Couldn’t Help But Notice (112307)
This sure stayed under the radar (bolds are mine):
Greg Ballard just a few months ago was an obscure Republican mayoral nominee without a prayer, some scoffed, of unseating a well-funded, two-term incumbent.
Today, he’s the mayor-elect of the nation’s 13th-largest city, a tax opponent held up for admiration by President Bush, and a lesson to political incumbents everywhere of what can happen if they don’t mind the mood of the voters.
Ballard beat Democrat Bart Peterson 51 percent to 47 percent to become the first challenger in 40 years to unseat an Indianapolis mayor.
The 52-year-old retired Marine Corps officer never doubted himself.
”I know half the city doesn’t believe it when I said I always believed. I mean, I always thought we were going to do this thing,” he said.
What happened in Indianapolis was a classic taxpayer revolt in which voters took out their frustrations on the man at the top.
_________________________________________
More invisible news: a guilty plea by a major player in the Oil for Food scandal:
A Switzerland-based oil trading company has pleaded guilty to paying $13 million in kickbacks to the Iraqi government in violation of the U.N. oil-for-food program’s rules, the Manhattan district attorney, Robert Morgenthau, announced yesterday.
Vitol S.A. allowed the kickbacks to continue between June 2001 and September 2002 but did not report them to the United Nations, according to a release from Mr. Morgenthau’s office.
_________________________________________
Walter Williams, a member of it, is a “Greatest Generation” dissenter.
_________________________________________
When it comes to movies about Iraq and the War on Terror coming out of Hollywood, it’s bombs away, at least domestically:
The Robert Redford movie “Lions for Lambs” has been a box-office disappointment. It grossed $6.7 million during its first weekend earlier this month, placing it fourth behind “Bee Movie” ($25.6 million), “American Gangster” ($24 million) and “Fred Claus” ($18.5 million).
The latest on “Lions for Lambs” in the US is here (links in this para may require free registration). No way it gets past $15 millions before its run ends. But the foreign box office is $20 million, meaning that the “hate America” crowd is getting its red meat. Thank you, Robert Redford.
Another Iraq War movie, “Redacted,” may end up being the Mother Of All Flops of any genre:
Do the math: $25,628, divided by 15 theaters, divided by 4 showings per day (likely average), divided by $10 per ticket, is 43 people per showing. Ouch.
