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We may never know what drove Chicago School Board President Michael Scott to take his life. At the time of his death, Scott had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury looking into the admissions practices at Chicago's selective-enrollment schools. As a member of Mayor Daley's failed Olympic bid team, he also came under unfavorable media scrutiny for helping a group of ministers develop land that would have netted a hefty profit had the bid been successful. Scott denied having a financial interest in the development. Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), who has been charged with taking bribes and has been...

Israel Aerospace Industries has signed a $350 million deal with Brazil to supply Heron unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the South American nation's borders and provide security for the 2014 World Cup tournament and the 2016 Olympic Games. All told the state-run company, flagship of Israel's defense industry, will provide 14 drones over several years, three of them by April 2010. The deal comes amid a big surge in sales of Israeli UAVs worldwide, particularly with nations providing military forces in Afghanistan where UAVs have become a major component in the war against the Taliban and their jihadist allies. The...

The Olympics was going to save the day. Then President Obama and wife Michelle made fools of themselves telling the Olympic committee how the Olympics would make them happy because they love sports, and they sat on their daddy's laps watching sports, and they really, really, really love the Olympics. One vote and out was the president's reward for wasting millions of the taxpayer's money flying them to Copenhagen. This presented a major problem for Mayor Daley, soon to run for reelection. He was hoping against hope that the Olympics would sweep into Chicago and save his floundering budget. The...

Ultimately, I still believe that we'll never know exactly what happened but here's what I've gathered after having conversations with members of No Games Chicago. In essence, one of the reasons that Chicago lost was that Daley's machine politics didn't transfer over to the IOC all that well. For instance, Daley said several untruths and many of these untruths were eventually discovered by the IOC. So, by the end, his credibility was weakened. Daley claimed that Chicago has a solid infrastructure. He claimed that all the Olympics sites would be compacted next to each other. His biggest whopper was that...

Are you tired of hearing how “smart” Barack Obama is? I reached my limit over the summer, when The New York Times Magazine quoted Valerie Jarrett, the president’s liaison to Chicago City Hall, declaring, “I mean, he’s really by far smarter than anybody I know.” Well, as any Chicago schoolboy knows, there are many different kinds of smart. And right now our commander-in-chief is not looking particularly brilliant— at least on the level of substantive politics. Take, for example, Obama’s intervention in Chicago’s failed bid for the Olympic Games in 2016. The Daley machine has escorted Obama most of the...

TOKYO – Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the victims of the only atomic bombings in history, are teaming up to try to bring the Olympics to Japan in 2020, the cities' mayors said Sunday. Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue told a press conference they will establish a joint committee to work on a proposal based on world peace. Both men are founding members of the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign, which advocates for a global ban on nuclear arms. In a speech last month in Mexico City, Akiba said he firmly believed the world could abolish nuclear...

After more than a century on the sidelines, golf will return to the Olympics at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. Rugby, last played in 1924, is coming back as well. Both were reinstated for the 2016 and 2020 games after a vote Friday by the International Olympic Committee. Each sport received majority support in separate votes after leading athletes and officials from both camps gave presentations, including a taped video message from Woods and other top pros. Woods has indicated he would play in the Olympics if golf were accepted for 2016. "There are millions of young...

The International Olympic Committee had already decided not to choose Chicago even before President Obama came to Copenhagen. President Obama’s visit to Copenhagen to canvas for Chicago’s candidacy as Olympic City 2016 was doomed to failure before the president even arrived in the Danish capital – a group of IOC nations had already decided to reject the city, Politiken has learned. Voting on the choice between Chicago, Madrid, Rio or Tokyo had been decided beforehand as a result of what several major IOC organisations perceived as the American Olympic Committee’s greed. Chicago had been touted by bookmakers and many so-called...

It’s been days since president Barry Soetoro received the Olympic smack down. Plenty of time to think about this whole ugly sorted deal. Is it just me or did our president look like an errand boy for the Mayor of Chicago? Well think about it, who has the power to send the president of the United States of America the First Lady, all the top Soetoro advisers plus Oprah Winfrey to Copenhagen Denmark to shill for a certain U.S. City? (see story) Come on, they took two “Air Force One” jets like, “Honey I’m working late you take your car...

President Obama last week flew to Copenhagen to persuade the International Olympic Committee to award the 2016 games to Chicago, his hometown. He and first lady Michelle Obama delivered their now well-known inspirational stories about their Chicago neighborhood experiences. They even had Oprah in tow, along with a number of other Chicago big shots.

In the misty past of ten months ago, dissent was patriotic, mass protests were a sign of passionate civic engagement, and the greatest sin any politician could commit was questioning someone’s patriotism. But that was America, B.B.O. (Before Barack Obama). Now dissent is potential incitement, middle American protesters are Swastika-carrying yokels, and disagreeing with a president’s decision to put his hometown above the well-being of troops in Afghanistan demonstrates a “lack of patriotism.� On Friday’s edition of MSNBC’s “The Ed Show,� Ed Schultz blamed Chicago’s first-round rejection, not on Rio or behind-the-scenes maneuvering, but on American conservatives who questioned...

Der Fuhrer reacts to Hussein's epic olympic failure HERE. PS. Pardon the vanity post, but this is too good not to share.

Democratic Socialist Jan Schakowsky never heard Obama utter anti-American rhetoric. Honest. As the Olympics head to Rio, unemployment edges toward ten percent, and Tehran barrels toward a nuclear weapon, the Left continues its "Question the Patriotism of Conservatives" tour '09. In one of the more unlikely scenarios of recent television history, MSNBC's "The Ed Show" compared President Obama's perpetual criticism of his country favorably against Rush Limbaugh. The episode was outstanding for its audacity and the light it shed on where the Left really pledges its allegiance. Shortly after slamming conservatives' "lack of patriotism" and insisting opposition to Obama’s...

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” The Obamas took separate jets to Copenhagen to make a “great sacrifice,” one that they felt would sway the corrupt second- and third-world leaders who make up the International Olympic Committee in favor of the Obamas’ hometown of Chicago. The first president of color is in office now, but it turns out that color is not green. When the Games were awarded to Rio de Janeiro, residents erupted with excitement and relief — the residents being tax-weary Chicagoans. Some were upset with the president for investing the prestige of the...

In a post from earlier this evening, John shows how various leftists have exaggerated the extent to which conservatives took pleasure from the fact that Chicago was not selected to host the 2016 Olympics. As John notes, the left is relying on a small number of examples. Nonetheless, it's unfortunate that there are any examples at all. If a crowd at the "Defending the American Dream Summit" actually did applaud the announcement that Chicago finished last in the balloting, what possessed the members of that crowd to do it? The lefties have a point: since when do conservatives root for...

Despite the embarrassing rejection of his effort to lure the 2016 Olympic Games to his hometown of Chicago, President Barack Obama will keep the first-ever White House Olympic Office, POLITICO has learned. The White House stressed that the office, officially called the White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport, is permanent and has purposes other than helping U.S. cities bid on and host the Olympics. “It was always our intention that this office would continue to exist regardless of the outcome of the 2016 bid,” said a White House official, explaining that the office will work to boost...

I think I speak for many Americans when I say: Mr President. Please. Stay. Home. Just try it. It might not be so bad. After your trip to Copenhagen (cost to taxpayer at least $1 million) it’s now official: Your elegant visage does not automatically melt hearts and bend wills. We have terrible problems back here in the old US of A. (Remember that country, Mr Global Citizen?) So here’s an idea: Sit in that nice Oval Office of yours. Alone. Think about one issue for longer than ten minutes. (As an incentive, you’d look really moody and Kennedy-esque and...

If you want to understand why some conservatives were gleeful over Chicago's fourth-place finish in its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games - after President Obama and the first lady flew to Copenhagen to pitch the American city to the International Olympic Committee - consider this quote in the New York Times from Anita DeFrantz, an IOC member from the United States: "I hate the fact that these elegant people were here, and then our country got treated that way." These elegant people? So the other folks who didn't win for their cities are what? Slobs? You see...

Maybe you think President Obama’s administration screwed up that Olympic deal. Maybe it was the Chicago Olympic committee that failed him. I’ve got how it REALLY might have come down and we must pray, now, for our country. Plus “cash for clunkers” insight, nineteen pound babies, all the czars you could ever want and the Bad Guys of the Week.

The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday that the US Olympic Committee told the White House early last week that the voting was tight and that a visit from Obama -- who, the Trib says, was if anything dubious about making the trip at first -- could well seal the deal. Valerie Jarrett, the leading White House aide, was told that leading backers of the Chicago bid had done some nose-counting and that a personal appeal by Obama could well tilt things their way. Oh well. Live and learn. Did the USOC play the Obama administration here? I'm not suggesting that the...

The world has clearly gone nuts. How in the name of all that is good and just is Barack Obama supposed to bring lasting peace, true prosperity, and White House beer busts to the entire world if they won’t even let him get in a little playtime in sweet home Chicago? With just the sound of his mellifluous voice, Dear Leader has already ended a recession (well, all right, not quite – but what’s a few million unemployed?), cured the ills of all ailing Americans (well, he would have if those redneck Tea Partiers out in mid-America hadn’t turned on...

14-hour trip to Copenhagen on Air Force One: $1.4 million President Barack Hussein Obama getting knocked down a few pegs by the IOC: Priceless People might be miffed by the cost on the Obamas’ failed Olympic bid? The way I see it, it’s the best money the U.S. taxpayer’s spent in the past nine months!

It didn’t take long for a major media outlet to lapse back into blame Bush mode once Chicago’s bid of the 2016 Olympics failed on the first ballot. The day after the startling loss the Chicago Sun-Times revealed its penchant for “Bush Derangement Syndrome” by reporting the claim that the reason Chicago lost is because Bush made the world mad at us. Even as Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs rejected the idea, the Sun-Times eagerly reported that “some Chicago officials” were saying that they lost the bid because of Bush. Some Chicago officials say anti-American resentment likely played a role in...

Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." It's a quote that has worked itself into the Liberals playbook of politics. Although they may use it out of context, it suits their purpose and explains the way things work in their system. Disregard the reality of the situation and imagine it to be the fault of someone or something else. To the Obama Administration and the Democrats it falls into four standard categorical answers. Each one used separately or in conjunction with the others to explain away their mistakes or blunders. In the case of a huge blunder...

On "This Week," George Will says that the Obamas' trip to Copenhagen to try to land the Olympics for Chicago in 2016 was more about their ego than America. "The President and First Lady went to Copenhagen and gave speeches about themselves," Will said, breaking down the number of times they used the words "I" and "me" in their speeches. "It was all about them," he said, concluding that like "Honest Abe" and "Tricky Dick" before him, the President might go down in history as "Vain Barack."

It was empirical reflection that brought independence to the colonies, as much as affliction played a role in the declaration, remedies were numerously proposed and reconciliation was the foremost at the time. As much as usurpation and injustices may have originated the debates, the remedy, was not unanimously collaborative. The abuses of the king were not levelly applied to all colonies. Quartering of British soldiers was more prevalent in some colonies than in others, tariffs impacted some colonies more than others and, violent interactions between colonists and British soldiers were not uniformly spread throughout. The tribulation of the colonist was...

Obama's colossal failure in Copenhagen simply highlights the fact that his perpetual worldwide campaign has ACHIEVED NOTHING! He hopes you won't notice.Obama took a big gamble by going to Copenhagen to push for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Chicago. Things didn't work out the way Obama wanted in Copenhagen and there were a lot of disappointed Chicago cronies of his who won't be getting the graft from Olympic building contracts they had expected for Christmas. But the weeklong buildup to Obama's Copenhagen visit followed by the stunning disappointment did have some benefits. It provided the perfect distraction from...

The week ending September 2009 and ushering in October 2009, was very eventful, in terms of exposing the diminishing role of the US as a world power. The “sleeping giant,” under its new leadership, has been snoring while dictatorial powers have been partying! Party like it is 2009! China did have a birthday party and it celebrated with the help of its biggest debtor, the USA. “And it is three cheers for the red, white and blue!” Factually, it was light up the Empire State building with the two colors that have come to symbolize repression. Yep, there in a...

The International Olympic Committee has been listening to President Soetoro’s recent accounts of America and they agree with him America is not what it should be. President Soetoro spent the first few months of his presidency reaffirming all of the world’s most negative feelings toward America and they heard him. (see previous post)(see 2:16min video) For years Democrats and Liberals have been attempting to undermine America’s position as world leading super power. Former Democrat President Clinton even forecasted that this day would come, a day when America would not be the pre-eminent military, economic and political power. (see related story)...

Frankly, I don't care that Chicago lost its bid for the Olympics. Really, I don't. But maybe the president's trip to Copenhagen was useful since his top battle commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, traveling from England to Denmark, had the opportunity to meet Barack Obama on Air Force One. Their talking with each other is, after all, a rarity. In fact, Obama and McChrystal had spoken but once since the general took on AfPak as his turf in early June 2009. With whom, then, is Obama conversing? And how independent of mind on military matters are they? Or are...

A young organizer at the conservative Defending the American Dream Summit interrupted a panel discussion last Friday to read aloud, from her BlackBerry, the electrifying news that Chicago had been dumped from the 2016 Olympics. A tracker caught the crowd’s reaction in the Arlington, Va., hotel ballroom on video: The place erupted in hooting and wild applause, a scene perversely reminiscent of the exultation that followed the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s “Miracle on Ice” victory against the Soviets in 1980. Chicago lost “on the very first vote! They did not have any chance,” the woman said to an ovation recorded...

All hail the Hero of Copenhagen. Caesar Obama did his best. Unfortunately for Chicago, it was an embarrassingly weak performance. In the era of ego, some Third Worlders dared not to accept Obama’s “I want it” as a compelling argument. Somehow, the magic of his TelePrompTered remarks didn’t melt their hearts. They didn’t even give him the bronze. Call it a metaphor for his presidency. Don’t get me wrong. There was nothing wrong with him going. In this era, national leaders typically make pitches for their Olympic bids. They just don’t tend to do it so egotistically. The Japanese guy...

Obama took his apology tour on the road late last week and despite the lies Michelle told, and Barack’s best apology, they were just another couple of ugly Americans in Europe. European papers described B. Hussein Obama as lacking warmth, sincerity and honesty. Apparently the Narcissist in Chief could not win over the IOC, a group of people so used to having their posteriors kissed, that things went downhill quickly. Close your eyes and picture the IOC awaiting the kissing to begin, while B. Hussein Obama told them all about himself, and why his was the butt that deserves kissing.

Can Barack Obama argue his way out of a paper bag? That's the question eminences of his party will be milling after his defeat Friday at the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen. Obama put his worldwide popularity and the full weight of the office of the presidency of the United States behind Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics. He surprised the world by losing on the first round of balloting. That hurt his credibility at a time when he could least afford it. [Snip] It will be hard to distract from this traumatic loss for a president who was...

Breaking: Obama's White House ACORN Operative Fined $775,000 For Election Violations- Used Rapists & Burglars in Door-to-Door Registration Drives So where does a far left political operative land after his organization is fined $775,000 for election violations that included hiring rapists and burglars to register voters? Inside the Obama White House, of course. Obama's ACORN operative in the White House Patrick Gaspard is helping shape domestic policy-- From left: CECILIA MUÑOZ, director, intergovernmental affairs; MICHAEL STRAUTMANIS, public liaison; CHRISTOPHER LU, Cabinet secretary; HEATHER HIGGINBOTTOM, deputy director, Domestic Policy Council; PATRICK GASPARD, political director; PHIL SCHILIRO, director of legislative affairs; MELODY...

Last year, we covered some of the problems in the counting of military absentee ballots in Virginia, as did others. This problem has not gone away. It has just moved. The day before election day 2008, the McCain campaign filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia to force Virginia to count military absentee ballots that came in after election day. McCain lost Virginia by more than enough votes, but the case went on with the Department of Justice replacing the McCain campaign.There were filings last month and will likely be a hearing this month. So what? The Virginia...

No wonder President Obama came away from Copenhagen empty-handed. Let's face it: the president doesn't have lots of experience in saying good things about the United States. The POTUS explained that he wanted the Olympics in Chicago because America needed to repair its image after what was going on during the past few years. In other words America sucks because of George Bush. This transcript of a meeting before the Denmark disaster was released by the White House, after Chicago was eliminated. One of the legacies I want to see coming out of Chicago 2016 hosting of the Games is...

(snip) The libertarian movement within the Republican Party, led by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, is gaining ground fast, to the acute embarrassment of the party establishment.(snip) In essence, libertarian conservatives stand for small government, small business and personal freedom. This translates into lower taxes, increased employment and increased prosperity. These were the policies of President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.Listening to mainline Republican Party spokespersons, people could be persuaded to think Republicans are libertarian. However, recent Republican actions show them to support big government, big business and increasing control over people. This has resulted in higher...

WASHINGTON – Many middle-class Americans would still struggle to pay for health insurance despite efforts by President Barack Obama and Democrats to make coverage more affordable.

<p>Those who read the New York Times's coverage of the unsuccessful results of Barack and Michelle Obama's attempt to seal the 2016 Summer Olympics bid for Chicago on Friday afternoon ('For Obama, an Unsuccessful Campaign") might want to read it again.</p>

OBAMA LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT STRATEGY, FOR THE RIGHT REASONSBy Cynthia Tucker Sat Oct 3, 7:58 pm ET Given the outrage from certain precincts of the conservative establishment, you'd think President Obama had signed a peace treaty with Osama bin Laden. The armchair generals are apoplectic over the president's decision to have a series of serious and thoughtful discussions with his national security team about sending more troops to Afghanistan. "Al-Qaida's propaganda machine is quickly seizing on this weakness," military affairs pundit Bill Roggio blogged at The Weekly Standard, the neocon house organ. Ultra-conservative pundit Michelle Malkin denounced Obama's "waffle"...

Obama's Olympic Failure summed up in one humorous video

Ok, it’s been said we need to take the Republican Party back..... Let's get some ideas down on paper and start getting other conservative supporters involved. Looks like some wont to wait on Sarah Palin. She can’t do this alone.

Appearing on the late night talk show, the president compared his skills at bowling to those of a handicapped athlete. Asked by Mr Leno, who hosts the show, if he had been practicing bowling in his Washington office, Mr Obama joked that his highest score was the extremely low total of 129. “That’s very good, Mr President,” Mr Leno interjected in a sarcastic tone. Mr Obama then countered that the score was “like the Special Olympics or something”. The comments, which will inevitably call into question Mr Obama’s sensitivity skills, came as he attempted to diffuse escalating criticism over his...

Now that President Barack Obama has added the “Agony of Defeat” to the American experience after his humiliating performance in Copenhagen, the American people need to determine if this man has the judgment and ability to handle responsibilities more substantive than giving flowery speeches. He may look and sound terrific on television, but is Obama the one who should be deciding the fate of 300 million Americans and all of the free world? Can Barack Obama, having shown that he cannot handle a simple matter like the Olympics, be trusted to serve as Commander-in-chief of the world’s lone super power?

“It’s the world’s loss,” said David Axelrod, senior advisor to President Obama, in regards to Chicago not being selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the Host City for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. So instead of admitting to a serious miscalculation by his boss and offering a modicum of a mea culpa for time lost and resources wasted, David Axelrod, with mind-numbing condescension, chose to double-down on President Obama’s fool’s errand to Copenhagen. Sadly though, this once again finds us at yet another “teachable moment” for our woefully under-experienced President and his staff of stubborn political toadies. As...

10. Dead people can’t vote at IOC meetings 9. Obama distracted by 25 min meeting with Gen. McChrystal 8. Who cares if Obama couldn’t talk the IOC into Chicago? He’ll be able to talk Iran out of nukes. 7. The impediment is Israel still building settlements. 6. Obviously no president would have been able to accomplish it. 5. We’ve been quite clear and said all along that we didn’t want the Olympics. 4. This isn’t about the number of Olympics “lost”, it’s about the number of Olympics “saved” or “created”. 3. Clearly not enough wise Latina judges on the committee...

If a former ACORN lawyer is adventitious enough to win a presidential election, the least he could do is upgrade his community organizing tendencies into talents better fit for the Oval Office. (Somebody please explain this concept to Soros and Rahm.) Let’s face it, Obama is a colossal failure. You silly liberals—what ever made you think a community organizing skill set could be used to run the United States of America? Are you retarded? Not only was his little Olympic idea stupid and wrong on more levels than I can name, but he outright failed. I almost feel sorry for...