FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO today on October 27, 1964, Ronald Reagan gave his now-legendary "Time for Choosing" speech. Next Tuesday, election day, we have our own "rendezvous with destiny."

Most of us don't - or just barely - remember Reagan (I was just 20, and in my second college work phase on Kwajalein Island in October 1964). So before you go to the polls, go here and read Reagan's speech in toto. It's timeless, and applies today as well as it did in 1964.

More: the complete speech, courtesy of Sarah Palin.

CHICKEN LITTLE DEMOCRATS: The sky is falling; the sky is falling.

IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS: Off-duty NY cop shoots salon robber while getting her hair done.

Didn't Clint Eastwood also take out some bad guys while sitting in a barber's chair? Why yes, yes, he did.

WHY BLUE STATES ARE BLUE: a chilly business climate.

THANKS, JOY BEHAR! The Sharron Angle campaign raised $137K after your rant.

[Update] Sharron sent flowers.

TREASURY HIRING FOIA OFFICERS 'to withhold information from release to public.'

Officials at the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Stability contracted with a small consulting firm that has given nearly $25,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005 (and no money to Republicans) to hire “Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Analysts to support the Disclosure Services, Privacy and Treasury Records.” The firm is currently advertising a job opening for a FOIA analyst with experience in the “Use of FOIA/PA exemptions to withhold information from release to the public.”

Transparency.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE with the sound of liberal Democratic contempt for the electorate.

IF YOU DON'T VOTE DEMOCRAT, you must be heartless.

HEH. Health care is ailing Democrats.

WHOSE BAILOUTS? The following excerpt came to me in a .pdf attachment to a campaign email that appears to be making the rounds of Democrat activists. The author (identified in the .pdf properties box) is one Juanita Luiz, who appears to be a union activist (if a Google search is anywhere near accurate).

As the 2010 campaign heats up, a lot of blame has been directed towards the Democrats and, in particular, President Obama for the billions of tax dollars given away to corporations in the form of bailouts.

The facts tell a different story. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, all amounts in 2008 U.S dollars: President Richard Nixon bailed out Penn Central Railroad in 1970 for $3.2 billion, Lockheed in 1971 for $1.4 billion and Franklin National Bank in 1974 for $7.8 billion. President Gerald Ford bailed out New York City in 1975 for $9.4 billion. President Jimmy Carter bailed out Chrysler Motors in 1980 for $4 billion. President Ronald Reagan bailed out Continental Illinois National Bank in 1984 for $9.5 billion. President George H. Bush bailed out the savings and loans industry in 1989 for $293.3 billion.

In 2001, President George W. Bush bailed out: the airline industry for $18.6 billion; in 2008, Bear Stearns for $30 billion; Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac for $400 billion; AIG for $180 billion, including $40 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP); the automobile industry for $25 billion; Citigroup for $280 billion, with $45 billion from TARP; and established TARP for $700 billion, of which $85 billion was already counted above. President Barack Obama in 2009 bailed out Bank of America for $142.2 billion, with $45 billion from TARP.

Many of us forget that the bailouts attributed to Obama were initiated during the last four months of Bush's term.

Sounds good doesn't it? The bailouts are all the Republicans' fault. Except that...

Presidents don't appropriate funds - Congress does. Here's the makeup of Congress from 1969 (91st Congress) through 2010 (111th Congress).



Note that with only two exceptions (1981-82 and 2001-02) Congress was controlled by Democrats. In both exceptions, Congress was split; Republicans held the Senate in 1981-82, the House in 2001-02.

There were no bailouts when the Republicans held both houses of Congress.

The "it's all the Republicans' fault" meme doesn't look so good now, huh?

GIBBS: OK, the car in the ditch has an Obama bumper sticker on it.

Awareness comes slowly to the Obama administration, but don't worry - the wrecker will arrive November 2nd.

PUBLIC OPTIMISM in U.S. system of government hits a 36-year low. Will it change after November 2nd?

TEACHERS GONE WILD: I'll bet there are some seriously pissed teachers in New Jersey about now. More here.

If New Jersey isn't a right-to-work state, it soon will be.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIGHER EDUCATION:

The politics and worldview of faculty and administrators are remarkably unbalanced: “They’re radically out of step with the American mainstream and are downright hostile to the beliefs of most Americans.” They’re doing a terrible job of teaching our children: “Academic standards have withered to the vanishing point.” And they cost way too much: Costs are “so high that for many students, higher education is arguably a bad investment that they shouldn’t make.”

Linked from Instapundit.

THE DEMOCRATS true colors are showing.

"IF CONGRESSMEN, JUDGES, THE PRESIDENT AND OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS were merely ignorant of our Constitution, there'd be hope -- ignorance is curable through education. These people in Washington see themselves as our betters and rulers. They have contempt for the limits our Constitution places on the federal government ...."

OUR 'RULING ELITE' are nothing more than a bunch of credentialed jackasses.