At bit of this, a dash of that.

Bad Timing Award

Mount Everest is becoming increasingly dangerous to climb because global warming is melting glacier ice along its slopes, according to a Nepalese Sherpa who has conquered the world’s highest summit 20 times.

Rising temperatures have melted much of the ice on the steep trail to the summit and climbers are struggling to get traction on the exposed rock surface, according to the 49-year-old Sherpa, known only as Apa.

Warmists latched on to this story as more "proof" of their favorite topic, AGW. But not since the Gulf Oil spill allowed BHO to ban any offshore drilling for six month has a story been so plagued by bad timing.

A 13-year-old American boy, Jordan Romero, has become the youngest person ever to climb Mount Everest, setting a new but controversial world record.

President Eisenhower other famous warning

Liberal love to quote President Eisenhower and his famous warning about the military industrial complex. But he also issued another warning which seems appropo with all the scientists falling in line behind the idea of global warming.

Former President Dwight Eisenhower warned of this grave danger in his farewell address to the nation on January 17, 1961:

“The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded.”

Ike was ahead of his time.

Another Scientific Organization Fudges the Data

In March, [CSIRO] joined with the Bureau of Meteorology to produce a "snapshot of the state of the climate to update Australians about how their climate has changed and what it means". Although the pamphlet had a neutral title, "State of the Climate", it was clearly designed to bring the great weight of the apparent credibility of these two organisations to bear against, and hopefully crush, those pesky climate change sceptics.

The problem that exists was discovered by Tom Quirk who noticed on the graphs in the pamphlet that while the plot of CO2 went to the year 2000, the plot for Methane Gas stops at 1990. It seems Methane stopped going up on the mid 1990s yet here is the CSIRO, the organisation dedicated to scientific truth, pretending -- even stating -- that they're still going up, Climategate style.

http://www.australianclimatemadness.com/?p=3881

Arctic Ice Increases by 25%

Contrary to what you read in the press and hear from alarmists, Arctic Ice is not disappearing like is used to. Used by warmists as irrefutable scientific "proof of AGW, we now find that the volume of Arctic Ice has increased 25% in just the past two years.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/29/arctic-ice-volume-has-increased-25-since-may-2008/

Illegals in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts follows Arizona?

It's being reported that Massachusetts state senate is debating a law that would:

"The measure, which passed on a 28-10 vote as an amendment to the budget, would bar the state from doing business with any company found to break federal laws barring illegal immigrant hiring. It would also toughen penalties for creating or using fake identification documents, and explicitly deny in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants…

Democrats had resisted such a sweeping proposal, but spent last evening negotiating today’s measure"

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/05/27/racists-illegal-immigration-crackdown-passed-by-massachusetts-senate/

It appears a new poll is out and 84% of Massachusetts citizens approve of this measure.

Can the President's popularity can survive the oil spill?

"I don't see how the president's position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president's political judgment and instincts.

There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don't see how you politically survive this."

Was it only 18 months ago Democrats were talking about being in control of congress and the Presidency for a generation?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704269204575270950789108846.html


Do we need to save Teacher's jobs with another bailout?

Evidently Christina Romer and the Whitehouse thinks so.

"Yes, we all understand that our budget deficit is too large. Profligate
policies of the past and rising entitlement spending have created a mess that
simply must be dealt with as we return to full employment. But it would be
penny-wise and pound-foolish to deal with that issue by failing to allot
essential spending on teachers at a time when the unemployment rate is still
near 10 percent."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052604597.html

It is becoming more and more evident, that if you are working for the government you are in the privileged class. Higher wages, much better benefits and a Federal government that thinks you are essential and can't face layoffs.

Update: Have teachers brought it on themselves?

“It’s like we woke up one morning and the world had changed,” said Linda Mirabelli, a music teacher in Livingston. “We were liked and respected, and now, overnight, people have turned against us.”

How did it happen? That’s easy: One bad decision, one stupid miscalculation: An overwhelming majority of teachers refused to accept a pay freeze. They could have won taxpayers’ eternal gratitude, but instead demanded their negotiated raises and fought against contributing a dime toward budget-breaking health insurance benefits. Teachers could have pitched in, but they dug in.

And when you dig in, you end up in a grave.

Hoisted on their own petard.

Back when President Clinton was impeached there was some discussions of how he was being entrapped. The Paula Jones lawsuit went forward, but during the questioning of President Clinton, the subject went beyond Jones to Monica Lewinsky. The only reason Jones' attorneys could go there was because the Democrat Congress had passed a bill which let them and Clinton himself had signed it.

The Sestak allegations of being offered a job not to run against Arlan Spector is basically charging that someone in the Obama Administration committed a felony. It is against the law to do this.

Now to many people (myself included), this seems less like a felony and more like politics as usual. It is unseemly, but as is attributed to Otto Von Bismarck, "Je weniger die Leute darüber wissen, wie Würste und Gesetze gemacht werden, desto besser schlafen sie nachts." (translation: The less the people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they sleep in the night.)

Good news only today

I've wanted to do this before, but I hadn't found a way to fill up my blog with just good news stories. But today seems different.

Top Kill worked

After over on month of spewing oil in the Gulf of Mexico, a solution to the problem appears to have been successful with "Top Kill."

"Officials are cautionary but say drilling fluid has blocked oil and gas temporarily. Engineers plan to begin pumping in cement and then will seal the well."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-top-kill-20100528,0,5782115.story

New Jersey Won't have to Raise Taxes!

It seem New Jersey just discovered an $800 million hole in their budget over the next two years (declining tax revenues). Governor Chris Christie put in to affect a budget freeze which apparantly is working better than anticipated.

http://wcbstv.com/politics/chris.christie.new.2.1714647.html

Here is a feel good video, the humming puppies.

http://lucianne.com/article/?pageid=Humming_Puppies


Hero saves woman's life

The third subway hero in three years to jump down on the tracks to save a fallen patron in New York City had vanished from the scene on Monday

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/inspired/individuals/another-nyc-subway-hero.html

Obama

Wasn't this the guy who was going to heal the Planet?

Things are turning bad for President Obama regarding the oil spill in the Gulf. You know it's getting bad when a liberal pundit defends Obama by saying, "They're just showing incompetence."

http://www.breitbart.tv/mass-democrat-defection-liberals-attack-obamas-response-to-oil-spill-crisis/

And it's being reported that Robert Gibbs has scolding the White House Press Corps (that's pronounced core not corpse, Mr. President) for asking too many BP oil spill questions. Don't you just love the White House's interpretation of the First Amendment?

It's also been reported President Obama will be going on he second vacation since the oil spill began (Memorial Day in Chicago).

Then and Now

In the Showtime series the Tudors, in the second season you have King Henry VIII trying to keep Anne Boylen from leaving court. She ignores his pleas and he shouts after her, "Anne, don't leave. I'm the King of England!"

It appears that same frustration he felt is being felt by President Barack Obama. Like Henry VIII, he can't understand why Republicans won't do as he wants them to do. I keep having this vision in my head of BHO saying "You need to support my programs. I'm the President of the United States!"

In another example of this seemingly imperial tone, we have a report that Andrew Romanoff was offered a job by the Obama Whitehouse to deter him from running against Michael Benett in the Colorado primary for the US Senate seat. This is actually against the law, but like Henry, it appears this Whitehouse feels they are above the law.

Obama Whitehouse probe of Obama Whitehouse finds no Obama Whitehouse impropriety on Sestak Obama Whitehouse job offer.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/05/obama-joe-sestak-white-house-job-robert-gibbs.html

The bad news for the Obama Whitehouse is now there are two Democrats calling for an explanation of what happened.

Tick, Tick, Tick

The Clock is ticking


BP's oil spill

BP'Moil spill
BP'M0il tpill
BP'Moiatpill
OP'Moiatpill
OP'Moiatpila
OP'Moisatrila
OPamoisatrila
OPamoisatrina
Obamoisatrina
Obamo Katrina
Obama Katrina


Obama's Katrina

Tick, tick, tick.



Another Bailout?

A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of troubled
union pension funds. If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.

The bill, which would put the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation behind struggling pensions for union workers, is being introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), who says it will save jobs and help people.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2010/05/24/lawmaker-introduces-b-union-pension-bailout/

Unions have been protected by the government bailout of the auto industry and given special status by the Democrats. Now this move by Bob Casey would make the taxpayer the sugar daddy for a select group of people. So when will the government give you and me back what we've lost in this recession?


Another leftist myth bites the dust

"A three-year study by Newcastle University has found that wild birds
are not swayed by the organic label, but instead prefer the more protein-rich, conventional food that will help them to survive the winter.

"Our results suggest that the current dogma that organic food is
preferred to conventional food may not always be true," explains Dr
McKenzie, based in the School of Biology at Newcastle University.

"Protein is an essential nutrient in the diet of all birds and mammals
and getting enough of it -- especially in winter -- can be hard.

"We showed that when given free choice, wild birds opt for the conventional food over the organic, and the most likely explanation is its higher
protein content."

Now here is some more information for liberals. People prefer freedom over a cage of government benefits and government taxes.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100518230515.htm

Another poll shows people are against illegals

"A majority believe immigrants who are in the country illegally or
after their visas expire should be deported, even if they have family ties in the country, a newly released poll shows.

The national poll revealed that respondents didn’t make a distinction between “undocumented workers” and “workers without the proper work permits,” with nearly two-thirds coming down hard on illegal immigrants because they did not follow the rules."

Another example of Americans being jingoistic and racists? Not really. This poll was conducted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Prof. Peter Showler, director of the Refugee Forum at the University of Ottawa, said it is a “very high Canadian value” to oppose queue-jumping by anyone in the country, including immigrants.

http://canadaimmigration.typepad.com/canada_immigration/2009/02/canadians-want-illegal-immigrants-deported-poll.html

Something different--Limbaugh says something liberals probably support.

Rush Limbaugh mocks Bill O’Reilly in book

"In a new
biography on sale Tuesday, Rush Limbaugh calls fellow conservative talk
show host Bill O’Reilly a “Ted Baxter” — after the fictional character
on the “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” who was portrayed as a vain, shallow,
buffoonish TV newsman."

http://thehill.com/capital-living/in-the-know/99609-rush-limbaugh-mocks-bill-oreilly-in-new-book

Unintended Consequences

Greece vs the USA?

A lot of people are talking about how similar the situation is between where Greece is right now and where the USA is heading. I however see a major difference. In Greece, when faced with cutting government spending, the people exploded into major demonstrations that quickly turned violent demanding the government continue spending money they don't have. In the United States, as the government looks to increase spending, the people meet in major demonstrations that are peaceful and tell the government to stop spending money they don't have! I guess it is good to be a right of center country.

UN moves focus from Climate Change to Saving Species

I've said that Climate Change is not the problem that the AGW supporters say it is. The science is weak and integrity of the proponents has been damaged badly. Evidently, the UN can see the handwriting on the wall.

"The UN's biodiversity report – dubbed the Stern for Nature – is expected to
say that the value of saving "natural goods and services", such as pollination,
medicines, fertile soils, clean air and water, will be even higher – between 10 and 100 times the cost of saving the habitats and species
which provide them."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/21/un-biodiversity-economic-report

Be prepared to hear less and less about climate change and more and more about saving species.

News that isn't News.

"Most economists are not susceptible to partisanship in their work, a new
scholarly study finds. But anyone who reads Paul Krugman's columns in the New York Times will hardly be surprised to learn he is a glaring exception to the study's findings.

He consistently changes his fiscal views depending on the party in power."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2010/05/09/paul-krugman-nations-most-partisan-economist-study-finds#ixzz0oqfXMSBF

Obamacare an update

"Remember how Obamacare was going to save big bucks and reduce wait time in emergency rooms? The idea was that millions of previously uninsured Americans accustomed to using ERs for basic medical treatment would snatch up Obamacare coverage and start getting primary care from regular (and cheaper) medical practices.

Nice thought. But it doesn’t look like it’ll pan out.

Indeed, notes Rick Dallam, it looks like 'it’s going to be exactly the opposite over the next four to eight years.' In an article in The Hill, Dallam, a health care partner at a firm that designs health care facilities, notes: 'We don’t have the primary care infrastructure in place in America to cover the need. Our clients are looking at and preparing for more emergency department volume, not less.'”

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/05/21/side-effects-er-overload-will-only-get-worse/

Update. The latest Rasmussen poll now shows 63% of Americans favor repealing the Healthcare law passed by the Obama Administration. This is the biggest number yet.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/march_2010/health_care_law

Optimism vs Pessimism

If you look at optimists and pessimists what you find is that optimists tend to live longer, rise higher in their companies, and get better grades in school with one exception. They have found that optimists tend to get lower grades and pessimist get higher grades in legal studies. That's right, if you want a great lawyer, get one who is really pessimistic.

http://www.futurevisions.org/Law_pessm_opt.htm

But if you are like most people who would rather not be depressed, studies have shown that belief in God helps to overcome anxiety and relieves stress.

University of Toronto psychologists reported last year that "believing in God can help block anxiety and minimize stress," their research showcasing "distinct brain differences" between believers and nonbelievers.

So nothing is worse than a lawyer who is also an atheist. Explains a lot about the ACLU.

Global Warming Tidbits

Will Global Warming increase the incidents of Malaria as the IPCC and Al Gore contend?

No. You can get the details here. Watch the 5 minute video and learn why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxtWEW2nKRI

In addition Nature publishes a study which:

“Climate change is, in our view, an unwelcome distraction from the main issues,” according to Oxford University’s Peter Gething, the study’s lead researcher. Gething notes that malaria has been steadily decreasing while global temperatures increased. Instead of focussing on a non-issue, Gething believes, malaria-fighting resources should be directed to measures needed to maximize the progress in fighting this disease.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v465/n7296/full/nature09098.html

Why is this important? Proponents of AGW keep rolling out disasters that seem akin to biblical plagues if we don't do what they want us to. They simply aren't true.

Is the Current Temperatures the hottest we've seen in the past 2,000 years?

No. In a recent study pubished in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science which instead of using tree rings as a proxy for air temperature, the study's authors extracted data from sea shells preserved in deep sedimentary layers, using them as a proxy for sea temperature in the North Atlantic over the course of two millennia. According to the study, the "reconstructed water temperatures for the Roman Warm Period in Iceland are higher than any temperatures recorded in modern times." The heat lasted from approximately 230 B.C. to 140 A.D. After that, temperatures rose and fell over time with a second peak taking place during the better-known Medieval Warm Period.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/19/nero-was-hotter-than-al-gore/

Why is the important? If it was warmer in the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period than today, then the projections of tipping points and catastrophes are way over stated.


Will Sea Level Rise and cause massive flooding per Al Gore?

No. Actually this one has always been no, but in the late 1990s satellites showed in increase from about 1.5 mm per year increase in sea level (about 5.9 inches per century) to 3.2 mm per year increase in sea level (about 12.6 inches per century). Over the last 5 years this rate as gone back to 1.5 mm per year. Both of these numbers are way below the 20 foot rise Gore said was a realistic possibility. Perhaps it was this news that led Al Gore to buying ocean front property.

http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2010/05/inconvenient-truth-sea-level-rise-is.html

Why is the important? The actual rate of sea level rise has fallen since the last ice age ended. Despite the gimmicks like the Maldives government trying to highlight the impact of climate change on their island nation by donning scuba gear a pretending to hold a meeting underwater, they aren't really in any trouble.


Doesn't the Temperature on Venus provide a warning to the Earth on the effect of runaway greenhouse gas warming?

No. Although used as a red herring by many on the AGW side of the spectrum, Venus heat is excess heat is not simply due to CO2. Although the atmosphere on Venus is almost 100% CO2 here are the factors which account for their heat.

386 degrees for adiabatic expansion from 93 atmospheres to 1 atmosphere.

52 degrees for Venus' extra solar radiation, and

20 degrees for Greenhouse Effect and all other plus and minus effects (such at thick cloud cover)

It turns out that most of Venus' "extra" surface heat is due to the adiabatic compression caused by the high pressure, the next most is caused by extra solar radiation, and Greenhouse Effect is a distant third.

The atmosphere on Venus is much thicker than on earth and the atmospheric pressure is about 93 times that on Earth.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/06/hyperventilating-on-venus/#more-19270

Why is this important? This is just another false analogy used to stir people up and get them to do what the politicians and AGW supporters want them to do.

Isn't the IPCC's predictions regarding global warming something we should be concerned about?

No. They warmist hope that you will be worried but you shouldn't. First of all, the IPCC doesn't make predictions. You can only make predictions if your model(s) are validated. The IPCC models aren't validated (they have 11 and if they were validated there would only be one). If a model isn't validated they can only make projections, ie. based upon this model and these conditions, this will happen.

Why is this important? Actually the key factor that the AGW uses is projections from their flawed models. The supporters said after Climategate, it doesn't affect the basic science. They were right, but there isn't a lot of basic science that supports their projections.

The Unthinkable happened on Tuesday--Will it happen in November?

As we see more and more about yesterday's primary elections one thing has become clear. What used to be unthinkable is now happening. Incumbents with all their advantages (name recognition, money, endorsements from other incumbents) are no longer safe.

Arlen Spector lost his bid to become a full term Democrat senator despite President Obama's "I love this man" endorsement, Ed Rendell's tireless work for him and even the backing of the AFL and the SEIU in getting out the vote. The Washington Examiner calls this the Twilight of the Establishment.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Editorial-Twilight-of-the-Establishment-94265569.html

The Promise

Hugh Hewett has come out to recommend Johathan Alter's new book: The Promise: President Obama, Year One.

Because of his frequent appearances on MSNBC and his left-of-center punditry, conservatives might be tempted to skip Jonathan Alter’s new book: The Promise: President Obama, Year One.

That would be a mistake, and a large one.

The Promise is a riveting though sympathetic look inside the Obama White House, and very revealing about the new president’s few strengths and many weaknesses.

http://townhall.com/columnists/HughHewitt/2010/05/20/the_promise_of_the_promise?page=full&comments=true

Read Hugh's article and see if this book is something you would like to read. To me it looks good.

Why Do People Vote Democrat?

I got this in my emails this morning.

When your friends can't explain why they voted for Democrats, give them this list. They can then pick a reason .

10. I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.

9. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would (I need a babysitter).

8. I voted Democrat because Freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

7. I voted Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves.

6. I voted Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.

5. I voted Democrat because I'm not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies through abortion so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.

4. I voted Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free health care, education, and Social Security benefits.

3. I voted Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as the democrats see fit.

2. I voted Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.

1. I voted Democrat because my head is so firmly planted up my ass it's unlikely that I'll ever have another point of view.


Illegal Immigration and crime--the other side of the coin

We hear a lot about illegals and crime. But here is an interesting article that brings you another perspective. There were just 18 murders in El Paso last year, in a city of 736,000 people. To compare, Baltimore, with 637,000 residents, had 234 killings. In fact, since the beginning of 2008, there were nearly as many El Pasoans murdered while visiting Juarez (20) than there were murdered in their home town (23).

The reasons are scattered throughout the piece. If you are a liberal you should love the article. If you are a conservative you should think about the article.

http://reason.com/archives/2009/07/06/the-el-paso-miracle

How to tell a MODERATE TERRORIST

Reuters reports that the Obama administration wants to help shore up “moderates” within Hezbollah. Michael Rubin helps us by describing what a moderate terrorist is.

In order to help the White House identify terrorist moderates, I offer this list:

Hezbollah: The moderates are the ones who make car bombs only out of midsize vehicles rather than SUVs or trucks.

Hamas: Moderates still believe in annihilating Israel, but they refrain from advocating throwing all the Jews into the sea because of environmental impact; they propose burying some instead.

Taliban: Ask Colin Powell. It’s been almost nine years since he spoke of moderate Taliban, so his definition might be ready by now. But, generally, moderate Taliban dilute the acid somewhat before they toss it into unveiled women’s faces.

Al Qaeda: The moderates are the ones who would have taken down only one World Trade Center tower, rather than both.

Michael Rubin helps us by describing what a moderate terrorist is.

Lessons from all over

Lesson from PA12

The Democrats are crowing about their holding on to John Murtha's old seat. I think the lesson from this election is that if you have a 2-1 registration advantage and you campaign as a Democrat who is against the Obama Agenda (against healthcare, cap and trade, etc), you have a chance.

Other lessons from PA.

Arlen Spector lost the Democrat primary even though he had President Obama's backing and the backing of the rest of the Democrat establishment. I'm not sure if this is bad news for incumbents, or simply bad news for turncoats. In either case it isn't good news for President Obama.

The Christmas Bomber and Intelligence failures

The Senate Intelligence Committee report identifies fourteen “points of failure.” Failure No. 2 is the decision not to put Abdulmutallab on the “no fly” list, which the intel committee attributes to “the language of the watchlisting standard, the manner in which it was being interpreted at the time, or both.”

So what happened? Why was Abdulmutallab not on the no fly list? We can thank the ACLU who in 2008 led a campaign to make it more difficult for the government to put names on the list. I guess those who would trade security for liberty also end up with neither.

A Question about Democrats

After seeing the Democrats pass a 2000 page healthcare bill without reading it (Nancy Pelosi's famous "We need to pass it so we can see what's in it") and now seeing both Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano criticize the new Arizona Immigration law but then admitting they hadn't read it, you begin to wonder is the reason the Dems don't do much reading because the don't want to spoil their liberal preconceived notions, or that they aren't intellectually curious enough to read something they might not agree with.

I at least appears that the Democrat party agrees with Don Quixote when he said "Facts are the enemy of truth."


Richard Lindzen says it is time to abandon climate skepticism

Richard Siegmund Lindzen is an American atmospheric physicist and Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lindzen is known for his work in the dynamics of the middle atmosphere, atmospheric tides and ozone photochemistry. He has published more than 200 scientific papers and books. He recently suggested that it is time to abandon climate skepticism or at least the term skeptic.

“One suggestion I’d make is we stop accepting the term ‘skeptic,’” Lindzen said. “As far as I can tell, skepticism involves doubts about a plausible proposition. I think current global warming alarm does not represent a plausible proposition.”

Lindzen told the audience the alarmists have simply failed to prove their case.

“For 20 years –more than 20 years unfortunately, 22 by now, since ’88 – of repetition, escalation of claims does not make it more plausible. “Quite the contrary,” he continued. “I would suggest the failure to prove the case of 20 years makes the case even less plausible, as does the evidence of ClimateGate and other instances.”

In fact, the claims of the AGW crowd that seem to link everything even contradictory things to being consistent with Anthropogenic Global Warming doesn't make the theory more robust but less robust. A robust theory explains why something happens and what can't happen. AGW after 22 years explain almost nothing and reject even less.

Meanwhile, back in the Jungle

The plan by Democratic Senator John Kerry and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman to reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming is not the subject of any committee hearings; it's not being debated on the Senate floor; it's not even been formally introduced. (Reuters)

Blumenthal claims he misspoke

Connecticut Attorney General and Senate Democratic hopeful Richard Blumenthal held a press conference yesterday claiming he only inadvertently said -- repeatedly -- that he served alongside America's bravest and most selfless in the Vietnam War. He explained that he misspoke and then said that he wouldn't let a few mistakes on his part allow others to disparage his record of service.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/time_for_war_story_windbag_to_surrender_nIlF6rQQDdjwci5eNkccEM#ixzz0oNW95hvs

Now one of two things are true about Blumenthal. Either he is a liar or he is delusional. In either case, the people of Connecticut have a choice to make on whether this is the kind of man they want to send to the Senate of the United States of America.

Update. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Connecticut finds Blumenthal with just a three-point advantage over Linda McMahon, 48% to 45%. Two weeks ago, he led the Ms. McMahon by 13 percentage points.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/electio

I think what makes Blumenthal's statements really unacceptable is he represents himself as someone who served in Vietnam when the story the NYT broke showed he did everything in his power to avoid that service and succeeded.

Future of the Euro and the EU

The Euro continues to decline in value and this morning as I write this stands at 1.224. Here is an article that see the Euro as a symbol of the entire EU experiment.

"The European experiment has failed and is only artificially being kept alive on a life-support system of taxpayer-funded bailouts. The euro is now a zombie currency: only the political will of the European nomenklatura keeps it nominally in existence. That is the exact reverse of the proper relationship between a currency and the state: the currency should be the expression of a healthy economy testifying to the legitimacy of the government it represents. Instead, a synthetic European super-state is showing its non-viability and moribundity through the implosion of its currency."

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100040178/the-eu-is-as-doomed-as-its-currency-lets-get-out-from-under-this-collapsing-monstrosity/

Stupid is the word of the day

Why Hollywood Types Should Not Be Allowed Freedom of Speech.

Woody Allen was recently interviewed by a Spanish language newspaper. In his interview he says “I am pleased with Obama. I think he’s brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him.”

The director said "it would be good…if he could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly." I do believe that was the justification for Hitler's being given absolute power.

I guess an 800 billion dollar stimulus package, a $1 trillion healthcare package, the acquistion of GM and Chrysler, and a multibillion dollar mortgage bailout program aren't "enough" good things for Woody. He's looking for Obama to make us much more like ---Greece? I guess there's no point in being stupid, if you can't prove it once in a while.

Are the Obama Appointees Really That Stupid?

Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner in meetings with the Chinese on Human Rights violations said in addition to talks on freedom of religion and expression, labor rights and rule of law, officials also discussed Chinese complaints about problems with U.S. human rights, which have included crime, poverty, homelessness and racial discrimination.

He said U.S. officials did not whitewash the American record and in fact raised on its [sic] own "a new immigration law in Arizona that requires police to ask about a person's immigration status if there is suspicion the person is in the country illegally."

So let me see if I have this correct. The Obama Administration thinks enforcing the immigration law is a human's right violation. We need to get these people out of government and back in academia where they don't cause so many problems.

Gingrich predictions for November

Newt Gingrich making predictions for November’s midterms, said House Republicans will pick up “somewhere between 40 and 65 or 70 seats” — enough to gain control of the House. “I believe John Boehner will be speaker in January,” he said.

And Gingrich added he even sees a chance of Republican control of the Senate. “If they can beat Barbara Boxer [in California], I think that [Mitch] McConnell is going to be the Senate majority leader.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37399.html#ixzz0oI14fE00

In the meantime, politico ran a story that if the Democrats can hold on to the House, Nancy Pelosi's power will increase even with fewer Democrats. They see a Democrat house purged of DINOs so the remaining members would be further left and more aligned with Speaker Pelosi. Of course this goes against EJ Dionne's column on how the Republicans will be more conservative, but the Democrats will be more diverse.

Finally, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut who has been the odds on favorite to replace Chris Dodd in the US Senate seems to have run into problems.

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”

The problem with this according to a NY Times story is that Mr. Blumenthal never served in Vietnam. After using five deferments to avoid the draft, Mr. Blumenthal got a place in the Marine Corp Reserve and was never in Vietnam.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18blumenthal.html

MassCare Stupid

And speaking of Stupid, How is MassCare doing? It was supposed to lower the average cost of health care by getting relatively cheap young people into the system, and ending the inefficiencies of caring for the uninsured. Unfortunately, it hasn't quite worked out that way.

The bill for the uninsured only dropped by about 40%; the young, cheap people turned out to almost all need subsidies, and worse, some of them figured out how to game the system

by buying insurance, getting a bunch of expensive procedures, and then dropping the insurance again.

It's gotten so bad Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts, imposed price controls on the insurance companies. They refused to write policies at these prices and Patrick ordered them to write the policies. They now have complained about how much money they've lost in the first quarter of 2010.

So MassCare which was the prototype for ObamaCare may be giving us a picture of the future.

All really stupid statements or actions are in red.

Why in the world?

Must Gay People vote a certain way?

A side issue that is going on is whether or not Elana Kagan is gay. The funny part here is it is a concern of both the extreme right and the extreme left.

On the extreme right, the concern is that a person shouldn't be gay in this position because it might influence their decisions on gay rights issues. On the extreme left the concern is related to the extreme right's position in that they feel if a person is gay, there is a certain way they are supposed to vote.

Hopefully, a judge would not allow their personal circumstances guide their vote. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that this belief will be acceptable to either side of the aisle and there also appears to be a belief or a fear that there is only one side to the issue if you are a member of a certain group.

EJ Dionne screws it up again

EJ Dionne just wrote a column titled "Democrats' Diverse Coalition." In it he says:

"Republicans will, indeed, end the year a more philosophically coherent right-wing party. But the Democrats will, if anything, become more ideologically diverse."

What absolute nonsense! He sees the Democrats running in more conservative areas as proof that the Democrats are diverse. He cites the race of U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak (a moderate democrat) against Arlan Spector (a Republican turned Democrat) as proof of how Democrats have a big tent while the loss of while relatively conservative incumbents such as the defeated Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah indicates to Dionne that the Republicans are less tolerant. I guess he missed the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas who recently said: "Just like the far right, I think the far left also believes that you've got to be with them 100 percent of the time or you don't meet the test,"

Finally Dionne should read the Huffington Post sometime and see how many in his "diverse coalition" are calling for voting out the DINOs. In fact, there are many Democrats who aren't left wing enought who aren't safe this year from their own voters while those who are left wing enough aren't safe from independent voters.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/05/17/democrats_diverse_coalition.html

Kerry-Lieberman -- The wrong problem, the wrong solution and the wrong time

" Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., have managed to write a cap-and-trade energy bill that should be greeted with guffaws from both believers and skeptics of man-made global warming. At a cost of billions of dollars and millions of jobs across America, the proposal would produce virtually no reduction in global temperatures even after being in force for decades. Using the MAGICC/SCENGEN climate model originally developed for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and assuming no other nation adopts the same measure, climate researcher Paul Knappenberger found that Kerry-Lieberman would reduce the average global temperature 0.077 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050, compared with what it would be if the bill were not adopted "

That's right folks. If the IPCC models say we will increase 2 degrees C by 2050, this will reduce that number to 1.923 degrees instead. Now that may be a liberal's idea of progress, but it isn't mine.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Kerry-Lieberman-is-a-bad-joke-93798049.html#ixzz0oBiOxh1Q

And this. G20: Climate Change No Longer A Priority

Thursday, 13 May 2010 14:49 The Canadian Press Canada brushed aside a direct public demand Wednesday by the visiting United Nations chief and reiterated that it will not make climate change a priority agenda item when it hosts the G20 summit next month.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper stuck to his G20 plan to keep the summit's focus squarely on the global economic recovery after he met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his Parliament Hill office.

At least they are getting the message in Canada.

AZ Governor, Palin Criticize AG Eric Holder For Not Reading Law.

Below you will find a link to a video showing this. When I saw it I was struck by the realization we keep seeing people on the left passing laws and criticizing other's laws without reading them.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/05/16/az_governor_palin_criticize_ag_eric_holder_for_not_reading_law.html

To me this indicates that these people are ideologues first, and thinking humans beings only as an after thought. Is it too much to ask people to get the facts straight before they comment on them?

More Bad News for the Democrats

"Young voters capture this Obama-base problem. Obama won a larger share of younger voters than any president since at least the Second World War.

History, however, appears unlikely to repeat itself. About half of voters under age 30 are enthusiastic about voting this year, according to Gallup, compared to about two-thirds of seniors.

Young Republicans are also more likely to vote in 2010 than young Democrats, 41 to 35 percent respectively, according to a Harvard poll earlier this year. The same is true for young adults who disapprove of the president, compared to those who approve."

While a lot of liberals pooh pooh the TEA Party, we do know it is filled with people who are enthusiastic about voting this year. And I know I've seen numbers of young people there as well somewhat supporting the above information.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/05/17/reality_check_obamas_base_likely_to_disappoint_dems_105610.html

A Review of Obamacare

Healthcare News

During the healthcare debate, Republicans and some Democrats objected the cost. A CBO estimate came out projection the cost for 10 years at $940 billion. Opponents called it a bogus number and less than two months later we are beginning to hear more about the true cost.


President Obama's new health care law could potentially add at least $115 billion more to government health care spending over the next 10 years, congressional budget analysts said Tuesday.

If Congress approves all the additional spending called for in the legislation, it would push the 10-year cost of the overhaul above $1 trillion - an unofficial ceiling the Obama administration set early on in its push for the law.


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/12/cbo-hikes-estimate-of-cost-of-health-care-law/

Rationing Healthcare

Another debate had to do with whether the new healthcare bill would lead to rationing. Some supporters said no, while others simply said there already was rationing based upon whether you had insurance or not. Now we hear from Mr. Obama's pick for Medicare and Medicaid services his view.

'The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open" is what Dr. Donald Berwick, President Obama's nominee to head the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, said in an interview published in Biotechnology Healthcare in June 2009.

He seems to be agreeing with those who didn't deny there would be healthcare rationing. But to the American public we have bought a pig and a poke having no idea of what this rationing might entail.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=534205

So what's so wrong about Sarah?

"This is why the Democrats' feverish attempts to link Palin to Republican candidates have failed. Democrats love to bring up Palin because her poll numbers are lousy. They brought her up with Bob McDonnell in Virginia and with Scott Brown in Massachusetts. Lately they've been trying to link her to Mark Kirk in Illinois. But the McDonnell and Brown attacks didn't work, and the Kirk attack won't work, either. Voters are sophisticated enough to distinguish between politicians. They know who is on the ballot and who isn't -- and Sarah Palin isn't. (Nor is George W. Bush.)"

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/palin-mainstream

I think the Democrats have got the worst of all world with Sarah. She can raise a lot of money for Republican Candidates, but she isn't in office and she isn't so far running for any office. Trying to link Republicans to her does exactly what the above article says, nothing as the voters know who is on the ballot and who isn't. And the more they make fun of her and disparage her the stronger fund raising appeal gets.

News that if you think about it, is expected

Which Would You Want--Lower Spending or Higher Taxes?

"According to the survey, less than one in five voters is willing to pay more taxes to lower the federal budget deficit. That’s probably because two-thirds of Americans believe that the country is already over-taxed, and more than eight in ten believe that the federal deficit is the result of politicians overspending, not a lack of tax revenue."

As someone who has been around for a while, lower spending is the only logical choice. Somehow when you raise taxes, politicians find even more ways to spend the money and the deficit never goes down.

Remember in the late 1990s when the deficit was tamed? It was lower spending not increased taxes that brought that about.

http://www.bankruptingamerica.org/2010/05/03/poll-americans-want-lower-spending-not-higher-taxes/

From Instapundit:

EUGENE VOLOKH ON bisexual erasure. Well, the Kagan nomination certainly seems to have inspired one of those “national conversations” people are always calling for — this time on sexuality.

When I read this it occurred to me that it is the left who are constantly calling for "national conversations" on things they want to change. However, on issues that they've already gotten their way, they aren't too keen on these conversations.

A couple of examples of a national conversation I've not heard the left ask for include ending affirmative action or a national conversation on the under representation of men in college and post graduate work (degrees) or a national conversation on the science of anthropogenic global warming.

It reminds me of the old saying, "What's mine is mine. What's yours is negotiable."

Obama losing Jewish Support

If senior journalist David Goldman is right, the correct word for describing the way a growing number of US Jews feel about President Barack Obama is not 'anger' but 'rage' – white-hot rage, at that, and a conviction that they have been swindled.

Goldman quoted a top Jewish campaign donor who used the word 'sociopath' to describe Obama. In an interview with Israel National News, he predicted a possibly dramatic 'train wreck' for the Democrats in the November mid-term elections, with Jewish fundraising for Democrats drying up and a possibly high turnout of anti-Obama evangelical Christians.

Recent surveys are indicating that Obama has lost about half the support he had in his presidential bid from Jewish voters.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137515


Holder's conundrum

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has been critical of Arizona's new immigration law, said Thursday he hasn't yet read the law and is going by what he's read in newspapers or seen on television.

With the American people supporting the law by 2 to 1, but the MSM running anti Arizona law by 12 to 1 perhaps Mr. Holder should read the law, or at least turn on Fox News.

Worse than waterboarding?

During the Bush administration many people felt he had taken away rights of American citizens. Most notably was the Patriot Act and the warrentless wiretaps. We now have a situation where the Obama Administration has made sure that Anwar al-Alwaki, a US citizen, will not have his telephone tapped without due process, but has put him on a list for the CIA to assassinate.

“American citizenship doesn’t give you carte blanche to wage war against your own country,” said a counterterrorism official who discussed the classified program on condition of anonymity. “If you cast your lot with its enemies, you may well share their fate.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/world/14awlaki.html?hp

Although I agree with this decision by the Obama Administration, I do think it puts the left in the position of seeming hypocritical. Tapping a phone or even water boarding doesn't seem to be as heinous as a summary execution by the government.

Hold on to your wallets

The Role of Clouds in Climate

This was very interesting. It is a beautiful video talking about the influence of clouds on climate change.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4XYxL66O_s&feature=player_embedded#!



Climate Bill proposed

In the meantime, the Kerry-Liebermann bill has been unveiled.

“The global temperature “savings” of the Kerry-Lieberman bill is astoundingly small—0.043°C (0.077°F) by 2050 and 0.111°C (0.200°F) by 2100. In other words, by century’s end, reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 83% will only result in global temperatures being one-fifth of one degree Fahrenheit less than they would otherwise be. That is a scientifically meaningless reduction.”

So why would we do it? It lets Washington control a lot more of our lives and this is something progressives find irresistible.

Financial Reform

The Senate today rejected a proposal by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., to impose a minimum 5% down payment for virtually all home mortgages. The amendment to the broader financial regulatory overhaul bill, which failed 42-57, would have required income verification and an assessment of borrowers’ ability to repay.

FHA requires 3.5% down and has said if they raised that to 5% they would lose 40% of their business. I do remember when anything less than 20% required title insurance which was an extra X dollars per month.

Shouldn't we be reforming Freddie and Fannie as we reform the financial sector of the country. As I've said before Fannie and Freddie were the Typhoid Mary of the financial meltdown that happened in 2008. It appears until the Democrats are no longer in charge you won't have any serious reform.

Women and Pay

While the average earnings for women still lag behind those of men, they're turning the tables in the most exclusive corporate club of all. A new report from Bloomberg News, the leading provider of business news worldwide, shows that women who head the nation's largest companies are earning substantially more than their male counterparts. Their average annual pay over the last few years? Just over $14 million dollars.

"That means women earned 40 percent more than men in 2009," says Alexis Leondis of Bloomberg.

Fiscal Reality

With the advent of the Trillion dollar plus ANNUAL deficit in Washington, the rest of the world is actually trying to deal with unsustainable spending. We've seen the riots in Greece where public employees revolted against the idea of austerity, but Spain has just followed suit and the socialist government there is cutting civil service pay by 5%.

In the USA, New Jersey Govenor Chris Christie is leading the way.

"Upon taking office Christie declared a state of emergency, signing an executive order that froze spending, and then, in eight weeks, cutting $13 billion in spending. In March he presented to the Legislature his first budget, which cuts 9 percent of spending, including more than $800 million in education funding; seeks to privatize numerous government functions; projects 1,300 layoffs; and caps tax increases."

Of course the teachers' union is up in arms, but Christie may be showing the rest of the country what needs to be done and how to do it.

http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/ab-stoddard/97603-nj-gov-sets-tone-for-us

If you want to have some fun, I just found this on Foxnation. Watch Christie tell it like it is to a "thin skinned reporter." Great fun. I'm starting to see a good Republican bench for the 2012 Presidential contest assemble.

http://www.thefoxnation.com/gov-chris-christie/2010/05/13/must-watch-gov-christie-destroys-thin-skinned-reporter

May 11, 2012 News and conjecture

The Euro and Greece

The situation in Greece has gotten so shaky that the EU has created it's own TARP program with just under $1 trillion available. This is a huge shift for Europe as the European rejected the US solution over a year ago. The big question is will it work and what will be the fall out? Some experts see it as slowing growth in Europe. Another expert predicts that the Euro and Dollar could reach parity by the end of the year.

Personally, when I look at it, it tends to prop up the dollar. The monetary policies of the Obama Administration are ridiculous, but the dollar hasn't fallen as much as it should. The reason for this is, what other currency would be a better bet. Right now there isn't any.

Elena Kagan

Elena Kagan has become the latest controversy for the Obama Administration. Right now according to Rasmussen, 33% Want Kagan Confirmed, 33% Do Not, 34% Not Sure... That is what I call a split decision. And if you read the blogs she is getting flack from both the left and the right.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/may_2010/82_think_kagan_likely_to_be_confirmed_for_supreme_court

WHO wants to Tax You

The World Health Organization is moving full speed ahead with a controversial plan to impose billions of dollars in global consumer taxes on such things as Internet activity and everyday financial transactions like paying bills online — while its spending soars and its own financial house is in disarray.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/10/world-health-organization-moving-ahead-billion-dollar-internet-tax/



The United Nations has shown itself to be a huge nonresponsive bureaucracy that his the fiscal integrity of Bernie Madoff. In addition this is the same organization that hyped up the bird flu and swine flu scares. Now WHO can do good works as well. But the funding increase they are looking at is bound to end up with more scandals.




Fannie and Freddie and Financial Reform


Our congress seems bent on putting restrictions on Wall Street while totally ignoring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. With the financial crisis we had in 2008, Fannie and Freddie were basically the Typoid Mary's of the crisis, yet the Congress has done nothing to rein them in.


Already bailed out to the tune of $140 billion, in December the Treasury announced it was removing the caps that limited the amount of available capital to the companies to $200 billion each through 2012.


This is the most expensive bailout in history and it seems the Obama Administration wants to double down on it.

Illegal?

Obama doesn't know how to use an Ipod?

In a speech given over the weekend at Hampton University, President Obama said:
"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation."

Hmmm, we are seeing a pattern here. When BHO doesn't know how something works, he seems to have strong opinions on its value and it quick to criticize it. And I thought he was supposed to be the cool and savvy President?

Settled science? At least it settled to your stomach.

We are currently seeing more and more in the area of nutrition on actual role of saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, etc.

"Eat less saturated fat: that has been the take-home message from the U.S. government for the past 30 years. But while Americans have dutifully reduced the percentage of daily calories from saturated fat since 1970, the obesity rate during that time has more than doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the country’s biggest killer."

It now appears that not only are saturated fats not so bad for you, but that refined carbs are much worse for you.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio

Similar to what we are finding regarding the role of CO2 in the climate. It appears that CO2 is not the villain the left likes to portray it as.

Why would the anyone falsify climate change data, etc.?

“We’ve got to ride the global-warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic policy and environmental policy.”
- Timothy Wirth, U.S./UN functionary, former elected Democrat Senator

Why is the MSM in such bad shape?

The MSM has found itself way out of step with the American public on Immigration especially the new law in Arizona.

"From April 23 to May 3, the top three television networks offered viewers 50 stories and interview segments on their morning and evening news programs. The tone was strongly hostile to the law and promotional to the "growing storm" of left-wing protesters: 37 stories (or 74 percent) were negative, 10 were neutral, and only three were positive toward the Arizona law's passage -- 12 negative stories for every one that leaned positive."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2010/05/06/mrc-study-12-1-abc-cbs-and-nbc-rip-arizonas-immigration-law#ixzz0nXIeGBWz

So the MSM was against the bill 12 to 1 while the American people are 60 to 70 percent for the bill. No wonder Fox News is looked upon as the best source for fair news.

Question of the Day

Are Colorado Residents Racists?

A new poll by Rasmussen shows that 55% of Colorado residents favor an immigration law like Arizona's while 35% oppose such a law. How can that be when you hear so much in the media about how racists this is. Actually, Colorado's 55% is lower than the National average of 59% who favor such a law.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_state_surveys/colorado/55_of_colorado_voters_favor_immigration_law_like_arizona_s

The full court press you are seeing by the liberal establishment to me is a farce. The Phoenix Suns changed their jersey on Cinco de Mayo to Los Suns. To begin with if they really wanted to change their name to support Mexicans, they should have chosen "Los Soles." And since they objected to requiring people to come into the country "legally" couldn't they have shown their support by openning their gates that night and not collecting any tickets? Of course if you PAID for a ticket, you might be a bit upset.

Many years ago, I was living in Cincinnati Ohio and needed to go into town for something. I found a place to park on the street. When I got back to my car I still had 10 minutes on the meter but I had a ticket on the car. It seems there was no parking after 4 PM and instead of a $10 ticket, it was a $40 ticket. I hadn't seen the sign and was upset with myself.

I paid the ticket which was a lot of money back then. The day after I paid the ticket there was an article in the paper saying "no one" pays these tickets. I felt like a fool.

In essence this is what the left is telling all the people who immigrate legally to the US. They are saying to them, only fools do it the right way. Come on in illegally and we will ignore it.

I'm getting tired to the left playing us all for fools. They seem to want to pick and chose the laws they want to enforce and they want to do it in a morally superior fashion.

The problem we have is not Arizona's new law. The problem we have is that neither political party seems to have the guts to either enforce the laws we have on the books or change them. It is time for a change in congress.

Chutzpah

Hope and Change Redux

According to the new Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll only 39% of voters would vote to reelect President Obama and 50% would vote for someone else. Of those numbers 25% said they would definitely vote for him, while 37% would definitely vote for someone else. Numbers like this tend to encourage challengers. I wonder if Hillary has seen this poll?

Of course to many on the left, this just means Americans are racists (or at least the 50% who wouldn't vote for Obama are).

You can seem more on this subject at:

http://reason.com/blog/2010/05/06/now-playing-at-reasontv-is-the

Unemployment up

After peaking at 10% the unemployment figures decreased to 9.7%. They now have increased to 9.9% which isn't good news for the Democrats or the Obama Administration. On the positive side, employers added 290,000 jobs in April. But the unemployment rate went up because the number of workers in the work force increased.

Perhaps now is the time for the Democrats to focus like a laser beam on jobs! Or perhaps they should have done that 16 months ago.

Oregon Media Teacher misreports on Times Square Bomber

Jason Levin, a media teacher at Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton, who is currently on paid leave of absence for his advocacy of discrediting the TEA Party movement, may have shown that he doesn't act as a very good role model when it comes to reporting on his blog. Talking about the Time Square Bombing attempt Levin speculated:

"UPDATE MAY 03 Suspect currently being questioned by law enforcement.

"Anonymous sources have reported that a suspect is currently being questioned in the Bridgeport / New Haven CT area. The suspect is a middle age white male, has a history of strong political views, and considers himself a Sarah Palin Tea Party express activist. An arrest is expected within days.

...Anonymous sources at the scene have reported that the terrorist attack is likely related to the Sarah Palin Tea Party movement. "Much like the 911 attackers, Sarah Palin's Tea Party movement also has shown a strong dislike of the United States government." one source reported. "

Later when it was confirmed the bomber was not a "middle age white male" who considered himself a Sarah Palin Tea Party express activist, but a naturalized Muslim man who hated George Bush, Levin became more sympathetic blogging:

"But he appears to have fallen victim to the Republican created recession. Court records seen by Associated Press appear to show that the property, owned by Shahzad and a woman named Huma Mian, was being foreclosed on by banks following default on a $200,000 mortgage. The family moved out in July last year after a series of garage sales to offload furniture and property."

Now Jason may be looking for a job with MSNBC, but his logic is absolute appalling. Doesn't it strike any of these "reporters" odd that Faisal Shahzad quit his job, got an $80,000 loan, went to Pakistan multiple times for multiple months and came back and tried to blow up a car in Times Square? Now if I had $80,000 I think I could make the house payments (he did buy an SUV with cash as well as a one way airline ticket to the Middle East) and if I really was looking for the American Dream, I probably wouldn't quit my job until I had another one. Far from falling victim to the "Republican created recession" Shahzad appears to be a cold calculating terrorist who didn't want his 72 virgins, but did want revenge for all the Obama ordered "drone" strikes to the Taliban. I think Levin is falling victime to TEA Party derangement syndrome.

Death throes for Anthropogenic Global Warming?

When I was a kid playing CYO football, one of the boys on the team wasn't doing well. The coach at the end of practice made him run 5 laps around the field. The next day he brought a note from his mother exempting her son from doing laps. Needless to say the young man did not stay on the team long after that.

Yesterday it was announced that a group of 255 scientists from the National Academy of Science had written a letter that attacks critics driven by "special interests or dogma" and "McCarthy-like" threats against researchers. This is one of those incidents which demonstrates what real chutzpah is. After years of their supporters attacking skeptics (who many of them referred to as denialists), here are just a few of the "McCarthy-like" threats the skeptics endured.

Talking Points Memo pondered the question ‘at what point do we jail or execute global warming deniers?’

Greenpeace uttered a threat to skeptics, ‘we know where you live.’

David Suzuki called for politicians who questioned global warming science to be jailed.

Joe Romm wanted to strangle skeptics in their beds.

NASA’s James Hansen suggested skeptics be tried for high crimes against humanity

As with my teammate who brought a note from his mother, the supporters of AGW are feeling the proverbial heat and they don't like it. But like the boy so many years ago, their time on the playing field is numbered.

Odds and Ends with the emphasis on the Odd

Colorado polls from RealClear Politics:

Colorado: Rasmussen shows former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton holding consistent leads over her potential Democratic opponents of about six or seven points. That's not awe-inspiring, but it's statistically significant at about 85% confidence. A near-majority of the state strongly disapproves of the job Barack Obama is doing, and 60% favor repealing the health care bill. Neither Democrat -- Bennett nor Romanoff -- has ever polled above 42% in Rasmussen, which isn't a particularly good sign for the fall. Norton leads Bennett by two in the RCP Average.

Where does the Justice Department get it's news.

According to the LA Times, Justice gets it news in the secure confines of the briefing room of Holder's own Justice Department in Washington from Fox News. The briefing room's main TV's are tuned to the top-rated cable news channel. At least we know something that is fair and balanced in the Obama Justice Department.

Does it strike you odd?

It strikes me odd that after all the warnings about the TEA Party protests and the violence that could ensue, the only violence at any TEA Party demonstration has come from Union thugs. In the meantime, every terror act is first spun by the MSM as "possibly being" from some right wing fanatic. We even had on MSNBC correspondent expressing chagrin that the Times Square bomber was a Muslim.

After a year of TEA Party protests not a single TEA Partier has been arrested (not so for anti-war demonstrators in the USA) and we see just how peaceful the left can be by the "demonstrations" in Greece. It appears the left doesn't do well with if you tell them no or even worse you can't afford it. Here we have the EU bailing out the Greek people for their overspending but putting strings on the bailout and the leftists there act like homicidal little children throwing a temper tantrum.

From James Lileks:

The MS in MSNBC stands for Morally Superior, I guess. That explains this:

“I get frustrated…” said Contessa Brewer. “There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country. … There are a lot of people who want to use terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as justification for really outdated bigotry.”

This begs the question: what kind of bigotry isn't outdated? Against conservatives I suppose.

And speaking of bigotry

On Cinco de Mayo five Live Oak High School students were asked to leave school because they donned American flag T-shirts. Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez did not want any fights to break out among Mexican-American students and those wearing American flags.

At the same time you had students showing their pride in Mexico. Pictured above you have freshman Laura Ponce showing off her Mexican pride as she wears a Mexican flag over her shoulders and wears facepaint Wednesday as she waits for school to get out at Live Oak.

So it seems that wearing clothing in America with an American flag on it is "incendiary" but wearing a Mexican flag and facepaint is just showing pride.


Last Navy Seal acquitted

All the Navy Seals who were accused of roughing up a terror suspect have now been acquitted of all charges. Having only the testimony of the suspected terrorist and a single sailor who admitted to dereliction of duty for not reporting what he testified to in the trial. His testimony was considered unreliable.

Navy SEALs involved secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

The three enlisted men involved refused non-judicial punishment — called a captain's mast — and requested a trial by court-martial. This probably wasn't the response the convening officer was looking for. A captain's mast with a minor punishment would have allowed the military to look tough while not seriously affecting the seamen involved careers.

Instead the Navy now looks foolish and very political. Actual misconduct should never be permitted, but this should never have gone to trial.

A bit of this, a bit of that

Are Democrats racists?

It appears the Republicans are expanding it's attractiveness to voters. This election 32 black candidates will be running as Republicans (6.8% of all the national seats that will be up for grabs). Realistically only 5 of them are looked at as having a chance. Since this represents only 15% of the candidates I guess this means the democrats, independents and republicans who vote against these candidates must be racists. I'm betting there will be more racists democrats than the other two groups.

Now this is a foolish assumption on my part (that if you vote against a black candidate it makes you a racists), but it seems to be the primary assumption by the liberal left. What's sauce for the goose.....

More bad indications for the Democrats

In primaries in NC, IN and OH, Democrats turned out, but at far lower rates than they have in previous comparable elections.

In Ohio, only 76% of the democrats voted in a competitive primary (663K) between LG Lee Fisher (D) and Sec/State Jennifer Brunner (D) as compared to the voters who turned out in '06, when neither Gov. Ted Strickland (D) nor Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) faced primary opponents.

In North Carolina only 425,000 voters turned out to pick a nominee against Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC). The 14.4% turnout was smaller than the 18% of all registered Dem voters -- who turned out in '04, when Gov. Mike Easley (D) faced only a minor candidate in his bid to be renominated for a second term.

And in Indiana, just 204,000 Hoosiers voted for Dem House candidates, far fewer than the 304K who turned out in '06 (just 67% of the voters in 06).

This does not bode well for the Democrats. 2010 has a fired up electorate who are anti-Washington and anti-Obama policies.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/05/dem_turnout_fal.php

When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars.....

You know the song, but it appears just such a strange alignment has happened in very liberal and very environmentally conscienced Concord MA. Firing the environmental shot heard round the corner, the good people of Concord just a couple of days ago, banned bottled water from their town.

Now if God has a sense of humor what do you supposed He would do? That's right, suddenly there’s a water main break, and people are swarming supermarkets across the region desperately seeking bottled water.

As Kermit the Frog likes to say, "It's not easy being green."

Another member of congress to bite the dust.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey has told close associates that he will not seek reelection. This appears to be a big blow to both the Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Elected in 1969, the liberal Obey is a major democrat figure who played a leading role in the anti-war and reform movement of the House in the 1970’s. As the Appropriations chairman, he has been a close ally to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who came up through the same panel before moving into the leadership. And his departure follows on the death of Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) this winter, are major blows to Speaker Pelosi.

As Obama turns left, the rest of the country turns right.

Some interesting polling by Resurgent Republic:

"On some emerging economic issues, however, a conservative consensus includes a plurality of Democrats. Asked whether they think it is good or bad that federal pay exceeds private-sector pay, 62 percent of voters said it was a bad thing and only 19 percent a good one. A new value-added tax was unpopular across the board: Voters panned it by a 67–21 percent margin, with only 31 percent of Democrats approving.

Democrats revert to being out-of-step on some national-security issues. While voters, by a five-point margin, think that Obama has improved the country’s standing in the world, voters by large margins want to keep Guantanamo Bay open (60–32) and favor military tribunals for trying terrorists (56–36).

The survey, in short, provides an enormous amount of good news for Republicans and conservatives. It even finds that Republicans in Congress, while still unpopular, are less disliked than Democrats in Congress." At least the Republicans are the lessor of two evils.


http://article.nationalreview.com/433351/republicans-in-resurgence/ramesh-ponnuru?page=1