The Gorewellian truth in the Audi Ad

"It will be interesting to see whether the ad actually sells cars. The premise only works if you take it as a given that this Gorewellian nightmare is inevitable. But the commercials arrive at precisely the moment when that inevitability is unraveling like an old pair of hemp socks. The global warming industry is imploding from scientific scandals, inconvenient weather, economic anxiety and surging popular skepticism (according to a Pew Research Center survey released in January, global warming ranks 21st out of 21 in terms of the public's priorities)." Jonah Goldberg

Earthquake awakens Chicago suburbs this morning

About 4 a.m. central time a 4.3 earthquake awakened the suburbs.

The USGS listed these major population centres distance from the early morning 4.3 earthquake February 10 2010.

* 6 km (4 miles) WNW (292°) from Virgil, IL
* 8 km (5 miles) E (94°) from Sycamore, IL
* 8 km (5 miles) N (1°) from Maple Park, IL
* 14 km (8 miles) ENE (67°) from DeKalb, IL
* 35 km (22 miles) NW (315°) from Aurora, IL
* 77 km (48 miles) WNW (282°) from Chicago, IL

Better to be tied to a teleprompter than read notes

So thinks Gibbs. This is unbelievable! Robert Gibbs needs to open his eyes and ears watch his boss' head swivel during a speech and listen to his stumbles, stutters and mispronunciation when he's untethered.

"Even the White House's top spokesman is getting in on the act of mocking former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin for looking to talking points written on her palm during a speech to "tea party" activists." Link

Rush Limbaugh isn't going to let the Commander in Chief's mispronunciation of "corpsman" as "corpse man" three times in the same speech go. Today he called the media the "news corpse." If the left treats that jab as they did his using "retard" immitating Emanuel's perpetual garbage mouth, this could have a long life. Gibbs is so dense he doesn't even realize that "hope and change" have become the punch line in a huge joke.

Democrats still get hysterical over Dan Quayle spelling potato with an e--but at least he didn't pronounce it pota-toe. I googled this topic, and now Obama supporters are criticizing the critics. They've fallen off the edge of reality going after Hannity. But in my entire life, I've never heard that word mispronounced, even though it's spelled with two silent consonants. Especially not when it has a military modifier.

Job killers in the second stimulus

If you needed any additional evidence that Obama has no intention of rescuing the economy, that it's right where he wants it:

"The Las Vegas Sun reported this weekend that big labor leaders are pushing to include their long-sought "card check" provisions into Obama's Second Stimulus. This legislation would effectively end a worker's right to fight unionization through secret ballot elections, would give the federal government the power to run small businesses and would cost the American economy thousands of jobs.

The other major provisions of Obama's second stimulus are also job killers. The $5,000 new worker tax credit does not create any incentive for already-struggling companies to begin long-term hiring. What's worse, it could even increase unemployment; companies would delay existing plans to create jobs so they could take advantage of the tax credit. And it would add to our national debt. Then there's the TARP-funded government-subsidized loans for small businesses. It's a big-government program destined to fail since the Small Business Administration has a terrible record of effectively allocating capital to the private sector." Morning Bell

It isn't that he's stupid about free markets and what it takes to turn this around--lower taxes and less regulation and interference by the federal government--it's that he knows exactly what works. That's why he won't do it.

There is another sector growing besides the federal government in this economy--lobbyists.

Left overs tonight

Chicken fettuccini primavera. That's what I'm calling it. So sue me. I was enticed to buy a package of "tuna helper" or something like that at the store yesterday. I'd already cooked some chicken breast and needed to use it up, so I combined them. Made enough for an army. He said it wasn't too bad. But really. I felt sort of silly. You don't save any time with these mixes and I usually have all the ingredients. Then today at the "parent page" of my blog, Cutest Blog on the Block, I saw an ad for "quick recipes" and found these lovely photos of Italy, and this. So I'll just chop up a few broccoli florets, some pepper and carrots, mix in a little more milk, and we'll be good to go.

The snow has stopped for now, and it's just beautiful, as long as we're in here and it's out there. But it is suppose to return tonight. Exercise class and morning Bible study cancelled. The plow boys have been by. Love condo living! That drive-way on Abington (34 years) was a killer.

You can de-clutter in 15 minutes a day

That's what Fly Lady says. I thought it was a fifty-fling, but after checking the site, I see it is 27. "Take a garbage bag and walk through your home and throw away 27 items. Do not stop until you have collected all 27 items. Then close the garbage bag and pitch it. DO NOT LOOK IN IT!!! Just do it." But I had an entire box to empty. I pitched 67 things. It took much longer than I anticipated. Some of the forms I'd set aside asked for things like my doctor's name, address and phone number; or my husband's SS; or my daughter's, or the pharmacy's phone number. And the returned Christmas cards. Oh my. I had to fire up the database and change or add addresses. I had to take some things to the basement, like my husband's tools because I never could figure out how to fix the exercycle so it wouldn't sound like a small plane taking off, and last year's calendar that had some great flower photos for when I get inspired to paint again. Then there was the laundry to put in the dryer while I was down there, and yesterday's loads to take upstairs. Yes, de-cluttering takes much more time than you think. Fortunately, the cat hadn't become excited and used the litter box like she usually does when she sees me going to the basement. But with 5" of snow expected today, 2" this evening, and another 5" possibly tomorrow, this is a good day to do de-cluttering.

Wexner Center on Google Earth

I don't understand how Google Earth works, but here is the Wexner Center on the campus of The Ohio State University.

To create a model in Google SketchUp (which is primarily used for concept sketching) is a test, especially for a building like the Wexner Center. Diagonal axes, broken forms, and exposed scaffolding, just to name a few, provide enormous challenges.

Yup. That pretty much describes this buidling. Post modern, ugly as sin, and anti-people. Here's what I had to say about this building about four years ago during a big renovation.

"The Wexner Center didn't work from the get-go and the $15.8 million upgrade (on our dime) should be laid at the feet of the review committee that selected this design from a competition that would have served our campus better with a far more practical and beautiful building suited for our climate and geography." Link

How children can help with housework

Recently the Work and Family Mail Box at the WSJ had this complaint from a father of 3 and one on the way. "My wife is busy and I work long hours, so it's embarrassing when people drop by."

My first thought was, Oh, oh, I'll bet that's the mother-in-law "dropping by."

I have no small children and my personal areas of our home (my office, the kitchen, the laundry room) are much messier than when I did. My children were my main focus in the 60s and 70s--I wanted to be a good example, I wanted to teach them life skills, and I was a bit fussy about hygiene and good health, probably more than I needed to be. So therefore, my children "helped" with housework without actually doing the work.

When they were toddlers I vacuumed and picked up toys once a day--usually about 4:30. One tip my Mom (married 65 years) gave me was always look good for your husband when he walks in the door--and that includes the house. Put on a fresh dress, straighten your seams (her era), comb your hair and powder your nose.

My children were bathed daily before bedtime, and since I was already on my knees, that meant the tub was cleaned daily, and the floor mopped up. Toilet training meant special attention to hygienic facilities. In those days, I ironed weekly, not bi-monthly. Shopping was once a week--alone--not every other day like now when I have plenty of time and no schedule.

My parents had four children within seven years, and I can't ever recall a time when the house was messy for long, even during the time when mom baked and sold pies (although I wasn't tall enough to see the kitchen counter then). Neither had mothers who put in a lot of time on "keeping a house" so a pleasant, clean house was important to them. However, we were free to rearrange the furniture and drape blankets around to create houses, drag out the Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, dolls and trucks, or set up an art studio on the dining room table. I can't recall anyone stopping me from running through the house pretending to be a pony, using the beds as a trampoline, (or falling down stairs frequently). So Mom must have started picking up the mess and putting the furniture back about an hour before Dad's return in the evening.

The WSJ columnist suggested to the reader that he find a "household coach" to help his wife with organization. I've seen this done on TV, but wonder how long it lasts. I think of my own efforts to keep my personal space clean--it's not exactly like I don't know what to do or why! Today we have on-line helps like Fly Lady (today is zone 2) where you tackle one area a day and do a 50-fling/pick up or something like that.

I tend to think you either see it and it bothers you, or you don't. In that family, unfortunately, the husband could see it, the wife couldn't.

Monday Memories--So what else is new in the labor market?

My cousin sent these stats--I'd just seen them Saturday in another communication. Then I started counting my own work experience, and came up with ten jobs plus two unpaid positions by age 21.

"The U.S. Department of Labor says that: “Today’s learner will have 10 to 14 jobs by age 38.”

First (paid) job: babysitter, Forreston, IL, 11 years old, through teen years

Second job: corn detasseling, DeKalb seed, Polo, IL, age 14

Third job: Mt. Morris Public Library, student clerk, age 16

Fourth job: Foxbilt Feeds, office clerk, age 16

Fifth job: Zickuhr’s Pharmacy, counter, age 16-20, high school, then college breaks

Unpaid BVS summer volunteer, age 17, Fresno, CA

Sixth job: Manchester College Library, Librarian's student assistant, age 18

Seventh job: Green St. Pharmacy, Champaign, IL, counter and cashier, age 19-21, various times, undergrad and grad, University of Illinois

Eighth job: University of Illinois Library, student assistant, age 19

Ninth job: General Mold and Engineering, Indianapolis, secretary and payroll, age 20

Tenth job: Russian Language and Area Studies, office clerk, age 21

Unpaid student teaching in Spanish, Urbana, IL high school, age 21

Eleventh job: Graduate assistant, Dept. Sociology, U. of I. translator of Soviet medical newspapers, age 22

Oops. Thought of another one. I had a paid paper route for about 13 homes (2 farms) in the SW end of Forreston when I was age 7. It was a very long walk, especially on Sunday morning when the papers were very heavy and the snow very deep.



1961 and ready to enter the "real" world of work as a college graduate

The Pelosi Pole Vault

Nancy Pelosi has promised (Jan. 28) that the health care bill written by lobbyists and leftists that Americans don't want will be snuck into other bills.

"We will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn't work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed for the American people for their own personal health and economic security and for the important role that it will play in reducing the deficit."

This is not new--think of all the times social programs or other pork have been tacked onto troop funding. She's being honest about what she thinks of the American people for once in her life.

Recently we've seen the EPA just go right around our elected Congress to do their own pole vaulting for Cap and Trade, a boondoggle that will probably give us a higher tax bill than "health care reform." I have difficulty reading the research articles in JAMA, but the social and political stuff isn't too hard. In the January 13 issue (Vol. 303, no. 2) there is an interesting article on "Human, animal, ecosystem health all key to curbing emerging infectious diseases" (p. 117-118). Yes, the 2006 spinach e coli outbreak can be tied to global climate change (OSU researchers found E coli in domestic and wild animals linked to unusual weather conditions contaminating irrigation systems). So at a November conference hosted by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council it was recommended that we must have new strategies locally, nationally and globally because our surveillance system is inadequate.

Keep an eye on cross fertilization of your tax health dollars and regulations among US Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the US Agency for International Development (USAID, the National Institute on Environmental Health Services, wildlife management, all universities and research dealing with veterinary medicine, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and "global effort." Cha-Ching. Of course, compared to billions and trillions, an initial investment in this system of $800 million is a drop in the government bucket which has a hole in it. It's those 12 recommendations that came out of the conference that include the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Office International des Epizooties and the goal of creating a funding stream that worries me. That and Nancy's pole vaulting skill.

Drawing on a promise. . . that isn't there

In last week's State of the Union address, President Obama said,

"Abroad, America's greatest source of strength has always been our ideals. The same is true at home. We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution, the notion that we're all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law, you should be protected by it, if you adhere to our common values, you should be treated no different than anyone else.

We must continually renew this promise. My administration has a Civil Rights Division that is once again prosecuting civil rights violations and employment discrimination. We finally strengthened..."

First of all, it's not in the Constitution. The Constitution had 7 articles and was dated September 17, 1787 at a Constitutional Convention. Then it was amended with 10 amendments known as the "Bill of Rights" on December 15, 1791, and then an additional 17, the last being ratified in 1992. The Declaration of Independence was much earlier, July 4, 1776, and it has the words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. . . " Most of the Declaration is about reasons for independence from King George of Britain, listing all the bad things he'd done to the American people. It's the Constitution that tells us about the separation of powers, another thing Obama seems to have co-mingled.

Second, it's very clear, that the reason the signers of the Declaration of Independence were willing to put their lives on the line was that they believed their Rights came from their Creator and not by abiding by the law, another mistake Obama made, even if he'd found his way into the right document.

For me, "finding unity in our diversity" is a very awkward phrase, especially since "diversity" has come to mean in recent years separating a national people into little fractured groups and interest blocks to get social and educational programs passed. It certainly doesn't seem to have the same ring as the motto on the seal and our money, "E Pluribus Unum," Latin for "One from many" or "One from many parts" with the emphasis on the ONE and not the MANY. It meant creating a federal state from a group of individual states--formerly colonies.

What year was he born? Forty years ago Fifth Dimension even had a fairly popular song about the Declaration of Independence. So did his speech writers just make a mistake? Surely a constitutional lawyer has read the Constitution. It's not very long.



And we won't even go into the never ending straw men slams against the Bush administration with the nonsense, ". . . once again prosecuting civil rights violations and employment discrimination. We finally strengthened . . .blah blah"

Tebow Super Bowl Commercial

And to think the pro-abortion people got their shorts in a knot over this!

Good-bye Bob

Bob Connors of 610 WTVN radio has been doing the morning drive time as long as I can remember, and I'm really not in the car all that much. But I think I heard him say 30 years, 6 days a week. Saturday as I was heading out for coffee, listeners were saying good-bye, because he's giving up Saturdays, his call-in program. Bob said he'd like to be able to take his wife out on Friday night like other people do and not worry about getting up early for the program. People call Bob and in a few minutes, report on kittens that need a new home, or a spaghetti supper raising funds for someone who's had a fire, or a political event, or just opining on the week's events. Some people only hear him on Saturday, so I suppose those were the ones most upset. In my opinion, he's got the best voice in radio, and John Corby, the afternoon guy, is running a very close second.

There's something really special about Bob, though, and I think this caller summed it up nicely, and I'm paraphrasing:

"Most people can hear, but very few really listen. We're going to miss you."

Do you remember "The Rules?"

I don't. I was busy working on my career reading up on exercise therapy for horses and kidney diseases in dogs (Veterinary Medicine Librarian, Ohio State University). This book was a big hit in the 90s. If you followed "The Rules" you were all but guaranteed a husband (if you were a girl). One of the authors got a divorce, and remarried but they both are doing well. Apparently you can sign on to become one of their counselors. I've been married close to 50 years, my parents were married over 65, my grandparents' combined years of marriage were 133. Maybe I should apply. But it's been so long I don't remember what the rules were back then (1960, 1934, 1912, 1901).

These days the authors are also giving advice on nose jobs and closet cleaning. Woot!

Bovine End Product

A response to a discussion on learning from President Obama’s speeches to improve your own abilities, at Higher Ed Morning dot com.

“Mr. Obama is, at the very least, a very facile speaker. What offends my sensibilities is the monotonous overuse of what I would call cheap rhetorical tricks (e.g.: "There are those who say-" leading into a classic straw man argument; "Let me be perfectly clear-" leading into obfuscatory weasel-wording; among other offenses, including false dichotomies, illicit redefinitions, et cetera). Yes, other Presidents have been poor speakers, but I'm sorry - after the umpteenth hearing of a rhetorical catchphrase, it begins to grate. Out here in Flyover Country, most of the citizens Mr. Obama has been trying to persuade have long ago learned to dismiss his arguments as, if I may be forgiven the Bowdlerization, "Bovine End-product."“

Note: My spellcheck still tries to change “Obama” to “Osama.”

And from Murray, who would be in Flyover Country if he weren't playing golf in Florida, on the repetitious speeches:

"When Obama speaks it doesn't matter whether it's his State of the Union address, speaking to the Republican or Democratic caucuses, at a town hall meeting or news conference, the SELLING is exactly the same. One campaign speech fits all. Without fail he always blames the Bush administration for the economy and then picks his latest enemy and demonizes them. He always tries to "sell" HIS health care bill plus HIS cap & trade. When the Republicans invited him for a question and answer meeting, what does Obama do? He gives them a start off speech where he both scolds and ridicules them! Now remember, this is the guy who campaigned on bringing the two parties together including the whole world. When questioned about his promise to not have lobbyists in his administration (he has 40) he corrected that by saying he meant there are none in a advisory position. (He must have misspoke.) Well, that's a lie anyway because 3 of those 40 lobbyist do advise!

Now this is a weather report!

We've had snow in Columbus. A few events cancelled. Maybe some drifting of our 6-8 inches. But I really got a good laugh out of this guy. Baltimore and DC are apparently getting hammered.

First Lady criticized for discussing her children’s weight in public

Bloggers and talkers left and right (Glenn Beck mentioned it, and he seems overly concerned about his own weight, IMO) are saying she did a bad thing, using her own children as an example of poor eating. Well, I don’t think it was any worse than complaining to blue collar workers in Ohio (during the campaign) about paying back her college loans and the cost of her kids’ piano lessons. That was a 21st century "let them eat cake" speech.

"We went to our pediatrician all the time," Obama said. "I thought my kids were perfect -- they are and always will be -- but he [the doctor] warned that he was concerned that something was getting off balance."

"I didn't see the changes. And that's also part of the problem, or part of the challenge. It's often hard to see changes in your own kids when you're living with them day in and day out," she added. "But we often simply don't realize that those kids are our kids, and our kids could be in danger of becoming obese. We always think that only happens to someone else's kid -- and I was in that position."

Obama said the doctor suggested she first look at her daughters' body mass index (BMI). The minor changes she subsequently made in their daily habits, Obama said, made all the difference.

What is important about childhood obesity is ignored in this story.

1) No one knows what the “right” BMI is for children--those studies haven‘t been done. It's age, it's ethnicity, it's genes, it's gender, it's growth spurts. I was almost my adult height and weight by the end of 7th grade. One girl in the class got her growth spurt after high school graduation. At our 20th reunion I didn't recognize "Pee Wee" because he was over 6' and quite filled out. If Obama's pediatrician mentioned BMI, then it was observational, not research;

2) studies don't show any change in obesity (except upward) with government intervention--and believe me it has been tried many times with the CDC and foundations throwing billions at it, and not just our country;

3) it‘s frequent dieting that seems to be dangerous;

4) older people who carry extra weight live longer than thin people with terrific fitness scores or obese people;

5) studies do show that low-fat diets for children are bad for brain development, especially in infancy.

CDC in 2004 announced that obesity was the nation’s number two killer (cigarettes were #1) causing 400,000 deaths a year. It's own data can't find an association between BMI and cancer. But oops. Their own data indicated the true average is 112,000 per year. But never you mind--it’s a fabulous draw for tax money.

Here’s some cost figures for “fighting” obesity from the 2010 budget as broken out by program at JunkFoodScience.blogspot.com even though there is no evidence these programs and partnerships work, prevent disease, or reduce mortality.

● The budget for obesity programs under the Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity department totals $44.4 million; which includes “developing innovative partnerships,” such as with the Healthy Eating Active Living Convergence Partnership and with the Produce for Better Health Foundation (where the CDC co-chairs the National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance). PBH was honored at the Weight of Nation conference, by the way, with an award for its work “advancing policies and environmental strategies to prevent and control obesity.”

● The $62.47 million budget for REACH, which targets minority communities for intervention, is part of its Healthy Communities Program which, it says, is an integral part of CDC’s response to the epidemics of obesity and chronic disease.”

● $7.3 million is for the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

● $12.3 million for Genomics is described as “opportunities for public health and preventive medicine, which support the President‘s Healthier U.S. Initiative and the Secretary‘s Personalized Health Care Initiative.”

● $65.99 million is budgeted for diabetes surveillance, prevention and education (such as its Diabetes Primary Prevention Initiative which is “focused on approaches that identify people with pre-diabetes... to adapt lifestyle behaviors aimed at reducing modiable risk factors for type 2 diabetes” – i.e. obesity).

● $341 million is for cancer prevention and control programs, such as WISEWOMAN (Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation, which targets low-income women “to improve diet, physical activity, and other lifestyle behaviors to prevent, delay, and control cardiovascular and other chronic diseases”) and NCCCP (National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, which “provide a blueprint to encourage healthy lifestyles, promote recommended cancer screening guidelines and tests,…[and] education programs about cancers or their associated risk factors”).

● The $62.78 million budget for School Health is focused on physical activity, nutrition and tobacco use prevention and other priority health risk behaviors, most notably obesity and type 2 diabetes (which it says “has become increasingly prevalent among children and adolescents as rates of overweight and obesity rise”) and funds 22 state agencies “to focus on reducing chronic disease risk factors such as tobacco use, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity” and funds 29 NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to “promote healthy behaviors for the nation’s youth.”

● $22.8 million is for its Healthy Communities program for “community leaders and public health professionals to equip these entities to effectively confront the urgent realities of the growing national crisis in obesity and other chronic diseases in their communities.”

Go to her page and check the links. The scientific evidence she writes, "often from CDC statistics itself, fails to support any of these programs. That’s why it’s never been more important for us to remember those fallacies of logic and to think and look deeper than the headlines."

This is my favorite "anti-anti-fast food" photo. Peasant women in a Romanian village which doesn't have running water let alone processed food or a McDonald's!

All this talk about food has made me hungry. Time out for Ritz and cheese. Also, did you know that Gerberding, Bush's head of the CDC, is now head of vaccines for Merck? What do you bet they'll develop a vaccine to fight obesity. She certainly laid the ground work during her years at CDC.

From Robert Redford to Yoda

Barry Shanley woke up one morning in 2001 missing part of his moustache. Then his hair and eyebrows disappeared. Doctor after doctor as he went up the specialist food chain said they’d never seen anything like it. But they think they know what may have caused it. After weeks of testing and checking his medical records a team at Cleveland Clinic decided it was the steroid shots for severe allergies from the age of 4 to 18. The specialist said he was a time bomb that finally went off. Now many years later, his immune system thought his hair--all of it--was a disease and was destroying it. Oddly, since this affliction began in October 2001, he has not had a headache, cold, the flu, or sore throat. Nothing. After eight years, they still don’t know exactly why, but he has finally had a new photo taken for his newspaper column.

Chef-O-Nette in Tremont Center

Our apartment on Farleigh
We moved to the Columbus area in late June of 1967. I had taken a position as a cataloger of Russian materials at The Ohio State University Libraries, and my husband had been hired as a draftsman at Urban, Calabretta and Lewis downtown. After unpacking a few things at 2120 Farleigh Road that first evening, we walked through a neighbor's drive way through a gate and into an alley where we found a small shopping center and the Chef-O-Nette restaurant. (We were so unfamiliar with the area I didn't know we weren't living in Columbus). Best food in town. I recommend the Hangover and the tapioca. For many years I was an early morning regular at the second bay. To sit at the first bay was like sitting in the wrong pew in church. Our bay even had parties at private homes we knew each other so well.



I found this video on a Chef fan page on Facebook.

Hypocrite in Chief

He's already Narcissist in Chief. Glenn Beck reports he's had a photo taken with his feet on the Resolute desk and has graced the walls of the White House with hundreds of photos of himself, and has them frequently changed.

Beck on radio: "Now, I just got a note from a friend of mine who said, Glenn, I was just in the White House for three hours. Inside, the walls are covered with 11 by 14 framed photos of the president in various activities. According to the Secret Service they are taken all of the time and changed weekly. I would estimate there are 300 photos around the White House now east and west wings, and they are changed weekly. Wow! Wow."

Now Hypocrite as well. He was probably not the all time blocker of Bush nominees, but that may have been because he was such a light weight with so little time in the Senate to do anything while running for President. The Washington Post points out some big glaring holes in his complaints about Republicans blocking his choices.

In 2005, a year after his election to the Senate, Obama placed a hold on Susan Bodine to lead the Environmental Protection Agency office that oversees Superfund and emergency cleanup programs because the agency had missed a deadline on new regulations for lead paint exposure.

In September 2006, Obama and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) blocked Robert L. Wilkie's nomination as a Defense Department assistant secretary over a long-delayed Pentagon report on Midwestern wind farms.

And Obama joined with other Democrats in October 2007 to block the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky to the Federal Election Commission. Von Spakovsky later withdrew; Wilkie and Bodine were eventually confirmed.