Alexi Giannoulias (D), call your office.

I understand that the man is desperate to escape to Washington, DC – but the bills are piling up.  And I am not being figurative in the slightest:

Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo.

He picks the papers off his desk and points to a figure in red: $5.01 billion.

“This is what the state owes right now to schools, rehabilitation centers, child care, the state university – and it’s getting worse every single day,” he says in his downtown office.

Mr. Hynes shakes his head. “This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services,” he says. “That is obscene.”

Continue reading Alexi Giannoulias (D), call your office.

#rsrh Obamaspill Schism?

For once, Anderson Cooper gets it more or less right that when it comes to Obamaspill when he notes that the regular media is not the enemy.

To this administration, the regular media are instead vile and impious heretics, and if they do not like being told that they may not get within 65 feet of any direct evidence of the federal government’s failure to master the spill, well… perhaps they should consider themselves fortunate.  Another age would have them be the centerpiece to an auto de fe for their obstinacy. Continue reading #rsrh Obamaspill Schism?

Crazed Sex Poodle update.

This week was the calm before the storm: they’ve reopened the case, possibly because there may be DNA evidence on a pair of pants, and possibly because it looks bad when there’s even a suggestion that the rich and powerful can count on sexual assault allegations… going away.  Meanwhile, via Instapundit, Politico is reporting that the story is going mainstream in the national media.  Hillbuzz notes that, more importantly, it’s hitting entertainment sources like EW and People.  Why is that more important? Let them explain:

Here’s something we keep telling just about every conservative we ever meet, but none of them seem to listen:  the entertainment industry matters because more people read People, Entertainment Weekly, Perez Hilton, Deadline Hollywood Daily, Aint It Cool News, Dark Horizons, and other entertainment sites than read many of the political sites combined.

Continue reading Crazed Sex Poodle update.

#rsrh QotD, Maggie Thatcher edition.

From Hillbuzz, on the news that HEY THEY’RE GOING TO MAKE A MOVIE ABOUT MAGGIE THATCHER!

Hollywood’s reporting Meryl Streep’s next project will be portraying Baroness Thatcher in a new film called “Iron Lady”, which will depict her time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Someone at the Academy should probably just start carving her name onto the Oscar already, because Meryl Streep + portraying a historical figure = Oscar nomination at the least. Considering the fact Helen Mirren and Forest Whitacker both won recently for playing Queen Elizabeth II and Idi Amin (respectively, as if that wasn’t already clear), and Dame Judi Dench has won for playing the OTHER Queen Elizabeth, this looks like a lock for Best Actress. And, of course, by this logic, Will Smith will win an Oscar for depicting America’s current queen, “Miss Thang”, whenever they get around to filming the Obama movie, which was at first rumored to be called “Hope and Change” but is now in development under the new working title “Chaos and Ineptitude”.

Does it count if I’m just quoting it? Continue reading #rsrh QotD, Maggie Thatcher edition.

Battle of Gettysburg Memorial Open Thread.

Strictly speaking, neither the speech below – or Charles Loughton’s pitch-perfect recitation of it – are part of the battle itself; Abraham Lincoln made the Gettysburg address in November of 1863. I just don’t care, and I don’t think that anybody else will really care, either. Have a good weekend.

Open thread.

Continue reading Battle of Gettysburg Memorial Open Thread.