May 26, 2011

First find several dozen rich political loons....

While I am not happy with Congressional leadership's lack of an effective communications strategy explaining the need for entitlement reforms, I am not reading much of anything into Tuesday's special election in NY-26.  ...

May 25, 2011

It's all a conspiracy

As I listen to the Obama is Awesome crowd spin his gaffe-filled trip to Ireland and Great Britain I am surprised this theory hasn't come up.  Maybe the President couldn't remember what year it was after visiting...

May 8, 2011

Remember when?

Remember how the media used to sneer that the jib growth being reported represented "McJobs" -low paying unskilled part time work that didn't include benefits or provide for advancement?   That seems to have changed thi week with ...

May 6, 2011

Print media's last stand: subsidies

The last reliable advertising revenue stream of print media has come under attack.  As both display and classified advertising fled for other venues newspapers could still rely on one captive advertising revenue stream, that of le...

May 4, 2011

That Famous Situation Room photo

It's thinly sourced but this certainly would explain Obama's impersonation of a turtle in the photo from the White House situation room.  When I saw that picture of the President all hunched over in the corner my first thought was that he w...

April 24, 2011

McDonalds attack started over gender, not race

There is more to this story than what's apparent on the video, although there is clue in the attackers yanking a wig off the victim's head.  That's because while the media's description of the victim as a 22 year old woman is...

April 10, 2011

Judge Sumi and the Wisconsin Supremes

Following Wisconsin politics these days can be as entertaining as watching a soap opera.  There was the bug out of the fleebaggers, the legislative maneuvering to get around the fleebaggers, Judge Sumi's ruling that enjoined the w...

April 10, 2011

Obama's conflict avoidance

An interesting Bloomberg  article about the last minute budget negotiations: "President Barack Obama had finally reached his breaking point."Obama doesn't seem to be very good at this.  As I read it I recalled a 200...

April 7, 2011

The return of the Dust Bowl?

 As if mortgage foreclosures, misguided government economic policies and growing threats abroad aren't enough for those who like historical analogies here's yet another similarity between recent history and the Grea...

March 27, 2011

Now Obama's just like Ike?

The inside the beltway media has come up with yet another explanation for the President's failure to exert leadership. It seems that Obama isn't just a new Lincoln,  a new FDR, or the second coming of Jack Kennedy.  He's just like Ike!...

March 22, 2011

Libyan Policy Known Unkown?

Donald Rumsfeld from an interview to air today on  SiriusXM POTUS channel,  via Jim Geraghty at NRO"It may very well be that one of the reasons he [Obama] didn't go to Congress was that he didn't know what his goals were or w...

November 4, 2010

The Bacon Bites Back

In 2006 a great many Republican incumbents who had expected their ability to bring pork barrel spending projects to their districts to save them come election day received a rude awakening.  This year some Democrats appear to...

November 3, 2010

State House Tsunami

  The GOP had enormous success is taking control of state legislatures last night. This new power will have an impact in redistricting efforts for U.S House seats, and  for state legislative districts. It also gives Republicans a bigger rol...

November 3, 2010

David beats Goliath in Minnesota

In one of the David beats Goliath stories of this election cycle, Chip Cravaack narrowly beat 18 term incumbent James Oberstar last night in the eighth Congressional Distirct of Minnesota, a district that had been seen as unassailably Democrat for de...

November 1, 2010

Blaming Bush, Times Two

Four years after they took control of Congress Democrats still like to blame all the nation's problems on President Bush.  Recently this habit hit a new milestone of sorts.  Embattled  incumbent Congressman Barney Frank calle...

October 31, 2010

Shuler throws another interception?

Speaker Heath Shuler?  From his debate with Republican Jeff Miller last week:"You're saying you would not vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker?" Miller said."If that's the alternative, I will be voting for myself," Shuler replie...

October 29, 2010

Trick or Treat Alaskan Style

In response to a state Supreme Court decision that many consider to be electioneering by the state, scores of ordinary Alaskans decided to join Senator Lisa Murkowski in tossing their hats into the ring as write-in candidates for the U.S. S...

October 27, 2010

Odd criterion for an endorsement

A GOP challenger to an entrenched Dem incumbent receives an endorsement from the district's largest newspaper for this? Earlier this week, the Duluth News Tribube endorsed Republican Chip Cravaack for Congress over 18 term Democrat incumbent master o...

October 26, 2010

MN Democrats Declare War on Catholics (updated)

In one of the oddest attacks in an election in which the Democrats' tone has increasingly resembled fingernails on a chalkboard, the Minnesota DFL (Democrat) Central Committee has now targeted Catholic clergy.  Here is what Matthe...

October 26, 2010

Walking out on Bill Clinton

Chicago talk radio giant WLS reports a noticeable lack of enthusiasm among Democrats in Obama's hometown a week before the county, state and national elections. Former President Bill Clinton's ‘get out the vote' rally for Democrats at...

October 21, 2010

Oberstar's Odd Numbers

According to this recent article in Politico, Democrat incumbent Jim Oberstar seems to have spent more time with big donors in Corpus Christi, Texas than he spent with constituents in places like Cass Lake, Minnesota.  Over the last two yea...

October 19, 2010

Duking it out in Duluth

An often noisy crowd estimated to number 1,500 to 1,800 attended an early morning debate Tuesday between Minnesota's 8th Congressional District 18 term incumbent Democrat James Oberstar and Republican challenger Chip Cra...

October 14, 2010

Short Count

One. That's how many individuals from inside Minnesota's 8th Congressional District contributed to incumbent Democrat James Oberstar during last quarter's reporting period of June 22 to September 30.  She gave the 18 term incumbent $50...

October 14, 2010

Gerrymandering bites back

Republican challenger Bobby Schilling's highly effective new ad, Phil Hare was here, features the numerous closed factories in the 17th Congressional District of Illinois. There are many reasons to vote against the thugg...

October 7, 2010

Ag Chair's Foot-in-Mouth Disease

Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture Collin Peterson (D-MN-7) may have picked a bad time to remind constituents in his Republican district that he doesn't consider them well informed. Noting that the he's in good shape t...

October 6, 2010

Another Sore Loser Coming?

From the sports pages comes this hint that Wisconsin Democrat Senator Russ Feingold may be getting a little touchy about being in the unexpected position of trailing in the polls. His latest ad uses an infamous clip from a Green Bay Packers...

September 29, 2010

Floggings will continue until morale improves

President Obama's carefully crafted get out the vote strategy may not be working as planned.  New York Magazine has a short opinion piece titled The White House Will Scold Democrats Until They're Sufficiently Excited About Voting that concl...

August 21, 2010

Stimulating Netflix?

In Southwest Virginia, where a veteran Democrat is facing a tougher than usual reelection challenge, your tax dollars are helping his re-election -- typical of something now happening across rural America.  Ninth District Con...

August 15, 2010

Once again, it is all about Obama

As I read Obama's comments, I got the impression that this controversy is now all about Obama. That the Ground Zero Mosque debate is now the Professor Gates/Cambridge Police Department controversy elevated to the world s...

August 7, 2010

Bad news for Dem frontrunner for Byrd's Senate Seat

At the tail end of a week that saw a pile up of bad news for the Democrats on the ballot this fall comes this news item from West Virginia Watchdog: Gov. Joe Manchin‘s office confirmed today that state government officials h...

August 3, 2010

The changing face of gun ownership

Gun ownership was once shunned by many Americans, secure in the assumption that we live in an ordered society. But I keep running into people who have changed their views on personal firearms possession, and bought guns. Events such as Hurricane...

July 31, 2010

Go Granny, Go!

An 84 year old fights back against a traffic camera report that placed her on a high speed midnight motorcycle run. 84 year old  Jean Robinson of Lexington, Virginia was astounded when she opened her mail a few days ago. Now Jean ...

July 21, 2010

Forty Acres & a Mule -- Sherrod Style?

Shirley Sherrod's quick dismissal from the Obama administration may have had less to do with her comments on race before the NAACP than her long involvement in the aptly named Pigford case, a class action against the US government on behalf of b...

July 17, 2010

Somewhere, Jimmy Hoffa is spinning like a top

The WSJ headline To Protest Hiring of Nonunion Help, Union Hires Nonunion Pickets: Jobless Recruits Get Minimum Wage To March Around and Sound Off yields this money quote "For a lot of our members, it's really difficult to have them come out, ei...

July 15, 2010

Kagan nomination hits roadblock

The Judiciary Committee vote on Elena Kagan is being delayed one week. The Senate Judiciary Committee is postponing by one week its vote on the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan after objections from the panel's top Republican.The committee had...

June 21, 2010

Don't click on this link

Don't click on this link unless you have some time to spare.  The Where Americans are moving interactive map of the ten million who moved to a different county in 2008  at Forbes.com can be addicting.  It is ba...

June 19, 2010

The Higher Education Bubble

The coming burst of the higher education bubble is being discussed by Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit. He has had a series of links to articles about people giving up college for trade school.  He also wrote a recent opinion piece i...

June 17, 2010

Viral video candidate back

Dale Peterson, whose We're better than that ad went viral, lost his bid to become Alabama's Agriculture Commissoner.  His new ad endorsing his erstwhile opponent, John McMillan, in the upcoming runoff has him on foot thi...

June 13, 2010

Sour Pixels

South Carolina Democrat Vic Rawl has lined up hired independent experts and is calling for an official investigation of his stunning loss to unknown Alvin Greene in the U.S. Senate primary last week. There is a tendency to treat all po...

April 20, 2010

Mr. Dees, meet Mr. Bialystock

I am trying to figure out how Morris Dees differs from Max Bialystock.  Around the time that the counter protestors outnumbered the sad sack white supremacist by maybe 15 to one at a Klan rally in Skokie, Illinois in 2000 I asked a Jew...

April 11, 2010

Paradox in Tax Poll

Rasmussen just released its latest poll on voters' attitudes towards taxation.  It comes as little surprise that a full two thirds of the nation's voters think we are overtaxed.  But with 47% of Americans paying no federal income tax a...

March 19, 2010

Desperate Dems

The word is out that Democrats have instructions "Do Not Allow Yourself to Get Into a Discussion of the Details,"  of what the House is trying vote on. At Big Government, a lawyer recounts how his efforts to get his Congressman, J...

March 17, 2010

Moveon's empty threat

An obvious comment on the far left's threat to run primary opponents against any Democrat who votes No on ObamaCare  state anywhere: The time for that threat passed months ago.  Illinois and Texas have already held their...

March 7, 2010

Broadway Bank Blues

The family business of US Senate candidate and friend of Barack Obama, Alexi Giannoulias, is back in the news.  The Broadway Bank is about to go belly up and it seems that the event could put up to $15 million is the family's pocket.A $75-m...

March 7, 2010

The Tides Foundation's inept voter drive

The Tides Foundation, which seems to exist to launder the source of funding for left wing operations, does not seem too strong when it comes to implementation.In 2004 I received two mailing from part of the Tides Foundation effort to get out the vote...

March 5, 2010

Rep. Delahunt to spend more time with grandchild

Congressman William Delahunt announced that he will not seek reelection. According to the veteran Massachusetts lawmaker, recently returned from an extended trip to the Middle East, it's because he wants to spend more time with his infant g...

March 5, 2010

Last voyage of the Pequod?

An anonymous White House advisor told CNN's Gloria Borger to think of President Obama's latest push to ram through a health care bill as "the last helicopter out of Saigon."  Last helicopter out of 'Nam?  I suspect for many of the...

February 19, 2010

File found, Delahunt still absent

The Braintree Police Department, the Norfolk County Prosecutor and the Massachusetts State Police are trying to get their stories down as to why no charges were filed against Amy Bishop in the 1986 shooting death of her brother.  Although t...

February 15, 2010

Another Dem in Congress implodes (updated)

Saturday's Boston Globe reported that Congressman William Delahunt may not run for reelection. US Representative William Delahunt said yesterday that he is considering retiring from his congressional seat representing the South Shore and Cape Cod, al...

February 15, 2010

Presidents Day Thoughts

This past weekend I was reading about the election of 1860.  The nation had come to a day of reckoning and restructuring over slavery.  The Whig party had imploded because it lost touch with its voters in both New England, th...

January 31, 2010

Minnesota's No-Spin Zone

It seems two favorite green technologies favored by the coastal elites don't work very well in the harsh conditions in parts of flyover country.  First came news that energy saving LED traffic lights can't be seen after a snowstorm, a condi...

January 18, 2010

Less than half Nelson

Yesterday's Omaha World-Herald reports that Senator Ben Nelson's job rating has fallen precipitously among Nebraska's registered voters, dipping to only 42% with 48% disapproving.    In April 2006, Nelson was named one of the Senate's ...

January 14, 2010

More bad news for Coakley

Gerald Amirault was on WEEI radio's Dennis and Callaghan show today, discussing the shameful role of Martha Coakley in the prosecution of a false child molestation case. Audio here.The hosts talked about how the entire Fells Acres trai...

January 13, 2010

Parallel lives

Two years before America elected Barack Obama to be its President, the voters of Cook County, IL elected a Board President who had no executive experience and an undistinguished record as a legislator. In fact, Todd Stroger may be...

November 20, 2009

What's the right term for David Frum?

There may be a term from the 1960s to describe pundit David Frum that has nothing to do with rebuilding a traditional centrist Republican majority, as the Canadian-born pundit purports would happen, should the party only foll...

November 20, 2009

Obama goes from radiant to radioactive

After the 2008 election, Obama basked in a triumph of superlatives that would have made a Caesar returning for the barbarian wars blush, so thickly did the media slather on the paeans to semi-divine political status   In...

September 24, 2009

Obama insults PM Brown again

Relationships between President Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown seem to be on a downward spiral. Much was written about Obama's behavior towards Brown earlier this year when the Prime Minister visited Washington....

September 18, 2009

Public says 'Nuts!' to ACORN

Voters are saying nuts to ACORN,  A Rasmussen poll on  voter attitudes towards ACORN today shows that 51% of voters want the government to stop funding ACORN. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just ...

September 18, 2009

The Misery Map

The Carter years saw the Misery Index, the combination of the inflation rate with the unemployment rate.  Here is the Misery Map, each state's unemployment rate and mortgage foreclosure rate.    Note that the unempl...

September 14, 2009

9/12 was a transformative event

Sometimes an event occurs which is transformative in a way that everyone who sees it or participates in it instantly is aware of. Yesterday's demonstration in Washington DC is one of those rare happenings in my opinion.The Daily Mail said 2 million A...

September 14, 2009

Making it up on volume?

A recent tweet by Virginia Postrel notes that the Washington Posts' financial results for the last six months works out to a breathtaking loss of $1.10 per copy.   The Post certainly seems to be trying to make up the startlin...

September 11, 2009

Win one by being like the Gipper

Rasmussen reports that all political labels are trending negative except one. "Liberal" is still the worst and remains the only political description that is viewed more negatively than positively. Being like Reagan is still the most p...

September 10, 2009

Obama's Groundhog Day

In Groundhog Day, the main character, a TV weatherman who thinks he is superior to those in the small market city his station serves, learns humility after having to endlessly repeat his worst day of the year. Obama has cast himself as...

September 10, 2009

Fox to recommend reforms in chicken coop

It has been estimated that the need to practice defensive medicine to protect care givers from malpractice claims may cost Americans as much as $200 billion a year in extra tests and unneccessary procedures.   The absence of Tort Reform fro...

September 9, 2009

Democrats and the one-party mentality

For some time now, the leaders of this Congress, safely ensconced in heavily gerrymandered urban districts, have plodded ahead with a widely unpopular left wing agenda. Like so many Nurse Ratcheds, they relish in their power, presume t...

September 4, 2009

Union blues

The approval rating of one of the biggest supporters of Obama's attempt to impose a socialist system on America has plummeted. Gallup has been polling on the public's attitude to Labor Unions since the 1930s. They report public support of u...

September 3, 2009

Cleaning up

It seems that Nancy Pelosi's promise to clean up the House was misunderstood.  She was using that term as slang, meaning that under her, the Democrats would make large profits for themselves.  CBS reports that three of the Democrats on the ...

September 1, 2009

Watch out for the Labor Day effect

Obama's total approval rating has been down each of the last four days. It is now at an all time low of 45%.A similar pattern emerged just before the Fourth of July when an approval rating that had been fairly stable for three months s...

August 20, 2009

Reduce the deficit

A new Rasmussen polls shows that by an almost two to one margin, voters say that deficit reduction should be President Obama's highest prioriy. Forty percent (40%) of U.S. voters now say cutting the federal deficit in half by the end of his firs...

August 17, 2009

The city that won't be working today

Chicago, the famous "city that works" won't be working today.The City of Chicago will basically be closed for business on Aug. 17, a reduced-service day in which most city employees are off without pay, according to a release from the ...

August 17, 2009

We can't spare this woman: she fights

Moe Lane at Red State channels Abraham Lincoln in succinctly stating the value of Sarah Palin to the future of the Republic.  His headline to a summary of Andy McCarthy's dissent to the NRO editorial slamming Palin's...

August 15, 2009

First, do no harm

A new Rasmussen poll suggests that voters want Congress to follow the maxim, Primum non noceres when addressing the issue of health care.  a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that most voters (54%) say no health care ref...

August 14, 2009

Earmark Update

Amid all the concern over Health Care Reform and Cap & Trade it is best not to lose sight of the issue that began the current protest against out of control spending -- the earmark process.  According  to a...

August 13, 2009

Got that mojo workin'

The Democrat political edge so talked about a few months ago seems to have dulled.  The words "sleeping giant" are being invoked to describe the town hall phenomenon sweeping America. This is correct, up to a point....

July 28, 2009

Feds moving the cash-for-clunkers goalposts

Many people who thought they were eligible to benefit from "Cash for Clunkers" rebate and made a deal for a new car out this week found that they are not.  It seems that just before the program was to go into effect on July 24...

July 27, 2009

A rotten apple falls from the tree

On Monday Obama protege, Alexi Giannoulias, 33, scion of the family that owns Broadway Bank. announced his candidacy for his mentor's US Senate Seate.  Giannoulias was among the first to raise money to support Obama's 2004 US Senate Ra...

July 22, 2009

The Blue State Blues

At the very moment of blue state electoral triumph, it is the blue states that suffer most from the economic downturn, with the worst prospects of recovery.In The Blue-State Meltdown and the Collapse of the Chicago Model. Joel Kotkin o...

July 21, 2009

Unsafe at any screed

Last month I was chatting in the church parking lot with friends when a Prius pulled out. The bumper was bare. On person in the group asked "What gives?  I thought those things came from the Toyota factory with...

July 21, 2009

Dems running into irate constituents over ObamaCare

I am busy laughing at an e-mail from the local TEA party people.  There  should be some first rate political theater in the offing.  After what happened to HHS Secretary Sebelius, MD SenatorCardin and Mo Rep Russ Carnahan whe...

July 20, 2009

About the 'record turnout' for Obama...

It appears that a lot of older white people who voted in 2004 stayed home in November, 2008 because they didn't like either candidate. Despite an unusually large number of newly registered young and minority voters who supported O...

July 17, 2009

Pirate this Film!

I have long had the belief that God can have a very pointed sense of humor. I think that His is not a thunderous belly laugh in reaction to grand human pratfalls but rather an irony laden little chuckle reserved for...

July 13, 2009

Obama snubbed in Moscow? (video)

Is Obama being snubbed? Watch the short video clip here.Update: It appears that Obama is actually introducing members of the US delegation, as per this photo and caption. We thank alert readers for this information.Hat tip: Gateway Pundit...

July 11, 2009

Who said it?

A report on National Teachers Unions and the Struggle Over School Reform, issued July 4, 2009 concludesOver the last decade the national leaders of the National Education Association and the American Federal of Teachers havew made their unions i...

July 11, 2009

Tight squeeze

I have long suspected the media's relationship with Washington political insiders was cozier than it should be for the publc good, but this is ridiculous.Earlier this week, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote about how "the dignity ...

July 8, 2009

McNamara's gift to me

The other day I cruised a few sites known to be frequented by veterans.  Whoever owns the beer emporium closest to the grave of Robert Strange McNamara is going to be doing a ton of business shortly.  The most commo...

July 8, 2009

Obama presidential approval index slips to minus 5

The "passion index" is minus 5 today. Those who strongly approve of President Obama's performance in office are outnumbered by those who strongly disapprove by a record 5 points, and the overall index is creeping toward 50-50, at ...

July 6, 2009

Obama: 'I am not naïve'

That brief statement of Barack Obama's last month seems every bit as risible as Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook", after one reads the article on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Obama wrote for the student newspaper his seni...

July 6, 2009

The revolt of the mules

Speaking of ivory tower academics, this article by Victor Davis Hanson is an excellent summary of the problem we face as a nation increasingly divided between a political class of officials and courtiers those who manipulate ...

June 22, 2009

Fair elections, Mullah-style

Iran's Guardian Council spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on Iranian television on Sunday had this to say in response to a complaint filed by Mohsen Rezaei, one of the candidates supposedly defeated in the June 12 election. "...

June 21, 2009

In Iran, too: Follow the money

There is some old advice that if you want to know what is going on, follow the money.  There isn't a lot that would qualify as legal evidence available in the news media, but there are hints here and there that money may indeed be playing a...

June 19, 2009

Careless People

The latest member of the Obama administration to have a problem with the IRS is Capricia Penavic Marshall, the nominee for the post of chief of protocol for the State Department.  Ms. Marshall and her husband, a cardiologist,  did not ...

June 18, 2009

About those polls...

Again, both NBC and CBS polled adults, not registered voters or likely voters but what really jumped out at me was this answer in the detail of the CBS/NY Times poll.    Did you vote for Barack Obama, John McCain or someone else? ...

June 17, 2009

House Blue Dog Dems versus Obama

A Politico article notes a combination of issues that disproportionately affect rural America may be causing regional fault lines among Democrats in Congress.  The car dealerships being closed are mainly in small towns where there...

June 15, 2009

A disillusioned ex-Obama supporter

In Narrative Dissonance: What the Cairo speech got wrong, Martin Peretz, editor-in-chief of The New Republic systematcially dismantles Obama's claim that he is a student of history with a bravura display of his own mastery of the subje...

June 13, 2009

Deja vu all over again

As I read the stories about Obama trying to cajole, beg and bribe other places into accepting prisoners from Gitmo I couldn't help but recall this story from 1987. ...

June 8, 2009

Lowest common denominator

Quite a few commentators are noting that the latest Gallup poll showing that by a wafer slim margin, the majority disapprove of the burgeoning federal deficit. Perhaps of greater significance, Gallup also notes Obama's job approval rating for hi...

June 8, 2009

Formerly useful idiot update

Michael Jones of PolGazette, a site that promises news and analysis from different moderate perspectives, has seen the light. Like many Americans last November, I voted for change.  I had hope.  I no longer have hope since the president I v...

June 5, 2009

O at zero

Rasmussen reports the president's net approve/disapprove rating is a dead heat.  34% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-four percent (34%) Strongly Disapprove...

June 3, 2009

What's wrong with this picture?

President Obama misses the "rhythm of life" that he enjoyed with his family before entering the White House where every walk with his dog, ice cream outing with his children and date with his wife draws the attention of the world. From the ...

June 3, 2009

New polling on Sotomayor (updated)

Quinnipiac just released new polling data showing that Americans firmly reject affirmative action policies based on race.  According to the poll released today American voters say 55 - 36 percent that affirmative action should be abolished,...

May 29, 2009

Identity Politics and the Sotomayor nomination

Judge Sotomayor's grammar is as suspect as some of her legal analysis. In Spanish nouns are either feminine or masculine.   Latina is a feminine noun in Spanish.   In English, It is only proper to use a foreign feminine ...

May 28, 2009

Car Czar and Chrysler dealer terminations

We know that Caesar's wife is supposed to be above suspicion, but what about a Czar's wife, when it comes to terminating Chrysler's dealers?From Instapundit:UPDATE: A reader notes something about “car czar” Steven Rattner: “Rattner ...

May 5, 2009

So much for Obama's 'transparency'

The administration that released pictures of detainees and thereby damaged America's reputation abroad has decided some other photos will not see the light of day anytime soon.  According to the NY Post, the photos from last ...

May 4, 2009

Obama's high tech campaign sweatshop

Many others have noted that while Barack Obama is up on his pop culture, he doesn't seem to know much about American history.  One of the drawbacks of having a president who probably thinks the Lowell Mill Girls are a pop group...

May 2, 2009

Just a tad tetchy

Hispanic members of Congress are demanding an apology from the GOP for a split second image in a 1:24 minute video montage that never mentions the CHC or even Latinos in general. The web ad Do You Fee...

May 2, 2009

Obama +1 net approval on day 103

Rasmussen's Daily Tracking Poll paints a different picture than all the headlines last week about how popular Obama is.  With today's poll showing only 33% of those polled saying they strongly approved of his job performance while 32% ...

April 29, 2009

Swine flu, the lawsuit

The term Swine Flu is no laughing matter for environmentalist and animal rights extremists, the sworn enemies of modern agriculture. To them it is a potential godsend.   Environmental activists have targeted large scale hog o...

April 28, 2009

Air Farce One, Obama Zero

Perhaps the best part of yesterday's story about the panic caused by flight over Manhattan of one of the planes used to transport the President are the reader comments, almost one thousand on the Monday's story at the New Yor...

April 26, 2009

823,076 reasons to be skeptical

As we approach the 100th day of the Obama reign the media is full of stories about how popular he is with American voters.  Often these stories are supported by polling results commissioned by these media organization especially for th...

April 8, 2009

How Congress encouraged vote fraud

It turns out that not only are there are more people registered to vote in Detroit than that city now has residents over age 18, but that the Democrats have wanted it to be that way ever since the last time they controlled Congress.   The 1...

April 3, 2009

For Dems, one = three

Remember the door to door campaign to show support for Obama's budget?   The DNC  sent 200 volunteers to Capital Hill with copies of the what theirthey claim as 640,000 "individual pledges." According to F...

March 30, 2009

Growth stocks

This story from ESPN confirms that one industry has been booming.  According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) the monthly sales for firearms have remained above normal since November's election and many vendors are reportin...

March 20, 2009

Res ipsa loquitur

Some things make commentary seem redundant. From the president's official schedule:Later in the afternoon, the President and the First Lady will attend a reception with the National Newspaper Publisher Association in the State Dining Room, ...

March 19, 2009

The seemingly endless list of Congressional tax cheats

According to Bloomberg, yet another Congressman is cheating on his state property taxes.  Representative Fortney H. "Pete" Stark, Jr. the second-ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, has been claiming as his prima...

March 17, 2009

When recycling is not politically correct (updated)

It sees that not all forms of recycling are to be embraced.  In a move that will greatly increase the cost of ammunition and may cause several US manufacturers to lay off workers, the Defense Department is ending a long standing p...

March 15, 2009

The price of progressive policies

For decades, often corrupt politicians in Michigan have pursued viciously anti-business tax policies in the name of helping out the little guy. They assumed the auto industry would always be there to absorb the cost.  Soon...

March 15, 2009

Another tax cheat

Last fall the AT reported on a couple of instances in which members of Congress seemed to be confused as to where they lived, sometimes in order to claim tax benefits for which they were not entitled and sometimes to maintain the facade tha...

March 14, 2009

Obama & Brazil's President Lula da Silva

After watching this my confidence in the future is restored. Unfortunately it is my confidence in the future of Brazil.  [transcript from Faustablog]   “We presidents all talk too much....We can not afford to go to [the...

March 13, 2009

How to lose friends and influence people, part II

The White House has another clumsy blunder on its hands. Is it time yet to declare Obama's personal diplomacy a disaster? Brazil is an emerging economic power whose respected (and left-leaning) leader, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Sil...

March 12, 2009

Another one bites the dust

I don't know what is more interesting.  The news that the third person in a week has withdrawn from consideration as a Treasury deputy or the fact that it is being reported by that Democrat cheerleader masquerading as a journalist, George S...

March 11, 2009

Is Chris's leg still tingling?

I wonder how the anchors on MCNBC will handle the results of their own online poll?   Note: bar graph does not reproduce accurately here, but is accurate on the MSNBC site....

March 9, 2009

Back off!

Amid soaring state deficits as sales and income tax revenues decline and unemployment compensation payments rise, it seems some legislators have other concerns on their mind. I thought attempts to ban Barbie only happened in Muslim countrie...

March 9, 2009

The polarizing president

The Rasmussen tracking poll reports that Obama's overall popularity has been at 56% for the last three days.  The details are even more interesting.  While the strongly approve number has been steady to slowing declining, now standing at 38...

March 6, 2009

Not one deputy in place at Treasury (updated)

If the Department of Treasury seems a shambles, there's a good reason. Besides Secretary Geithner, no one who actually has authority to make key decisions has assumed office. Critics say part of the problem is that Geithner is flying solo: ...

March 6, 2009

DVDs for the blind?

Was Obama's gift to PM Gordon Brown the calculated insult of the malignant narcissist gloating over someone else's weakness?   Brown was left blind in one eye after a accident and has been suffering diminished site in another.  Ac...

March 5, 2009

Obama disses Brit PM

The press does not seem happy with the way President Obama treated Prime Minister Brown during his short visit to Washington, DC.   Dana Milbank of the Washington Post noted that Somewhere in the British Embassy, a bronze bus...

March 5, 2009

Not making eye contact with the American people

Perhaps another sign that the media is restless with the President they helped create is this story from Politico about how Obama is never without his teleprompter.   He uses it at almost all his appearances, even when making brie...

March 4, 2009

CNN's formerly useful idiot?

He isn't quite ready to say it is all a mistake, but David Gergen seems to be having his doubts about the Won. Does an intense presidential focus on the economy mean that health care reform and energy reform must be put aside? Not at all. They are to...

March 3, 2009

Will those Blue Dogs ever hunt? (updated)

I find my reaction is mixed to a story in Congressional Quarterly, a subscription site quoted by Ed Morrissey at Hot Air about a potential revolt among Blue Dog Democrats.  Democratic Reps. Jim Matheson of Utah and Gabrielle Giffords o...

February 13, 2009

Peril in the Stimulus Bill Vote

I almost pity members of Congress who have to vote on the almost 1500 page so called stimulus  bill on Friday, as the actual language was only made available to them late Thursday.   The bill is likely to ...

February 11, 2009

Is child abuse rampant at Chicago Public Schools?

According to an investigative report by the CBS affiliate in Chicago An exclusive CBS 2 investigation discovered Treveon Martin is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or an aide, coach...

February 11, 2009

AP's Doggone shame

The Westminster Kennel Club Show is one of my favorite TV events of the year.  When Stump, a lumbering 10 year old Sussex Spaniel with adorable sad eyes won best in show, I searched online for a news story to send to a dog loving neighbor who do...

February 5, 2009

Slop about hogs from a prize boor

Several blogs have featured this clip of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. testifying before the House .Judiciary Committee that hog producers are a greater threat to the United States than Osama Bin Laden.  What interested me is that during...

February 5, 2009

New meaning of government oversight

It seems yet another would-be member of the Obama administration accidentally forgot to pay taxes.   It was revealed today that the husband of Secretary of Labor nominee Rep. Hilda Solis had 15 outstanding state and county ta...

January 29, 2009

The Far Side of Obama

Because our news media simply won't go there, Red State compares the photo of Barack Obama attempting to enter the Oval Office through the window with a classic cartoon.  ...

January 23, 2009

Geithner's taxes and IRS forms

A reader writes, suggesting that no IRS form existed for Timothy Geithner to file self-employment taxes, because he wasn't self-employed:I have a friend who used to be the top payroll tax expert for one of the "final four" accounting firms....

January 22, 2009

42 million Americans know better

Treasury nominee Timothy Geithner is now blaming Turbo Tax for his failure to pay the self-employment tax he owed. The excuse may work with Senators, but users of that, and other tax preparation programs, know better.Jim Geraghty at NRO Online has a ...

January 20, 2009

Obama's fans

There will be almost twice as many private jets in Washington DC for this inauguration as there were in 2004 according to this article. In fact, there may be more celebrities in the District this week than there are citizens willing an...

January 16, 2009

Star-Tribune declares bankruptcy

The far left Star-Tribune of Minneapolis, the 15th largest newspaper in the country by circulation, declared bankruptcy yesterday. It's been intellectually bankrupt for ages now, so this comes as no surprise. Thomas Lifson adds:Barely 10 years ago, M...

January 15, 2009

The Geithner Gross-up Gross-out

Several months ago, Al Franken blamed his accountant for his failure to pay state income taxes to several jurisdictions. Charles Rangel's accountant also seemed to be unaware of the rules on reporting rental income. Now Treasure Secretary nominee Gei...

January 6, 2009

ACORN worker indicted in MO

An ACORN worker in St. Louis faces felony charges over voter registration fraud of the worst kind: exploiting the vulnerabilities of the eldery. St. Louis Today reports:Deidra Humphrey, 44, of East St. Louis, is expected to appear in U.S. District Co...

December 30, 2008

Burris comes full circle

Burris is 71 years old.  Usually appointing someone over 70 to fill out a remaining two year Senate term is seen as an interim measure.  Those wondering about 2010 should note that during his long politica...

December 18, 2008

Chicago politics: now they believe me

During the election I found myself trying to explain how corrupt Chicago politicians were to some neighbors, a very devout Christian family that tends to see the best in most people.  They nodded politely as I explained that all C...

December 17, 2008

Holder' s Selective Memory Syndrome?

It seems that Attorney General Designee Eric Holder forgot to list that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich tried to hire him to sort out the state's long dormant casino license on his 47-page response to a Senate Judiciary Committee question...

December 10, 2008

Blago's win and the GOP default in Illinois

While it is true that Governor Blagojevich beat his Republican opponent by 10 percentage points in 2006, he only won 50 percent of the total vote.  A badly divided Republican party came out of a multi candidate primary with the worst p...

December 10, 2008

Who is Rod Blagojevich?

He is attractive, always well groomed, an excellent campaigner, prodigious at fund raising trail and can put together a tremendously effective political ad campaign.  He has a compelling personal story.  Although he had a legislative c...

November 26, 2008

Rahm and Freddie Mac

Here is how Rahm Emanuel has benefited financially from Freddie Mac.   Rahm Emanuel was paid $31,060 in director's fees in 2000 and $231,655 in 2001.  In addition, he received options for shares in Freddie Mac.  At ...

November 15, 2008

Coping with adversity

How people cope with disappointment says a lot about them.  In 2004, psychologists reported an influx of patients distraught that their candidate John Kerry, had lost.  Some called it Post Election Stress and Trauma Syndrome.  Four yea...

November 8, 2008

If only our current leaders had the nerve

Some good advice that probably won't be followed from James G. Wiles about what the Republicans in Washington should do in the waning days of the Bush Administration.   And now, a thought experiment: what would Rahm Emanuel d...

November 7, 2008

Reassuring investors about Obama Administration economic policies?

This is not going to help the stock market anticipate an economic recovery....

November 5, 2008

Change wears some familar faces

It appears that Barak Obama has offered the job of White House Chief of Staff to Rahm Emanuel.  How interesting that the first name offered by our President elect who ran on the platform of hope and change is a veteran of the Clinton admini...

November 3, 2008

So who's the chump?

Barack Obama calls the net impact of his proposed tax increases "chump change".     ...

October 23, 2008

Rationalizing bias

Politico reports that the good news for John McCain is that he's now receiving as much attention from the national media as his Democratic rival. The bad news is that it's all negative.Just 14 percent of the stories about John McCain, from ...

October 23, 2008

Set up for fraud

In Who is John Galt Scott Johnson at Powerline quotes from a reader e-mail he received.  The man made a credit card donation to Barak Obama under the name John Galt with the address of 1957 Ayn Rand Lane,  Galts Gulch, CO...

October 21, 2008

DOJ attorneys in the bag for Obama?

Quin Hillyer of the DC Examiner is asking whether we have public servants or stealth political partisans inside the Department of Justice.  In all, DOJ lawyers and staff in the metro area have donated at least $150,000 to Obama. No wonder they s...

October 21, 2008

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn on the Lights?

With readership/audience share plummeting many media entities are ruthlessly cutting staff.  A growing list of papers are canceling their affiliation with the AP wire service.  Orson Scott Card, a novelist and academic, write...

October 21, 2008

Media discovers pay to play is Obama's way

Pay to play, that is being required to pony up a campaign contribution in order to get access to political power, has been the Chicago way of politics for decades.  Some in the media are now unhappy to learn that the best funded...

October 14, 2008

The numbskull vote

Howard Stern sends out people to poll Obama voters in Harlem, attributing all of McCain's positions to Obama. Those questioned didn't seem to recognize that positions such as being pro life and finishing the war in Iraq were the exact opposite of Oba...

October 9, 2008

Author, author

Jack Cashill's Who Wrote Dreams of My Father raises a question that may not be that hard to answer. When the satirical novel Primary Colors by "anonymous" came out with its unflattering look at the Clinton campaign apparatus, quite a few me...

September 21, 2008

What scandal? He's a Democrat!

While the New York papers are talking about Congressman Charles Rangel's rent controlled apartments voters in Florida are talking about how Democrat Tim Mahoney, the man who replaced Mark Foley, claims to be living in a barn. ...

September 20, 2008

Good news is no news

There has been very little news coverage about the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, especially when compared to the saturation coverage that followed Katrina.  Glenn Reynolds provided some links to photos from the area and received many thoughtf...

September 14, 2008

Land of purple waters?

Minnesota, largely written off by the GOP as hopelessly liberal, now is a dead heat between McCain and Obama, according to a new poll. What makes this poll really interesting is that Star Tribune polls have so favored Democrats in the past ...

September 6, 2008

The peasants are revolting (updated)

The national press corps is beginning to get a taste of the anger they have created among a large percentage of the American public over their treatment of Sarah Palin. It will take some longer than others to grasp the magnitude of the disaster they ...

August 30, 2008

No Dan Quayle

(and no Hillary Clinton, either.) I was there on the levee in New Orleans when George H.W. Bush rode the Delta Queen into New Orleans in August 1988 to announce his surprising choice of Dan Quayle.  Bush had met Quayle campaigning in I...

August 27, 2008

Obama's banking buddy

One of the speakers at the DNC on Monday night was Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, whose speaking slot raised a few eyebrows.  Not only is he very young and in a low level state office, his family's busi...

August 27, 2008

Foot in botoxed mouth disease

Just as they have ignored the many pro-life demonstrations happening in Denver this week, the MSM has yet to notice the firestorm ignited when the self professsed ardent practicing Catholic Nancy Pelosi's told Tom Brokaw on last S...

August 25, 2008

Obama, Biden and the Daley Machine

It is unwritten law in Chicago politics that nobody wants nobody nobody sent.  Thus it is no surprise that Joe Biden and Barack Obama have friends in common in the Daley Machine.   Joe Biden has described himself as a 30-year...

August 22, 2008

Did Michelle Obama funnel contract to big fundraiser? (updated)

The Washington Post notes that Michelle Obama's employer, University of Chicago Medical Center,  gave a $650,000 contract to Blackwell Consulting.  The son of the owner,  Robert Blackwell Jr., a former partner in the consulti...

August 21, 2008

British TV looks at The Chicago Way

Britain's Channel 4 ran this exceptionally thorough feature on Obama's Chicago roots.  As a former resident of downtown Chicago I was impressed by the use of a stunning lightening storm over the city sequence a...

August 20, 2008

Brother can you spare a dime?

The Telegraph reports that the Italian edition of Vanity Fair has tracked down the youngest of Obama's half siblings, the 26 year old George Hussein Onyango Obama, living in a hut in Huruma, a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi.No-one knows who I ...

August 17, 2008

The reality behind the Beijing spectacle

Michael Sheridan of The Sunday Times of London explains all the empty seats in Beijing in a story about how the carefully planned spectacle masks a very poor nation in which the government is running scared as voices of disse...

August 12, 2008

Move along -- nothing to see here

 Don't expect the media to connect the dots in the information Michelle Malkin linked to on her blog yesterday.  Last year Nancy Pelosi's bought stock in the IPO of T. Boone Picken's Clean Energy Fuels Corp., CLNE. This business i...

August 10, 2008

Hope this prediction is wrong...

In his recent novel, Phantom Prey, John Sandford, a former Pulitizer prize winning reporter for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, has his character Lucas Davenport, criticize the local security preparations for the upcoming Republican conventio...

August 10, 2008

Celebrities flock to Denver

The Sunday Telegraph reports that an unprecedented number of Hollywood personalities and rock stars are being lined up to pay tribute to the Messiah at the upcoming Democrat convention in Denver. Not all Democrats are impress...

August 2, 2008

Democrats and their losing position on energy

I was astounded to hear my North Carolina Congressman Heath Shuler pat himself and the Democrat Congress on the back today for standing up to the big oil interests and their obscene profits.  It was an ad the ran during Rush'...

July 27, 2008

Disappointed in Obama's unfulfilled pledge

London's Evening Standard reports that when Obama visited a school in Kogelo. Kenya in 2006 he told principal Yuanita Obiero and her teachers "I know you are working very hard and struggling to bring up this school, but I have sai...

July 11, 2008

Another Obama fiasco

NRO's Jim Geraghty delivers another example of Barack Obama's glib political opportunism and inability to follow through and deliver hope or change, with a link to a Chicago Sun Times article on how a $100K grant the then State Senator made...

July 10, 2008

Campaign of ironies

First Hillary becomes the great white hope of Appalachia, now the American wife of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild calls Obama an elitist.  Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild,  had this to say to CNN's Anderson Cooper."This is a hard ...

June 10, 2008

Seems like old times

This list of people being named to Obama's campaign makes it look like a full employment act for Democrat spouses, children and long time consultants.Last week Obama named Caroline Kennedy, Eric Holder of Mark Rich pardon infamy...

June 9, 2008

Obama campaign pretends it never existed

On a day when the story around the blogsphere is about the scrubbing of anti-Semitic material from Obama's website come this press release by Catholic League President Bill Donohue telling us that something else is now missing. There is no menti...

June 8, 2008

The Democrats' frivolous lawsuit tax break (updated)

According to the Washington Examiner, Democrats in Congress are bypassing normal procedures for approving new tax legislation in order to give class action plaintiffs' attorney a $1.575 billion tax break. The bill previously ...

June 8, 2008

The fall of the newspaper industry

Debbie Schlussel got quite a jolt when she opened her newspaper Friday morning: [Editor's note: typos bedevil us all.]Hat tip: Gateway Pundit...

June 6, 2008

A new fatwa

One problem that Islam has in competing with other cultures in the modern economy is that the requirement to pray five times a day -- after a ritual cleansing -- interrupts the flow of work. Even as institutions in the west seek t...

June 5, 2008

Recycled hacks and reprobates

Obama's VP search committee will consist of former Fannie Mae chief Jim Johnson who was featured prominently in the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006 report on mismanagement and corruption at that entity,...

June 4, 2008

Obama's crowds

As I watched the Fox news coverage of Obama's speech from St, Paul, Minnesota and looked at the faces behind him on the podium I had to wonder where were all the men in Minnesota on Tuesday night?  Th...

June 3, 2008

More Obama Phony-Ops

James Lewis' article today pointed out the media-generated Phony Ops benefitting Obama. Another example came the evening of the North Carolina primary, when TV covergae showed Obama before what looked like a packed crowd in a big auditorium. ...

June 1, 2008

It appears there will be no organic arugula in Denver -

While Barak Obama has raised a huge amount of money, those in charge of hosting his coronation in Denver are considerably short of their target -- some $15 million down on the $40 million in cash they are contractually obligated to rai...

May 21, 2008

Harlan County takes sides

Every since the 1930s, the urban and academic left has championed the miners of rural Kentucky to show their solidarity with the working class.  The struggles of workers in this region to unionize was memorialized in num...

May 4, 2008

Name that politician

"He seemingly appeared out of nowhere, inspired awe with the intensity of his talent, blazed through a single term in the Senate, then disappeared from the radar almost entirely."Answer here. ...

May 3, 2008

Al Franken the tax deadbeat

Yesterday, AT noted  Al Franken's problems as a tax deadbeat in several states. Franken blames his accountant, though he refuses to allow  his accountant to speak to the press. Minnesota Democrats Exposed reports today that the largets news...

May 2, 2008

Mass. legislature looks at taxing big endowments

Congress has been looking at the incredible growth in college endowments, an event that seems to have resulted in several institutions loosening the purse strings on tuition aid, among other things.  Now it seems that the $34 billion s...

May 2, 2008

The spiritual mentor behind the scenes

Guess who counseled Obama and Wright after the National Press Club speech Monday? None other than Fr.Michael Pfleger, about whom we have written here, here, and here. Said Fr. Pfleger: "I don't think he had any intention to hurt Barack...

April 19, 2008

Is no icon safe from environmentalists?

Evidently not.   The other day there was an entire wall of these at my local super Wal-mart.  I find such rampant commercialization of environmentalism rather amusing.Thomas Lifson adds:Andy Warhol is turning over in his grave. Is the soup ...

April 13, 2008

Rev. Wright in attack mode

Here are the Rev Wright's remarks at the funeral of Chicago judge and civil rights activist R. Eugene Pincham, who was a member of Trinty UCC.  (Audio here captures the inimitable Rev. Wright's speaking style.) In 1987 Pincham became notori...

March 27, 2008

Christian televangelism in the Middle East

Was the baptism of Italian journalist Magdi Allam by Pope Benedict XVI at the Easter Vigil mass in the Vatican on last Saturday evening just one part of a trend?  An NRO article Islam's ‘Public Enemy #1' Coptic pri...

March 10, 2008

MSM and McCain - the takedown continues

On last night's local news my ABC affiliate WLOS ran a long piece on McCain that consisted entirely of what they called bloopers from the past week. This included    1) McCain's tongued tied moment when he call...

March 9, 2008

The man who made Obama by R. Smith

Reporter Todd Spivak relates how Barack Obama screamed at him over the phone in 2004, in an article in the Houston Press. He had been assigned to write about Obama for the Springfield based Illinois Times.  Whe...

February 6, 2008

The media will turn on McCain more in sadness than in anger

Many Republicans who do not agree with him on any number of issues have long been aware that John McCain receives exceptionally good press, and lots of it.  In its analysis of last week's coverage  the Project for Excellence in Journalism...

January 27, 2008

Jurassic politics

I thought Bill Clinton displayed a rare moment of truth on the campaign trail when he noted that his wife Hillary and John McCain are "very close".   I have been saying that for some time now when it comes to the al...

December 27, 2007

Sham independence of freshmen House Dems

It seems many Freshman Congressman, including my own North Carolina Congressman Heath Shuler, have regularly been voting against approving the House Journal, which are essentially the minutes of the previous day's work in the House.  They h...

December 16, 2007

Vegetarian pets?

Unfortunately the problem with the feline diet goes well beyond wheat gluten in cat food, mentioned by Deborah Duchon yesterday in "The Best Cat Food."  These days some people are trying to place dogs and cats on a ...

December 9, 2007

Mob rule: Homosexual youth executed in Iran

Was this what Adhmadinejad meant when he said there weren't any gays in Iran?  19 year old Makwan Moloudzadeh, accused of homosexual rape when he was age 13 by accusers who have since recanted, was executed wit...

December 3, 2007

Televangelism, Muslim-style

Sunday's  Washington Post had a story about the rise of TV evangelism in the Middle East. There has been an explosion of satellite TV in the region. Among the at least 370 satellite channels offering news, movies an...

December 2, 2007

One cost of global warming hype?

Did public officials' acceptance of erroneous global warming hype about hurricanes delay imposition of water rationing in the South? All during September and October a common refrain in the Southeast was "I know this is not nice to say for those...

November 24, 2007

The Green Follies

It has been suggested that radical environmentalism is a religion because its believers act more on an unshakable set of beliefs than on skeptical scientific analysis.  If this story out of the UK is part of a larger trend, s...

November 8, 2007

Measuring newspapers

In a priceless admission, the President and general manager of the Washington Post reacts to some good news by saying, "but you wouldn't know that to read the newspapers."     I've been saying that for years now. Unfortu...

November 1, 2007

Fascinating series on developments within Islam

Blogger Ali Eteraz just completed a seven part series in the Guardian on developments within Islam. I would sum up his theme by saying that the religious thinkers who influenced the Jihadists and the Islamists were those who supported...

October 27, 2007

The next infernos

We have similar problems in western North Carolina to those described yesterday by Bill Croke, with the anti logging activists and people building deep into the mountains. Insect attacks on hemlock and white pine trees that have built up a heavy...

October 17, 2007

Indulgences for the political class

Rick Moran seems to find virtue in the resolution on Armenian genocide. I do not. It takes little effort to say never again about horrors from the past. If the same people who support this resolution were also shouting...

October 13, 2007

Some inconvenient numbers

Steve Hargreaves of CNN/Money writes of Al Gore's planned $100-200 million a year ad blitz for energy conservation, supposedly financed by "donations and proceeds from Gore's 2006 ‘An Inconvenient Truth.'"When I took a closer look at ...

October 4, 2007

Daily Kos traffic overstated?

Patrick Ruffini has written a much commented-upon analysis suggesting that the number of visitors to the Daily Kos website may be overstated by 60% or thereabouts. Dean Barnett comments on the political implications. While both of these posts talk ab...

September 27, 2007

Congress moving to penalize the prudent?

Instead of attacking what I suspect was massive tax cheating on the sale of residential real estate in the lower to mid level price range, Congress is now proposing to penalize those who planned ahead and bought their retirement homes early...

September 27, 2007

Leftist opinion editor gets walking papers

The new owners of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune  have parted ways with veteran editorial page editor Susan Albright because she did not want to focus on local issues.  It also appears the Strib lost the law suit over hiring th...

July 20, 2007

Why the anxiety?

The Fortune Washington Bureau Chief Nina Easton looks at why so many Americans are bearish in the face of record prosperity. Easton suggests that Democrat pollster Celinda Lake may have properly diagnosed the cause of this anxiety: Peo...

July 5, 2007

Sins of the father

Like Roger L. Simon,  I had to suppress some schadenfreude at the news of Albert A. Gore III's arrest.  I also share Simon's sympathy for the son's need to self medicate, though I expect there is more to his pr...

June 26, 2007

Worst newspaper in America taken to court

Powerline linked to this AP article about the court battle going on between the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press about purloined information and non-compete agreements. Powerline rightly points out that had another bu...

June 18, 2007

Open Field Politics

Michael Barone has some comments about the wide open shape of the 2008 election that are worth reading.  My own thoughts revolve around the way both parties are set to pick a nominee long before most voters will even start...

June 14, 2007

Incompetent, except as a taxi service

Senate Majority Leader Harry Ried's may have a low opinion of our military leaders, at least when talking to liberal bloggers,  but Speaker Pelosi seems to think the military has its uses - as a free taxi service for the adult children of m...

June 9, 2007

Hillary's brain

Re: How smart is Hillary? Over the years I have sent off a couple of letters to reporters who have quoted various Clinton backers to the effect that either Bill or Hillary had been at the top of their respective Yale Law School class about ...

May 6, 2007

What's the opposite of results-oriented?

I was amused last week when my community newspaper contained remarks from my Congressman Heath Shuler about how extremely hard he been working to solve the nation's problems when compared to the corrupt Republican Congress in 2005. The quip...

April 8, 2007

NYT Sunday Mag swings and misses

As a Catholic, I viewed the Easter Sunday cover story on Pope Benedict XVI in this week's New York Times Sunday Magazine, with some trepidation. Russell Shorto's article Keeping the Faith, while not the hatchet job I had feared, did di...

April 7, 2007

Nancy's game? (updated)

This comment by Glenn Reynolds, about all the bad press Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria has generated, was at Instapundit yesterday (April 6) Interestingly, I think that the more Pelosi acts like a wannabe President, the worse it is for Hillary. An...

April 4, 2007

UN and North Korean counterfeiting

A blog item last year noted North Korea's long standing operation to counterfeit U.S. currency.  It seems that our friends at the UN knew about the operation for more than a decade and kept their mouths shut.  The Secret Serv...

March 15, 2007

Dutch youths riot

The Brussels Journal has been following the outbreak of rioting by the non-immigrant residents of a working class neighborhood in the Dutch town of Utrecht following the death last Sunday of Rinie Mulder, a 54-year old indigenous Dutch...

March 12, 2007

Tennessee Truffles: the good news continues

Truffles may help save a quintessential part of American culture, the small mountain farm. Davey Crockett's birthplace, Greene county TN, is adjacent to my home in the mountains.  The Telegraph notes thatTruffle cultivation is funded by the...

February 28, 2007

Liefstyles of the rich and hypocritical

Buried in this New York Times story, "In Big Buyout, Utility to Limit New Coal Plants", we have this gem.  People involved in the negotiations said that Goldman Sachs, an adviser and lender to the buyers, helped broker peace with ...

February 8, 2007

Congress already wants to go home

One of the changes initiated by the new Democrat Congressional leadership was to increase the number of days per week that Congress is in session from three to five. It seems that Congressmen and women in both parties are already starting t...

February 7, 2007

More on "Personality Matters"

I agree with Jennifer Rubin and have another example for her about how we need to heed those personality traits.  In the Fall of 1992 the Arkansas Democrat Gazette issued a "no endorsement" in the presiden...

February 5, 2007

Amateurs and pros

It seem that the user generated commercials on the Super Bowl were very well received and they certainly are cheaper to make than some of the professionally generated ads that bombed. Paul It seem that the user generated commercials...

February 2, 2007

The return of the paper ballot

This is good news for those of us who have been concerned about the lack of a paper trail with touch screen voting machines. I have another reason to be dubious of this technology.  Last November county employees where I live went door...

January 5, 2007

Newspaper worth even less than thought (updated)

It appears that the money-losing sale of the Tribune for $530 million included five blocks of land on the edge of downtown Minneapolis!  This fact was buried in a recent story about the Vikings plans for a new stadium.  Powerline cited...