As noted before, Obama Voter Regret Syndrome (OVRS) is spreading, and is reaching pandemic proportions. One of the main symptoms is when someone says something like "I wish I hadn't voted for Obama." That's pretty tale-tell. But even silence is telling enough if the patient in question was an Obama Evangelist(tm) in the election cycle. Friends of mine who were once writing "Why I Am Voting for Obama" articles are now rather sheepish about the whole thing. That's bad, because it's a clear sign that OVRS has been contracted. What's amazing is the breadth of OVRS. It's to be found among the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) community (as if they didn't know that Obama was to the right of McCain on LGBT-rights!). People are saying it here and people are saying it there. Smokers are saying it (search for "sorry"), and those concerned with health are saying it (look for "wish"). I don't want to brag, but I'm OVRS-immune. I didn't even think about voting for him!

• In a very informative series about the causes of the financial crisis, Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne points to some suspicious trends to "hijack" public understanding.
• No news stories on Frank Lombard's friends at Eno Commons since July 1? At least someone's interested; but with the crimes he's accused of, you'd think media outlets like CNN would produce more than one story, wouldn't you?
• The Executive Office (encompassing both the Bush and Obama administrations) has finally found a responsible outlet for TARP money. The only problem I can see is the unreal amount of regulation that comes with any of the recent bailout money - believe me, I know firsthand! But bravo for the idea, Mr. President. We still need to talk about all those stupid ideas.
• "Building on the strong efforts of President Bush, we will carry forward the fight against HIV/AIDS." Yes, Bush was a huge spender, and deserves get some points from the Democratic Party for it. Fat chance.
• The Rebublicans, however, need to try to find a fiscal conservative somewhere. Mitt? As long as the Mormon Church doesn't further muddy his appeal.
• What????? On??? Earth?????
• Anyway . . . here's some good news from Fox Business (assuming you like to read).
• From Iran: Cow Cloning. I guess this is good news, though the methane from cow pervasion might bring the atmosphere to an end. We're already down to 96 months (not 95) as it is . . . The other problem is that they might find a way to clone Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Welcome back to the Island! The sun isn't shining and the beach isn't pretty, but we do have many interesting plants and animals. Oh look, here comes a member of our "lost world" now! What is it? It's the latest arrest of "gang prevention specialist" Alex Sanchez, an associate of LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and a former darling of the media. As the director of Homies Unidos, an international gang-prevention non-profit, Sanchez won the hearts of the LA left. State Senator Tom Hayden even wrote a heart rending article in the LA Times, "We Need Peacemakers Like Alex Sanchez." I ask now, with peacemakers like Alex Sanchez, who needs the mafia? The charges against him? Mainly being a leader among the violent MS-13 gangs of LA and El Salvador, including murder, drug-running, and conspiracies to kill an antigang detective. This story is connected to many concerns, such as Anti-PATRIOT Act and anti-deportation of illegals-who-are-also-criminals. If the current allegations are true, he was involved in crime the whole time. The street wars continued to escalate in their violence during the "effective" days of his campaign for less violence and less LAPD interference (the LAPD being no chaste virgin itself). The most objective measure of his organization's success: "In 1996, Homies Unidos was founded in El Salvador and the following year, Sanchez helped establish the Los Angeles office, which has helped remove tattoos from more than 240 gang members." Who cares? The three inkless MS-13 "random red murder" suspects don't even have tattoos! Ink or no ink, MS-13 is insidious, and Sanchez is allegedly up to his neck in the corruption. What are the names of the celebrities and politicians who funded Sanchez and his work? What has been the net effect of his influence in local government? How many people died due to his non-deportation? It's worth considering. If you haven't read about MS-13, a national and international gang network, this is the time to do so. If you want to read the allegations of Sanchez and his compadres, read here. And while reading, remember that this isn't just the case of a community organizer gone bad. It's the story of a violent gang, a corrupt local government, and a complicit, maleable media who used this man's story to denigrate positions antithetical to their own bias. The illegal immigration debate, the gun control debate (legal guns), and the debate over crime and punishment are made or broken over the course of a hundred individual cases like this.

The cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is a story that seems to have sailed off into the sunset. Back when Bush-hating was our national pastime ("those were the days..."), the cost of the wars was one of the shoes we used to throw at him. "We've spent billions of dollars over there, and some of it was demonstrably mishandled - oh my headache!" Three big things have changed. First, democracy and security, albeit not as robust as we would like to see, have begun to come into plain view in the Middle East. Second, we've passed a Recovery Act that is $787,000,000,000 (before interest) of pure "viagra and candy." With interest and expected additional expenses, the Act will cost over $3,000,000,000,000 (that's 3 trillion). Finally, we have a new President who promised to replace Bush's silence with unprecedented transparency. The new President immediately said, "Think fast!" while throwing this trillion-pound object over our heads.

In eight years we spent <$9b to pay rent on two Middle Eastern deserts in the name of national security. In seven months we've promised the same or more to buy a jumbo jet made entirely of pork parts.

Suddenly, the ticker below looks like it was meant to convey the good news, like a Blue Light Special.

I'm beginning a series of posts collecting signs that Americans who voted for the Obama-Biden ticket are beginning to wish they hadn't. Out of no respect for the President or his office, I am reporting arrival a new illness - the Obama Voter Regret Syndrome (OVRS).

I'm sure that some strains of OVRS were brought on by the fickle nature of politics. However, I also think the OVRS epidemic is spreading because the administration repeatedly reverses campaign promises, evidences incompetence, and takes "the same old policies of the last eight year" to a whole new level. It's almost like the administration created OVRS in a secret lab, and now wants to infect everyone . . . but that's crazy talk.

While I doubt that many OVRS sufferers have fond memories for the Bush years, that may eventually be an outcome when OVRS victims reach the state of delirium. But I'm not a doctor, so I hate to scare people with worst-case scenarios.

Anyhow, to christen the series, here's a sign that OVRS is starting to crop up in some very insulated places: