Ted Kennedy Hospitalized

Let’s hope he gets better. 

Kennedy was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for evaluation after initial treatment at Cape Cod Hospital, a statement from his office said.

The senator spent less than an hour in the Cape Cod facility, hospital spokesman David Reilly said.

Massachusetts General said it had no information on Kennedy.

A well-informed Democratic source in Massachusetts said the 76-year-old senator had “symptoms of a stroke” at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port.

Obama Doesn’t Notice When the Little People Applaud Him

Or, I suppose it’s possible that he’s a liar.  I don’t buy that he’s forgetful, because the video of the speech is readily available and a competent campaign would have checked. 

Hat tip Freedom Eden.

End the Ethanol Mandate

Wow.  I’m agreeing with the MJS that we should end the ethanol mandate. 

But federal mandates on ethanol should not be maintained or expanded. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other Republicans who have signed a letter urging the Environmental Protection Agency to consider an ethanol mandate waiver have a point. As does Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who has called for the repeal of tariffs on importing ethanol.

Questions remain on ethanol. There has been an impact on food prices, even if that impact is less than the impact of the rise in oil prices. There is an argument that ethanol is not as efficient as gasoline. Ethanol production is not environmentally benign; in addition to other issues, a report co-authored by a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher predicts that the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico will grow, thanks to ethanol production’s impact on the Mississippi watershed.

Obama Calls Reporter “Sweetie”

Is this a big deal?  Is it sexist? 

Nah… this is a non-story.  Having grown up in the South, it’s quite common for people to use terms of endearment with strangers.  “Would you like fries with that, honey?” Thanks for the extra biscuit, sweetie.” Etc. 

No big deal.  Move on. 

Week In Review 5/16/08

I’ll be on Wisconsin Public Radio tomorrow from 8 AM to 9 AM for the Week in Review.  My foil will be Tony Palmeri. 

Don’t worry, Tony.  You don’t have to put “right” in quotes.  I’m definitely on the right. 

Tune in! 

CNN’s Potty Mouth

Since when is it acceptable for a news site to cuss in a headline?

All Roads Lead to Obama

Obama is showing his sensitive side. 

In a speech to Israel’s Knesset, Bush said: “Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.

“We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Obama responded with a statement, seizing on Bush’s remarks even as it was unclear to whom the president was referring.

“It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence to launch a false political attack,” Obama said in the statement his aides distributed. “George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president’s extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel.”

White House press secretary Dana Perino flatly rejected the idea that the Knesset remark was aimed in any way at Obama. The remark is fairly typical for Bush speeches, and Gordon Johndroe, a national security spokesman for the president, said the president was referring to “a wide range of people who have talked to or suggested we talk to Hamas, Hezbollah or their state sponsors” over a long period of time.

[...]

“I understand when you’re running for office you sometimes think the world revolves around you. That is not always true. And it is not true in this case,” she said.

Bush has been making similar comments about appeasement for 7 years or so. 

Seriously, Obama’s ego is comical.

Edwards Endorses Obama

Way to stick your neck out there, John. 

Democrat John Edwards endorsed former rival Barack Obama on Wednesday, a move designed to help solidify support for the party’s likely presidential nominee even as Hillary Rodham Clinton refuses to give up her long-shot candidacy.

Kennedy Questioned About Wisconsin’s Weak Election Laws

Oh, man, I would have loved to have been there.

A routine congressional hearing about how state elections chiefs can handle weather emergencies or terrorist attacks got a little more interesting Wednesday during an exchange between Kevin Kennedy, who serves as director of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

As the state’s top elections official, Kennedy was testifying in front of the House Administration Subcommittee on Elections about the state’s contingency plans. But McCarthy asked to introduce into the congressional record a copy of a controversial police report on the 2004 election.

The 67-page report, released this year, generated controversy because it was seen as a political report by the Milwaukee Police Department. The report, which identified problems in Milwaukee’s 2004 election, recommended that the state eliminate same-day voter registration and require voters to show photo identification before they could cast a ballot. Incoming Milwaukee Chief Edward Flynn, who did not see the report until it was released publicly, later said his agency should not be in the business of making policy recommendations.

Chicago Repeals Ban on Foie Gras

Perhaps there’s a bit of common sense left in Chicago’s government. 

With Mayor Richard Daley running the vote, the Chicago City Council on Wednesday repealed its controversial ban on foie gras.

Hat tip Nick.

Clinton’s Spread

Wow.  One rarely sees a spread like this unless a presidential candidate is running against Kucinich or Paul.  Clinton won West Virginia taking 67% of the vote as compared to 26% for Obama.  A 41% margin.  That’s stunning by anyone’s measure. 

Also, Huckabee and Romney both finished above McCain, but only about 1,100 people voted on the GOP side. 

New Orleans Dumps Teachers’ Union.  Student Performance Rises.

Nick noticed this telling story. 

Good news in The Big Easy where over a year ago they broke the teachers union and basically started over with publicly financed but privately board run charter schools.  This year, testing of fourth and eighth graders have shown improvements by 12% and 4% respectively, in only a year.  They still have a long way to go, but this is real progress from a completely failed school system in a short turnaround time.  The major reason being given for this success is the quality of teachers they were able to attract.

Nick tips the ol’ hat to Megan.

In the comments of Nick’s post, Folkbum hypothesizes that the gains are due to the change in population.  I disagree with that.  While the population has changed, it is more likely that the criminal class would stick around.  Think about it.  Abandoned property.  Desperate people.  Depleted police force.  It’s ripe territory for crooks.  Furthermore, crooks tend to have fewer means to move and set up life elsewhere. 

In fact, the crime statistics are showing that New Orleans may be more violent than it was before Katrina. 

As of New Year’s Eve, the city’s murder total sat at 209, making it again a top contender for the country’s highest per-capita murder rate, a dubious title New Orleans held in 2006. A definitive per-capita rate for murders and all crimes remains elusive, because of varying estimates of the post-flood city’s still-changing population. But even by the most generous estimate, preferred by the New Orleans Police Department, the city’s murder rate is 67 murders per 100,000 people. Using another, lower population estimate cited by the city, the rate would be 71.

Compared with the nine other cities with the highest per-capita murder rates last year, New Orleans remains at or near the highest rate in 2007.

[...]

Complete fourth-quarter crime statistics won’t be made available for another month, but if trends from the first three quarters hold steady, then violent crime has increased, drastically in some categories. Indeed, the rate of reported assaults—a category that includes all nonfatal shootings—in the first three quarters of the year was on pace to equal or surpass the number of assaults in each of the two years before Hurricane Katrina, when the city’s population was far larger.

I think it’s safe to assume that crime rates would be a good indicator of the raw quality of the students who are attending the schools.  Yes, there are other factors, but generally speaking, kids who grow up in broken crime-ridden homes tend to do poorly at school. 

Yet, they are doing better than before.  Surely Nick is wrong and New Orleans’ new public school model is having no impact whatsoever on student achievement. 

Clinton Wins West Virginia

Were you surprised?

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Hillary Rodham Clinton won a large but largely symbolic victory in the West Virginia primary Tuesday over Barack Obama, still the leader and closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination. The Associated Press made its call based on surveys of voters as they left the polls.

Obama conceded defeat in advance in the state as he looked ahead to the Oregon primary later in the month and the campaign against Republican John McCain.

Hundreds Arrested In Illegal Immigration Raid

Expect kosher prices to rise. 

A raid by federal immigration officials at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant may have resulted in as many as 700 arrests, immigration officials said Monday

Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Agriprocessors Inc. complex in northeast Iowa Monday morning to execute a criminal search warrant for evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, said Tim Counts, a Midwest ICE spokesman.

Agents are also executing a civil search warrant for people illegally in the United States, he said.

Immigration officials told aides to Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, that they expect 600 to 700 arrests. About 1,000 to 1,050 people work at the plant, according to Iowa Workforce Development, the state’s employment services agency.

Obama Unfurls Old Glory on Lapel

I find Obama’s use of a flag pin as a substitute for real patriotism to be insulting. 

Barack Obama sported a flag lapel pin and talked up patriotism Monday as he campaigned in blue-collar West Virginia. He also shot a solid game of pool.

I almost bit my tongue with it shoved in my cheek like that.