Sarah Bear-a-cuda

So magnificent. Video:P.S. A down to earth person to talk to.

P.P.S. President Theodore Roosevelt would be proud (tho Sarah's dad shot that particular bear). Dateline Chicago, Dec. 23, 1884 New York Times:

Mr. Roosevelt was very proud of a twelve-hundred-pound grizzly, whose skin will follow him in a few weeks to New-York. He is very near­sighted, and the bear approached within nine feet of him before he saw it. The animal had seen the Assemblyman and was doubtless pre­paring to embrace him in brotherly fashion when a well-directed rifle ball struck him in the forehead and stretched his vigorous frame at full length on the around.

And how about those Bulls!

Al Marri in Peoria Admits Guilt

I know everyone is glued to the Bulls, but Holy __! This, from the Tribune:

Accused Al Qaeda sleeper agent Ali Al-Marri made a stunning reversal in federal court in Peoria today, pleading guilty to conspiring and providing support for two of the chief architects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Peoria Journal Star:

A plea agreement worked out between al-Marri and federal prosecutors stated al-Marri attended several terrorist training camps in Pakistan, where he learned basic military skills as well as information on poisons, how to conceal material on computers and counter surveillance.

It was at one of these camps that he met Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, or KSM, who later, in 2001, asked him to go to the United States for a mission.

What al-Marri was to do on that mission wasn’t discussed in court, but KSM told him to arrive no later than Sept. 10, 2001, to communicate in code and to remain here for an indefinite period of time.

You may recall KSM, currently at Gitmo, was the guy who hacked off Daniel Pearl's head. Oh, and al-Marri has a brother in Gitmo, did you know that? Washington Times:

After charging al-Marri in criminal court, the Obama administration stopped using the term "enemy combatant" and changed the definition of who could be detained under such circumstances.

So reassuring. But this Al-Marri apparently didn't get the memo. That he was harmless. Not even an "enemy combatant".

Of course, we knew he was harmless back in the day, because some in the media (NY Times), the judiciary, and our government told us so.

Hmm, how about those Uighers. Human Events:

Moving quickly to release Chinese Uighur terrorists into the United States, Obama administration officials have -- for the second time -- overridden objections of federal agencies responsible for national security.

Just a bunch of innocent goatherds. For sure. Probably they'll set up a Facebook account first thing. No worries. Our President Barack Obama has spoken.

More: CBS2 Chicago on his mental health. CNN:

According to government sources, information from al Qaeda leaders in U.S. custody identified al-Marri as someone who helped the group's operatives entering the United States.

Charming, I'm sure. NY Times:

During the nearly six years that Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri spent in isolation in a Navy brig as the last enemy combatant held on United States soil, he denied the government’s charges that he was a sleeper agent for al-Qaeda, his lawyers said. But on Thursday, in a federal courtroom in Peoria, Ill., that denial fell apart when Mr. al-Marri reached a deal with the government to plead guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda. [snip]

Mr. al-Marri, a native of Qatar, and his family did arrive in the United States on Sept. 10, and he enrolled at Bradley University, a Peoria insitution he had attended during an earlier stay in the United States. While there, he admitted, he “researched online information related to various cyanide compounds” and communicated in code with al-Qaeda operatives; investigators found an almanac with bookmarked pages marked showing dams, waterways and tunnels in the United States.

P.S. In other good news, Iran the nuke-seeking terror state improves relations with Hugo Chavez:

President Hugo Chavez's government has agreed to strengthen military ties with Iran.

Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar met with Chavez for an hour late Wednesday and said they discussed defense cooperation to "protect peace and tranquility in the region," Venezuela's Information Ministry said in a statement.

"There's a strategic alliance between Venezuela and Iran," Najjar was quoted as saying. "There's a great deal of economic and industrial cooperation, and we started cooperating in the area of defense five years ago."

But perhaps this was our President Barack Obama's objective. Peace and tranquillity, don't you know.

Ask a Terrorist to Lunch

Elgin Kiwanis asks Ayers to lunch

From Elginite.org -- Elgin, Illinois

Do you really want to break bread with this guy? The Kiwanis Club?

Kiwanis, through guidance and example, works to develop future generations of leaders.

You have got to be kidding me.

Related post: Real Debate, Yes

Durbin gets a drubbing

12 Democrats joined the GOP in the Senate to vote this dumb idea down, including Arlen Spector. Forbes:

...opponents argued that allowing judges to unilaterally adjust the terms of mortgages (or "cram down" the mortgages, as the financial services industry says) would create an alarming precedent, undermining existing principles of contract law. Eventually, they said, lenders would have to raise mortgage rates for everyone to cover losses forced on them by bankruptcy judges.

"The cram-down bill would have had a chilling effect on the economy when everyone's working hard to restore it," says Scott Talbott, senior vice president for Government Affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable, a trade group. "The bill would have moved in the opposite direction of restoring liquidity to the housing market."

Those pesky real world unintended consequences intrude again.

No Joe

The joke is Joe has been quarantined, after his latest hoof in mouth disease remark.

P.S. RedState:

If President Obama wishes to handle this crisis by sending Vice President Biden to an undisclosed location until it’s over, well, sacrifices must be made.

More from TOTUS, Killer B.

Kirk for Senate

Congressman Mark Kirk, (R-10th) competitive with most Dems in an Illinois Senate race. PPP. Lisa being the exception. We shall see. He hasn't decided to run yet, at least officially.

P.S. In response to the Arch, I would just say my number one issue is the economy and jobs. Not to mention taxes. 

Do you feel safer?

Photo-ops aside, do you feel safer? Video via RedState:Previous post: They measured the water

Sunken Patio

Rain around here. My take:

Dennis Miller Skewers MSM

Miss California fielded tougher questions than Obama. Video:

Ethical Populism & the Chicago School

Freedom's defenders in the new culture war. Arthur Brooks, the sociologist who was surprised that it was conservatives who really cared--the most generous (and the happiest), looks at the Tea Parties (whom our President Barack Obama has dissed):

Still, the tea parties are not based on the cold wonkery of budget data. They are based on an "ethical populism." The protesters are homeowners who didn't walk away from their mortgages, small business owners who don't want corporate welfare and bankers who kept their heads during the frenzy and don't need bailouts. They were the people who were doing the important things right -- and who are now watching elected politicians reward those who did the important things wrong.

Voices in the media, academia, and the government will dismiss this ethical populism as a fringe movement -- maybe even dangerous extremism. In truth, free markets, limited government, and entrepreneurship are still a majoritarian taste. In March 2009, the Pew Research Center asked people if we are better off "in a free market economy even though there may be severe ups and downs from time to time." Fully 70% agreed, versus 20% who disagreed.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are under assault by Democrats and the Left--who now control all the levers of power in Washington, and are pushing to grab power in every corner of the economy. (Fanny Med?!!!)

This country was built on freedom and choice. People risked their lives and chose to come here for freedom. It is up to us all to ensure that America's freedom and way of live endure for our children and theirs.

P.S. Caroline Baum, Bloomberg, on what Milton Friedman would say. Capitalism Still Has Legs That Are Long and Sexy. The Chicago School is still alive and kicking! We had a TaxDay TeaParty here too.

Plus 53% in liberal NY Times/CBS poll say Obama won't get us out of recession until 2012. Time to push your pols to roll back this debt and tax and spend Obamanomics and adopt sound fiscal policies. We need jobs--private sector jobs, not big government that doesn't work.

P.P.S. The scene outside the President's town hall yesterday around St. Louis. Gateway Pundit. Reason on the left's stages of denial about the Tea Parties. And the Instapundit.

More: Trib launches a bailout monitor.

Science and Industry Chicago

The newly-hatched chicks are always a wonder. The captured German sub is always sobering. The Museum of Science and Industry is my favorite Chicago museum, and that's a tough call, given the competition of the Art Institute, the Aquarium, Planetarium and the Field for natural history. Their latest exhibit is Harry Potter, sure to be a crowd-pleaser. And if you're in the neighborhood and want to see some great Potter-like Gothic architecture, try the University of Chicago.

But the one I come back to, time and again, is the simple magic of Foucault's pendulum, which mesmerized my kids for a precious minute or two.

Tea for more than Two

The president disparages citizen tea parties (video), the media dismisses us:

A tax-day editorial from the Austin American-Statesmen seemed to echo the same talking point: “Instead of presenting ideas for lifting the economy, Republicans again are engaged in attention-getting gimmickry. This time they are backing a ‘Tax Day Tea Party’ to denounce President Barack Obama’s budget and initiatives to stimulate the economy. . . . The tea parties, scheduled today in Austin and across the country, are stunts — the kind associated more with high school or college students than serious-minded politicians confronting an economic crisis.”

First, the tea parties were a grassroots effort not associated with the GOP, even if the party is largely simpatico with the effort. Second, there are polling data that say a majority of Americans have a favorable view of the tea-party effort — so it seems the GOP has to choose between popularity and being called “serious-minded” in the press. It can’t win.

But even the normally cheerleading AP is getting a bit testy, doing some fact-checking: 

"That wasn't me," President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One.

It actually was partly him — and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years — who shaped the latest in a string of precipitously out-of-balance budgets.

And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.

Somehow the message is getting through on the ruinous spending--perhaps because We the People are the genesis of the Tea Parties.

And we won't shut up no matter what.

Fireworks on a grey day

The Sox won yesterday, coming from behind. A.J. hit a homer straight back and later we had em back to back by Quentin and Dye, setting off the fireworks. 

I got my 86 year old dad some crackerjacks, cuz he doesn't believe they make em anymore. 

This says it all

Michael Ramirez, IBD.

The One's first 100 days

NRSC tallies. Watch:P.S. Some "enchanted" MSM evening. A song, a song! Why are you slashing defense spending to the bone Mr. President?

P.P.S. M.K. Ham, TWS reviews our President Barack Obama's MSM lovefest,and I have to say, this Pahkistahn pretention is so WFMT/NPR--it's been bugging me for some time, and apparently I'm not the only one--gee, why doesn' t he say Pareee (OH, I guess because he doesn't speak French), or even Afgahnistahn:

Barack Obama is also "gravely concerned" about the Pahkistahn government (and its inability to deliver health care?), but feels it is cahpable of keeping dahngerous nukes out of the hahnds of deprahved terrorists who would wish to do us dahmage. Also, the caht saht on the maht.

And, finally, remember to wash your hands!

Reform Illinois Now

Break the cycle or break the state. 

If there's any drop of statesmanship in your miserable political souls, vote for substantive reform. The commission's report is here. Americans for Prosperity Illinois testimony to the reform commission here.

Term limits, recall, timely online reporting of campaign contributions, transparent public records--let's see the state checkbook online, clean and simple redistricting removed from politics.

We know you're going to hit us again and again with tax increases and fees and services will inevitably decline--in quantity in addition to the poor quality we endure now.

If you want a shred of credibility with voters you had best clean your house now.

Or we may clean you out.

At the end of the day, the state of Illinois, the state where we live and work and raise our kids, is worth saving. Isn't it?

Sun Times, Tribune. Chicago Daily Observer. 

Rogers Park Swine Flu

ABC7 Chicago is reporting a K-12 school closing. More from Trib here. N.D. has it, U of C checking.

More: CBS2 Chicago.

You would be wrong

Arianna? Not the best of times, not the worst of times, but:

Sometimes 100 days feels like more than 100 days. This is one of those times. Mr Obama's first 100 days have been among the most eventful in history.

Really?

So how's it going?

According to the American people, pretty damn good. Not only do 69 per cent of the public approve of the job he is doing, but last week, for the first time since January 2004, more Americans felt the country is heading in the right direction than in the wrong (48 per cent to 44 per cent). Remarkably, this number has been steadily rising even as the economy has been steadily falling.

On election night Mr Obama warned that “the road ahead will be long” and that “our climb will be steep”. But his poll numbers are a vindication of the idea that, with the right leadership, Americans are mature enough to heed those words and not expect immediate results.

Emphasis mine. So you might wonder, is this a parody? (Our President Barack Obama, right for America) But you would be wrong.

P.S. Eat your veggies, or else: 

Creating a system in which more people can feel they are true stakeholders in their communities will not only produce physical benefits - it will help to repair America's moral infrastructure. Their answering of the call will be additional proof that Americans have been waiting for a leader to ask more of them.

Michelle says eat your veggies. You can be proud now.

Oh, and it will cost you TRILLIONS.

Bring it on MoveOn

There is a cautionary tale for Obama and his team in all of this. Particularly for the man who is mentioned in passing in the Vanity Fair article -- then-Clinton aide Rahm Emanuel, now Obama's chief staff.

Is this woman a criminal?

OK, I'm not really blogging this week, as I have family in town--and I'm doing the tour guide thing--but how about some comic relief (no, it wasn't me in Millennium Park). I ask you--does this woman look like a criminal?  Woman steals ambulance, tears up grass doing 'donuts' in Millennium Park.

The Hokey Pelosi

UPDATE: TOTUS says the AirForceOne NY flyover was a brilliant move by Rahmbo. And AlGore calls our President Barack Obama. HotAir--what should next photo-op be? Michelle Malkin--heckuva job. Latest from TOTUS here. Hey, we're speaking truth to power.

Ramirez. Bret Stephens, WSJ, The Politics of Liberal Amnesia. Powerline, Dancing Around the Obvious. Peter Wehner, Commentary. Dennis Byrne, Chicago Tribune.

P.S. White House causes terror scare in NYC. NY Post. For a photo-op. Video:P.P.S. Soros Show Trials. Matthew Vadum, The American Spectator:

But the Napoleonic plotter Charles Maurice de Talleyrand's eternal aphorism that treason is a matter of dates is not lost on today's left, which, having recaptured the White House and Congress, now wants to pay back the architects of the War on Terror for daring to defend America from Islamist totalitarians.
Alas, this spanking new David Axelrod-style astroturf group was manufactured by Soros himself and Obama loyalists.

The proof was surprisingly easy to find.

Obama's Teapot Dome

A few important links.  WSJ:

The cavalier use of brute government force has become routine, but the emerging story of how Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke forced CEO Ken Lewis to blow up Bank of America is still shocking. It's a case study in the ways that panicky regulators have so often botched the bailout and made the financial crisis worse.

It started under the Bush administration, but the Obama expansion is mind-boggling. NY Times on Geithner's power grab. Powerline on the TARP that swallows America. President Teapot Dome Obama. (Harding, not Silent Cal.)

Miss FIRE

Breaking blogger silence--this is a stunningly brilliant Day by Day cartoon. Chris Muir.

Welcome Spring

Family visiting. Back blogging in a week or so. Welcome, spring.

Iran's Zionist Oranges

The most recent example of the seemingly limitless capacity of Iranian leaders to mess things up comes from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He held a campaign rally and offered attendees free oranges. Food being in somewhat short supply these days, lots of folks showed up. And they really did get oranges. Zionist oranges. Jaffa oranges from the land of the little satan. Yes, Ahmadinejad bought Israeli oranges and handed them out to the faithful.

Vote No, Jeff Schoenberg

Tribune on health panel quackery:

As we said, there's still time to kill this board, and to abort the new center. The House need not, should not, follow in lock step so Illinois revives this board and pretends politics won't rule its decisions if the right "professionals" are in place. With Illinois' history of meddling in health facilities expansion, and of corruption in the awarding of permissions, who believes that?

Even some of the bill's supporters are skeptical about the board's long-term staying power. "I would like to see it go away," says Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston), one of the sponsors. Schoenberg calls the proposal "a methadone program" for the hospital industry. That said, he thinks "an immediate, abrupt termination of the board would have been very economically disruptive."

We disagree.

Vote no, Rep. Schoenberg. We need effective healthcare, not another opportunity for corruption. Competition in the private and public sector is a good thing. We like a choice:)

Dems to Seniors: Drop Dead

This is my shorthand. The dirty little secret of the Obama master plan. Charles Krauthammer is more elegant, "Obama: The Grand Strategy".

Hobbes comes to mind.

More: Rich Lowry, The President of Barack Obama, "...In his own mind, Obama ascended in Year Zero..."

They measured the water

Very, very careful interrogation techniques--of murderous terrorists who at first would only say, in the aftermath of Sept. 11th, you will see soon.

Most Americans understand that no other nation would be so scrupulous. And as we know to our cost, we are the number one target of people like this, or worse.

More: Powerline, Voters Unimpressed by Dems "Torture" Theme.

And Steve Huntley, Chicago Sun Times, "Don't use law to settle political scores".

Oh, yeah--Ellen of 10th? Lawyers on the front lines? Wave a pen in front of a terrorist. Daniel Pearl was a brave, good man--and they cut off his head. And maybe you should ask Nancy a few questions. How about hating that hate. And don't we have any tall buildings in Chicago?

More: Rebuttal to Begala. Just One Minute. Patterico.

UPDATE: In the Washington Post Saturday, former Rep. and CIA head Porter Goss, "Security Before Politics":

There is only one person who can shut down this dangerous show: President Obama.

Unfortunately, much of the damage to our capabilities has already been done. It is certainly not trust that is fostered when intelligence officers are told one day "I have your back" only to learn a day later that a knife is being held to it. After the events of this week, morale at the CIA has been shaken to its foundation.

We must not forget: Our intelligence allies overseas view our inability to maintain secrecy as a reason to question our worthiness as a partner. These allies have been vital in almost every capture of a terrorist.

The suggestion that we are safer now because information about interrogation techniques is in the public domain conjures up images of unicorns and fairy dust. We have given our enemy invaluable information about the rules by which we operate. The terrorists captured by the CIA perfected the act of beheading innocents using dull knives. Khalid Sheik Mohammed boasted of the tactic of placing explosives high enough in a building to ensure that innocents trapped above would die if they tried to escape through windows. There is simply no comparison between our professionalism and their brutality.

Previous posts: Innocent Lives, Presidential Poison

Fresh Paint

The National Security Pulse

Rasmussen:

Fifty-eight percent (58%) believe the Obama administration’s recent release of CIA memos about the harsh interrogation methods used on terrorism suspects endangers the national security of the United States.

Generic congressional ballot tied for the second week in a row.

P.S. Debra Saunders, RCP, "America's Foes Have Only Bad Lawyering to Fear".

More: Do you want to know what real torture is? Via OneSpot, Wizbang.

Previous posts: Innocent Lives, Presidential Poison

Rahmbo Wounded?

A scoop on Burris, but Oooh. Rahmbo. Sneed in the Sun Times:

How popular was U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, known for his strong-arm tactics and shrewd moves, before he became President Obama's chief of staff?

• • Consider: When Rahm's replacement, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, was sworn in Tuesday -- after telling the House to expect a different style from his predecessor -- a dramatic applause erupted, led by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. There ya go.

Touché.

Recovery.org

UPDATE: George Will blasts (the crap) out of Obama, Arne Duncan and the Dem Congress on school choice (below)***The private sector tracks where the stimulus money is going.

David Freddoso on stimulus transparency.

Conservatives try to fix TARP.

P.S. George Will, Obama is turning political satire into public policy.

P.P.S. The Politico is slightly skeptical of our President Barack Obama's first 100 days. And RCP looks at the historic polls here.

More: WaPo's David Broder strains mightily and comes up with this:

Barack Obama has launched a lot of initiatives but has fulfilled few of them. What he has shown -- and it is an important accomplishment in itself -- is a mastery of the art of managing the presidency.

There's more of this sort, if you can stand it. But it's really Rahmbo who's the behind the scenes here, don't you know:

Making this kaleidoscope look coherent -- and not confusing -- requires enormous discipline, and nowhere more than in the management of the White House schedule. The task and the tools were sketched for me last week by chief of staff Rahm Emanuel...

Talk Like Shakespeare Chicago

Chicago's bard and Mayor King Richard Daley has made a proclamation:

In honor of William Shakespeare's upcoming birthday, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has proclaimed "Talk Like Shakespeare Day" in the city.

CBS2:

The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre came up with the idea.

"Everybody knows Shakespeare, you know that," said theater artistic director Barbara Gaines. "Everybody quotes him all the time. Phrases like, 'it's Greek to me,' or 'foul play' or 'westward ho' or 'you're a blinking idiot.'"

The theatre will be presenting Richard III this year, among their plays.

My twitter friend DeadVoter has started his day:

deadvoterGood Day Chicago, get thee ass out of thy gilded bed and do something on this glorious day where the sun shineth #TalkLikeShakespeare

But if you're stuck, there is, of course, a website with suggestions.

The Brits' The Guardian has noticed Chicago's efforts, and celebrates the day with this--well put:

Yet it is only when we step back and think once again about the freshness of thought, the immediacy and preciseness, in a description such as "tongue-tied" that we realise the cliché has become cliché because it makes the artifice of language seem entirely natural. It is as if there is no other way to describe being "tongue-tied" than, well, "tongue-tied". The irony is that even while Shakespeare fabricated language for dramatic and poetic effect, it feels and sounds as if it is cut fresh from the earth.

As for me, since it is a glorious spring day, I recall this verse from my college days, spoken to us on such a day as this:

WHERE the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly.
After summer merrily:	5
Merrily, merrily, shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

God Bless the bard.

IndependenceDay TeaParty

A new coalition for the TeaParty movement. WSJ: The Case for a Federalism Amendment: How the Tea Partiers can make Washington pay attention:

An amendments convention is feared because its scope cannot be limited in advance. The convention convened by Congress to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation produced instead the entirely different Constitution under which we now live. Yet it is precisely the fear of a runaway convention that states can exploit to bring Congress to heel. [snip]

What sort of language would restore a healthy balance between federal and state power while protecting the liberties of the people?

One simple proposal would be to repeal the 16th Amendment enacted in 1913 that authorized a federal income tax.

Restoring our liberty under the Constitution. Very American. Here's to reasserting our individual independence!

Stroger Soap Opera

Cook County tax revolt gathers steam. In other news, Dem Cook County Board President "Toddler" Stroger, up for reelection, hires another Dem committeeman--oh, and the guy's already collecting a fat pension on our dime, plus Zorn documents two Stroger lies about his cousin, the recently resigned Cook County CFO.

Huffpo Tweaks Obama

Remember the photo of losing presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Dukakis, jogging in his wingtips? Huffpo snaps some pix of our President Barack Obama wearing dress shoes to "work" in the mud. And they note Michelle wore boots.

Blago on GMA

UPDATE: Video (below)***They showed his face for the teaser...and I haven't even had my coffee yet.

...they're showing clips from previous I'm a celebrity, Get me out of here reality shows..."Is his TV career doomed?" Awk, now they're having Jerry Springer comment.

Now Blago is on--how can anyone keep a straight face?

Viera asks if he's a flight risk--he's still hoping to have a role on the show, flying to LA today, "guess the judge saved me from eating bugs"...he's looking for a "new line of work", being in the jungle--he wants to "govern that little society...not that much unlike governing the fifth largest state in the country" (Blago of the Jungle!!!)

...I expect to be fully vindicated, "going in the jungle, eating some bugs a testament to how much I love my kids"...

Viera says some people say he's making a fool of himself--Blago says there's a presumption of innocence and "the media is sensationalizing the case"

She asks if he thinks he would have won on I'm a celebrity, Get me out of here--he says the people would decide, and the people have decided for him before.

Stellar Blago performance once again. They're doing a weather report now. Gotta get my coffee.

P.S. I hear on WLS Don and Roma Sanjaya is taking the Blago slot.

MORE: Video:
Previous posts: Only in Chicago, Go Blago Go, Governor Iron Man?, (Former) Governor Reality Show

Cosmic Bubble

NASA's astronomy pix of the day. Sharpless 308.

The world turned on its head

Victor Davis Hanson.

Invitation to Appease

WaPo, "Will the Obama administration talk to Iran while it persecutes Americans and libels Israel?":

LAST WEEK, the Iranian regime brought American journalist Roxana Saberi before a closed court and in a one-hour trial convicted her of espionage -- a blatantly bogus charge. She was sentenced to eight years in prison. On Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...

Rally at Northwestern to support Saberi today. (No rally against Iranian nukes yet.)

Lost in Translation?

Never let it be said that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lacks star-power, real or manufactured. Consider the Forza Italia candidates he has recruited...

A poll in La Repubblica this week gave the Prime Minister a personal popularity rating of 56 per cent, up four points, and his Government 46 per cent, up two points.

The women will follow in the footsteps of such glamorous figures as Mara Carfagna, the topless model who became Minister for Equal Opportunities.

Let the record show she earned a law degree before her rise. Well, it may not perfectly translate to this country, but we have a similar phenomenon going on.

Innocent Lives

Ramirez.

Congress knew about the interrogations. Mr. President, be responsible. Stop the reckless recriminations. Innocent lives are on the line.

Previous posts: Pay with our lives, Who will stick their neck out now?, God Help America

And from 2007, Nancy Knew, Durbin Postures. Oh, and the ubiquitous Jamie Gorelick...

More: Ed Rollins:

He waffled big time. Now all sides are mad at him and he looks weak. Weakness is the death knell for a president. With 1,366 days to go before this term is up, Obama's got to get tougher or he will be viewed as a personality who reads well from a teleprompter.

The president obviously knows the war on terror is not over. I imagine every morning when he gets the National Security briefing from the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, he takes a deep breath because he knows the world is not a very safe place.

Things aren't as simple as they were in the old days, when, for the most part, countries had conflicts with each other and they went to war wearing different-colored uniforms so you knew who your enemy was and where they might be found.

Fortunately, because of the enormous talents of many federal agencies comprised of extraordinary Americans who work very hard at their jobs, the United States has not been struck in 2,781 days.

More: Gov. Mitt Romney interview with Hugh Hewitt last night, in part (scroll down, the link is bad)

HH: I want to start with the big news from yesterday, that President Obama has reopened the door, opened the door to the prosecution of former Bush administration officials in connection to the interrogation memos. What’s your reaction to that, Governor?

MR: Well, it’s a bad decision on a number of fronts. First of all, it violates his most consistent campaign pledge that he was going to work on a bipartisan basis in Washington. There’s nothing that could be more hostile than saying we’re going to go after the prior administration and see if we can make them all get lawyers and pay millions of dollars in legal fees, and drag them in for hearings, and see if we can really demonize the prior administration. That’s the lowest form of partisanship, and it’s something which I think the American people will recognize was very different than what they heard during the campaign. And secondly, these matters that are related to protecting our country from terrorism, you know, I think the Democrats are making a mistake by calling this into question. President Bush informed members of Congress as to the policies that were being pursued. There was a national emergency, America was kept safe during the Bush years. I think Barack Obama’s leading with his chin on this, because you know what? He’s got to keep this country safe.

Presidential Poison

David Ignatius, WaPo, the president has harmed the CIA, those sworn to protect him and us. Remember, it wasn't just NYC that was hit last time. How will we connect the dots now?

Sad to say, it's slow roll time at Langley after the release of interrogation memos that, in the words of one veteran officer, "hit the agency like a car bomb in the driveway." President Obama promised CIA officers that they won't be prosecuted for carrying out lawful orders, but the people on the firing line don't believe him. They think the memos have opened a new season of investigation and retribution.

Stephen Hayes, TWS, Who's politicizing intelligence now? WSJ:

Mark down the date. Tuesday, April 21, 2009, is the moment that any chance of a new era of bipartisan respect in Washington ended. By inviting the prosecution of Bush officials for their antiterror legal advice, President Obama has injected a poison into our politics that he and the country will live to regret.

Fred Thompson, audio:Yes. They are so partisan they are blind to this. Dorothy Rabinowitz, "Obama Blames America":

There is always danger in repeating propositions like this often, among them the likelihood that their irrationality will begin to make itself clear to anyone hearing it over time.

Any number of people listening to Mr. Emanuel -- those acquainted with terror's recent history, at any rate -- would have recalled, instantly, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the attack on the USS Cole, and the rest of the unending chain of terror assaults mounted against Americans long before anyone had ever heard of enhanced interrogation techniques.

More: Begala mangles facts. And Legal Insurrection weighs in.

Northwestern Rally for Saberi

This Thursday. ABC7:

On Thursday, Apr. 23, students at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism will lead a rally in support of U.S. journalist and Medill alumna Roxana Saberi's release from Iranian imprisonment.

Students will gather in front of the journalism building, Fisk Hall, at 5:15 p.m. and begin marching at 5:30 p.m. The march will continue through campus and end at The Rock, where Medill Dean John Lavine, Professor Jack Doppelt and others will speak to express their support for Saberi and concern for her immediate release.

The Medill Undergraduate Student Advisory Council decided to organize the event in response to the Iranian government's decision to sentence Saberi to eight years in prison after convicting her of espionage.

The Free Roxana Saberi site here. Ahmadinejad says he won't intervene. What a surprise.

Related: Daniel Henninger, Obama Among The Dictators.

An important phone call:)

A.J. takes a call in the White House. HT Anna, who thought it was amusing too.

Only in Chicago...

...this headline:
Quinn won't apologize for calling Blagojevich honest

You have to laugh. Sicko city. Meanwhile, if you missed Kass' column today on his idea for a Chicago-based Blago reality show, here you go.

The right to protect myself

Dr. Suzanna Gratia-Hupp testimony. The Second Amendment. Watch:

Mock Windmills on Michigan Ave.

Greenpeace cited for slightly damaging a downtown bridge and placing 6 mock windmills close to passersby (whom they lectured). Tribune.

No Bowing: Full Power

The video Dems don't want you to see:P.S. Remember what our President Barack Obama said: Then-Senator Obama: “Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” Video here.

Energy Cost & Corruption

EPA threats or the Dem Energy Bill--costly and with plenty of potential for corruption. And will it solve our energy needs? Ha. Video with Rep. John Shadegg, Arizona:P.S. Cap and Trade would cost $3900 per family per year. And why can't we drill here, drill now!!!

Maddow Drops

It's not just CNN taking a hit, MSNBC's Maddow's numbers are down significantly. A moderate media critic notes it, with this remark:

Maddow was at her worst last week, falsely minimizing the tea parties held across the country as "the fizzle in the drizzle" and mocking the participants.

As you see, there were a number of younger voters at the rally in Chicago. Perhaps it's the drink the Obama Kool-Aid crowd that's fizzling.

Govt Health "Care"

Horror story from Britain, a three year old's heart surgery cancelled 3 times due to lack of an intensive care bed:

The family are now waiting for another surgery date.

'We have asked the doctors if she really needs the surgery as she is so happy at the moment and is running around like a normal little girl, but she could drop down dead at any moment,' said Ms Davis.

'Twice I have been told that she may not make it through the night and there have been times when I have gone into her room in the morning and wondered whether she'd still be breathing.

No choice when there's only one provider.

Previous post: Tackling Health Care

Sun on a roof

Arne Duncan, Failure

I have exhausted myself a bit, so I'll let Joseph Lawler of the American Spectator lay bare Arne Duncan, who has a self-serving, disingenuous op-ed in the WSJ today. Lawler:
Daily Must-Reads: Arne Duncan Is a Failure Edition

P.S. To underscore the point, Juan Williams on Arne Duncan the other day: 

And now Secretary Duncan has applied a sly, political check-mate for the D.C. voucher plan.

With no living, breathing students profiting from the program to give it a face and stand and defend it the Congress has little political pressure to put new money into the program. The political pressure will be coming exclusively from the teacher’s unions who oppose the vouchers, just as they oppose No Child Left Behind and charter schools and every other effort at reforming public schools that continue to fail the nation’s most vulnerable young people, low income blacks and Hispanics.

posts: Juan Williams Calls out Obama, Lift the Cap, Lift Up Kids, Keep Hope Alive, Dishonest Arne Duncan

Happy Earth Day

Environmentalist outrage over good news. Stephen Hayward outlines progress and pokes the greenies with his 14th edition index of leading environmental indicators.

P.S.

"Public opinion data on advertising and marketing suggest growing public weariness with 'green' messages in general and messages on global warming in particular," Dr. Hayward said. "It's no wonder. The data show that 2008 was the coolest year since 2000, and there has been no discernible warming for the last decade, after two decades of steady warming between 1979 and 1998."

P.P.S. Jonah Goldberg:

One of the most important events of our lifetimes may have just transpired. A federal agency has decided that it has the power to regulate everything, including the air you breathe.

Nominally, the Environmental Protection Agency's announcement last Friday only applies to new-car emissions. But pretty much everyone agrees that the ruling opens the door to regulating, well, everything.

According to the EPA, greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide -- the gas you exhale -- as well as methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. It is literally impossible to imagine a significant economic or human activity that does not involve the production of one of these gases. Don't think just of the gas and electricity bills. Cow flatulence is a serious concern of the EPA's already. What next? Perhaps an EPA mandarin will pick up a copy of "The Greenpeace Guide to Environmentally Friendly Sex" and go after the root causes of global warming.[snip]

In 1999, the Federal Communications Commission raised the so-called Gore tax on long-distance phone calls by 73% without seeking congressional approval. Lord knows what the EPA could collect by extorting "climate criminals."

A Boon to us all

Let the Times collapse. The best chance of saving the rest of the US newspaper industry. Mark Steyn.

$1,300,000,000 in debt.

Got Cornflakes?

Chris Muir.

Pay with our lives

UPDATE: My God. The Obama administration reveals top secret information to al Qaeda but deletes an assessment that the methods worked--the assessment of the administration's own intel head. Chilling. Who is politicizing intelligence? Is every move for partisan advantage--and the country can go to hell? The truth is "not operative" any more? MSNBC/NY Times:

Some parts of memo deleted
Admiral Blair’s assessment that the interrogation methods did produce important information was deleted from a condensed version of his memo released to the media last Thursday. Also deleted was a line in which he empathized with his predecessors who originally approved some of the harsh tactics after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

***

The idea of prosecuting a lawyer because a wrote a legal analysis with which the current Attorney General disagrees is so outrageous that I can't believe it would be seriously considered.

Powerline.

But then these are liberals. They want us to just shut up.

Is free speech not free any more? No, we have to pay and pay when we disagree with these guys.

And yes, Nancy Pelosi knew about this stuff when it happened early on--you know, when the WTC was still smoldering and people were still hoping against hope their loved one was just lost but not dead--and our intel guys worked to prevent the next wave of attacks, maybe a nuke.

You Dems keep this up people are going to pay with their lives when we miss the next signs of attack.

P.S. Hey Rep. Jan Schakowski, Nancy Pelosi put you on the House Intel Committee--what did you know and when did you know it--or were you out of the loop, you know, people somehow didn't trust you.

More: Trib leftie hit job. The techniques worked--they gave us intel that saved lives. It is dishonest to tell only half the story, and out of context. The CIA confirms the interrogation methods worked.

More: Hugh Hewitt, President Obama's Enormous Error:

The president's decision to open the door to prosecuting former Bush Administration officials for policies developed and used in the war on terror is not just the threat of the worst sort of unconstitutional ex post facto prosecution, it also greatly endangers the United States by obliging current front-line prosecutors, intelligence operatives and even uniformed members of the military that if it becomes politically useful to classify their conduct as "potentially criminal" this Administration will do so. The impact of that posture will be devastating to the security of the United States.

There is no serious prosecutor who would bring a charge against any of these Bush Adminstration officials. No one not from the far left side of the political spectrum can even frame the indictment or explain how the tactics less coercive than water-boarding could be considered criminal when Congress, offered the opportunity to declare water boarding a crime, refused to do so.

Yes. This is a political witch hunt, which the president has unleashed. But why should we be surprised--he has made a habit of throwing his allies under the bus for political expediency--it's a simpler matter for him to toss aside those he considers his political enemies--no matter the damage to the country.

Risky, Costly Rail

Another takedown of high speed rail, which would cost 30 times more than the $13 billion advertised. Reason looks at the track record, and the shaky underpinnings:

• All or nothing build out. The success of the system depended critically on interconnectedness among major cities in the Midwest--Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Columbus, Buffalo, etc. This interconnectedness accounted for more than a third of projected ridership.

Come on--are those places lots of people want to go? Besides Chicago of course. They also say it will just benefit the riders, not the states. Us vs. Europe? We won't go as fast, it'll be uncompetitive with air travel even with the subsidies. Bad, bad idea.

Shore up the tracks for freight, yes, but this? No.

The ObamaBLOB

UPDATE below: TARP is under investigation for fraud--the government is running a criminal enterprise!!!***Doesn't it remind you of the blob that was after Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner? RedState: Barack Obama thinks you can't count. Heritage graphic. [Add in Dr. Evil video in case you missed it.]

P.S. I'm watching Kudlow and they're asking, what's Geithner and the Obama administrations's exit strategy on the banks--let the banks out who want to pay back the taxpayers. Let the FDIC handle the banks in the traditional way--if they fail clean em up and sell em off. None of this backdoor nationalization stuff--Geithner and the Obama administration can't manage their way out of a paper bag. And this!!! TARP Inspector General Conducting 20 Criminal Investigations On Bailout Money

More here:

The report lays out just how complicated the program has become. What started out last October as a single-purpose $750 billion effort to buy toxic securities has morphed into 12 separate programs that covers up to $3 trillion in direct spending, loans and loan guarantees.

The program has now committed an amount equal to the entire annual federal budget.

The Blob just about doubled. Great, now Obama and Congress want to go after the credit card companies and wreck that.

Previous post: Not the Change they wanted

Stimulus Not Work for Cat

Bloomberg:

Caterpillar Inc., the bulldozer manufacturer President Barack Obama used to help push his $787 billion stimulus plan, called the program disappointing and less effective than measures approved by China.

“The infrastructure portion of the stimulus package was disappointing in that it was less aggressive than other countries and missed an opportunity to correct past underinvestment in U.S. infrastructure,” Caterpillar said in economic commentary with today’s first-quarter earnings report.

Chief Executive Officer Jim Owens, 63, is a member of the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Obama visited the Peoria, Illinois, headquarters on Feb. 12, the final day of his campaign to press for Congressional passage. Caterpillar today reported its first net loss in 16 years as a global credit crunch and recession reduced demand from builders and miners.

How about approving the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. Anything to say Mr. President?