“Michigan, United States” on The Daily Caller

More than one-fifth of House freshman have taken the “bring your work home with you” concept to another level by opting to sleep in their D.C. offices. (more)

1.) Washington’s Funniest Celebrity tries new routine on ‘This Week’ — White House economic advisor and stand-up comic Austan Goolsbee told some really bad jokes yesterday on “This Week,” alleges David Frum. “I don’t see why anybody’s talking about playing chicken with the…with the debt ceiling.” Goolsbee said yesterday. Also: “If we hit the debt ceiling, that’s…essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history” and that it would “be the first default in history caused purely by insanity.” While the aforementioned superlative is debatable, the rest of Goolsbee’s claim is not. As David Frum points out, Goolsbee is jousting with windmills: Two weeks after the election, Rep. John Boehner said, “Whether we like it or not, the federal government has obligations and we have obligations on our part.” More likely, writes Frum, is that Obama is playing chicken not with debt, but with Americans’ confidence. That’s not funny at all. (more)

1.) Every player in the higher education subsidy debate is a parasite — “When you inject government into an industry, you get some pretty unsavory results.” That’s the conclusion that the Examiner’s Tim Carney arrived at when he dived into the murky debate over federal subsidies for for-profit colleges. Institutions like University of Phoenix and Kaplan have been horning in on the market traditionally held by community colleges. But while claiming to offer a private alternative, for-profits aren’t offering a market-based alternative: They get most of their money from federally provided (or backed) student loans, which they are allowed to keep even if their students drop out. Short-sellers have set their sites on these companies, with one sending out employees to collect signatures from homeless shelter directors complaining about for-profits enrolling homeless people in order to swipe their federal aide money. “In effect,” writes Carney, “the for-profit colleges created a clash between two evils, with one side exploiting the homeless and the other side exploiting the homeless shelters.” (more)

1.) Big business still Obama’s Achilles heel — When John Engler, the former Republican governor of Michigan, was named to the head of the Business Roundtable, “one of the first people to call” him was Valerie Jarrett, a personal advisor to Pres. Obama. Jarrett no doubt wished to communicate that Pres. Obama was game to work with the BRT (“We go play hoop!”), a gesture that the White House hasn’t made toward the professional left in ages now! Engler’s not here to play, however. According to The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward, “much of the group’s work on health care over the next two years will be looking for how Obama’s health care overhaul might ‘threaten’ the ability of employers to continue providing insurance.” Maybe the BRT should do what Waffle House and a number of unions did, which is lobby for exemptions from some of obamacare’s requirements? That leaves the issue of the mandate, and prices popping through the roof when healthy people decline insurance while sick people buy it up. Also: the totally unenforceable nature of it all. Back to the drawing board! (more)

Republicans last week voted to kill debate on the DREAM act, tabling the legislation for this year. In the press, of course, they were veritably accused of deporting Harvard freshmen and sending would-be combat troops underground to eventually sell heroin to inner city youth. President Obama was quoted as saying he was disappointed that “common sense did not prevail,” as if our existing laws and immigration regulations are a set of random, impossible to conquer obstacles that make citizenship all but unattainable for a lucky few with, you know, a dream. (more)

1.) It’s official: Everybody hates Genachowski’s plan to regulate the Internet — And yes, we do mean everybody: The lefty nutters at Free Press, former comic Al Franken, Republican FCC Commissioner Robert M. McDowell, and now, a group of Senate Republicans. The beef from the left–Franken, Free Press, and the supposed two million Americans who accidentally signed petitions thinking they were entering a contest for free Krispy Kreme–is that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s proposed framework does not do enough to control the Internet. For instance, liberals are unhappy that cable companies would still have incentives under Genachowski’s policy to invest in creating faster, stronger, and better services, access to which could be priced at a higher rate than existing Internet services. Meanwhile, Republicans and McDowell are concerned about what the regulations would do–namely, establish “an unjustified and unnecessary expansion of government control over private enterprise.” In the middle of it all is Genachowski, a bureaucrat with the heart of a Marxist and the vertebral integrity of a plane-crash survivor. The FCC votes on Dec. 21. Don’t miss it. (more)

PORTAGE, Mich. (WOOD) – As her school bus left a Kalamazoo County mall with 35 other Coloma Junior High School honor students, eighth-grader Kristin Potter said the driver made a “crazy turn and flung one of our students onto the floor. And that’s when we saw the flashing lights.” (more)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama-Auburn has always been one of the most storied rivalries in college football, in a class with Ohio State-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma and Florida-Georgia as the best in the country. (more)

Americans living in the most industrialized regions of the country have a special stake in the outcome of a California ballot initiative that would suspend implementation of that state’s global warming law until after unemployment drops, according to policy experts who favor a free market response to energy needs. (more)

WASHINGTON — Alex lives in Washington but votes at a church in Virginia. Kathleen signed a lease here but casts her ballot in Pennsylvania. Nicolas moved to the nation’s capital a year ago, but his polling place is in Connecticut. (more)

Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips explained why he sent out an e-mail that included the Muslim faith of Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison on a list of reasons not to support him, claiming that Tea Party members ought to “seriously consider” whether they should vote for a candidate who adheres to Islam. (more)

It has been said over and over again: The 2010 midterm is the anti-incumbent, anti-Washington and by virtue of their position in power, the anti-Democratic election. (more)

The class of Republican candidates fighting to come to Congress for the first time are vowing aggressive measures to cut government spending and to repeal the president’s health care law. (more)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Magic Johnson sold his small ownership stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong on Monday, possibly clearing the way for the Hall of Famer to own a bigger portion of another NBA team in the future. (more)

Despite months of preparations by the House campaign committees, the latest party spending — largely to fund TV ad buys — demonstrates the Congressional playing field remains relatively fluid three weeks before Election Day. (more)

A shocking new independent poll puts the longest-serving member of House – in history – down four points in his Michigan district to a cardiologist who has never before run for any elected office. (more)

MADISON, Wis. – A law student said Tuesday that a Wisconsin prosecutor accused of abusing his power to seek relationships with two other women also sent her sexually harassing text messages in 2008 while helping her seek a pardon for a drug conviction. (more)

The games over the weekend didn’t have the buildup of those on Sept. 11. (more)

A Michigan couple is crying unsportsmanlike conduct after their 6-year-old daughter was removed from a flag football cheerleading team because they complained that one of the team’s chants was too risque. (more)

Beware the green police. They don’t carry guns and there’s no police academy to train them, but if you don’t recycle your trash properly, they can walk up your driveway and give you a $100 ticket. (more)