Obama promised he wouldn't take donations from lobbyists. But now he will, according to Bob Novak's column (quoted by Jim Geraghty). "Obama is now using lists of contributors to Democratic congressional chairmen, primarily lobbyists of both parties."

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Remember that war we're losing..."The US military is to hand over security control of the former Sunni insurgent bastion of Anbar province to Iraqi forces in the next 10 days, a US military spokesman announced on Monday...Anbar would be the tenth of Iraq’s 18 provinces to be handed back to Iraqi forces by the US-led coalition amid a push to transfer security control of the entire country back to Baghdad." Anbar province was the one that Democrats portrayed as being unable to pacify....

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Here's a story that's hard to believe but is true:

Leduc’s weird tale began on May 30, when she dropped young Victoria off for class at Terry Fox Elementary and headed in to work, only to receive a frantic phone call from the school telling her it was urgent she come back right away.

The frightened mother rushed back to the campus and was stunned by what she heard - the principal, vice-principal and her daughter’s teacher were all waiting for her in the office, telling her they’d received allegations that Victoria had been the victim of sexual abuse - and that the CAS had been notified.

How did they come by such startling knowledge? Leduc was incredulous as they poured out their story.

“The teacher looked and me and said: ‘We have to tell you something. The educational assistant who works with Victoria went to see a psychic last night, and the psychic asked the educational assistant at that particular time if she works with a little girl by the name of “V.” And she said ‘yes, I do.’ And she said, ‘well, you need to know that that child is being sexually abused by a man between the ages of 23 and 26.’”

Could you imagine being told that a psychic is accusing you of child abuse? And that it was taken seriously? Luckily for Ms. Leduc, there was a GPS device on her daughter and the accusation was quickly dropped...and her daughter has been removed from the school.

Of course, being a tax professional my favorite psychics are the ones who get arrested for tax evasion. Didn't they see it coming?

If you thought Clinton v. Obama might get ugly (and it will), here's a flyer that's being distributed in Memphis:



Steve Cohen is a Democratic Congressman representing a primarily African-American district. But some Black ministers believe that only another black can represent a primarily black district. Welcome to racism.

By the way, this has been known for a few days. The Congressional Black caucus and Democratic leaders have not commented on this....

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In contrast to Berkeley, where the City Council sort of backed down (but hasn't an issued an apology, and probably won't), the City Council of Toledo, Ohio had a much different response when Mayor Carty Finkbeiner ordered the cancellation of a Marine Corps training exercise. The Toledo City Council unanimously approved a resolution apologizing to Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines for the mayor's actions last Friday. "The only thing he could do is spare us more embarrassment and resign," said Chris Tiefel of North Toledo. The measure goes to Mayor Finkbeiner for his signature. Oh, and Toledo has a 0.75% income tax on the ballot on March 4th. This will be an interesting election in Toledo....

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In Wisconsin, according to a Strategic Vision poll, what ranks as highest (in percentage): approval of how President Bush is handling the war in Iraq; the way Congress is performing its job; or whether Wisconsin residents believe that Democrats in Congress have a better plan to resolve the Iraq War then President Bush?

( The answer is behind the cut.... )

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There's been a lot said about a housing bubble. A study at the University of Washington shows that the median inflation-adjusted price of a home in Seattle has increased from $221,000 to $447,800 from 1989 to 2006 and that fully $200,000 of the $226,800 increase is due to land-use regulations.

So has there been a bubble? Or is a regulatory bubble?

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Back to work I go...

The results of the Iraq Study Group: