Pickle Museums everywhere are quaking in their boots…

Given his actual record in the US Senate (not the conservative-partisans’ faked and baked spin of his record) and his past, oft-repeated statements on smarter government, I have little doubt that President-elect Obama will make good on the contents of today’s speech regarding the White House Office of Management and Budget:

Good morning.

I speak to you today, mindful that we meet at a moment of great challenge for America, as our credit markets are stressed, and our families are struggling. But as difficult as these times are, I’m confident that we will rise to meet this challenge – if we’re willing to band together and recognize that Wall Street cannot thrive so long as Main Street is struggling; if we’re willing to summon a new spirit of ingenuity and determination; and if Americans of great intellect, broad experience, and good character are willing to serve in government at this hour of need.

Yesterday, I announced four such Americans to help lead the economic team that will advise me as we seek to climb out of this crisis. Today, Vice President-elect Biden and I are pleased to announce two other key members of our team – Peter Orszag as Director and Robert Nabors as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Before I explain why I selected these outstanding public servants, let me just say a word about the work I am asking them to undertake. As I said yesterday, the economic crisis we face demands that we invest immediately in a series of measures that will help save or create two and a half million jobs and put tax cuts in the pockets of the hard-pressed middle class. Many of those new jobs will come in areas such as energy independence, technology, and health care modernization that will strengthen our economy for the future.

But if we’re going to make the investments we need, we must also be willing to shed the spending we don’t. In these challenging times, when we are facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an option. It is an imperative.  We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist solely because of the power of a politician, lobbyist, or interest group.  We simply cannot afford it.

This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works. That is why I will ask my team to think anew and act anew to meet our new challenges. We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.

Let me give you one example of what I’m talking about. There’s a report today that from 2003 to 2006, millionaire farmers received $49 million in crop subsidies even though they were earning more than the $2.5 million cutoff for such subsidies. If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as President.

And we will also focus on one of the biggest, long-run challenges that our budget faces – namely, the rising cost of health care in both the public and private sectors. This is not just a challenge but also an opportunity to improve the health care that Americans rely on and to bring down the costs that taxpayers, businesses, and families have to pay.

That is what the OMB will do in my administration – it will not only help design a budget and manage its implementation, it will also help make sure that our government – your government – is more efficient and more effective at serving the American people.

There is no better person to help lead this effort as Director of the OMB than my friend Peter Orszag. Peter has been one of our nation’s leading voices on budgetary issues. It is said that a nation’s budget reflects its priorities. I believe that is true. And I know that Peter will bring to his work at the OMB a set of priorities that I – and the American people – share.

Throughout his career, he has made significant contributions in our understanding of all the major economic challenges we are now confronting – from reducing medical costs to saving Social Security to fighting global climate change to helping put the dream of a college degree within reach for more students.

As Director of the Congressional Budget Office, he reenergized and reinvigorated the agency, while shifting its focus to confront the health care crisis that is not only a cause of so much suffering for so many families, but a rapidly growing portion of our budget and a drag on our entire economy.

But it is not simply Peter’s past career that makes him qualified for his new appointment, it is his vision for the future. He believes, as I do, that even as we take steps to restore discipline to our budget, we must also take the steps right now that are necessary to solve our immediate crisis.

Peter doesn’t need a map to tell him where the bodies are buried in the federal budget.  He knows what works and what doesn’t, what is worthy of our precious tax dollars and what is not. Just because a program, a special interest tax break or corporate subsidy is tucked into this year’s budget, does not mean it should survive the next. The old ways of Washington simply can’t meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

And no one is more able or more qualified to assist Peter in this work as Deputy Director of the OMB than Robert Nabors. Rob will bring to this post experience in the executive branch, at the OMB, where he helped the Clinton administration achieve balanced budgets, as well as in the legislative branch, where he led the appropriations committee staff as a driving force for a responsible budget. Together with Peter, Rob will help steer our budget through Congress so that I can sign it into law.

Now, let me be clear: these appointments and the appointments I announced yesterday are not the sum of my economic team. These appointees will work with those I have yet to announce – including the secretaries of Energy and Labor, Commerce and Health and Human Services and others in my administration – to design a recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street, and to put our economy on a path to long-term growth and prosperity.

Because at this moment, we must not only restore confidence in our markets. We must also restore the confidence of middle class families that their government is on their side – that it’s working for them – on their behalf – to meet their families’ needs. And that is exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States of America. Thank you.

Update to “Why do cons blame unions for Big 3 execs’ bad decisions?”

A few days ago I was giving local conservative partisan pundit Bruno Behrend some flak for promoting the anti-union talking point that labor is somehow a major contributor to Detroit’s current fiscal mess. His complaints echoed that of most of the conservative partisanry.

To his credit, he did not refer to the much-ballyhooed “but unions cost Detroit $80 an hour in wages and benefits” refrain in his defensive comment. Rather, blogger “thoughtbasket” had that honor by referring to the seemingly legit NY Times which did in fact publish that very statistic in articles they ran last year (one example can be found here where the NYT compared what they erroneously claimed, without reference, was an $80/hour total compensation package for GM vs only $50 for Toyota).

Unfortunately for “thoughtbasket”, the NY Times and others who have repeated that statistic … it’s just plain wrong.

For one thing, the average hourly wage for UAW laborers working for the Big Three is only $28/hour.

To get to $80 total salary and bennies that would mean an employee would have to be bringing in $52/hour in benefits and, assuming a 40-hour work week, have a compensation package of $160,000 annually.

I realize their CEOs rake in millions, have Rolls Royce style benefits packages themselves, and fly the infamous private jets to and fro… but I find it quite hard to believe that tens of thousands of average UAW members are bringing in $160k annually and enjoying benefits packages worth nearly twice their salary.

And that’s because they’re not. With salaries averaging only $28/hour it turns out that benefits packages are only averaging about $10/hour. That’s almost one-third the salary, instead of almost double… slight difference, eh?

So how did that $80/hour salary-and-benefits statistic come to be fabricated?

It turns out to be based on not just what an average employee’s compensation plan is worth, but also what the average retiree’s plan is worth … yet it was for some reason (cough… anti-union partisanship… cough, cough) only divided by the current number of employees rather than total employees, past and present/retired, to create that skewed and spiked number.

Try stickin’ that fuzzy math up yer tailpipe.

So next time some little parrot flies by and quotes you that $80/hour gold-plated stat … let them know it’s fool’s gold and the real number is an average of only $38/hour (28 salary + 10 benefits) for UAW members.

(h/t brownsox)

Why do cons blame unions for Big 3 execs’ bad decisions?

Dear conservative buck-passers, the United Auto Workers didn’t cause the Big 3 to focus on producing gas-guzzling SUVs that break down at the expense of R&D and roll-outs on hybrids and lighter-weight sedans that are now the best-selling cars in the county.

And PS: The Japanese automakers that manufacture those best-selling cars? Many are making those cars right here in the US and lo and behold they employ union members too.

So much for ‘not wanting to be the party of angry white men.’ Blaming blue collar guys and gals (ie, Joe and Jane Sixpack) for the failings of the Big Business executives running the companies they work for is just plain silly … but it does advance this bizarre ‘angry’ thing cons seem to be going for these days as they demonstrate this strange “penchant for regurgitating talking points from partisan entities” (…Bruno).

Quote of the Day: Soon-to-be-former Senator Obama

President-elect Barack Obama announced today that he will resign his Senate seat on Sunday:

“It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate.  In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women who’ve taken different journeys, but hold common hopes for their children’s future.  It is these Illinois families and their stories that will stay with me as I leave the United States Senate and begin the hard task of fulfilling the simple hopes and common dreams of all Americans as our nation’s next President,” said President-elect Barack Obama.

Thank you for your service to our state, Senator.

And, for the record, all those conservative worrywarts who keep writing in to newspapers and calling radio shows complaining that Senator Obama wasn’t doing his job representing Illinois need to take a gander at the attendance record of Sen. John McCain. Turns out the guy from Arizona was AWOL from the Senate for the better part of 2008 and even before that — completely gone from April, when he clinched the GOP nomination, up until his not-so-emergency return to Capitol Hill to work on the bailout legislation that, at first, failed in the House. Sen. Obama, on the other hand, was multi-tasking and regularly returned to the Senate chambers to cast important votes throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Adding … I don’t think Sen. Obama was alluding to the “conservative crossroads of Illinois” with his use of the word “crossroads” in his statement, but it would be very funny if he actually was rhetorically winking at his nemeses on the con crossroads — ye olde former Alan Keyes, Illinois Edition, workers and other assorted anti-Obama whiners.

Worthy Causes: Thank a veteran

…Thank our veterans not just this Veterans Day, but every day. Here are a few resources:

• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America has created an online resource center for GIs who’ve been involved in those conflicts.
• SALUTE is a local charity that assists the families of men and women who are deployed.
• The USO, of course.
• Capt. Rich Connaroe recently wrote in the Roanoke (Va.) Times of these groups which help prep care packs for guys and gals deployed overseas: operationmilitarypride.org, soldiersangels.org, adoptaussoldier.com, and www.adoptasoldiernow.org. Check them out.

Our town had a Veterans Day event this past weekend as we re-dedicated our Memorial Park, which is 125 years old this year and in the midst of a top to bottom renovation. During the event our mayor read this poem, enjoy….

It Is the Soldier

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Amen.

The poem was written by Charles Province.

According to this reference, Charles M. Province is a veteran of the Army, is the founder of The George S. Patton, Jr. Historical Society and the author of several books on Gen. Patton.

As an interesting aside, a Marine named Father Denis O’Brien apparently once sent this same poem in to Dear Abby and ever since the poem has often been mistakenly attributed to him instead.

Anarcho-syndicalism in American History

There have been many, many examples throughout American history of those dastardly Americans whose Red and Black colors reveal an affection for hidden, deeper anarcho-syndicalism…

• President Thomas Jefferson, this writer of the Declaration of Independence and Third President of the United States clearly held anarcho-syndicalistic sympathies, as evidence by his Black coat and Red sash.
• Blackwater USA, a mercenary-for-hire outfit founded by a hardline conservative Dominionist-style former military man. Notice the obvious anarcho-syndicalistic leanings in the logo featuring a Black claw and stylized Red target scope.
• Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, whose Red leather jacket and Black skirt not only hid her deep-down desires for anarcho-syndicalism, but also revealed a charming affection for Michael Jackson’s vintage Thriller album. This Republican former vice-presidential candidate is also known for her penchant for socialism and redistribution of wealth.
• The Georgia Bulldogs, as the school colors of the oldest state-chartered university in the nation reveal, the Dawgs could also easily go by the team nickname of Anarcho-Syndicalists as the Redcoat Marching Band plays the themes of anarcho-syndicalism every game day. Go Big Red Anarcho-Syndicalists, Go!
• Honda products, as a Japanese company it’s easy to see why they would be trying to stealthily promote anarcho-syndicalism in the US of A. Instead of attributes like “power” and “efficiency” the more knowledgeable among us know that they’re really promoting “anarchism” and “labor unions”. It’s plain as day.
• Fran Eaton’s car, this particular model of Thunderbird from Ford is recognized around the world as an Anarcho-syndicalism-mobile thanks to its unmistakable Anarcho-syndicalist Red paint job. From the T-bird logo signifying the flight of fancy anarchy entails to the chrome detailings that only a union member in good standing can produce, it is the vehicle of choice for advocates of anarcho-syndicalism.
• The lizard aliens from V, the Red and Black uniforms of these people-eating, water-sucking extra-terrestrials was a dead give-away that their claims of peace, prosperity and untold technological wonders were really hiding a sinister, other-wordly predeliction for anarcho-syndicalism. And you never know when the diabolical liberal media will foist this tale of anarcho-syndicalism back onto an unsuspecting American public in an attempt to indoctrinate a new generation to the listless evil that is anarcho-syndicalism… you just never know.
• Pres. George W. Bush, if the Red and Black of anarcho-syndicalism is good enough for Thomas Jefferson, Sarah Palin and those snake-aliens from V, it’s good enough for W too.

My friends, given this list of prominent American patriots, upstanding companies, and well-recognized products — well, except for that Japanese company and those people-eating lizard alien invaders — I’m beginning to think that anyone who is against anarcho-syndicalism and it’s proud Red and Black flag is actually against America.

After all, what kind of anti-American nut would oppose real Americans like Pres. George W. Bush and Gov. Sarah Palin as they proudly wear the Red and Black colors known around the world as signifying allegiance to anarcho-syndicalism?

As some might say… Then again, let’s write the color choice off for now to basic social naivete and suggest that these real Americans (and Japanese company… and lizard-aliens…) had no idea that their black and red color choice would suggest to some a deeper, hidden meaning. Let’s not fall for those rightwing conspiracy theories tying W.E.B DuBois’ socialistic teachings, Gerald Horne’s book about DuBois entitled “Black and Red,” anarcho-syndicalism flag colors and this rampant use of the colors Red and Black throughout American history.

Okay? Really, folks. Please. Don’t go there.

…If you do, Illinois Review contributor and conservative blogger Matt Gaunt might call ya “SUPREMELY silly”.

(Which is what the above parody is…)

Sour grapes make for Fran Eaton’s bitter whine?

Red and black clothes on the family of a Democratic President-elect evoke a deeper, hidden meaning. That’s right: anarcho-syndicalism is in our midst!!!

Run for the hills before you catch teh ism!

Obviously, this means a red and chromeconvertible driven by a conservative partisan also subliminally evokes a deeper, hidden meaning: anarcho-syndicalism has infested even the most hard-line of conservative partisans.

It’s like a frackin’ virus, y’all. Don’t catch the anarcho-syndicalism cooties! They’re intimidating!

…I wonder why conservatives didn’t do better last Tuesday. What could’ve gone wrong?! Why, “the truth shall make you vomit”. Or something. Also.

Breaking News: Oh, and yours truly has gone from being so-not-anonymous to being so-very-bitter. Or something. Also.

Again, I wonder why conservatives didn’t do better last Tuesday… not enough Matt Gauntts apparently.

Anatomy of a con smear on Rahm Emanuel, Updated x3

UPDATE 3: Being told facts in an effort to help correct misinformation and being cited court cases when the misinformation is still being peddled well after being told of the facts is apparently now “government intimidation.” Perhaps Ms. Eaton needs to learn the definition of “defaming,” which is what her original posts (at the very least) were bordering on.

Far be it from anybody reasonable to expect little things like facts to get in the way of the conservative machine’s propagandizing and thuggery… or something.

It’s as if Fran Eaton, were she ever to be pulled over by a cop for speeding, would blame Henry Ford for having started the company that made her car and then yelp “government intimidation” when the cop wrote a ticket even after she hopped up and down blaming the Ford family for her own transgression.

By the by, Ms. Eaton has managed to continue to pull the wool over the eyes of several, less reasonable partisans … even almost a week later.

UPDATE 2: Fran Eaton has deleted [removed the content of] her earlier, false posts [and replaced the headlines with a 'woe is me' lament about "gov't intimidation"] (though now that it’s been a day they will live on at other links).

However, she defiantly still doesn’t seem to understand that asking “Why doesn’t Rahm Emanuel pay property taxes?” as if it’s true is a problem in light of the fact that he actually does pay taxes. In reality, he pays taxes that are about double the rate of his neighbors, as her own research and numbers illustrated. (It makes sense he’d be paying about double since he owns a double-lot.)

It’s not that she was asking questions and doing research. We all have the right to hold our leaders accountable. It’s that she made a mistake in doing her research (we’re all human) and then, when the mistake was pointed out to her, instead of immediately owning up to it she hemmed and hawed and continuously deleted direct comments noting and correcting her mistake. Even today, her tone is angry and stand-offish as if she takes issue with anyone having the temerity to question her just as she demands to question others. Indeed, Ms. Eaton ends with the rhetorical equivalent of flipping the bird by exclaiming: “Now stop asking questions!”

And, apparently, pointing out facts and questioning why comments relaying those facts were being deleted is somehow “vile” and “thuggery.”

Ok, so what is presenting a wholly inaccurate story about a President-elect’s Chief of Staff designee and then attempting to backtrack and stand by the false story for a whole day after being called out on it?

–

UPDATE 1: Well, who woulda thunk it…? The Quinn and Rose conservative talk-show on XM Satellite Radio picked up Fran Eaton’s original, uncorrected story this morning and ran with it as if it’s somehow true and loyal listeners are now unwittingly “spreading the word”. Common sense ethics would indicate that once the original hypothesis (“Why doesn’t Rahm Emanuel pay property taxes?”) was proven wrong she would do the right thing and either completely delete the post or run a correction inside the post indicating her errors (he actually did pay $13,022.60 in taxes last year, which she admits in a later, separate post).

At the end of my own post (below), I indicate that if such false rumor-mongering was Ms. Eaton’s actual intent, she’s reached her goal. Now that this fallacy has hit talk radio, that’s crystal clear. Fox News and other national conservative media may not be far behind.

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Somebody help! We keep getting attacked with too many facts and this thing called “the truth”! Ahhh! Noooo! Make it stop!!!

We should’ve known it wouldn’t take but 36 hours for Illinois Review to begin lying about members of the forthcoming Obama Administration, in this case Chicago’s own Rahm Emanuel, designated Chief of Staff. It wasn’t but an hour or two before one of their own, Mark Rhoads, went off on a rant about every magic unicorn he could think of to explain how, in the Bizarro Ill Reviewer World, Obama couldn’t possibly have won this landslide without some sort of criminal enterprise doing it for him.

‘Obama win causes obsessive con-partisans to realize how empty their lives are’

Curt Mercadante has some fun posting an Onion video mocking Obama supporters…

Coincidentally to Obama’s run for president, Curt Mercadante himself was also a candidate this year – for a spot on the Grundy County Board. Curt is a long-time conservative campaign strategist with Revere Strategies and also an Illinois Review contributor.

He came in dead last. His 12% of the vote total wasn’t even close.

And in a normally Republican county one would’ve expected Mr. Mercadante to win a spot on the county board since voters could choose 3 candidates total and there were only 3 Republicans (incl. Curt) on the ballot. Instead, the other 2 Republicans and both Dems on the ballot came in well ahead of him.

Then again, this normally Republican county chose Barack Obama in the first place. You know, the guy whose supporters Curt is now using the Onion to mock. And he’s mocking them on the most virulently anti-Obama, uber-conservative, John Birch-style website in the state.

Will Mr. Mercadante realize that folks don’t like to vote for hyper-partisan baloney?

In light of his history with Illinois Review and Revere Strategies, Magic 8 Ball says “Doubtful.”

(Yes, I get that the Onion vid is a joke. Mr. Mercadante’s intent in reposting it was clearly rank mockery of Obama supporters. Some jokes are best left to the actual comedians, not the accidental comedians.)

Gah. Give it a rest.

Some people apparently don’t know when silence is golden. Give it a rest for one night, y’all.

By the by, Mark Rhoads, Al Gore “lawyered up” because George W. Bush “lawyered up” first and literally sued him for the White House. That’d be why the Supreme Court case was called “Bush v Gore” (not “Gore v Bush”). Must you continue to try and spin that half-truth, these eight years on?

Mr. Rhoads was clearly not paying attention during either Sen. McCain’s or President-elect Obama’s speeches tonight.

He needs to look in the mirror before spouting words like “vile” when referencing the overwhelmingly elected 44th President of the United States. ACORN or whatever white rabbit the anti-Obama partisan conservatives want to use as a blunt tool to hammer away at him doesn’t explain 338 Electoral Votes and counting…. Will Mr. Rhoads and his fellow merry band of partisan pundits ever realize those straws they’re grasping at are getting shorter and weaker? We shall see over the next few months.

Vote Today! (Miss ya Pat)

Guess what was hanging on my door this early morn…

Both these guys have had the kitchen sink thrown at them by desperate Republicans this year and neither deserved it (see here for the lies peddled against Sen. Dan Kotowski and here for the “off the wall” attacks on Mark Walker, including one that mailed out his personal identity numbers to the entire district, and a funny story about some of his yard signs).

If you’re in the 33rd Senate and 66th Representative district I cannot recommend Dan Kotowski and Mark Walker enough — they’re gentlemen, tireless workers, honest to goodness patriots who want to do right by their country and their communities, true advocates for their neighbors’ best interests, and good family men. (And win or lose today I’m proud to call them my friends!)

There used to be a time when there weren’t enough volunteers to put the Polling Place stickers on a hanger like this or to get out before dawn to hang them door to door (let alone cash for printing things like this).

Botterman would be proud.

Get out and vote y’all! God Bless America!

Fran Eaton: “subtly implying that she’s on death’s door”

Fran “Professional Obama Hater” Eaton, writing on Illinois Review on October 23rd:

Remember when Obama attempted to rationalize his 20-year association with Rev. Wright by exploiting his grandmother and calling her a racist? Well, she’s back!

This time he’s exploiting her hip surgery. Attempting to put a human face on an his otherwise cold and calculating persona, Obama is rushing to her bedside, feinting concern, and subtly implying that she’s on death’s door – from hip surgery!

I guess Obama “feels her pain”. We may soon be feeling his.

Not that Ms. Eaton gives a flying fig sitting in her uber-partisan Bizarro world, but his grandmother was on death’s door — clearly — and today St. Pete greeted her on the other side. Sen. Obama’s beloved “Toot” passed away today on the day before her grandson is on the ballot nationwide, running for President…

One can disagree with a candidate’s policies or record and you can even have some fun while doing so, all without having to resort to such cold-hearted, putrid vileness. Ms. Eaton apparently never learned that life lesson.

On this day, there are not enough words to describe the form of low-life that is Ms. Eaton and those partisan conservatives all across America as heartless and shallow as she. And she dares call herself a Christian?

Vote YES for Illinois’ Constitution, Updated

The Establishment (ie, Society of Strange Bedfellows) is spending nearly $2 million to tell we Illinoisans to vote against a Constitutional Convention. Their reasoning is hollow and faulty. To wit:

- Even if the Constitutional Convention costs X million dollars… our current broken system is clearly wasting millions each year. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and invest in something new

- The powers that be will decide how to put a Convention together, but they don’t ultimately decide the final product. We do. There will be another vote after a Convention on whether or not to maintain the status quo or ratify the new document

- Some crazy and radical idea will not make it through a Convention. There will be too many people (and opposing viewpoints) involved in a Convention and, again, We the People get to decide whether or not to just stick with what we’ve got or ratify the new Constitution after the Convention

We know the current system is broken. We know there are options for changing the system.

We can vote YES on the Constitutional Convention to do just that.

–

UPDATE: Whether through convoluted ballot language, a high-profile/big-money campaign against a Con-Con or something else… the automatic, once-every-20-years call for a Constitutional Convention failed by a nearly 2 to 1 margin.

We now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

IL-66: Christine Prochno Endorses Mark Walker?

Well, at least she’s endorsing his yard signs….

Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose. Notice the bottom of this seemingly normal “Chris Prochno” yard sign. What’s that poking out along the edge?

Why, it’s a Mark Walker sign goshdarnitall. How’d that get in there?

The Prochno people even had to trim the Walker sign in order to get her signs to fit over it (notice the right edge where the “R” of Walker and “E” of Representative are cut off).

Is the Prochno camp really that hard up for cash they can’t even afford their own sign wires? More importantly, how many Walker signs did they steal to make these Frankensigns?

There have been rumblings floating around the district for a few weeks that the GOPs are a bit upset with retiring State Rep. Carolyn Krause because she’s sitting on about $100,000 in her campaign fund and hadn’t given any of it to Ms. Prochno or Tom Cross’ PAC. Could these sorts of jalopies be the result?

Recent polls have shown Mr. Walker with an edge and my own door to door talks with neighbors and friends find people (even folks with, ahem, Prochno signs in their yards) upset and disillusioned with Ms. Prochno over the harshly negative and personal bunk she and the GOP are mailing out against him — attacks the local media are labeling “off the wall”. (One such over-the-top attack even included Mr. Walker’s driver’s license number and home address for any would-be identity thieves to plunder at will.)

Are these Frankensigns symptomatic of a campaign unraveling in the final days, reduced to petty theft of the opponents’ signs? Tuesday will tell.

‘Fox News to air Michelle Obama tape’

Cuckoo clocks chime 24 hours a day.

Can’t these goofball conspiracy theorists just go back to their little John Birch Society tea parties out on the veranda? Must these commenters spew their bile for all the world to see (and read)? It’s unbecoming.