a reprise of (a bit of my old lost Uncorrelated post) Mrs. Grievance with a vengeance--more class warfare. Even Ms. magazine has noted O's drop in the polls among--10 points since 2008 to date:

According to analysis taken from Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics, women played an important role in Obama's presidential victory in 2008, with Obama winning 58 percent of women's votes overall. A Gallup poll taken in October found that Obama has a 48 percent approval rating among women.

Gee, I wonder why. You can sense the desperation--but we have a fawning and complacent press.

Oh, wow, hanging out with an old sanitized radical pal of hers and Ayers:

  The president does fund-raisers too, but “she has the freedom to be fully passionate,” said Marilyn Katz, the owner of a Chicago public relations firm and a longstanding Obama supporter who attended the first lady’s event. “There’s a kind of constraint that comes with the office, and she can be the unbridled campaigner.”

...hmm, looks like a variation of Hillbuzz' favorite dress. Or the same old, same old. What do you think?

Does she occupy that dress or what.

More. Examiner:

Female voters, who comprise a majority of the electorate, are primarily concerned with the economy, according to most polls.
They are breadwinners in 63 percent of households, yet they make only 77 cents for every $1 men make -- something Obama promised to change.
More than half of women said their financial well-being is less secure now than it was three years ago and six in 10 disapprove of the way Obama is handling the economy, according to Global Marketing Research.

(Not that discredited old canard about the pay gap. And some recognition of the Mancession, please.)

Related posts:  She told her kids that Santa is poor this year,  Women comfortable in their own skin, Girls Just Wanna Have Guns, They're not swooning for O any more, Women take the long view, drop O in droves, Obama base threatened: affluent suburban voters may vote R on economy, More confirmation Obama losing women

Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global

What's going on around here. Obama's top Wall St. fundraiser, former Goldman Sachs, former Dem Senator, former Dem Governor of New Jersey, poster boy for the O administration's fiscal propriety. Via Legal Insurrection, one honest American businesswoman "an old-school commercial hedge broker specializing in CATTLE and GRAIN. Farmers, ranchers, etc. Actual hedging of actual cattle and grain using futures and options. Very old-school original." has had enough:

The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.

Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.

Will the Chicago Way administration destroy one of Chicago's founding businesses?

...Remember, this administration looted GM for the unions, putting those with a senior claim, previously sacrosanct in contract law, behind Obama's UAW cronies. This administration most recently put taxpayers subordinate to their campaign donor cronies at Solyndra. Are we surprised by the moral bankruptcy and lawlessness of these Dems? No, but it's still shocking, and a costly lesson.

P.S.  These guys want Corzine in prison
Beacon Power follows Solyndra into bankruptcy

'I love you whether you like it or not.'

A parent's gut feeling vindicated, years later. But at the time--The Worst Mom in the World.

Most adults your children may encounter are well-intentioned, but some are not.

Parents make choices for their kids so that kids will be set on a path to make the right choices themselves. Some never grow up, sometimes parenthood is a thankless task, but the love and tears may bear fruit, years later.

Dead fish democracy

50-zip. Democracy the Chicago Way. I'll say this, Rahmbo knows where the bodies are buried.

And the beat goes on.

split his hometown of 22,000 people into three congressional districts

This is the same thing Dems did with my home township on state offices. (And then they hold "townhall meetings" with set subjects packed by union thugs) A regular chop-shop of democracy:

Asked about the map’s effects on his political career, Shimkus testified that the new Democrat map was "egregious” and “terrible” and would split his hometown of 22,000 people into three congressional districts after he and Costello had represented Collinsville jointly for the past 20 years.

“Three members of Congress for a population of 22,000 people is criminal,” Shimkus said, before echoing complaints raised in the lawsuit filed by most members of the GOP congressional delegation that contend the new map would reverse Republican 2010 mid-term gains in Congress and that it unlawfully packed Latino’s into one district while disenfranchising those in neighboring districts.

Republicans gained an 11-8 advantage in last year’s election, reversing a Democratic majority. Illinois loses one seat for the next decade because its population did not grow as fast as other states. Redrawing map boundaries are required following the every-decade federal Census.

And why is Illinois losing population? Trolls.

...trolls and more trolls.

Alpha Male Sartorial Splendor:)...Kirk & Turkey

Sales outstrip women, shall we say. I like this trend, a bright spot in the economy, even among the youth. There's hope for the non-OWS look:

"Guys are trying to do whatever they can to raise the job opportunity," NPD's Mr. Cohen says. "Both young and experienced men are looking at dressing as a way to separate themselves from others."
Retailers and analysts also say they have seen a broader cultural shift among younger men, who are interested in dressing up more.
"There's a whole new intrigue with young men in particular interested in sartorial dressing," Mr. Jennings says. "I even see my nephew in elementary school asking me, 'How do I fold this pocket square?"'

They don't want to look like their too laid-back parents.

I want hats to make a comeback. Come on, guys:)

P.S. Your turkey as accessory. Captain Kirk do's 'n don'ts: 

The troll lurking under the bridge

At least one Chicago bridge under Rahmbo's stewardship is festooned with ads--from Bank of America, presumably strong-armed by Rahm and Dick Durbin to pay up or get pilloried again. It's the Chicago Way.

This bridge has attracted the attention of the esteemed Chicago Tribune architecture columnist, who rails at the blasphemy on the bulwark:

The seven, banner-like signs — four on the south bridge house, three on its northern counterpart — don’t blend in. Instead, their white backdrop offers a grating contrast to the subtle, refined elegance of the limestone-faced towers. The blue letters and the American flag-like B of A logo only add to the visual cacophony.

In a further post, he bleats on:

Despite the outrage over the Wabash Bridge signs, Chicago will keep pushing to sell ads to fund critical services like filling potholes, Kathleen Strand, a city spokeswoman, said Wednesday.

She also answered the lingering question of how much Bank of America paid to have its ads on the Wabash Bridge.

About $4,500.

"As you know, this was a temporary first-time initiative that Bank of America agreed to partner with the city on," Strand said. "The revenue from it is really minimal because the focus was primarily on regenerating interest from the business community."

$4,500?

I would have thought that the privilege of despoiling Chicago's architectural heritage would be worth a little more than that.

Well I have a suggestion. How 'bout corral your artsy-fartsy friends to contribute to keep ads OFF the bridge--this is what philanthropy looks like. You know, your own $$$. Not other people's, like say, the taxpayers.

And where is the taxpayer money going? Down the maw of the public union trolls.

So you could seek the support of SEIU. Ask AFSCME. Cue the CTU.

Let the trolls pay. You know, give back.

Manchurian Willard Mittens RomBama

Lucianne. Cuz she knows who the bad guys are from waaay back.

I have to say this beats my shifty Mittwit remark.

A double dog dare special if you can top it.

P.S. The professor with a note on Newt, and a bit on Mitt.

P.P.S. I got sleepy too early so I stuffed myself with chocolate to wake up and do this post. Can you tell....the name game:

Previous post: Perry Takes on O Zero

Perry Takes on O Zero

Good thing he's calling him on it because we don't expect the PC media to. I like this ad: The president is such an arrogant know-nothing.

Where's multiculti waldO.Get him a coloring book of statesRT @TamiNantz: Obama not sure if Hawaii is in America or Asia http://www.therightscoop.com/obama-not-sure-if-hawaii-is-in-america-or-asia/

21 hours ago

Wherever O goes, America needs to know--we deserve better than this guy who thinks we don't deserve him.

P.S. Rep. Allen West takes on the media:

Scott Walker at the Reagan Ranch

PJTV interview

Some perspective on the battle we face

I'd like to see a President Walker one day

Rahm's Solyndra Report Card

Da new Dem mayor dodges questions at a press conference on the Chicago Public Schools. Granted, that's a scandal in itself, but what's the real Solyndra story, hmm? NBC Chicago:

On Friday, the news site Daily Beast received memos that had been turned over by the White House to Congressional investigators about the energy firm's scandal. The emails indicated that Emanuel may have urged Vice President Joe Biden to hold an event touting Solyndra in connection with the Energy Department's $535 million loan to the now-bankrupt solar firm.

An e-mail from a White House official indicates Emanuel talked to Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff, to plan an event in summer 2009, despite concerns raised by White House environmental adviser Heather Zichal about Solyndra's finances.

"[Klain] has talked to Rahm about this and feels Rahm wants this too (barring any concerns)--POTUS's involvement was Rahm's idea," wrote Aditya Kumar, a White House director of special projects, in an e-mail to other officials in August 2009.

In September, Emanuel denied any knowledge of the Solyndra loan to WLS Radio's Bill Cameron.

"I don't actually remember that or know about it," Emanuel said.

More at NRO. Who knew these guys were so feeble-minded.

P.S.  Solyndra: Energy Dept. pushed firm to keep layoffs quiet until after midterms

Potty-Mouthed CPS Union Head Rips Duncan. Closing the Achievement Gap

Brags of her dope-smoking days in college. More splits on the left over minor reforms. Some sensitivity due to chronic underperformance: CPS fails to close performance gap Black students still losing academic ground despite reforms, study finds 

This is what the teachers' union, core of the Dem party, looks like:

As for the suburbs, don't get smug: Why Beverly Hills Needs School Vouchers

American Public School District, State	International Percentile Ranking in Math
Lower Merion, PA	66th
Palo Alto, CA	64th
Plano, TX	64th
Ladue, MO	62nd
Grosse Point, MI	56th
Montgomery County, MD	50th
Shaker Heights, OH	50th
Fairfax, VA	49th
Evanston, IL	48th
White Plains, NY (in Westchester County!)	39th

Then there are the cities: 

American Public School District, State	International Percentile Ranking in Math
Miami-Dade, FL	33rd
New York City, NY	32nd
Atlanta, GA	23rd
Chicago, IL	21st
Los Angeles, CA	20th
Baltimore, MD	19th
Cleveland, OH	18th
Milwaukee, WI	16th
Detroit, MI	12th
Washington, D.C.	10th

So take a gander at the Progressive Education Network: (Ayers last seen presumably with buddies nearby at OccupyChicago)

Conference schedule

A note about participation and location of sessions:  All registrants are invited to participate in all general

sessions, which are held in the auditorium. Featured panels are for everyone & are hosted in the auditorium.

The World Café session is for everyone and meets in the New Gym. The workshops are held simultaneously

in many FWP classrooms. Participants choose which workshops they will attend. All meals are served in the

cafeteria.

THURS, NOV 10, 2011

8:00-9:00 Registration check-in (in FWP lobby)

9:00 Buses leave FWP for site visits (from front of FWP)

10:00-1:30 Site visits: include class observation, lunch/discussion with teacher & tour

1:30-2:30 Travel back to FWP

2:45-3:45 Debrief for site visits (in FWP Harris Center) 

7:00-8:00 Opening Keynote: “The Power of ‘Modern Day’ Progressive Practice: William Ayers

Interviews John Dewey” (William Ayers & William Schubert)

8:00-9:00 Wine & cheese reception (in the Kupcinet Gallery outside of FWP Auditorium)

2011 PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION NETWORK

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

“THE POWER OF PROGRESSIVE PRACTICE”

November 10-12, 2011

Location: Francis W. Parker School

330 W. Webster Avenue, Chicago, IL

Translation: Obama Ayers Queering your Kids: Screw Math and Science

Many public school kids are getting know where.

How can we close the achievement gap widening in our cities? NRO's Reihan Salam and Tino Sanandaji explore this in the latest issue--it'll take more than reforming the teachers' unions:

The achievement gap is not new, but its impact on U.S. economic performance is growing. The reason for this is simply that the number of minority-group members, in particular Hispanics, as a share of the population is rising.

Yes, the first step is to institute more school choice--and we can't just throw money at the problem:

According to the OECD, the United States currently spends over $1 trillion per year on education, more than 8 percent of its national income. This makes the U.S. the second-highest spender on education among industrialized nations, whether we measure by share of national income or absolute dollars per pupil. Expenditure per pupil in elementary and secondary school is now in excess of $10,000 per year. Adjusted for inflation, this is two and a half times the sum that was spent per pupil in 1970, according to the Digest of Education Statistics. Despite this spending increase, reading and math test scores were virtually flat over the same time period, while, as mentioned above, high-school-graduation rates actually declined.

What's the missing element--the one most parents have figured out for their kids?

Second, interventions should mainly inculcate behavioral norms, not cognitive skills — for example, social skills, an ability to control aggression, and a propensity to follow rules. Such norms are particularly lacking among disadvantaged children from broken homes and neighborhoods with weak social bonds. One reason to focus on these norms and social abilities is that they are far more malleable than cognitive skills, and thus more susceptible to the influence of well-designed educational programs. Moreover, social skills and norms of conduct are as important for success in school and in the labor market as cognitive skills.

Let these children go.

Let all our children go.

The future of America is at risk.

On the other hand...

The next generation takes Boomers to task, and who can argue:

Think of the world our parents’ generation inherited. They inherited a country of boundless economic prosperity and the highest admiration overseas, produced by the hands of their mothers and fathers. They were safe. For most, they were endowed opportunities to succeed, to prosper, and build on their parents’ work.

For those of us in our 20s and early 30s, this is not the world we are inheriting…
Our parents’ generation has balked at the tough decisions required to preserve our country’s sacred entitlements, leaving us to clean up the mess. They let the infrastructure built with their fathers’ hands crumble like a stale cookie. They downgraded our nation’s credit rating. They seem content to hand us a debt exceeding the size of our entire economy, rather than brave a fight against the fortunate and entrenched interests on K Street and Wall Street.

In my grimmer moments I imagine our children and children's children leaving us to pitch a tent on our gravesites. OccupyThat.

OccupyChicago: Less Heat, Little Light

The housing committee meets three times a week to try to figure out how to keep things going in the often bitter Chicago winter. Clearly they are on a roll. I imagine what to do about frozen water bottles could occupy a lot of time at the UN-like General Assembly.

Meanwhile, a denizen of Occupy Portland threatens to burn down a woman's house.

I have a suggestion--go home. Your parents' basements are warm. And the professionals? Go back to your cushy union digs.

Continued sympathetic Trib coverage, (equating OWS to the Tea Party. Really? Me 'n Aunt Bea musta been busy)  Granted, Rahmbo knows "the movement" well and has not allowed them to camp out. But our President Barack Obama is conspicuously on the other side.

P.S. Leftist columnist overwhelmed, even in the family circle:

“This will be your chance to see Occupy Chicago,” I enthused to the boys, as we approached La Salle. The older boy — who really is like Michael J. Fox in “Family Ties” — fell into reverie about confronting the “bohemians” for their irrational Marxism.

“You do that,” I goaded. “Feel free.”

When we got to La Salle, the light changed, and we paused before the Federal Reserve and regarded the protest across the street. There was no drumming. There were five or six protesters, two holding signs expressing solidarity with the people of Egypt, who I’m sure appreciated the support.

“That’s it?” said my wife. “Pathetic!”

“Maybe they’ve marched off someplace,” I mumbled, as if I were responsible. “They sometimes go to Grant Park.”

Advanced naivete and bile. Let's hope for no more O election rallies there.

Chicago Tribune:Photos: Biggest Sex Scandals in Politics

Really, Chicago Tribune?
 

• 
  

  Photos: Biggest Sex Scandals in Politics

• 
  

  Photos: Ruins of Gaddafi's hometown

• 
  

  Pictures: Northern Lights produce red glow in the sky

I have a picture of Herman Cain too--does that make me part of a "sex scandal"? (No Jesse Jr in the line-up? No Bill Clinton?)

Front page story on sexual harassment, that's fine, thought I don't remember John Edwards getting as much play for his betrayal and lie after lie. I do not doubt or downplay the existence and hurt of sexual harassment, or worse. But those who use it for political gain trivialize and hurt the cause of women who suffer genuine threats.

P.S. Herman Cain will not address charges unless in a group of people accused by Karen Kraushaar

...

But three former supervisors say the allegations, which did not include a sexual harassment claim, were investigated and treated seriously. Two former supervisors say she initially demanded a settlement of thousands of dollars, a promotion on the federal pay scale, reinstated leave time and a one-year fellowship to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. The promotion itself would have increased her annual salary between $12,000 and $16,000, according to salary tables in 2002 from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
... 
CNNSets Up Dem Strategist to Gush Over Cain Accuser Who Worked for Her

...In other news: Woman Raped At #OccupyPhiladelphia Oh, yeah. Just like the Tea party

This is what DEM-mockracy looks like

And on the 7th day, they rested. Money for your child's school? For the disabled? For tax relief? Nah. Lawmakers would have to fix the pensions.

Chapman: How New York won war on crime

...Well let me take a stab at it--was it the bloody high abortion rate? Or rent-control/"stabilization"--NY exports the poor.

No room at the elitist Dem inn.

Your surfing goat

Video highlights:)

Bonus pix, peeling tree:)

Life's simple pleasures.

Have a great weekend.

Knockout Game, Chicago Red Line

Chicago Breaking News: Video shows man being punched at Red Line stop amid laughs and taunts

Was it his shirt? Or just his age and vulnerability. Perhaps his dignity.

That's the stop where I used to board after my night MBA classes. It's the main arterial north-south El.

The knockout game. At least we're getting some coverage now.

I've said it before: It's a destructive culture that's terrorizing our cities from the inside--and the poison is spreading.

P.S. Here's KMOV St. Louis yesterday on what's going on there: Victim of ‘knockout game’ attack meets ‘Rescuer Slay’ for the first time Related stories:

• Teens target cyclists in dangerous ‘knockout’ game
• Raw video: Mayor Slay speaks on finding man beaten, lying in pool of blood in south St. Louis
• Five juveniles charged in connection to 'knockout' attack that left man with broken jaw
• Missouri group warns of random violence after attacks

More here. TAS' Christopher Orlet here. Website chronicling attacks around the country: violentflashmobs.com

   ---thanks for the recommended read, Pundit & Pundette

Related posts: Obama Feds Bought Weapons to Sell to Narcoterrorists, latest attack was last Thursday afternoon near Missouri Botanical Garden, They stomped on his head. Mob Action, Chinatown, Chicago