The Streets of Philadelphia

UK Telegraph:  Senior black Republican warns party could lose power until 2020

He’s not the “senior black Republican,” he’s the black Republican.  Or, as Oprah might call him, the (only) one.

KSDK/AP:  Obama’s prime-time ad skips over budget realities

What?  Did the AP defect from the Obama campaign?

Malkin:  How some Philadelphians celebrate victory: Riot!

Don’t wear yourself out, Philly.  The election is next week.

AP:  Mayor wants good behavior at World Series parade

If he has that much power, he should ask for good behavior all year long.

CNS:  Government Can Influence Banks with $250 Billion Stock-Buy, Say Economists

Anyone looking to give away a quarter of a trillion dollars has a lot of influence.

CNS:  Heritage Says Obama Ad ‘Falsely’ Portrays Conservative Group’s Position on Tax Plan

We’re bickering over someone’s campaign promises, which are written on disappearing ink that is programmed to fade away on a certain Wednesday?

CNS:  PETA Wants Proposed Homosexual High School to Have ‘Vegan’ Cafeteria

Even if this happens, the students will still be able to have many servings of meat.

Time:  Science Says We Really Are What We Drink

Well, I am not Samuel Adams.

Bye Bye Queeny, We Hardly Knew Ye

The riverboat that hosted the first iteration of East St. Louis’s Casino Queen has been sold to a Branson entertainment group.  The current Queen is hosted on a building that floats on the river.

Riverboat gambling started in Illinois in 1991, and in Missouri in 1994.  During the debates in both states leading up to the adoption of riverboat gaming, by legislation in Illinois, and by a plebiscite in Missouri (which, in 1994, was the second such attempt, it failed a year earlier), we were told that the gambling was merely incidental, to the fact that these boats would be attractions for the fact that they would go on cruises.  In Missouri, a $500-per-two-hour loss limit was part of the original deal, to promulgate the gambling-as-incidental notion.

At first, that was the case, but eventually, the cruises were cut back to the point where their moving from their boarding point was merely a formality.  Within a month of my 21st birthday, I went on the Queen, and it cruised from its east riverfront dock all the way south to about Arsenal Street and the Brewery, then it went back north.  Big whoop.  The next time I went on it, within a year, it didn’t move at all, but had to limit boarding to within a few minutes every two hours to maintain the fiction of a “cruise.”  Eventually, that was eliminated in both Illinois and Missouri, and after that, the concept of a boat was replaced by “boats in moats,” or buildings that float on an artificial wye in the river channel.

Now, Missourians will vote next week on whether to do away with the loss limit.  It’ll be within four years that we’ll be asked to do away with the water.

Fun With Turkeys

Diane Meyer:  Turkey’s back

A month before Thanksgiving, no turkey in its right mind should be coming out in public.

Michael Savage:  Newspapers in free-fall — they still print Sunday comics!

Hey, don’t be hatin’ on the strips:  They’re probably the only reason the papers haven’t totally gone bankrupt.

USNAWR:  Can Ted Stevens Win Re-election as a Felon?

Before you laugh at Alaska, Missourian, need I remind you about Mel Carnahan.

Time:  Is the Taliban Stockpiling Opium? And If So, Why?

Because heroin addicts will pay big money to get a fix, duh.

AP:  College prices up again even as economy falters

Thanks to your friends, the Democrats.

Politico:  Joe the Plumber pursued for record deal

The label is accustomed to offering contracts to guys who wear their pants too low.

AP:  Rapper T.I. votes despite being a convicted felon

Gee, I wonder who he chose for President.

AP:  Man allegedly puts centipedes in neighbor’s bed

Before the cops came, the neighbor had to settle for action with a shoe that turned them black and blue.

CNS:  ‘I’d Rather Have Higher Taxes,’ Says Actress Hayden Panettiere

Go ahead, open up your checkbook and knock yourself out.

Houston Chronicle:  FBI warns of looming drug cartel violence in South Texas

Meanwhile, the FBI’s boss, Michael Chertoff, and his boss, George W. Bush, support open borders.  At that, the FBI should warn of looming treason at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Mayor Slay Supports Terrorism

Fran:

Spreading Distrust About Our Neighbors

Colin Powell did two things last week with which I strongly agree. He called Senator Barack Obama “a transformational figure” and endorsed his candidacy for the presidency. And he answered an emphatic “NO!” to a TV moderator’s question about whether there was something intrinsically un-American about being Muslim.

There is no doubt that some political partisans are desperately attempting to link the two things – Obama and Islam — hoping to discourage the election of the one by spreading lies about the other.

One element of this cynical effort is an anti-Muslim movie being distributed by newsletter, newspaper, and direct mail in swing states, including Missouri. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch deserves credit for refusing to distribute a DVD of the movie – though dozens of other newspapers across the country did.

What he means is the Obsession DVD.  Since Obsession opposes terrorism on the part of radical adherents to the Islamic faith, are we now to infer that Mayor Slay supports it?  Are we to think that he blows off 9/11 as just an aviation accident?

More accurately, he doesn’t support terrorism, but wants to cover up the racio-religious aspects of it, unless of course white right-wingers do it.

Fun With Mayors

AP:  Detroit’s ex-Mayor Kilpatrick jailed for 4 months

Mark your calendars — Kwame Kilpatrick’s political comeback will begin on Feburary 28, 2009.

KSDK:  East St. Louis Mayor’s Home is Robbed

He’s probably the only person in ESL that has anything worth stealing.

KSDK:  Religious Leaders Speak Out Against “Obsession” DVD

I could understand their indignation if “obsession” in this case had something to do with taking clothes off.

CNS:  Kashmiris Mull US Election Prospects

Probably more than Americans are mulling US election prospects.

AFP:  In bone-chilling rain, Obama says change is coming

Those watching hoped he meant it in the meteorological sense.

Reuters:  Pakistan gives awards to Biden, Lugar for support

Biden + Lugar = Bugar!

Yahoo Tech:  Microsoft goes black, making Chinese see red

Or more likely, they’ll find penguins.

Reuters:  Windows 7 aims to simplify

It’ll be so simple that a base install will only take up 100 GB, instead of the planned 150 GB.

CNET:  Windows 7: A better Vista?

Implying that Vista is good to begin with?

E!Online:  LL Cool J Ditches Janet Jackson

What for?  I mean, a wardrobe malfunction above the waist for a man isn’t very controversial.

CNS:  Teen Gets Time for Putting Grandma in ‘Gangster Rap’ Video

Convicted of first-degree musicicide.

Time:  With a Pre-PSAT, the Joys of Testing Start Even Earlier

I’m waiting for the start of college exam courses for kindergartners.

Top Hat Conspirators

How do we know that they really wanted to assassinate Barack Obama, and do all the awful things they keep telling us they wanted to do?

Yes, we’re told all these things, but the only two sources are the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), and the MSM.  Both have been known not to be truthful on occasion.  NBC, though, unlike the rest of the media, does not seem to be assigning great significance to this; they’re essentially telling us that there’s nothing to see here, move along.  Even the Obama campaign is blowing this off.

And if they had all these grand plans, where are the indictments for conspiracy?  AFAIK, at the time of this writing, the only Federal charges they face are violating technicalities of Federal firearms laws.

My theory?  The ATF, perhaps seeing an Obama victory, is trying to make nice and suck up to its future boss, by pretending that they just foiled some grand ethereal plot against him.  The MSM is eating it all up without asking any critical questions, because it makes white people look bad and drives public symapthy to their preferred candidate for President.  And just wait, you know who is about to send thousands of fund raising letters out from a certain Post Office in Montgomery, Alabama.

All of this was started by two gooberheads chatting with each other on internet chatrooms, letting their mouths run way ahead of their wee little brains.

UPDATE 4:30 PM: UK Telegraph bombshell:

It also emerged that the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organisation, helped lead federal investigators and local police to the pair.

The ADL, which monitors white supremacist groups, discovered that Cowart was involved in the Supreme White Alliance, a racist skinhead group.

In other words, the ADL provoked all of this.  I get the picture now — the ADL, knowing that these two gooberheads were probably the type to fall into this sort of trap, ordered the ATF to send in a provocateur, who gets one or both of them drunk, and then one or both start running their mouths, arrest, “foiled a grand conspiracy plot,” boo hoo hoo for Obama.  It seems like the ADL is trying to elect Obama.

Or, a better theory is this:  The ADL sent in an ATF spy to get these two guys drunk, and mouth off about assassinating Obama, get them arrested, brag about “foiling a grand conspiracy plot,” brag about how their efforts stopped the “assassination,” and raise lots of money in earnest.  Hegel couldn’t have been more proud.

UPDATE 10/29: The AP does a follow up, and quotes Mark Potok of the SPLC, who seems to think, like NBC, that this was not a serious plot:

“Certainly these men have some frightening weapons and some very frightening plans,” said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who studies the white supremacy movement. “But with the part about wearing top hats … it gets a bit hard to take them seriously.”

Now that I think about it, it makes sense that the SPLC is sorta dismissing this.  The reason is that, as you read above, the ADL is gloating about stopping the conspiracy.  You see, the SPLC and the ADL are firece competitors in what I call the Paranoia-Industrial Complex, a phrase I coined in 2002 that describes the propensity of such groups to hustle money based on the paranoid fear of right-wingers.  A dollar given to the ADL is a dollar not given to the SPLC, and vice-versa.  While there may be many dollars, there are only so many dollars in the universe of those donated by rich lefties who can be demagogued up into a fear of the right wing.  The SPLC is poo-pooing the notion that this was a grand, organized plot, simply because the ADL is.

2008 General Election Preview

As usual, my recommendations and opinions are my own.  I’m hoping that they’re also the opinions of many other people on November 4.

PRESIDENT OF THESE UNITED STATES

Recommendation:  None

How I Will Vote:  To give Sarah Palin a future in national politics, and to prevent the eternal historical embarrassment of having a non-white head of state.

Prediction:  McCain, by about 5-10 point margin nationally.  I think he’ll win VA, PA, OH, MI, MO, CO, FL, NV, NH and ME.  NM and IA are still question marks in my mind, but I was hoping too much for MN, WI and OR.  The other states will go as they have gone four and eight years ago.

Analysis:  Again, I will vote to give Sarah Palin a future in national politics, and to prevent the eternal historical embarrassment of having a non-white head of state.  But the disparate impact of my actions will be to make John Sidney McCain III the most powerful man on Earth.  Believe me, after he has spent most of the last decade flipping the bird to us right wingers, that is going to be a very bitter pill to swallow.  I intend on drinking heavily after voting.  In order to cast this vote, I might have to drink heavily before voting.

I am not making a recommendation, because those of you who cannot bring yourself to vote McCain have very good reasons for doing so, which I would agree with and act upon if the Democrat were white.

This Presidential election will be the ultimate test of whether the Bradley Effect still exists.  I think it does, but only real election returns (notwithstanding what will surely be massive and unimaginable black voter fraud) will tell.

GOVERNOR

Recommendation:  None

How I Will Vote:  Hulshof

Prediction:  Nixon wins, but nowhere near the landslide margin I predicted in August

Analysis:  My heart is warming towards Kenny Hulshof.  The reason?  It’s not that he voted against the “rescue” (nee bailout) in the House the first time, it’s that he voted against it the second time, resisting what had to be massive pressure from his own party and the media to do so.  I don’t really expect much from him as Governor, but I think his commendable behavior on the “rescue” (nee bailout) should be rewarded.  Also, I’m not fond of Nixon associating himself with Barack Obama, after Nixon made opposition to school deseg his keynote issue during his first term as AG.

I am not making a recommendation because all those reasons that I said I could never vote for Hulshof are reasons you might still believe, and those which I would agree with and act upon if this “rescue” (nee bailout) never arose.

Back in August, I said that Nixon would ride to an at least 20 point romp.  But the polls have showed a closer election than that, and I think Hulshof can finish within five points.  The reason is that Kenny has kind of a dorkey charm and personality that appeal to a lot of people.  That and his media buys seem more substantial than Nixon’s.  Still, Nixon has had sixteen years of publicity as AG, and that makes him significantly more well-known than Hulshof.  Nixon will win simply because more people have heard of him.

I don’t think that Nixon’s and Obama’s fate in the state are inexorably intertwined.  I think McCain will win the state and Nixon will win Governor.  Again, because people have heard of Nixon over Hulshof.

Before Kenny Hulshof won MO-9 in 1996, he was a special prosecutor in the Attorney General’s office.  During his last few years on the job, his boss was Jay Nixon.

LIEUTENTANT GOVERNOR

Recommendation:  None

How I Will Vote:  James Rensing (Constitution Party)

Prediction:  Page

Analysis:  Peter Kinder’s pandering to blacks to an insane and incorrigible level has frustrated me so much that I don’t care if he’s good on one or two other issues.

Don’t forget, Kinder won Lt. Gov. four years ago by the skin of his teeth.  If he can’t get the votes of people like me, I doubt he can win.  I think a Nixon win might have just long enough coattails to affect this race.  But I don’t think it’s going to go any further downballot.

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Recommendation:  Gibbons

How I Will Vote:  Duh

Prediction:  Gibbons

Michael Gibbons should be rewarded for his efforts to get conceal-carry enacted into law in Missouri in 2003.  Gibbons, then (and is now the outgoing) Senate Majority Leader, had the Senate take the issue up, in spite of the fact that his Senate district voted heavily against Proposition B in 1999.  The opposition was even heavier in Gibbons’s own home town of Jerkwood, er, I mean Kirkwood.  (Freudian slip.)

The Gibbons & Gibbons law firm is one of the most prominent in Kirkwood, though you would never know it by driving by the firm’s office on Clay Avenue.

Chris Koster is his Democrat opposition.  If the name sounds familiar, then you’re not imagining things — Chris Koster is the son of the late Rich Koster, who was the GM at KSDK for a number of years, who got the Rush Limbaugh TV show on Channel 5 and put it at a good time slot, and was the conservative counterpoint to Ray Hartmann on Donnybrook since its beginning in 1987 until his passing a number of years ago.  Chris Koster was born and raised in St. Louis, but somehow he ended up in the Kansas City area, and among other things, he was the Cass County Circuit Attorney before he won the Senate seat in the district where he lives.  Up until 2007, he was a Republican, but switched parties last year out of pure expediency.  Somehow, he eked out a Democrat Primary win over a real Democrat, Margaret Donnelly, this past August, and this has the state’s libdems upset.

The fact that Koster has almost no liberal support, that he is embroiled in ethics scandals aplenty, and perhaps also that people have it in their minds that Nixon will win Governor and that the AG should be of the other party, and that the state NRA seems to be pushing Gibbons even more enthusiastically than Hulshof, are reasons that I think Gibbons will win.

TREASURER

Recommendation:  Lager

How I Will Vote:  Lager

Prediction:  Depends on people’s tastes for beer :)

Analysis:  Really, couldn’t some Democrat named Ale have run?  :)

The Treasurer’s race pits 33-year old Senator Brad Lager (R-Maryville) against Clint Zweifel, a 34-year old Rep from Florissant.  Lager would do what the Constitution states that the Treasurer should do, while Zweifel somehow thinks that the framers of the 1945 Constitution did write “college affordability” and “help struggling homeowners” into Article IV Section 15, but wrote it in disappearing ink.

That said, the choice for me will be easy.

Whoever wins will be young enough to have a potential of a bright political future.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Recommendation:  Anybody but Mrs. Antolinez

How I Will Vote:  Denise Neely (Constitution Party)

Prediction:  Mrs. Antolinez, easily

Analysis:  Other than that Jo Mannies blurb last year, which the P-D has now taken down, you would never know that the former Robin Carnahan got married, save the photo above which I happened to luck into.  That she did get married, but is still using her maiden name as her professional name in order to keep the advantage that it has in this state, and that Juan Antolinez seems nowhere to be found, are the verbally ironic reasons why I call her Mrs. Antolinez.  There is a theory that the marriage is all a cover-up for the fact that she really bats for the home team, if you know what I mean.  That theory makes sense, considering all of this.

PROPOSITION A

Recommendation:  No

How I Will Vote:  No

Prediction:  Wins

Analysis:  I made the mistake at first of analyzing this thing as an education proposition.  Then again, that’s a mistake that most people will make, as the TV ads sell this thing almost entirely in terms of funding education.

They tell you that A would do away with “outdated” and “archaic” riverboat casino regulations, and raise a big pot of money every year, which would be used entirely for Missouri’s schools.  You’ll get the impression that they’ll repeal some 1850s-era casino codes, raise hundreds of millions of bucks per year, and that would be new state education spending.

What they’re not telling you is that the “outdated” and “archaic” regulation they want to repeal is the $500-per-two-hour loss limit for those that gamble.  You know, that was adopted way back in 1994, those ancient days before agriculture, fire, the wheel and written language.

What they’re not telling you is that any casino taxes realized by the state are supposed to go to education anyway.  The reason is that all casino taxes that go to the state have to go to education, no matter the amount.  They didn’t have to stipulate that the new revenue realized by people losing more than $500 a night would only go to education, for if the state gets only $1 in casino taxes or $1 billion, all that money has to go to education.  But I think this stipulation has an ulterior motive.  (See below.)

What they’re not telling you is that, even if they are telling the truth that all revenue realized by lottery and riverboat casino operations are spent on education, that the Missouri Constitution only requires that at least 25% of state revenue goes to education.  What this means is that for every dollar the state takes in from casino taxes, they do spend it on education, but then they go and back out 75 cents of education funding that comes from general revenue.  This happened when the lottery started in 1986, when riverboat gambling started in 1994, and it will happen now.  If $100 million per year comes into the state if A wins, this means that the schools will receive $75 million a year less from the state from sources like income and sales taxes.

All of the things I have said, as a matter of fact or opinion, are true.  But now I realize they’re misguided.

For what Pro-A forces are not really emphasizing is that A would limit the number of new casinos in the state.  Now, who would benefit from that?  Right, the owners of existing casinos.  If people lose more than $500 a night, who benefits from that, especially since they won’t have any new casino options thanks to Prop A?   Right, the owners of existing casinos.

It’s now perfectly clear to me that the casino owners wrote this bill, and used its influence to get this on the ballot.  They’re making a big to-do about how this would all go to the schools (which it would have to anyway, see above).  The reason is that it would get the powerful teachers’ unions on board, so they can use their influence and money to push the issue, in order to make it appear that it’s a matter of education, to keep the casinos’ fingerprints off the gun.  If the casinos paid for the Pro-A media buys, then people would pick up on the hustle of it all.  But having the NEA/AFT do it means that most people won’t realize that it’s a sham.

Also, A would increase the state income tax on riverboat casinos from 20% to 21%.  Big whoop.

If Proposition A merely repealed the loss limit, I might vote for it.  But other than all these issues I raised above, I just don’t like the notion that we need high-stakes gamblers to fund schools.  What kind of message does that send?

Missourians are squirrely about gambling propositions.  Of the four that have made statwide ballot since 1993, two have won, and two have lost.  Just on that basis, I couldn’t make a prediction.  But since there is very little organized opposition, I think it will win.

PROPOSITION B

Recommendation:  None

How I Will Vote:  Leaning Yes

Prediction:  No clue

Analysis:  According to Ballotpedia:

The Statutory Amendment to the Revised Statues of Missouri Relating to Home Care (2008-025) is an initiated state statute proposing to amend Missouri law to establish the Missouri Quality Homecare Council. The Quality Homecare Council would ensure the availability of home care services to the elderly under the Medicaid program by recruiting, training, and stabilizing the home care workforce. The annual cost of the program has been estimated at $510,560.

What B seems to do is to create a situation where Medicaid is more likely to pay for home care services for the elderly rather than nursing home habitation.  After the Nixon/Medicaid/Nursing Home scandal hit earlier this year, I think it’s a good thing that less expensive home care rather than very expensive nursing home care will now become an option.  Since that scandal involved only nursing homes, I doubt that Social Services will want to intercede between spouses to be reimbursed for home care.

The only reason I might vote against it is that the incorrigibly pro-black and Hispanic SEIU is for it.

PROPOSITION C

Recommendation:  No

How I Will Vote:  No

Prediction:  No clue

Analysis:  Would require that eventually, 15% of the state’s energy use comes from unproven and unreliable “renewable sources.”  What it means is that your electric bills are going to go way up.  As you can surmise, the wind turbine industry is for this, and probably financing the Pro-C campaign.

Whenever I see one of those dorkey windmills on TV, I have the same reaction as I do when I see a Toyota Prius Hybrid.  What I see is pompous, sanctimonious, holier-than-thou liberal taking his dong out of his pants and waving it at me.  (Figuratively.)  There are cars other than the Prius that are hybrids and/or fuel efficient, but the Prius has a design that just screams sanctimony.  There are alternative forms of energy production that will soon be far more cost effective and value-conscious than the windmills, but the libs have almost adopted the visage of one as their official symbol.

Meanwhile, these same libs will whine and bitch when someone proposes to generate electricity in the manner that has the lowest carbon footprint of any proven technology, and that is nuclear fission.

PROPOSITION M

Recommendation:  No

How I Would Vote:  Guess

Prediction:  No clue

Analysis:  M is St. Louis County-only.  It would be an extra half-cent sales tax to fund public transit.  In other words, you, St. Louis Countian, are expected to pay for Metro’s blatant and gross incompetence in the last several years.  Curiously, this isn’t on the ballot in St. Louis City, yet public transit is more important there than in the County.  Perhaps the reason is that city sales taxes are already 8.25%.

UPDATE 10/28:  While M is only on the ballot in the County, its results will affect the city.  If M loses, then a quarter-cent transit sales tax approved by city voters in 1997 is automatically rescinded.  If M wins, it stays.

Also, I keep seeing these Pro-M media buys showing Metro Link trains zipping about, taking white people to ballgames downtown.  I think we all know by now that that isn’t the whole racial truth.

AMENDMENT 1

Recommendation:  Yes^10

How I Will Vote:  The word is somewhere in the dictionary between “Yell” and “Yet.”

Prediction:  Wins

Analysis:  Would make English the official language of state business.  I would be even more enthusiastic if German were made an official alternative.

AMENDMENT 4

Recommendation:  None

How I Will Vote:  No

Prediction:  No clue

Analysis:  This has something to do with how stormwater control projects are financed.  Really, can’t these kinds of things be handled by the professionals we hire to mull it over?

My rule of thumb about propositions and amendments is this:  If you’re unsure about what it does, vote no.  It can’t hurt you if it fails.

ILLINOIS CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

Recommendation:  No

How I Would Vote:  No

Prediction:  ?

Analysis:  If it passes, then it gives Illinois permission to remove what few civil liberties remain, and formally adopt Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto as the fundamental law of the land commune.  About the only way around this, if it passes, would be if the Con-Con gives Cook and DuPage Counties to Venezuela, thereby leaving what remains of Illinois to the governance of normal people once again.

ST. LOUIS CITY CIRCUIT ATTORNEY

Recommendation:  Skip it.

How I Will Vote:  Since she has no opponent, skip it.

Analysis:  After this, I can’t punch a ballot for Joyce ever again, even if it means installing a radical black like Jerryl Christmas.  Since this is the General, and not a primary, defeating her would be an impossible proposition, even if she had token opposition.  The next chance to end her political career would be in August 2012, in the Democrat Primary.

As for Joyce’s partner in “crime,” Bob McCulloch is not up until 2010.  By then, he’ll have been Circuit Attorney in St. Louis County for 20 years.  I have heard buzz that he might try to move on to bigger and better things, either in elected office or by making rain.  But if he runs again, I would vote for someone else if I had the chance.

U.S. HOUSE, MO-2

Recommendation:  Akin

How I Would Vote:  Akin

Prediction:  Akin

Analysis:  Versus the perennial nutcase, Bill Haas?  Spare me.

U.S. HOUSE, MO-3

Recommendation:  Anyone but the brother-in-law of one Juan Antolinez

How I Will Vote:  Cynthia Redburn (Constitution Party)

Prediction:  The brother-in-law of one Juan Antolinez will win

Analysis:  Remember, the brother-in-law of one Juan Antolinez was the only member of the local Congressional delegation to vote for the bailout.

U.S. HOUSE, MO-9

Recommendation:  Blaine Leuktemeyer

How I Would Vote:  Ibid.

Prediction:  None

Analysis:  Liberal Judy Baker vs somewhat conservative.  Otherwise, don’t ask.

OTHER CONGRESSIONAL RACES

MO-6:  The only other competitive House race in MO pits Republican incumbent Sam Graves against former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes.  The district includes northwestern and north central MO, and some northern KCMO suburbs.  Graves is rural, and Barnes is city.  Ironically, most of Kansas City, Missouri in terms of population is in MO-5, so she won’t have any political benefit from her time as Mayor.  For those two reasons, I think Graves will win.  Sam Graves’s brother, Todd, was U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri until recently.  President Bush fired him, and for good reason, IMHO.

CO-6:  To replace Tom Tancredo.  It’s Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman (R) vs a token Dem whose last elected office was in Appleton, Wisconsin, in the reddest district in the state.  Coffman may not be Tancredo, but since MALDEF isn’t happy with his tenure as Secretary of State, and his efforts to prevent illegal aliens from voting, he seems to be the best possible Tancredo replacement that the state’s body politic can produce.

PA-11:  Central Eastern Pennsylvania.  Lou Barletta.  Immigration.  Need I say more?  When Barletta first tried to unseat Paul Kanjorski, he didn’t succeed.  Now, Lou has a record and a keynote issue.  And a very good chance to succeed this time.

PA-12:  Gerrymandered, much of rural southwestern PA, and some Pittsburgh suburbs.  Jack Murtha’s district.  You know, our troops are Nazis, my voters are racists.  Bill Russell has a good chance to send this embarrassment to the unemployment line.  Though with 35 years tenure in the House, Murtha’s pension will probably be quite generous.

NY-18:  Upstate NYC suburbs, including Chappaqua, Disgraceland, where Bill and Hillary Clinton bought into in late 1999 or early 2000, to give HRC New York State residency to run for the Senate seat what was soon to be vacated by Daniel Patrick Moynihan.  The district has been represented by the rancid Nita Lowey (D) for a long time.  Jim Russell, a computer consultant, won both Republican and Conservative Party nominations.  He is challenging Lowey on the immigration issue.  If Russell wins, then Bill and Hillary will have a conservative Republican for a Congressman — just seeing their faces if that happens would be well worth the price of admission.

CA-52:  This San Diego County district is being vacated by my preferred Presidential candidate during the Primaries, Duncan Hunter.  His likely successor his is son of the same name.

FL-16:  Mark Foley’s old district.  Foley’s Democrat successor is also embroiled in Foley-like scandals.  Likely an R pickup.

IL-14:  Denny Hastert’s old district went to Democrat Bill Foster, as he defeated Jim Obwerweis in a special election earlier this year.  Oberweis is trying again vs Foster.  This is probably Oberweis’s last legitimate chance for public office.  If he loses, then any future runs will be interpreted as the usual mehe of a perennial candidate.

LA-2:  William “Cold Cash” Jefferson’s district.  Look for him to win easily, as New Orleans is in the district.  The more crimes you commit, the more likely it is that you’ll get black votes.

MN-6:  Michelle Bachman.  One of the few people that really care, and probably the only person in Minnesota public life that cares.

MS-1:  Roger Wicker’s old district, won by Democrat Travis Childers in a special election over Republican Greg Davis earlier this year.  There will be a rematch.

TX-14:  Ron Paul.

VA-5:  Virgil Goode’s district.  This is the only Republican that I thought could have had a chance of beating Mark Warner for the Senate.  Vote Goode, to keep that possibility alive.

PREDICTION:  Republicans gain seats, but not enough to take over the House.

U.S. SENATE RACES

Missouri has none.  Bond is up in 2010, and the buzz is that he’s going to retire.  Claire McCaskill is up in 2012.

IL:  Durbin will win easily.  Vote third party.

VA:  I don’t think much of either Mark Warner or Jim “Happy” Gilmore.  Vote third party.  Jack Warner (R) is retiring, and a likely Mark Warner (no relation) win will be a D pickup.

SC:  I would definitely vote Bob Conley over Gooberface.  If Conley can pull this off, I highly doubt that he would remain a Democrat once he actually gets sworn in to the U.S. Senate.

CO:  The media say that Democrat Mark Udall has this thing in the bag, but Bob Schaffer, a former Congressman himself, hasn’t run that far behind in the polls.  Schaffer was a big part of the Republican Study Committee, which tried to get the House Republicans to advocate for conservatism.  This seat is being vacated by Wayne Allard (R), so a Udall win would be a D pickup.

NE:  Chuck Bagel (RINO) is retiring.  The race is Bush’s former Ag Secretary, Mike Johanns, vs Scott Kleeb.  I don’t know how I would vote here, because Johanns was Bush’s Ag Sec, and that immigration and agriculture always seem to intertwine these days.  We know President Bush’s position.  Is Johanns for open borders?

NM:  “Pistol” Pete Domenici is retiring, and Rep. Tom Udall (D) is the likely replacement.  If his cousin Mark can win in CO, then it might be the first time in the history of the Senate that first cousins have served at the same time.

AR:  Pryor is essentially unopposed.

DE:  Joe Biden is running for VP and re-election to the Senate at the same time.  If Obama wins, then either Delaware’s current Democrat governor, or its new governor being elected in November, likely also a Democrat, would appoint the replacement.  Vote O’Donnell (R) for that reason alone.

IA:  Dung Heap has some opposition, but I don’t think he has to worry.

LA:  Louisiana recently changed from its French-style “free-for-all-and-runoff” system to a regular primary/general system for electing Federal politicians, it kept for state level offices.  Mary Landrieu will probably win easily; her opposition to amnesty for illegal aliens last year solidified that.  Her Republican opponent flipped parties last year, that being State Treasurer John Kennedy.  That said, don’t discount him just yet — remember the last time someone named John Kennedy ran for U.S. Senate as an underdog against an established incumbent in a year when his party was not expected to win much of anything?

MA:  This time, John Kerry has a token Republican opponent, unlike four years ago.

MI:  Carl Levin’s Republican opponent is State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, from the heavily-Dutch (Nederlander) western part of the state.  Levin will win, but vote for Hoogendyk because he has a cool name, in addition to everything else.

MT:  Max Baucus’s Republican opponent is more left-wing than Baucus.  Therefore, I would vote Baucus.

NJ:  Somehow, Frank Lautenberg seems to be ticking on and on.

RI:  A Republican is safe in Rhode Island in 2008?  Yes, sometimes even hens can have teeth.

SD:  I can’t understand how South Dakota can keep one of those liberal members of the Senate in the Senate.  It seems like they will do just that this year, in the person of Tim Johnson.

AL:  Jeff Sessions vs a black woman in Alabama.  Duh, I wonder how this one’s gonna turn out.

AK:  Corruptocrat Ted Stevens (R) will probably see his political career ended by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D).  At that point, Ted can take a long walk off a long bridge to nowhere.

GA:  Amnestyaire and bailoutaire Saxby Chambliss is up this year.  I’m also not fond of the Democrat running against him, for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is.  Vote third party.

KS:  Pat Roberts easily.  Has he been endorsed by Pat Robertson?

KY:  The problematic Mitch McConnell needs to lose.

MN:  Norm Coleman essentially beat the whole world to win U.S. Senate in 2002.  All he has to do now is to beat some washed-out not-funny-anymore comedian.  I think at least one-fifth of Minnesotans who are saying they’re voting Franken will start to have buyer’s regrets once they reach the voting booth.  Coleman wins.

MS:  Both of the state’s Senate seats are up.  Thad Cochran will easily win re-election, and Trent Lott’s appointed replacement, Roger Wicker, faces former one-term Governor Ronnie Musgrove, the anti-South bigot.  Analysts keep saying that Wicker-Musgrove is going to be close.  I can’t understand how someone who got bounced out of the Governor’s office in 2003 has a chance.  Both Cochran and Wicker win.

Up until Trent Lott resigned, the state of Mississippi only had four people that held their state’s U.S. Senate Seats from 1947 to 2007, i.e. 60 years.  Those are John Stennis, James Eastland, Thad Cochran and Trent Lott.  The theory is that, if Wicker wins, he’ll be in the U.S. Senate for a very long time.

NH:  Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is challenging John Sununu again, like she did four years ago.  If she wins this time, then this proves that enough Taxachusettsans have moved into NH so that the Republicans can write off the state forever.

NC:  Elizabeth Dole and her Democrat opponent, State Sen. Kay Hagan, have been close in the polls.  But those same NC “polls” have Obama up over McCain.  In North Carolina, yeah right.  Dole wins, she voted against the “rescue” (nee bailout).

OR:  Moderate Republican Gordon Smith has a tough re-election campaign.  If Smith loses, then too many Californians have moved into Oregon so that the Republican Party can write it off forever.

TN:  Lamar Alexander doesn’t seem to have any serious opposition.  The amnestyaire that he is, I wish he would.

TX:  See above, cross out “Lamar Alexander” and insert “John Cornyn.”

WY:  Both of the state’s U.S. Senators are up, both Mike Enzi based on years, and John Barrasso as a special election.  Barrasso was appointed to take the place of the late Craig Thomas last year.  Both Republicans, and both expected to win.

PREDICTION:  Democrats gain seats, but not enough to get to 60.

OTHER GUBERNATORIAL

NC:  Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory (R) vs Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue (D).  McCrory’s good on immigration, which is becoming an ever-more important issue in the state.  (“Welcome to North Carolina, Mexico’s Newest Colony.”)  Polls show it could go either way.  Vote Pat.  Whoever wins will replace Democrat Mike Easley.

WA:  Rossi-Gregoire II.  And, like in 2004, it’s probably going to be a razor-thin victory for either one of them.  Even if you do vote Rossi, your vote might be canceled by that mysterious box full of several hundred Gregoire votes that were somehow “found” and that a judge ruled to allow.

IN:  Mitch Daniels (R) is vulnerable.  Amnesty and the Indiana Toll Road are the issues.  In case you’re wondering, the latter is essentially like Portgate, but involving an interstate highway.

VT:  I think VT is now the last state that does gubernatorial elections every two years.  Jim Douglas succeeded Howard Dean in 2002, and won again in 2004 and 2006.  Somehow, a Republican keeps on winning in this heavily Democrat state.  Competing with him, among others, is Cris Ericson of the Marijuana Party.  Though she might not be campaigning as hard as she should, as Season 3 of “Weeds” just came out on DVD.

MISSOURI JUDGES

Under the Missouri Plan Nine from Outer Space, Supreme Court, Appellate-Level Judges are appointed by the Governor, takes the bench upon the appointment, and are up every four years for a simple yes/no retention public vote.  Trial-level judges from St. Louis City, St. Louis County and Jackson County are also under the Missouri Plan Nine from Outer Space, but trial-level judges from every other country run and sit partisanly.  Since the inception of the Missouri Plan Nine from Outer Space, there have been exceedingly few voter-level rejections of judges.  Your vote and my analysis will be made under the very likely true assumption that all of them will be retained.

Supreme Court:  Pat Breckenridge is the only one of the seven up for retention.  She’s a Blunt appointee, but conservative groups weren’t too thrilled about her.  But, if she’s rejected, Jay Nixon will likely appoint her replacement, so it’s for that reason alone that I will vote to keep her.

Appellate Level, Eastern MO:  For sure, keep Dowd and Odenwald.  I don’t know enough about Richter.

22nd (St. Louis City) Circuit Trial Level:  Ohmer, Dowd, and Wilson — keep those three.  The rest, I don’t know enough about.

21st (St. Louis County):  Don’t know enough about any of the state-level judges in the County.

St. Charles County:  Judges run and sit partisanly.  The only Democrat I could vote for is Ted House.

STATE SENATE

1st:  Jim Lembke (R) vs Joan Barry (D).  Vote Jim.

15th:  To replace Michael Gibbons.  Eric Schmitt (R) vs Steve Trout (D).  Schmitt.

7th:  Jane “Deseg” Cunningham (R) vs Kevin Leeseburg (D).  Pass this one up.

5th:  Robin Wright-Jones (D) vs Robert Christophel (Lib.)  Vote Christophel.

Overall, it does not appear likely that the Republicans will lose the Senate.

STATE HOUSE

The only House race that interests me is the 86th, in west St. Louis County.  Gene McNary’s son Cole is the Republican nominee.  Everything else should be the usual mehe.  It doesn’t appear likely that the Republicans will lose the House.

No Softball Questions Here, Just Plain Ole Wealth Redistribution.

Boston Herald:  John Kerry wants New Deal II

Earth to John:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Society

CNS:  Obama’s ‘Spread the Wealth’ Tax Plan a Good Idea, Says Schumer

So were those Five Year Plans.

CNS:  Despite Financial Meltdown Wall Street Pay Remains the Same

Maybe it’s because, not despite.
CNS:  TV Anchor’s Tough Questions Draw Disbelief From Obama Campaign

The Obama campaign disbelieves that the MSM somehow hired a non-Democrat.

Malkin:  Obama tackles tough questions…with Mario Lopez

Just when the questions were getting really tough, the bell rang.

Philadelphia Inquirer:  White people shouldn’t be allowed to vote

Because we all know how well the paucity of white voters has worked in Philadelphia.

Chuck Norris in WND:  I’m voting for those not yet born

Unlike in Chicago, where those not yet born are voting.

CSM:  Key to stemming high-school dropouts: parents

As if the parents of high-school dropouts are that much sharper.

Time:  Does Anyone Care About a Trillion Dollar Deficit?

Yeah, but he had big ears and only got 19% of the vote in 1992.

Manitowoc (Wisc.) Herald Times-Reporter:  Police: Manitowoc man urinates on dog after roommate refuses sex

It could have been much worse for the dog.

Get Your BiblePod

CNS:   Atheists Run Ads Saying God ‘Probably’ Doesn’t Exist

Probably?  I thought atheists had their minds made up on the subject.

Take Two: CNS:   Atheists Run Ads Saying God ‘Probably’ Doesn’t Exist

In response, the Vatican puts up a billboard that looks like this:

Reuters:  S&P slashes New York Times rating to junk

Now, birds are less likely to want to poop on it.

WND:  Ayers, Dohrn: ‘White supremacy’ responsible for America’s troubles

This is Bill and Bern we’re talking about here.  To them, Hillary Clinton qualifies as a white supremacist.

KSDK:  The Next Bill Gates is 13 and Lives in Reston

He might be 13, and live in Reston, but unless his father is a D.C. Superlawyer, and unless he himself doesn’t dream at night of being able to get away with violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act numerous times, he isn’t the next Bill Gates.

Yahoo Tech:  Catholic bishops want the word of God on iPods

and

Yahoo Tech:  Apple Donates $100K to Support Gay Marriage

Apple soon to sell iPods pre-loaded with the Bible, but mysteriously missing the third book of the Old Testament.

Keeping American Politics in the Green…or the Gray…Actually the Black

Detroit Free Press:  Michigan minister runs for Congress from prison

Running in the Green Party while staring at gray bars.

NYP:  RAGE AT GOV’S FORCE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

Gov. David Patterson might be blind, but he’s not colorblind.

McPaper:  Group asks IRS to investigate Catholic bishop against Obama

One word:  Pfleger.

SNL:  Young and restless already gathering for Palin

Sorry, guys.  Todd Palin already won those sweepstakes.

KSDK:  Free, Confidential HIV Testing Available To Anyone 13 To 24

So when you turn 25, the whole world gets to know whether you have HIV or not.

AP:  Was Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider gay?

Yeah?  And?  So?  Didn’t you media types learn anything from Seinfeld?

AP:  Fla. man lives among the chads of 2000 election

One word:  Getoverit.

Reuters:  Inequality in major U.S. cities rivals Africa: U.N.

That’s because many major U.S. cities are Africa.

Health Day:  Anti-Drug TV Campaign Didn’t Curb Teen Pot Use: Study

Forbidden fruit resin is tempting to the young.

VRWC is Back. Back the VRWC.

WaPo:  Hillary Clinton, Al Franken and the Return of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

That’s because when HRC blabbered on about the VRWC, it was funnier than anything that has come out of Franken’s mouth in a long time.

KSDK:  Poll: Ten Percent of Illinois Voters Want Blagojevich Re-Elected

Add to that the goldfish, dogs and dead people that are registered to vote in Chicago, and RodB will cruise to re-election.

WND:  School holds surprise ‘Gay’ Day for kindergartners

When the teacher asked the students to “come out of the closet,” they literally walked out of a closet.

McClatchy:  Indonesia fights terrorism with power of persuasion

If you just ask a militant, radical Jihadist nicely enough, he might behave.

AP:  Immigration probes how shooting suspect got to NYC

Sanctuary city, stupid.

Yahoo Tech:  Seagate Forecasts Fourth-Quarter Revenue Dip

They expect their profit margin to return to its previous levels in 8.9 microseconds.

AP:  Hollywood comes out in support of gay marriage

Sheesh, you didn’t actually expect they were going to do something all family values and stuff, did you?

Reuters:  Police arrest naked burglary suspect

I sure hope he was there to steal some clothes.

Tales of a Chicago Republican

Ann Coulter, debunking the MSM’s attempts to link Republicans to the Obama/Ayers/Dohrn/Wright/Farrakhan/Pfleger wing of Chicagograd politics:

The media keep citing the fact that the money Obama and Ayers distributed to idiotic left-wing causes came – as the New York Times put it – “from Walter H. Annenberg, the billionaire publisher and philanthropist and President Richard M. Nixon’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.”

Great Republican though he was, Walter Annenberg died in 2002. The money came from the Annenberg Foundation, which, like all foundations, distributes money to projects that its founder would despise. John Kerry ran for president on the late John Heinz’s money. That didn’t mean Republican Heinz was endorsing Kerry.

As John O’Sullivan says, any foundation that is not explicitly right-wing will become a radical left-wing organization within a few years. It could be the Association of University Women, the American Association of Retired People, the American Rose Growers, the Foundation for the Study of Railroad Engineers or the Choral Society of Newport Beach.

Left-wing radicals swarm to free foundation money, where they can give gigantic grants to one another and they will never have to do a day’s work. That’s exactly what Obama and Ayers did with Annenberg’s money.

None of the Annenberg money went to schoolchildren. It went to Ayers’ left-wing crank friends to write moronic papers that we hope no one ever reads.

Granting all this, even if Chicagograd area Republicans were involved, that doesn’t mean anything, because Chicagograd’s Republicans are almost as liberal as its Democrats.

In the state of Illinois, politics always have to go through the Chicagograd region, even if they don’t start there.  The Democrat Party in the state is essentially the Crook County political machine, while the Republican Party is the DuPage County Plutocrats Club.  (No humans involved in either case.)  Remember, Barack Obama easily won the general election for his Senate seat in 2004, after a hard primary, because after the Jack Ryan divorce scandal hit, and he resigned his party’s nomination, the Plutocrats didn’t even consider giving the nomination to Jim Oberweis, who finished in second place in the R-primary.  Instead, they trucked in that kook from Maryland, who got so crazy that he came out for reparations for slavery.  Of course Obama got 70% of the vote versus that, I’m surprised it wasn’t 80%.

The upshot of all this is that you shouldn’t think of Chicago Republicans in the same spirit as you do Alabama Republicans.  Chicago’s Republicans are so left-wing that they could probably be made to come out for left-wing terrorism of the 1960s.

Blue Bananas

LiveScience:

Blue Bananas Surprise Scientists

When a banana ripens, it turns yellow – unless you look at it under a black light, in which case, it appears bright blue, a new study has found.

The banana’s blue glow was discovered by scientists at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and Columbia University in New York, the first team to look for this phenomenon in bananas. The researchers think the coloring is related to the degradation of chlorophyll that occurs as the banana ripens and could aid animals who eat bananas and can see in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum

Chlorophyll is the green pigment present in plants that allows them to obtain energy from light during photosynthesis.

As the banana ripens, the chlorophyll begins to break down – a process called catabolism – and the resulting products are concentrated in the banana peel. Under ultraviolet light, more commonly known as black light, these breakdown products fluoresce, or glow, blue.

This reminds me of the history behind the development of color television.  In the 1940s (save WWII) and the early 1950s, CBS and NBC/RCA/Sarnoff were competing with each other to introduce the first viable color television technology.  CBS initially won, but its system involved TVs that had a “color wheel,” a platter of colors that spun around and around behind the TV set, in order to reflect the real colors needed to produce a full color image on the screen.  This process was known as “mechanical scanning.”  Trouble is, the wheel needed to be much larger than the size of the TV screen, making color screens more than a diagonal foot impractical.  NBC/RCA responded by attempting to produce a working fully electronic color scanning system, which they eventually did, and became the American analog standard that will end in February of next year, but their first attempts failed, lab experiments where the camera was turned to a bunch of bananas showed them coming out as blue on the TV screen.

Now that we know bananas can actually appear blue under the right kind of electromagnetic radiation, I’m just wondering if this was the reason why those bananas appeared blue.

You Have Lindsay Lohan and Lil’ Wayne in the Same Post. Gross.

WCBS-2 NYC:  NYC Tests Digital Ads On Buses – Screens Target Ads For Specific Neighborhoods

How long will it take for the NAACP complain when they find out that menthol cigs and 40-ounce bottles appear when the bus goes through Harlem, while MCAT and LSAT training course ads appear when it goes through the Upper West Side?

CNS:  Government Ownership in Banks Could Cause More Problems than It Solves

Weren’t Fannie and Freddie government-owned?

P-D:  Theater may scrap plan to sell liquor

Please don’t!  As Fred and the Chicken might say, the more you drink, the better the movie looks.

KSDK:  Three Men Sue Lindsay Lohan over Wild Ride

Lohan’s attorneys will respond by saying that she never meant for it to be a foursome.

E!Online:  Lil Wayne’s Assistant Testifies in Gun Trial

and

MTV:  Lil Wayne Named MVP At BET Hip-Hop Awards; T-Pain Fills In For Katt Williams As Host

Lil Wayne probably needs to murder somebody in order to get BET’s lifetime achievement award.

Fun With Twelve People Deciding the Fate of Britslut Spearchucker

KSDK: Caught on Tape: High School Looted after Hurricane Ike Hits

You could cross out “Ike” and insert “Katrina,” and you would have a clearer picture of the suspects.

KSDK: Texas Sheriff Accused of Aiding Cartel Resigns

If you actually read the article, then you’ll know both the Sheriff and the Cartel aren’t very Texan.

KSDK: Washington Governor Will be “Dora” for Halloween

She’ll be good at tracking down those mysterious precincts that had just enough votes to make her Governor. Fantastico!

NPR: Some Muslim, Arab Voters Upset With Obama

Ambivalence that is not shared by the ne’er-do-well leaders of many radical Islamic terrorist groups.

LiveScience: Huge Mountain Range Should Not Be There

Oh, but it is.

AP: No retrial: Case against Britney Spears dismissed

In reaction, the prosecutor in the case against Lindsay Lohan has just dropped all charges.

AP: San Francisco weighs decriminalizing prostitution

Hey, you gotta pay for that legal weed somehow.

AFP: Black vote could be key in US presidential vote: analyst

I remember reading this story four eight twelve sixteen twenty years ago.

Time: Is It Illegal to Drink and Vote?

I sure hope so.

AP: London’s Conservative mayor endorses Obama

That’s probably because Obama’s politics would be considered conservative in Londinigrad, or Londonistan.

Politico: Powell drops the hammer on McCain

As if half the country was waiting around on baited breath to see what Colon Bowel would do.

Reuters: Men vote Barack Obama “most influential man”

Most of the men who voted were named Kennedy.

AP: Yeah, that’s right. Beyonce’s meeting me at bridge

As long as they were both jumping off, I would have let him go.

Left-Wing Radical Terrorist Crazies: FOB (Friends of Barack)

The Missouri Republican Party is sending this mailer, received by yours truly today.  Maybe they’re sending it to all voters, or just to those who have voted in Republican primaries in Missouri recently.

At the bottom of the second page, you see the FBI Wanted poster.  The woman on the farthest right is Bern Dohrn, who is, as I understand, also in thick with Barack H. Obama’s rise in the Chicagograd political scene.

The prime question to ask is this:  How is it that Bill Ayers, a self-admitted unrepentant terrorist, got hired by the University of Chicago?  You think if Timothy McVeigh would have beat the rap, that the UofC would have hired him as a professor?  Why is it that left-wing do-badders seem always to have second careers in academia?

Then again, the University of Chicago seems to come up a lot in the Obama story.  Barack himself was a law prof there right after Harvard Law School.  Michelle Obama, until recently, was an affirmative action princess for the UofC Hospital, her salary trebling from the $100G range to the $300G range when her husband won election as U.S. Senator, as if whatever she does is so valuable that it became three times more valuable because her husband won an election.  Yet, this is the same University of Chicago that just ran Prof. John Lott out on a rail.

Of Sports Fans and Math

AP:  Fashion critic Mr. Blackwell dies in Los Angeles

Now, which mortician will dare to dress his Earthly remains?

KSDK:  St. Louis Gets $7 Million to Combat Lead Poisoning

You could have just skipped the flowery language and said that the money was to prevent shootings.

KSDK:  Marcus Vick Guilty of Drunken Driving

His brother needs a new cellmate, so it’s all a matter of good timing.

KSDK:  Jerry Jones: Pacman Has Entered Alcohol Treatment

If that doesn’t work, just dress the bottles up in costumes of different colored ghosts.

CSM:  A financial new world order?

Didn’t this “world order” crap get us into this mess to begin with?

Time:  College Football Fans More Likely to Go to the Polls

Because college football’s own experience with polls has worked out so well.

LiveScience:  Mathematician Predicts Rays to Win World Series

Have the mathematician be able to pitch a 98 mph fastball, or to hit such a fastball with a 30% probability, and then we’ll talk.

AFP:  UN study says toilets can help combat poverty

“Bringing this inside took all of our dough.  This empty barrel ain’t just for show.  Please plop in a nickel before you go.”

Look What $1 and $100,000 Will Buy You These Days

Variety:  OpenGate buys TV Guide for $1

Variety couldn’t buy a single issue of TV guide for $1.

UK Telegraph:  Barack Obama vows to ‘change the world’

I once vowed singlehandedly to “change the world.”  I was 17 years old, back in the days when I knew everything.

WBBM-CBS-2 Chicago:  Farrakhan Says ‘New Beginning’ For Nation of Islam

Now that Jeremiah Wright has retired, someone has to step up and fill the void in that oh-so-important field of anti-white bigotry cloaked in religiosity.

AFP:  My money’s heading for a mattress, jokes [Roger] Federer

A lot of armed men are headed for your mattress.

Jerusalem Post:  [Hamas PM] Haniyeh: US crisis a ‘divine punishment’

Sure, because the smart money always goes to the Gaza Strip in troubled times.

AP:  Don Cornelius of ‘Soul Train’ arrested in LA

From “Soul Train” to the Sheriff’s Paddywaggon.

Reuters:  Ellen buys $100,000 TV time to support gay marriage

Which is a good bargain, considering that she probably spent $5 million on an engagement ring for her lesbian lover.

P-D:  CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO: Border city struggles to find honest police.

St. Louis is struggling to find honest police recruits, too.

Colon Bowel Endorses Obama In Exchange For Placement on the $3 Bill

The first half hour of Meet the Press this morning had Colin Powell on, explaining to Tom Brokaw his endorsement of The That One.  Honestly, it took him a half hour to say what he could have said in three words:  I’m voting race.  He wouldn’t have made as big a fool of himself as he did with Brokaw this morning — not that my estimation of Mr. Powell has ever been that high to begin with.

The late development is that Powell is saying that it isn’t about race.  Whenever you hear someone say that they didn’t do something for or about the money, that’s how you know it was about money.  Likewise on race.

Barack Obama doesn’t want us to fear him even though he might not look like some of those Presidents whose faces adorn money.  Perhaps now Colin Powell has his date with immortality on the three-note.

Remember, this was the goofball that the Republican Party establishment would have nominated for President in 1996 if he would have wanted it.  He can’t bring himself to endorse the Republican Party nominee of 2008 that himself almost switched parties four years ago.  One of these days, we might have Republicans that endorse Republicans that have been Republicans for all their lives and intend to stay Republicans for the rest of their lives.

With Republicans like these, who needs the Democrats?

No Honor Among Thieves

I’m hearing several different versions of this story.  This version states that the boy’s (white) grandfather was in thick with a Mexican meth gang, and absconded with a lot of money, so the kidnapping of the boy was a message.  Other reports say that the grandfather was a methhead, and owed the gang a lot of money, so the gang kidnapped the boy to get the grandfather to pay up.

Either way, if the boy winds up dead, I think that, depending on Nevada law, that the grandfather should be charged with second-degree murder.  When you cast your lot with nefarious, hedonistic amoral people that are in a nefarious, hedonistic amoral business, you shouldn’t be surprised if they do nefarious, hedonistic amoral things to promulgate their line of work, and those things they do might well boomerang back on you, and that your invovlement in such a milieu makes you partly responsible.

Not a Bad Idea

Though if it were applied to St. Louis, it would clog the arteries of our judicial system.

Reuters:

Father takes son to court for idleness

LAGOS (Reuters) – A father took his 20-year old son to an Islamic court in northern Nigeria for idleness, asking that he be sent to prison for refusing to engage in productive activities, state news agency NAN said Friday.

“He is not listening to words and he is bringing shame to my family. I am tired of his nefarious deeds. Please put this boy in prison so that I can be free,” Sama’ila Tahir, a market trader in the northeastern town of Bauchi, was quoted as saying.

Tahir told the court that his son had refused to go to school and accused him of belonging to a criminal gang.

The court sentenced the son to six months in prison and 30 strokes of the cane — which were immediately administered on the premises — for being disobedient to his parents, NAN said.

Question:  He can be sent to the hoosegow for being idle, but his involvement in a criminal gang never interested the authorities in Lagos?

You’ve Got Your “White Space” Right Here

P-D:  Ill. congressman’s [Bobby Rush] son jailed for sex with inmates

Is jail the right place for someone whose problem is having sex with inmates?

USNAWR:  Hillary Clinton: a Vigorous Obama Booster

I’m scanning the article for the verbal equivalent of fingers crossed behind the back.

LiveScience:  Amazing Power of Music Revealed

A certain group of people that listen to music that says kill the white poleeceseseses seem to have a strong desire to do so.

Yahoo Tech:  FCC chairman backs use of ‘white space’ [radio] spectrum

In the meantime, there’s always WLRM in Memphis on Saturday nights.

Yahoo Tech:  AVG flags ZoneAlarm as malware

Strangely enough, AVG has a firewall for sale.

AP:  James Taylor schedules 5 free concerts for Obama

Which will be thoroughly enjoyed by a total of four people.

AP:  Suit against God thrown out over lack of address

What?  Is God homeless because He got a subprime loan, couldn’t pay it, and the almighty bank foreclosed?

Joe the Plumber

Tonight’s debate?  Again, snooze, for the most part.

There were a few interesting parts.  First, Obama and McCain had a back-and-forth about Bill Ayers.  Obama’s standard retort is that Ayers is a “respected professor of education” at the University of Chicago.  Of course, because he was a left-wing terrorist, the universities are chomping at the bit to take them on, because they agree with what people like Ayers did.  Really, Bill Ayers is the left-wing analogue of Timothy McVeigh, but the difference is that if McVeigh would have beaten the rap, no colleges or universities would have hired him as a professor of education.  Also, apart from Ayers’s history, there’s the matter of his current kooky ideas.

Also, McCain mentioned in the final question on education about the “problems” with the Head Start program.  McCain noted that many of the children that benefitted from head start seem to “fall off the map” around third grade, and this was proof, according to JSM, that Head Start needs “reform.”

Really, it’s no mystery.  Until recently, Head Start was mainly aimed at black children.  The theory was that if you get them early, and start teaching them early, then they’ll learn better through the later grades.  When Head Start was first applied to black children, it did seem to be a success, and liberals weren’t hesitant to tout its apparent success.  But once the same children got to the third or fourth grade, they seemed to lose interest in their studies.  And so the pattern continues today.

The answer to this riddle is that black children develop faster than white children up to a certain age, then level off.  Black babies, as a generality and compared to white babies, sit up sooner, walk sooner and talk sooner.  And, during the years that Head Start is applied to them, they’re ahead of white children in terms of mental development.  But their mental development levels off at about the age of nine or ten, and as a measure of central tendency, white children keep on developing mentally for a number of years after.

No, John McCain.  Head Start doesn’t need to be reformed in the way that you want it reformed, because it can never accomplish the impossible goals set out for it.

Oh, and about that Joe the Plumber from Somewhereville, Iowa that they kept addressing?  At this rate, he might decide this Presidential election.  He might be a real-world Kevin Costner in the movie of earlier this year, Swing Vote.

Come See The Softer Side Of….The Army

CNS News:  Obama-Led Foundation Spent $49 Million But Had ‘Little Impact’ on Improving Chicago Schools

I wouldn’t necessarily blame that on Obama.

P-D:  Head of minority contractors group is prison-bound

Is anyone that surprised that someone whose raison d’etre was to demand cheating, corner-cutting and the lowering of standards for his members would then apply that logic to his own personal finances?

USNAWR:  New Army Manual Showcases Softer Side

Oh, I get it now.  The Army is getting out of the fighting business and into the social welfare business.

AP:  CNN to start weekend comedy show with D.L. Hughley

Inspired by TBS, CNN will also adopt a new motto:  Not very funny.

Reuters:  Migraine-hit Janet Jackson to resume U.S. tour

Thereby spreading the migrane to the rest of us.

Job Security

Every time the economy gets shaky, and the prospects of massive job losses arises, the media always seem to run to college professors to get their views of the situtation.  Strangely, they’re the group of people with the best job security these days, as education and health care are the only two industries in this country that are growing.  For once, I just wish the media would ask someone who is actually at risk of losing his or her job about the economic climate.

You Tell ‘Em, Bobby.

AP:  Aid agencies: world’s poor will be biggest victims

To quote Alabama in “Song of the South”:  “Somebody told us Wall Street fell, but we were so poor that we couldn’t tell…”

Reuters:  Chicago mayor to shut down government for six days

Oh nuts, if Chicago’s government shuts down, then the streets will be full of violence and anarchy.

WND:  School textbook promotes Obama

Chapter 2 will be instructions on how to perform a gay marriage.

Fox Business:  Intel CEO Warns Of “signs Of Stress”

Well then, he should definitely see his cardiologist ASAP.

AP:  Not my dad’s GOP: Buckley leaves National Review

Since the Buckleys and NR have been trying to outdo each other in their move to the left in the last two-to-three decades, I suppose NR’s next move will be to endorse Ralph Nader for President.

ABC:  Actor Duvall Blasts Palin Critics at Fundraiser

Hooray for Robert E. Lee!!!

Chicago Sun-Times:  25 years of cell phone service

I find it amusing that someone named Jack Brickhouse was involved in the very first cell phone call that involved a cell phone the size and the weight of a brick.

This Fun With Headlines Edition Bought To You By The Number 250

NYDN:  Prostitution has not suffered drop-off despite economic meltdown

At this rate, the world’s first profession will soon be the world’s only profession.

KSDK:  Isolationism And Protectionism Could Worsen Spreading Financial Crisis

Because free trade and globalism have worked out so well.

KSDK:  Biden Decries ‘Unbecoming Personal Attacks’

“Leave the hair plugs alone!!!”

KSDK:  Jonas Brothers to Play Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Game

Judging from yesterday, they should play on special teams.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:  One in three recent Atlanta Police Academy graduates have criminal records

That may be, but at least they’re diverse.  And that’s the most important thing.

AP:  Yale celebrates Noah Webster’s 250th birthday

For the sesquibicentennial of Noah Webster’s birth, Yale introduced a graduate-level course entitled “Disestablishmentarianism in Anthropomorphic Androgynous Cultures.”

Business Week:  In Manhattan, $250,000 Isn’t Rich

In Manhattan, $250,000 isn’t even rent.

Fun With Faulty Assumptions

Yahoo Sports:  [Jose] Canseco detained at US border

One could hope that this means that Mexico didn’t want to let him in.

KSDK:  Youngsters Not Having Problems Understanding DTV Transition

This is kinda duh, when mom has hired her son as her professional iPhone operator.

AFP:  US nuns come home to discover ‘terrorist’ status

Insane, because the chances of them actually being terrorists are just about none.

AP:  Efforts on global warming chilled by economic woes

Be of good cheer, enviros:  In this economy, hardly anybody will be able to afford to have a big carbon footprint.

AP:  Jolie: Obama win would be ‘nice’ for family

Which family?  The Ayers family, or the Dohrn family, or the Manson family, or the Addams family?

AP:  Chief says Chicago police are supported, motivated

Maybe she means the military police onboard the USS Chicago.  She certainly can’t be referring to the major city in Illinois.

LiveScience:  Xenophobia Founded on Faulty Assumptions

Sorry, LiveScience.  They’re my people, not a treatise in Aristotelian logic.

The Messiah Speaks. Yawn.

KSDK: Investigators: Fire Intentionally Set at Beaumont High School

We now know that it was started in a science lab, meaning that the fire won’t hinder any actual education.

KSDK: Michigan Teen Excels at Football Despite Having No Legs

If any of his teammates are blind, they will one day make the ideal replacement for Ed Hochuli.

NY Post: GAY-PORN KINGPIN LINKED TO [OBAMA]

I highly doubt any gay porn kingpins would get too close to John McCain. Also note in the article that Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongowski is in this mix, and if his last name isn’t a good porn stage name, I don’t know what is.

WND: Farrakhan on Obama: ‘The Messiah is absolutely speaking’

For being The Messiah, and thus speaking in absolute terms, he could come up with something better than “uhhh” and “uhhhhh.”

CNN: Venezuela closes 100-plus McDonald’s for 2 days

They won’t be allowed to reopen until they ready their Hugo Value Meals.

AP: Schwarzenegger optimistic state can secure loans

Governor, credit isn’t going to be that easy anymore.

AP: Even Britney Spears wonders what she was thinking

Tomorrow, she’ll wonder what she was thinking when she wondered what she was thinking before.

Crook County, Illinois Ends Property Rights

All that’s waiting is for it formally to become a commune.

P-D :

CHICAGO (AP) — Deputies will no longer oust residents of foreclosed properties in Chicago and other parts of Cook County because Sheriff Tom Dart says those thrown out are too often unwitting renters who’ve done nothing wrong and don’t even know their homes have fallen into foreclosure.

“We will no longer be a party to something that’s so unjust,” a visibly angry Dart told a Thursday news conference.

“We have to be sure that when we are doing this — and we are destroying some people’s lives — we better be darned sure we’re talking about the right people,” Dart added.

Dart — who called evictions the most difficult and “gut wrenching” job his deputies are asked to do — said he believes he’s the first sheriff in a major metropolitan area to stop participating in evictions, and the publisher of a national foreclosure database said he’s probably right.

So, what now?  If the deed becomes the bank’s, the former mortgage clients get to stay because nobody will force them out?  If the bank then sells the house, how will the new owners be able to move in if the cops aren’t going to make the previous owners get out?  In one fell swoop, the Sheriff has eliminated property rights, and central planning of real estate isn’t that far behind.  “All power through the barrel of a gun.” — Mao.