Hope and Change ... Somewhere Else

For those who look back at the last month and can't believe we just turned over our wallets, our keys, and our children's futures to a group of amatures, we are reminded (h/t: kausfiles) of this sad fact about various hotbeds of the new hope and change fiasco that got us here:

Once a primary destination for Americans, L.A. – along with places like Detroit, New York and Chicago – now suffers among the highest rates of out-migration in the country.

What does it say about a people who votes into national office the same party that has so miserably failed it at home?

Okay, NY isn't technically run by a Democrat; Bloomberg is an Independent. Does that make him the poster-boy for post-partisan politics?

UPDATE: Mrs. Swift reminds us of the consequences of socialism, specifically the rampant growth of envy. During Communism, a popular Polish joke went something like this: A Pole is asked by his fairy godmother to wish for anything that he wants, with the qualification that his neighbor will get twice as much. The old Pole thinks for a moment and replies: "Nothing!"

Obama, the Dow, and Alfred E. Neuman

Taking a look at the President's Gallup Daily numbers can bring about unintended good feelings for those who see the stock market dropping into the toilet.

According to Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval, the President's approval rating (based on a 3-day rolling average) began at 68% and concluded a month later at 59%. That's a 9 point drop or a decline of 13%. When Gallup reported its findings* on the 23rd, it said modestly that approval is only "down slightly".

Obama's fans - who have been watching his series of mis-steps (who knew that the botched Oath of Office would be such an accurate omen?) and the self-inflicted wounds of the Democratic Party as it embraces the "culture of corruption" - are relieved that so little damage has been done to The One. But how does Obama's slightly dropping approval rate bring good economic news? Consider the stock market.

January was the coldest of months for the Dow in over a century. And the specific period running from Obama's first full day in office to February 23 (covering the same time period as Gallup's daily poll) saw the market drop just 10%. It's a free-fall! We're on the verge of catastrophe! Right? Wrong!

Obama is dropping faster than the market, 13% vs. 10%. If the President is only "down slightly", why all the doom and gloom over the economy? What is 3 points less than "slightly"? Maybe not "not at all" but, at the very least, "not enough to worry about"!

Don't you feel better already?


[*The report on the 23rd used a rolling average up to Feb 19-21 which is not as bad as the full-month average ending Feb 21-23.]

Random Lines?

Drudge links to the following stories today. One, about Iran, says:

Iran's success in reaching such a "breakout capacity" – a stage that would allow it to produce enough fissile material for a bomb in a matter of months – crosses a "red line" that for years Israel has said it would not accept. [Emphasis added.]

The other, concerning Israel, notes:

Israeli President Shimon Peres chose hard-line Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to form a new Israeli government, giving Netanyahu six weeks to cobble together a coalition. [Emphasis added.]

Since all enlightened people know that we're just a bunch of randomly arranged atoms hurtling through space, we're inclined to dismiss this as just mere cosmic coincidence. Unless, of course, "red" and "hard" turn out to by synonyms.

UPDATE: In a political world where red and blue are opposites: if red is hard, what does that make blue? And if a red-Netanyahu takes a hard-line on extremists like Iran, what are we to conclude about a blue-Obama?

Changing the Lobby

Some stodgy skeptics said that we wouldn't really get "change" with Obama in charge. How wrong they were!

In old-time politics, industry experts who had experience advising legislators on crafting public policy were invited to join a new administration. After years of relatively low-paying public service, they then moved back to industry or to lobbying firms where they could utilize their understanding of the political process to benefit their employers.

In the new-and-improved politics of the most ethical administration in the history of the world, things are different. In fact, the system has been turned on its head. Obama's campaign aides aren't selfishly going into public service positions first. No! Instead, they are generously moving straight to the cash troughs at K Street firms before being tainted by service to the common good.

If a complete reversal isn't change, then nothing is!

The more entrenched, ideological skeptics point out that lots of ex-lobbyists joined, or tried to join, the new administration. "Just business as usual", they scoff. But the president is getting a bum wrap. Of those merely dozen-or-so exceptions that Obama has granted to his ethical standards, it is a blatant lie to include poor Sen. Tom Daschle. Daschle might have come from a powerful legal/lobbying firm (and duly returned there with tail between his legs), but he is not a lobbyist. Okay, he's not a lawyer, either, but he's not a lobbyist. Lobbyists have to be registered; he is not. He merely "advis[es] the firm’s clients on issues related to all aspects of public policy". Sure, he makes a fat-cat-lobbyist-like salary for his efforts, but he is not a lobbyist.

These attacks on the President are being waged by a bunch of non-believing, unpatriotic ideologues who can't get it through their Neanderthal heads that Obama won. Don't pay attention to them.

Vacation Reading

The New York Post is complaining that President Obama, who threatened catastrophe if the stimulus package were not approved, is taking his sweet time to sign the bill into law. They appear to have forgotten Obama's vow:

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.

In other words, the President is giving himself only three days to read the 1,100 page spending bill; that's 367 pages (or about 8,100 lines) per day. Obviously, he had to take a little time off from his normal job (reversing the rise of the oceans, healing the planet, etc.). You just don't want to rush something this important.

UPDATE: It's now Tuesday and the bill has just been signed into law. Some people, however, are skeptical that the President actually read the whole thing over the weekend. But who would sign a check for that much money without first reading the bill? Surely it's just too unbelievable to be true.

Just the Cash, Ma'am

$787,000,000,000 stimulus bill ... divided by 3,500,000 estimated jobs ... equals $224,857.14 per job.

Umm...could I just have the cash?

Murtha's Little Blue Pill

We recently worried that, in the New Blago-Bizzaro World, being investigated for a crime was actually worse than admitting to or being convicted of criminal behavior. The string of corrupt Democratic mayors ironically proved to be heartening, as has the fact that Tom Daschel (D) and Nancy Killefer (D) went down in flames for admitted tax evasion. (Okay, that's a bit of an overstatement. The nominations might have gone down in flames but we expect that they will be alive and well, raking in the cash by peddling their influence to the highest corporate bidders.)

Today, we are further relieved that innocent-until-proven-guilty is still the law of the land. The evidence? Rep. John Murtha (D) is reportedly (h/t Instapundit) being investigated rather vigorously by the FBI for getting a little too cozy deep in the pockets of a defense lobbying group. Fear not, gentle readers! We don't expect Ol' John to be going anywhere due to a little investigation; after all, he's been in Congress since 1974. As his website boasts:

Of the nearly 10,650 men and women who have served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1789, only 81 have served longer than he has.

This is a man who has swallowed a bottle-full of congressional Viagra. He might not be smiling like Bob, but he's got real staying power. It will take a lot more than a few FBI raids for him to droop his head in shame.

Uniquely Bad Beginning

Tax Cheat turned Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the man highly touted by both the right and the left as "uniquely qualified" for the position, made such a bad first impression yesterday that he scared those he was supposed to reassure and confused even his supporters. Perhaps we should go with "not-so-qualified" next time? Oh, wait; we did that already ... last November.

Darwinian Before it was Cool

For centuries, aspiring theologians have flocked to Rome to study with the best of the best. Those who have studied there, however, often lament the miserable quality of the education. A professor at Santa Croce, a Pontifical University run by Opus Dei and, reputably, a center for orthodoxy, gives an unexpected peek into the quality of contemporary thinking that goes on at the heart of the Catholic church. In an article in the The Times (London) on the current attempt to rehabilitate Darwinian evolution with those who think that God and Genesis might have something important to say about our beginning, we read the following:

Father Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Santa Croce University in Rome, said that Darwin had been anticipated by St Augustine of Hippo. The 4th-century theologian had “never heard the term evolution, but knew that big fish eat smaller fish” and that forms of life had been transformed “slowly over time”. Aquinas had made similar observations in the Middle Ages, he added.

Augustine and Aquinas knew that big fish eat smaller ones! What more do you need? These great intellectual lights were Darwinian even before it was cool!

Che idiota!

The President of Oz

Thinking about the President's first press conference tonight, we couldn't help but recall another important face-to-face with an all-knowing leader. Not, we fear, that we should expect the ultimate honesty of the original!

On calm and hopeful leadership in the face of pending economic "catastrophe":

"Frightened? You are talking to a man who has laughed in the face of death -- sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe. ... I was petrified."

On fighting our enemies:

"As for you my fine friend, you are a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger you have no courage! You are confusing courage with wisdom.

What the press conference would look like if the audience were only made up of the likes of Fox, NRO, The Washington Times, The Weekly Standard, and Politico:

PRESIDENT: Do not arouse the wrath of the Great and Powerful O! I said come back tomorrow!

FOX: If you were really great and powerful, you'd keep your promises!

PRESIDENT: Do you presume to criticize the Great O? You ungrateful creatures! Think yourselves lucky that I'm giving you an audience tomorrow, instead of twenty years from now! Oh! The Great O has spoken! Oh! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. The Great, Powerful -- has spoken --

FOX: Who are you?

PRESIDENT: Well, I - I - I am the Great and Powerful - Wizard of O.

FOX: You are?

PRESIDENT: Uh -

FOX: I don't believe you!

PRESIDENT: No, I'm afraid it's true. There's no other Wizard except me.

NRO: You Humbug!

POLITICO: Yeah!

PRESIDENT: Yes - that's exactly so - I'm a humbug.

FOX: Oh - you're a very bad man!

PRESIDENT: Oh, no, my dear. I - I'm a very good man. I'm just a very bad Wizard.

On consulting with his Cabinet and economic advisors, should he be able to find a few taxpayers:

"This is positively the finest exhibition ever to be shown.....well, be that as it may. I, your Wizard, par adua outer, am about to embark on a hazardous and technically unexplainable journey into the outer stratosphere. To confer, converse and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards."

On what to anticipate if the President gets his stimulus balloon from Congress:

PRESIDENT: This is a highly irregular procedure! This is absolutely unprecedented!

VOTERS: Oh! Help me! The balloon's going up!

PRESIDENT: -- Ruined my exit!

VOTERS: Help!

TAX-PAYERS: Oh! Come back! Don't go without me! Please come back!

PRESIDENT: I can't come back! I don't know how it works!

Can't Cut Zero

It has taken a few days, but we finally (h/t: Instapundit) understand why President Obama was so opposed to tax cuts for the "rich" when he was a candidate: He apparently doesn't know of any rich people who actually pay their taxes!

Surprise Promise

Here's the sarcastic line of the day.

Ed Morrissey (h/t: Lucianne), discussing Sen. Dodd's (D) little influence peddling problem with Countrywide, sums up the new administrations' makeup of lobbyists and tax evaders:

Not so long ago, Democrats ran on the "culture of corruption" issue. Who knew that was actually a campaign promise?

The List Goes On and On and On

First, there were Richardson's (D) possible pay-to-play problems at Commerce.

Then, there were Geitner's (D) tax evasion problems at Treasury.

Next, Killefer's (D) tax problems at, let's say, the White House.

Again, even more tax evasion problems for Daschel (D) at HHS

Now, it looks like Hilda Solis (D) is going to have some real problems at Labor for, as von Spakovsky puts it, she secretly lobbying herself.

One wonders how this can be the most ethical administration in the history of the country when we've already had more people with ethics problems in about 2 weeks than George Washington had cabinet members?

UPDATE: Could this (h/t: Instapundit) be yet another one, over at HUD?

I Wrote What?

Pope Benedict's forgiveness of four disobedient churchmen has caused quite a brouhaha even from some unexpected places (h/t: Drudge).

Vienna's cardinal and archbishop, Christoph Schoenborn, on Sunday lashed out at the decision to bring Williamson back into the fold, saying that "he who denies the Holocaust cannot be rehabilitated within the Church."

Funny; I looked over the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which the good Cardinal Archbishop edited, and it says nothing about whether idiots-of-history can or cannot be reconciled with the Church. Good thing for this Prince of the Church that the Catechism doesn't say anything, either, about ignorance of the contents of one's own publications. Not, apparently, that he would know.

UPDATE: Fear not for Schoenborn or Benedict. Now that some Catholic members of Congress have stepped in (h/t: Fr. Z), we can be assured that their wise and selfless leadership will steer the Church in the right direction.

Our New Blago-Bizzaro World

Over at The New Republic (h/t: Lucianne), senior editor Jonathan Chait asks us to indulge him in what he calls another "tiresome" complaint of "your party's scandal is worse than my party's scandal." His point is that Norm Coleman - the Republican pol from Minnesota so down on his luck that boorish Al Franken appears to have unseated him - isn't being treated as badly as Rod Blagojevich - the Democratic pol from Chicago so down on his luck that he sought solace in the estrogen den of The View when under the gun back home. To the fact that Republicans continue to support their tainted man, Chait bleathlessly asks: "Do they even realize this man is being investigated by the FBI?"

The ultimate difference between Coleman and Blagojevich, however, might not be so much between the politicians as between their parties. Democrats have lately shown a propensity to eat their own at the drop of a hat. Consider two of the party's leaders. 1) President Obama (D) throws supporters under the bus with surprising deftness. 2) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) tried to follow suit with Sen. Roland Burris (D), only to prove to be too incompetent. (Or, to be kinder to Reid and his abilities, you could just say that he failed because he was blatantly trying to break the law while preening in the public spotlight.)

There is a good bit of irony, however, that goes beyond these different partisan proclivities concerning ones own. Democrats acted on accusations against Blago as if they were actual convictions. Chait admits that he is taking accusations against Coleman as sufficient, too. As he puts it, a friend of Coleman

"allegedly paid him $75,000 under the table. And by 'allegedly,' I mean 'almost certainly.'"

In our new Blago-bizzaro world, accusations and investigations have become as damning - and even worse! - than definite crimes.

Remember the case of Gov. Bill Richardson (D)? A few weeks ago, he either fell on his own sword or had one inserted between the shoulder blades rather than stand for confirmation as Commerce Secretary in the new administration. The reason? He's "under investigation." In contrast, definitely committing a crime - see Tim Geitner (D) or Tom Daschel (D) or Charlie Rangel (D) - gets a pass.

No jury has yet examined the evidence against Coleman, Blagojevich or Richards; perhaps they really are as guilty as Geitner, Daschel, and Rangel. Should they go to trial, we'll have a much better idea. Meanwhile, we have to wonder: Just what has happened to the party of the ACLU? Where is the vaunted Trial Lawyers Association whose donations have sustained the Democrats for years? Is this the change we've been promised?

UPDATE: we have been reminded that, perhaps, not all is lost:

• Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) of Baltimore, indicted but not yet convicted on "12 counts of felony theft, perjury, fraud and misconduct in office," still serves in office.

• Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) of Detroit waited until pleading guilty to two felonies before resigning from office last September and going to jail.

• Portland Oregon's new mayor Sam Adams (D) continues to serve even after admitting to his homosexual relationship with a teen he was mentoring; mentoring that included instructions to lie in an effort to cover-up the relationship. It is unsure whether Adams actually broke any of liberal Oregon's laws; an investigation is underway.