Reset your watches for the Tipping Point in Global Warming

Just as the wind has gone out of the global warming sails, we are seeing retreats everywhere for the warmist. Continually we have been warned of encountering a tipping point where runaway warming would occur. We were first warned that we only had 10 years in 1989 by the United Nations. Now it seems a group of 13 "climate experts" have revised that to 190 years.

"13 of the 14 experts said that the probability of reaching a tipping point
(by 2200) was greater than 50 per cent, and 10 said that the chances were 75 per cent or more."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-expect-climate-tipping-point-by-2200-2012967.html

I feel much better now. By not acting we have gained almost 201 years from the UN's original warning.

Blacks and the Democrat Party

Firmly tied to Democrat Party politics, African Americans aren't as tied to Democrat Party policies. Al Sharpton admitted as much yesterday.

"I would say 90% of the calls I received yesterday were in support of the
Supreme Court and people say they want to bear guns. They’re tired of the violence and it’s very very interesting. I have had a few on both sides today,
but yesterday was overwhelming, it was stunning to me."

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2010/06/al-sharpton-my-listeners-overwhelmingly.html

African Americans also want school choice (an anathma to the Democrats) and are more pro-life than white Americans.

Hispanics support a pro-life position by a 78-21 percent margin, African
Americans backed the pro-life perspective 62-38.

http://www.nbccongress.org/features/abortion_silent_no_more_01.asp

Biden responds, "Don't be a smartass."

Vice President Joe Biden was confronted by the owner of a custard ice cream shop who asked him to "Lower our taxes." Biden response was to say, "Don't be a smartass."

Let's see how that would work if Democrat constituents asked Mr. Biden for a political favor.

A gay soldier asks Biden to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." Biden responds, "Don't be a smartass."

A feminist asks Biden to make sure abortions are not restricted in any way. Biden responds, "Don't be a smartass."

A senior citizen on Medicare asks Biden to repeal the cuts in Medicare that this administration is using to pay for Obamacare. Biden responds, "Don't be a smartass."

A Union leader at SEIU asks Biden to support "the employee free choice act." Biden responds, "Don't be a smartass."

A member of the Trial Lawyer Association, tells Biden, don't allow tort reform to muck up healthcare reform. Biden responds, "Don't be a smartass."

An environmentalist asks VP Biden to stop all oil drilling anywhere in America and to support renewable power. Biden responds,"Don't be a smartass."

In reality you can't see VP Biden saying this to any of these key Democrat constituents. Of course it is only the Republicans who have "special interest" groups at least according to the MSM and the Democrat Party, to which I would hope Biden responds,"Don't be a smartass."

We Need to Pass the Bill to See "How It Works"

Echoing Nancy Pelosi's famous line about the Healthcare bill, "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy." Chris Dodd is attempting to pass a new financial reform bill.

"It's a great moment. I'm proud to have been here," said a teary-eyed Sen.
Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. "No one will know until this is actually in place
how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a
long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get
this job done."

It seems the Democrats are attached to 2000 page laws that they admit they aren't sure what's in them or how they would work. It's going to be a long night for Democrats in November. They have shown America how arrogant and foolish a political party can be.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703615104575328020013164184.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEADNewsCollection

America Public Schools -- should we be concerned?

It appears geography is not a specialty of America's public schools or at least in Democrat leaning Wisconsin.

"Supervisor Peggy West stood up and seemed to be confused about her
geography. “If this was Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this saying that they had a major issue with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would have to look twice at this. But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border,” West said during debate…"

Later West tried to justify her mistake by saying Texas has a much larger border with Mexico. It's like saying it's too bad that the State of Wisconsin didn't have access to the the Great Lakes, like Ohio does and when being told Wisconsin has access to two of the Great Lakes trying to cover yourself by saying, but Ohio has access to Lake Eire.

But to be fair, it appears this woman would do well in congress voting for bills she didn't understand like the rest of the Democrats.

Violence, on the LEFT?

Yesterday we found two stories of threats by left wing radicals.

First threat was to a Spainish author who had the nerve to write a story on the economic failure of Spain's green job campaign.

Spain’s Dr. Gabriel Calzada — the author of a damning study concluding that Spain’s “green jobs” energy program has been a catastrophic economic failure — was mailed a dismantled bomb on Tuesday by solar energy company Thermotechnic.

The second one was closer to home as U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman to overturn the Obama administration’s moratorium on deep water drilling, is now receiving death threats in the aftermath of his bold ruling. I thought it was only crazed TEA Party people who were like this.

Problems galore

Obama problems
Prestige in the world

When Obama came into office, he promised a new foreign policy with a more humble America. Things haven't worked out too well in that regard.

Thanks to a slew of gaffes, blunders, miscalculations and alarming personality revelations, Obama has become a surprising liability where our
reputation abroad is concerned - surprising not only because he was elected, in part, to restore our supposedly damaged image overseas, but also because he was touted as a smooth and charming diplomat.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/06/23/2010-06-23_and_you_thought_bush_was_embarrassing_obamas_policies_are_leaving_americans_red_.html


The Gulf Oil Spill---Day 65

Lack of leadership here has been disgraceful. It took weeks before Obama even seem to notice and the lack of a measured and thoughtful response is alarming. Failing to suspend the Jones Act, turning down offers of help from foreign nations and whinning that he can't suck the oil out with a straw, have left Obama looking like a rank amateur.

But he hasn't just not responded. His administration seems to have blocked others from taking action.

When Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisana got ships out to try and protect the coast, the Coast Guard stopped them until they could inspect them to insure they had fire extinquishers and lifevests on board.

Today we read that:

Feds stop dredging that is trying to create protective berms for Louisana

The federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being
done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is being done.

http://www.wdsu.com/news/23997498/detail.html

And while the Liberals are hoping that Joe Barton's ill advised words of defense of BP will be their saving grace, we find that Secretary of Energy Chu actually said partnering with BP would allow his institution to save the world. You can watch it below (the video is a little over one minute long)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Ui_4_cTE0


General McChrystal

Selected by President Obama primarily because he was outspoken, it now appears BHO likes people who are outspoken and are willing to criticize the president, but only when that President is George W. Bush. There is a long standing prohibition against the military meddling in politics, so McChrystal will probably have to go.


Reversal of drilling ban

Yesterday a federal judge reversed the Obama initiated drilling ban in the Gulf.

Louisiana’s seafood industry had become increasingly vocal in its opposition
to the federally imposed moratorium. Representatives of Louisiana’s seafood
industry had called on the White House to lift the ban on drilling in the Gulf.

The Associated Press reported today that federal judge Martin C. Feldman
struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling
in the Gulf of Mexico as rash and heavy-handed Tuesday, saying the government
simply assumed that because one rig exploded, the others pose an imminent
danger, too.

http://www.examiner.com/x-55008-Seafood-Industry-Examiner~y2010m6d22-Judge-Lifts-Offshore-Drilling-Ban

Rumor of executive order to legalize 12 million illegals

Several Senators have learned of a possible plan by the Obama Administration that would provide a mass Amnesty for the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), eight Senators addressed a letter to the President asking for answers to questions about a plan that would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to provide an amnesty if they can't secure enough votes for a bill in the Senate.

http://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/june-21-2010/senators-challenge-pres-obama-rumors-executive-order-amnesty.html

Lack of a Budget


Majority Leader Steny Hoyer made official Tuesday morning: Congress won’t do a budget this year.

Spratt is right — a failure to budget is a failure to govern. Democrats seemintent on proving their unworthiness to lead Congress in even its most basictasks. At the same time, their leadership wants voters to trust them to make the
most personal of decisions in their health care, as well as believe that they
can cool the planet and lower the sea level with punitive taxes on energy
production and boondoggles in alternative energy. They can’t even govern
themselves.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/22/hoyer-yeah-were-punting-the-budget-this-year/


Germany tells the US how to grow the economy



Reducing the budget deficit by 10 billion euros ($12 billion) per year
“won’t put a brake on the world’s economic growth,” Merkel said, relating
what she told Obama yesterday. Germans are more likely to spend money if
they feel the government “is taking precautions” to ensure solid finances,
she said.


href="http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a3xlXH_FZw7s">http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a3xlXH_FZw7s

Britain has also announced wage freezes and budget cuts. It appears Obama may be the Lone Keynesian left in national office around the world.

Blago Trial

In the meantime, the Blago trial goes on and shows Illinois Democrat politics at its worst. Whether the President will be tarnished by this, it yet unknown, but he doesn't need this
right now.

Healthcare --to cost more under Obama

In CBO’s judgment, the health legislation enacted
earlier this year does not substantially diminish that pressure. In fact, CBO
estimated that the health legislation will increase the federal budgetary
commitment to health care . . .by nearly $400 billion during the 2010-2019
period. em>

Polls--Hillary vs Obama


In the meantime, President Obama's and the Democrat Party poll numbers continue to head South. Looking at all the problems we are seeing right now, it is no wonder. A recent poll shows more Americans feel Hillary would be a better president than Obama is. I guess there is new hope and we certainly hope there will be change as well.


Tropical storm ready to enter the Gulf

And finally we find that even Mother Nature seems to be against this administration as we now hear that a tropical storm my move into the Gulf.

The Left's Philosophers' Stone

In President Obama's speech last week from the Oval Office he called for us to take action on changing our energy strategy. It was typical left wing rhetoric and calls to mind all the demands for "clean" energy, "green" energy and "green" jobs. But do these really exist?

The left's obsession with these reminds me of obsession of "science" on the age old Philosophers' stone. The philosophers' stone (Latin: lapis philosophorum) is a legendary alchemical substance, supposedly capable of turning base metals, especially lead, into gold (chrysopoeia); it was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For a long time, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy, meditated upon by alchemists like Sir Isaac Newton, Nicolas Flamel, and Frater Albertus. The Stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection, enlightenment, heavenly bliss, theophany and of the Christ. The discovery of the philosopher's stone was known as the Great Work.

Today's philosophers' stone are windmills, solar panels, ethanol, and electric cars. And these have proved as elusive as turning base minerals into gold was for the ancients. We hear leftist speak of these items as an elixir of economic life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly achieving a carbon free world. "Green" energy is the central symbol of perfection, enlightenment, and bliss for the world. And when it is pointed out that no where have these actually worked without massive government subsidies, we are told that if we can go to the moon, we certainly can do this. No mention is ever made that since we went to the moon we've not found a cure for cancer, a way to stop hurricanes, or even cured the common cold.


A Broken Promise by the Democrats?

On his first day in office, President Obama made the following promise:

“President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild
New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to
ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic
failures in emergency planning and response to occur.”

Today, on day 64 of the Gulf Oil spill, this promise makes Obama and the Democrats look ridiculous.

Does Obama Want to be President?

This is a question Roger Simon asks here:

http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2010/06/21/does-barack-obama-want-to-be-president/

I think I agree with him. It appears Obama would rather be in a titulary head of state office rather than in one in which he is actually responsible for an executive branch. He does look good at White House festivities and playing golf. He doesn't look good at cabinent meetings and telling people he can't suck up the oil with a straw. Saturday Night Live did one skit during the primary season where Obama was portrayed as getting that 3 AM call and whinning, "This is hard." I think SNL got it right.

How the Obama Administration is blowing it

This is worth the entire blog today.

Obama's thuggery is useless in fighting spill

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
June 20, 2010

President Barack Obama waves as he exits Air Force One
at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on Friday. (Cliff Owen/AP)

Thuggery is unattractive. Ineffective thuggery even more so. Which may be one reason so many Americans have been reacting negatively to the response of Barack Obama and his administration to BP's Gulf oil spill.

Take Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's remark that he would keep his "boot on the neck" of BP, which brings to mind George Orwell's definition of totalitarianism as "a boot stamping on a human face -- forever." Except that Salazar's boot hasn't gotten much in the way of results yet.

Or consider Obama's undoubtedly carefully considered statement to Matt Lauer that he was consulting with experts "so I know whose ass to kick." Attacking others is a standard campaign tactic when you're in political trouble, and certainly BP, which appears to have taken unwise shortcuts in the Gulf, is an attractive target.

But you don't always win arguments that way. The Obama White House gleefully took on Dick Cheney on the issue of terrorist interrogations. It turned out that more Americans agreed with Cheney's stand, despite his low poll numbers, than Obama's.

Then there is Obama's decision to impose a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf. This penalizes companies with better safety records than BP's and will result in many advanced drilling rigs being sent to offshore oil fields abroad.

The justification offered was an Interior Department report supposedly "peer reviewed" by "experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering." But it turned out the drafts the experts saw didn't include any recommendation for a moratorium. Eight of the cited experts have said they oppose the moratorium as more economically devastating than the oil spill and "counterproductive" to safety.


Obama doesn't. "If he sees any impropriety in politicians ordering executives about, upstaging the courts and threatening confiscation, he has not said so," write the editors of the Economist, who then suggest that markets see Obama as "an American version of Vladimir Putin." Except that Putin is an effective thug."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obama_s-thuggery-is-useless-in-fighting-spill-96684389.html#ixzz0rUxO1UkJ

Bad News for Democrats

Obama's Poll numbers lowest yet recorded.

This can't be very good news for the Democrats and especially President Obama.
Today's Rasmussen poll has only 41% of the voters strongly or somewhat approve on President Obama's performance. Making up this number is 72% of Democrats, 15% of Republicans, and 28% of independents. The key number here is the independents, and as Democrats look at the upcoming election, this has to be a major concern of Democrat incumbents.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

More investigations if the Repubicans take control of the House.

Representative Darrell Issa has plans to almost double the staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee if the Republicans take control of the House and he becomes chairman of this committee.

“That will make all the difference in the world,” he told 400 applauding
party members during a dinner at the chocolate-themed Hershey Lodge. “I won’t
use it to have corporate America live in fear that we’re going to subpoena
everything. I will use it to get the very information that today the White House is either shredding or not producing.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38697.html#ixzz0rDFjJVFs



More Bad News for the American Public and the Democrats should end up paying for it.

The Coast Guard has shut down Govenor Bobby Jindal's attempt to do something about the oil leak off Lousiana.

"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

"We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.

While this is not only frustrating, it is also an example of what you can expect as Obama's vision of America with the government controling healthcare, the banks, etc. is implemented.

Bureaucracy's life blood is regulation. But even the best regulations (ie. you should have fire extinguishers and life vest on vessels) are only applicable 80% of the time (this is an environmental emergency!!). And one thing I've learned over the years, the government does not create the "best regulations."

So the next time you here a liberal asking what the President could do in this case, it appears the best thing he could do is out of the way of others willing to do something!

Parity?

More troubles for the Euro?

European leaders meet in Brussels today amid growing fears that Spain,
Europe's fifth-largest economy, is preparing to ask for a bailout which would dwarf the €110bn (£90bn) rescue plan for Greece.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spain-the-new-crisis-in-euroland-2002676.html

Other reports predict parity between the US dollar and the Euro by the end of the year. With the red ink from the Obama Administration this shows us just how bad the Europeans are doing. Part of the problem with Spain is that they pursued the path President Obama laid out Tuesday evening as they attempted to become the alternative energy capital of Europe. Although alternative energy sounds good, the technology isn't there and Spain has pretty much gone broke trying to subsidize it.

TEA Party goes international

“I think the message of the American Revolution is global. The message of
natural, unalienable rights, the message of opposition to tyrannical government
— that’s not just well-known, that’s universal,” Boris Karpa, organizer of the
Israeli Tea Party"

http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/14/international-protest-groups-take-up-tea-party-flag-in-moscow-tel-aviv-and-the-hague/#ixzz0r7NcuJ4y

Jobless claims increase

"Jobless Claims Rise, Unexpectedly

Usually you have to work a bit to stretch something like this into a cliche. But given the word unexpectedly is used so often in these stories, perhaps it's time for the experts to review their expectations?

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits last week unexpectedly rose to a one-month high, indicating firings are staying elevated even as the U.S. economy grows. "

And this comes just as VP Joe Biden kicks of a public relations gambit entitled 'Recovery Summer.' Talk about bad timing.

"BREAKING -- OBAMA, BIDEN DECLARE “RECOVERY SUMMER”: Vice President Biden today will kick off “Recovery Summer,” a six-week-long push designed to highlight the jobs accompanying a surge in stimulus-funded projects to improve highways, parks, drinking water and other public works."

http://www.politico.com/playbook/



Lies my government told me.


An interesting opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal.

Which brings us to President Obama's many claims about his health-care
reform. Take his oft-expressed statement that if you like the coverage you have, you can keep it. That sounds good—but perverse incentives in his new law will cause most Americans to lose their existing insurance

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575310773636609374.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond




Another nail in the coffin of Global Warming

The British Royal Society recently released a statement on global warming that “Any public perception that the science is somehow fully settled is wholly incorrect,” thus contradicting its own former president, and true believer, Lord May. And if the science isn’t settled, there can hardly ever have been “consensus” on the issue.

Obama and Bush now tied for approval

Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters have a favorable opinion of former president
Bill Clinton. Forty-five percent (45%) say the same about former president
George W. Bush. Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the
president's performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.

Republicans hold a ten-point edge on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Kind of makes you wonder how the blame Bush tactic is working for the Democrats.

Are the Democrats too Liberal or too angry?

Who Are You?

Here's an interesting video of a Democrat Congressman commiting battery on a college student. For all the talk of the TEA Party possibly becoming violent, it appears the Democrats have already gone there.

http://biggovernment.com/mikeflynn/2010/06/14/long-hot-summer-begins-congressman-attacks-student/

Are the Democrats Too Liberal--Is the Pope Catholic?

A new poll is out today.

Nearly half of Americans describe the Democratic Party as “too liberal” — up 10 percentage points since early 2008 according to a new Gallup poll.


Forty-nine percent of 1,049 adults surveyed said Democrats are too liberal, while 38 percent said the party’s political views are “about right” and 10 percent think it is too conservative.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38487.html#ixzz0qplpwpZ4

When I see 10 percent think the Dems are too conservative, you have a good picture of the radical element in the Democrat party.

Obama makes another trip to the Golf, er Gulf

Yes he did both. Yesterday he golfed in 90 degree heat which is nothing compared to the heat he is taking about his lack of inaction about the Gulf Oil Leak. Obama has played more golf in his 17 months in office than W did in 8 years. He's also had more oil spilled in his 17 months in office than W did in eight years. Is this the equivalent of Nero fiddling while Rome burned? Obama golfs while the beaches in the Gulf are polluted.

Biodiversity Replacing Climate Change in Multiple Ways

As I've mentioned before, as Climate Change becomes less believeable, the UN and other left wing advocates are switching to Biodiversity as their reason to change everything. But it seems their first preliminary report is taking up where the IPCC left off.

"However, the rest are all estimations or patently false. Not only that, but none of the references for the entire first chapter of the TEEB report are peer-reviewed. They are nearly all (UN) government reports or environmental institute reports. Not only do they entirely rely on non-peer-reviewed material, but their claims don’t even match their cited sources."

http://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/more-un-alarmism-exposed-by-climatequotes-blog/

Which one is the Real Obama

“… don’t make excuses. Take responsibility not just for your successes, but for your failures as well." Address to Kalamazoo Central High School June 2010

“I think it’s fair to say, if six months ago, before this spill had happened, I had gone up to Congress and I had said we need to crack down a lot harder on oil companies and we need to spend more money on technology to respond in case of a catastrophic spill, there are folks up there, who will not be named, who would have said this is classic, big-government overregulation and wasteful spending.” Interview with Politico June 2010

It appears BHO doesn't pay attention when he reads from a teleprompter.

Suffering from OFS

After almost a year and one half, I find myself suffering from OFS, Obama Fatigue Syndrome. Not to be confused with Bush Derangement Syndrome, that is, I don't think Obama is in league with Lucifer, but I'm just tired of his policies which are completely out of whack with the majority of Americans and the seemingly steady stream of untruths he uses to justify them.

The two quotes above demonstrate just a bit of that. In the same month he makes two statements, both of which are reasonable by themselves, but contradictory to one another. Many on the right were unhappy with GWB because he let the left say whatever they wanted and he didn't fight back. But Obama has shown us the other side of this. Bush didn't talk enough, Obama talks way too much.

Healthcare Update

The healthcare reform package was originally going to cut costs while increasing the number of people in the system. Now unless you are an ideologue, or very gullible, you know that wasn't possible and everyday we seem to get more bad news.

This past week we found out that approximately 51% of businesses will have to modify their plans to meet with the new law's requirements. Today I found this:

"This year Ms. Watts estimates that changes made in response to the health law will add an extra 2 to 3 percent in cost increases, pressuring employers to engage in even more cost-sharing with employees — whether through higher premiums, co-payments or other out-of-pocket costs."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/health/12patient.html?ref=health

The election is coming

The Good Guys vs the Good Guys

We are seeing the democrats demonize BP. To be sure, BP's oil gusher in the gulf of Mexico is working against President Obama and by party connection any Democrat running for office. So they've painted BP as the "Bad Guy."

President Obama spends time with advisors so he knows whose "ass to kick," and it appears BP is the prime candidate. But the black and white story isn't as simple as it seems.

"While BP has resisted some government interventions, it has lobbied for tax
hikes, greenhouse gas restraints, the stimulus bill, the Wall Street bailout, and subsidies for oil pipelines, solar panels, natural gas and biofuels."

In fact, looking at the lobbying efforts of BP, it appears BP could easily rank as a good Democrat corporate citizen.


Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Once-a-government-pet-BP-now-a-capitalist-tool-95942659.html#ixzz0qRpKrDiA

Political Ads masquerading as News

"ABC anchor Diane Sawyer greeted Meg Whitman’s victory in California’s Republican gubernatorial primary by putting forward Democrat Jerry Brown as the savior protecting the nation against Whitman becoming Governor. “Jerry Brown told us today, he wants the country to know that he sees this as an epic duel in California between the politics of ideas and the power of money,”

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/06/10/abc-gives-jerry-brown-platform-declare-whitman-dangerous-soul-californi#ixzz0qRrgJrot

ABC in the bag for Democrats? Who would have thunk it?

Democrats Need to Sound Like Republicans in the next election

Long pilloried for being soft on illegal immigration, top Democratic
officials have concluded there’s only one way they can hope to pass a
comprehensive immigration bill: Talk more like Republicans. They’re seizing on the work of top Democratic Party operatives who, after a legislative defeat in
2007, launched a multiyear polling project to craft an enforcement-first,
law-and-order, limited-compassion pitch that now defines the party’s approach to the issue. The 12 million people who unlawfully reside the country? Call them “illegal immigrants,” not “undocumented workers,” the pollsters say. Strip out the empathy, too.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38342.html

Dark Prospects For Spendthrift Democrats

"It is old news that many congressional Democrats are on the road to political oblivion — 33 House members and nine senators are already on the endangered list. Now, however, even incumbents in "safe" seats are looking toward the future with fear and trembling.

They worry that the Democratic Party's most well-known characteristic (spend a lot of money fast) may be fatal at the polls. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of his party's dwindling clerisy, is sorely vexed by an epiphany full of dark portents.

"I have come to the conclusion," he proclaims, "that the voters are saying now that just throwing money at various kinds of issues — virtually all of which are deserving — isn't good enough."

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/536737/201006081848/Dark-Prospects-For-Spendthrift-Democrats.aspx


The June 8 elections: A verdict on incumbents, unions, and Democrats

In this piece by Michael Barone, you see the problems facing incumbents in the coming election which builds on the editorial above.

"Eleven states voted yesterday in primaries and runoffs—the largest number of
the year—and one way to look at the results is that no incumbent member of
Congress lost his or her bid for reelection. So does this make 2010 less of an
anti-incumbent (and anti-Democratic) year? Not really. I am put in mind of the
story of the Teamsters Union business agent who was confined to the hospital. A
bouquet was sent, with a note reading: “The Executive Board wishes you a speedy
recovery, by a vote of nine to six.” Such was the voters’ verdict on incumbents
on June 8."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Some-thoughts-on-the-June-8-primaries-95935064.html#ixzz0qMIMw4If

Has President Obama Gone off the Deep End?

As we pass over 50 days since the Gulf Oil Spill, it seems to have taken a toll on President Cool.

"Now he's looking to "kick someone's ass." Yeah, that'll help. The truth is that Obama's performance with regard to the spill, and that of the federal government
generally, has been terrible. They had a plan for dealing with Gulf spills, but didn't follow it. They were slow to recognize the severity of the spill; it took nine days before the feds even offered assistance to British Petroleum. A dozen
federal agencies are involved in the response, which reportedly has led to
confusion and delay"

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/06/026491.php

Alien in the White House?

"A great part of America now understands that this president's sense of
identification lies elsewhere, and is in profound ways unlike theirs. He is hard
put to sound convincingly like the leader of the nation, because he is, at heart
and by instinct, the voice mainly of his ideological class. He is the alien in
the White House, a matter having nothing to do with delusions about his
birthplace cherished by the demented fringe."

In fact, President Obama is a radical leftist who doesn't think or see things the same way that the vast majority of Americans see things. He was elected President, but this disconnect with the American people will cost the Democrats dearly in November and will probably cost Mr. Obama in 2012.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703302604575294231631318728.html?mod=wsj_share_facebook

Democrat Logic

Don't like what the Democrats are doing? Here's Barney Franks solution.

"You can reach out to your fellow young people and make it clear to them, that when [sic] they may not be satisfied with everything we've done -- we're not satisfied with everything we've done. The way to cure that is to give us more authority and more ability."

June 7, 2010

Public Schools

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey has not only gone on attack to public unions by refusing to raise taxes and cutting spending, but is also looking to establish "choice" in schools. Pointing out that in Newark, the taxpayer spends $20,000 per student per year on education and gets subpar results, Christie has said:

"Parents and children who are being failed by a public school system whose costs are exorbitant and whose results are insulting deserve a choice. We don't have to look far around the country to know that vouchers and experiments in school choice are working, that they're producing results.

In D.C., those in that program are now reading 19 months ahead of their peers outside of the program. This isn't a coincidence, we know it's not a coincidence. We know that there's over five-million children trapped in over ten-thousand failing public schools around America."

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/Speaking-truth-to-power--New-Jersey-style-95648024.html#ixzz0qAO6nkle

Democrats who are whole owned subsidiaries of the Teacher's Union, are in the position of failing their minority members in order to keep this union happy.

Obama: I can handle it

Here's a bit of history for you from the pen of Bryon York.

On September 1, 2008, Barack Obama, fresh from his Roman-colonnade speech on the final night of the Democratic convention in Denver, talked to CNN’s Anderson Cooper about Gustav and the Gulf. The question: As president, could he handle an emergency like that? Obama pointed to the size of his campaign and its multi-million dollar budget as evidence of his executive abilities. “Our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear over the last couple of years,” Obama said. That executive ability, he added, “indicates the degree to which we can provide the kinds of support and good service that the American people expect.”

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/obama-2008-i-ran-a-big-campaign-so-i-can-handle-a-gulf-emergency-95720589.html#ixzz0qAQjkCC8

He goes on to explain how his executive experience on the campaign far outweighs that of Sarah Palin. Another liberal who has no grasp of the facts. And we've now seen his executive experience at work in the gulf.


Robert Conquest's Three Laws of Politics:

1.Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.
2.Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.
3.The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.

This is on the web today and I found it interesting. It recognizes a lot of what we see happening and explains how the Obama Whitehouse seems to be bleeding with stupid releases of information (ie. the Romanoff controversy right after the Sestak controversy). And it also reinforces my belief that conspiracies at the federal government level can never be kept quiet (do you hear that "truthers"?)

A New Book Explains Why Science Seems to have Gotten Global Warming so WRONG!

"If the data and forecasts in this book are correct, then the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the National Academy of
Sciences in the United States, the Royal Society in the United Kingdom, the
Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO in Australia are all wrong. How can this be?

Firstly, there aren’t that many scientists involved in the IPCC deliberations.
The inner core is possibly twenty souls. Secondly, they were untroubled by the necessity to concoct fraudulent data to get their desired results. "

http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2010/06/scientists-got-it-wrong<>

"

R.A. Hall Elementary School fourth-grader Julisa Castillo has been named
junior
division champion for the 2010 National Science Fair.

Her
project, “Disproving Global Warming,” beat more than 50,000 other projects
submitted by students from all over the U.S.

Julisa originally entered
her project in her school science fair before sending it to the National Science
Foundation (NSF) to be judged at the national level.

The NSF panel of judges included former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, 14
recipients of the President’s National Medal of Science, and four former
astronauts."

http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2010/06/breaking-fourth-grade-climate-realist.html

Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it

With Memorial Day this past week and today being the 66th aniversary of D-Day, I received the following in an email. It is a humbling and very poignant reminder of who we are and what we've done for the rest of the world. When the current President of the United States is apologizing for the arrogance of the United States, I am reminded that those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it.

Our European arrogance in alphabetical order 1. The American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne, France... A total of 2,289

2. The American Cemetery at Ardennes, Belgium... A total of 5,329

3. The American Cemetery at Brittany, France... A total of 4,410

4. Brookwood, England American Cemetery... A total of 468

5. Cambridge, England... A total of 3,812

6. Epinal, France American Cemetery... A total of 5,525

7. Flanders Field, Belgium... A total of 368

8. Florence, Italy... A total of 4,402



9. Henri-Chapelle, Belgium... A total of 7,992



10. Lorraine, France... A total of 10,489



11. Luxembourg, Luxembourg... A total of 5,076



12. Meuse-Argonne, France... A total of 14,246



13. Netherlands, The Netherlands... A total of 8,301



14. Normandy, France... A total of 9,387



15. Oise-Aisne, France... A total of 6,012



16. Rhone, France... A total of 861



17. Sicily, Italy... A total of 7,861

18. Somme, France... A total of 1,844



19. St. Mihiel, France... A total of 4,153



20. Suresnes, France... a total of 1,541



Apologize to no one. Remind those of our sacrifice and don't confuse arrogance with leadership. The count is 104,366 dead brave Americans. And we have to watch an American elected leader who apologizes to Europe and the Middle East that our country is "arrogant"! HOW MANY FRENCH, DUTCH, ITALIANS, BELGIANS AND BRITS ARE BURIED ON OUR SOIL, DEFENDING US AGAINST OUR ENEMIES? WE DON'T ASK FOR PRAISE... BUT WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE!! DO THINK ABOUT THIS. THANK YOU. I hope you remember this when election time comes around again...

Solutions to the Gulf Oil Leak

Over the past weekend, James Cameron decided to help GP with the gulf oil leak. "Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," the Sun quoted Cameron, as saying.

Another blogger came up with ways Cameron might have helped BP.

Top 10 suggestions James Cameron gave BP to stop the oil leak that BP then terminated

Obama had a genius stroke the other day. To stop the oil leak, he would employ one of the best minds in engineering history - Hollywood director James Cameron. I guess all the eggheads up on the Hill that couldn't come together to blow a beer fart in a whirlwind weren't working out so well. Cameron swiftly gave BP his top-10 suggestions for stopping the leak:

1. Go back in time and kill the mother of the inventor of the deep water offshore oil rig.
2. Design a dive suit to use oxygenated water to withstand the high pressures. Send a guy down with weights and glowsticks to communicate with underwater aliens to help us out.
3. Beat Dick Cheney back to life after his next heart attack. Fight, damn it. FIGHT! Dick'll know what to do.
4. Since a slimy sheen threatens Florida, distract it with online porn and gambling.
5. Build the Titanic, move it over the leak, sink it. Make sure bad guy BP CEO is on board right where it cracks in two.
6. Genetically engineer an undersea Avatar. Have it manned by Sigorney Weaver or Lina Heady. Kick some oil slick ass. Keep Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton and Lance Henrickson on deck.
7. Design underwater 3D cameras to film the gusher because 3D cameras are cool.
8. Use a phased-plasma rifle in 40-watt range.
9. Hook me up with a 6th wife so I can think of a new concept.
10. Have Arnold drop that water heater looking nuke off a Harrier jet.Or just nuke it from space. It's the only way to be sure...

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/06/top-10-suggestions-james-cameron-gave.html

But while Cameron's offer wasn't accepted, it did get me thinking who else might help.

Richard Donner was the director of the original Superman movie. Now Superman should easily be able to "plug the damn hole." I would suggest that he break off some of Gilbrater (it is a British colony and BP is a British company) and plug the hole using it.

If he isn't available, I would go to Francis Ford Coppola. Now perhaps he could use enough bullet proof vests with fishes in them to plug the hole, but if that doesn't work he could make the BP president, "A offer he couldn't refuse." No one wants to wake up in the morning with a horses head in his bed even if you are British.

Ridley Scott has produced many epics including Gladiator. At the beginning of that movie you had many catapults flinging fiery payloads towards the German. Perhaps he could load those catapults with heavy stones to plug the hole.

My final candidate is Bryan Singer. As director of the X-men he could assemble a team of Superheroes to plug the hole. This would be helpful especially if the hole has kryptonite by it and it prevents Superman from doing the job.

Obama Stats.

The latest Rasmussen Poll tells us a lot about President Obama's and the Democrats popularity. Laying aside his popularity with Democrats and unpopularity with Republicans, how is he doing among independents?

Today Obama had a -16 index (strongly approve minus strongly disapprove). Among those not affiliated with either major party, 16% Strongly Approve and 46% Strongly Disapprove which works out to a -30 index. Since Democrats account for about 36% of the electorate, and Republicans account for 32%, both of them must win the independents if they want to win elections. A -30 is a huge number that bode ill for people with a D by their name.

Nothing but Bad News for the Democrats

Obamacare in the News

"Every week brings fresh bad news about Obamacare. Many companies are
considering dropping their health coverage as a result of the incentives the law
creates. Small businesses are reporting that the law’s tax credits are encouraging them not to make new hires. Most people with preexisting conditions, who were supposed to be the chief beneficiaries of the law, will be left out from its high-risk pools: There are 4 million of them, but enough funding for only 200,000. The Department of Health and Human Services is already behind schedule in implementing the law. And the director of the Congressional Budget Office, appointed by Democrats, denies that the law will reduce the pressure of health spending on the budget."

These kinds of things are bad news for the Democrats. The article questions whether the Republicans will use it in the coming election.

http://article.nationalreview.com/435339/the-republican-retreat-on-health-care/the-editors

Update:

In fact, millions of Americans of Americans will lose or be transitioned out
of their existing employer based health insurance. The official Actuary at HHS-
who doesn’t speak for the Administration- said it would be 14 million. But a new report by former Director of the Congressional Budget Office
Douglas Holtz-Eakin predicts it could be as high as 35 million. That
kind of disruption comes at a high price: It’ll cost taxpayers nearly $1
trillion more than previously estimated.

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/02/side-effects-obamacare-creates-a-costly-drop-in-employer-health-coverage/

More Bad News for the Democrats?

The corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is already shaping up to be a political circus, promising to lay bare the underbelly of Chicago politics.

"But while the stakes are clear for Blagojevich – he could be the fourth
Illinois governor in 40 years to retire to a federal prison – some of the most powerful Washington insiders are braced for potential political damage from the trial, which begins Thursday."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38015.html#ixzz0phfbpvoE

With Chicago politicians in the White House while another Chicago politician is struggling for his freedom, the Sestak situation may be laid bare as we learn what is politics as usual for this infamous political machine.


Whining for Obama in the Gulf Oil Spill starts

"So now the rap on President Obama is that his response to the oil spill along
the Gulf Coast hasn't been heartfelt enough. He comes off as emotionally
detached, critics say, and, by the way, isn't it a pity that the white folk from
the coastal red states who never wanted a black man in the White House in the first place are complaining that he doesn't care about them?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/01/AR2010060103629.html?hpid=topnews

Here is a good example of how mankind can rationalize anything. America elects a black President and it seems that everything he gets blamed for is because America is racists.


Is the Oil Spill Obama's Katrina?

Here's an interesting viewpoint.

"Everybody is comparing the oil spill to Hurricane Katrina, but the real
parallel could be the Iranian hostage crisis. In the late 1970s, the hostage
crisis became a symbol of America’s inability to take decisive action in the
face of pervasive problems. In the same way, the uncontrolled oil plume could
become the objective correlative of the country’s inability to govern
itself."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/opinion/01brooks.html

It is an interesting comparison, but one that bodes ill for the Democrats.

And in related commentary we learn from Maureen Dowd that:

"The oil won't stop flowing, but the magic has." The author of Dreams from My Father has lost control of his own narrative, she says.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/06/the-big-story-o-1.html


The Generic Ballot.

For the week ending Sunday, May 30, Republican candidates hold a seven-point lead over Democrats on the Rasmussen Generic Congressional Ballot.

"While solid majorities of Democrats and Republicans support their own party,
the plurality (45%) of voters not affiliated with either major party now prefer the Republican candidate, while 23% like the Democrat."

If you do the math and it stays at these percentages, the Republican can look to get 54.4% of the vote in November while the Democrats get 44.6% assuming both sides have equal turnout.

Freedom of Speech

Is Freedom of Speech in Peril?

With the election of the most leftist President ever, we have witnessed a number of disturbing trends in the question of free speech. It seems free speech and the Obama administration are mutually exclusive to one another.


The first major assault of free speech came during Obama's Presidential campaign. In late September 2008, the Governor of Missouri, Matt Blunt, issued a statement on the Obama campaign’s “abusive use of Missouri law enforcement.”

Blunt charged that four Missouri state officials along with the leader of Obama’s campaign in Missouri “have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.” In declaring an intent to prosecute those who spread what they considered to be falsehoods about Obama, they were, said Blunt, “abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.”

Many of the Obama's so called Missouri Truth Squad members had law enforcement powers, such as St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, and Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer. Nothing came of it, but the threat of prosecution was there. And the effectiveness of just the threat was remembered by the Obama people.

In August 2009 when the President and the Democrats were trying to pass the healthcare bill, they took the position that the reason for the resistence to the passage was due to all the lies it's opponents were spreading. This time backed by the presidency itself, Obama set up a web site where Americans' could go and snitch on those who do not toe the government line.

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there,
spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors
often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual
conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the
web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to
flag@whitehouse.gov."

By August 17th, they realized that they had made a major blunder and disabled their "tip line."

A number of the Obama appointments have questionable records on free speech. Cass Sunstein was appointed as Obama's head of information technology and he has an interesting record on free speech.

On page 14 of Sunstein’s January 2008 white paper entitled “Conspiracy
Theories,” he proposed that each of the following measures “will have a place
under imaginable conditions” according to the strategy detailed in the essay.

1) Government might ban conspiracy theorizing.

2) Government might impose some kind of tax, financial or otherwise, on those who disseminate such theories.

That’s right, Obama’s information czar wants to tax or ban outright, as in make illegal, political opinions that the government doesn’t approve of. To where would this be extended? A tax or a shut down order on newspapers that print stories critical of our illustrious leaders? Nothing like this has been considered since the Wilson Administration during World War I.

Just recently Sunstein proposed that in order to insure balance on the internet political blogs, etc. would need to post a link to the other point of view, or have a pop up ad with a contrary view. He explained this could be "voluntary" or congress could mandate it.

He also proposed a 24 hour cooling off period before an angry email could be sent. He also opined that the internet was antidemocratic because users cn filter out info of their own choosing.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps says he believes the federal government in Washington, D.C. has a role in deciding what your "local interests" are – in your town on your local talk radio station – and wants to not renew their licenses based on what they think you need to hear.

And Elana Kagan, Obama's nominee for SCOTUS has written about speech rationing. Ms. Kagan's First Amendment work repeatedly promotes the idea that speech rights are granted by government rather than inherent in the God-given nature of man.

In the government's brief in a case called United States v. Stevens, Ms. Kagan
elaborated: "Whether a given category of speech enjoys
First Amendment protection depends upon a categorical balancing of the value of the speech against its societal costs."

This begs the question who - pray tell - does the balancing? Judges? Bureaucrats? The Almighty President? The Supreme Court has dealt with this before and has come up on the side of free speech, for just the reason I mention in the previous sentence.

The Obama Administration has already reversed a Bush Administration policy and co-sponsored a UN resultion recognizing blasphemy as an exception to free speech.

"While attracting surprisingly little attention, the Obama administration
supported the effort of largely Muslim nations in the U.N. Human Rights Council to recognize exceptions to free speech for any “negative racial and religious stereotyping.” The exception was made as part of a resolution supporting free speech that passed this month, but it is the exception, not the rule that worries civil libertarians. Though the resolution was passed unanimously,
European and developing countries made it clear that they remain at odds on the
issue of protecting religions from criticism. It is viewed as a transparent bid
to appeal to the “Muslim street” and our Arab allies, with the administration
seeking greater coexistence through the curtailment of objectionable speech.
Though it has no direct enforcement (and is weaker than earlier versions), it is
still viewed as a victory for those who sought to juxtapose and balance the
rights of speech and religion."

http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2009/10/obama-f...

The press apparantly has gone from fawning supporters to actually asking tough questions and the administration doesn't like. Obama's solution is to create his own TV blog.

"You didn't see this on CNN or Fox News or NBC: President Obama awkwardly introducing Chile's president, Sebastián Piñera, to the Netherlands' prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, at the recent nuclear security summit. "You know, uh, you've met Jan?" the president says tentatively as the other world leaders stand aside like shy kids at a dance.

Or this: Obama, playfully doing his best impression of Muhammad Ali, throwing mock punches into the midsection of a costumed Easter Bunny following the White House Easter Egg Roll.

You didn't see it on the networks because the behind-the-scenes video was only available on "West Wing Week," the Obama administration's new video blog. The six- to seven-minute compilations, which appear each week on the White House's Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov) and on such video-sharing sites as YouTube, offer what a narrator on each segment calls "your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

Finally, we are also seeing surrogates for President Obama charge that the criticism of him is either racists or worse seditious.

"Governor Deval Patrick, decrying partisanship in Washington, said yesterday
that Republican opposition to President Obama is so reflexive that it 'is almost
at the level of sedition.’' The Democratic governor, who is close to the
president, said that even 'on my worst day, when I’m most frustrated about folks
who seem to be rooting for failure,’ he doesn’t face anything like the
opposition to the president and his proposals. 'It seems like child’s play
compared to what’s going on in Washington, where it is almost at the level of
sedition, it feels like to me.'’’

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/25/patrick_reaches_back_to_decry_obama_foes/?rss_id=Boston.com++Local+news


What we are seeing today is President Obama making pronouncements to the press, but not taking questions from the press in fact trying to bypass them all together. There are lots of bad signs for freedom of speech.