Selected by jennsierra

• 
  Michelle Malkin

• Liveblogging: The new Imperial Congress votes on Pelosicare

  Michelle Malkin

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:09 am

  Read this post »

• Friday open thread

  Michelle Malkin

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:13 pm

  Am traveling. [...] Read the rest »

• Wall Street and swine flu favoritism?

  Michelle Malkin

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:37 am

  Hmmm. [...] Read the rest »

• Democrats and the death of deliberative democracy

  Michelle Malkin

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:56 am

  Read this post »

• The massacre at Fort Hood and Muslim soldiers with attitude

  Michelle Malkin

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm

  Scroll for updates…7:39am Eastern press conference…Ft. [...] Read the rest »

• 
  FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right

• Unemployment Hits 10.2 Percent

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:11 am

  Oops. Back in August, I said that I thought there was only about a 1 in 3 chance that unemployment would break the 10 percent barrier. I think it was a well-reasoned analysis, but sure did turn out wrong.The data from the establishment survey -- which is completely separate from the household survey by which the unemployment rate is calculated -- wasn't quite as bad. This is the figure that the markets tend to trust more, which is one reason the Dow is slightly up today (although I do think it's somewhat overvalued and has been for a month or so). Still, even the "good" report had the economy…

• Skipping Elections, Strategic Vision Has Not Polled Since Controversy Arose

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:55 am

  Several weeks ago, I ignited a controversy by pointing toward statistical evidence that Strategic Vision, LLC, a Blairsville, Georgia based public relations firm that until recently had issued political polls, may have been faking its results. Strategic Vision vehemently denied my interpretation of the evidence and made public threats to sue me. But no lawyer has contacted me, and in fact, Strategic Vision has not conducted any further public polling since that time.The firm's last poll was issued on September 24th -- one day before the controversy arose. It was a poll of the governor's race…

• The Big 2010 Question

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:05 pm

  Just attended a morning-long presentation by the team over at the Cook Political Report--namesake Charlie Cook, affiliated pollster Tom Riehle, gubernatorial/Senate specialist Jennifer Duffy, and House specialist David Wasserman. I have lots of details, plenty of stats and trends and other goodies to share and unpack for you, and will do so in a series of posts in the coming days.But as I walked back from the Watergate to my Logan Circle neighborhood, I became increasingly convinced that the big question for both parties--and particularly the Democrats--is one I raised this morning on MSNBC's…

• Independent Voters and Empty Explanations

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:05 am

  Karl Rove:The trend here is that suburban and independent voters moved into the GOP column. The overall shift away from Democrats was 13 points in Virginia, 12 points in New Jersey, and eight points in Pennsylvania. [...]Looking ahead, the bad news for Democrats is that the legislation that helped lead to the collapse of support for their party on Tuesday could yet inflict more pain on those foolish enough to support it.The Washington Post:But moderate and conservative Democrats took a clear signal from Tuesday's voting, warning that the results prove that independent voters are wary of…

• Congressional Foreign Politics

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  One vote that occurred this election day did not pit Democrats and Republicans against one another in an effort to win seats or change policy. Instead, it was a widely bi-partisan effort, meant to show solidarity with a U.S. ally. In a vote under suspended rules (requiring 2/3 majority) the U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday in favor of a resolution that called on "the President and the Secretary of State to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration" of the UN-endorsed Goldstone Report which investigated whether violations of human rights law were committed by…

• 
  Hot Air

• Coburn plans to read the bill …

  Ed Morrissey

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:50 am

  Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn is an old-school conservative, and an old-school Senator.  How traditional can Dr. [...] Read the rest »

• Jail time for not buying coverage?

  Ed Morrissey

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:11 am

  Read this post »

• Pelosi caves to Stupak

  Ed Morrissey

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:25 am

  How desperate has Nancy Pelosi become for enough votes to pass her ObamaCare proposal this weekend? [...] Read the rest »

• NARN, the Weekend Vote Edition!

  Ed Morrissey

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:08 am

  The Northern Alliance Radio Network will be on the air today, with our eight-hour-long broadcast schedule starting at 9 am CT. [...] Read the rest »

• Quotes of the day

  Allahpundit

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pm

  Read this post »

• 
  TOWNHALL.COM

• Townhall.com Staff: Dem Leader Hoyer: We'll have the votes by this evening

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am

  On MSNBC Saturday morning, Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer stated that he and Pelosi will have the necessary 218 votes to pass their govt-run healthcare bill by early-afternoon/early evening.

• Greg Hengler: CAIR Exec. Dir & Matthews Not Happy Hasan's Islamic Faith Is Discussed; "So What" If He Said "Allahu Akbar!"

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:53 pm

  CAIR's executive director takes a bold leap on "Hardball" when he declares Hasan is "disturbed." For the sake of cowardly correctness, I will not say anymore.

• Carol Platt Liebau: Just Clueless

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:20 pm

  As Garrett points out below, Robert A. George makes some good points in discussing President Obama's incredibly dismissive initial reaction to yesterday's shootings at Fort Hood.Today, the President tried it again. ...

• Greg Hengler: Matthews on Ft. Hood: "We Don't Know Whether Religion Played Any Role In The Shootings"

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:16 pm

  I say again: This is an Obama-certified "news" network:

• Meredith Jessup: Flashback: Glenn Glenn Beck Explains MSM News Cycle

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:27 pm

  Uncanny accuracy:

• 
  Patrick Ruffini

• GOP Revival: There's An App for That

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  What Ramesh Ponnuru has written about Tuesday's wins is right in so many ways: More important, a few Republican candidates have demonstrated that it is possible to transcend the party's conservative-moderate divide. In Virginia, Robert McDonnell won a landslide — the first Republican win in a governor's race there in 12 years — by running as a problem solver. Social conservatives know he is one of them. But independent voters strongly backed him too. Voters as a whole trusted him more than his Democratic opponent on everything from fixing the roads to strengthening the economy.

• NY-23 Across America

  30 Oct 2009 | 4:53 am

  What follows may be akin to one of those crazy ideas Dick Morris used to come up with in the Clinton White House, only one in ten of which turned out to be workable -- but when they worked, oh man, did they work. The key fact that sticks out in my mind about Doug Hoffman's incredible momentum in NY-23 is that his election would not have been possible had he been the Republican nominee. The fact that we may be about to elect a non-squish from New York has everything to do with the fact that he is running as a third-party independent, and not a Republican (even if the Conservative Party is an…

• The Left's Tenacious Advocacy for a Public Option

  21 Oct 2009 | 7:42 am

  If the public option passes in some form, thank the liberal blogosphere who put pressure on Democratic members of Congress to publicly threaten to derail health care reform if it wasn't included in the final bill. The specter of Democrats reverse-filibustering their own President's plan is what has kept the public option alive, even if one could argue that "alive" is akin to a persistent vegetative state. Contrast this to yes-man approach of the Congressional GOP in the early Bush years, and I personally find a lot to like about the Democratic model of the Congressional party serving as a…

• NY-23: Doug Hoffman for Congress

  17 Oct 2009 | 8:40 pm

  The Sienna poll of New York's 23rd Congressional district released Friday found Democrat Bill Owens pulling into the lead with 33 percent, followed by liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava at 29 and Conservative Party hopeful Doug Hoffman at 23.  Combined, the Republican and Conservative lines lead the Democrat 52 to 33 percent. And in a normal election, that would be that -- maybe 95% of the time the Conservatives cross-endorse the Republican.  Scozzafava's particularly egregious liberal record -- pro-card check and pro-stimulus -- rendered that impossible. And so we are faced with a…

• Rising Rightroots and Declining Netroots Now at Parity (or Better)

  26 Sep 2009 | 10:42 pm

  Flickr photo by Mike Bryant Lost in the hubbub about the tea parties, the health care town hall protests, Joe Wilson, and the ACORN sting is the outcome of a long-simmering meta debate about the vibrancy of the grassroots right and its capacity to organize online. Along with a slew of other bad political indicators, the perception that the GOP might be stuck in a permanent Luddite rut reached its peak with the election of Obama and the role the Internet played in his victory. Nearly a year later, not only have things turned around, but they've done so faster than anyone could have dreamed or…

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  Ace of Spades HQ

• Barney Frank's Boyfriends

  7 Nov 2009 | 8:09 am

  He Likes Bad Boys Remember when Barney Frank's live-in boyfriend was running a male bordello out of his home 'without his knowledge?' Apparently he was present in 2007 when a subsequent boyfriend was arrested for growing pot and possessing drug...

• How Germany kept unemployment low: "FunEMPLOYMENT"

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:18 pm

  Everything is a matter of perception and how you present your ummm...."alternate truth":...Business wasn't going well for Schneider, a mid-sized company in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, at the beginning of the year. But the company, which manufactures camera...

• Stargate Universe: Earth Discussion Thread

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:01 pm

  A little late, but here's the usual thread. Oh, yeah, all the negativity from certain fans people who are inexplicably still watching this show despite their massive hate for it is getting to the cast, crew, and their family members....

• Overnight Open Thread - TGIF (Mætenloch)

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Welcome to Friday all. It's been a long week and I'm glad we made it with only minor loss of limbs and dignity. Remembering Medal of Honor-recipient John D. Bulkeley I first heard about John D. Bulkeley while reading William...

• Why not let Wal-Mart fix the economy (chad)

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:30 pm

  Edited - OK, I removed the offensive tariff. Now the only government interference is allowing manufacturers to write off the cost differential between a foreign manufacturer and a domestic one. Does that change anyone's position. In essence it is a...

• 
  Confederate Yankee

• The Victims of Fort Hood

  Confederate Yankee

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:06 am

  My latest article is up at Pajamas Media....

• Liberals Finally Got the Military Murders They've Been Asking For

  Confederate Yankee

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:17 am

  Disdain for the military is a constant theme on the political left, a group that has consistently portrayed soldiers as violent psychopaths and babykillers for far longer than I've been alive. I've noted images of progressive protesters carrying signs attacking...

• Tone Deaf

  Confederate Yankee

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:09 am

  Here is President Obama's bizarrely flippant address yesterday afternoon in response to the massacre at Fort Hood conducted by Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist. Robert A. George was quick to call the President for his frightening insensitivity and...

• Census Worker Death Investigation Increasingly Focused on Suicide

  Confederate Yankee

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:41 am

  From the Associated Press: Investigators probing the death of a Kentucky census worker found hanging from a tree with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest increasingly doubt he was killed because of his government job and are pursuing the...

• Fort Hood Shooter ID'd

  Confederate Yankee

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:16 pm

  With the release of two other possible suspects, it is now starting to look like the shooting at Fort Hood today was the work of a single man, armed with two handguns. He was named as Major Nidal Malik Hasan,...

• 
  Gateway Pundit

• House Democrats Will Vote to Take Over Nation’s Health Care System Today

  Jim Hoft

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:19 am

  ** Democrats are looking to vote on their bill tonight between 6-8 PM. The House Democrats will go ahead with their vote to take over the nation’s health care system today. The AP reported: President Barack Obama is traveling to Capitol Hill on Saturday to try to close the sale on his signature health care overhaul, facing a make-or-break vote in the House certain to be seen as a test of his presidency. Obama scheduled a late-morning visit with House Democrats convening a rare Saturday session on legislation to remake the U.S. health care system, extending coverage to tens of millions…

• Sarah Palin Takes Aim at Pelosi For Breaking Her Promises to American People

  Jim Hoft

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:45 am

  Sarah Palin called out far left Speaker Pelosi for breaking several promises to the American people… “Your Blue Dogs Are Howling” Democrats are going to ram their nationalized health care plan through the US House today. From her facebook page: Like many Americans, I’m very concerned about the efforts underway to rush through the 2,000 page Pelosi health care bill this weekend. Why the rush? That’s a lot of pages to read. Why not give everyone the chance to read it and debate it? How much will this bill cost us? It’s unclear because the figures coming out of Washington…

• Geraldo Discusses Ft. Hood Attacks- Slams US for Widespread Predjudice & Discrimination Against Muslims (Video) …Update: Ft. Hood Killer Attended Mosque Before Killing Spree

  Jim Hoft

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:09 pm

  He really can’t help it. Geraldo Rivera is “most upset” about the Muslims in America who will face “widespread prejudice and discrimination” because of this Islamic terrorist attack that killed 13 US soldiers. Geraldo was on with Bill O’Reilly tonight: Geraldo Rivera: “I think what happened in Orlando and what happened in Fort Hood Texas is the same thing. You have a paranoid obsessed, impotent, frustrated loser who takes out his rage whatever it is, whether he lost his job, or like the kids at Columbine High School who were being bullied in school or…

• Crackdown in Cuba – Top Bloggers Arrested & Severely Beaten

  Jim Hoft

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:07 pm

  Top Cuban bloggers Yoani Sánchez, Orlando Luis Pardo, Ciro Díaz and Claudia Cadelo were arrested today and severely beaten by the Castro regime. Babalu has the latest.

• Gibbs Whines – Wonders How Bush Would Handle Abusive Hitler Comparisons- Forgets about Bush-Hitler Ad (Video)

  Jim Hoft

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:10 pm

  Robert Gibbs whined today about the offensive images and discourse by the church-going, taxpaying, America-loving tea party protesters that descended on the US Capital this week. “I will continue to say what I’ve said before. You hear in this debate, you hear analogies, you hear references to, you see pictures about and depictions of individuals that are truly stunning, and you hear it all the time. People — imagine five years ago somebody comparing health care reform to 9/11. Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler. Mary Katharine Ham…

• 
  The Next Right

• GOP Revival: There's An App for That

  Patrick Ruffini

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  What Ramesh Ponnuru has written about Tuesday's wins is right in so many ways: More important, a few Republican candidates have demonstrated that it is possible to transcend the party's conservative-moderate divide. In Virginia, Robert McDonnell won a landslide — the first Republican win in a governor's race there in 12 years — by running as a problem solver. Social conservatives know he is one of them. But independent voters strongly backed him too. Voters as a whole trusted him more than his Democratic opponent on everything from fixing the roads to strengthening the economy.

• The Youth Vote and the 2009 Elections

  Aaron Marks

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:51 pm

  Sarah Burris of Future Majority beats me to the punch in rebutting a blog post about a “Rising Tide of the GOP Youth,” as described by The Weekly Standard’s Rachel Hoff. Burris writes: First, while Rachel is right to congratulate McDonnell for his campaign’s youth outreach, I hardly think it has anything to do with young voters having gone to the GOP… This doesn’t mean young voters have gone GOP, it means that when you put forth the effort to get young voters, you speak to their issues, and you get out the vote you get a good result. I wish I felt…

• The Left Is In Full Retreat

  Conn Carroll

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:35 am

  Did conservatives or progressives win on Tuesday? Don't listen to what they say, pay attention to what they do. Politico reports "Climate change on the back burner?" Climate change has slipped so far down on the agenda that at least one key committee chairman has suggested it might have to wait until after the 2010 elections. A number of factors are conspiring against the Senate version of the bill: a Republican boycott on the Environment and Public Works Committee, a new EPA analysis that could take at least five weeks and wide-ranging disagreements among six competing Senate…

• What Did NY-23 Mean?

  Jon Henke

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:56 am

  [Disclosure: I worked with the Doug Hoffman campaign. However, the views here are my own. I have not discussed this at all with the Hoffman campaign.] The bottom line on NY-23 Doug Hoffman just won the Republican Primary. The general election is next year. There are two broken, corrupt, arrogant political parties we need to defeat.  We beat the Republican establishment in 2009.  We'll beat the Democratic Party in 2010. NY-23 is not really about Conservatives VS Moderates.  It is about the Establishment VS the Movement. What happened in NY-23: For years, the conventional wisdom…

• Using Web 2.0 to Fight Voter Fraud, 4 easy ways

  david kralik

  3 Nov 2009 | 6:02 am

  Its been said that Democrats have two growing electoral bases: trial lawyers and voter fraud. Republican candidates who get screwed in elections by Democrat / Leftist / ACORN voter fraud is so common that its deserving of its own Wylie Coyote routine. This year, its time we stand up and fight. We can send Jon Corzine packing this year if we prevent him & the New Jersey political machine from stealing yet another election. The same goes for a myriad of other races today. So, today we fight back. And we fight back with Web 2.0. Here are four simple ways to report voter fraud:   Twitter…

• 
  RedState

• Today’s House Vote, by the Numbers

  ()

  7 Nov 2009 | 7:18 am

  The Speaker of the House and the President have two options right now: hold and lose the vote in the House, or wait and vote after the Senate. By my own count the Speaker and the President are light at least ten votes — and could be light as many as twenty three — depending on the dynamic on the House floor. The problem is that some yes votes could get changed to no as the loss becomes apparent — why take a beating for a tough vote when the thing is going down? Members of Congress will not take a beating, just for the sake of taking a beating. They will switch votes, and that is how you…

• CBO: New House Health Bill Spending Estimate, $3 Trillion over 10 Years

  ()

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:08 am

  The totals below, I am told by the Heritage Foundation, do NOT include the $250 billion extra spending on Medicare to buy off the American Medical Association for their support of the U.S. House bill. The Democratic House Leadership has completely lost touch with fiscal reality. The following is a cut and paste of a media statement by the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Gregg (R-NH): Senator Gregg: Updated CBO Estimate of House Bill Pulls Back the Curtain on Majority’s Intent to Grow Government by $3 Trillion Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), ranking member of the Senate…

• Eugene Robinson gets the name of the site right.

  ()

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:11 am

  It’s actually been a matter of some amusement for us: you could tell who the lazy or just dumb reporters were from their habitual reference of this site as Redstate.org, which it hasn’t been for years.  Apparently, the Washington Post has gotten around to updating their files, bless their hearts.  A shame that Eugene Robinson didn’t then try to actually talk to a Republican before he wrote his column, although I admit that it would have been harder than sneering at the Republicans that live largely in his head. Let’s unpack a typical paragraph: Will loyal members…

• New Orleans ACORN HQ Raided By LA Attorney General’s Office

  ()

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:02 pm

  State investigators taking dozens of computers from ACORN office on Canal Street Early last month, Caldwell’s office issued subpoenas for records from ACORN’s New Orleans office, where the organization — now moving its national headquarters to Washington — has long been based. … In a statement, ACORN’s attorney Pamela Marple said the group was told the raid was ordered because of reports that workers loyal to Beth Butler, the recently fired head of ACORN’s Louisiana branch, had been taking computer data and other items out of the office. “Over…

• Be Proud, Democrats. Be Very Proud.

  ()

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:30 pm

  Friday night, prosecutors in the case of The United States v. William Jefferson (D-LA) issued a memorandum recommending a prison sentence of 27 to 33 years for the former congressman from New Orleans, consistent with Federal sentencing guidelines. Such a long sentence is justified, according to the memo, by the severity of the crimes, flight risk, and the possibility of hidden assets. Anything approaching the recommended punishment would be the longest sentence ever meted out on given to a U.S. Congressman. Jefferson will be sentenced on November 13 by Federal Judge T.S. Ellis III in…

• 
  Right Wing News

• Urgent! If You Are Seeing This In Your RSS Feed...

  26 Oct 2009 | 8:58 am

  ...you have the old one. Change over to this RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/rightwingnews/hGmL?format=xml You might want to do it now, while you're thinking about it. Just a suggestion. Thank you!...

• Hitler, copyright and "fair use"

  25 Oct 2009 | 3:14 pm

  The "Downfall parodies" aren't really parodies, in the legal sense. But as this one demonstrates, "Hitler" does seem to understand something about copyright, law, intellectual property management and, of course, slaloming through alternative realities: Never before has an historical figure,...

• Just to walk on American soil

  11 Oct 2009 | 1:57 pm

  Do you ever realize how much we take for granted? We live in the greatest country in the world, one that shines the light of freedom for all the world to see. That light continues to shine brightly thanks to...

• No wonder Europe loves us now

  11 Oct 2009 | 1:53 pm

  In the most unsurprising news ever, the United States is now beloved by the world again. Everyone celebrate! The United States is the most admired country globally thanks largely to the star power of President Barack Obama and his administration,...

• Michelle Obama has no class

  20 Sep 2009 | 7:34 pm

  If you were going to a posthumous Medal of Honor ceremony, how would you think you should act? What would you wear? Certainly you wouldn't walk in all upbeat and positive, and you wouldn't be popping the cork off a...

• 
  FiveFeetOfFury

• Dear Luftwaffe: come back -- all is forgiven

  7 Nov 2009 | 1:19 am

  In UK, one war memorial a week vandalised. PLUS: I've been wondering about this for years: Study: date rape "drink spiking" an urban myth -- stupid slutty women too embarrassed to admit they just got drunk and slept with a jerk. One woman recounts: 'My police hair strand test came back negative for drugs. The blood and urine tests were also negative. 'I don't understand it, because my memory was wiped and I was passed out for hours on two separate days. 'But because I had a spliff or two and a few glasses of vodka, the police are trying to imply that the cannabis must have been so strong that…

• 'These Jews are very decent people, but they're naive...'

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:41 am

  "Toronto's Middle East proxy war:" Rabbi Yossi Sapirman, of Toronto's Beth Torah conservative congregation, says the problem is that many Jews are so fixated on past horrors and future threats that they can't live in the present. His next group trip to Israel, he hopes, will be about three things - wine, art and cheese. No government official briefings, no tours of Holocaust memorials. Writer Tarek Fatah thinks the brotherhood exercise is a charade. "These Jews are very decent people, but they're naive. They're simply not aware that contemporary Islam has been taken over by a death-cult…

• Talk Radio Watch: November 2-6

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:30 pm

  My new Talk Radio Watch has this week's highlights from conservative talk radio. Enjoy FREE audio clips from Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin and much, more!

• Muslims blame Fort Hood shooting on... Guy Fawkes Day

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:36 pm

  This is why people hate you: There simply is no information yet about what Hasan's motives were, or whether Hasan is indeed muslim or not. Of course, that last bit of information is the one that everyone will want to know about the most, even though in a fundamental sense it matters the least. (...) However, something disquieting about the date... It should be noted (as others like Ali Eteraz already have) that today is Guy Fawkes Day - the anniversary of a plot by a Catholic dissident to blow up the English Parliament then dominated by Protestants). If the shootings were motivated by some…

• I just had to update my About Me page

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:16 pm

  A bunch of new blurbs came in in rapid succession (as some of you know), so I've done an update. Here's what's new: It isn't "respectable" to speak up for Limbaugh or Ann Coulter or Kathy Shaidle. There is no safety in silence. Fuck those lying left-wing crapweasels. I'm with Kathy.      -- Robert Stacy McCain A large group of Canadians made the long trip down to the D.C. tropics. One of them was Kathy Shaidle, who is also known as Five Feet of Fury, but to me seemed more like five feet of Torontonian charm and intelligence.      -- "Baron Bodissey",…

• 
  I Hate the Media

• Protesters get thrill on Hill with “house call”to “Kill Bill”

  Editor

  7 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am

  Check your favorite stations, websites or newspaper (if anybody still reads them) to see how or even if they cover Thursday’s “House Call” tea party-style health care protest at the U.S. Capitol. We’re not sure if this qualifies as “news that’s fit to print” for the New York Times, but it’s bound to be on Fox. According to Politico, at least 10,000 tea partiers showed up to protest government takeover of health care. With the House of Representatives rapidly approaching a vote on the Democrats’ 2,000-page monstrosity, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) attempted to slow…

• Chris “I Can Dish It, But I Can’t Take It” Matthews

  Editor

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:30 am

  Poor Chris Matthews. He was distraught on election night. Not to mention churlish, argumentative and depressed. Didn’t it seem for a moment there that he was going to burst out in tears? - Written by Patrick Michael Related posts:Chris Matthews guest delivers news MSNBC host doesn’t want to hearAri Fleischer treats Chris Matthews like Chris Brown treated RihannaDoes Chris Matthews fantasize Obama is Captain Kirk (and he’s a sexy green alien girl)?

• Bill Clinton honored with statue for bombing the hell out of the Serbs

  Editor

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Statue of Bill Clinton waving at a cute Serbian chick with his left hand while holding his little black book in his right hand We think it was for bombing the hell out of the Serbs. It could just as well could have been for “accidentally” bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. We’re not really sure. Whatever it was he did, those wacky Albanians are erecting (you’ll pardon the choice of words) a statue in his honor for having done it. “Thousands of ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in Kosovo’s capital Pristina to welcome former President Bill…

• Katie Couric interviews Al Gore, the smartest man in the world who was never president

  Editor

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:03 pm

  Rather than making any smartass remarks about this video, we’ll turn it over to the Washington Post: “In his sophomore year at Harvard, Gore’s grades were lower than any semester recorded on Bush’s transcript from Yale. That was the year Gore’s classmates remember him spending a notable amount of time in the Dunster House basement lounge shooting pool, watching television, eating hamburgers and occasionally smoking marijuana. His grades temporarily reflected his mildly experimental mood, and alarmed his parents. He received one D, one C-minus, two C’s, two…

• Quote of the Day“In 2008 independents proved they weren’t racist by voting Obama. In 2009, independents vote GOP to prove they aren’t socialist.”- Erick Erickson, RedState.com

  Editor

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:36 pm

  Source: RedState.com Related posts:Deciding vote on Obama Nobel Peace Prize cast by radical Socialist and KGB informerRacist Republican Democrat tosses black kids out of private swim clubChavez to Obama: Be my socialist homeboy

• 
  ChurchCrunch

• The Internet and Your Social Skills (Or Lack Thereof)

  John Saddington

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:30 am

  There have been a number of reports published within days of each other about technology and our ability to relate to others, both online and in the real. One report suggests that New Technology is Making us more Socially Isolated and yet we have another report saying that the Internet is Leading Us to Become more Diverse in our relationships. We have (somewhat dogmatic) reactions from Mashable titled, Myth Busted: Internet Doesn’t Lead to Isolation and then another from the NYTimes that would suggest the opposite, that people that use these technologies are more socially diverse. So,…

• The Waterproof Bible

  John Saddington

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:21 pm

  The waterproof Bible is almost a “duh” product. I can’t count how many times I’ve been frustrated after spilling something on my bible and then having to fan out the pages. Argh! Published by Bardin and Marsee, it’s available in both KJV and NIV versions and recently they’ve released a great campaign where you can “buy one and give one,” just like TOM Shoes: “We believe every consumer benefits from the increased lifespan and durability of the Waterproof Bible. However, we are especially passionate about getting this better designed Bible into…

• Why Chris Brogan Could Build a Church Better Than You

  John Saddington

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:59 am

  Many of us know Chris Brogan and his accomplishments as well as the authority that he brings to the social media landscape. His new book Trust Agents (affiliate link) is acclaimed already being named a Top 10 from Amazon. What’s fascinating is that he could probably build a “church” better than most of us. If we we’re to take out the spiritual-side of things, Chris has got it in the bag. And to a certain degree, he’s even said it himself. It’s because Chris has managed to discover what his true gifts are and then has also managed to use them effectively to…

• Faith, Children, and Church Online

  John Saddington

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:16 am

  Watch this great video (embedded above) by Dana Byers about how to “Engage Your Kids in Church Online.” I’ll tell you that I too was very skeptical with Church Online in general before diving deep into what and how it can be used for the Kingdom. Take it a step further and even today with my 3 year old daughter, would I be willing to have Church Online be a significant part of her faith journey? I’m thankful for people like Dana who is willing to experiment by faith with new technologies with her own children. Way to go. Sponsored By:Advertise Here

• 5 Wordpress Analytic and Metric Plugins I Trust

  John Saddington

  4 Nov 2009 | 3:41 am

  There are a lot of analytic programs and systems out there that are awesome but not many Wordpress Plugins for those systems that I trust to do a good job of, well, simply not breaking. The fact is that I’d much rather insert the code myself instead of banking on a plugin that may become old, outdated, or deprecated. Not a risk I’m typically willing to take! But, here are 5 Analytic Plugins that I’ve used historically that haven’t failed me (yet): 1. WP Stats Dashboard This is an oldy but goody. Used on Wordpress.com sites this is a standard for most self-hosted…

• 
  Outside The Beltway | OTB

• Taking “No” As Iran’s Answer

  Dave Schuler

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:27 am

  The editors of the Washington Post articulate a position similar to the one that I took yesterday: The Obama administration and European governments have set the end of the year as a deadline for the transfer of the uranium out of Iran and for progress in the overall negotiations. But the administration must consider whether it makes sense to grant the regime two more months of grace. On Tuesday, after all, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly rejected the overtures he said he had received from President Obama, declaring that negotiating with the United States was “naive and…

• Update on the Fort Hood Massacre

  Dave Schuler

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:19 am

  The picture that is emerging of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the American-born Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people and wounded dozens of others at Fort Hood yesterday is of a deeply troubled and conflicted individual: As authorities scrambled to figure out what happened at Fort Hood, a hazy and contradictory picture emerged of this son of Palestinian immigrants, a man who received his medical training from the military and spent his career in the Army, yet allegedly turned so violently against his uniformed colleagues. Hasan was born in Arlington and grew up in the Roanoke Valley of southwestern…

• OTB Latenight – Soft Cell

  Dodd

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:44 pm

• Caption Contest Winners

  Rodney Dill

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pm

  The ♬ Louie Louie ♬ Edition OTB Caption ContestTM is now over. (AFP/File/Pius Utomi Ekpei) ✰ THE WINNERS ✰ First: Maggie Mama – Although he’s still dithering about Afghanistan, President Obama decided that a replacement for the USS Sequoia is essential? Second: yetanotherjohn – The justice department found no reason to suspect any voter intimidation based on the photos. Third: charles austin – There are no atheists in fo’c’sles. HONORABLE MENTION Stormy Dragon – o/~ A three hour tour… A three hour tour… o/~ DL…

• Breaking: Shootings at Fort Hood (Updated)

  Dave Schuler

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:19 pm

  Seven people are reported to have been killed and twenty injured in a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas: At least seven people are dead and 20 wounded in a mass shooting Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, and at least one suspect is believed to be holed up in a building and shooting at SWAT team members, NBC News and affiliate KCEN reported. It was unknown whether the victims were all soldiers or civilians at Fort Hood, one of the largest military complexes in the world. One gunman was reportedly in custody and another was on the loose, NBC News said. A third shooter may be involved, according to NBC…

• 
  TechRepublican.com -

• The Second Cup: Politicos and Average Joes

  Meghann Olshefski

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:27 am

  For Election News, Politicos and Average Joes Turned to Twitter Coverage of Tuesday's election night took place during prime time, giving cable news partisans the responsibility of tracking and reporting details on the elections. Many observers, fed up with the substandard coverage of the networks' opinion commentators, turned to Twitter for up-to-the-minute coverage. Online Voter Registration Draft Unveiled House Administration Elections Subcommittee ranking member Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss., unveiled draft legislation Thursday [see PDF here] designed to…

• There's An App For That

  Meghann Olshefski

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:05 pm

  Check out this funny and clever video from the NRCC's online team. Short, sweet and to the point. While it's only been viewed 304 times to date, I think this video is a prime example of the kind of outside-of-the-box thinking this party needs when it comes to online video. I encourage all political campaigns to create videos like this. You never know just what will stick and go viral.

• Reaching the Homeschool Community

  Ethan Demme

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:30 am

  You've probably heard of homeschoolers in 1994 melting the phone lines over H.R. 6 or run into interns from Patrick Henry college but how do you reach out to them? As a homeschool graduate and the marketing director for a company that sells to homeschoolers I often get asked by politicians, "I've got some homeschoolers in my district, how do I reach out to them?" here is the brief version of my answer. The homeschool community is a fast growing, diverse and well networked group of parents who have taken it upon themselves to teach their children at home. In 2007 there were 1.5…

• The Second Cup: Let's Get Personal

  Meghann Olshefski

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:30 am

  HOW TO: Build Your Own Personal Brand on YouTube There are thousands of different websites that you can leverage to build your own personal brand, but only a few that will give you both the reach and credibility to make a major impact. Here at Mashable (Mashable), we’ve provided you with a detailed look at how you can build your personal brand on Facebook (Facebook), Twitter (Twitter), and LinkedIn (LinkedIn).  Today, we’ll focus in on the largest video sharing site on the planet, more commonly referred to as YouTube (YouTube). Google's Friend Connect, Now More Personalized Often, the…

• The Second Cup: For VA and NJ, "That's a Wrap!"

  Meghann Olshefski

  4 Nov 2009 | 6:35 am

  After a victorious election night for VA and NJ, here is a retrospective look at Bob McDonnell's online prowess in the hours leading up to his victory - Bob McDonnell's Impressive Online Campaign for Virginia Governor If Creigh Deeds manages to pull off a victory in today’s race for Virginia governor, it won’t be because Republican Bob McDonnell was slack online. In fact, McDonnell’s internet campaign has been impressively comprehensive, meaning that state and local candidates can look to it as a model for applying the lessons of 2008. Let’s look at a few of the critical things he’s…

• 
  Wizbang

• MSM disconnectedness

  Rick

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:25 am

  Those who seriously follow journalism today, or what passes for it, will not be surprised by what follows but it's something that needs to be discussed and passed on nevertheless....

• Cuban Blogger Kidnapped, Beaten By Castro Thugs

  Kevin Aylward

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:20 pm

  Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sánchez as well as three others were kidnapped off the street today on the way to a anti-violence protest in Havana and threatened and beaten...

• A time to lead

  Dan Karipides

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:39 pm

  There were a number of opinion pieces today that walked both sides of the same issue. One cannot avoid the question that yesterday's shooting at Fort Hood raised. Ann Althouse...

• Knock Knock Knocking on ACORN's Door

  Rodney Graves

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:48 pm

  Where are the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys? ACORN operates in multiple states and is being investigated in multiple states for Voter Fraud, which makes it a criminal conspiracy operating across state lines...

• Ignorance or Intentional Deception?

  Lorie Byrd

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:21 pm

  Yesterday I attended the "House Call" rally on Capitol Hill organized by Michelle Bachmann to protest the health care bill. I saw men, women and children of all ages organized...

• 
  Ft. Hard Knox

• David Camp Nancy Pelosi: Criminal and Civil Penalties for Not Buying PelosiCare

  Maggie M. Thornton

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:29 pm

  If you plan not to buy a PelosiCare health insurance policy, no matter the mandates, then a criminal and civil trial may be in your future. It is possible for you to be tried in both courts and your penalty can be a hefty fine of up to $250,000 and up to 5 years imprisonment. Readers [...]

• Government-Run Healthcare at your fingertips? There’s an app for that (how embarrassing!)

  Jenn's Tech Tips

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:25 pm

  The NRCC pokes a little fun at the iPhone and the proponents of the so-called health-care “reform” legislation being proposed in Congress.   Hat-Tip Tech Republican, and Jennifer, via the Web 2.0 Reader  

• Headline of the day: American Woman Took Down Jihadi Hasan at Fort Hood

  Jenn Sierra

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:05 pm

  Pamela Geller has the headline of the day over at Atlas Shrugs: American Woman Took Down Jihadi Hasan at Fort Hood. In addition to the “says-it-all” headline, Pamela also has more info on hero M.P. Kim Munley who shot and disabled the shooter in this week’s massacre at Fort Hood in Texas, including this [...]

• See No Evil

  Zack Rawsthorne

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:35 pm

  I was gearing up to blame ‘the army’s culture of guns,’ but now I’m leaning more toward ‘alienating anti-Muslim environment.’   For more fun, visit www.DiversityLane.com  

• So, now that Randy Brogdon’s running for Gov., who’s running for his seat?

  Jenn Sierra

  2 Nov 2009 | 6:03 pm

  I had a chance to speak this afternoon with Tim Coager, a Republican who is running for the Oklahoma State Senate seat being vacated by Randy Brogdon, also a Republican, who is running for Oklahoma Governor. Brogdon’s shoes will be hard to fill, but this 14 year Marine Veteran feels he’s up to the job. [...]

• 
  Right Side of the Rainbow

• "If the government can't run a flu program, can we trust it to run America's entire health care system?"

  Paul

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:30 am

• Why the drug war can't be won

  Paul

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:15 pm

  For drug lords, return on investment is phenomenal: “With less than a $500,000 initial investment, traffickers can make more than $120 million on the open market.”

• "Any one of us can reduce medical costs by refusing to pay them"

  Paul

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:30 pm

  Thomas Sowell notes the difference between reducing costs and simply shifting them around: “… when someone with a gift for rhetoric tells us that the government can reduce the costs without consequences, we are ready to believe in such political miracles.”

• Question: How many rounds of ammunition have Americans purchased in the last year?

  Paul

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:15 pm

  Answer: 12 billion. In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves.

• Democrats are running scared

  Paul

  2 Nov 2009 | 6:30 am

  When Democrats are in danger of losing a state as blue as New Jersey, you know they’re in trouble.

• 
  DRUDGE REPORT

• FREDDIE MAC posts $5 billion loss...

  By Al YoonNEW YORK (Reuters) - Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE - News; NYSE:FRE - News), the second largest provider of U.S. residential mortgage funding, on Friday posted [Discuss] [Link]

• 'Islam not responsible'...

  No summary available. [Discuss] [Link]

• Police: LA celebrity burglaries led by 19-year-old...

  No summary available. [Discuss] [Link]

• [Headline] - Final vote could be delayed Sunday or beyond...

  (For full coverage of U.S. healthcare reform, click [nN20512341]) * Democrats still hunting for 218 House votes on health * Hoyer says we're very close to the needed support * Says final vote could [Discuss] [Link]

• THE MOTHER WHO BROUGHT DOWN THE FORT HOOD KILLER...

  A police officer and mother of one was hailed a heroine yesterday after it emerged that she almost single handedly ended the massacre at America’s biggest military base. [Discuss] [Link]

• 
  The New Republic TOC

• ‘With Them or With Us’

  Abbas Milani

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:46 am

  Almost three decades ago, a group of radical Islamist students, dressed in army fatigues or covered in scarves and black chadors, forced their way into the American embassy in Tehran. According to some accounts, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then a student at a second-tier technical college in Tehran, was invited to join the hostage takers. He declined, saying he would join only if they would also occupy the Soviet embassy in Tehran. “No to the West, No to the East” was in those days the much-touted slogan of the regime.

• The Insider

  John B. Judis

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:06 am

  In the wake of defeats in New Jersey and Virginia, Democrats and the Obama administration are being advised to move to the center. I think the Republicans are well advised to take that advice, but I am not sure about the Democrats, and I am not sure what the "center" means in this case. In Virginia, I've argued, Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds, who on his record and on the issues had much to recommend him, suffered at least in part from identification with Obama and the national party.

• Numb

  E.J. Dionne Jr.

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Tuesday's elections were a rebuke to the right wing and a warning to Democrats.  They were also a timely reminder that President Obama needs to tune up his celebrated political organization and find a way to make Americans feel hopeful again.

• Cruise Control

  Jonathan Cohn

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  When conservatives scream about socialized medicine and death panels, you should tune them out. But lately conservatives have been making an argument you should hear.

• Buying Time

  Sarah A. Topol

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Yitzchak Newman is in the market for his first house. For now, the young IT project manager lives with his wife and toddler in a rented basement apartment. Space is limited and the family yearns to attain the middle class ideal of owning their own home. But unlike most aspiring home-owners, the Newmans are determined to enter the real estate market in what may be the world’s most politically sensitive strip of land. Whether to fulfill a religious prophecy or to live in blissful suburbia, the Newmans and thousands like them are eager to live in one of the dozens of Jewish enclaves in the…

• 
  National Review Online

• Centuries in the Making -- By: Conrad Black

  7 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am

  Twenty years ago, like scores of millions of others, I watched in delight as the Berlin Wall came down. A huge crowd stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate, waving the flag of the Federal Republic and singing the current words of the country’s stirring national anthem, composed by Haydn. This piece is still better known outside Germany as “Deutschland über alles,” but now extols peace, unity, and freedom.It was a rare, seismic event, and it produced a kaleidoscopic variety of perspectives on Germany, Europe, and the whole world. For Germany, it was clear that the imposture of the…

• The Hole at the Heart of Our Strategy -- By: Mark Steyn

  7 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am

  Thirteen dead and 31 wounded would be a bad day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, and a great victory for the Taliban. When it happens in Texas, in the heart of the biggest military base in the nation, at a processing center for soldiers either returning from or deploying to combat overseas, it is not merely a “tragedy” (as too many people called it) but a glimpse of a potentially fatal flaw at the heart of what we have called, since 9/11, the “War on Terror.” Brave soldiers trained to hunt down and kill America’s enemy abroad were killed in the safety and security of home by,…

• A Few Good Democrats -- By: The Editors

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Republicans have made a good case against the Democrats’ health-care bill, and they have offered a decent alternative. But given the majorities enjoyed by Nancy Pelosi in the House and Harry Reid in the Senate, Republicans can do only so much. The minority whip, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, has promised that not a single Republican will vote for the monster of a bill that Democrats are pushing through the House. But Republican party discipline is not the magic bullet that will stop Obamacare. What’s needed is a few good Democrats -- either moderate “Blue Dogs” who are experiencing…

• The Party at the Wall -- By: Flashback

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

  EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece by Bennett Owen appeared in the December 22, 1989, issue of National Review. (You can dig into NR’s archives anytime here.)  West Berlin It began as a trickle. On East German TV, a government spokesman had ended an evening press conference by saying that citizens of the GDR could travel freely, and by 9:30 p.m. on November 9, the first East Berliners strolled across a bridge at Bornholmer Strasse. They’d heard the news in a bar and walked down to the nearest crossing to see if it was really true. It was. A small crowd greeted them as they reached the Western…

• Painting the Gulag -- By: Hans A. von Spakovsky

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

  My Russian father and German mother, who survived some of the worst wars and atrocities of the last century, came close to death many times. But I recently experienced a visual reminder of just how lucky they were, despite the many hardships they endured.The Heritage Foundation is exhibiting a “new” collection of 50 paintings of the Soviet Gulag, the infamous penal system for political prisoners and slave laborers. They were painted over a 40-year period by Nikolai Getman, a Ukrainian who spent eight years in Soviet concentration camps in Siberia and Kolyma. His only crime was being…

• 
  Politico

• Saturday Pulse: A Democratic drama

  7 Nov 2009 | 4:57 am

  Democratic leaders are gambling that Friday's abortion deal will be just the breakthrough they need to get 218 votes.

• Turning New Jersey red

  7 Nov 2009 | 3:58 am

  In an Ideas piece, Schriefer says independents were open to a Republican message in New Jersey.

• A 2010 survival guide for Democrats

  7 Nov 2009 | 3:57 am

  In an Ideas piece, Hickman summarizes 10 things every Democrat should do to prepare for next year.

• Sunday talk show tip sheet

  7 Nov 2009 | 3:57 am

  The White House takes a week off from the Sunday talk shows, as health care and Fort Hood dominate.

• Whipping floor votes into shape

  7 Nov 2009 | 3:54 am

  "Herding cats" may be a cliche, but it is also a pretty good description of what it takes to secure votes.

• 
  The Economist: Daily news and views

• After the horror at home

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Is there any lesson to be drawn from the shootings at Fort Hood?FORT HOOD is one of the largest army bases in America, sprawling over more than 300 square miles (some 780 square kilometres) of nondescript central Texas grassland between Austin and Waco. It is home to more than 50,000 active-duty soldiers, many of whom pass through on their way to Iraq or Afghanistan. One of their errands before deploying is to stop at the Soldier Readiness Processing Centre for last-minute medical and dental checks. It was here, on Thursday November 5th, that soldiers preparing for and returning from war…

• This week's top stories [06 November 2009]

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  Our top articles ranked by reader popularity.Out from storageOut of the runningThe week aheadA prepackaged pratfallTricks of the tradeBack in his old hat?An electoral testHow to change the systemRed alertPutting competition first

• Jobs gloom, with glimmers

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:31 am

  America's jobless rate passes 10% but the job market should start to improve soonIT WAS widely expected to happen at some point, but not yet. The unemployment rate in America jumped to 10.2% in October, up from 9.8% the month before, an increase that was far more dramatic than most economists had projected.The grim milestone demonstrates that, even though the recession is apparently over, for the average worker it remains in force. The misery is actually greater than the headline number suggests: an alternative unemployment rate that includes those who would like to work but are not looking…

• For peat's sake

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:31 am

  The world’s wetlands are big sources of greenhouse gasesPEATY wetlands emit about 1.3 billion tonnes of CO2 a year as a result of human activity that drains them and thus exposes them to the oxidative effect of the atmosphere. This figure does not include the effect of fire on dried-up bogs, which can double the amount. That, at least, is the conclusion of a report published by Wetlands International, a lobby group, this week. Drained peat occupies 0.3% of the world’s land surface, but is responsible for 6% of man-made CO2 emissions. Indonesia is the biggest emitter, but richer…

• Fighting fire with fire

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:40 pm

  Wildfires are getting fiercer and more frequentAS WOODLANDS in the warmer parts of the northern hemisphere come to the end of their fire season and their counterparts south of the equator prepare for the worst, people have begun to rethink how best to fight the wildfires, which seem to be getting fiercer and more frequent. With less winter snow on mountains as average temperatures rise, woods in many regions are drying out and becoming ever more vulnerable to fire. The deadliest wildfire in Australia’s history, which scorched a broad swathe of the landscape north-east of Melbourne…

• 
  Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines

• Dems Make Final Push for Health Bill Votes

  editor@truthdig.com

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:16 pm

  By Friday evening, it wasn’t clear whether Saturday’s scheduled vote on the famous health care reform bill would happen on time in the House of Representatives, but Democrats were busy wooing any remaining potential supporters among their congressional ranks.  —KA AP via Google News: “We’re very close” to having enough votes to prevail, said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, although he added a scheduled Saturday vote could slip by a day or two and sought to pin the blame on possible Republican delaying tactics. “Nice try, Rep. Hoyer, but…

• America Performs Its Familiar Role of Propping Up a Dictator

  editor@truthdig.com

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:43 pm

  By Robert Fisk Could there be a more accurate description of the Barack Obama-Gordon Brown message of congratulations to the fraudulently elected Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan? Now we have the venal, corrupt, sectarian Karzai in power after a poll far more ambitiously rigged than the Iranian version, and – yup, we love him dearly. READ THE WHOLE ITEMRelated Entries November 6, 2009 ‘Left, Right & Center’: GOP Scores; Unemployment Up; Fort Hood Fallout November 5, 2009 Conservatives Descend on Capitol for ‘House Call’ Protest November 4, 2009 Carly Fiorina Taking On…

• ‘Daily Show’ Insta-Classic: What Lurks Within Glenn Beck?

  editor@truthdig.com

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:02 pm

  It’s not so much that Jon Stewart is lampooning Glenn Beck for the heck of it that makes this clip from Thursday night’s “Daily Show” so inspired, it’s that he practically out-Glenn-Becks Glenn Beck, all the while stealing a potential conspiracy theory that the excitable Fox News showman might soon have cooked up if left to his own devices. READ THE WHOLE ITEMRelated Entries November 6, 2009 ‘Left, Right & Center’: GOP Scores; Unemployment Up; Fort Hood Fallout November 5, 2009 Conservatives Descend on Capitol for ‘House Call’ Protest…

• ‘Left, Right & Center’: GOP Scores; Unemployment Up; Fort Hood Fallout

  editor@truthdig.com

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:59 pm

  Unemployment reaches 10.2 percent—do we need a bigger stimulus? What do the GOP victories in Virginia and New Jersey mean for both parties? Will the House’s historic health care bill pass, and, if so, why wait till 2013 to implement it? READ THE WHOLE ITEMRelated Entries November 6, 2009 ‘Left, Right & Center’: GOP Scores; Unemployment Up; Fort Hood Fallout November 5, 2009 Conservatives Descend on Capitol for ‘House Call’ Protest November 4, 2009 Carly Fiorina Taking On Barbara Boxer for Senate Seat October 30, 2009 ‘Left, Right & Center’:…

• Another Deadly Shooting: Orlando Gunman Opens Fire in Former Office

  editor@truthdig.com

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:28 pm

  On Friday, Jason Rodriguez, a 40-year-old engineer who had been fired from an Orlando, Fla., construction firm two years ago, went back to his former office and opened fire, killing at least one person and wounding at least five others before fleeing to his mother’s house, where he was tracked down and arrested.  —KA The Orlando Sentinel: After the arrest, the suspect was greeted by reporters just outside the police department’s doors. “Why did you do it?” one television reporter asked. “Because they left me to rot,” Rodriguez said. He was asked…

• 
  Top Stories from CQ

• House Leaders Move to Ensure Passage of Health Bill

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:59 pm

  House Democratic leaders prepared to begin the year’s first floor debate on health care overhaul with some uncertainty about the outcome, but having struck a compromise with the largest group of holdouts in their caucus.

• Ex-Rival: ‘Bigger Name’ Bennett Challenge Brews

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:20 pm

  After dropping out of the race against Utah Sen. Robert F. Bennett, state Attorney General Mark Shurtleffsays he’s looking for another way to help defeat the three-term senator in next year’s Republican primary.

• Obama Poised to Discuss Korean Trade Agreement, but Lawmakers Are Anxious

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:51 am

  With President Obama set to travel to east Asia next week, administration officials insist that he wants to secure congressional approval of a long-stalled trade agreement with South Korea, a high priority in Seoul.

• Democratic Leaders Push Ahead With Medicare Physician Payment Legislation

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:50 am

  House Democratic leaders intend to approve a rule Friday that would govern debate on legislation to change the way doctors are paid under Medicare, but Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said the bill would not be considered until the week of Nov. 16.

• Hoyer: Health Care Bill’s Passage Expected This Weekend

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:48 am

  House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer predicted passage of a health care overhaul bill would come Saturday evening even as House Democrats worked Friday to corral the needed votes to pass the measure.

• 
  Power Line

• It's A Mystery

  John

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:21 am

  President Obama's radio address today is on the Fort Hood massacre. Byron York has the full text. Yesterday, Obama warned us against jumping to conclusions. Now, as we predicted, it's pretty clear that Obama has no intention of coming to any conclusions, ever. He ponders the deep mystery of why Malik Nadal Hasan, whom he refers to only as "an Army psychiatrist," thought it was a good idea to murder American soldiers: We cannot fully know what leads a man to do such a thing. There may be some cosmic sense in which that sentence is true; who can ever plumb the depths of the human heart? But we…

• Dictatorships and double standards revisited

  Scott

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:33 am

  Stephen Hayes invokes Jeane Kirkpatrick's classic 1979 essay in his his Weekly Standard article of the same title on the Obama administration's foreign policy. Hayes updates the the continuing saga of the Obama administration's appeasement of the Islamic Republic of Iran. By contrast with its valentines for the mullahs, as Hayes reports, the administration last week had harsh words...for Fiji. Hayes doesn't mention the Obama administation's reaction to Israel's seizure of the Francop and its cache of weapons from Iran for Hezbollah. Caroline Glick observes: The US did not denounce either…

• The Circle Game

  Scott

  7 Nov 2009 | 4:58 am

  Visiting a friend in Boston in the fall of 1968 I caught a live show with James Taylor opening for Joni Mitchell in a basement dive with benches for seats. It was an incredible show for the price of the $3.00 ticket. Taylor's debut album on Apple hadn't even been released yet, but both Taylor and Mitchell had developed followings based on the songs they had contributed to Tom Rush's "Circle Game" album earlier that year. (According to Sheila Weller's Girls Like Us, Mitchell's affair with Taylor followed shortly after.) Mitchell was the star of the show I saw. She had only recently arrived on…

• The 1959 World Series, Game Six -- improbable champions

  Paul

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:19 pm

  Sometimes you hear it said that baseball's post-season reveals weaknesses in teams that went undetected during the regular season. I've never really subscribed to this view. The 162 game season (and its 154 game predecessor) should expose any true weaknesses. The much shorter post-season (only four to seven games in the old days) has more to do with chance than with revealing hidden truths about a squad. On the other hand, I believe the post-season can reveal things about managers who, due to the pressure and the format of an elimination series, can find themselves managing quite differently…

• Uighurs In Paradise, Part II

  John

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:17 pm

  The Uighurs are Muslims from East Turkmenistan who no doubt have legitimate grievances against the Chinese who have conquered and colonized their country, if such it ever was. But some of them decided to pursue jihad against China and went to Afghanistan to train with al Qaeda. They were there at the end of 2001 when we routed the Taliban and captured a number of terrorists and terrorist trainees. The Uighurs fell in the latter category. The Uighurs posed no great threat to the U.S., notwithstanding their extreme Muslim beliefs, and the Bush administration would have been happy to let them…

• 
  WSJ.COM

• Treasury Blocks Fannie Tax Credit Sale

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:42 am

  The Treasury blocked Fannie Mae's proposed sale of $3 billion in housing tax credits to Goldman Sachs and Berkshire Hathaway.

• Obama Praises Bravery at Fort Hood

  7 Nov 2009 | 3:18 am

  President Barack Obama, in his weekly radio address, deplored the violence at Fort Hood and extolled the bravery of the soldiers who quickly came to the aid of victims.

• Job Losses Cloud Agenda for Obama

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:05 pm

  Obama said his economic team was examining additional infrastructure spending, energy incentives, business tax cuts and other measures to spur job creation.

• Democrats' Ethics Targeted by GOP

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:05 pm

  Republicans are accusing House Speaker Pelosi and her colleagues of failing to make good on their pledge to clean up Washington when they regained control of Congress.

• California May Limit Placement Agents

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:05 pm

  California's state controller and treasurer are drafting legislation that could curb pay for financial middlemen, whose fees have sparked an internal investigation at giant public pension fund Calpers.

• 
  Lew Rockwell: The LRC Blog

• Does the Name ‘Dachau’ Come to Mind?

  David Kramer

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:35 am

  ISRAEL PROPOSES WORK CAMPS FOR ILLEGAL MIGRANTS The government is considering establishing work camps in the south of the country, where illegal migrant workers will receive shelter, food and medical care, Army Radio reported Wednesday. In exchange, illegal migrants would perform manual labor outside the camps, but would not earn a salary. [emphasis mine] They would stay at the camp until their asylum claims are decided, which could take months or years. [emphasis mine] The proposal, part of the effort to address the problems posed by illegal migrants, would place asylum seekers at jobs in…

• Communist Party Sure Knows How to Party

  David Kramer

  7 Nov 2009 | 4:58 am

  I noticed something very interesting at the end of this video. When you see the heads of state marching in the parade, there are no security people around them. Could this be because no one would dare to assassinate them and, therefore, no security is necessary? Or maybe because in Capitalist China, unlike the United States of Socialist America, the citizens are starting to realize that their government is slowly becoming irrelevant?

• Dr. Hasan

  Lew Rockwell

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:16 pm

  Writes Elizabeth Cameron: Whatever else his motivations might have been, Dr. Hasan, being a psychiatrist, had instant access to his own drugs of choice; psych drugs, as you probably know, have been connected with a significant percentage of domestic mass shootings.  This point will no doubt be ignored by the media, and instead, there will be cries for more mental treatment and testing of military personnel (and more restriction of weapons), which is exactly the opposite of what they need. It is not a small problem: I have learned that overseas, where the soldiers are being medicated for…

• Pelosicare

  Lew Rockwell

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:43 pm

  Dr. Hasan is a total creature of the state: VA Tech, the federal “uniformed services” medical school, Walter Reed mega-hospital, single-payer psychiatrist.

• Déjà Vu All Over Again?

  Wilton Alston

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:07 pm

  Karen and Laurence, this latest example of a “lone shooter” reminds me of an oddly-similar situation from some 2 years ago, that of the supposed suicide of Colonel Ted Westhusing. It strikes me as rather coincidental as well that Major Hasan was, like Colonel Westhusing, well-educated and high-ranking. Neither of these men could accurately be categorized as an uninformed-grunt-acting-out, as was the initial party line for the torturers at Abu Ghraib. The only difference is that Westhusing killed only himself, while Hasan apparently figured he would take a few others with him.

• 
  the TOWN HALL weblog

• The Lord Told Us Not To Domesticate Swine

  BurkeanMama

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:12 am

  It is easy to recognize, and mock, media hype and hysteria when you see it.  Harder to to resist the cry of hysteria when it is your child that is sick.  When the BurkeanSon’s temperature hit 102 early this week, I freely admit the media’s swine flu hysteria got to me. BurkeanSon is normally a very healthy kid.  His temp has only reached 101 a few times in his 10 years.   He has never had a fever as high as this one.  Worse yet he WANTED to stay in bed.  This is a kid who has never wanted to go to bed a day in his life.  When he had surgery for a bone spur he came out…

• Interesting Items 11/02 –

  Alex Gimarc

  2 Nov 2009 | 11:24 am

  Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy – In this issue: 1. Big Green 2. Elections 3. Endangered 4. Withholding 5. Coal 6. Photo Op 1. Big Green. I wrote a column in The Alaska Standard a couple weeks ago taking the local greens, the AP and the local fishwrapper to task for their latest effort to designate Cook Inlet as a critical habitat for “threatened” beluga whales. The column smoked out the executive director of one of the self-appointed local green organizations with comments in opposition. He was pretty good, and picked up a few things that I should have…

• Happy All Hollows Eve

  BurkeanMama

  31 Oct 2009 | 6:46 pm

  The Cutest little Cinderella just showed up at my door, crying her eyes out.  Her mom tried to coax a “trick or treat” out of her or a “thank you.”  But she kept on crying.  I think she knows its wrong to beg for candy.  I think she is saying “c’mon mom a real Princess doesn’t feel entitled to candy, she goes out and earns candy scrubbing floors and cleaning fireplaces.”  Run that Cinderella for Congress in 22 years.

• Interesting Items 10/26 –

  Alex Gimarc

  27 Oct 2009 | 9:32 pm

  Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy – In this issue: 1. Kinston 2. Pay Czar 3. Lawsuits 4. Critical Habitat 1. Kinston. The Obama Holder (In)Justice Department overruled voters in Kinston NC last week by overturning a ballot initiative passed by over two thirds of the local voters that removed party affiliation from ballots for local elections. Kinston is a predominately black city that is still covered by the antiquated Voting Rights Law that requires Department of (In)Justice approval of any and everything involved in local elections. The ruling went so far as…

• Ministry of Propaganda?

  Brer Tiger

  22 Oct 2009 | 11:14 am

  The EIF (Entertainment Industry Foundation) has just annouced the “I Participate” initiative.  This is an effort by the Foundation to promote volunteerism in America by showing characters on many national TV shows volunteering for this and that. President Obama is noted for also promoting volunteerism.  And the report in the Chicago Tribune, EIF officials say they were “inspired by” Obama to create this initiative.  (Actually in the CT article, they credit both Obama and McCain speaking out about this during the campaign.) However, while the EIF press release does…

• 
  Jerusalem Post

• Abbas: I have 'no desire' to run for re-election

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:03 am

  PA president blames US for being soft on settlement issue; PA officials: He may yet change his mind.

• Analysis: Seized arms evidence of Iran's investment of Israel's borders

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:32 am

  Hamas and Hizbullah play a vital role in Iran's strategy for regional hegemony.

• Erekat: PA may ditch two-state solution

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:09 am

  Palestinians may consider "other options" if peace process falters; Clinton: US opposes settlements.

• Iranian TV channel Al-Alam closed down in Egypt

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:16 pm

  Network officials say decision to take them off air is political; Egypt cites "contractual breach."

• Hizbullah: We have no links to ship

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:53 am

  In first response to arms capture, terror group condemns "Israeli pirates operating in int'l waters."

• 
  Watchblog: Republicans

• It could happen here

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:46 pm

  There will be opposition. The progressive leftist vision of America that the Democratic Party is attempting to force onto Americans will be resisted. Obama's attempt to transform America into Jeremiah Wright's America is not something that most Americans view favorably.Houston Tea Party rally draws more than 10,000 More than 10,000 people turned out Monday night for a North Houston Tea Party Patriots gathering to protest proposed health care reform and what they called big government spending and overzealous government leadership, according to preliminary attendance figures. ~chron.com This…

• Ram it through!

  26 Oct 2009 | 11:12 am

  The best thing for America is for the left to ram their risky healthcare scheme through as quickly as possible. The sooner America sees how horrible the leftist policies of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi are the sooner we can get them out of power.The Obama Healthcare putsch is almost the perfect example of an ideologically driven agenda disregarding any sense of reality or practicality in legislation. Every scheme, every bill, seems to get worse than the last. From the specter of IRS enforcement to mandates with draconian fines, every new Democrat bill gets deeper into the quagmire of everything…

• Want to Write for This Column?

  17 Oct 2009 | 3:25 am

  Would you like to write articles for this Column? Good writing skills, a word processor to check spelling and grammar, and a blog of your own (or another web site where your writing can be reviewed), will get you considered for a role as a WatchBlog writer. Click here to apply if you are interested in volunteering political perspectives, philosophy, and news, from a Republican or conservative vantage point.

• The Rule of Confusing Law

  2 Oct 2009 | 1:02 pm

  Exhibit A, in the case against our current ruling political philosophy, is this quote from Sen. Thomas Carper (D.-Del.): “I don’t expect to actually read the legislative language because reading the legislative language is among the more confusing things I’ve ever read in my life.” Since our congressional masters won't let us read the text of the bill in question before they pass it I guess we won't be able to judge the relative reading comprehension of Senator Carper. But this isn't the only congressman who says he can't read the bills he votes on.“I love these members, they get up…

• Watching the children

  27 Sep 2009 | 1:19 pm

  Are we citizens or subjects? Can you go to jail for watching your neighbors kids at the bus stop in front of your house to make sure nothing happens to them? Yes children, as subjects of the Michigan nanny state you just might.A West Michigan woman says the state is threatening her with fines and possibly jail time for babysitting her neighbors' children. Lisa Snyder of Middleville says her neighborhood school bus stop is right in front of her home. It arrives after her neighbors need to be at work, so she watches three of their children for 15-40 minutes until the bus comes. The Department…

• 
  Thomas P. M. Barnett

• What's it take to get some regionalization?

  7 Nov 2009 | 2:33 am

  ARTICLE: Clinton Arrival in Pakistan Met by Fatal Attacks, By MARK LANDLER and ISMAIL KHAN, New York Times, October 28, 2009 With the Obama team continuing Bush-Cheney's lack of strategic imagination in regionalizing the solution set on Afghanistan (no worries, as the Chinese solution plugs along--investment by investment--in both sides of the Af-Pak divide), there is plenty of logic behind backing the horse most willing right now to take the fight directly to the enemy. The Biden redirect in action, with the Pakistani desire for no American "face" being most welcome--casualty wise.

• The best route forward on Iran (and nukes)

  7 Nov 2009 | 2:25 am

  OP-ED: Bunkers or Breakthrough?, By ROGER COHEN, New York Times, November 5, 2009 Honestly, I see Cohen's angst here as completely misplaced. Normalization with Iran is not contingent on precluding Iran's nuclear achievement. Hell, NorKo made it happen and THEN we offered them a peace treaty! The best route forward, as I have long argued, is simply to de-prioritize the nuke question. If the Iranian protesters want Obama's embrace, then I say, give it to them. If it pisses off Tehran WRT to the nuclear talks, then--quite frankly--nothing is lost. As for getting jacked about ElBaradei leaving…

• China's using North Korea

  7 Nov 2009 | 2:19 am

  ARTICLE: In North Korea, the military now issues economic orders, By Blaine Harden, Washington Post, November 3, 2009 Important story on NorKo: if it does indeed contain almost $6T in mineral wealth, then I guess I would expect China to allow Kim's kleptocracy to continue concentrating itself on that flow, meaning no hope that China will do much about the regime until the place is bled dry of resources. The only good news here is the death of party identification, the exact opposite of press reports on Wen's recent visit there, when party symbols were everywhere. "The army is the people, the…

• Worthwhile delay

  7 Nov 2009 | 2:11 am

  ARTICLE: Obama seeks study on local leaders for troop decision, By Scott Wilson and Greg Jaffe, Washington Post, October 29, 2009 Would have thought McChrystal's review would have included such an a province-by-province analysis, but since it didn't, this call makes sense to me--as in, worth the "dithering" time.

• Hello, John

  7 Nov 2009 | 1:58 am

  ARTICLE: Adios, Juan and Juanita: Latin Names Trend Down, By Jeffrey Kluger, Time, Oct. 06, 2009 Bunch of stats that drive home an old observation of mine: Latinos are no slouches when it comes to assimilation. (Thanks: JRiley)

• 
  The Bare Knuckled Pundit

• Daily Cartoon - Back From the Dead

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am

  [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Pat Buchanan

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  For the Blue Dogs, Tuesday was a fire bell in the night. Virginia Republicans led by Robert McDonnell crushed the most conservative Democrat nominee in decades, rolling up a victory that rivaled Ronald Reagan's rout of Walter Mondale. New Jersey... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• What If.....

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:30 am

  [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Daily Cartoon - GOP Insurgency

  4 Nov 2009 | 4:30 am

  [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Daily Cartoon - Let The Wild Rumpus Begin!

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

  [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• 
  Betsy's Page

• Moveon's war on Democratic moderates

  Betsy Newmark

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:21 am

  While we pause from the wall-to-wall coverage of the "war within the Republican Party," we can pause to notice that there is a little internecine conflict over on the left. Byron York reports that Moveon.org has raised money to target Democratic moderates. They should acknowledge what the Republicans are starting to learn. Certain districts aren't ideologically one way or the other. The only

• The realignment myth

  Betsy Newmark

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:38 am

  Liberals have long been crowing about a political realignment from Republican to Democrat that was heralded by Obama's victory in 2008. As Charles Krauthammer argues today, that was a myth and the pendulum is swinging back. In the aftermath of last year's Obama sweep, we heard endlessly about its fundamental, revolutionary, transformational nature. How it was ushering in an FDR-like realignment

• Simply dreadful

  Betsy Newmark

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:22 am

  My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims of the Fort Hood shooting yesterday. I keep thinking of the families so happy to have their soldiers home and then for this to happen.What strikes me is how much of the original reporting was wrong on this story. Just follow the automatic updates that Allahpundit put up yesterday and see how much of the original story facts were just

• Guantanamo is so bad that some prisoners don't want to leave

  Betsy Newmark

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:42 am

  How bad can Guantanamo be for the prisoners if some would rather stay there than be transferred to "supermax" facilities in the United States?Since 2005 an Arab American cultural adviser, who for security reasons is identified only by the name of Zak, has been employed at Guantánamo to liaise with detainees.He said that some detainees would rather stay put than go on trial in the US, where they

• How's that engagement policy working out for us?

  Betsy Newmark

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:05 am

  President Obama proudly pronounced that he would be able to turn around our relations with Iran by "engaging" them in meaningful dialogues. Well, the Supreme Leader Khamenei doesn't seem to impressed, issuing a statement yesterday concerning the possibility of negotiating with the United States. Iran's supreme leader, spurning what he described as several personal overtures from President Obama,

• 
  Day by Day Cartoon by Chris Muir

• 11/07/2009

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:27 pm

• 11/06/2009

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:27 pm

• 11/05/2009

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:07 pm

• 11/04/2009

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:20 pm

• 11/03/2009

  3 Nov 2009 | 7:16 pm

• 
  The Fix

• The Friday Primary Line: Game off in CA (or not)

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:25 pm

  San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and state Attorney General Jerry Brown. AP Photos The recent decision by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to drop his candidacy for governor of California left only state Attorney General Jerry Brown in the race for the Democratic nod, knocking one of the Fix's top 10 primaries off of our Line. But Brown's primary primacy was short-lived as a story in Thursday's San Jose Mercury News said that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) was still mulling a run for governor and would make a decision in early 2010 based on how the…

• Live Fix roundup

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:13 am

  The Fix took questions this morning on why Deeds lost, election hangovers, Crist vs. Rubio, DINOs and RINOs, and other assorted topics (Cillizza's new role on 'Vampire Diaries'?). Below is a taste of the conversation -- for the full dish, full of political meat and potatoes with the distinct Fix flavor, check out the full transcript of the discussion. Fairfax, Va.: So, taking the lessons we've learn from NY-23 and looking forward, how much of a shot do you really think Rubio has going against Crist? Crist may not be the Republicans' Republican, but he's still a fairly popular governor, isn't…

• Morning Fix: Crist and the Club for Growth

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:28 am

  1. The new ad being run in Florida by the Club for Growth should send shivers down Gov. Charlie Crist's (R) spine. The commercial features Crist saying "we know that it's important that we pass a stimulus package" and embracing President Obama at a rally earlier this year. (Highlighting "The Hug" seems to be an attempt by the Club to parallel the infamous George W. Bush-Joe Lieberman kiss from the Connecticut senator's 2006 primary campaign.) The Club has openly flirted with the prospect of endorsing former stater House speaker Marco Rubio (R) in the Senate race, a move that would…

• Featured Advertiser

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:45 pm

• And the winner is....

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:45 pm

  After hours of tabulations and calculations, we are ready to declare a victor in the Fix's election prediction contest. Our work was made somewhat easier by the fact that only a few predictors managed to get all three winners -- Chris Christie, Bob McDonnell and Bill Owens --- right. Before we unveil the winner, let's review the results. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) 48.7 percent Jon Corzine (D) 44.6 percent Chris Daggett (I) 5.8 percent Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) 58.7 percent Creigh Deeds (D) 41.3 percent New York 23 Bill Owens (D) 49 percent Doug Hoffman (C) 45.9 percent…

• 
  washingtonpost.com - Howard Kurtz (washingtonpost.com)

• The mod squad

  washingtonpost.com

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:37 am

  Stop the presses: The moderates are nervous.

• Rotten Apple coverage

  washingtonpost.com

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:19 am

  How exactly did the New York press miss the fact that the extravagantly financed Michael Bloomberg express almost got derailed?

• Rotten Apple coverage

  Howard Kurtz

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:11 am

  How exactly did the New York press miss the fact that the extravagantly financed Michael Bloomberg express almost got derailed?

• The non-referendum

  washingtonpost.com

  4 Nov 2009 | 6:26 am

  To hear some pundits tell it, the earth moved yesterday.

• The non-referendum

  Howard Kurtz

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am

  To hear some pundits tell it, the earth moved yesterday.

• 
  WSJ.com: Capital Journal

• Corzine’s Defeat: An Ominous Sign for Specter, Dodd

  4 Nov 2009 | 11:54 am

  Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, is a former White House correspondent with two decades of experience covering Washington government and politics. Click here for Mr. Brown’s full bio. Arlen Specter and Chris Dodd can’t be happy with the defeat of fellow Democrat Jon Corzine in the New Jersey governor’s race. It has more to do with their own hopes of keeping their Senate seats next year than party loyalty. Mr. Specter, who is seeking his sixth term representing Pennsylvania, and Mr. Dodd, looking for his sixth from…

• It’s a Grumpy Nation Out There

  4 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  It’s a grumpy nation. We probably all knew that, but Tuesday’s election results underscore the point. It wasn’t a good election for Democrats, of course. They lost the two biggest races, the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, the first a blue state they should own and the second now a swing state Democrats liked to think they had turned in the last two elections. But Democrats can argue they won in the race that is most relevant to what is going on in Washington, the special eleciton for the 23rd congressional district in New York. That represents a victory…

• Political Wisdom: What to Watch for on Election Night, and Beyond

  3 Nov 2009 | 2:24 pm

  There’s no shortage of advice on what to watch for as election results come in Tuesday night, or on what to make of the outcomes, whatever they may be. Politico’s Jonathan Martin provides the five key things to watch for in the tight New Jersey governor’s race, “likely the most competitive of the three most closely watched contests in the nation Tuesday.” The contest between Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican Chris Christie—with independent Chris Daggett thrown in to make things more interesting—“is a rare test of which electoral factor is more decisive — an…

• Gauging the Intensity Factor on This Election Day

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:09 am

  Polls can measure many things, but one thing they have a hard time getting at is intensity: Yes, people will tell a pollster whom they prefer in a campaign, but do they feel so strongly about their choice that they’ll actually go out to vote? Only elections can answer the intensity question, which is the most important factor in Tuesday’s off-year governor’s elections in New Jersey and Virginia and, increasingly, a special election in a New York congressional district. Intensity, as much as outcomes, may provide the best insight into national trends heading into the much…

• Divided Washington Equals Cyncal Electorate

  1 Nov 2009 | 2:34 pm

  My latest Capital Journal column looks at the surprisingly high skepticism Americans are expressing toward government: Americans have concluded within the past year that their financial firms and auto companies don’t work very well. Many now seem to be drawing the same conclusion about their government, which, ironically, has been charged with saving those financial firms and auto companies. The evidence for that conclusion arrives in the form of a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, which finds Americans holding in low esteem the government — and, in fact, much of Washington.

• 
  Reason Magazine - All Reason Articles from the Past Year: Page 1

• Even When I Thought it Was Stimulation, I Knew it Was the Banks All Along

  Brian Doherty

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:28 pm

  Arnold Kling tries to explain recent Fed policy actions re: injecting reserves into the economy and simultaneously paying banks interest on reserves to high school students, and comes to a sobering conclusion: In spite of all the sophisticated rhetoric about "quantitative easing" and "new tools for monetary policy," the only way that I can understand what the Fed was doing is to say that the goal was to stimulate bank profits, not the economy. If your goal were to stimulate the economy, you would inject enough reserves to do that and not pay interest on reserves. That might require buying…

• Are Americans Really Saving More?

  Tim Cavanaugh

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:15 pm

  Although officials on President Obama's economic team continue to claim that the personal savings rate of Americans is increasing, this rate has actually been declining since May. In fact, it's possible that a recovery in personal savings that began late in the Bush Administration ran out of steam early in the Obama Administration. Here is how the numbers have been trending since December: These numbers are subject to regular, substantial change as the Bureau of Economic Analysis gets more complete data. For example, the May peak was initially claimed to be a full percentage point higher, at…

• This Is the Modern World

  Jesse Walker

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:45 pm

  This month's edition of Cato Unbound tackles one of the most interesting questions historians have: Where did modernity come from? Stephen Davies leads off with a revision and synthesis of several classical liberal theories about the issue; his essay has attracted a friendly critique from Jack Goldstone, one of the scholars whose work Davies drew on and revised, and some more scathing criticisms from Anthony Pagden, who doubts many of Davies' premises. Jason Kuznicki will weigh in with another response to Davies next week, and then Davies will answer his critics. Watch it all unfold here.

• Executive Pay Caps We Can Believe In

  Damon W. Root

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:32 pm

  Writing at The Freeman, economist Bruce Yandle (listen to him talk about his famous “Bootleggers and Baptists” article here) makes the case for capping a certain type of executive pay: Yes, it is high time that pay and investment guidelines be mandated for all top level executives who may in the normal course their daily work push the entire economy too close to or even over the edge of systemic risk falls. If nothing else, this Great Recession has taught us that top executives can practically capsize the economy. But the chief concern is not with presidents and vice presidents of…

• New at Reason: Shikha Dalmia on What's Wrong with Ayn Rand

  Reason Magazine

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:30 pm

  Love her or hate her, you can't deny that Ayn Rand is experiencing a revival. Yet as Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia writes, Rand's entire project involved liberating the individual from the yoke of collectivism and creating the social, moral, and political conditions in which he could live a fully actualized life. But is self-actualization through productive work—the ultimate goal of this liberation for Rand—all there is to a happy life?

• 
  Lehigh Valley Conservative

• Unemployment Rate Down

  The Outsider

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:18 pm

  Wow! Unemployment rate went down according to the whitehouse and his pawns in the media. Only a mere 512,000 lost their jobs this week from last week when losses were a whopping 630,000. All of these people will get extended unemployment benefits. ”The bill would provide every American running out of unemployment insurance benefits this year with an additional 14 weeks. The out-of-work in states with jobless rates at 8.5 percent or greater would get six weeks on top of that.”   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/05/new-jobless-claims-drop-k-lowest-january/?test=latestnews…

• Regarding School District Financing

  Randy Toman

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:31 am

  Swaps have three elements attached to them that should have been enough to cause school districts, using taxpayer’s money, to stay away from them.  One was the fact that the transaction operated in an unregulated financial arena with no over site by the Federal Security Exchange, second there was an element of risk that was hidden and could not truly be determined, finally the fact that swap’s operated in an unregulated financial arena they were immuned from most securities-law and disclosure requirement. This last fact alone should have kept the school Board from the use of these types…

• This Election Day

  Randy Toman

  3 Nov 2009 | 6:29 am

  1. Increasing complexity 2. Loss of control 3. Lack of regulation The above three changes in the financial markets are the most important events in the last decade and must be looked at closely for the citizens of Bethlehem, Pa. to understand what has happen to them and their school board.  These factors continue to force the guidance of the political maneuvering through ignorance on the school board. Swaps and derivatives had become part of the order of business even though the school board knew nothing of how they worked.  The Banking Industry and Wall Street used financial engineering to…

• Communist Takeover Coming!

  The Outsider

  1 Nov 2009 | 6:16 am

  I’m a bit reluctant to say this but I see a Communist takeover of our Republic by Obama and the Democrat party. I don’t use the word “Democratic” party because there is nothing democratic about them! I have been putting all the pieces together and I can only draw one conclusion and it is staring me in the face. I draw no conclusions out of thin air, but draw from the actual words of Obama and his Czars. One of the things that struck me was the fact that Obama has used the exact phrases and words of his self confessed Communist Czars! One of them is the statement his…

• Some People Never Learn

  The Outsider

  1 Nov 2009 | 5:31 am

  The rank and file UAW members over at Ford, have voted down concessions asked for by the company in contract talks. They don’t seem to realize that the UAW union didn’t give them their jobs, the Ford company did. It’s either higher wages and benefits now and possible bankruptcy later or make the concessions and maybe, just maybe, they will have job security later. Striking now during slow auto sales in our anemic economy is not a wise move. As the old saying goes: Money isn’t everything! Another old saying: A bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush!

• 
  The Corner

• Global is Always a Dangerous Adjective -- By: Jonah Goldberg

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:31 am

  From Reuters: "World governments should consider urgently a levy on banks to fund future bailouts, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday, departing from London's longstanding resistance to a global tax."

• We're All Reaganites Now -- By: Jonah Goldberg

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:03 am

  Hah: Democrats counter that their agenda has kick-started a recovery on Wall Street, even if it hasn't trickled down to the job market yet, and that Republicans are putting what they've begun at risk.

• Tea and Sympathy -- By: Mark Steyn

  7 Nov 2009 | 4:35 am

  The Nothing-to-see-here media continue to do a grand job. Chris Matthews: We may never know if religion was a factor at Fort Hood. That's almost certainly true in your case, Chris. As for yelling "Allahu akbar" as you open fire, Michael Tomasky, one of the American lefties on The Guardian's payroll, explains it for us know-nothings: The fact that Hassan reportedly shouted the above is meant, I suppose, to imply that he was an extremist fanatic. I'm not sure that it does. My understanding is that it's something Arab people often shout before doing something or other. It's used in many…

• Huge Vote Today on Stupak Pro-Life Amendment -- By: Ed Whelan

  7 Nov 2009 | 2:20 am

  In an encouraging development, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been forced to agree to a vote on fellow Democrat Bart Stupak’s amendment that would prevent the health-care legislation from leading to widespread federal funding of abortion.An excerpt from this LifeNews.com report: Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, told LifeNews.com … that the vote on the Stupak [amendment] could be the most important abortion-related vote cast in Congress since Roe. "This will be one of the most important roll call votes that U.S. House members ever casts on…

• Gun Control on Military Bases -- By: Michael Ledeen

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:44 pm

  Lots of folks have wondered why there weren't more soldiers with guns at Ft. Hood, and I'm one of them.  Our younger Marine is home for the weekend from The Basic School at Quantico, and Barbara and I asked him if there were Marines with guns on the base.  There are.  Lots of them.  And they move around all the time, checking places where Marines congregate, from classrooms to outdoor obstacle courses and parade fields and barracks.  Apparently it occurred to the base commander some time ago that it was a bad idea to leave his men and women unprotected.

• 
  Weekly Standard Blog

• Does the House Bill Fulfill Obama's Pledge to Bar Abortion Funding? Gibbs Won't Say

  John McCormack

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm

  During his address to the joint session of Congress, President Obama declared: "Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions." Does the current House bill's language conflict with Obama's pledge? At today's White House press briefing, Robert Gibbs wouldn't say. Obama is endorsing the House bill, which Nancy Pelosi wants to vote on this weekend, but the House bill currently allows the public option and federally subsidized plans to cover elective abortions. Today, Gibbs danced around questions from ABC's Jake Tapper, who asked why the House is still debating about coverage…

• Happy Hour Links

  Michael Goldfarb

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:11 pm

  "Unpleasant as it may be for the president to hear, his policy is objectively aiding the Tehran regime and harming the opposition in their ongoing struggle." Strategic Reassurance, we hardly knew ye. Vulnerable freshman Democrats abandoning ship on health care. Apparently they learned the wrong lesson from the Deeds Disaster in Virginia. Oh wait, two more Dems just bailed on the health care vote. Hoyer isn't sure they have the votes yet, the vote may get pushed to Sunday or next week. ACORN offices raided by the police, Hannah Giles not found. 10.2 percet unemployment = success beyond their…

• Who's Really Sweating?

  Michael Goldfarb

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:35 pm

  The Jerusalem Post reports that Netanyahu will be in Washington all next week. Guess who he won't be meeting with: As of press time, the Prime Minister's Office said no formal meeting had been scheduled with US President Barack Obama during the visit, which could last through the week. No departure date has been set. Netanyahu and Obama last met in New York in September on the sidelines of the opening of the United Nation's General Assembly session. Obama plans to speak at the UJC event on Tuesday, in what will be his first speech to a Jewish audience at a public event since his election a…

• Gibbs: Can You Imagine if, 5 Years Ago, People Had Protested With Hitler Pictures?!?

  Mary Katharine Ham

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:15 pm

  Today, Robert Gibbs lamented some of the offensive signs at Bachmann's anti-health bill rally (of which there were some, but not enough to even fill out HuffPo's 12 Most Offensive slideshow): "I will continue to say what I've said before. You hear in this debate, you hear analogies, you hear references to, you see pictures about and depictions of individuals that are truly stunning, and you hear it all the time. People -- imagine five years ago somebody comparing health care reform to 9/11. Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler. Hopefully we can get…

• Filicide on Suicide Watch

  Rachel Abrams

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:55 pm

  What’s the honorable thing for a father to do after he’s murdered his daughter in an “honor killing?” Faleh Hassan Almaleki, an Iraqi immigrant to the U.S., ran his 20-year-old daughter down with his car a couple of weeks ago because she’d become “too westernized,” and then tried unsuccessfully to flee the country. He is now—after learning that she died of her injuries this week—on suicide watch in a Phoenix jail. Interesting. Is he so remorseful over her death that he’d kill himself? Or is it the remorse of certain prosecution? Mr. Almaleki and his family have been living…

• 
  Bench Memos

• This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism-November 7 -- By: Ed Whelan

  7 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  2000—So much for respecting a capital inmate’s final wishes.  Don Jay Miller, sentenced to death in Arizona for first-degree murder and kidnapping, states that he wishes his execution to proceed as scheduled the next day, declines to seek federal habeas relief, and refuses to authorize any attorney to represent him in seeking habeas relief.  But, in an action brought by a public defender seeking to represent Miller against his will, a divided Ninth Circuit panel, in an opinion by Judge Stephen Reinhardt (in Miller v. Stewart), blocks the execution on the ground that a hearing that…

• Slim Pickings from the Federal Appellate Courts -- By: Ed Whelan

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:14 am

  If, as I expect, President Obama is presented with another Supreme Court vacancy next year, one prominent pool of potential candidates consists of sitting federal appellate judges.(Since Justice Alito replaced Justice O’Connor in 2006, the Court has been composed entirely of justices who have had previous service on the federal courts of appeals—a historic first.)As it happens, the set of sitting federal appellate judges who will be 60 or younger next year and who were appointed by a Democratic president is not large. Fourteen of President Clinton’s appointees were born in 1950 or later…

• This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism-November 6 -- By: Ed Whelan

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  2003—Senate Democrats continue their unprecedented measures of obstruction against judicial nominees, as they defeat for the second time an effort to end their filibuster of President George W. Bush’s nomination of William H. Pryor, Jr., to a seat on the Eleventh Circuit.  Only two Democrats—Zell Miller of Georgia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska—vote in favor of the cloture motion, and forty-three oppose it.  In February 2004, President Bush recess-appoints Pryor to the seat.  And in June 2005, after the Senate finally confirms Pryor’s nomination (by a 53 to 45 vote), President Bush…

• Short Memories -- By: Jonathan Adler

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:40 am

  The AP takes a skeptical eye to Democratic claims that Republicans are engaged in unprecedented obstruction of judicial nominees. Ten months into Barack Obama's presidency, Democrats are accusing Republicans of creating "a dark mark on the Senate" by delaying confirmation of his federal court nominees. The mark might not be as dark as Democrats make it seem. Of the 27 judicial nominations Obama has made so far, all five brought up for votes in the Senate have won relatively quick confirmations, including new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The report notes that Dem complaints center…

• This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism-November 5 -- By: Ed Whelan

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  1996—If the First Amendment means anything, surely it must mean that the government must be open to funding a piece of “performance art” in which the performer smears chocolate on her breasts and another in which the performer urinates on the stage and turns a toilet bowl into an altar by putting a picture of Jesus on the lid.  Or so some minds imagine.  In Finley v. National Endowment for the Arts, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit rules that the NEA’s governing statute violates the First Amendment by providing that NEA grant decisions shall “tak[e] into consideration general…

• 
  Instapundit

• IT’S OKAY, HE’S NOT A REPUBLICAN: Barney Frank Present During Pot Bust. “Congressman Barney Frank …

  Glenn Reynolds

  7 Nov 2009 | 7:23 am

  IT’S OKAY, HE’S NOT A REPUBLICAN: Barney Frank Present During Pot Bust. “Congressman Barney Frank was present during a marijuana arrest at James Ready’s home in Ogunquit, Maine. Ready is well-known for his relationship with Congressman Frank.” Now if this were Sarah Palin’s ex-stepcousin-in-law it would be real news . . . I’m finding this kinda hard to believe, though: Congressman Frank tells FOX25 that he was surprised and disappointed with what police found. He also tells us that he wouldn’t recognize a marijuana plant if he saw one because he…

• COLLEGES: Affirmative action for men? Well, men are an underrepresented minority….

  Glenn Reynolds

  7 Nov 2009 | 7:10 am

  COLLEGES: Affirmative action for men? Well, men are an underrepresented minority.

• OBAMA RIDES TO CHRIS DODD’S RESCUE: Dodd Getting Presidential Help in Reelection Campaign. Embat…

  Glenn Reynolds

  7 Nov 2009 | 7:03 am

  OBAMA RIDES TO CHRIS DODD’S RESCUE: Dodd Getting Presidential Help in Reelection Campaign. Embattled Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Ct.), whose low approval ratings make him one of the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election next year, gets help from President Obama tonight. Obama will appear at a $1,000-per person fundraising event for Dodd in Stamford. Dodd is crucial to Obama’s hopes for getting the overhaul of the regulation of financial services passed. The House Financial Services Committee is currently marking up the measure. Yesterday it approved…

• MIKE FLYNN: SEIU And Political Intimidation In St. Louis….

  Glenn Reynolds

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:52 am

  MIKE FLYNN: SEIU And Political Intimidation In St. Louis.

• THOUGHTS ON the fall of communism….

  Glenn Reynolds

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:47 am

  THOUGHTS ON the fall of communism.

• 
  Eunomia

• Hoffman And The Failures Of The National GOP

  Daniel Larison

  4 Nov 2009 | 11:38 am

  Comparisons between NY-23 and NY-20 can be overdone, but what I found interesting in Hoffman’s loss last night in northern New York was the similarity of his campaign to that of Jim Tedisco in the special election earlier this year. Both were put in the national spotlight by GOP leaders who wanted to use the candidates as examples of Republican revival; both districts were flooded with national money and advertisements that ignored all those “parochial” issues and made the contests into referenda on the national Democratic agenda. Perhaps not coincidentally, both failed in…

• Whom Do You (Objectively) Serve?

  Daniel Larison

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:48 am

  Reihan advances an unfortunate argument: [W]hile Parsi is undoubtedly a believer in democratic liberalism who wants to see Iran radically reform its institutions, he objectively serves Iranian interests insofar as he discourages Western efforts to exert pressure on the regime [bold mine-DL]. The charge being made against Parsi is that he serves Iranian government interests, and the point in making this charge is almost certainly to claim that Parsi is in some way a bad, unwise or dangerous actor in public policy debates. People involved in these debates regard the Iranian government as…

• The Best Of Both Worlds?

  Daniel Larison

  3 Nov 2009 | 8:18 pm

  Clearly, I overestimated Democratic power in New Jersey, which I assumed was more or less unbeatable despite Corzine’s low approval ratings and weak polling. The pick-ups in both gubernatorial races were impressive, and it seems to me that the scale of the win in Virginia was significant and not easily dismissed in a state that had been trending Democratic for the last several cycles. Even taking into account that Corzine had once trailed Christie by double digits, a statewide Republican win in New Jersey certainly signals dissatisfaction with the status quo at the state level.

• Give It A Rest

  Daniel Larison

  3 Nov 2009 | 2:53 pm

  Only Obama – with his dismissive view of the Cold War as a relic distorting our thinking and his attenuated commitment to America’s exceptional role in the world – would spurn German president Angela Merkel’s invitation to attend. ~Rich Lowry Perhaps Chancellor Merkel is offended by Obama’s non-attendance, but I rather doubt it. The fall of the Berlin Wall, like the other popular movements that occurred during 1989 throughout central and eastern Europe, was a great and wonderful moment in the history of Europe and the world. It is also worth mentioning that it…

• On Parsi

  Daniel Larison

  3 Nov 2009 | 8:57 am

  Andrew: On the specific matter of Trita Parsi: I have no long-term knowledge of the dude (and for quite a while thought he was a woman) and have never met him. I just know that when the Dish was covering Iran’s revolution, few people were as committed or as devoted to the Greens as Parsi or his organization. To conflate him with the dictators he so actively exposed and resisted and who murdered or tortured people he loves and cares about is just wrong. After the trauma of last June, it’s deeply hurtful and offensive. Andrew is correct about all this, but this doesn’t go…

• 
  Five Boxes

• Weekend Reading for 11-6-2009

  FiveBoxes Staff

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:41 pm

  We’re still not buying it, Al If you’ve been paying attention, the enviro-nuts have changed their tune from “Global Warming” to “Global Climate Change.” Probably because with headlines like this, getting people to believe that the earth is warming is becoming harder and harder: Biggest October Snow in Denver in 12 Years North Atlantic Hurricane Season slowest since [...]

• News you may have missed: FiveBoxes’ Twitter activity, week of 2009-11-06

  FiveBoxes Staff

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pm

  Recovery.org says we've saved more jobs in Puerto Rico than in Ohio http://bit.ly/23H6yd (via @PoliticalMath) # MUST READ: How ObamaCare Will Hurt YOU: http://xrl.us/bf237c # Similar Posts: News you may have missed: FiveBoxes’ Twitter activity, week of 2009-10-23 News you may have missed: FiveBoxes’ Twitter activity, week of 2009-09-11 News you may have missed: FiveBoxes’ Twitter activity, week of 2009-09-04 News [...]

• 13 Days

  FiveBoxes Staff

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:24 am

  Our weekend update included a little factoid worth repeating and spending a little more time on. If you print the Constitution on 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper, single-sided, with normal margins and without the Amendments, it takes up 9 pages. The Founding Fathers spent 116 days debating the Constitution which works out to roughly 13 days [...]

• Weekend Reading for 10-31-2009

  FiveBoxes Staff

  31 Oct 2009 | 2:16 pm

  So much for that Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address called for “a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.” Reading through the headlines and [...]

• News you may have missed: FiveBoxes’ Twitter activity, week of 2009-10-30

  FiveBoxes Staff

  30 Oct 2009 | 6:00 pm

  Service.gov And Its Soviet Similarities: http://xrl.us/bfzdj2 # They would know: Russian Newspaper says America moving to Socialism Slowly but Surely http://xrl.us/bfzdki # Barney Frank: "We Are Trying On Every Front To Increase The Role Of Government": http://xrl.us/bfzdmj # Similar Posts: News you may have missed: FiveBoxes’ Twitter activity, week of 2009-10-30 News you may have missed: FiveBoxes’ Twitter activity, week [...]

• 
  AmSpecBlog

• Alabama vs. LSU and Nancy Pelosi vs. the American People

  Robert Stacy McCain

  7 Nov 2009 | 3:52 am

  A struggle of world-historical importance will take place today when the University of Alabama hosts the LSU Tigers in Tuscaloosa. Yet we who care about this existential...

• Golden State Showdown

  Philip Klein

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:17 pm

  Earlier today, Brian noted the endorsement race between former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, but I thought I'd add a few broader points about the...

• Helpful Ramesh

  W. James Antle, III

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:04 pm

  He advises moderate Democrats who are going to vote against their leadership to announce their positions now.

• Hero Injured

  Reid Collins

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:43 pm

  The outrages of Ft. Hood and Orlando have become occasions once more for journalistic misuse of the language. If you were shot but not killed, you were "wounded." The policewoman credited...

• Thank God Obama "Saved" Jobs

  Asher Embry

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:25 pm

  Too few have looked critically at the 640,329 jobs the Obama White House reported as “saved or created” by the Stimulus. Those who looked have been left incredulous by the many examples of ...

• 
  The Skepticians

• Coburn, McCain Endorse Fiorina Senate Bid

  James Richardson

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:33 pm

  Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO-turned-McCain campaign advisor and surrogate, announced on Thursday the endorsements of eight Republican Senators, including conservative stalwart Senator Tom Coburn. “Our nation is facing serious economic challengers because we keep rehiring the same failed career politicians who have proven themselves incapable of making hard choices,” read Coburn’s statement. “Carly’s common sense and fiscal conservatism will be a welcome addition to the United States Senate. I am glad to offer her my endorsement.”…

• On Obama’s Dover AFB Trip

  James Richardson

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:23 am

  President Obama on Saturday traveled to Dover Air Force Base to greet America’s fallen soldiers. But while there, Mr. Obama was photographed saluting a flag-covered casket of one returning soldier which prompted criticism from the President’s most reliable critic–Rush Limbaugh, of course–who called the trip a poll-driven “photo-op.” “It was a photo op precisely because he’s having big-time trouble on this whole Afghanistan dithering situation,” the conservative radio icon told “Fox News Sunday.” While there is little question…

• Sunlight Foundation in the Dark

  James Richardson

  25 Oct 2009 | 10:22 pm

  The Sunlight Foundation’s Luke Rosiak reported on Friday the Republican National Committee spent $1.4 million on the redesign of GOP.com, a figure which totals more than five times what the RNC’s Democratic counterpart spent to host and maintain Democrats.org. Sources familiar with the RNC’s digital makeover, however, contest Sunlight’s report, calling it “ridiculous.” Rosiak writes: The biggest disparity seems to be bandwidth costs–the RNC paid Smartech Corp., a Republican-focused hosting firm, more than a million dollars, plus $22,000 to Eloqua, compared to the DNC’s…

• OfA, DNC ‘Call Out’ Steele in New Web Video

  James Richardson

  22 Oct 2009 | 3:51 pm

  Organizing for America, the increasingly combative political operation of the White House, today unveiled a new web video targeting Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele, charging the Republican Party chief with “siding with Washington elites and insurance companies and playing political games to kill reform.” The latest installment in OfA’s “call ‘em out” campaign—a call to arms of sorts for complacent allies of President Barack Obama to debunk Republican myths about heath care reform—accuses Steele of scare-mongering and orchestrating a misinformation…

• RNC Unveils New Website, Rebranding Campaign for GOP; UPDATED

  James Richardson

  12 Oct 2009 | 10:02 pm

  The Republican National Committee will unveil a new website early Tuesday morning that promises to increase grassroots participation and offers improved navigability and smarter marketing and fundraising tools for the GOP, according to party officials. Upon reaching the new GOP.com, RNC Chairman Michael Steele takes a virtual step onto the computer screen and leads users on a tour of the site’s new features. “Notice anything different?” asks Steele. “It’s the new GOP.com. It’s a forward-looking, open-platform for the party of new ideas. If you’re a Republican activist, this…

• 
  Politics4All

• Bachus For Sale - Lobbyist Are Buying

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:28 pm

  Spencer Bachus is at it again. Taking money from those who are bailed out or assisted by the federal government. Lobbyist are buying Bachus’ vote - plain and simple. Read the following story for the proof.      Bailout beneficiaries give hidden ‘bundles’ to House Committee overseeing industry reform By Larry Makinson on 10/15/09  As the House Financial Services Committee begins to consider financial industry reform legislation (discussion drafts started appearing on the committee’s Web site on Sept. 25), will we see the same kind of hidden…

• Obamacare Bill with Hidden Anti-Gun Going to the House

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  "We have reached the point in the battle over ObamaCare which will decide whether we win or lose. The details of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill are in, and they can be seen at http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf ." "The bill (H.R. 3962) is 1,990 pages long and weighs over 20 pounds. And even though a search of the bill will not reveal the word “gun” or “firearm,” that doesn’t mean

• Seminal Watercooler: Follow the Money

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pm

  With the House set to vote on the health care bill tomorrow, it will be helpful to know exactly who our representatives will be representing. Here’s how much money some of the key players in the debate have received from health industries in the current election cycle. (Includes donations from health professionals, insurance companies, HMO’s, hospitals, nursing homes, and pharmaceuticals. Click here for a complete listing of all members of Congress.)…

• Voices of Republican Women: Health Care and the National Debt

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:01 pm

• Listen to me!! (But don’t tell anyone)

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:47 pm

  From CNN’s Political Ticker: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is set to deliver remarks at a Wisconsin Right to Life event Friday evening, one of the few speeches the former Republican presidential nominee will have given since she resigned the governorship last summer. But Palin appears to be doing her best to keep a low profile on this trip: no press will be allowed into the Milwaukee auditorium where she will speak and those who have paid the $30 admittance fee are unable to carry in cell phones, cameras, laptops, or recording devices of any kind. You know, circumstance (and some…

• 
  Bill Starr's Blog

• Why FIJA Activism is Important » no third solution » Blog Archive

  Bill Starr

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:48 pm

  Good argument for fully-informed jurors.no third solution » Blog Archive » Why FIJA Activism is Important

• Can the Rampaging Leviathan Be Stopped or Slowed? | The Beacon

  Bill Starr

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:11 pm

  Sobering commentary for lovers of liberty on the realities of the U.S. political landscape.Can the Rampaging Leviathan Be Stopped or Slowed? | The Beacon

• Texan police officer Kim Munley who shot Fort Hood gunman hailed as a heroine - Times Online

  Bill Starr

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:31 pm

  Just heard on Twitter about the woman who stopped the Fort Hood shooter.Texan police officer Kim Munley who shot Fort Hood gunman hailed as a heroine - Times Online

• Campaign For Liberty — Marriage License & Registration, Please   | by Steve Bierfeldt

  Bill Starr

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:39 am

  Thoughtful arguments for separation of marriage and state.Campaign For Liberty — Marriage License & Registration, Please   | by Steve Bierfeldt

• A Gun-Free Zone at Ft. Hood by Jacob G. Hornberger

  Bill Starr

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:27 am

  "Why do shooters select gun-free zones to commit their massacres rather than, say, gun shows? No doubt that question continues to befuddle the gun-control crowd."A Gun-Free Zone at Ft. Hood by Jacob G. Hornberger

• 
  Norton Release

• PHOTO: Obama did not give Fox the middle finger

  Political Silence

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:59 pm

  While I do have a few bones to pick with Mr. Obama, I can safely say that Obama did not give Fox or anyone the finger in this photo as it was photoshopped. Check it out below.

• Three reasons why conservatism did not loose in NY

  Political Silence

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:55 am

  I just realized that I forgot to cover one of the ost important issues about Tuesday’s elections. Although I covered the Virginia and NJ gubernatorial elections as well as Maine’s rejection of a gay marriage bill, I fouled on coverage about NY mainly District 23 and NYC mayor. For those who are wondering, conservatism did not loose. There is a reason why Hoffman lost and it has nothing to do with the fact that he was conservative. As to why Bloomberg won by such a close margin, there is a reason for that also. Dede Scozzafava was still on the ticket. Check the election results and…

• Obama will not attend 20th anniversary collapse of Berlin Wall

  Political Silence

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:53 am

  So our beloved Messiah will be skipping the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, making him the first President in U.S history to do so. His reason: “Obviously, we have a lot to work on here and we have commitments for an upcoming Asia trip,” – Robert Gibbs Read into it whatever you like.. VIA: ABC News

• VA and NJ 2009 election results and opinions

  Political Silence

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:18 am

  We’re not over reading the tea leaves Newsweek, this is a clear sign that people do not give a damn about the change Obama is promising. More importantly,it says something about the President’s political capital. Remember it was this same Obama who was campaigning for both Corzine and Deeds up to a week ago urging voters to keep them in power and send a strong message that this is a referendum. So if that’s the case, how come Gibbs is now telling the press that the President “isn’t watching returns.” If the elections were not so important then why the…

• Voters in Maine say no to gay marriage

  Political Silence

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:26 am

  So the masses have voted, and the message is clear, 53% of Maine residents would rather not have gays and lesbians called ‘married couples.’ For those not keeping up with the gay marriage debate here in the US of A, this gives the gay marriage movement the 31st consecutive defeat in which the popular vote decided whether it should become law or not. I think this should say something about the climate of the U.S in terms of the homosexuality agenda as every time the people have gotten the chance to decide, they have voted a resounding no. And if you must know, I am one of those…

• 
  Ben Smith's Blog

• Remainders: #hcr

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:18 pm

  Unemployment is the highest it's been since the early 1980s. Deeds never figured out how to handle Obama. Jones and Ross appear to differ. Abbas could find lame-duckhood liberating. A DNC official blames gay activists for splitting the party. Give Geoff Garin due credit. Brad Ellsworth gets a backlash. Health care bill backers are winning, on Twitter. "Scozzafavaed" makes the Urban Dictionary. Newt is outraged Obama will skip Berlin Wall commemorations. Stewart does Beck. And Tapper scores an interview with Roland Hedley.

• Kucinich also unwelcome in Palm Beach

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:37 pm

  I mentioned yesterday that Mary Landrieu had been dumped by the Palm Beach County Democrats for her refusal to promise to vote for cloture on health care. Today, her replacement, Dennis Kucinich, seems to have been dumped as well, if for different reasons: With some local Democratic elected officials in open revolt over his record on Israel, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has withdrawn as keynote speaker for next week’s Palm Beach County Democratic Party fund-raising dinner. He’s the second Democratic keynoter to be scratched this week. The party dumped Louisiana Sen. Mary…

• Weisel blasts the tea party 'anti-Semitism': 'Indecent and disgusting'

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:39 pm

  Not much room for discussing  who saw which sign in this statement from the Elie Wiesel Foundation: Elie Wiesel on the GOP Tea Party's anti-Semitism and Holocaust comparisons: "This kind of political hatred is indecent and disgusting"

• A book tour of real America

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:32 pm

  A colleague notes that Sarah Palin's book tour retraces the steps of her fall campaign, which drew giant crowds in Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and The Villages in Florida. She also expressed, publicly and privately, her displeasure with the McCain campaign decision to pull out of Michigan, and her tour will take her to Grand Rapids, in the state's conservative heartland. Here's the tour's first week; the second hasn't been released: November 18th Grand Rapids, MI November 19 Fort Wayne, IN Noblesville, IN November 20th Cincinnati, OH Columbus, OH November 21st Washington, PA…

• Deal wonders about that birth certificate

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:26 pm

  It's a meme that just won't die: U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, now a Republican candidate for governor, this morning declared himself in sympathy with those questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the U.S.A. The occasion was an online chat [Georgia Rep. Nathan Deal] had with supporters this morning. And the question came from Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact. Do you believe that Barack Obama is a native-born American citizen who is eligible to serve as president? I am asking because your comments on this issue have been a little ambiguous. I would appreciate your clearing this up. At…

• 
  Bob McCary Writes

• Video: Health Care House Call on Capitol Hill

  hotoffthepress2

  7 Nov 2009 | 6:18 am

  Below is video from the Health Care House Call activities yesterday on Capitol Hill.  Tens of thousands of Americans descended upon Washington, D.C., Thursday and are staying through the weekend to tell members of Congress in face-to-face fashion that they’re opposed to government-run health care. Share BMW:

• Call Some ‘Blue-Dog Democrats’ This Weekend (Update)

  hotoffthepress2

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:14 pm

  Nothing to do this weekend?  Spend a few hours on the phone calling “Blue Dog Democrats” and letting them know you oppose any plan that puts the federal government in charge of your health care. Missourians who traveled to Washington, D.C., to share that message with members of Congress in face-to-face fashion informed me tonight that the House switchboard will operate through the weekend since Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is keeping the House in session for a vote on health care set for Saturday Sunday]. UPDATE 11/07/09 at 8:25 a.m. Central: I learned this morning that three…

• NANCY PELOSI: ‘Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail’

  hotoffthepress2

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:49 pm

  Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-Mich.) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail.  The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and…

• Newt Trying to Make Own Prediction Come True?

  hotoffthepress2

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:38 pm

  In a post six months ago, I reported on the election prospects of Republicans according to Newt Gingrich: During a question-and-answer session Tuesday afternoon with students at Missouri’s College of the Ozarks, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich dropped a bombshell: He predicted the rise of a third party by 2012 if Republicans don’t get their act together (The video below captures exactly what Gingrich said March 29). After seeing how Gingrich threw his support behind liberal Dede Scozzafava — and not the true conservative, Doug Hoffman — in the race for New…

• Bill Would Put Screws to American Business

  hotoffthepress2

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:40 pm

  Though the attention of most Americans has been diverted by coverage of health care reform, cap-and-trade legislation, and shootings at Fort Hood and in Orlando, at least one other dangerous piece of legislation is creeping its way around the nation’s capitol.  Thanks to a statement from the folks at the American Petroleum Institute, I’m able to share a tidbit about H.R. 2868, the Chemical and Water Security Act of 2009 (a.k.a., the “Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009″) below: “We join the agriculture, manufacturing, trucking, and other energy employers in…

• 
  Washington Post

• U.S. is reaching out to East Asia's powerful nations

  John Pomfret

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Ever since taking office, President Obama has signaled that the United States wants to improve relations with the powerhouse nations of East Asia, and he'll put his personal imprint on that when he travels to the region for the first time next week.

• Democrats round up health bill votes

  Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  House Democratic leaders pushed with mounting confidence Friday toward a historic vote on expanding the nation's health-care system, and President Obama joined an intense last-minute lobbying campaign to pick up the last few votes needed to secure the measure's passage.

• Inquiry begins into motive of shootings suspect Hasan

  Scott Wilson, Carrie Johnson and Spencer S. Hsu

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Investigators on Friday bore down on the possible motives of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the alleged Fort Hood gunman, to determine whether his actions were driven by stress related to his upcoming deployment to Afghanistan or to an Islamist political ideology.

• House Republicans plan to vote unanimously against health-care measure

  Perry Bacon Jr.

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  The 177 Republicans in the House of Representatives plan to unanimously oppose health-care legislation that would constitute the biggest expansion of insurance to Americans in decades, illustrating the huge divide that remains between the two parties on key issues and setting up a major debate in...

• GOP senators want to query attorney general on reporter-shield legislation

  Walter Pincus

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee want to question Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. about his support of a compromise reporters' shield law before they vote on it, according to congressional sources.