It was just about a year ago that we were hearing stories about President Obama's intention to escalate the war in Afghanistan. Again. The president's most ardent defenders insisted that we shouldn't listen to unnamed and anonymous sources, and should instead wait and see what happened. And then when he escalated, pretty much as had been reported, we were told that it was the right move, and we should support it. The same dynamic played out with the public option. For months, while it became increasingly apparent that the president wouldn't fight for a public option, we were told that he kept saying he supported one, and we didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. When the public option was punted, we were told that it never had been all that important, anyway, and the health insurance bill that was passed was all kinds of wonderful, so we should just be appreciative and grateful.

  Our maddening times demand that the truth be forthrightly stated at the outset, and not just that the president has nothing in common with the führer beyond the possession of a dog. The outlandish stories about Barack Hussein Obama are simply false: he wasn’t born outside the United States (the tabloid “proof” has been debunked as a crude forgery); he has never been a Muslim (he was raised by an atheist and became a practicing Christian in his 20s); his policies are not “socialist” (he explicitly rejected advice to nationalize the banks and wants the government out of General Motors and Chrysler as quickly as possible); he is not a “warmonger” (he promised in 2008 to withdraw from Iraq and escalate in Afghanistan and has done so); he is neither a coddler of terrorists (he has already ordered the killing of more “high value” Qaeda targets in 18 months than his predecessor did in eight years), nor a coddler of Wall Street (his financial-reform package, while watered down, was the most vigorous since the New Deal), nor an enemy of American business (he and the Chamber of Commerce favor tax credits for small business that were stymied by the GOP to deprive him of a victory). And that’s just the short list of lies.

Mark Kirk's campaign Friday confirmed that the National Republican Senatorial Committee will be committing major funds toward his Senate bid. The committee plans to give Kirk, of Highland Park, $3.4 million in the race against Chicago Democrat Alexi Giannoulias - double the amount usually allowed. The Politico website reported that the committee indicated it would take advantage of a technical ruling in order to commit that much money to the race. U.S. Judge John Grady has ordered two separate elections on the November ballot for the Senate seat, formerly President Barack Obama's.

JOLIET -- Early next year, there will be three new associate judges serving Will County. On Aug. 3, Will County Associate Judge James Garrison announced that he will retire Dec. 30. And two other associate judges -- Bobbi Petrungaro and Robert Livas -- are running unopposed in the November election for positions as subcircuit judges. In Will County, the circuit and subcircuit judges are elected by voters. The associate judges are then chosen by the circuits and subcircuit judges.

Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias have agreed to participate in two debates and could hold more. Representatives say the U.S. Senate candidates will face off on Oct. 10 on NBC's "Meet the Press." They've also agreed to participate in the Oct. 19 League of Women Voters' debate on Chicago's WLS-TV.