Marathon Pundit: December 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

Mark Kirk returning to Senate on Thursday

It's hard to believe, but there is some good news from the Senate tonight. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) will return to the Capitol on Thursday. Kirk suffered a major stroke in January.

From AP:

Nearly a year after a stroke left him barely able to move the left side of his body, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk is expected to climb the 45 steps to the Senate's front door this week — a walk that's significant not just for Illinois' junior senator, but also for medical researchers and hundreds of thousands of stroke patients.

It's estimated only one-third of patients return to work after a stroke, said Dr. Elliot Roth, medical director of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s New Patient Recovery Unit and AbilityLab, where Kirk recovered.

The 53-year-old Republican will return to the high-profile, demanding life of a Washington lawmaker after an experimental rehabilitation so intense it's often compared to boot camp, Roth said. Patients keep grueling schedules, often spending eight hours a day or more re-learning how to walk, talk and do other tasks.

Because there are risks to going back to work unprepared, patients do "practice runs" of what it will be like to be back on the job. If and when they successfully return to work, Roth added, "It's like having a great symphony play and recognizing it's all the practice beforehand that went into it.”

Related post:

Video: Dick Morris lauds Kirk, slams Obama on Iran

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(Video) Elvis Presley's last New Year: Auld Lang Syne in 1977

Watch and sing along as Elvis Presley welcomes what turned out to be his last New Year--1977--in Pittsburgh with "Auld Lang Syne."

Happy New Year everyone!

culture

From Midnight Blue Says: Fort Mifflin photowalk

I'm not the only blogger who has been walking the grounds of an old military fort. Midnight Blue Says brought her camera to Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia. Click here to take a look.

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Acting like children: Fiscal cliff almost here

President Obama and leaders in Congress have had more than a year to confront the fiscal cliff crisis. Parents will recognize the misbehavior--they are putting everything off to the last minute and not taking responsibility for their own actions.

The Democrats who control the Senate have not passed a budget in over 1,300 days. The blame starts with the Dems.

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Turbo Tax Deluxe + State 2012 23663787 (Google Affiliate Ad)

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Obama lied: He has compared himself to Lincoln

Lincoln statue, Dixon, IL

The first bit comes from the Weekly Standard. When asked by NBC's David Gregory about the movie Lincoln and the 16th president's working-over of Republicans and Democrats to pass the 13th Amendment, President Obama responded this way, the Weekly Standard tells us:

"Well, no," Obama said in response to Gregory's question. "Look, a) I never compare myself to Lincoln. And b) obviously the magnitude of the issues is quite different from the Civil War and slavery. The point, though, is democracy has always been messy. We're a big diverse country that is constantly sort of arguing about all kinds of stuff. But eventually, we do the right thing."

Now from the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan seven years ago:

This week comes the previously careful Sen. Barack Obama, flapping his wings in Time magazine and explaining that he's a lot like Abraham Lincoln, only sort of better. "In Lincoln's rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of language and law, his capacity to overcome personal loss and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat--in all this he reminded me not just of my own struggles."

And then there is this, courtesy of Wizbang:

"When you listen to what the Federalists said about the Anti-Federalists, and the names that Jefferson called Hamilton and back and forth — I mean those guys were tough,” Obama said. "Lincoln — they used to talk about him almost as bad as they talk about me. So democracy has never been for the faint of heart."

Obama uttered that valentine to himself last year on his taxpayer-funded campaign-style bus tour of the Upper Midwest last year.