The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

Bottom Stories of the Day
“Not Many Will View Friday’s Partial Solar Eclipse”–headline, Associated Press, Nov. 21

Nobody’s That Smart
“Is Newt Gingrich as Smart as He Thinks?”–headline, Politico.com, Nov. 22

Dogs Vote to Euthanize Parliament–Now That Would Be News
“Romanian Parliament Votes to Euthanize Stray Dogs”–headline, Associated Press, Nov. 22

News of the Tautological
“Al-Qaeda Targets Dwindle as Group Shrinks”–headline, Washington Post, Nov. 23

Breaking News From Exodus 7:14-25
“Egyptians Expect ‘to See a Lot of Bloodshed’ “–headline, USA Today, Nov. 22

The Bank Raised My Taxes!
Here is an astonishing display of financial illiteracy from columnist Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun-Times:

Just when I thought things couldn’t get much worse in the housing market, I got a statement from my bank telling me my monthly mortgage [payment] has shot up by $400.

Apparently the bank’s escrow department underestimated the increase in my real estate taxes and thus failed to adjust my monthly payments in the past.

I can’t begin to understand how my home is worth a lot less than it was just five years ago, according to the Cook County assessor’s office, and the bank wants me to pay more for it.

It doesn’t make sense.

There’s a boarded up house across the street–no, make that two boarded-up houses across the street, my home has lost nearly half of its value, and the bank wants me to pay $400 more a month? . . .

I’m mad enough to grab a sign and join the Occupy Wall Street protesters. They may not be a sophisticated bunch, but they’re right. Something’s got to give.

This isn’t just unsophisticated, it’s willfully ignorant. Most banks require borrowers to set up escrow accounts to cover property taxes and homeowners insurance premiums. The lender then pays these bills when they come due, assuring that if the borrower defaults and the lender has to foreclose, the property will not be encumbered by liens for nonpayment.

What happened here is that because of either a new assessment or an increase in tax rates, the bank received a semiannual bill from the county that was considerably higher than the last one. The money in Mitchell’s escrow account was insufficient to make the payment, so the bank is increasing her future payments to cover the past shortfall–in effect, giving her an interest-free loan.

Banks don’t assess properties or set tax rates. If Mitchell’s taxes are too high–and we are certainly prepared to believe they are–her grievance is with politicians, not the bank. She seems to have some inkling of this, citing “a study by the Center for Responsive Politics” that “found that the median net worth of congressional members is $891,506–nine times that of a typical U.S. household, and [that] 47 percent of these elected officials are millionaires.”

That, however, is a red herring. There is no federal tax on real estate; property taxes are locally administered in accord with state law. Thus she should be complaining about lawmakers and administrators in Springfield and Chicago, not Washington. If she’s going to blame the bank, she might as well blame the Sun-Times Media Group for Illinois’s skyrocketing personal income taxes.

Puffiest Puff Piece Ever
If you can read this Politico headline without laughing, you have a heart of stone: “Obama’s Toughest Critic: Obama.” Jennifer Epstein’s piece is puffier than a magic dragon:

Obama has admitted that he’s “screwed up,” is “frustrated” and might only deserve one term in the White House. He’s acknowledged that he hasn’t fulfilled campaign promises and has admitted that the change he vowed to bring to Washington hasn’t arrived.

Whether the self-critiques are born of political savvy, humility or candor, they help establish the president as an honest, sympathetic figure heading into the 2012 election, a leader willing to acknowledge that the sky-high expectations for his 2008 hope-and-change campaign have fallen short in reality.

This is like one of those bogus job-interview answers–“My biggest flaw is that I’m too critical of myself”–except that most people don’t get help from an “adversarial” press when engaging in such puffery.

Though on the other hand, here we have someone claiming that Obama screwed up and doesn’t deserve re-election. Go git him, AttackWatch!

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”