Halloween is coming…

By Allahpundit
HotAir.com

Via AmSpec, there’s no hard proof that it’s true but if the GOP’s willing to dump ad money into this sinking ship, why wouldn’t they dump volunteers too?

Not only is the NRCC pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into the media campaign of Dede Scozzafava, they’re also organizing and coordinating teams of GOTV volunteers in the district. And they’re picking up the tab.

Our team just finished meeting with a NRCC volunteer named “James” who works out of the Watertown office for the Scozzafava campaign. James informed us that he was sent to Watertown, NY from Washington D.C. as a volunteer for the NRCC. We asked about expenses, and he said the NRCC was paying for everything.

We had a great chat with James and learned that a good portion of the Scozzafava campaign volunteers were indeed brought in from outside of the district.

Like I said earlier, this is probably their way of warning next year’s third-party challengers to expect a fight to the bitter end if they do something as reckless as jumping into a tight race.  Fair enough — except that, in this particular case, it’s no longer the conservative who’s killing the Republican’s chance at winning, it’s the Republican who’s killing the conservative’s.  And if Hoffman loses by a whisker to the Democrat, don’t think grassroots right-wingers won’t be keenly aware of whose fault it is.  The GOP’s playing an increasingly destructive game here.

With the usual “if true” caveat I find I must agree with Allahpundit.  The NRCC seems to have chosen unwisely.

In consequence the National Republican Committees will not be seeing so much as one thin dime from me until they come to their senses.  They work for us, not vice versa.

Our Lowered Economic Expectations
The stock market reaches an old milestone and the unemployment rate is below 10%. In Obama’s America, that’s worthy of celebration.
By Tristan Yates
PajamasMedia

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recently reached 10,000 again, rising 50% since March and reclaiming a major market milestone. September job losses were also less than expected, keeping unemployment under 10%. Moody’s, Google, and even the New York Times say the recession is over.

That means mission accomplished, right? Surely President Obama deserves the Nobel Prize in economics too, or at least a day off from the never-ending criticism spewing forth from far-right outfits like the Atlantic and U.S. News and World Report.

Unfortunately, as usual, reality has to intrude on this president and his cheerleaders. In fact, the DJIA closed over 9,000 on January 2. Then the president came into office, passed the so-called stimulus, and immediately attacked the finance, energy, tourism, health care, and automotive industries — and where did the Dow go? It went to 6,500 by March.

SAB Regulars are encouraged to not hold their breaths waiting for the “Omama Approved” MSM to report on this.

Exclusive: Robust Public Option Lacks Votes To Pass House, Internal Whip Count Document Shows
By Greg Sargent
PlumLine blog

The House Dem leadership has conducted its preliminary whip count and has tallied up less than 200 likely Yes votes in support of a health care reform bill with a robust public option, well short of the 218 needed for passage, according to an internal whip count document I’ve obtained.

The document — compiled by the office of House leader James Clyburn — was distributed privately at a meeting between Clyburn and House progressives today where the fate of the public option was the subject of some contentious debate, with liberals demanding that House leaders push harder to win over votes.

Clyburn spokesperson Kristie Greco would only say: “We currently do not have the votes for a robust public option.”

Yep, the bestest Congress the Unions can buy.

Hat Tip: Ace

And he has that Nobel Peace prize after all, therefor the Iranian’s must have had peaceful intentions in exporting those arms.

Iranian ship laden with weapons seized off Yemen
The 5-member crew, 4 Iranians and an Indian, were taken immediately to the capital Sanaa for investigation.
By Nasser Arrabyee
gulfnews.com

Sanaa: An Iranian ship laden with various weapons believed to be for Al Houthi rebels was seized Monday off the Yemeni coasts of the Midi harbour in the far northern west of the country, security sources said Tuesday.

The 5-member crew, 4 Iranians and Indian, were taken immediately to the capital Sanaa for investigation.

The security sources believed that the ship was in its way to unload its weapon shipment, which includes anti-armour missiles, somewhere close to Haradh where it could be hidden in a farm before Al Houthi rebels collected them.

The Haradh area is only tens of kilometers from the western frontline of Al Malahaid.

Earlier on Monday, the independent paper Al Ahali said that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards train Al Houthi rebels in training camps in neighboring Eritrea. The paper also said that the Iranian revolutionary guards transport the weapons through the Eritrean harbour of Asab, from where it is transported to Yemen’s Midi Harbour.

I’m sure The One’s State Department will dispatch a harshly worded communique.

Church of Scientology convicted of fraud in France
By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY
YahooNews

PARIS – A Paris court convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than euro600,000 ($900,000) on Tuesday but stopped short of banning the group as prosecutors had demanded.

The group’s French branch immediately announced it would appeal the verdict.

The court convicted the Church of Scientology’s French office, its library and six of its leaders of organized fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used “commercial harassment” against recruits.

Time will tell…

Rolling up the TARP
The $700 billion for banks has become an all-purpose bailout fund.
Review and Outlook
The Wall Street Journal

The Troubled Asset Relief Program will expire on December 31, unless Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner exercises his authority to extend it to next October. We hope he doesn’t. Historians will debate TARP’s role in ending the financial panic of 2008, but today there is little evidence that the government needs or can prudently manage what has evolved into a $700 billion all-purpose political bailout fund.

We supported TARP to deal with toxic bank assets and resolve failing banks as a resolution agency of the kind that worked with savings and loans in the 1980s. Some taxpayer money was needed beyond what the FDIC’s shrinking insurance fund had available. But TARP quickly became a Treasury tool to save failing institutions without imposing discipline (Citigroup) and even to force public capital onto banks that didn’t need it. This stigmatized all banks as taxpayer supplicants and is now evolving into an excuse for the Federal Reserve to micromanage compensation.

TARP was then redirected well beyond the financial system into $80 billion in “investments” for auto companies. These may never be repaid but served as a lever to abuse creditors and favor auto unions. TARP also bought preferred stock in struggling insurers Lincoln and Hartford, though insurance companies are not subject to bank runs and pose no “systemic risk.” They erode slowly as customers stop renewing policies.

Hoffman Surges Into Lead in NY-23
New CFG Poll shows Hoffman 31.3%, Owens 27.0%, Scozzafava 19.7%
The Club for Growth


Washington - A poll released today by the Club for Growth shows Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman surging into the lead in the special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district to replace John McHugh, the former congressman who recently became Secretary of the Army.

The poll of 300 likely voters, conducted October 24-25, 2009, shows Conservative Doug Hoffman at 31.3%, Democrat Bill Owens at 27.0%, Republican Dede Scozzafava at 19.7%, and 22% undecided. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 5.66%. No information was provided about any of the candidates prior to the ballot question.

This is the third poll done for the Club for Growth in the NY-23 special election, and Doug Hoffman is the only candidate to show an increase in his support levels in each successive poll. The momentum in the race is clearly with Hoffman.

“Hoffman now has a wide lead among both Republicans and Independents, while Owens has a wide lead among Democrats. Dede Scozzafava’s support continues to collapse, making this essentially a two-candidate race between Hoffman and Owens in the final week,” concluded Basswood Research’s pollster Jon Lerner, who conducted the poll for the Club.