The Chicago (Catholic) Way.

Ah, yes. Children, the lastest is that Chicago’s archdiocesan leadership sanctions and shuts its eyes to the conversion of Oak Park’s Ascension parish to a pro-Obama forum on health care…this news from the Blithe Spirit blog written by Jim Bowman who took it from a report by Susan Jordan on CatholicCitizens.org, the website of Catholic Citizens of Illinois. Jordan is a resident of Oak Park.
Ascension is a good word for this flaccid, evasive, continuingly parsing archdiocesan leadership notably soft on local, state and national Democrats. It will …

“His father was a great friend of my father.” The reference to William Ayers’ father was how Mayor Richard M. Daley began his defense of Barack Obama for his association with the unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist. Daley’s father of course was Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago from 1955 until his death in 1976. Ayers’ father was head of Commonwealth Edison, the Chicago-based utility, from 1964 to 1980.
You bet they were great friends. That’s governance, Chicago style. The head of government is friends with the heads of every big business, …

PARIS—Here in the City of Light, now experiencing a series of wildcat street demonstrations that disrupt the hell out of traffic and public transportation, one gets a special perspective on both world and U.S. affairs. The big issue of the moment here is that farmers—yes, real family farmers, not agribusiness—find selling prices so low they cannot cover the cost of production.
At the same time, the French and other Europeans have their own questions about issues back in the good old U.S. A.
Such as health care legislation. The French have what …

In that same item Wednesday, we called attention to a speech Robert Reich, President Clinton’s labor secretary, gave, in which he set forth what he described–approvingly–as the “truth” about so-called health-care reform: that it amounts to telling old people, “We’re going to let you die,” forcing young people to pay more for insurance, and suppressing medical innovation.
We weren’t the only one to notice this Reich speech, and Reich has posted a response on his blog to the commentary that has ensued:
Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Rush, and the right-wing blogosphere seem …

President Barack Obama on Death Panels
“The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.”
Obama Economic Adviser Robert Reich on Death Panels
“We’re going to have to, if you’re very old, we’re not going to give you all that technology and all those …

The experience of Massachusetts, which implemented an individual mandate in 2007, suggests otherwise. Health-insurance premiums in the Bay State have risen significantly faster than the national average, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health foundation. At an average of $13,788, the state’s family plans are now the nation’s most expensive. Meanwhile, insurance companies are planning additional double-digit hikes, “prompting many employers to reduce benefits and shift additional costs to workers” according to the Boston Globe.
And health-care costs have continued to grow rapidly. According to a Rand Corporation study this …

Last night, as part of his nonstop media tour, the President of the United States was making small talk with David Letterman when he defended his health care proposals by praising the Canadian health care experience. Too bad Mister Obama did not poll some actual Canadians as to their thoughts on the quality, convenience and cost of healthcare in the Great White North. Unlike the President and US Senator Max Baucus (D-Mt), I have had actual conversations with some Canadians on this important subject, as I will explain.
Two weeks ago, …

Government leaders from advanced economies around the world will meet this week in Pittsburgh, PA to have a gabfest about the direction of economic policy.  At present, the G-20 is working on finalizing what they call a “Framework for Sustainable and Balanced Growth.”
This agreement does not have the force of law.  It is not a treaty and the US Congress will never vote on it.  What it does tell us is the direction in which policymakers think the US, China, and Europe should head.
As Bob Davis and Stephen Fidler …

It was a great speech not simply for its rousing rhetoric and clear detail, but because it framed health-care reform as a moral and patriotic obligation—the American thing to do. That was the subtext underlying all the facts, figures and tugs at the heartstrings.
Barack Obama brilliantly conjured up a Ted Kennedy legacy, just as Lyndon Johnson sanctified Jack Kennedy in selling the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Unfortunately, there is no Republican heir to Everett Dirksen 45 years later to declare that this is an idea whose time has come.
However, all …