tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56225470328412423262024-03-13T19:41:25.287-07:00Illinois Elections NewsIllinois election news serving northern Illinois including the suburban Chicago cities of <a href="http://elginite.org">Elgin</a>, <a href="http://auroran.org">Aurora</a>, St. Charles, Batavia, Geneva, Carpentersville, Huntley, Bartlett, Waukegan, Peoria, and Barrington.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-74118381100865240992008-11-08T07:39:00.001-08:002008-11-08T07:40:58.981-08:00Obama's first press conferenceI thought it was really weird that he called himself a mutt. I wonder what other biracial people think about that.<br /><br /><blockquote>With his transition economic team on hand at the <a href="http://www.airportczar.com/ohare/hotels/hilton-ohare">Hilton in Chicago</a>, Barack Obama took several questions -- from Nedra Pickler, Lee Cowen, Chip Reid, John McCormick, Lynn Sweet, Candy Crowley and Jeff Zeleny -- that spanned his goals in the first 100 days to the Obama family's puppy selection process.<br /><br />In explaining his decision not to introduce new economic plans today, Obama said that the nation has just one president at a time -- read: make no mistake, this economic mess still belongs to George W. Bush. He did say that he endorses passage of a stimulus package, either during the lame duck session of Congress or after he takes office. And he dodged questions about his post-election intelligence briefing(s) and if he intends to raise taxes for Americans in the upper income bracket.<br /><br />As for the all-important matter of the dog, there are two issues in play: weighing the need to have a hypoallergenic pooch for one allergic daughter and a family interest in adopting a shelter dog, or a "mutt," Obama said, just like he.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-78492086462875309942008-11-04T03:53:00.000-08:002008-11-04T03:55:09.883-08:00Dixville Notch goes to ObamaDemocrat Barack Obama came up a big winner in the presidential race in <span style="font-weight:bold;">Dixville Notch</span>, N.H., where the nation's first Election Day votes were cast and counted early Tuesday.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Obama defeated John McCain 15-6</span>. Independent Ralph Nader was also on the ballot, but received no votes.<br /><br />The first voter, following tradition established in 1948, was picked ahead of the midnight voting and the rest of the town's 19 registered voters followed suit in Tuesday's first minutes.<br /><br />Town Clerk Rick Erwin says the northern New Hampshire town is proud of its tradition, but says the most important thing is that the turnout represents 100 percent vote.<br /><br />President Bush won the vote in Dixville Notch in 2004 on the way to his re-election.<br /><br />DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. (AP) <br /><br />---------------------<br /><br />15 to 6. That's right. Obama won by a whopping 9 votes!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-14620807007615189162008-09-15T13:26:00.000-07:002008-09-15T13:30:36.448-07:00Sarah PalinGreat Sarah Palin article in the weekend edition of <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-11-palin-cover_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip">USA Today</a>.<br /><br />I especially enjoyed one of the comments:<br /><blockquote>People removed from middle America just don't seem to be able to<br />understand. When they sit around in their own circles and discuss things<br />they are sure everyone must agree with them because all of our friends do.<br />They forget, people in the largest inner cities are very different from<br />the rest of the country, and we are the majority.<br /><br />Palin appeals to people because she represents them. Not necessarily<br />agreeing with all her positions, but overall the person herself. She<br />represents a citizen politician.<br /><br />When you read something ridiculous the government does and you say, "If I<br />could be in charge for just a week, I would fix that place quick". She is<br />that person. She is the one that said, I can do better than the idiot in<br />charge. Then she ran for Governor and proved it.<br /><br />The American public is in love with her and her folksy way and raw<br />outdoors feel. They love her can do attitude and lack of fear. They love<br />her family, especially because it has its own problems. They see her as<br />REAL. They know what she stands for, because they do too. They also know<br />standing for something doesn't make it always occur, because no matter how<br />they all tried, they had failures too. They like it that she is still<br />trying with all the normal problems. And when people pick on her, like<br />this article, they rally around like someone just picked on their family,<br />because they think she is.<br /><br />It's going to be a fast finish from here. The Palin love affair cannot<br />wear out in 7 weeks time, and attacking it wont do any good. The people<br />that have fallen for her, have adopted her, and when someone attacks her,<br />they are attacking them. The biggest worry the democratic party should<br />have now, is, do they lose the Senate and the Congress as well, as the<br />love affair is a real one.</blockquote><br /><br />Also see coverage in the <a href="http://peorian.com">Peoria Journal Star</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-4911892500347971632008-09-14T15:15:00.000-07:002008-09-14T15:15:00.583-07:00Aurora News: Hispanic Pioneers Breakfast FridayAurora has a lot of Hispanics, and there is a special event scheduled for Friday to honor them. <br /><br /><blockquote>AURORA -- The annual Aurora Hispanic Pioneers Breakfast is scheduled for Friday at La Sierra Banquets. The breakfast, sponsored by 2nd Ward Alderman Juany ..</blockquote><br /><br />Read more at the <a href="http://auroran.org">Aurora Beacon News</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-39818970837465642452008-09-13T15:12:00.000-07:002008-09-13T15:12:00.913-07:00Waukegan News: Tot crushed in crashWhat a terrible disaster. It's hearbreaking to read about stuff like this. You wonder was the child properly secured? Was anybody at fault, or was it really just an accident where nothing could have been done.<br /><br /><blockquote>The child was was pronounced dead at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan. Booth said Friday that the collision remains under investigation.</blockquote><br /><br />Read more at the <a href="http://waukeganite.com">Waukegan News Sun</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-41471989288878666272008-09-12T15:09:00.000-07:002008-09-12T15:09:00.962-07:00Peoria News: Peoria County could see jump in number of lead poisoningsIt's amazing that lead poisoning continues to be an issue. You'd have thought that after decades of knowing about this stuff it would have been eradicated by now, but it's still around, increasing even. Scary.<br /><br /><blockquote>By CLARE HOWARD Peoria County cut its rate of childhood lead poisoning from nearly 15 percent of tested children in 2003 to just over 8 percent in 2006, .</blockquote><br /><br />Read more at <a href="http://peorian.com">the Peoria Journal Star</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-13457209832695621212008-09-11T15:07:00.000-07:002008-09-11T15:07:00.517-07:00Joe Biden - Plagiarism scandalJoe Biden is a plagiarist. Is that surprise?<br /><br /><blockquote>The only practical explanation for Biden's plagiarism is he guessed that being Kinnock on the stump would be more compelling for his audience than merely citing him. And he was probably right. Anecdotes about how a British politician made a success of himself thanks to Labor Party policies would hardly encourage an American voter to pull the lever for Joe Biden. Biden plagiarized because, like most plagiarists, he was unsatisfied with his own, honest material and decided that the payoff was worth the risk.<br /><br />Another time-honored defense of plagiarists is that the incident was a one-off. But in Biden's case, we know that's not true. As E.J. Dionne Jr. reported in the previously mentioned Times article, he "plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in his first year at law school" at the Syracuse University College of Law. According to a Dec. 1, 1965, report by the law school, five pages of Biden's 15-page paper were copied without quotation or attribution.<br /><br />Biden's defense? He told Dionne—and his professors at Syracuse at the time—that he misunderstood citation and footnoting rules. The Dionne piece is especially rich with other Bidenisms. The candidate accuses other presidential campaigns of digging up the Syracuse law school story, but he does not specify which campaigns engineered this smear.<br /><br />If you give Biden the benefit of the doubt—and I don't—you'd expect that such a calamitous "mistake" from his youth would have seared into his mind the importance of keeping his mitts off of other people's words. That it didn't speaks terabytes about his character.</blockquote><br /><br />More from <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2198597/">Slate magazine</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-13936816235562609242008-09-10T15:04:00.000-07:002008-09-10T15:04:01.014-07:00Aurora News: East Aurora School District overhauls Web siteIt's really important that schools continue to invest in their websites, because school websites don't just save money for the school district they increase the amount of information that is available to parents, and makes it easier for parents to receive information that is critical to them for keeping tab on their children and so on, seeing what grades they have and more.<br /><br /><blockquote>And during a virtual ribbon-cutting at East Aurora's Red and Black Pride Day last month, teachers were introduced to the interactive features that will ...</blockquote><br />Read more at the <a href="http://auroran.org">Aurora Beacon News</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-9921846125958526412008-09-09T15:00:00.000-07:002008-09-09T15:00:00.932-07:00Aurora News: Oberweis sets three more energy forumsIt's about time that Jim Oberweis starts campaigning for Congress because it really seems like he's not doing enough. He needs to get out there, say hello to voters and introduce himself and tell them about what he's going to do to improve their lives. Bill Foster is much more of a politician than Oberweis, meaning he knows how to pander and tell voters what they want to hear, while Oberweis says what he means and means what he says and is his own man. Unfortunately this is a campaign where the politician is likely to beat the real man.<br /><br /><blockquote>Republican congressional candidate Jim Oberweis has scheduled three more town hall meetings on energy and gas prices -- and the first one is in Aurora.</blockquote><br /><br />More at the <a href="http://auroran.org">Aurora Beacon News</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-19529410956611803972008-09-09T14:56:00.000-07:002008-09-09T14:56:00.880-07:00Sarah PalinGreat stuff here. What an amazing vice president!<br /><br /> * Sarah Palin was to walk out to the singing of Angels, but convention organizers thought it might come off as showing off.<br /> * Sarah Palin’s suit is made from 100% dead liberal skin.<br /> * Sarah Palin prepped for this speech with a ritual sacrifice of Susan Estrich.<br /> * Sarah Palin has actually travelled backwards in time from after the roll call to accept the nomination retroactively.<br /> * Sarah Palin doesn’t actually have an accent, it’s distortion from her telepathic broadcast directly into your brain.<br /> * In 2003, the US considered deploying Sarah Palin to Iraq as a 1-woman commando squad, but wanted to make it a fair fight.<br /> * As head of Alaska’s Nat’l Guard, Sarah Palin taught troops in a training exercise to scare a grenade into not exploding.<br /> * Sarah Palin drives herself to work everyday - in an M1A1 tank<br /> * Sarah Palin believes in change, too. She takes it from your pockets after striking you dead.<br /> * Sarah Palin wears three quarter length sleeves to keep from getting blood on her clothes when she kills liberals.<br /><br /><br />More about <a href="http://www.palinfacts.com/">Sarah Palin</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-7482130525496234472008-09-07T22:52:00.000-07:002008-09-07T22:52:00.267-07:00Aurora News: Aurora blotterNot so good news here. Read more about how a loud stereo lead to a felony conviction. Full coverage on the <a href="http://auroran.org">Aurora Beacon News</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>Frank Ayala, 20, of the 2300 block of Candleberry Lane, Aurora, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of ..</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-89363806923337176762008-09-06T22:50:00.000-07:002008-09-06T22:50:01.120-07:00Waukegan News: Waukegan vs. GrayslakeWill Waukegan beat Grayslake? Who has the better football team? How about basketball? I don't really follow sports but you can get full coverage from the <a href="http://waukeganite.com">Waukegan News Sun</a>.<br /><br /><blockquote>Last year, when Maine South's football team came to play at Waukegan, the financial gap between these programs could be plainly seen on the goal posts,</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-85831825442509505842008-09-05T22:49:00.000-07:002008-09-05T22:49:00.815-07:00Peoria News: Bakers Square closes!<blockquote>Peoria's Bakers Square closed after bankruptcy<br /> 1 hour ago<br /> By NO DATA The Bakers Square Restaurant at The Shoppes of Grand Prairie is one of more than 50 of the chain's restaurants to close because of financial </blockquote><br /><br />Wow this is really sad that the Peoria Bakers Square has gone bankrupt. See the full coverage at the <a href="http://peorians.com">Peoria Journal Star</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-73671395466398873812008-09-04T22:47:00.000-07:002008-09-04T22:47:00.913-07:00Peoria News: Peoria footballHow about some Peoria football? <br /><br /><blockquote>This is Pekin's first season opener against a Peoria-area team since facing Woodruff in 1992. KEY PLAYERS: DUN: RB-LB-P Joe Cloud, QB Luke Sensabaugh. ...</blockquote><br /><br />Great way to start the football season watching local Peoria football team. See full coverage on the <a href="http://peorian.com">Peoria Journal Star</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-24297560641785308612008-09-03T22:45:00.000-07:002008-09-03T22:45:01.049-07:00Aurora News: Rush CopleyThe <a href="http://auroran.org">Aurora Beacon News</a> covers an interesting story about practicing for having babies at the hospital in Aurora.<br /><br /><blockquote>BY CHRISTIME S. MOYER cmoyer@scn1.com AURORA -- An alarm rang out on the Labor and Delivery floor at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora Tuesday. ...</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-82053757144970538382008-09-02T22:44:00.000-07:002008-09-02T22:44:00.319-07:00Aurora News: Aurora swimmers vs. IMSAIillinois Math and Science Academy Swimmers will compete against Aurora, the <a href="http://auroran.org">Aurora Beacon News</a> reports:<br /><br /><blockquote>IMSA will battle perennial rival West Aurora twice this year and looks forward to three new teams on its schedule. Talbot holds the school record in the 200</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-67846500686562606122008-09-01T17:42:00.000-07:002008-09-01T17:42:01.172-07:00Aurora man sex assault convictionThis guy is really despicable:<br /><br /><blockquote>BY BEACON NEWS STAFF An Aurora man was convicted Wednesday in a 2002 sexual assault where he showed the victim a gun. A jury deliberated for less than three ...</blockquote><br /><br />This was reported in the <a href="http://auroran.org">Aurora Beacon News</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-19459105778619352432008-09-01T00:34:00.000-07:002008-09-01T00:39:13.091-07:00GOP Convention Stage<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/news.aol.com/political-machine/media/2008/08/gop-stage.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/news.aol.com/political-machine/media/2008/08/gop-stage.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The Republican National Convention stage in St. Paul is a stark contrast to the lavish opulence of the two stages the Democrats set up in Denver. <br /><br /><a href="http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/08/30/gop-convention-statge-contrasts-dems/">From AOL</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>By contrast, the Republican stage is a study in minimalism. It consists of a simple podium, only four feet above the convention floor, backed by a 50 ft. by 30 ft. video board. Asked about the contrast between the Republicans' set and the Democrats', Matt Burns, Director of Communications for the 2008 Republican National Convention, said that the simple design was not a deliberate attempt to contrast the Democrats. Burns said that the stage was designed to fit the personality of the party's nominee, Sen. John McCain.<br /><br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">"The stage reflects the humble nature of our nominee and puts him where he is most comfortable, close to the people."</span><br /><br /><br />Mr. Burns said that the stage is meant to evoke Sen. McCain's town hall meetings...</blockquote><br /><br />And <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/conventions/co_20080831_3283.php">National Journal</a>:<br /><blockquote>If the Democrats' whiz-bang stage in Denver screamed American Idol, the Republicans' streamlined set in Minneapolis-St. Paul whispers American Bandstand. From a simple black platform just four feet off the ground, convention speakers will look out on a sea of delegates in red folding chairs that sit squarely on the arena's concrete floor. A single television screen behind the speakers will carry their faces to the nosebleed seats above, while black drapes behind the screen conceal the backstage area.<br /><br />The sedate, almost plain $1 million podium was conceived of long before the Democrats unveiled their bells and whistles in Denver. Built in just six weeks atop the Xcel Energy Center's hockey rink, the podium is designed to focus attention on the candidate's message, said David Nash, the convention's executive producer. <span style="font-weight:bold;">"With the economy the way it is, we thought it should be simple," said Nash. "It's not the time to be lavish, not when people are losing their homes."</span><br /><br />The low, unencumbered platform will also bring John McCain closer to the crowd in a structure reminiscent of the town-hall meetings he has used, to general acclaim, on his campaign stops. Much as the in-the-round stage on the final night of the 2004 GOP convention made Bush's speech a relatively intimate affair, the 2008 stage gives McCain and the delegates a direct sense of each other. "You're just not going to have a lot of distractions," said Maria Cino, the president and CEO of the convention. "What you see is what you get."</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-64715554402898409072008-08-31T22:59:00.000-07:002008-08-31T23:01:31.088-07:00Joe Biden lies about blue-collar roots<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0831chapmanaug31,0,7175933.column">Chicago Tribune</a> has the story.<br /><br /><blockquote><br />The facts are there for anyone who wants to look at them. When Joe Biden Sr. died in 2002, his obituary in the News-Journal of Wilmington reported that when he married in 1941, "he was working as a sales representative for Amoco Oil Co. in Harrisburg."<br /><br />It went on, "Biden also was an executive in a Boston-based company that supplied waterproof sealant for U.S. merchant marine ships built during World War II. After the war, he co-owned an airport and crop-dusting service on Long Island." Upon moving his family to Delaware, the News-Journal said, Biden "worked in the state first as a sales manager for auto dealerships and later in real-estate condominium sales."<br /><br />Executive, co-owner and manager? Those titles identify the jobholder as solidly middle class, if not better. They fall in the category of white-collar occupations, not blue-collar.<br /><br />And Biden Sr. clearly knew the difference. In his book, "Promises to Keep," Biden writes that his father was "the most elegantly dressed, perfectly manicured, perfectly tailored car sales manager Wilmington had ever seen."<br /><br />Biden notes that he himself could have gone to the best public high school in Delaware. Instead, he enrolled at Archmere Academy, a Catholic prep school that made him think he had "died and gone to Yale." He took a summer job to help pay the steep tuition, which today amounts to $18,450 a year.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-10638491679465623652008-08-31T22:58:00.001-07:002008-08-31T22:59:17.077-07:00Joe Biden - Gaffemeister<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1j0FS0Z6ho">Joe Biden</a> lies about how his academic credentials. Claims scholarships and degrees he never had.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/D1j0FS0Z6ho&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/D1j0FS0Z6ho&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-85961592151801063002008-08-31T22:54:00.000-07:002008-08-31T22:56:50.418-07:00Safire: Obama's acceptance speech is "Hype"Bill Safire, who is one of the few men of letters who has compiled and edited collections of speeches and is a speech expert had a little something to say about <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.artists.springsteen/browse_thread/thread/232966f3368e6a1a">Barack Obama</a>'s 2008 DNC acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium.<br /><br /><blockquote>The Newhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.quote.gif York Times<br />August 31, 2008<br />Op-Ed Contributor<br />The Audacity of Hype<br />By WILLIAM SAFIRE<br />Washington<br /><br />BY choosing the venue of a vast outdoor stadium as John Kennedy did<br />for his “new frontier” acceptance, and by speaking on the anniversary<br />of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” address, Barack Obama — whose<br />claim to fame is an ability to move audiences with his words —<br />deliberately invited comparison with two of the most memorable<br />speeches of our recent history.<br /><br />What a mistake.<br /><br />A speaker must first ask: what is the best setting to make close<br />contact with the person I want to reach? In this day and age, it is<br />not a huge throng wildly cheering on cue. On the contrary, the target<br />is the individual American voter watching a TV or computer screen at<br />home, accustomed to looking over the shoulders of elected<br />representatives, in colorful convention assembled, selecting the<br />party’s nominee.<br /><br />Instead, Obama’s handlers offered the political version of “American<br />Idol” — the audacity of hype. On the 50-yard line of the football<br />field, at a reported cost of $6 million, they erected a plywood<br />Parthenon, its fake Grecian columns suggesting the White House. At the<br />end, not a traditional balloon drop in a contained hall — enjoyable<br />hoopla — but a fireworks display in the heavens over a mass of<br />humanity in a blizzard of confetti, all too like the collectivist<br />fantasy that opened and closed the Beijing Olympics.<br /><br />To present what? In a speech aptly titled “The American Promise,”<br />Obama promised to “end this war in Iraq responsibly,” even as it is<br />already ending responsibly. He promised in a militant phrase not<br />merely to end but to “finish the fight” (meaning to win) in<br />Afghanistan. In one catchall sentence, Obama promised to defeat<br />“terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate<br />change and disease.” Because the charge that he would raise taxes<br />obviously nettles him, he promised to “eliminate capital gains taxes<br />for the small businesses” run by obedient high-tech executives, and to<br />“cut taxes for 95 percent of all working families.”<br /><br />In promising to “end our dependence on oil from the Middle East,” he<br />stopped pandering for a moment to oppose the majority of Americans<br />urging we increase supply by drilling for oil here: “Understand that<br />drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution.” That is<br />phrased with wiggle room to let him go along with necessary drilling,<br />provided stockholders in oil companies are punished.<br /><br />Belatedly, Obama did what he could to lower expectations for this<br />speech, saying it would be “workmanlike” with no high rhetoric. But<br />his and his writing team’s product lacked the freshness of his 2004<br />convention stunner, the winning modesty of his 2006 Gridiron Club<br />address (“Thank you for all the generous advance coverage ... when I<br />actually do something, we’ll let you know”) and the grace of his<br />gentle disassociation from his longtime pastor this summer.<br /><br />His stump speech in the primaries was finely honed; the delivery of<br />his televised victory speeches showed a thrilling mastery of the<br />teleprompter. By becoming the first African-American to win a major<br />party’s presidential nomination, he made history, but he failed to<br />come up with a historic acceptance address. Having set a Stevensonian<br />standard for stirring eloquence, he cannot get by with workmanlike<br />speechwriting.<br /><br />“Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country,” he cried<br />angrily. “Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe.” Who’s<br />telling him that? By escalating criticism, he knocked down a straw<br />man, the oldest speechifying trick in the book. He promised to<br />“restore our moral standing” (shades of Jimmy Carter) “so that America<br />is once more the last, best hope for” (Lincoln wrote of) “all who are<br />called to the cause of freedom” (shades of George W. Bush). But does<br />he apply that idealist “cause of freedom” to the invaded Georgians? He<br />didn’t say.<br /><br />Goaded by increasingly worried advisers, he turned personal and mean.<br />“If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament,<br />and judgment, to serve as the next commander in chief, that’s a debate<br />I’m ready to have.” That use of “temperament,” accent on the “temper,”<br />was a throwback to the slur at Barry Goldwater as “trigger happy.” (It<br />worked for Lyndon Johnson.)<br /><br />Then came a strange one: “John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow<br />bin Laden to the gates of Hell — but he won’t even go to the cave<br />where he lives.” What’s that supposed to mean — that McCain is a<br />coward, unwilling to lead a charge into the hills of Pakistan? That<br />Obama would? Most post-speech TV analysis, blown away by the<br />sky-piercing fireworks, ignored that low blow; nor was attention paid<br />to his replay of the charge that “naysayers” are motivated by more<br />than his politics: “I don’t fit the typical pedigree.”<br /><br />It was only human for Obama to show his irritation with McCain’s<br />successful “celebrity” spot zinging his rock-star reception by the<br />Berlin 200,000, and Obama’s exploitation of Phil Gramm’s “nation of<br />whiners” <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1j0FS0Z6ho">gaffe</a> was a legitimate political pop. However, treating as<br />serious McCain’s joking definition of “middle class” as earning $5<br />million a year was a bit much from a candidate who derogated<br />working-class Hillary Clinton supporters as “bitter,” claiming “they<br />cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like<br />them.”<br /><br />Supporters of John McCain and Sarah Palin (did I mention I’m one?)<br />were glad to hear Obama reach into the John Edwards playbook to fan<br />resentment that turned independent voters away from the Democratic<br />ticket four years ago. He could not resist his version of the old<br />class warfare, “two Americas” pitch. And he revealed his own promise<br />to tighten management of the economy from Washington as never before<br />with a soothing banality: “Our government should work for us, not<br />against us. It should help us, not hurt us.”<br /><br />A poignant reminder of the Original Obama came in the speech’s moving<br />peroration. His evocation of Martin Luther King’s dream of<br />togetherness at the Lincoln Memorial was beautiful and timely.<br /><br />A stern editor could have improved the 4,500-word acceptance by<br />cutting a thousand words of populist boilerplate and partisan-pleasing<br />shots that offend centrists. But the die was cast before the writing<br />began. The pretension of the fake Grecian temple setting clashed with<br />the high-decibel, rock-star format and overwhelmed the history<br />implicit in the event. Ancient Greeks had a word for it: hubris. </blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-71359693492869269242008-08-30T22:38:00.000-07:002008-08-30T22:38:00.844-07:00Mitt Romney is McCain's Running MateFrom his <a href="http://www.mittromney.com/Learn-About-Mitt/index">website</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote><br />Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has been widely recognized for his leadership and accomplishments as a public servant and in private enterprise.<br /><br />Elected in 2002, Governor Romney presided over a dramatic reversal of state fortunes and a period of sustained economic expansion. Without raising taxes or increasing debt, Governor Romney balanced the budget every year of his administration, closing a $3 billion budget gap inherited when he took office. By eliminating waste, streamlining the government, and enacting comprehensive economic reforms to stimulate growth in Massachusetts, Romney got the economy moving again and transformed deficits into surpluses.<br /><br />At the beginning of Governor Romney's term, Massachusetts was losing thousands of jobs every month. By the time he left office, the unemployment rate was lower, hundreds of companies had expanded or moved to Massachusetts, and in the last two years of his term, the state had added approximately 60,000 jobs.<br /><br />One of Governor Romney's top priorities was reforming the education system so that young people could compete for better paying jobs in the global economy of the future. In 2004, Governor Romney established the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program to reward the top 25 percent of Massachusetts high school students with a four-year, tuition-free scholarship to any Massachusetts public university or college. He has also championed a package of education reforms, including merit pay, an emphasis on math and science instruction, important new intervention programs for failing schools and English immersion for foreign-speaking students.<br /><br />In 2006, Governor Romney proposed and signed into law a private, market-based reform that ensures every Massachusetts citizen will have health insurance, without a government takeover and without raising taxes.<br /><br />Governor Romney was elected to the Chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association by his fellow Governors for the 2006 election cycle, and raised a record $27 million for candidates running in State House contests around the country.<br /><br />Romney first gained national recognition for his role in turning around the 2002 Winter Olympics. With the 2002 Games mired in controversy and facing a financial crisis, Romney left behind a successful career as an entrepreneur to take over as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.<br /><br />Governor Romney has said he felt compelled to assume the seemingly impossible task of rescuing the Games by both the urgings of his wife, Ann, and by the memory of his father, George Romney, who had been a successful businessman, three-term Governor of Michigan, and a tireless advocate of volunteerism in America.<br /><br />In his three years at the helm in Salt Lake, Romney erased a $379 million operating deficit, organized 23,000 volunteers, galvanized community spirit and oversaw an unprecedented security mobilization just months after the September 11th attacks, leading to one of the most successful Olympics in our country's history.<br /><br />Prior to his Olympic service, Mitt Romney enjoyed a successful career helping businesses grow and improve their operations. From 1978 to 1984, Mr. Romney was a Vice President at Bain & Company, Inc., a leading management consulting firm. In 1984, Romney founded Bain Capital, one of the nation's most successful venture capital and investment companies. Bain Capital helped launch hundreds of companies on a successful course, including Staples, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Domino's Pizza, Sealy, Brookstone, and The Sports Authority. He was asked to return to Bain & Company as CEO several years later in order to lead a financial restructuring of the organization. Today, Bain & Company employs more than 2,000 people in 25 offices worldwide.<br /><br />Governor Romney has been deeply involved in community and civic affairs, serving extensively in his church and numerous charities including City Year, the Boy Scouts, and the Points of Light Foundation. He was also the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 1994.<br /><br />Governor Romney received his B.A., with Highest Honors, from Brigham Young University in 1971. In 1975, he was awarded an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />See the <a href="http://auroran.org">Aurora Beacon News</a> coverage of the selection.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-28060461456808163472008-08-28T22:28:00.000-07:002008-08-28T22:31:07.534-07:00Obama's Unsavory Past<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m89m0pC_bpY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m89m0pC_bpY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Great commercial highlighting Barack Obama's past and current ties to a terrorist movement that bombed the United States Capitol.<br /><br />Check out the <a href="http://waukeganite.com/">Waukegan News Sun</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-7004993801851457432008-08-28T22:26:00.000-07:002008-08-28T22:28:17.014-07:00McCain Picks Tim Pawlenty for VP Running MateIt's a good choice. From Tim Pawlenty's website:<br /><br /><blockquote>Governor Pawlenty grew up in South St. Paul, Minnesota. The only child in his family to graduate from college, he attended the University of Minnesota (B.A., J.D.) and practiced law in the private sector. His public service career includes serving as a city councilmember and ten-year member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, including four years as House Majority Leader.<br /><br />As Governor, he has balanced Minnesota's budget three times without raising taxes, despite facing record budget deficits. Governor Pawlenty's most notable accomplishments include proposing and signing into law significant new benefits for veterans and members of the military; enacting a property tax cap, eliminating the marriage penalty and cutting taxes; toughening the state's education standards; reforming the way teachers are paid through a nation-leading performance pay plan; instituting free-market health care reforms that increase accountability and provide tax credits to encourage the use of health savings accounts; and implementing a plan to Americanize our energy sources by generating 25% of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2025.</blockquote><br /><br />Read more at the <a href="http://peorian.com/">Peoria Journal Star</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622547032841242326.post-10879889021077121822008-08-12T13:54:00.000-07:002008-08-12T14:05:49.304-07:00Obama's Arugula, Shortbread and Honest Tea<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/michelle-obamas-shortbread-cookies-baracks/story.aspx?guid={72B5E7F5-D75E-4B9F-A36A-4F80BB08DFD7}&dist=hppr">Marketwatc</a>h (and others) report that delegates to the Democratic National Convention will be welcomed with special treats:<br /><br /><blockquote>Among the many special features and amenities awaiting guests at the 600-room hotel are shortbread cookies at turndown made from one of Mrs. Obama's favorite recipes, and bottles of "Honest Tea," a cooling beverage Senator Obama enjoys on the campaign trail. </blockquote><br /><br />Okay, now I enjoy shortbread as much as anybody and I'm sure Honest Tea is delicious, but are these the kind of treats enjoyed by regular Americans? Barack Obama showed how <a href="http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/obama_talks_arugula_again_in_i.html">out of touch</a> he was with America when he asked an audience of Iowa farmers, "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for <a href="http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27978">arugula</a>?” <br /><br />And now Mr. Obama is offering guests to his convention shortbread and Honest Tea. Shortbread is definitely European, Scottish to be exact, and is the kind of cookie you find in gourmet stores like Dean and Deluca. It's not what you find at the local supermarket. As for <a href="http://www.bevnet.com/reviews/honesttea/">Honest Tea</a>, here's the description:<br /><br /><blockquote>Honest Tea stands for real tea and real taste. Each Honest Tea flavor is brewed based on a recipe perfected over generations in a specific region of the world. As a result, a drink of Honest Tea becomes a cultural experience, from the genuine tastes to the distinctive international art and quotations on the labels. Honest Tea allows people to enjoy the world's second most popular drink the way hundreds of civilizations and nature intended it to be. Tea that tastes like tea -- A world of flavor freshly brewed and barely sweetened.</blockquote><br /><br />And no, it's not 50 cents a bottle.<br /><br />I'm sure the Honest Tea and the gourmet shortbread is going to be a big hit with the wine, cheese and granola liberals that run the DNC from their conclaves in San Francisco, etc. and who are attending the convention, but this isn't going to fly so well with the middle Americans in the swing states whose votes he really needs.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0