The firing and political mugging of Dr. Mark Dybul, the global AIDS relief coordinator, doesn't speak well of the Obama Administration.

Dybul is talented, gay and ran the most successful AIDS relief program in history.

He is now history for no other reason than to appease a few narrow left-wing interest groups. Disgraceful.

Check out this video about the failure of gun control in England.

They outlawed handguns to make the country safer, now gun violence is up 40 percent. Pretty dramatic proof that gun laws don't work as advertised.

No good deed (or good movie) goes unpunished.

Some in India are protesting Golden Globe winner "Slumdog Millionaire" for popularizing the term Slumdogs. And rioting too.

"Referring to people living in slums as dogs is a violation of human rights," said Mr Vishwakarma, who works for a group promoting the rights of slum dwellers.

Being called a name is a human rights violation? What about calling the place where they live a "slum"? That's not very nice.

Ironic, that the movie makes actually makes heroes out of the people called "Slumdogs" by their supposed betters.

BTW, we've seen the film and it's terrific. Fun, entertaining and set in a part of the world too few westerners see.

Too bad a handful of rabble rousers have managed to misunderstand the film's intentions and adopted the very western strategy of appearing victimized for their own aggrandizement and agendas.

That's the Hypocratic Oath that doctors take. Unfortunately, it isn't taken in Washington by politicians.

Politico suggests maybe it should be when it comes to this massive spending bill.

In others words, "don't just do something, stand there."

Money Q:

“The economy was too big. It was all phantom wealth borrowed from abroad,” says Andrew Schiff, an investment consultant at Euro Pacific Capital and a card-carrying member of the stand-tall-against-the-stimulus lobby. “All this stimulus money is geared toward getting consumers spending and borrowing again. But spending and borrowing were the problem in the first place.”

Holman Jenkins exposes the lameness of Obama's bow to the greens on emissions standards, after hiring thoughtful liberal Cass Sunstein are his regulatory boss.

Money Q:

"What must Mr. Obama's incoming regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein, an expert on cost-benefit analysis, make of this regulatory excursion? His accession has hardly delighted the greenies, not least because of papers he's written suggesting the U.S. has relatively little to fear from climate change compared to other nations, as well as entertaining the possibility that the costs of fighting global warming might be greater than the benefits."

My print column on Joe Forte's is up.

Reporters were finally able to catch up with him at his arraignment in Philadelphia federal court.

His 12-year $50 million Ponzi scheme came tumbling down in December.

In talking to reporters, he seemed like a nice, sincere guy, which, of course, makes him the perfect con man.

Iowahawk has 10 excellent suggestions for our Hollywood betters to help get planet earth of its collision course with environmental disaster.

For instance:

"If you own a vanity cattle ranch in Montana, email the trail boss and tell him/her to add Beano to your herd’s feed to reduce ozone-depleting methane emissions."

It's the little things that count.

NYT's Bob Herbert (think Paul Krugman without the economics degree) freaks out that anyone would listen to ANYTHING the GOP has to say about ANYTHING.

Republicans have ruined the country, sent people to the "poorhouse by the millions."

"When the G.O.P. talks, nobody should listen."

What America needs is a one-party system like say, Cuba's, to get rolling again, right Bob?

That way, if the Democrats deficit-spending stimulus package fails to bring us out of this recession, we won't have to listen to baby-eating Republicans annoyingly say "We told you so."

"This is a party," Herbert screeches, "that, given a choice between Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, would choose Ronald Reagan in a heartbeat."

Both Lincoln and Reagan were good Republicans. Herbert is a good Democrat. Or at least a good example of one.

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democrats are likely to jettison family planning funds for the low-income from an $825 billion economic stimulus bill, officials said late Monday, following a personal appeal from President Barack Obama at a time the administration is courting Republican critics of the legislation.

But didn't Nancy Pelosi say it's GOOD for the economy?

Never mind.

Smart of Obama but not really that tough a call.

Tom McGuire catches the NYT's left-wing, Nobel Prize-winning columnist Paul Krugman being a "dishonest flack" by his own definition.

What does it cost for the government to "create" a job?

A lot.

Tim Geithner, Obama's pick for Treasury Secretary, wins confirmation despite his problems of paying his own taxes.

"Three Democrats and one independent voted against Geithner's confirmation, including Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., the longest-serving senator in history."

"Had he not been nominated for treasury secretary, it's doubtful that he would have ever paid these taxes," Byrd said in a statement.

It is now the official policy of the most ethical administration in history that paying your taxes on time and honestly is not a prerequisite to being part of it.

The trial of alleged hit and run killer Lemuel Payne has been set.

In August 16-year-old Faith Sinclair was hit and killed trying to cross Chester Pike in Sharon Hill.

The investigation led authorities to Payne. The most damning evidence against him are admissions he allegedly made to his boss about being in trouble for being involved in the accident. Plus his car was damaged and he appeared to be trying to hide it from authorities.

All that said, there is no reason to believe what happened was not an accident.

That he fled the seen has led many to speculate that Payne may have been under the influence at the time. The accident occured at 10:15 p.m. on a Sunday night. But authorities have no proof of that.

If found guilty Payne faces a mandatory minimum of a year behind bars but it could be a little more. That may not seem like much but it's about right for an accident after which he made a number of panicky and bad decisions.

Keeping Iraq on the path to a stable democracy may well require our new president to break his campaign promise to withdraw all combat troops within 16 months.

His military commanders (they're his now) continue warn against to abrupt a withdraw of troops and counsel that facts on the ground should determine the pace of rotating out troops.

Money Qs:

"This is a potential win-win for Mr. Obama. If Iraq emerges from 2009 as a stronger democracy, the White House could then reduce troop levels with little risk of relapse. The President, who prospered in the Democratic primaries thanks to his antiwar stance, will reap the strategic benefit. Let historians appreciate the irony."

"Here's the lose-lose scenario: Allow Iraq to deteriorate by withdrawing too soon and push into Afghanistan without a better strategy. Mr. Obama has inherited a victory in Iraq that he can't afford to squander."

Fair question: Does Obama care more about renewable and clean energy or the view from Ted Kennedy's vacation home.

McDonald's posts 80 percent increase in 2008 profits thanks to it's dollar menu.

Ya' think there's any connection between that and the obesity epidemic?

Karl Rove predicts Obama will not have Gitmo closed in a year.

Didn't he also predict the Republicans would hold the Senate in 2006?

Still, it sure is easier saying stuff on the campaign trail to rally your base than it is to make it happen once in office.

Rep. Jack Murtha says he'd be happy to see the detainees transferred to Pennsylvania. We're looking forward to someone doing a poll on that one.

Word it this way:

"Would you mind having the innocent goat herders, taxi drivers and suspected al Qaeda terrorists being held at Gitmo placed in a maximum security facility in your city, town or neighborhood? You know, so that people around the world will once again respect America?"

Republicans are licking their lips.

"Go ahead Mr. 'I Won,' make our day."

This is cool.

Two dozen American universities have sent personnel to Iraq to recruit students and help revamp the country's system of higher education.

From FOX News:

While discussing the stimulus package with top lawmakers in the White House's Roosevelt Room, President Obama shot down a critic with a simple message.

"I won," he said, according to aides who were briefed on the meeting.

The perfect response from any Republican senator to that bit of arrogant high hatting:

"I won too, Mr. President."

Saw my first "IMPEACH OBAMA" bumper sticker today.

Cheeky. What took so long?

More Iowahawk fun here:
"Hope. Change. And Apocalyptic Garbage Blizzards."

"A lotta litter," says one party goer.

Aren't there regulations (or something) against littering?

Or did Bush repeal them?

Meet Iowahawk Guest Columnist Rosa Ortiz, former head housekeeper and ghostblogger for Caroline Kennedy.

If you have time, check out the Idiossey: the Not-So-Epic Poem of Obamacles.

As much as it pains him, Irwin Stelzer calls Obama's economic plan "coherent" with some possibility of success.

He sums it up this way:

"Spend now, cut taxes now, and run deficits now. Build stuff that has a positive social value. Maintain faith in the currency by brokering a grand bargain to bring entitlement spending and therefore post-recession deficits under control. At the right time, call in all that extra cash that is sloshing around, thereby preventing inflation. And all will be well in this best of all possible worlds."

Normally, having a Treasury Secretary who failed to pay his taxes, would be unacceptable" to Democratic lawmaker Kent Conrad.

But these aren't normal times.

Some Republicans voted against him but others voted for him saying his tax mistakes weren't egregious enough.

An African American columnist asks if Barack Obama can change the hip-hop culture that infects and ghetto-izes poor urban communities today.

We don't know. Does he really want to?

Ex Gitmo detainees make video for al Qaeda, reaffirming their commitments to the jihad.

Wonder how their lawyers feel about that.

Anyway, it's Bush's fault. He didn't reform them when he had the chance.

Predator strikes under Obama are very much like the predator strikes under Bush.

More on Murtha's troubles here.

Libertarian Nick Gillespie pronounces George Bush a big government disaster.

It's a fair cop.

Too bad that's not why the left hates him. But then, if it was, they wouldn't be leftists.

The New Yorker on Caroline Kennedy and her ending her bid to be appointed a U.S. Senator.

"(She) looked as though she’d just disembarked from a very steep and terrifying roller coaster: shaken, startled, roughed up."

The difference between Sarah Palin and Caroline Kennedy?

Sarah Palin can take it.

She's Batman.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, the spunky, new Democratic senator from N.Y. puts the president on hold.

The newest most ethical administration in history, if you're into double standards and hypocrisy that is.

Godspeed, Nick Miccarelli.

Obama gives it to Small Business, in the neck.

Money Q:

"Small businesses are facing the most hostile climate in a generation, and it is not just the slumping economy and credit crunch. With the quiet scrapping of the $3,000 job creation tax credit — which was “never set in stone” according to a senior Obama adviser – there is no more small business tax relief on the horizon. (Clearly, campaign pledges are only valid if chiseled into tablets, Ten Commandments-style.)"

Obama as a dead white male wannabe?

Another offensive New Yorker cover.

President Obama tells Republican lawmakers they need to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh and jump on his bandwagon of a spending bill.

There are excellent reasons to be against this spending bill. It is loaded with the typical kinds of pork that is now being called stimulus. The Congressional Budget Office has said hundreds of billions of it won't stimulate anything. And spending when you're in ridiculous debt and have less money coming in strikes a lot of people as, shall we say, injudicious.

Obama wants Republicans on board so that when the stimulus package doesn't work, Republicans can't turn around and say, "We told you so" and kick his party's butt in the next election cycle.

Plus, Obama's mentioning Limbaugh by name was dumb. It only elevates the conservative talk show host. If you want someone's views to be ignored, you ignore him.

But the Democrats obsession with Limbaugh is longstanding. His radio audience is large and he has some influence with conservative lawmakers, but mostly its conservative lawmakers who use Limbaugh to get their points across to voters.

Democrats are salivating over the prospect of reenacting the "Fairness Doctrine," which is anything but. Frustrated by the success of conservative talk radio in a free marketplace and the relative failure of liberals and leftists to find big audiences on the radio, Dems want to require radio companies to present "balanced" points of view as a condition of being allowed to stay in business.

Since the liberal network Air America failed to attract a decent sized audience, Dems have been pushing their "Hush Rush" bill. Now that they control congress and the presidency, they will be pushing it harder.

What is being dressed up as fairness and balance is nothing more than direct government regulation of free and unfettered speech.

The government already directly funds liberal broadcasting with PBS and NPR. When Republicans attempted to end the taxpayer subsidies to these entities, the howls were frightening.

Personally, I listen to NPR a lot more than I listen to conservative talk radio. But what reasonable should want is the government involved as little as possible in judging and regulating the political content of speech on the radio or anywhere else for that matter.

Obama's comments about Limbaugh will be (rightly) thrown back at him when and if the Dems bring the Hush Rush bill to a vote.

The Chicago Boyz wonder if California is past the tipping point, that being when fewer people pay taxes than receive government benefits.

What did I tell you, the media is a fickle boy.

Here comes the "witch hunt."

Money Q:

"Mr. (John) Conyers, the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has spent years gearing up for a Bush administration witch hunt. Backed by a mob of congressional liberals, outside groups, and the New York Times, he's counting on this new president to play along with payback. Consider it the first test of Mr. Obama's promise of a new civility."

Just what the country needs: Soviet-style truth commissions.

In a new Pew survey, the public ranks concerns about "terrorism" third, behind jobs and the economy. (Global warming, by the way comes in last on the list.)

The surveyers apparently didn't think to include "Investigating the previous administration for alleged harsh interrogations of terrorists."

Wonder why.

Political influence figured into the TARP bailout program.

Murtha buddy and big contributor has his offices raided by the FBI.

It's probably nothing. The FBI raided Charlie Sexton's and Curt Weldon's daughter's home two weeks before an election and more than two years ago. No charges have been brought.

But it makes you wonder why the feds waited until two months AFTER Murtha's tough reelection bid to conduct the politically sensitive raid and conducted the Weldon raid two weeks BEFORE his reelection bid.

Murtha is no stranger to controversy. He falsely accused U.S. Marines of murder in Iraq and is now being sued for slander.

His ties to lobbyists are legendary and he's one of the biggest pork eaters in Congress.

Most recently he suggested he would welcome the suspected terrorists at Guantanamo to be housed in his home district. He might want to check with his constituents on that one.

My column on the Bush haters is up.

The stars are pledging to be servants to our president and "all mankind."

This is creeping some people out.

Not us. But it does make you wonder. There isn't a pledge in here that couldn't have been made under George W. Bush.

Guess he just wasn't inspiring enough.

Former French Prez Jacques Chirac is mauled by his own clinically-depressed poodle.

A self-described "dumb gay American" takes on anti-Catholic bigots, Moveon.org, Islamic supremacists, and liberal PC idiocy.

He knows who his (and our) real enemies are.

Money Q:

"I have since met real people who identify as Republicans and even Christians – the religion we are constantly warned (despite plenty of evidence to the contrary) is the worst, most dangerous in the world. I have been in the dreary Catholic church of my partner’s parents. And guess what. I’ve never felt more welcome, even as an openly gay man there with my partner. I have no interest in Catholicism or going to church. And I’m sure underneath, the church folk do not fully approve of how we live. Maybe some do. But newsflash: I don’t have to approve of how they live either. And none of us is killing the other. They are not the enemy."

Read the whole thing. It's long but worth it.

Democrat Jack Murtha says he'd be happy to have the terrorists detained at Gitmo sent to his district here in Pennsylvania.

What a perfect place for 235 blood thirsty, America-hating Muslim supremacists.

They'll fit it nicely with all the bigots, rednecks and racists, who Murtha says live in his district.

Obama campagined on closing down Gitmo. But suddenly, he says it's not going to be as easy as he thought.

Murtha's idiotic comments don't make it any easier.

Jules Crittenden goofs on the Inauguration Committee.

"From the people who wanted to run the war... apologies for bungling the inauguration."

More than 4,000 ticketholders left standing in a tunnel for 5 hours, freezing, no toilets.

Isn't it for stuff like this at Gitmo the Bush Administration was accused of war crimes?

We can hear the committee's apologists now.

"At least nobody was KILLED! At least THEY weren't sent to Iraq to die in an unjust war." "Oh yeah, and Bush never apologized."

The real problem was there just wasn't enough government oversight of the event. More regulations are obviously needed to prevent more inaugural disasters in the future.

David Harsanyi has an excellent question for Obama worshippers:

Is dissent still patriotic?

Money Q:

"Liberals, rightly, recoil at the prospect of conservatives dictating which morals they should live by. Obama, though, has spent the past year preaching his own brand of morality -- with a list of demands. Everyone, you see, "must" sacrifice. As Michelle Obama recently explained, "Barack Obama will require you to work. . Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."

Those of us who refuse to buy left-wing orthodoxy will remain "uninformed" and, inevitably, "selfish."

He forgot racist, sexist and homophobic.

At least one good liberal seems to get it and he even has a sense of humor too.

Holman Jenkins on entitlement reform.

"Our long postwar prosperity has left an unsustainable accumulation of government-spawned Rube Goldbergism, Social Security and Medicare most of all.

"But what kind of reform? Democrats seldom say exactly, hoping susceptible voters will assume their promised benefits will be funded unto eternity. And yet Mr. Obama's objectives are perfectly amenable to a genuinely reforming approach."

It will be Democrats he has to convince, if he has a mind to.

The Politico offers 7 reasons for "healthy skepticism" about the Obama Administration's ability to right the ship.

Only seven?

The Chicago Boys are far from impressed by Obama's reading list.

Money Q:

Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times is much impressed by the books Obama has read, or says he has read. I am almost in despair when I read the same list. Obama will be the commander in chief — but he appears to have read almost nothing on military history or strategy. And he does not seem to see that as a defect in his preparation for the presidency. There no books on science, technology, or economics in the list.

Dick Morris on the Obama agenda.

Money Q:

"Americans who pay no federal income tax will rise from the current one-third of all households to more than half. In the process, he will create a permanent electoral majority that does not pay taxes, but counts on ever-expanding welfare checks from the government."

And that's just for starters.

Juan Williams urges that Obama not be treated with kid gloves because he is our first black president.

Money Q:

"During the Democrats' primaries and caucuses, candidate Obama often got affectionate if not fawning treatment from the American media. Editors, news anchors, columnists and commentators, both white and black but especially those on the political left, too often acted as if they were in a hurry to claim their role in history as supporters of the first black president.

For example, Mr. Obama was forced to give a speech on race as a result of revelations that he'd long attended a church led by a demagogue. It was an ordinary speech. At best it was successful at minimizing a political problem. Yet some in the media equated it to the Gettysburg Address."

Good stuff. But Juan needn't worry too much. The press, what's left of it, is a fickle boy. It'll turn.

Joe Forte is charged with fraud.

He's looking at 20 years.

Thomas Friedman begs Obama to be a "radical."

Not left or right, he says, but radical, just the same. He wants him to "rewrite the social contract," ala FDR and LBJ.

Let's hope everyone reads the fine print.

So reports Gregg Levine at Firedoglake.

"So, I don't even know how to write about this without it sounding like bitter grousing..."

Don't worry, Gregg, you don't.

It was cold, he didn't get in even though he had tickets. He couldn't hear anything. Other than that, it was great.

This was sure good.

"We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

I hope he meant it.

George Will weighs on Obama's speech and the childishness of Americans.

Money Q:

"In 1801, Jefferson in his address said that "the sum of good government" is not very much -- to be "wise and frugal," to "restrain men from injuring one another," to "leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits" and to "not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned."

Fair enough. Times change.

Based on what I heard this afternoon, Obama has much, much bigger plans for government intervention into our lives and dealings.

Oh yeah, How about Chief Justice Roberts trying to draw attention to Obama's Muslim roots by throwing his middle name into oath?

Typical right-winger.

He even made him repeat it.

They would be the professional atheists like Michael Newdow and our own Margaret Downey who sued to prevent public officials from invoking the name of God during the big event.

Evangelical pastor Rick Warren really shoved it down their throats.

He not only mentioned God but Yaweh and Jesus Christ himself, ending with the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven..."

How oppressed and humilated Mikey and Maggie must feel.

Dick Cheney, the most pro-gay Vice President in history.

Barack Obama is now, officially, President of the United States.

As for his speech, there was no way it could live up to this historic moment of the first black man taking the oath of offfice, and it didn't.

The speech didn't soar, but it was fine.

Drudge says Obama "flubbed" the oath but it was hard to tell if it wasn't the Chief Justice who messed it up. Still counts though.

It was great to see the Obamas and Bushes together as, per tradition, the new president saw the old one off.

There was laughter and there were hugs all around.

It was easy to see it was W. who was cracking jokes, keeping the situation light and fun. Good guy that Obama is, he followed George's lead.

A very nice moment.

UPDATE: Drudge now includes Chief Justice Roberts as a flubber.

Over at NRO Michael Knox Beran criticizes Obama for "trivializing" Lincoln.

Not only that but he says, Lincoln's "political schtick" was liberty, while Obama's is community.

Maybe. But that's certainly arguable. When it came to liberty, Lincoln wasn't willing to allow southern states the liberty to go their own way out of the union. He brought all the military might he could bare to prevent that from happening.

He also suspended habeus corpus during the Civil War.

As for being pro-liberty, the freeing of the slaves was a tactic, a highly moral one, but at tactic in what many southerners still call the "war of Northern aggression."

Yesterday, at a Martin Luther King Jr. service event, Obama said "we can't allow any idle hands."

Conscription, anyone?

Obama may have more in common with Lincoln than Beran cares to admit.

Still, as Beran writes:

Lincoln’s career teaches something else that the new president might bear in mind. Lincoln presided over a vast expansion of the powers of the federal government. So almost certainly will President Obama. Lincoln made clear that his own enlargements of coercive authority were temporary. His “strong measures,” he said, would not outlast the emergency: America would no more come to rely on such measures after the crisis passed than a man would “contract so strong an appetite for emetics during temporary illness as to persist in feeding upon them during the remainder of his healthful life.”

The question is does Obama feel the same way about the coercive authority of government.

Not for the first time, but we now have more people working in government than in manufacturing and construction.

That can't be a good thing.

Forbes reports that going to college can be crazily expensive and isn't the money-maker it's been cracked up to be.

Money Q:

"Higher education can be a financial disaster. Especially with the return on degrees down and student loan sharks on the prowl."

Read the whole thing.

So today's the big day.

Anne Applebaum makes the comparison between our new president and the the USAir pilot who brought that disabled passenger jet in for a safe crash landing on the Hudson River.

Interesting. We'll see.

More thoughts on this later.

An interesting and personal review of Andrew Wyeth's work.

Cheney to be in a wheelchair at inauguration. Be on the look out for Dr. Strangelove comparisons.

It's one way to get the economy growing again.

Ala Madonna and Justin, climate hysteric Jim "Snoop" Hansen gives Barack Obama 4 Minutes to Save the World.

Make that four years in geological time.

High school warns against inappropriate anti-Obama comments.

Spencerblog does too.

Plague hits a plague.

Bruce Anderson at The Independent takes on the anti-Bushites.

Money Q:

"It is not difficult to make the case against George Bush. There have been mistakes. But in their abuse of him, many of his liberal critics demonstrate their own weak hold on reality. In trying to belittle him, they merely reveal their own littleness."

That's about right.

To trash Bush was to belong to the tribe.

Sounds right.

Like laughing at "Bush is stupid" jokes.

Despite continued economic concerns, Obama's inauguration is bringing forth a wave of optimism.

Almost the greatest comeback in league championship playoff history.

Almost.

At least, that's what Joe Buck said when the Eagles were down 18 points at the end of the first half.

The Indianopolis Colts rallied from 18 down. The Eagles almost did the same thing, taking the lead in the the 4th quarter.

Then after a gutty drive by Arizona's Kurt Warner - a Cinderella Man if there ever was one - the Birds had one last chance but their drive stalled just past midfield.

It was crazy game. An exciting game. A heartbreaking game for Eagles fans.

Some will say, once again, a Donovan McNabb/Andy Reid team finished in failure. That's one way of looking at it. But it's a pretty narrow way of looking at a team that gave its fans and themselves these last three weeks.

A huge win over the Cowboys to get into the playoffs. And then two playoff wins, one over the hated NY Giants at the Meadowlands.

Yesterday's game summed up their nutty, painful but exciting season. Gamely, coming from behind, only to come up empty at the very end.

You can ask more of a team, but not much more.

UPDATE: Quintin Demps cheapshot against Warner at the end of the first half was just that. Cheap. He should have been thrown out of the game.

Accused Ponzi schemer, Joe Forte, didn't graduate from Cardinal O'Hara High School as I reported in my print column Friday. He is a graduate of Monsignor Bonner.

My print column on Joe Forte is up.

But even I could go for one of these.

The economy is not a machine that can be fixed.

It's more like an eco-system.

No kidding. It is, after all, made up of billions of human beings making quadrillions of economic decisions per minute.

Somebody call Al Gore. He understands it all so well.

Standard and Poors gives Delco a mixed rating on the $28.8 million in bonds county council intends to float to finance the building of the soccer stadium in Chester.

The lower rating means the county will pay a higher interest rate on the money it borrows to help build the stadium.

Councilman Andy Lewis, an opponent of the stadium deal, says the county rating is still pretty good.

But it is all the more reason to question the wisdom of the deal.

Karl Rove has some advice for the Promiser in Chief and his aides.

George Will on Jerry Brown's attempt to have Prop 8 declared unconstitutional.

Money Q:

"Just eight years ago, Proposition 22 was passed 61.4 to 38.6. The much narrower victory of Proposition 8 suggests that minds are moving toward toleration of same-sex marriage. If advocates of that have the patience required by democratic persuasion, California's ongoing conversation may end as they hope. If, however, the conversation is truncated, as Brown urges, by judicial fiat, the argument will become as embittered as the argument about abortion has been by judicial highhandedness."

The left would rather order than persuade.

Two fat guys waddled off with two puppies from a Springfield pet shop.

Apparently they blew all their cash on a Cadillac Escalade. Unless they stole that too.

Obama used to think that capturing or killing Osama bin Laden was essential to our national security. Not any more.

UPDATE: Better to get all the backpeddling out of the way early.

Dan Henninger argues for a pardon for Scooter Libby.

"A Washington press corps for whom leaks have become the oxygen of life spent three years writing about who leaked Valerie Plame's name to Robert Novak. Of all the serious and genuinely damaging leaks during the Bush presidency, this was the only one the press chased. Why? This one was different. This leaker was thought to be a top Bush aide, perhaps even the vice president. Once named, this aide could be demolished by a prosecution.

"That proved true. Scooter Libby was demolished."

Henninger forgets to mention that it was Asst. Sec. of State Richard Armitage who first leaked Plame's name. He was charged with nothing because mentioning Plame's name to a reporter wasn't a crime.

Libby was indicted for and convicted of perjury, for supposed lying to Patrick Fitzgerald's investigators about conversations he had with the press. Libby's defenders
said he simply recalled events differently than NBC's Tim Russert, who became the main witness against him.

The prosecution and persecution of Libby in retrospect was a disgrace. It was driven by heavily partisan fervor and inept and injudicious prosecutors. A pardon is warranted.

This guy could sell ice to Eskimos.

Gotta' love his attitude.

Historian Paul Kennedy has a rather dreary view of America's future.

My print column is up.

Meet Margaret "Down With God" Downey, Reds, and Ed Rendell's Groundhog.

Thomas Friedman explains, sort of, the bloodshed in Gaza.

Is it the education or eradication of Hamas?

Well, it's not the latter because that isn't possible. Hard to say if the former is possible either. We'll see.

Here comes the Obama Train. It's coming through Chester.

Remember this:

Now I've been happy lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
something good has begun

Oh I've been smiling lately,
dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be,
some day it's going to come

Cause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country,
come take me home again

Nice song.

It was written by Cat Stevens, back when he was an American citizen, before he left the country, became a Muslim and started justifying the jihad, fatwas and other acts of terrorism. "Dreaming about the world as one," is what radical Muslims (and American leftists) do.

So much for the Peace Train.

Thomas Frank trashes moderation and urges the Obama Administration to be audacious, which is to say, leftist.

More taxes, more spending, more regulation, more pro labor union, more radical.

What would you expect from a man who calls Bill Ayers his friend.

Meanwhile, Obama has reportedly met with conservative pundits, George Will, David Brooks and Bill Kristol.

Smart.

The comment section is turning back into an insult fest. Spencerblog moderator is cracking down. Either comment substantively or your post will be rejected.

The management.

We're a nation of obese pigs, so we are told.

Check your BMI

Spencerblog did. And we're officially overweight.

Here's the thing. We'd still be technically overweight if we lost 25 pounds. (We're 6 feet and weigh about 210.)

Not only that, but according to the BMI (Body Mass Index) we'd be of "normal weight" if we tipped the scales at 137 pounds.

We're not saying we can't afford to drop a few... but 70 pounds!? We'd look like a Biafran heroin addict.

This BMI thing can't be right.

Christopher Hitchens wonders when it comes to Bill Clinton and his foundation if it's "Buy one, get one free."

UPDATE: AP says Mrs. Clinton intervened on behalf of his husband's donors at least six times.

There's Mini-Madoff and then there's Microscopic Madoff.

Hey, ten grand is nothing to sneeze at.

"Reds" is tasered and takes two in the shoulder defending the family of an alleged pot dealer.

"Get Well Soon" cards can be sent to the Old Marple Veterinary Hospital in Springfield.

A flying car? Very cool.

A San Diego woman auctioning off her virginity has reportedly received offers of up to $3.7 million.

Natalie Dylan is a 22-year-old Women's Studies major. Her sister Avia, allegedly made enough money as a prostitute in three weeks to pay for her own college education.

Natalie claims she wants to become a marriage and relationship counselor after her deflowering which will allegedly occur at the Bunny Ranch in Nevada, where prostitution is perfectly legal.

She's appeared on the Howard Stern Show to promote the auction which began several months ago. She's taken a lie detector test concerning her virginity and claims to be willing to undergo a medical examination as well.

According to Dylan, she's gotten over 10,000 bids, some from "weirdos."

Our best guess is that about 100 of them are legit. But it's nice to see a young woman valuing her virginity so highly.

Mrs. Spencerblog says "Why didn't I think of that?"

Iraq war veteran turned anti-war activist John Bruhns thoughtfully explains how the anti-war movement killed itself.

Bruhns:

"Too many other issues were dragged into the effort. What middle-of-the-road Americans would attend a demonstration against the war if they knew they'd be standing in a mob of Che Guevara T-shirts listening to chants of "Free Mumia!"?

Bingo!

What Bruhns doesn't get is that the anti-war movement's loss was Iraq's gain. The refusal of the Bush Administration to pull-out during the darkest days of the terrorist insurgency, led to the defeat of al Qaida in Iraq and put the country on the road to democracy.

Is the Sports Illustrated curse for real?

Apparently not. Eagles 23, Giants 11.

Anybody remember the SI Cover of Julius Erving dunking in the Boston Garden to beat the Celtics in the playoffs 4-3 after almost for the second time blowing a 3 to 1 lead?

The headline: Dr. J Jams the Jinx.

In this case it was Dr. Jackson who jammed the jinx. The Birds are headed to the NFC Championship against the Arizona Cardinals.

Go ahead SI, put Kurt Warner on this week's cover. Make our day.

Female teacher is charged with raping a 13-year-old boy... for two years.

Yes, it's illegal. Why are we not outraged?

My print column on the prospects for the taxpayer-financed MLS stadium is up.

Left out were a few comments by naysayer Andy Lewis and supporter Linda Cartisano.

Lewis told me the $30 million in county money might be better spent trying to lure a manufacturing business to the city by actually funding the building of a plant. After all, manufacturing jobs typically pay more than part-time stadium work.

Cartisano said the day of Chester as a manufacturing town are over. Those jobs have gone overseas and to Mexico, she said. Better to focus on Chester as a riverfront destination for entertainment, shopping and good living.

All the county money for the project will come from Chester's Harrah's racino revenues which must, by law, go toward economic development.

Richie Rich Rubin falls from Citi-Group. $150 million is a pretty nice pillow.

Mickey Kaus recommends former journalist Steve Rattner to be Car Czar. When it comes to automotive unions, he gets it because he reported on it.

How about Michael Moore for Surgeon General?

Dick Cheney gives a pretty good explanation about why his personal popularity rating has dropped so far in the last few years.

Interesting stuff, and sure to bring a response from the shrill, irrational and angry left.

Meet William Drayton, 59 years old and recently laid off. He's seen worse times.

Broomall's Joe Forte is the latest alleged Ponzi-schemer. He is charged with clipping clients for $50 million.

He managed to keep the confidence game going for ten years. It's amazing how many rich and smart people fall victim to such con men. But history is full of them.

Having a Democratic president, House and Senate is good news for lawyers. Bad news for business.

New legislation will allow thousands of new lawsuits against businesses, making a sluggish economy even more sluggish.

Sun becoming less active? Must be our fault.

Al Gore's theory: Too many people are sun bathing, draining the sun's precious energy. People need to cover up and use more sun block. It will not only prevent more cases of skin cancer, it will save the world from freezing over.

Or something like that.

Karl Rove claims George Bush did try to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but got nowhere with Democrats.

What Rove writes is true. But he fails to mention that back in 2001, Republicans controlled Congress.

Neither the GOP members, nor the president had the guts to stand up to the Chris Dodds, Barney Franks and Maxine Waterss of the world, who would accuse them of not wanting black people to be able to own their own homes if lending practices were tightened.

And reasonably cutting access to loose credit conflicted with the president's own goal of the "ownership society."

Besides, George Bush had bigger fish to fry after 9/11/01.

It is ridiculous to blame the Bush admininstration for the lack of regulation and oversight of Fannie and Freddie when so many others, especiallly Democrats in Congress, were fighting such regulation. But it did happen on his watch, while he was looking the other way.

The PSEA is the "worm in the apple" of education in this state.

Hat tip: Bob Guzzardi.

Harry Reid knows when to fold 'em.

Sen. Burris will be seated.

Leftist Jane Hamsher would like to play poker with Reid.

Who wouldn't?

George Will on GMAC's Bailout Bowl.

When will the United States of America cease to be a "going concern"?

Not so suddenly, our liabilities are exceeding the value of what all American households are worth put together and it's getting worse, far worse, not better.

Despite speculation, Chris Matthews says he won't run for Arlen Specter's Senate seat.

Hey, if Al Franken can win a Senate seat (almost) Matthews could.

But this gives our Joe Sestak more open running room if he decides the House isn't a big enough place for his awesome talents.

Besides, when you're a Senator there are fewer names to remember.

Democrats refuse to seat a legally appointed, but supposedly "tainted" black man to the U.S. Senate.

So how come Chris Dodd, the senator from Countrywide, gets to stay?

When it comes to the crime rate, especially the black crime rate, NYT editorialist still doesn't get it.

Heather McDonald tries to explain it to them. She's been trying for years. It's hopeless.

Leon Panetta is kind of weird pick to be top spook.

Richard Miniter has more.

The upside of Obama: The death of white guilt.

Money Q:

"If the election of Barack Obama — a 47-year-old black man with a political resume as ephemeral as a Mets pennant drive and a governing philosophy as dubious as Paris Hilton’s choice of boyfriends — accomplishes nothing else, it should illustrate the peculiar distorting effect on American society of white liberal guilt."

The spate of Democratic scandals are boring to some people. Not to us.

At least our prediction about more global warming skeptics is coming true. They're even showing up at the very liberal Huffington Post.

They go hand in hand.

The only thing worse than a culture of credulity is a culture of mistrust. Just check out the Arab world.

Money Q:

"This culture of credulity did plenty of damage to the economy, but now it has given way to something even more corrosive; namely, endemic mistrust. Because if there’s one thing worse than too much confidence it’s not enough. Fraud impoverishes a few; fear impoverishes the many. As long as mistrust prevails, people will keeping pulling money out of the system—sometimes even at gunpoint."

It's a different sort of gas levy.

Because he's loud enough, obnoxious enough, and gosh darn it, some people don't really like him.

OK, so we're 0 for 1 in our New Year's predictions.

Here's a new prediction: The Eagles lose to the Giants. And here's hoping we keep our string of losers alive.

Nice piece by our Paul Luce on Correll Buckhalter and the Eagles supporting the troops.

Money Q:

Buckhalter, whose father was a U.S. Marine and Vietnam War veteran, said meeting and interacting with the troops before they deployed was a moving experience.

“I can’t put into words how it feels,” he said. “Meeting them face to face, I’m happy but at the same time I’m sad. They’re leaving their families to fight for our country.”

It's almost as if the evil Karl Rove actually cares about the military men he met this year, their amazing bravery and love for their country.

Democrats look away.

Six out of ten military personnel are uncertain or pessimistic about President Obama as Commander-in-Chief, according to a recent poll.

Sounds reasonable. The guy has no military experience so he'll have to prove himself as commander in chief.

The good news is more soldiers are optimistic than pessimistic.

The newly proposed senator from Illinois, as attorney general, tried to put an innocent man to death.

That Illinois governor sure can pick 'em.

We recall seeing the case of Rolando Cruz on American Justice. Powerful and sobering stuff.

Here's hoping its better than the last one.