Illinois Jobs: 288 Created, 65,000 Lost

Chicago Daily Observer:

"According to Recovery.gov, the stimulus has created 288 jobs in Illinois. From funds received, that’s a cost to taxpayers of $75,173 per job. Wow! No word on jobs “saved.”

(What does the Obama administration mean by "jobs saved"? I'm no economist -- Keynesian or otherwise -- so I'm mystified. I must admit, it has occurred to me that it may mean that any American citizen who is still has a job may now thank Obama. But of course that would be silly.)

President Obama signed the stimulus into law in February 2009. Illinois’s unemployment rate was 9.2 percent. Seven months later, Illinois’s unemployment rate hit 10.5 percent in September — a 26 year high." (Read the rest . . .)

Not surprisingly, government workers have less to worry about -- for the moment. As I've already said, I'm no economist, but it seems to me that there may be a storm on the horizon for them, too, since the tax revenues used to pay, pension, and perk them on the backs of the rest of us continue to decline at a historic rate.

Will that result in "change"? I doubt it. The political party now in control can continue to blame Bush (or corporations or doctors or Wall Street or insurance companies or executives or capitalism or racists or banks or Joe the plumber . . .) and continue the knee-jerk responses that answer every problem: Raise taxes. Increase spending. Take control. Accuse those who create wealth. The result will be decreased revenue, and increased debt, and a declining economy -- but even that may, at the end of the day, win elections, if they play their blame-cards right. And you can bet, in the meantime, they'll make sure that no good crisis goes to waste.

Irish Journalist Phelim McAleer vs. Al Gore

What happens when a feisty Irish journalist asks Al Gore an inconvenient question?



The venue was a conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists that took place in Madison, Wisconsin. The basis for the question is this:

Two years ago, British High Court Justice Michael Burton characterized Gore's film as "alarmism and exaggeration in support of his political thesis." The court, responding to a case filed by a parent, said the film was "one-sided" and could not be shown in British schools unless it contained guidelines to balance Gore's attempt at "political indoctrination."

The judge based his decision on nine inaccuracies in the movie.

It isn't as though Gore wasn't aware that his inconvenient truths are, well, not entirely true, as Patrick Goodenough, International Editor of CNS News reported at the time:

Gore himself -- as the court heard -- has spoken about the need to overstate the case when faced by skepticism.

"In the United States of America, unfortunately we still live in a bubble of unreality," he said in one often-cited May 2006 interview. "Nobody is interested in solutions if they don't think there's a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is." (Read more . . .)

Granted, it's a little hard to see from this "bubble of unreality" I'm living in, but I think that means it isn't so dangerous after all. Good to know.

By the way -- about those polar bears -- evidently Gore didn't get this word:

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service estimates that the polar bear population is currently at 20,000 to 25,000 bears, up from as low as 5,000-10,000 bears in the 1950s and 1960s. A 2002 U.S. Geological Survey of wildlife in the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain noted that the polar bear populations “may now be near historic highs.” The alarm about the future of polar bear decline is based on speculative computer model predictions many decades in the future. And the methodology of these computer models is being challenged by many scientists and forecasting experts. (LINK) [Emphasis added.]

Yeah, when Gore "over-represents", seems he doesn't fool around. But conveniently, he has those hard-core "journalists" to protect him from McAleer's darned inconvenient questions.


Phelim McAleer is the director of the film Mine Your Own Business, which is about environmentalism, and a new documentary, Not Evil Just Wrong, that addresses global warming alarmists. He has written for The Economist and the Financial Times. You can also find him on Breitbart, where he recently asked some inconvenient questions of celebrities at the "Age of Stupid" premier in New York.

Obama Received Nobel Peace Prize

No, really, he did. But not for what he's done as President:

The Peace Prize Committee, made up of Norwegians, appeared to have anticipated criticism of its choice. (The other Nobel prizes are awarded by a Swedish committee.) Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said the prize often has been used to encourage laureates rather than reward them for their achievements.

Good thing, too, because as we all know, he was sworn in on January 20 -- but the deadline for nominations for the Nobel was February 1. (See a timeline here.) And we're pretty sure it wasn't for reducing violence in Chicago schools. We'd file this under 'mysteries of the Norwegian mind,' but:

Even in Norway, where Mr. Obama enjoys huge popularity, the decision raised eyebrows among some. "It is just too soon," said Siv Jensen, leader of Norway's main opposition party, the Progress Party. "It is wrong to give him the peace prize for his ambition. You should receive it for results."

What a party-pooper, eh?

By the way, don't miss Iowahawk's take on this one.

Stalemate Over Campaign Contribution Reform In Illinois

WSJ's Douglas Belkin reports that Illinois legislators have reached a stalemate with reform-advocacy group Change Illinois over limits on campaign contributions in Illinois. Not surprising, but dismal:

Between 1970 and February 2009, more than 1,000 Illinois officials and businesspeople have been convicted of public corruption, according to a study by Dick Simpson, a political-science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Remember, that's 1000 caught and convicted. Change Illinois insists that legislation to deal with the endemic corruption in this state must include limits on party contributions, as well as limits for individuals, PACs, unions, and corporations. The problems are challenges with constitutionality, and (obviously) "reluctance of incumbents to cede the advantages of their office."

"This is the single biggest issue in determining whether we're really going to have any reform in the state of Illinois or whether it's going to be business as usual in perpetuity," said Andy Shaw, director of the Better Government Association, a Chicago watchdog group that is part of Change Illinois. "Whoever controls the cash calls the shots."

In other words, the foxes are guarding the henhouse, and I'm going to guess that's the reason that, according to a recent Tribune/WGN poll, most Illinois residents don't believe reform will happen. Nevertheless, Change Illinois is "urging residents to contact lawmakers and pressure them to accept the group's terms or face political consequences."

Political consequences. I like the sound of that.

(Read the rest of Douglas Belkin's article at WSJ . . .)

Daley's Dashed Olympic Dream

In a stunning development for those who thought that the combined "star power" of Obama, Michelle, and Oprah would clinch the deal, Chicago lost it's Olympic bid in the first round of voting this afternoon, garnering only 18 of 94 votes. Somehow, an embarrassingly large majority of voters remained unmoved by the First Lady's speech about her childhood feelings and ailing father, and the President's speech which included a heartwarming description of the "clear November night" when "people from every corner of the world" watched the results of the U. S. Presidential election with hope rising in their hearts.

Mysteriously, none of this produced the desired effect. Of several International Olympic Committee members interviewed after the vote, one said Rio's bid was better. Another said it was friction with the USOC. However:

Another IOC member, Canada's Richard Pound, disagreed.

"I don't know that it says anything to them (the United States and the USOC)," Pound said. "When you look at the margin, it was clear there was an effort to make sure Rio got this, and the only meaningful threat to Rio would have been Chicago. So all the friends of Rio were urged to try and make sure Chicago didn't get into that position.

"I think there were a lot of people saying, 'If we don't get it, we'll support you but we've got to stop Chicago.' And that's sport politics, not anything else. It's election management. The Europeans and the Asians are much better at this (in the IOC) than we are. They are better at managing elections and thinking strategically. We kind of think if you've got the best bid, the world will recognize that, and these decisions are made solely on the merits of the bid. Well, not solely."

Sounds almost like Chicago politics, no? Odd that Daley didn't see it coming.

Nearly half of Chicago residents opposed Daley's Olympic plans, and according to a WGN/Tribune poll in early September, "residents increasingly and overwhelmingly oppose using tax dollars to cover any financial shortfalls for the Games, with 84 percent disapproving of the use of public money." But despite public sentiment and Daley's promises to the contrary, the City Council voted 49-0 to stick the citizens of Chicago with cost overruns.

So, a fairly large number of folks in Chicago are relieved that we won't be hosting Olympics. When we celebrate, in the spirit of today's irony, we should raise a glass to politics -- IOC style.

One Hand Washes the Other: Democrats and the SEIU

Two Kansas state agencies have ended their efforts to assist SEIU's search for new members by providing contact information of home health care contractors to SEIU. David Klepper of the Kansas City Star:

The state’s Department of Aging and Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services sent more than 1,000 letters last month to the payroll agents of in-home health workers seeking workers’ names, addresses and phone numbers. The workers are not state employees, but they receive state funds to provide in-home care to the elderly and disabled.

The agencies were responding to an open records request by the SEIU, a union that represents health care and government workers. Agency officials said they had no choice but to comply.

The SEIU was "seeking to identify potential members" from the lists, had the state managed to compile and provide it. (Kansas Republicans pointed out that the state isn't required to provide information that it doesn't already have under the state's open records law.)

After receiving complaints from those health care workers about these requests for their personal contact information -- and after the Attorney General was asked to review the request -- the state reconsidered, and decided that the two state agencies, controlled by the Democrat Gov. Mark Parkinson, were not required to comply with the SEIU request after all.

Bret Jacobson of Breitbart's Big Government did some background on a more familiar SEIU/state health care connection:

SEIU — part private sector union and part government union — grows by getting friendly Democratic governments to allow the union to collectively bargain for independent home care workers paid by state agencies.

Sure, it’s a bad deal for taxpayers: rates go up and their side of the “negotiating” table is run by a union toadie. It’s gotten so bad that unions even try to organize foster parents. But it’s a good deal for the union, which then gets to feed off the taxpayer trough, and for the politicians who get coveted union financial and logistical support during elections. SEIU, in particular, has worked this scheme in several states — including in Illinois with its ACORN-founded Local 880 and its game of footsie with disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

A former ACORN organizer studying the group wrote in 2005:

Local 880’s role in the fall 2002 Illinois gubernatorial campaign may hasten recognition of the [childcare] union by the state. Local 880’s political action committee, with major support from the International Union and the SEIU state council, worked hard to elect Rod Blagojevich as the first Democratic governor in Illinois in over twenty years. In return, Blagojevich agreed to support recognition and collective bargaining rights for both homecare and family child-care providers if he were elected governor. In February 2003, he signed Executive Order 2003-8 granting collective bargaining rights to over twenty thousand personal assistants (homecare workers) from Local 880’s DHS/ORS unit …

Of course, Blagojevich went on to give ACORN/SEIU exactly what it wanted, as have other politicians in his place. (Read the rest . . .)

And as long as we're getting back to Kansas - another interesting fact or two reported by the Kansas City Star:

The SEIU has been a key supporter of Democratic candidates across the country. Last year, the union gave $100,000 to a political action committee controlled by Kathleen Sebelius, Parkinson’s predecessor and now the U.S. secretary of health and human services. [Emphasis added.]

The SEIU also gave $31,000 to Sebelius’ campaigns for governor.

Bret Jacobson asks, "Will the SEIU take care of your grandmother?" Well, if Granny is a powerful Democrat, I guess they will.

Seven Arrests in the UK for Suspected Carbon Credit Trading Fraud

Interestingly, the sale of carbon credits itself isn't the fraud they're investigating. In the holy crusade to save the planet, some heretics appear to be playing for the money. Rowena Mason (Telegraph) reports:

Officers from HM Revenue & Customs searched both residential properties and offices in both Gravesend and London targeting an alleged network of organised crime.

Members are believed to have been trading large volumes of high-value carbon credits from overseas sources free of VAT.

Tax investigators believe these may then have been sold on to businesses in the UK charging VAT that is never paid to the authorities.

Officers said further arrests are likely, adding that the proceeds of this alleged crime have been "used to finance lavish lifestyles and the purchase of prestige vehicles".

Shocking, isn't it? Who would have guessed that scheisters would take advantage of this noble cause? It's such a flawless idea -- we really should expand it to include this:



(Thanks to Watts Up With That and Bob's Bites)

Health Care Overhaul Supporters Plan Expensive Counterattack

Evidently, the verbal assault (from both politicians and media) on citizens who oppose government overhaul of health care at town hall meetings isn't having the desired effect. In addition to the name-calling, they have insisted that those opposed to healthcare are "astroturfing", implying that the opposition to the plan isn't real. Now, the AFL-CIO is prepared to spend $15 million for "mobilization and communication" to counter what those citizens have to say. Unions are planning to advertise, and the SEIU is sending their members to hundreds of events:

Liberal groups are dispatching members to town-hall meetings with the goal of persuading lawmakers that they are the majority. They are supplying signs that can be printed from Web sites, telling members to buttonhole reporters, and giving suggestions for confronting adversaries.

"Interrupt them when they get disruptive and refocus the meeting," HCAN says in one message to members. "Line up a number of people who feel comfortable interrupting and prepare them with statements."

Now that's odd. Tell me again, what's the definition of astroturfing?

Attack on TEA Party Protester in St. Louis, 6 Arrested

Gateway Pundit is reporting that Kenneth Gladney, a black conservative protester, was attacked outside the Russ Carnahan town hall meeting in South St. Louis last night. He was badly injured. (You can see raw video of the arrest at the above link.)

Most of those protesters had to remain outside the meeting, but according to Gateway Pundit, "Carnahan reserved a section at the event for union supporters. He blocked the 1,000 tea party protesters from entering the event and even had his supporters enter in a side door." Patrick Ishmael at Hot Air:

The parking lot at the school was full when I arrived, and people were already crossing the field near the street on their way from their street spots. (Hence, the cars exiting in the line video; there were no spaces to be had.) I had to park three blocks away even as a relatively early arrival; others parked much farther away.

I got into the line immediately after taping it, but not everyone was abiding by the same rules. Carnahan staffers were wandering through the line with a list of “guests” that, as expected, got to jump the line and join the Astroturf of Purple inside. Not sure how many “town halls” operate like a gated community, but this one certainly did.

See the whole report at Hot Air Green Room for videos and pictures, including photos of those branded a "dangerous mob" by the media, and a letter from an eyewitness who was with Kenneth Gladney claiming that the attackers were members of the SEIU. More here, here and here.

UPDATE: Looks like some of those bothersome constituents were locked out in Tampa, too.

The World's Poor and Kofi Annan's Apocalyptic Warnings

Kofi Annan's made some dire predictions earlier this year of “mass starvation, mass migration, and mass sickness” if the world doesn't board the global-warming bandwagon. (No fear-mongering hyperbole was intended there, I'm sure.) But:

A funny thing happened on the way to saving the world’s poor from the ravages of global warming. The poor told the warming alarmists to get lost.

Among other good things, it seems more American-style economic freedom coincides with increased life expectancy in poor countries. And as it turns out, the poor like living. Who knew?

Read the rest . . .

If You Log On to Clunkers CARS.gov Website, the Government OWNS YOUR COMPUTER?

It seems so, if you agree to the "Privacy Act and Security Statement".

". . . When logged on to the CARS system, your computer is considered a Federal computer system and is property of the U.S. Government. . . Any or all uses of this system and all files on this system may be intercepted, monitored recorded, copied, audited, inspected, and disclosed to authorized CARS, DoT, and law enforcement personnel, as well as authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic and foreign."

I'm predicting continued silence from both the ACLU and MSM on this one.

John Stossel's 20/20 Segment on Canadian Healthcare

If you missed Stossel's 20/20 segment on our northern neighbor's government-run health care last night, the video is here. (As you probably remember, ABC pulled Stossel's Canadian health care segment a month ago, to free time for yet more coverage of Michael Jackson.)