Not in Hawaii

Made it once. Happy New Year, y'all:) Here's to a better one.

they’re sizing up a cozy little investment in Mitt Romney

Repo Men

Sarah Palin was right. On this and so many things.

You’d think that after the Lehman debacle, all that would have changed. In fact, you’d think that would be practically the first thing to be changed — not credit-card swipe fees or executive-compensation rules or any of the rest of it. But it wasn’t. Corzine’s firm, MF Global, used something called “repo to maturity” — basically Repo 105 with a facelift — to accomplish the same goal: making the books look better by hiding bad assets, in this case a bunch of losing investments in European government bonds. The bigger problem is that while MF Global was both acting as a broker for its customers and making its own bets, it failed to keep the customers’ money segregated from its own, which is why some $600 million in customers’ money went missing. Now there’s a whole bunch of people wanting to get paid back and not enough money for everybody to get made whole, and the big Wall Street banks want to make sure that they’re first in line, with the government rewriting the rules of bankruptcy to put them ahead of the local-yokel customers out in the sticks. If you don’t think that the government can just arbitrarily rewrite the bankruptcy rules to suit its political preferences, revisit the General Motors bailout, when it did just that, shortchanging bondholders in favor of the union goons who act as Democratic footsoldiers and dues-collectors.

“At the risk of oversimplifying it,” one Wall Street insider explains, “imagine a bank went bankrupt. Then the regulators came in and cracked open all the customers’ safe-deposit boxes, even though they knew for certain that none of the contents belonged to the bank. Then they tossed those assets into the pile for the creditors to pick through and told the box holders to get in line as well. That’s what folks are saying is happening here. And in a situation like that, who wants a safe-deposit box?”

Related posts: The making of an anti-Romney, MF Global Mucks Up Heartland, Bill Clinton Tied to Corzine's MF Global Fiasco, Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global, Romney's Bridge on the River Kwai

Our The One % Dear Leader Lady O

Fresh from her celebrated Most Venerated Jumping Jack world record (video below), hanging next to The One's Nobel Peace Prize in her mind, (and ours), can anyone doubt our Dear Leader Lady O aspires to be more?

Rivaling Imelda Marcos in her attire, Evita Peron in her demagoguery, and Elena Ceauşescu in media adulation, First Lady Michelle Obama prepares for her triumphal return from Asia. I mean, who needs elections P.S. Let them eat butter

P.P.S. Shut up, Michelle. The science is against you.

All eyes on Iowa

I don't know about you but I feel like this is the most wide-open race in my lifetime, and the most pivotal for the country.

Post-Christmas gatherings of family and friends reveal a split among the Romneys and the nons.

My vote's for Newt as the best of the bunch, someone who actually took a stand and won substantive conservative success. But then, I don't get a vote in Iowa.

To you and yours, near and far

Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas

Rahmbo Goes WSJ

In an op-ed this morning: Chicago's Plan to Match Education With Jobs 

This dovetails with Milwaukee's experience, but, given the overall tax and spend, and borrow like there's no tomorrow climate, which state is more likely to grow?

 Seriously, what sector will Rahmbo shake down next? Or foolishly favor at our expense. Because you always have to ask that question with these guys.

And, uh, Rahm. Working to update community colleges are all very well, but we need school choice down the line.

...If we got the government out of the way all across this country, America would be better off.

The cherub in the neighborhood

Merry, merry:) Have a great weekend

Wassail!

Keystone Moment

To me this was the soundbite of the night, expressing the utter disbelief and frustration of the American people at the job-killing actions of the Obama administration in this dismal economy. Newt engages the battle. RCP video: Gingrich: Obama's Decision On Keystone Pipeline Is "Utterly Irrational"

Larry Kudlow

Barack Obama is a rigid, radical ideologue who wishes an exceptional America ill.

He's a big gov President Ebenezer Scrooge putting shackles on productive America--are there no prisons?

That's not the spirit that built this country, and Newt gets it.

More. The WSJ is kinder with their literary figure:

To give Mr. Obama a spinal implant, the House passed a provision that would give TransCanada a permit to start building in 60 days if the President does nothing. He can still kill the pipeline if he objects. But at least Hamlet of Pennsylvania Avenue would have to make up his mind.

The Keystone codicil is now being negotiated in the Senate, where at least eight Democrats have said publicly they hope the project goes forward: Jon Tester and Max Baucus of Montana, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Mary Landrieu of Lousiana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Claire McCaskill of Missouri. Perhaps they're among the few Democrats who still care about blue-collar voters, as opposed to public unions and Mill Valley hedge-fund greens.

Related post:  Obama: More jobs in jobless benefits than Keystone

The making of an anti-Romney

I supported him last time against McCain but I'll be damned if I'll suck it up this time and accede to the Republican establishment beltway bullies' pick of Mitt, when they told us last time McCain was the only one who could win.

I started this blog as a conservative first, not a Republican, and I entitled it Backyard as a jab to the pundits on both coasts, left and right, who dismiss the heartland. The Tea Party started with an open outcry by Rick Santelli that electrified the outrage in this country over elitist conventional wisdom which has looted and despoiled America now, and for future generations.

Let me take this opportunity to join with Legal Insurrection in expressing my further outrage today.

My spouse and I have been subscribers to National Review for over 30 years, I believe. We have signed books and a framed letter from the late great William F. Buckley.

That relationship is in jeopardy, by me.

The voters, Iowa and otherwise, will pick our nominee.

And as someone who lives in one party-run corrupt and bankrupt Illinois, the president's Dem and doomed home state, I'll be damned if I'll be dictated to in the Republican primary process.

Vote with your heart, folks, vote with your mind.

Vote your gut feel on who can best lead America.

Northern Lights over Teepees, Hallelujah Alaska:)

Yellow Knife, Canada, from an email circulating around. And this, if you haven't seen it: This video from the small Yupiq Eskimo Village of Quinhagak, Alaska , was a school computer project intended for the other Yupiq villages in the area. Christmas concerts wrapping up the next few days, may mostly tweet, and will be tuning in to the Fox debate tomorrow night. Cheers!:)

Axis of Crony Capitalism: Corzine & Goldman Sachs alums

Charles Gasparino lays it out, and it's not pretty.

More: MF Global Employee Says Corzine Knew Funds Were Taken From Customer...

Related posts: MF Global Mucks Up Heartland, Bill Clinton Tied to Corzine's MF Global Fiasco, Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global

Rocking Horse Traffic Jam. IL Tuition Scam

She enrolled her daughter at birth but no go. Another state of Illinois program going bust, half a billion shortfall going going gone as the gap will widen to billions, but the state sends out this statement:

In a letter to contract holders this week, commission officials said the program's funded status "is much stronger than any of the state's pension plans and many corporate pension plans."

A disingenuous and useless claim, as Illinois pension plans are among the worst funded in the nation. In this college fund, Illinois had misrepresented the guarantee and assumed a ridiculously high rate of return, and this is the result.

Add to that the government student loan-generated tuition bubble and you have yet another big gov disaster our children and grandchildren will be forced to pay for.

'The higher a monkey climbs on the pole, the more you can see his butt'...

Gee, David Axelrod, what if we'd said that about Barack.

Or your whole O administration, for that matter.

You're kind of O-verexposed these days, I'd say.

Resurgent Republicans close gap in key states

Fear of Big Gov at all time high. Gallup. Even Democrats. So what's the fallout? This: USA Today with cool interactive map of swing states:

Since the heady days of 2008, a new USA TODAY/Gallup Swing States Poll finds the number of voters who identify themselves as Democratic or Democratic-leaning in these key states has eroded, down by 4 percentage points, while the ranks of Republicans have climbed by 5 points.

Republican voters also are more attentive to the campaign, more enthusiastic about the election and more convinced that the outcome matters. [snip]

In swing states, Obama trails former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney among registered voters by 5 points, 43% vs. 48%, and former House speaker Newt Gingrich by 3, 45% vs. 48%.

O supporters hit hardest by his Obamanomics recession, and the number of independents rise.

Obama thinks he can run as a middle class warrior--get real, those you called bitter clingers aren't fooled. One of the few Blue Dog Dems left tells it like it is. And unions in the real world ask--where are the jobs?

 P.S. Michelle does jumping jacks, she's proud of her country now, Romney sends in his spouse too:

backyardconserv Anne Leary

Yup RT @PunditMom: Is your Prez. campaign over when they send in your wife? nyti.ms/t79FxD

2 hours ago  

Related posts here and here.

Will Obama bow to Iran next?

Iran says Obama should apologize for downed drone 

They know this president well. Iran goes on. "radical youths"? Read Ahmadinejad's goons. Remember, he was a "radical youth" who stormed our embassy over 30 years ago. During the Carter administration. Deja vu all over again, n'est-ce pas? :

In response to tightened economic sanctions against Iran, radical youths stormed the British embassy in Tehran on November 29, causing London to recall all its staff and close its mission.

Republican presidential candidates in the United States have upped rhetoric on a possible military strike against Iran, something Israel says it may carry out as a last resort to stop the Islamic Republic getting the bomb.

"It's better that they don't use phrases like 'all options are on the table'," Mehmanparast said, referring to the stock phrase used by Israeli and U.S. leaders about the military option.

"The phrase has been used so often it has become tiresome," he added.

You know what's tiresome? Death to Israel, Death to America. Death to women. Death to boys. Death. Death to children:

Watching Newt and Huntsman talk about Iran.Really shocking.What kind of a country builds nukes not only under their mosques,but their cities

14 hours ago

#LDdebate Newt is sure this regime will use nukes--after all, they train their children to be suicide bombers.Start by cutting them off

14 hours ago

#LDdebate I mean,how much does Iran care about its people--swimming in oil for energy but spending big bucks on nukes for"peaceful" purpose
14 hours ago

Related post: Honor killing case? Gunmen hiding in Liege cathedral

Those handicapped motorcyclists...

I think that the United States needs to revoke all the parking placards and handicapped plates and start fresh.  First, there should be a photo on the placard to identify exactly who the handicapped person is that's using it!
There is just so much abuse with those that it is crazy.  Walk down any downtown street and most of the cars have placards.  I especially love the one car I see every day with the birth year of 1906; it's amazing that that person still goes to work each day!
But my bigger problem is why do they get free parking in the first place?  Just because someone is handicapped does not mean they can't afford to park.  Makes no sense to me whatsoever.  And judging from some of the cars with the placards, all the money they save on no parking fees helps pay for the fancy cars/trucks/suvs (I especially love a placard on a 'racing' type car like a Corvette with a stick shift....or the one I saw on a motorcycle....give me a freakin' break).

Related post: Using granny's handicapped pass

...More: Those handicapped Attorneys General:

That's why we must persuade Lisa Madigan to stop worrying about those terrifying robocalls and the scary sauna guys and start looking at the political class. They could teach her so many things.

So I'm inviting her to a special party on Dec. 28 at 9 a.m. in Room 4017 of the DuPage County courthouse.

That's where Carmen W. Iacullo, 58, a top boss in the Illinois Department of Transportation, is scheduled to appear on drunken driving charges. He was arrested shortly after midnight on Nov. 20 in Wood Dale. In the past, he's represented IDOT at events promoting driver safety.

Earlier, a few miles away in nearby Addison, the Italian American Executives of Transportation had held an annual dinner dance. Theirs is a philanthropic group that provides scholarships and honors prominent and worthy members.

Iacullo himself was the group's Man of the Year in 2010. At this year's dinner, an Iacullo friend, former state Sen. James A. DeLeo, D-How You Doin?, received the "Special Recognition Award."

But the Man of the Year of 2011 was the legendary Liberato "Al" Naimoli, boss of the Cement Workers Local 76. And what a man.

Kneecapped expert.

Honor killing case? Gunmen hiding in Liege cathedral

So they take refuge in a cathedral after attempted murder. Did they mistake it for a mosque?

The attack took place around noon on Saint-Lambert square, home to the town's courthouse and located near a busy Christmas market, Belga news agency said.

A two-year-old child is reportedly fighting for life in hospital. Six other victims are said to be gravely injured.

More here.

...Meanwhile, back at the ranch: Obama to Iran: Pretty please

Related posts: That Erotic Islamist Carrot, Honor Killing: Groomed for sex at 12, stabbed to death at 17, Let the men cover their faces too

Get your phony Durbin dollar here

Senator Dick Durbin has a truly backwards view of how capitalism is supposed to work. Thanks to price controls produced by his amendment to the infamous Dodd-Frank legislation, now consumers have to pay for the privilege of having access to their own money.

Why? Because America’s retail stores would rather squeal to Big Government’s authority figures like schoolchildren than negotiate the cost of doing business with banks and credit unions themselves. The Durbin Amendment is the fruit of their cowardice. And card-issuers, stuck with the bill, have to pay for it using money from the only group that doesn’t have an army of paid lobbyists in Washington: ordinary American consumers. Is your checking account no longer “free”? Is your bank introducing monthly debit card fees? Have you seen your card’s reward program benefits dry up? Thank the Durbin Amendment.

Get your worthless Durbin dollar here. Let him know how you feel.

P.S. Other jerky Durbin news: Durbin Tries to Trade Thomson Prison for Independent International Religious Persecution Watchdog’s Existence 

Durbin Taking Heat for Thomson Prison Trade for Religious Freedom Commission’s Continued Existence 

U.S. religious freedom commission prepares to shut down: lack of funding under Obama admin

Illinois thinks the Earth is flat, cliff at its borders

This dunce of a Dem state:

The Illinois legislature proposed a tax package that is designed to keep the $CME and $CBOE from leaving the state. Is it enough? Indiana governor Mitch Daniels has said that being next to Illinois is like living next door to the Simpson’s.

The bill they will pass will tax roughly 27% of exchange transactions. The rationale for taxing them is the transactions initiate and take place within state borders. That assumption is incorrect. While 15% of the exchanges transactions take place using open outcry on the floor, most of those transactions initiate from all other points in the world. If I were a floor trader, I’d be ticked at Democrats in Illinois. They just gave CME and CBOE an extra incentive to try and close the floors.

The second concept being tossed about is that CME and CBOE shouldn’t be given tax breaks because they are profitable. Does that mean we only give tax breaks to companies that are poorly run and losing money? Profitability of a company shouldn’t ever be a consideration for a tax break.
The core problem is that Illinois is one of the most expensive places to do business in the nation.

And to be a bleeped taxpayer.

Earth to Illinois--you're the one who has fallen off the cliff.

HT the Instapundit.

Century Hill Street Lighting District & Pension

Cronin has had the temerity to ask why DuPage has more than 400 units of government, such as the Salt Creek Drainage Basin Sanitary District and the Century Hill Street Lighting District. A private firm is evaluating the cost and functions of dozens of taxing districts in the county and will report its findings in January.

Illinois has almost 7,000 units of government, yet the defenders of the bloated status quo across the state just can't imagine how that number could ever be reduced.

What would we do without 44 regional school superintendents, who process teacher certifications and push other paper around? [snip]

A recent Better Government Association investigation of the 20 largest townships in Cook County found that township officials stockpile millions of dollars in property taxes and overpay for repairs and maintenance on a small number of roads.

Townships exist to preserve political jobs. Townships spend almost $1 on salaries and administration for every $1 in services they deliver, about twice as much as other local governments, according to a 2008 report by Roosevelt University professor David Hamilton.

And they all probably have fat pension benefits.

The schools are run for patronage, not the kids, state and local government is run for the employees and pols, not the taxpayers. The whole place is one big fat corrupt bankrupt system.

And it's been this way for more than a century.

The last time Illinois was honest was probably when Honest Abe was alive.

P.S. Gingrich Huntsman Lincoln-Douglas style debate rebroadcast tonight on C-Span.

State Museum Guards Hazardous Pay?

An unsustainable benefit gets worse:

Special retirement benefits once reserved for police, firefighters and others with dangerous jobs are now being given to tens of thousands of state workers employed as park rangers, foresters, dispatchers, coroners, even highway laborers, museum guards and lifeguards.

 The trend will add heavily to the $70 billion that state taxpayers owe state retirement funds each year and is costing states such as Florida and Maryland $15 million to $30 million annually, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

Thirty-one states have passed laws since 2000 that expand the range of workers who can retire when they turn 50 or 55 or after working 20 or 25 years, then collect special pensions that will pay some an extra $1 million or more in retirement. The pensions are enhanced because they are usually based on a higher percentage of a worker's salary than pensions for ordinary state workers.

It's a triple whammy for taxpayers, who typically get much less in the private sector. Of course the failed, bankrupt state of Illinois' profligate pols and their public union porkers are in the mix:

In Illinois, where highway maintenance workers earn up to $148,000 a year with overtime, early enhanced retirement can pay a $75,000-a-year pension at age 50 after 25 years on the job. That adds up to $2.2 million if the retiree lives to age 80 — or $1.2 million more than if the person had been in the state's regular retirement plan.

What's the solution? Well, Gov. Walker in Wisconsin had the right idea. It's up to us and the rest of the country to tackle this ruinous inequity.

P.S. In Florida (USA Today):

Zapata sought in 2010 to shift thousands of workers from the special-risk class to the regular class, but quickly withdrew his bill after getting threatening phone calls. "You try to explain, look, what's happening here is unsustainable," said Zapata, who retired last year due to term limits. "Unfortunately, the conversation didn't go too far because the (state-worker) unions did a great job of shutting everything down."

In Wisconsin:  Mother and her Children Harassed and Terrorized By Recall Scott Walker Mob More:
Scott Walker recall supporter brags 'I think I signed about 80 times' More leftist shenanigans in Wisconsin as the Recall Scott Walker campaign embraces the Chicago Way. Sign early, sign often.

Cute & Red

And something cute, red & yummy:) Have a great weekend!

Wright Home For Sale by Vet Disabled in WWII, now 92

A beautiful home, a life well-lived. Your good news story of the day.

...I've always been a fan of Wright, his Prairie-style designs suit the Midwest, bringing in landscape and light. My home in the suburbs is a compact bungalow, Craftsman variant. The 90 year-old leaded glass windows still shine, even with the storms on for the new snow.

Obama: More jobs in jobless benefits than Keystone

Seriously. He thinks he can get away with brainless statements like this, (RCP video) but then he has the WH press corpse to cluelessly cover for him. Oh, noooo, we may not get to go to Hawaii...

Even his usual union allies know the real score.

Brent Booker head of the construction arm of Laborers International Union of North America said that because of the jobs it would bring “this project is not just a pipeline, it is in fact a lifeline,” for his members.

Construction industry unemployment reached 27% in 2010 and hovered around 20% for much of last two years, he said. The pipeline would create 20,000 jobs, Pourbaix and union members said.

“They would have started a couple months from now” without the delay, Pourbaix said. “Americans were hired and ready to go to work.”

All you have to do is look at the success that is North Dakota, but not Barack Obama, no, no, no. Meanwhile, food stamp recipients multiply--by the O definition, more jobs!!! For bureaucrats, I guess. Charles Krauthammer:

"Obama lamented that millions “are now forced to take their children to food banks.” You have to admire the audacity. That’s the kind of damning observation theopposition brings up when you’ve been in office three years. Yet Obama summoned it to make the case for his reelection! ... This is populism so crude that it channels not Teddy Roosevelt so much as Hugo Chavez

Yes, the real answer is to pay more and more people not to work--that's the Obama plan for our future, and that of our children.

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus and his name is The One.

P.S. President Obama lights all the Hanukkah candles at once, two weeks early. No doubt to make way for his 17 day Hawaii vacay: Obama: 'We Never Need an Excuse For a Good Party'

More. Michael Ramirez cartoon, IBD editorial. And Rich Lowry: Obama Blames the Rich He does not understand economic mobility.

Holder Smirks, Invokes McCarthyism

Fast and Furious Lying Eric Holder was at it again, parsing words and smirking at serious questions--people have died. Behold the chief law enforcement officer of the Obama administration. And this:
Fast and Furious hearing 12/8/11 from Water Cooler on Vimeo.
More here.

If the Obama administration did arrange for the shipment of arms to Mexican drug gangs, not for any legitimate public purpose but in order to advance a left-wing political agenda, and those guns were used to murder hundreds of Mexicans and at least one American border agent–which they were–then we are looking at a scandal that dwarfs any in modern American history.

One more. Wow:

(Ad) WI Lt Gov: Public employees drain on taxpayers

HT Newsalert

So, Illinois, so America, can we talk honestly at last?

This is our future, and our children's, on the line.

P.S.Battleground-State Voters Leaving the Democratic Party

More: Chicago Tribune: Watchdog Update: Feds probe union pension deals Subpoenas show feds investigating how 11 leaders qualified for inflated retirement payments

For more than a century, the thugs who've run governments in Illinois have pushed good people around

John Kass.

And this is the result.

We need to throw Barack Obama out of office.

We the people.

We the people, America.

That Erotic Islamist Carrot

Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas, cucumbers for sexual resemblance How bout they should just cover their eyes too. No peeking.

And carrots. Do the itty bitty ones count as safe?:

The unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Senousa news, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve. [snip]

Answering another question about what to do if women in the family like these foods, the sheikh advised the interviewer to take the food and cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it.

This sounds dangerous.

P.S. WH classifies Fort Hood massacre as 'workplace violence'...

Related posts:  Honor Killing: Groomed for sex at 12, stabbed to death at 17, Let the men cover their faces too

Ayers on a Platter, Dohrn with a Fork

These are the luminaries the state-supported Illinois Humanities Council has conjured up for their 10th anniversary fundraiser.

What, someone more humane wasn't available?

Scott Johnson, Powerline is incredulous at the Ayers, Dohrn prize:

The IHC has set a high bar for next year’s auction. What next? Breakfast with Umar Abdulmutallab? A moonlight cruise with the Unabomber?

Dinner Dance with Ahmadinejad? Appetizer with the local talent from over by Wrigley. And surely Iosbaker can whip something up

What, Chris Kennedy a no show? Penny Pritzker takes a pass? Oops Jon Corzine Madoff with the main course

Gov. Quinn wonders if there are any leftovers

But for a special treat Michelle might drop in with her bombshell bangles or Barack in his dreamy dinner jacket

Maybe something will trickle down...

Stick a fork in it

P.S. Why not reenact the good old days Rashid Khalidi dinner complete with jihadist-prancing dance troupe

UPDATE: More at Rebel Pundit, Illinois Review, Bill Baar, and Prairie State Report. Thanks for the links:)

The Bully on his leftist pulpit

Our phony baloney smiley-face president tried to outshine Honest Abe Lincoln on his last run for president. Having run through the JFK Camelot persona, tarnished the LBJ civil rights halo, verging on the Jimmy Carter crater, our President Barack Obama adopts the Teddy Bear "fair shake" in Osawatomie, Kansas.

Really?  So it was a fair shake that animated his relationship with Bill Ayers. That's why he put politics above real learning for kids. It was a fair shake that motivated his home ownership with a big assist from the felonious pay to play Tony Rezko. It was a fair shake that prompted ObamaCare.

It was a fair shake to give auto unions a sweetheart deal and deprive retired Indiana schoolteachers of their investment income. It was a fair shake to use taxpayer dollars to reward big campaign contributors and plow billions into failed green schemes.

It was a fair shake that pushed our President Barack Obama to bow to unelected dictators overseas, over and over again, even as he refers to Americans as soft and lazy.

Oh yeah, in the interests of fairness this president is departing on a 17 day vacation to Hawaii, with a campaign stop along the way, even as millions of Americans have dropped out of the workforce, discouraged.

Teddy had the bully pulpit, but this president is just a bully. From a failed state.

P.S. The difference is that in 1910 government spending amounted to about 8 percent percent of GDP. A century later it comes to around 40 percent. The country today has too much state, not too little.

P.P.S. 

MF Global Mucks Up Heartland

Trades are tied to real-world transactions, doncha know. Reuters: MF Global fallout delays U.S. farm seed, land deals:

For the first time in 25 years, Minnesota farmer Dean Tofteland has missed his deadline to buy seed for next spring's corn and soybean crops.

With $200,000 of his money yet to be returned from the accounts of MF Global, his former broker, the 49-year-old farmer has missed a $5,000 discount for early buyers, and is watching friends and neighbors snap up the best varieties of seeds.

In the latest sign of how MF Global's failure is continuing to cascade across the commodity industry, Tofteland and other farmers who have yet to recover more than a third of their money from the bankrupt broker now find themselves in a cash crunch that risks rippling far beyond the futures market.

Farmers hedge their crop in the futures market to lock in a price. This market mechanism has worked for over a century--until Jon Corzine, O and Bill's pal got involved. The Bernie Madoff of the commodity markets.

Previous posts:  Bill Clinton Tied to Corzine's MF Global Fiasco, Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global

Hollywood Child Abuse. Pretty Baby

As a newly-married young adult, no kids yet, I went to a lot of movies, especially on hot weekends for the AC.

Brooke Shields' first movie creeped me out, nude at age 12, but it was supposed to be so sophisticated.

Since then we've seen a lot of brazen leftist attempts to sexualize children, across society.

But now we know even more: Hollywood pedophilia may be epidemic 

And then there is the push to decriminalize pedophilia, aided and abetted by the Obama administration. Gee, what a surprise.

More.  Obama FDA Considers Putting Morning-After Pill on Supermarket Shelves

Bison new Chicago area residents

We had Janet Napolitano's deputy coyotes on State St. to run the rats out of town, but Bison will roam behind sturdy fences. This somehow seems wrong.

I think we should invite the Bison downtown for a run around City Hall. Maybe let 'em loose in the Council chambers.

A small detour over to the Courts.

Take out a few trolls.

Russia Resets, Reverts

Despite massive fraud, Bad Vlad Putin loses, but he's on the path to take the country back to the USSR, despite major unrest:

There was good reason for such desperate actions, though. For the first time — in the wake of his decision to declare himself president for life, and after being outed as an “enthusiastic womanizer and violent bully who beat his wife” — Vladimir Putin was humiliated by being loudly booed at a heavyweight fight. Later, the losing fighter exposed the horrific conditions of Russia’s healthcare system. United Russia’s support in polls has plummeted. A Twitter account mocking Medvedev has almost as many followers as his does.
Life on the street in Putin’s Russia gets worse by the day, and no amount of regime propaganda can change that reality.
More and more young Russians are declaring their intention to abandon their country, and are doing so.

Putin is one of Barack Obama's favorite dictators, uh world leaders. And remember the cheeseburger summit with Putin's puppet.

So who lost Russia.

P.S. This kind of thing may come in handy.

Bill Clinton Tied to Corzine's MF Global Fiasco

He got $$$ to improve Corzine's image, while O's top Wall St. fundraiser ruined the firm:

Before Corzine joined MF Global in May 2010, the firm was a smart and well-run commodities broker, a culture that was turned upside-down by his leadership style, he said.

“The traders would be shaking their heads,” he said. “They would come back to their desk and say, ‘Well, I thought we were going to do this—but Corzine would come by and do something else all by himself,’” he said.

Another pol wrecking another industry in this fragile economy. More. Forbes:

MF Global may have committed a crime by taking $200 million from segregated customer accounts  “and used it to pay for bank overdrafts, shortfalls in  other customer accounts and MF Global’s own commodities activity,” according to  Vincent Schmeltz III, of Barnes & Thornburg, the lawyer  for MF Global’s customers, who are trying to get back their missing funds.

Another $1.0 billion of segregated customer accounts  is still missing and unaccounted for according to the MF Global Trustee in bankruptcy. Many individual traders in precious metals and  agricultural products  were damaged by the bankruptcy, farmers, ranchers and other agricultural business owners are missing funds they use to hedge the risks of volatile pricing.

Undoubtedly, Jon Corzine, the former CEO of MF Global, will be asked probing questions about the use of customer funds when he testifies before a Congressional committee later this week.

Hitting the heartland hard.

Previous post: Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global

Fast and Furious Lying Eric Holder

Probably the most unethical and political Attorney General ever. Remember, he pardoned fugitive financier and Clinton campaign contributor Marc Rich for Bill, and Puerto Rican terrorists for Hill. He carried water for Blago way back. With Barack Obama he's hit the lying, criminal wall. NY Post's Michael Walsh:

It was all a lie. The angry denials, the high dudgeon, the how-dare-you accuse-us bleating emanating from Eric Holder’s Justice Department these last nine months.

Operation Fast and Furious — the “botched” gun-tracking program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — did, in fact, deliberately allow some 2,000 high-powered weapons to be sold to Mexican drug cartel agents and then waltzed across the border and into the Mexican drug wars — just as Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa, who are leading the congressional investigations, have charged all along.That’s the conclusion we can draw from Friday night’s nearly 1,400-page document dump, which gives us a glimpse into the inner workings of the Justice Department as it struggled earlier this year to come up with an explanation for the deadly mess — and “misled” Congress.

Holder testifies again this week.

Fire Eric Holder

New Newt Ad in Iowa:)

Newt on offense, with a positive message: Byron York on the appeal:

  While insiders remember Gingrich's low points from the 90s, outsiders remember his triumphs.  They remember a Gingrich who had the vision to imagine a Republican takeover of the House when no one else could, and the skill to make it happen.  And when outsiders think of the two greatest policy achievements of the Clinton years -- a balanced budget and welfare reform -- they know Gingrich can legitimately claim a lot of credit for both.  So what if he was abrupt with colleagues? Or, for that matter, if he was the target of a Democratic-driven ethics attack?  As far as the 1990s are concerned, outsiders remember Gingrich's high points.

A lonely Newt on the new media of the time, C-Span, night after night, culminating in the new GOP majority and the Contract with America.

He had courage and vision then. The question is whether he has the discipline, and humility, to win America again.

Romney starts getting hammered

By the press. Chicago Tribune, print edition headline today: Romney firm: Profits first, then jobs:

According to the prospectus, prepared in late 2000 by a division of Deutsche Bank Securities, investors could participate in Bain's funds with a minimum investment of $1 million. Bain Capital's portfolio started with a preponderance of simple investments like Staples, but shifted heavily toward more complex leveraged buyouts and other deals within several years, according to former Bain partners.

Leveraged buyouts allow investors to purchase businesses with the acquisition funded sometimes by significant amounts of debt. To critics, these leveraged deals can make acquired companies more vulnerable to economic downturns, leading to a greater likelihood of bankruptcy and job cuts. At the same time, the deals sometimes introduce discipline to firms and even whole industries that need it.

Here we go:

In 1999, as economic challenges mounted, GSI sought a federal loan guarantee intended to help steel companies compete internationally. The loan deal was approved, but in 2001, before it could be used, the company went bankrupt, two years after Romney left Bain.

More than 700 workers were fired, losing not only their jobs but health insurance, severance and a chunk of their pension benefits. GSI retirees also lost their health insurance and other benefits. Bain partners received about $50 million on their initial investment, a 100% gain.

Of course you could ask who really "bled the company" in the first place. Unions. Especially union bosses.

They don't show the infamous photo, though.

P.S. Of course, Dems have abandoned the working class, which is up for grabs.

Football Break. The Final Frontier:)

This is so wonderful:

Dead Movement Walking: Top Ten New Media Moments That Brought Down #OccupyWallStreet

Big Journalism

Too bad for you, Barack. Your "community organizing" didn't work this time.

Pathetic.

City Side

Honor Killing: Groomed for sex at 12, stabbed to death at 17

Daily Mail

Previous post: Let the men cover their faces too

Let the men cover their faces too

So Saudi men are such weak creatures temptation awaits them in coffee shops, at a look from a woman.

Let the men cover their faces too, then.

Oh wait.

Related posts:  Saudi woman to be lashed for driving car, Saudi Tower to be built by Bin Ladens, Chicago architects, Delta: We Love To Fly Without Jews (and Bibles),What kind of irresponsible headline is this?, Freedom Dims. Toward Dhimmitude, Are the rest of us whores, then?, Let the men cover their faces too, then, Vision with your coffee

A photo ID is un-Democratic?

RCP video: Wasserman Schultz: GOP To "Rig" Elections By Requiring A Proper I.D. To Vote

So DNC chairwoman and Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz goes on and on about polling places "in every state of the country having the technology in place to compare the voter's signature", but it's too much trouble to require a photo from voters?

In this digital age, when there's a camera on practically every device?

Is there security going into public Congressional buildings, hmm, Debbie?

Aren't photo IDs commonplace in everyday society?

Given that vote fraud routinely occurs in mostly Dem-run cities, (presumably sanctioned by the White House) I wonder, Debbie, why you're not more concerned. Only in Dem primaries, apparently. Or not.

Plan B for Dems, already in play--absentee ballot fraud.

More:

But while the Obama Justice Department is pursuing the “motor voter” allegations, it is ignoring the anti-fraud provisions within the same law, Sen. David Vitter argues in a letter addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder.  “Motor Voter” falls under Section 7 of the NVRA, while the anti-fraud provision is included in Section 8.
“Section 8 requires states to conduct voter roll cleaning to purge ineligible felons and dead voters from corrupting the election process,” Vitter wrote.  “The two provisions act together as counterparts, but it is evident that the Justice Department is not enforcing them equally.”
J. Christian Adams, a former Voting Section attorney with DOJ, said during a November forum at Tulane University Law School, that the Obama Justice Department is “philosophically opposed” to enforcing the law against fraudulent voting. (See related story). Adams also identified five parishes in Louisiana that have more people listed as voters than they have residents who are eligible to vote.

P.S. In other news...Chicago: "Police suggest drivers ask for a photo ID"

Does anyone read at libraries any more?

Books seem an afterthought. We had libraries expand into videos, competing with private sector companies like Blockbuster--now bankrupt. Libraries branched out to include computers. Videos now stream on most people's personal PCs, iPads, or maybe even their phones.

Then there are ebooks. The classics can be had for pennies.

So what's a library's latest pitch to remain relevant? Allowing people to sleep there.

And in a time of crushing fiscal burdens, as home prices drop and taxes relentlessly rise, we are paying for hefty salaries and benefits for library employees, as books molder on the shelves.

Newt Wooing Main St.

An innovative approach. Characteristic.

Ok, I'm gonna say it.

All politics is local:)

...the Newtster. Come on, don't you get a kick out of this guy?

P.S. Sunny beats gloomy:) Lugubrious

...Can Perry make a comeback?

Abe Lincoln in a Turtleneck

Seriously, he looks like an aging Boomer. I guess, cuz that's what he is:)

He's Obama's Commie Guru

This is the guy who visited the White House more frequently than anyone else. You can bet O thinks just like this too: Andy Stern: In praise of Communist China

Remember O's commie-unication person, Anita Mao-See-Dunn 

Valerie Jarrett's favorite loony commie, Van Jones

Then there are the commies left at home in Chicago.

If we re-elect Barack Obama we'll get Red ruin.

P.S. When the American people looked at him they saw a glowing reflection of themselves in the mirror. Now they see him as he is...

Schakowsky A Shameless Bully Again

Rep. Schakowsky (D-IL) Hides Behind Congressional Privilege to Attack Private Military Companies

I wonder who protected her on her trip to Iraq. It is, sadly, what we have come to expect: So Jan Schakowsky thinks SEALS are criminals but defends accessories to terror

...yeah, she's on my radar, making me mad. I may have to move out of the state for good to get away from her leftist rot...I've lived around here for over 30 years and Chicago Dems keep encroaching further and further into the suburbs. And now enrollment is dropping in New Trier township schools. Gee, I wonder why.

Schakowsky/Alinsky in Action. New IL9th

Jan Schakowsky acolytes with added clout in new (still pending) Dem gerrymandered 9th congressional district, shooting up into the suburbs, flexing their muscle at the local level on affordable housing.

Cronyism no doubt to come--with a real plum: Bailouts for suburbia, cushy up-front fees for well-connected developers--ridiculous, pernicious and a HUGE waste of taxpayer dollars.

Winnetka discussion at their 11/15 board meeting starts 0:39:11

This is how the Obama Dems have bankrupted the country, through HUD and Freddie/Fannie. Now they want to start a new bubble.

O Official Poses as Single Father Victim Lake Forest* UPDATE. Photo doesn't track, not same guy?*Confirmed no. AH still an outrage

More "Affordable Housing" foolishness.

The last time I saw Gail Schechter was at MOLDFEST. (The Wilmette experience--thankfully we just said NO)

Cronyism no doubt to come--with a real plum: Bailouts for suburbia, cushy up-front fees for well-connected developers--ridiculous, pernicious and a HUGE waste of taxpayer dollars:

Outgoing 10^th District Cong. Robert Dold has joined with his newly-redistricted replacement, Jan Schakowsky, to award $235,874 in grant money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs. According to publicity from the IHCNS, the funds will be used to enforce the federal Fair Housing Act, promoting diverse, integrated and non-discriminatory communities, and counseling homeowners facing foreclosure and mortgage rescue scams.

Latest from WHOA:

 
Please note: Most of the people in this photo are from out of town - including Gail Schechter (back row) who is Executive Director of Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs (IHCNS).

Hi Everybody - As a rule, we do not respond to email blasts from Winnetka Is Neighborly (WIN). Unfortunately, we find it necessary to set the record straight per WIN's outlandish Thanksgiving message as reported below: WIN SAID "On 11/15, residents both for & against Affordable Housing spoke at a crowded Village Council meeting. In the end, the clearly frustrated Trustees took an unofficial straw poll and voted 4-1 to 'just stop talking about it.'"

THE TRUTH After lengthy comments from each of the Trustees articulating their positions on Affordable Housing, the Village Council decided 5-1 (not 4-1) to give policy direction in support of a draft Resolution submitted by Trustee Dick Kates. The draft incorporated Plank #5 of the 2011 Winnetka Caucus Platform which was unanimously adopted via an uncontested resident vote at the November Town Meeting. Caucus Village Plank $5 The Village Council should proceed promptly to conclude discussions on the Affordable Housing issue for Winnetka. In finalizing the Affordable Housing Plan on file with the State of Illinois, Village Council should not adopt an expanded Plan that would enact a below-market, "affordable" housing program in Winnetka, nor create the tools for such a program, i.e, affordability standards, local preference standards, inclusionary zoning ordinances, land trust, housing trust or housing commission. The Council's decision was NOT "an unofficial straw poll." Our Village Attorney was instructed to put the draft resolution into legal form for a final vote on December 6th.

WIN SAID "Expanding Winnetka's Amended Affordable Housing Plan will accomplish the following: 1) Help bring Winnetka into compliance with an Illinois law that requires communities to have 10% of housing stock be affordable. To ignore the law is to invite trouble in the form of expensive litigation, whether you're a home rule community or not."

THE TRUTH This threat of legal action is totally bogus. 6 former Village Presidents urged residents to vote for Home Rule to exempt us from State Affordable Housing mandates including Affordable Housing. Our Village Attorney unequivocally verified that Home Rule exempts Winnetka from the Illinois Affordable Housing Act.

WIN SAID "2) Affordable Housing will not, in any way, increase property taxes, lower property values, or infringe on individual property rights. Just ask our village officials, as we have. They'll confirm this."

THE TRUTH Winnetka has only seven elected village officials - a President (who does not vote unless there is a tie) and six (6) Trustees. Only one (1) Trustee voted in agreement with the above statement.

MORE TRUTH This is incredible!!! Two non-residents spoke in favor of Affordable Housing at the 11/15 Council Meeting: Gail Schechter, Executive Director of the Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs (IHCNS) an organization that admittedly uses tax dollars to train "posers" to gather evidence for law suits against property owners, and Jack Haines, a gentleman who "posed" as a single father from Lake Forest unable to afford to live in Winnetka. In reality Mr. Haines is Deputy Director of HUD from Washington, DC. John Haines: (202) 708-6339, ext. 4616 / email: john.haines@hud.gov

John Haines: (202) 708-6339, ext. 4616 / email: john.haines@hud.gov

UPDATE: Meetings webcast, 11/15 Winnetka village board meeting. Am watching it now: Unfortunately, no minutes yet. The site is slow on that. Update: The AH discussion starts about 0:39:11

UPDATE:

Key Staff - About - CPD - HUD

www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/about/staff/

Working with HUD · Tools · Webcasts · Mailing lists · RSS Feeds · Help ... DER, Deputy Director, John Haines, 7130, 708-6339. Follow this link to go Back to top ...

CPD Field Office Directors - Mercedes Márquez, Assistant ... - Yolanda Chavez

Link to how the guy looks

http://johnhaines.net/bio/

UPDATE: OK, Looks like bingo, at 1:08:59

ID himself as Jack Haines

Describes himself as Housing guy, 3 administrations

Must be an old pix.

Current search on HUD checks

What a sob story he spins.

He's shown as a current employee but he doesn't disclose that.

UPDATE: Still no photo--May not be the same guy

Confirmed no:

HUD’s John Haines is most certainly not JACK Haines, has never been to Winnetka, and is not a single father from Lake Forest.

Brian Sullivan

Office of Public Affairs

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development