Obama and the Democrats: Leadership is a issue

US lacks credibility on debt, says IMF

THE US LACKS A “CREDIBLE STRATEGY” TO STABILISE ITS MOUNTING PUBLIC DEBT, POSING A SMALL BUT SIGNIFICANT RISK OF A NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS, SAYS THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND.

In an unusually stern rebuke to its largest shareholder, the IMF said the US was the only advanced economy to be increasing its underlying budget deficit in 2011, at a time when its economy was growing fast enough to reduce borrowing.

The latest warning on the deficit was delivered as Barack Obama, the US president, is becoming increasingly engaged in the debate over ways to curb ….

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc1aadea-652e-11e0-b150-00144feab49a.html#axzz1JP2nAJuH


I like the way they framed it. Obama is becoming increasing engaged in the debate over ways to curb America’s mounting debt. Only seems fair since he is the one who exploded the debt.



Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure

After former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was appointed in 1979, the consumer price index surged into the double digits, causing the now revered Fed Chief to double the benchmark interest rate in order to break the back of inflation. Using the methodology in place at that time puts the CPI back near those levels.

INFLATION, USING THE REPORTING METHODOLOGIES IN PLACE BEFORE 1980, HIT AN ANNUAL RATE OF 9.6 PERCENT IN FEBRUARY, ACCORDING TO THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT STATISTICS NEWSLETTER….

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42551209

Welcome back Carter.


Obama the out of touch President

….Here's Obama 's problem: Once again, HE'S LOST CONTROL OF THE CAPITOL'S POLITICAL NARRATIVE.

The bully pulpit is a powerful presidential tool -- if the chief executive is talking of relevant things. But OBAMA KEEPS SIDETRACKING HIMSELF into all these areas of society that he so wants to fix, even though there are worse problems elsewhere.

For a long time Obama talked of little but healthcare and financial reforms, while polls showed Americans wanted jobs. He got his healthcare bill, but dozens of Democrats got unemployed from Congress.

When Americans wanted an explanation for a war over Libya's sand, Obama was urging Brazil to drill off its shores and toasting every presidente within sight.

As Americans realized the Democrat majorities had not written a budget for the current fiscal year when in control throughout 2010, Obama was denouncing schoolyard bullies and calling for more college educations, something even Rep. Ron Paul might endorse.

WHENEVER THE PRESIDENT ACKNOWLEDGES THE BUDGET DEFICIT AND THE $14+ TRILLION NATIONAL DEBT, HE SAYS YES, YES, OF COURSE, WE HAVE TO CUT WASTE. HE THEN PROCEEDS TO PROVIDE A LONG LIST OF THINGS WE NEED TO "INVEST" MORE IN LIKE EDUCATION, BRIDGES, GREEN ENERGY and protecting "the most vulnerable" in our society….

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/04/obama-deficit-speech.html


Out of touch and soon to be out of a job. ABB (Anybody but Barack).



Liberal Pundits seem to be getting frustrated with Obama

The cliche of late has been the trope about “getting ahead of history.” WONDERFUL. I WOULD SETTLE FOR OBAMA JUST CATCHING UP WITH HIMSELF. . . SLOGANS SUCH AS “WIN THE FUTURE” ARE RHETORICAL COTTON CANDY. They melt in your mouth and leave nothing behind. The president needs to say explicitly what he wants and how he’s going to get there. “CHANGE” WON’T DO ANYMORE. IT’S LEADERSHIP WE NEED.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/04/12/time_for_leadership_109520.html


More and more I am reminded of the late 1970s and the presidency of Jimmy Carter. However, seeing what is going on now, Carter would be an improvement over the current president.



Opting Out of Unionization

.Thanks to Gov. Scott Walker’s new labor law, WISCONSIN MAY JUST BE THE NEXT STATE WHERE UNION ROLLS START SHRINKING. If history’s any indication, plenty of government workers will eventually take advantage of their new ability to opt out of unionization and stop paying expensive union dues….

….Walker saw that as a significant cost-savings benefit for Wisconsin’s government workers, arguing that “for those members . . . who don’t want to be a part of the union . . . [and] don’t want that deduction each month out of the paycheck, THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET THAT $500, $600, OR IN SOME CASES $1,000 [PER YEAR] BACK that they can apply for their health care and their pension contribution.” Politifact, which skews liberal, rated Walker’s calculations of how much workers could save “mostly true” after contacting unions and finding out how much they charged members annually.

Making union membership or portions of union dues voluntary has a track record of resulting in fewer employees’ paying. Consider Indiana, where Gov. Mitch Daniels signed an executive order limiting collective bargaining for state workers. IN 2005, WHEN DANIELS SIGNED THE ORDER, 16,408 STATE EMPLOYEES BELONGED TO THE UNION. NOW 1,490 DO.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/264545/opting-out-unionization-katrina-trinko


No wonder the Democrats are against this. Before Daniels signed the order if the unions were getting $500 per year per member, they would have a budget of $8.2 million and if 20% was spent on political contributions that would be $1.6 million going primarily to the Democrats. With only 1490 union members, revenue is decreased to three quarters of a million dollars and political contributions would drop to $150,000 annually.



Death Trap Democrats

Despite November's New Deal magnitude political earthquake, surviving House Democrats just laughed off their historic 63 seat loss and reelected ultra-left San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi as House Minority Leader, a position she will now apparently hold for life. SOMEHOW DEMOCRATS ARE CONVINCED THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL COME TO REALIZE THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS AND TURN TO EMBRACE TAXATION THAT SEIZES MOST OF THEIR MONEY FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO SPEND, rejecting traditional American prosperity. Good luck with that.

But DEMOCRATS HAVE NOW REPEATED THE FOLLY BY CHOOSING DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL) TO HEAD THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE. Schultz is just as left wing as Pelosi, but less soft spoken and even more transparently unreasoned.

Schultz wasted no time in demonstrating this. She said regarding the Medicare reforms in Paul Ryan's House GOP budget plan, "No longer would Medicare be a guarantee of health insurance coverage. Instead Medicare would become little more than a discount card. THIS PLAN WOULD LITERALLY BE A DEATH TRAP FOR SENIORS…..."

….While the Democrats still do not understand what they have done with Obamacare, the government's actuaries and accountants do, and have been telling us in official government publications and documents. The 2010 Financial Statement of the United States Government, published by the Treasury Department in December, is the most clear. THAT REPORT DISCLOSES repeatedly in several tables of data that the TOTAL OF FUTURE CUTS IN PAYMENTS TO DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS UNDER MEDICARE AS PROVIDED IN CURRENT LAW DUE TO OBAMACARE and president obama's medicare reimbursement policies IS $15 TRILLION!...

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/04/13/death-trap-democrats


$15 trillion in cuts is larger than the entire US economy this year. It is a death sentence for Medicare as most hospitals would have to stop treating Medicare patients or go out of business (they currently lose money on Medicare patients).



Dean charges GOP “hate anything” for the little guy

"The President made Medicare more sustainable because of health care reform. These guys [Republicans] hate Medicare, they hate the welfare state, they hate Social Security, THEY HATE ANYTHING THAT HELPS ORDINARY PEOPLE. THEY ARE IN THE PAY OF CORPORATIONS, that's who paid for their campaigns and of course that is whose tune their going to dance to," former DNC Chairman Howard Dean said on MSNBC.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/04/12/howard_dean_on_gop_they_hate_the_welfare_state.html

Dean is outing what the Democrats really feel. It isn’t enough to say that the Republican policies hurt the poor. Dean posits the intentions of the GOP. They hate anything that helps ordinary people. Not only is this nonsense, but in fact, the Democrats have lost the ordinary man and are now the party of government dependent people.



Facts about America’s decline

In absolute terms, the U.S. enjoyed an incline this past decade. BETWEEN 2000 AND 2010, U.S. GDP INCREASED 21% IN CONSTANT DOLLARS, despite the shattering setbacks of the Great Recession in 2008-09 and the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001. In 2010, U.S. military spending ($697 billion) was 55% higher than in 2000. And in 2010, the U.S. population was 310 million, an increase of 10% since 2000.

The notion that demography is destiny may be a stretch, but demographics are important when, as in THE U.S., POPULATION INCREASE—DUE TO HIGHER BIRTH AND IMMIGRATION RATES THAN OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRIES—CUSHIONS THE IMPACT OF AN AGING POPULATION.

But there were also some important declines relative to the rest of the world. In 2000, U.S. GDP WAS 61% OF THE COMBINED GDPS OF THE OTHER G-20 COUNTRIES. BY 2010, THAT NUMBER DROPPED TO 42%. In 2000, U.S. GDP was slightly more than eight times that of China, but it fell to slightly less than three times in 2010. JAPAN IS A CONTRASTING CASE: U.S. GDP WAS TWICE AS LARGE AS JAPAN'S IN 2000 BUT 2.6 TIMES AS LARGE IN 2010, before the tsunami and nuclear disasters of 2011.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704415104576251292725228886.html


I found this extremely interesting. I recommend you read it.



Wal-Mart ends its flirtation with the left

In July 2006, Dach was installed as the public relations chief for Wal-Mart. HE DRAFTED A NUMBER OF OTHER PROGRESSIVES INTO THE COMPANY, SEEKING TO CHANGE THE COMPANY’S WAY OF DOING BUSINESS: its culture, its politics, and most importantly its products.

Out went drab, inexpensive merchandise so dear to low-income Americans. IN CAME UPSCALE ORGANIC FOODS, “GREEN” PRODUCTS, TRENDY JEANS, AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. In other words, Dach sought to expose poor working Americans to the “good life” of the wealthy, environmentally conscious Prius driver.

How did that all work out?

AFTER SUFFERING SEVEN STRAIGHT QUARTERS OF LOSSES, TODAY THE MERCHANDISE GIANT WAL-MART WILL ANNOUNCE THAT IT IS “GOING BACK TO BASICS,” ending its era of high-end organic foods, going “green,” and the remainder of its appeal to the upscale market. Next month the company will launch an “It’s Back” campaign to woo the millions of customers who have fled the store.

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/gore_store_no_more/


It appears a “new Coke” moment has come and gone at Wal-Mart. Welcome back.



Calling for higher taxes on themselves? Not so fast

…Mr. Saban and Ms Pritzker also believe the rich should pay more. "HIGHER TAXES FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME TO HELP OTHERS WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE -- THAT'S OKAY BY ME," Mr. Saban was quoted in the now-defunct Portfolio magazine. "Warren said that over the last 20 years, the net worth of the 400 richest Americans has grown seven times and the average American's net earnings are flat. He said that's not right, and that's why he's a Democrat. I agree. It's not good for our democracy," Ms Pritzker was quoted by Bloomberg.

THERE IS A HYPOCRISY, IF NOT PSYCHOSIS, AT WORK in the minds of the tax-demanding rich: MR. BUFFETT SHIELDED $31 BILLION OF HIS WEALTH BY TRANSFERRING IT TO BILL GATES' PHILANTHROPIES. The Pritzker family is famous for employing a skein of trusts and offshore accounts to obfuscate their wealth. WHEN THE PATRIARCH, ABRAM PRITZKER, DIED, IN 1986, HIS HEIRS CLAIMED AN ESTATE WORTH $25,000. THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE SAW IT DIFFERENTLY, VALUING THE ESTATE A FEW DOLLARS NORTH OF THAT FIGURE AND SUED TO COLLECT $53 MILLION IN BACK TAXES. THE TWO SIDES SETTLED FOR $9.5 MILLION IN 1994.

Mr. Saban's actions suggest a passive-aggressive relationship with taxes. FOUR YEARS AGO HE SETTLED WITH THE IRS AFTER ADMITTING TO USING OFFSHORE TAX SHELTERS TO AVOID PAYING $300 MILLION ON THE $1.5 BILLION HE REALIZED AFTER SELLING HIS SHARE OF FOX FAMILY WORLDWIDE to Disney. Mr. Saban told Senate investigators: "You have before you a very disappointed person, who feels misled, lied to, cheated."

MS PRITZKER SEES NO CONTRADICTION, MUCH LESS IRONY, IN THE NEED TO PAY TAXES AND THE DESIRE TO AVOID TAXES. In fact, she readily justifies the practice of demanding more taxes and then getting out of Dodge with this creaky riposte to Bloomberg: "Our family has done more than just good tax planning. What we're good at is building businesses, creating jobs and supporting

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/time_for_the_rich_to_shut_up_o.html

These people remind me of the ‘cowardly lion’ in the Wizard of Oz. He was brave except when he wasn’t. Perhaps the Greek word “hypocrisys” best describes what these people are doing.



IBD Poll: Public Favors Limiting Collective Bargaining

BY 45%-42%, VOTERS BACK REPUBLICAN EFFORTS TO BALANCE STATE BUDGETS BY LIMITING COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS FOR GOVERNMENT UNIONS, according to the latest IBD/TIPP poll. That stance is backed by Republicans, 80%-8%, and by independents, 46%-36%. Even 14% of Democrats say limit collective bargaining.

THAT’S A SWITCH FROM LAST MONTH WHEN AN IBD/TIPP POLL ASKED WHETHER VOTERS FAVORED WISCONSIN GOV. SCOTT WALKER OR THE STATE PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS in that state’s showdown over bargaining rights. That poll found the public supported the unions, 49%-43%. Democrats backed the unions, 83%-11%, while independents backed them, 47%-42%. Republicans backed Walker, 82%-11%.

THE MAIN DIFFERENCE IS THE INDEPENDENTS’ REACTION, SUGGESTING THAT SOME HAVE RETHOUGHT THEIR EARLIER BACKING OF THE UNIONS. Perhaps the budget fight in Congress swayed some to the argument that deficits need to be reined in. Or maybe the independents are just fickle. Either way, the public does seem to be open to budget cutting arguments.

IN TODAY’S IBD WE REPORT THAT THE MOST RECENT POLLING SHOWS THE WHITE HOUSE LOSING GROUND WITH MODERATES SINCE LAST FALL’S ELECTION. A major part of that decline is anxiety about the federal debt and the administration’s sluggish response to the issue.

THE POLL FOUND THAT, BY 47%-26%, VOTERS GAVE OBAMA FAILING GRADES FOR HIS HANDLING OF THE BUDGET. That suggests that liberal groups should rethink their knee-jerk opposition to budget cuts: It is putting them out of step with the broader public.

http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/2576-ibd-poll-public-favors-limiting-collective-bargaining

It’s still way early to interpret this for the coming 2012 elections, but it isn’t good news for the Democrats.

Obamacare and Egypt put Democrats in Denial

Second Judge declares Obamacare Unconstitutional

A FEDERAL JUDGE IN FLORIDA STRUCK DOWN PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S LANDMARK HEALTHCARE OVERHAUL AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL on Monday in the biggest legal challenge yet to federal authority to enact the law.

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled that the reform law's so-called individual mandate went too far in requiring that Americans start buying health insurance in 2014 or pay a penalty.

"BECAUSE THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND NOT SEVERABLE, THE ENTIRE ACT MUST BE DECLARED VOID," he wrote, "This has been a difficult decision to reach and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications."

Referring to a key provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Vinson sided with governors and attorneys general from 26 U.S. states, almost all of whom are Republicans, in declaring the Obama healthcare reform unconstitutional…..

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/us-usa-healthcare-ruling-idUSTRE70U6RY20110131?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews


This is a big deal. For the second time a federal judge has declared the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and specifically the individual mandate unconstitutional.

Judge cites Obama’s own words in striking down the law

“I note that IN 2008, THEN-SENATOR OBAMA SUPPORTED A HEALTH CARE REFORM PROPOSAL THAT DID NOT INCLUDE AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE BECAUSE HE WAS AT THAT TIME STRONGLY OPPOSED TO THE IDEA, stating that, ‘If a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house,’” Judge Vinson wrote in a footnote toward the end of his 78-page ruling Monday.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/31/judge-uses-obamas-words-against-him/

Actually I’m surprised Obama hasn’t thought again of this. With housing pulling down the economy, requiring the homeless to buy a house would give the economy a big boost.



The Media, Reagan and Obama

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, he has been in the news once again. One way he has been used is to boost the image of Barack Obama.

Some presidents have been used to degrade the image of others. Herbert Hoover was a convenient whipping boy to tar various Republicans through the years. Nixon was the epitome of evil in the White House. The fate of Ronald Reagan has been a curious one. The punditry that savaged him before, during, and after his years in office are now trying to burnish Barack Obama's image by comparing the two Presidents.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/the_media_reagan_and_obama.html


A good article on Ronald Reagan reviewing the left’s savaging of him (with quotes) and what Reagan actually did. The irony is the person who was compared to FDR is now being touted by the left wing media as a new Ronald Reagan, the man who reversed the course set by FDR.



Everybody Loves Reagan

The arrival of Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday will be accompanied by a chorus of fond reminiscences and misty-eyed appreciations.

In fact, THE TRIBUTES ARE ALREADY UNDERWAY. And, they are not just coming from Dutch's ideological descendants. President Barack Obama, writing in USA Today, gushed about the 40th president's fondness for change and compromise.

There was a time when a love letter from a liberal leader to Reagan would be surprising. No longer. DEATH, THE HINDSIGHT OF HISTORY, A SYMPATHETIC PUBLIC, AND A HANDFUL OF DEDICATED HISTORIANS AND OPPORTUNISTIC POLITICIANS HAVE TURNED THIS ONCE DIVISIVE AND CONTROVERSIAL LEADER INTO A BIPARTISAN REMINDER OF OUR BETTER ANGELS.

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/01/31/everybody-loves-reagan


This has to just chaff the true believers of the left. Reagan did so much damage to them and their dreams of political dominance. Even today, 42% of the population identifies themselves as conservative while only 20% identify themselves as liberals.



What the numbers say about 2012

....FINALLY, WHAT ABOUT THE PORTENTS FOR THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL RACE? Well, start off with the fact that Democrats won the House popular vote in only two of the 17 states that do not have Senate elections next cycle. The other 15 went Republican.

Overall, DEMOCRATS CARRIED THE POPULAR VOTE FOR THE HOUSE IN 15 STATES WITH 182 ELECTORAL VOTES in 2012; add three more for the District of Columbia. DEMOCRATS WERE WITHIN 5 PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS IN HOUSE ELECTIONS IN FIVE MORE STATES WITH 52 ELECTORAL VOTES.

THAT GETS DEMOCRATS UP TO 237 ELECTORAL VOTES, 33 VOTES SHY OF THE 270-VOTE MAJORITY and 128 short of the 365 electoral votes Obama won in 2008.

Opinion can change, as it did in 2009 and 2010. But these are not favorable numbers for Obama or his party.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_michael_barone/politics_by_the_numbers_good_omens_for_the_gop_in_2012

This is a must read article. There are people who are saying Obama will be reelected and those who say he’s toast. But this is looking at what the numbers from 2010 say, and it doesn’t look good for BHO.



Laughter in Liberal land

THE NEW TONE OF CIVILITY THE LIBERALS ARE PURSUING APPARENTLY INCLUDES WISHING VIOLENT DEATH ON SARAH PALIN. Recently in Missoula, Montana, an otherwise high quality performance OF GILBERT AND SULLIVAN'S MIKADO BY THE MISSOULA CHILDREN'S THEATER HAD THE SCRIPT ALTERED WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE MCT DIRECTOR CURT OLDS TO CALL FOR THE BEHEADING OF SARAH PALIN in the tune "As some Day it May Happen (I've Got a Little List)" and thus singing about her "not being missed," as the Wall St. Journal informs us.

The source of this news was an attendee at the play named Rory Page who poignantly states in a letter to the theater director:

"As a professional you should be ashamed of yourself, the audience should be ashamed of themselves and I AM ASHAMED OF MYSELF FOR NOT STANDING UP AND LEAVING AT THAT VERY MOMENT. I would like to see an apology from you not because I want to hinder free-speech but for the hypocrisy this so clearly shows."

Apparently this is what our Bill Ayers-influenced children's educators now believe is the proper subject to teach youngsters to sing along to, not the contemplation of the beheading of some nineteenth century caricatures, but a very real twenty-first century conservative politician. Until Mr. Page took offense, the performance evidently was acceptable in the liberal enclave of Missoula. All this days after the Tucson massacre and not that long after the Virginia Tech shootings -- or the Columbine shootings, for that matter

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/laughing_your_head_off_in_libe.html

Perhaps Curt Olds should pursue his livelihood somewhere else.



What’s triggering the unrest in Egypt?

THE SURGE IN GLOBAL FOOD PRICES SINCE THE SUMMER – SINCE BEN BERNANKE SIGNALLED A FRESH DOLLAR BLITZ, AS IT HAPPENS – is not the underlying cause of Arab revolt, any more than bad harvests in 1788 were the cause of the French Revolution. Yet THEY ARE THE TRIGGER, AND HAVE SET OFF A VICIOUS CIRCLE. Vulnerable governments are scrambling to lock up world supplies of grain while they can. Algeria bought 800,000 tonnes of wheat last week, and Indonesia has ordered 800,000 tonnes of rice, both greatly exceeding their normal pace of purchases. Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Bangladesh, are trying to secure extra grain supplies.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said ITS GLOBAL FOOD INDEX HAS SURPASSED THE ALL-TIME HIGH OF 2008, both in nominal and real terms. The cereals index has risen 39pc in the last year, the oil and fats index 55pc. The FAO implored goverments to avoid panic responses that “aggravate the situation”. If you are Hosni Mubarak hanging on in Cairo’s presidential palace, do care about such niceties?

France’s Nicolas Sarkozy blames the commodity spike on hedge funds, speculators, and the derivatives market (largely in London). He vowed to use his G20 presidency to smash the racket, but then Mr Sarkozy has a penchant for witchhunts against easy targets.

The European Commission has been hunting for proof to support his claims, without success. Its draft report – to be released last Wednesday, but withdrawn under pressure from Paris – reached exactly the same conclusion as investigators from the IMF, and US and British regulators

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8291470/Egypt-and-Tunisia-usher-in-the-new-era-of-global-food-revolutions.html

The law of unintended consequences strikes again. It is time to abandon bio-fuels and let those products on the world markets to ease the inflation in food prices.



School Choice

….“Our current system is wrong. Competition is the bedrock of America, and it’s time that education reaches the market economy,” Hastert asserted, prompting nods of agreement from his co-panelists. “It come down to a core American value: equal opportunity,” Medved added. “Conservatives don’t believe in equal outcomes. BUT FROM THE TIME OF FOUNDING, PART OF WHAT THIS COUNTRY IS ABOUT IS EVERYBODY GETS A SHOT. That’s what we’re affirming here tonight,” he said. Morris suggested that by injecting greater competition into the system, individual schools and districts could serve as educational laboratories. “We’ve tried testing, standards, and funding increases. The only remaining option is opening up the status quo to experiments,” he said, arguing that outcomes should dictate future priorities. “LET’S FIND OUT WHAT WORKS, AND LET THE MONEY GO WITH THE KIDS. AT THAT POINT, WHEN PEOPLE ASK WHICH SCHOOLS TO CLOSE, THE ANSWER IS THE EMPTY ONES.”

During the wide-ranging discussion, the panel explored a number of potential experimental programs, from inner city public boarding schools, to significantly shortening summer break, to reinstituting trade schools as a viable and respected option for students…..

http://townhall.com/columnists/GuyBenson/2011/01/31/school_reform_advocates_champion_choice


This is one of those issues where the left is the one that fights tooth and nail against change and the right is looking to try new things.



Guantanamo: Ben Wittes’ “Detention and Denial”

……But one striking thing to my mind about the somewhat sidelined debate over Guantanamo and detention policy is the extent to which it FEELS LIKE THE DEBATE IS LESS ABOUT FIGURING OUT WHAT, REALISTICALLY, TO DO GOING FORWARD, THAN PEOPLE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE ADMINISTRATION LOOKING TO “POSITION” THEMSELVES — what they said before and the policies they are responsible for now, what they said about the Bush administration and what they say about the Obama administration, and how to avoid charges of inconsistency if not hypocrisy.

I understand that and certainly would be doing it myself if in a position in which anyone cared what I thought then or now. Reputation and consistency matter, partly for oneself, but also for the important reason that administrations change, and at some point there might well be a Republican administration that also has to deal with Guantanamo and detention. IT IS IMPORTANT TO HOLD PEOPLE TO CONSISTENT POSITIONS IF ONLY SO THAT POLICIES ACCEPTED TODAY BECAUSE IT IS OBAMA DO NOT SOMEHOW TRANSMUTE INTO GROUNDS FOR EXCORIATION WHEN IT IS THE PRESIDENT ANDERSON (Republican, frmr gov. State of Vulcan) administration. The positioning is part of that, and it has an important purpose. As in so many areas of the war on terror since 9/11 — detention and Guantanamo, targeted killing and drone warfare, etc. — WE STAND IN DEEP NEED OF “INSTITUTIONAL SETTLEMENT.” Sauce for the goose is a vital part of that. Also, I should add, I don’t mean by this that people can’t or shouldn’t change their minds: of course they should as they think correct. It’s that if one does, one has to admit to it and, to the extent one can, explain why.

But preoccupation with positioning onself in relation to one’s views in other times and settings is only one issue. Too much attention to it makes it hard to look pragmatically at forward looking institutional settlement. This is the vital role played by Ben Wittes, in his institutional work at Brookings and especially the deep databases of information on Guantanamo that his office has developed over the last couple of years, but also in his several books on the topic. THE CENTRAL THEME OF ALL THAT WORK IS CENTRIST AND PRAGMATIC: FIRST, THAT THE ISSUES OF DETENTION ARE NOT GOING AWAY, because there are people in US government hands that will not be released, nor will they be (successfully) tried. We would have more of them, but because their intelligence value is now outweighed by the problems of holding and interrogating them, we have instead chosen against detaining people any more. That is not quite the same as saying that we have a policy preference for targeted killing; the accurate statement is to say that we have a policy against detention.

SECOND, INSTITUTIONAL SETTLEMENT LOOKING FOWARD HAS TO INVOLVE CONGRESS AND THE EXECUTIVE, AS THE TWO POLITICAL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT, COMING TOGETHER. This is a constant theme for Ben, Jack Goldsmith, Bobby Chesney, and lots of other people (including me, in a short New York Times magazine piece in 2006, “It’s Congress’s War, Too,” which says it all). One of Ben’s lessons is that the current situation looks stable, but it’s not. IT’S JUST A STALEMATE. A stalemate in which there is not enough at stake for players in the administration or Congress to spend political capital dealing with things. THINGS APPARENTLY SIT; IT IS MORE ACCURATE TO SAY THAT THEY DRIFT….

http://volokh.com/2011/01/28/ben-wittes-detention-and-denial/


This is one article you will want to read and then read the comments. I’m sure one will be where you are coming from.

Why Is Jim Wallis Polishing the Windows on His Glass House?

Jim Wallis of Sojourners co-wrote, with Charles Colson, a piece in Christianity Today titled “Conviction and Civility.” According to Wallis and Colson, “when we disagree, especially when we strongly disagree, WE SHOULD HAVE ROBUST DEBATE BUT NOT RESORT TO PERSONAL ATTACK, FALSELY IMPUGNING OTHERS’ MOTIVES, ASSAULTING THEIR CHARACTER, questioning their faith, or doubting their patriotism.”

“DEMONIZING OUR OPPONENTS POISONS THE PUBLIC SQUARE,” the twosome inform us.

Agreed. But what is worth noting, I think, is that Wallis (as opposed to Colson) has repeatedly violated his commitment to civility. …..

…More recently, WALLIS STRONGLY IMPLIED THAT THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT WAS ANIMATED BY RACISM. Is this the kind of thing Wallis has in mind when he cautions us against “demonizing our opponents,” which in turn “poisons the public square”?

These episodes are not isolated ones. Wallis recently accused World magazine’s Marvin Olasky of being a liar — a claim Wallis had to retract after Olasky provided indisputable evidence that it was Olasky, not Wallis, who was telling the truth…..

…..Perhaps the deeper thing to take away from this is that CIVILITY IS DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE UNLESS WE GAIN SOME MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL DISTANCE FROM POLITICAL DISPUTES. People on both sides of the divide employ double standards to advance their cause. WHAT A REASONABLE PERSON WOULD CONSIDER AN AD HOMINEM ATTACK IS, FOR AN IDEOLOGUE, CONSIDERED A SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH. IF YOU’RE A PERSON ON THE HARD LEFT, AS WALLIS IS, ACCUSING RUMSFELD, CHENEY, A CONSERVATIVE JOURNALIST AND THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT OF BEING LIARS, CORRUPT, WAR CRIMINALS, AND RACISTS IS GIVING EXPRESSION TO WHAT YOU CONSIDER TO BE A SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH. Wallis even goes so far as to portray himself as a force moving us to a “kinder and gentler public square.” This is self-deception of a high order….

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/wehner/388511

I thought the last paragraph that I’ve posted is very telling. I find that frequently ideologues will accuse the other side of sins they are committing. Recently I saw an exchange regarding gay marriage where the proponents of it were calling those opposed to it ‘bigots.’ As I wrote if you check the definition of bigot in the dictionary you find it is someone who “is intolerant of ANY opinions differing from his own.” The  person who accused those against gay marriage they were bigoted then responded that being bigoted against bigotry isn’t bigotry.



Global Warming latest lies: The warmest year ever

BOTH NOAA AND NASA THIS MONTH ANNOUNCED THAT 2010 WAS TIED FOR THE WARMEST YEAR. The UK Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University proclaimed 2010 the second warmest year since 1850.

But after the incredibly cold and snowy winters in 2008/09 and 2009/10 and so far in 2010/11, THOSE CLAIMS ARE FALLING ON INCREASINGLY DEAF EARS. The public doubt about global warming has been increasing given the CLIMATEGATE DISCLOSURES SUGGESTING SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN ‘COOKING THE BOOKS’, ESPECIALLY WHEN EARLIER PROMISES OF WARM, SNOWLESS MID-LATITUDE WINTERS FAILED MISERABLY.

BACK ON MARCH 20, 2000, The Independent, a British newspaper, reported DR. DAVID VINER’S OF THE UK'S CLIMATE RESEARCH UNIT WARNING THAT WITHIN A FEW YEARS SNOWFALL WILL BECOME “A VERY RARE AND EXCITING EVENT.” Indeed, Viner opined, “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is.”

Similarly, David Parker, at the UK’s Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, said that eventually British children could have only “virtual” experience of snow via movies and the Internet.

THE LAST THREE WINTERS IN THE UK WERE FORECAST BY THE UK MET OFFICE TO BE MILD AND SNOWLESS. Instead, brutal cold and snow in the UK has the UK Met Office on their heels. Indeed THE COLD AND SNOW WAS A THROWBACK TO THE AGE OF DICKENS in the early 1800s. UK MPs called for Official Parliamentary Probe into whether the UKMO reliance on their ideology and CO2 models had biased their predictions.

In the United States, NOAA ECHOING THE UN IPCC, CLAIMED SNOW WOULD RETREAT NORTH WITH THE STORM TRACKS AND MAJOR CITIES WOULD GET MORE RAIN AND MILD WINTERS. The UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS SAID IN 2004 SCIENTISTS CLAIM WINTERS WERE BECOMING WARMER AND LESS SNOWY. In 2008, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. bemoaned that children would be robbed of the childhood joys of sledding and skiing in the DC area due to global warming. A year later, the area set a new seasonal snowfall record with 5 to 6 feet of snow and sleds and skis were the only way to get around.

THE WINTER OF 2009/10 WAS THE COLDEST EVER IN PARTS OF THE SOUTHEAST, and in parts of Siberia and the coldest since 1977/78 or 1962/63 in many parts of the United States, Europe and Asia……

Reluctantly, alarmists and their cheerleaders in the media changed their tune and THE PROMISE OF WARM AND SNOWLESS WINTERS WITH ‘GLOBAL WARMING’ MORPHED INTO GLOBAL WARMING MEANS COLD AND SNOWY Winters. ABC News even said cold and snowy winters would be the new norm because of global warming. Non sequiturs like that have sadly become ‘the new norm’ in the wacky world of the mainstream media.

In fact environmentalists and alarmist scientists have reinvented global warming and now attribute all weather to global warming – cold, warm, drought and flood. They call it ‘climate disruption’…..

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/6440/Is-It-Really-The-Warmest-Ever


The mark of a solid scientific theory is that it can predict what will happen. Global Warming has warped into something that predicts everything. As such, it has become a laughing stock.

Meanwhile Argo shows Ocean’s are cooling

The 'Argo' ocean buoy real-time reporting system is the most advanced technology that scientists possess for measuring ocean temperatures at varying levels. Recently, NASA SCIENTISTS AT ITS JET PROPULSION LAB REPORTED THAT THE ARGO DATA WAS SHOWING A SLIGHT OCEAN COOLING TREND SINCE 2003, which was recently confirmed by another peer-reviewed paper.

This ocean cooling has proven to be a major source of embarrassment to AGW scientists as it is THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY AND THE IPCC CLIMATE MODELS PREDICTED.

http://www.c3headlines.com/2011/01/the-internationally-operated-argo-ocean-measurement-system-confirms-major-ocean-areas-significantly-.html

To paraphrase an old Wendy’s commercial, “Where’s the Heat?”

A Climate of Hate vs a Climate of Lies

The left wing press and Sarah Palin

SHIELDS: Pundits, bloggers, and TV talkers had a lot to say about Sarah Palin this week. She released a video on Facebook to comment on the Tucson shootings. DID SARAH PALIN UNINTENTIONALLY MAKE THE STORY ABOUT HERSELF AND NOT TUCSON? Charles Krauthammer?

KRAUTHAMMER: SHE DIDN’T MAKE IT ABOUT HERSELF. Within hours of the shooting, of which there was no connection to her whatsoever, HER NAME WAS LINKED IN THE AP, NEW YORK TIMES, BY ALL OVER THE AIRWAVES, LINKING HER AND LINKING OTHER CONSERVATIVES WITH THE SHOOTING. This is a speech that should never have had to be made. There was never a shred of evidence about any connection, and in fact, by midweek, we learned from a friend of the shooter, of Loughner, he didn’t listen to political radio, he didn’t watch TV news, he wasn’t interested in the news, he wasn’t in politics, he wasn’t of left or right. THIS WAS THE ACT OF A PROBABLY PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIC. There’s no question he was acting under mental illness. There was not a shred of evidence of, and why did her name come up? Those who brought it up are the ones who have to answer to that. That was a calumny, and it was unwarranted. I AM WAITING FOR APOLOGIES FROM THOSE WHO RAISED THAT NAME FROM THE BEGINNING.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/01/15/shields-asks-krauthammer-did-palin-unintentionally-make-story-about-h#ixzz1B7qvHvgo


The American public knows this. It appears to me that Liberalism has “jumped the shark.” This episode shows that the left has no new ideas to engage the public with. They are bankrupt.



Are you a liberal or a liberalist?

When the same word means different things to different people, communication is flawed, even perverted. Consider the word "liberal."

 

According to the dictionary, THE ADJECTIVE "LIBERAL" COMES FROM LIBERALIS (LATIN), MEANING "OF FREEDOM." "LIBERAL" DESCRIBES SOMEONE WHO IS HAS AN OPEN MIND, FREE FROM BIGOTRY OR BIAS, NOT CONSTRAINED BY STANDARD DOCTRINE -- indeed, someone who actively resists orthodoxy.

 

Calling oneself "a liberal" connotes an affiliation with the political philosophy known as liberalism. THIS IS A MISNOMER BORDERING ON OXYMORON. Since we desperately need clear communication, let's call THE PERSON WHO BELIEVES IN LIBERALISM A LIBERALIST (not "a liberal"), just as capitalists, socialists, and communists believe in capitalism, socialism and communism.

 

… For the liberalist, THOSE WHO HAVE POWER GOVERN ONLY BY THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED -- not by heredity, as the exclusive holder of special knowledge, or as the sole conduit to God. The liberalist believes that the individual -- rather than the king, priest, or president -- knows best.

 

SO IN TODAY'S WORLD, WHAT IS A LIBERAL?

 

SAYING YOU ARE A LIBERAL TODAY MEANS YOU ARE ANTI-LIBERAL and anti-liberalism. In today's world, "a liberal" believes the following.

 

• THE CENTRAL AUTHORITY (GOVERNMENT), RATHER THAN THE INDIVIDUAL, KNOWS BEST.
• THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD TAKE CARE OF ME (no personal responsibility).
• The government should make the rationing (balancing) decisions between supply and demand rather than letting the market do that.
• A liberal will aggressively and even violently defend "liberal" orthodoxy: YOU EITHER AGREE WITH ME IN ALL PARTICULARS OR YOU ARE AN AMORAL HERETIC AND OUTCAST. 

 

TODAY'S A LIBERAL IS IN FACT A SOCIALIST. Compare the beliefs of "a liberal" as described above to the tenets of socialism below. Only a socialist would use public (taxpayer) funds to bail out and take ownership of a failing private company such a General Motors. The original liberalist, John Locke, would let General Motors fail as the result of its own bad decisions.

 

 

Socialism is the political and economic philosophy that advocates common ownership and central control of the means of production and the distribution of goods and services. Do the following phrases strike a chord with "a liberal," Democrat, effectively socialist views? "REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH." "THE RICH MUST PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE AND SUPPORT THE LESS FORTUNATE." "YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE." "THE GOVERNMENT IS HERE TO TAKE CARE OF YOU." …..

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/are_you_liberal_a_liberal_or_a.html


As the left misuses and redefines words, this is an excellent article to understand what they are doing.



Was Liberalism mortally wounded with the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords?

.....BUT ANTIGOVERNMENT RAMBLINGS COMING FROM OUTSIDE THE GOVERNMENT ARE SO SINISTER THAT THEY ARE SINISTER WHETHER THEY ARE SINISTER OR NOT. “And regardless of what led to the episode,” Hulse and Zernike say, “it quickly focused attention on the degree to which inflammatory language, threats and implicit instigations to violence have become a steady undercurrent in the nation’s political culture.”

To maintain that there’s a lack of evidence for such a sweeping statement would be inaccurate since Hulse and Zernike themselves are doing what they claim is being done. And given the tight deadlines of a Sunday edition they have focused their attention quickly indeed.

THEY MAKE AN INTERESTING CHOICE OF VERB TENSE IN “HAVE BECOME.” Maybe Hulse and Zernike are very young and, what with the way American history is taught these days, ARE UNAWARE OF RIOTS, BOMBINGS, LYNCHINGS, EXTERMINATIONS OF NATIVE PEOPLES, ASSASSINATIONS, ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS, GUN FIGHTS, AND THE CIVIL WAR, NOT TO MENTION THE INFLAMMATORY LANGUAGE, THREATS, AND IMPLICIT INSTIGATIONS TO VIOLENCE IN THE WRITINGS OF TOM PAINE.

… Editorialized the Times: “IT IS LEGITIMATE TO HOLD REPUBLICANS AND PARTICULARLY THEIR MOST VIRULENT SUPPORTERS IN THE MEDIA RESPONSIBLE for the gale of anger that has produced the vast majority of these threats.” Interesting how A FEW SMALL CHANGES WOULD MAKE THAT SENTENCE APPALL THE TIMES as much as the Times appalls me: “IT IS LEGITIMATE TO HOLD MUSLIMS AND PARTICULARLY THEIR MOST VIRULENT SUPPORTERS IN THE MEDIA RESPONSIBLE for the gale of anger that has produced 9/11.”….

… A reaction so disproportionate and immaterial to a news story by a news organization is indicative of trouble in the body politic—trouble almost as severe as that which the Times claims the Giffords shooting indicates. I WORRY THAT IN THE TREMORS AND HYSTERIA OF THE TIMES WE’RE SEEING THE SAD END OF LIBERALISM….

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/times-loses-it_533697.html


The NY Times and other liberal media outlets have been wounded as they played with a metaphorical gun they found with the shooting in Tucson. The question we have now is will it be fatal?

It’s nonsense, but it’s printed nonsense

There were written by Ronald Brownstein, a progressive journalist.

Here’s the first line he wrote in that column: “LET’S STIPULATE THAT JARED LEE LOUGHNER’S MIND IS A DARK AND TWISTED MAZE.”
There is no need to stipulate: it’s a fact. The second line: “AND THAT HE WAS DRIVEN TO VIOLENCE BY FEVERISH COMPULSIONS, NOT A POLITICAL CAUSE.”

True. Well analyzed by Mr. Brownstein! Third line: “AND THAT HIS CONCEPTION OF POLITICS FITS NO RECOGNIZABLE FRAMEWORK.”

Brilliant!

And now Brownstein starts hitting: “EVEN SO, SATURDAY’S RAMPAGE SHOULD ENCOURAGE EVERYONE IN THE POLITICAL ARENA TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR.”

It took away my breath.

THERE IS NO LOGICAL, REASONABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE FOURTH LINE AND THE FIRST THREE, BUT BROWNSTEIN FEELS THERE’S NO REASON HE SHOULD BE HELD BACK BY LOGIC AND REASON. And on he goes, line five: “Here’s one reason: Everyone who deals in hyperbolic political rhetoric was only a mouse click from disaster after Saturday’s attack.”……

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/01/15/wonderful/


What’s amazing is how many people on the left are engaged in this kind of thinking. I’ve seen many posts on the subject where you get this kind of condemnation. When you call them on it, they repeat they aren’t suggesting causality of political speech, BUT….. It’s breathtaking in its duplicity.



It was bound to happen: A Satirical Look at the Climate of Hate

"

Dear Lord, this year you have taken away MY FAVORITE ACTOR, Patrick Swayze, my FAVORITE ACTRESS, Farrah Fawcett, MY FAVORITE SINGER, Michael Jackson, and my FAVORITE SALESMAN, Billy Mays... I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT CHRIS CHRISTIE IS MY FAVORITE GOVERNOR."



- New Jersey Education Association memo (April 2010)

http://climateofhate.blogspot.com/



Actually this is rather clever, but you know, if you are a liberal that unbalanced people might act on this.

What a difference a network makes

Here’s the same story as it was relayed on ABC and FOX.

ABC’S VERSION

MUIR: Christiane, thank you. And again, I'll join Christiane for a special edition of “This week,” “After the Tragedy: An American Conversation Continued.” That’s tomorrow morning right here on ABC.

Another note tonight on today's town hall meeting, one of the victims of the shooting who was in the audience became agitated and was detained by security. It happened toward the end of the conversation. JAMES FULLER WHO WAS SHOT TWICE LAST WEEK, TOOK OFFENSE AT WHAT ANOTHER AUDIENCE MEMBER WAS SAYING AND MUMBLED WHAT SEEMED TO BE A THREAT. Security did escort him out of the building, and he's been charged now with a misdemeanor.

HERE’S FOX’S VERSION:

We are getting word now from Pima County Sheriff's office confirming to Fox News that one of the Tucson shooting victims a week ago today has allegedly today uttered a death threat during a taping of a town hall meeting for ABC’s "This Week" that will air tomorrow. Now, toward the end of the town hall meeting today, it was this morning, ONE OF THE SHOOTING VICTIMS, HIS NAME IS J. ERIC FULLER, APPARENTLY TOOK EXCEPTION TO COMMENTS BY TWO OF THE SPEAKERS, Arizona state Representative Terri Proud, a Republican, and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries. AND ACCORDING TO SHERIFF'S DEPUTIES AT THE SCENE, FULLER TOOK A PHOTO OF HUMPHRIES, AGAIN, THE TEA PARTY SPOKESMAN, AND SAID, “YOU ARE DEAD.” Fuller will and has apparently already been charged with a couple of things, threats and intimidation and disorderly conduct.

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/01/15/abc-world-news-reports-threat-its-tucson-town-hall-omits-it-was-made-#ixzz1BCMMAnHR


Looking at this story you can see why liberal hate Fox so much. While ABC reports the arrest, it doesn’t seem nearly as ominous as the Fox version. Funny how FACTS seem to make a difference.

Anti-Energy Left Comes Unglued as ‘Green Economy’ Claims Collapse

The anti-energy lobby, surrogates for Big Wind and Big Solar, is now backed into a rhetorical corner in its effort TO IMPOSE ITS AGENDA OF PROTECTING THE WORLD FROM THE HORRORS OF AFFORDABLE, ABUNDANT ENERGY. Remember, although they say their objective is to use policy to force invention of Flubber or pixie dust to satisfy our future energy abundance, this doesn’t square with their decades of saying that “If you ask me, it’d be a little short of disastrous for us to discover a source of clean, cheap, abundant energy because of what we would do with it” (green Energy guru Amory Lovins)……

…..THE ANTI-ENERGY LEFT WANTS YOU TO HAVE THE ENERGY YOU NEED, THAT IS IF YOU AGREE WITH THEM THAT YOU DON’T ‘NEED’ VERY MUCH. They want energy scarcity. It is fair to say they want energy poverty.

And they are willing to say anything to get it. Except they are reduced to remarkably weak claims. Guys, YOUR PRECIOUS RENEWABLES ARE RAT HOLES. They have been for decades and even over a century, depending on the rat hole. But keep eroding your credibility, because it’s clear this gravy train is about to end. And with these arguments you are taking your movement down with it.

http://biggovernment.com/chorner/2011/01/15/anti-energy-left-comes-unglued-as-green-economy-claims-collapse/

You need to read this is you want to get the facts about “green energy.”

Stupid polls and other imponderables

Monetary Mischief

In his 1991 book, “Monetary Mischief,” Friedman concludes from his lifelong study of monetary policy that THERE IS A PATTERN IN THE LAGS.

SIX TO NINE MONTHS AFTER AN INJECTION TO THE MONEY SUPPLY, THERE IS A SHORT-TERM INCREASE IN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. After 24 months, inflation appears and is persistent until money growth is slowed, another recession occurs, and 24 months pass before the inflation is abated.

If these lags are superimposed on the nation’s political calendar, there is a disturbing conclusion.

A SHORT-TERM INCREASE IN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY WILL OCCUR BEFORE THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, and a virulent inflation will occur after the votes are in.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/559759/201101131755/The-Major-Political-Implications-Of-QE2.htm


The democrats are counting on this, but are the rules the same today as they were 20 years ago? We will soon find out.

Heal thyself, Sen. Webb

My home-state senator, Jim Webb (D.-Va.), made a remarkable statement yesterday. The Virginian-Pilot reported on his appearance in Norfolk:

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION "DID A REALLY TERRIBLE JOB HANDLING HEALTH CARE REFORM," HE SAID, BECAUSE THE PRESIDENT RELIED ON CONGRESS TO DRAFT A PLAN.

"You can't turn something that complicated loose on the United States Congress," he said, adding that the resulting debate led to great public confusion.

"People got scared. People got mad.... We lost an enormous amount of time on health care.... Both sides made bad mistakes."

Wait a second. DIDN'T HE VOTE FOR THE MONSTROUS BILL? Well, sure. He was the 60th Senator -- each Democrat was -- on the critical cloture vote. SO IS HE SAYING HE DIDN'T KNOW HOW BAD THE BILL WAS, OR IS HE SAYING HE CAST A BAD VOTE? NEITHER ANSWER IS A WINNER.

It's not clear that he is going to seek re-election, but if so, he better be able to answer those questions.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-turn/2011/01/heal_thyself_senator_webb.html


Webb while being a more moderate Democrat shows you the problem with voting for moderate democrats. They still vote like liberal democrats when they have to.


A Stupid Poll about the Right to Insurrection

CBS News, seizing upon the zeitgeist, one supposes, had a new poll out Tuesday night which I’ve just seen now. In it they ask respondents whether they think there is a right to violent action against the government. The question is phrased thus:

“DO YOU THINK IT IS EVER JUSTIFIED FOR CITIZENS TO TAKE VIOLENT ACTION AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT, OR IS IT NEVER JUSTIFIED?”

Then, of course, the responses are broken down by party affiliation. Surprise: while JUST ELEVEN PERCENT OF DEMOCRATS AND ELEVEN PERCENT OF INDEPENDENTS BELIEVE IT IS EVER JUSTIFIED TO TAKE VIOLENT ACTION AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT, FULLY 28 PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS DO. It doesn’t surprise me that there would be a poll trying to put the smell of blood in the water given the climate of the last week. But what does surprise me is that 76 percent of respondents, including 64 percent of Republicans, think it is never right to take up arms against the government. Ever.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/257134/stupid-poll-about-right-insurrection-daniel-foster


This is interesting. It appears Republicans are better informed than the other groups. SCOTUS has said states do not have the right to secede from the Union, but there is a right to rebel. I do believe that most of the respondents in this poll were probably assuming that with our current constitutionally limited government, we have other remedies.


The hole in the Climate of Hate logic

By Monday, THE NEW YORK TIMES’ editorial page had kicked into action. IT CONCEDED THAT, SURE, LOUGHNER OPERATED “WELL BEYOND USUAL IDEOLOGICAL CATEGORIES,” BUT, STILL, IT WAS “LEGITIMATE TO HOLD REPUBLICANS AND PARTICULARLY THEIR MOST VIRULENT SUPPORTERS IN THE MEDIA RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GALE OF ANGER that has produced the vast majority of these threats, setting the nation on edge.” THE LOS ANGELES TIMES FOLLOWED SUIT. It admitted that, sure, Loughner and “his own demons were primarily to blame,” but it still condemned the “increasingly incendiary and violent rhetoric that characterizes today's political debate,” for which “THE RIGHT BEARS THE BRUNT OF RESPONSIBILITY.” Meanwhile, dozens of opinion writers were busily adding related but equally ethereal musings to the heap. Writing in THE GUARDIAN, BLOGGER JESSICA VALENTI BLAMED A “COUNTRY THAT SEES MASCULINITY—ESPECIALLY VIOLENT MASCULINITY—AS THE IDEAL.”

There is of course one advantage to all such lines of argument, if argument is the word for it. THEY ARE ENTIRELY FAITH-BASED, WHICH MAKES THEM PRETTY MUCH IRREFUTABLE. But faith-based punditry works in more than one direction. Seven years after the massacre at Columbine High School—in which two senior students shot and killed twelve students and a teacher—CBS News invited BRIAN ROHRBOUGH, WHO HAD LOST HIS SON DAN, to explain why he thought the shootings had happened. “The public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, EXPELLING GOD FROM THE SCHOOL AND FROM THE GOVERNMENT, REPLACING HIM WITH EVOLUTION, WHERE THE STRONG KILL THE WEAK, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value,” Rohrbough said. “And I assure you THE MURDER OF INNOCENT CHILDREN IS ALWAYS WRONG, INCLUDING BY ABORTION. Abortion has diminished the value of children.” Most liberals (myself included) would disagree with Rohrbough’s explanation for the shooting, but they’d have trouble explaining why it’s any less plausible or substantive than explanations blaming Jared Loughner on rightwing hysteria

.

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/81485/how-the-media-botched-the-arizona-shooting


This is an interesting article talking about how people deal with unexpected events. It offers an explanation of what we are seeing here.



A $100,000 challenge

Said Levin, who is also a considerable lawyer in his role as head of the landmark Legal Foundation:

"I challenge Chris Matthews, I'll put $100,000 on the table, to find any example where Sarah Palin has promoted the murder of anybody," said Levin -- specifically excluding terrorists and the Taliban.

http://spectator.org/blog/2011/01/13/mark-levins-100000-challenge-t


We now have $200,000 on the table for people on the left to back up with proof two of their smears against the right. The first $100,000 is for anyone to produce a tape of Tea Party members calling congress people racial slurs last March. The second is for this slur that Levin or Palin have called for their opponents to be killed.

A RESPONSE TO THE BLOOD LIBEL OF 1860 by Abraham Lincoln:

You charge that we stir up insurrections among your slaves. We deny it; and what is your proof? Harper’s Ferry! John Brown!! John Brown was no Republican; and YOU HAVE FAILED TO IMPLICATE A SINGLE REPUBLICAN in his Harper’s Ferry enterprise. If any member of our party is guilty in that matter, you know it or you do not know it. IF YOU DO KNOW IT, YOU ARE INEXCUSABLE FOR NOT DESIGNATING THE MAN AND PROVING THE FACT. If you do not know it, you are inexcusable for asserting it. . .

Sounds a little like this:

To be clear, if you’re using this event to criticize the “rhetoric” of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you’re either: (A) ASSERTING A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE “RHETORIC” AND THE SHOOTING, WHICH BASED ON EVIDENCE TO DATE WOULD BE WHAT WE CALL A VICIOUS LIE; or (b) you’re not, in which case you’re just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. WHICH IS IT?

http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/113206/

Right now, the left appears to be standing there with egg all over their face. Keeping up this kind of rhetoric is going to let them know what the actual damage that can be done with unfounded political rhetoric as they lose credibility and more seats in the future.



Frustration on global warming deepens for supporters of climate change bill

FRUSTRATION AMONG LAWMAKERS BACKING CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION IS PALPABLE IN THE WAKE OF THE LATEST EVIDENCE OF GLOBAL WARMING.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday announced that 2010 was tied for the hottest year on record, yet Democrats in Congress said the nation is not getting any closer to taking action on greenhouse gas emissions.

“HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO BE SMACKED IN THE FACE WITH FACTUAL EVIDENCE BEFORE WE ADDRESS GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE? Report after report keep confirming it’s getting worse every year,” an exasperated Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said in a statement Wednesday.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/137889-frustration-on-global-warming-deepens-for-supporters-of-climate-change-legislation


I could comment on why Kerry is absolutely wrong, but I suggest you go to the link and see what the comments are. AGW as a political force is dead as it should be.


Meanwhile

Bob Ward is sad. Very, very sad. “WHY WON’T ANYONE LISTEN TO US ANY MORE?” he wails at the Guardian’s Komment Macht Frei

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100071961/why-will-no-one-listen-to-us-any-more-wails-agw-propagandist/



I’m reminded of the TV commercial for Smith Barney in the 1980s when John Houseman told us SB made money the old fashion way, “They earn it.” The warmists aren’t listened to anymore because they earned our disbelief.



Red sky at night... Sicily looks on as Mount Etna erupts in spectacular fashion

After reports of mysterious mass animal deaths around the planet, photos of a fierce volcanic eruption might confirm that the end of the world is nigh.

Thankfully, THESE MAGNIFICENT PICTURES OF MOUNT ETNA'S LATEST ERUPTION ARE MERELY A CHANCE TO REVEL IN THE AWESOME POWER OF NATURE rather than a reason to start stocking up on canned goods.

The 3,329-metre (10,922-feet) volcano erupted for around an hour yesterday evening, lighting up the Sicilian sky and providing amazing scenery for the village of Milo, just 12 kilometres away.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346685/Red-sky-night--Sicily-looks-Mount-Etna-erupts-spectacular-fashion.html#ixzz1B0WLWzCL


There are some really magnificent pictures at the link.  It's definitely worth a click. 

The Stupidity of the Left

Massacre, then libel

The charge: The Tucson massacre is a consequence of the "climate of hate" created by Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Glenn Beck, Obamacare opponents and sundry other liberal betes noires.

The verdict: RARELY IN AMERICAN POLITICAL DISCOURSE HAS THERE BEEN A CHARGE SO RECKLESS, SO SCURRILOUS AND SO UNSUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE.

As killers go, Jared Loughner is not reticent. Yet among all his writings, postings, videos and other ravings - and in all the testimony from all the people who knew him - THERE IS NOT A SINGLE REFERENCE TO ANY OF THESE SUPPOSED ACCESSORIES TO MURDER.

Not only is there no evidence that Loughner was impelled to violence by any of those upon whom Paul Krugman, Keith Olbermann, the New York Times, the Tucson sheriff and other rabid partisans are fixated. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT HE WAS RESPONDING TO ANYTHING, POLITICAL OR OTHERWISE, OUTSIDE OF HIS OWN HEAD.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/11/AR2011011106993.html

Dr. Krauthammer again tells us what we already knew if we were anything but rabid partisans.


Dupnik for Dummies

As you may know, Dupnik has been busy warning of how speech has consequences while in the same breath blaming conservatives for the actions of Loughner. Now, I don’t blame the sheriff for asking why. It is fine to look for reasons. IT IS NOT FINE TO BE RECKLESS AND WRONG. AND IT’S A SIN WHEN IT’S BORN OF INDIFFERENCE TO TRUTH.

To be precise, Dupnik implicates right-wing talk radio—HE MENTIONED RUSH LIMBAUGH—and cable news in the Giffords shooting. Yet a number of obvious things seem to have eluded this man, this supposed professional investigator. For starters, if we’re actually going to analyze the politics of Loughner, we should note that ONE OF HIS FORMER CLASSMATES DESCRIBES HIM AS A “LEFT WING” “POLITICAL RADICAL” AND “POT HEAD” and that Loughner had listed THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO AMONG HIS FAVORITE WORKS on his YouTube page. Then, many know about Loughner’s bizarre YouTube video. What few know, however, is that HE APPARENTLY POSTED IT TO DEMOCRATICUNDERGROUND.COM BEFORE ITS APPEARANCE ON YOUTUBE. Yes, sheriff, that’s “democratic” as in Democratic Party—not as in Republican, Tea, or Animal House.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/32041


This one is well worth the read. The Democraticunderground.com is a website bathed in hate however it is left wing hate.



What is a climate of hate?

THE RODEO CLOWN POSSE was led out of Tucson in a cloud of dust with a hay-burning frenzy by Arizona's Pima County Sheriff CLARENCE DUPNIK. Close in tow were hyper-boiling politicians and the usual lefty print and TV media cowboys such as REP. JAMES CLYBURN, columnist PAUL KRUGMAN, TV antagonista CHRIS MATTHEWS, and even our own Secretary of State HILLARY CLINTON. These tin-star constables couldn't get on their donkeys fast enough to round up the usual outlaws. THE LEADING PERENNIAL VILLAIN, OF COURSE, IS OVERHEATED POLITICAL RHETORIC, THE EUPHEMISM FOR ANY STRONGLY HELD OPINION THAT DIFFERS FROM THE LIBERAL NARRATIVE.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/we_need_more_political_rhetori.html


A good explanation of how what is going on by the Democrats is an assault on free speech and why free speech is so vital to a democracy.



Extreme Rhetoric about Extreme Rhetoric

When it was revealed by Middlebury College sociologist David Stoll that Nobel Prize-winning writer (and doyenne of university syllabi) RIGOBERTA MENCHU HAD INVENTED KEY PARTS OF HER HARROWING MEMOIR OF THE GUATEMALAN CIVIL WAR, many who taught the book INSISTED THAT IT WOULD REMAIN A PART OF THEIR CURRICULUM. Menchu might have been a first-class fabulist, it was argued, but HER STORY REPRESENTED A TRUTH FAMILIAR TO THOSE AFFECTED BY THE GUATEMALAN CIVIL WAR. So there I was, sitting in a television studio yesterday, debating a university professor who intoned gravely that WHILE THIS PARTICULAR SHOOTER MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN MOTIVATED BY THE TEA PARTY, THAT TYPE OF RHETORIC COULD POTENTIALLY PROVOKE OTHERS TO SHOOT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

Crawling out from under an avalanche of doltish tragedy blogging and tweeting, there isn’t much more one can say about the shootings in Tucson that hasn’t already been said by the few sensible pundits left in the United States. But it is perhaps worth pointing out that many of those denouncing rhetorical extremism are themselves in danger of drifting into similar territory (I won’t say "extremist" because dumb political rhetoric isn’t always "extreme").

But this debate about the “tone” of American politics is IDEOLOGICALLY UNIDIRECTIONAL, DESIGNED NOT TO ELEVATE DEBATE BUT TO VILIFY A POLITICAL ENEMY. The call for calm—with its frequent invocations of Tea Party “fascism”—is STUPID PARTISAN POLITICS DRESSED UP AS INCOHERENT MORAL POLITICS

http://reason.com/blog/2011/01/11/the-extreme-rhetoric-about-ext


The talk by the left is dangerous. Freedom of Speech needs to be upheld, not attacked because there may be individuals who might go off the deep end. It appears the left is looking to try to castigate the right and specifically the TEA Party. But these charges like the ones of the TEA Party being extremist and racist will fail.



My Name is Betsy. I’m a killer

My name is Betsy. I'm a wife and proud soccer mom, a writer, and small business owner. I'M ALSO A KILLER.


On the morning of January 8th, 2011, I intentionally entered a gathering held by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and shot her at near point blank range. I injured 14 others, killing six: among them a beautiful, curious, doe-eyed, nine-year-old girl. I DIDN'T ACTUALLY PULL THE TRIGGER, BUT I'M AS GUILTY AS THE PSYCHOPATH WHO DID.


Here are just a few of the charges against me:

I am a CONSERVATIVE.

On occasion, I LISTEN TO BECK, LIMBAUGH, AND FOX NEWS.

I've been known to pick up a book or two by conservative authors; Thomas Sowell, Andrew McCarthy, or the Founding Fathers, for example!

I BELIEVE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS TOO LARGE, far too intrusive, and dangerously powerful……

The only person who actually pulled the trigger on that terrible, fateful day was Jared Loughner, by every account, a deeply troubled young man. But THE REAL GUILTY WALK AMONG US: SENIOR CITIZENS IN RED, WHITE, AND BLUE, ARMED WITH SIGNS, "Taxed Enough Already," flag-wavers clinging to guns and religion, doctors, the wealthy, business owners, talk radio, and ANY CITIZEN THAT DARE EXERCISE HIS OR HER RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH, particularly a conservative.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/my_name_is_betsy_im_a_killer.html


Satire, but very effective satire.



Bush vs Obama

….IF OBAMA IS SO MUCH SMARTER THAN BUSH IS, HOW COME HE CAN'T come up with new ways to do things but ends up instead with the Bush tax cuts, with the Bush protocols for the war on terror, with the Bush wars, the Bush generals, the Bush surge strategies, and the Bush policies on Guantanamo Bay?

HOW COME BUSH'S APPROVAL RATINGS NOW MATCH OBAMA'S? How come Bush beat out President Clinton for second place in the annual ranking of men most admired? And how come his memoir sold 2.2 million copies in the two months since it's been published, a little more than Clinton's memoir sold in six years?

"Who's actually buying the poorly reviewed book of a failed former president?" asked the Washington Monthly. "I THINK IT'S THE FACT THAT HE WAS HATED BY SO MANY PEOPLE," Salon's Alex Pareene answered.

People wanted to read Bush's excuses for the terrible things that he did.

Other excuses Pareene offered were these: PEOPLE BOUGHT THEM AS GAGS FOR PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T WANT TO RECEIVE THEM.

They were bought in bulk orders by conservative think tanks and book clubs. IT WAS SHORTER THAN CLINTON'S BOOK, AND PEOPLE HATE READING……

Almost as much as trying to live in the state of denial, it seems.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/01/noemie-emery-liberals-denial-about-obamas-achievements#ixzz1Apr1dQB1


I’m becoming more convinced that the left really doesn’t have a reasoning ability. They simply emote.



Lopsided Spill Commission Doesn’t Single Out BP

The While House oil-spill commission made it official today: THE ENTIRE OIL INDUSTRY, NOT BP, IS EVIL AND POTENTIALLY THE SOURCE OF ANOTHER DEEPWATER-SIZED SPILL. Thus the entire oil industry, which has already been punished by the administration with its drilling moratorium and slowdown in permitting, should be punished further with massive new regulations and fees.


Those conclusions were virtually predetermined when the administration appointed a panel heavily stacked with academics and environmentalists. And those findings are wrong.


Why? A simple reality check: Other companies drilling in deep water in the Gulf have not had well blow-outs. But in BP’s case, the commission’s own studies show not just one mistake but a series of failed judgment calls by BP officials. Responsibility is specific, not collective. WE DON’T SHUT DOWN THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY WHEN A PLANE CRASHES, AND WE SHOULDN’T SHUT DOWN THE OIL BUSINESS.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/256923/lopsided-spill-commission-doesnt-single-out-bp-lou-dolinar

BP was the Democrats favorite oil company prior to the failure in the Gulf. They were heavy donors to the Democrats and Barack Obama in particular (BHO got $71,000 in donations in 2008 alone). This appears to be Democrat politics as usual.



Where’s the “missing” heat?

I’m bowing to pressure to prepare a post on a current science topic that people seem to want to talk about. This topic refers to Kevin Trenberth’s infamous statement in the CRU emails:

THE FACT IS THAT WE CAN’T ACCOUNT FOR THE LACK OF WARMING AT THE MOMENT AND IT IS A TRAVESTY THAT WE CAN’T.

This statement was written in reference to the following paper: An imperative for climate change planning: tracking Earth’s global energy (Trenberth 2009). The paper discusses the planet’s energy budget in terms of how much net energy is flowing into our climate and where it’s going, and how we observe and track this energy flow. For additional background on this, see also Trenberth, Fasullo and Kiehl.

Trenberth and Fasullo wrote a follow on perspective published in Science entitled “Tracking earth’s energy: from El Nino to Global warming.” THE PUNCHLINE OF THE PAPER IS THERE IS OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE FOR MISSING ENERGY ACCUMULATING IN THE CLIMATE SYSTEM FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS.

Roy Spencer responded to Trenberth and Fasullo here and here, There is a back and forth exchange between Trenberth and Pielke Sr here. The gist of their arguments relate to problems in the measurements and the possible impact of clouds.

This week, there is discussion ABOUT A NEW PAPER BY KNOX AND DOUGLASS ENTITLED “RECENT ENERGY BALANCE OF EARTH” is in press at the International Journal of Geosciences and some text is posted at WUWT, with the following overall punchline: THEY FIND THAT ESTIMATES OF THE RECENT (2003–2008) OCEAN HEAT CONTENT RATES OF CHANGE (OBSERVED FROM ARGO FLOATS) ARE PREPONDERANTLY NEGATIVE, which does not support the existence of either a large positive radiative imbalance or a “missing energy.”

http://judithcurry.com/2011/01/07/wheres-the-missing-heat/#comment-29221


I don’t run a lot on AGW anymore because quite frankly it isn’t a very big issue anymore. The alarmists have either moved on to a new crisis or find themselves being ignored by the public. But with all the stories on the Tucson tragedy, it actually nice to look at some other news.

Warmists say cold weather proves AGW happening

Temperatures for December and January were consistently 1.8 F ( 1 C) lower than the average of 41 F (5 C)and 37 F (3C) respectively and more snow fell in London this week than since the 1960s.

But despite this extreme weather, scientists say that the current cold snap does not mean that climate change is going into reverse. In fact, the surprise with which we have greeted the extreme conditions only reinforces how our climate has changed over the years.

A study by the Met Office which went back 350 years shows that such extreme weather now only occurs every 20 years.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/4436934/Snow-is-consistent-with-global-warming-say-scientists.html?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4d2e42b3bf2fcb62%2C0

It appears everything supports the speculation about AGW.  You can watch a video on it below.
And here’s an explanation why no matter what happens it doesn’t change their minds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdxaxJNs15s

More on the Climate of Hate and other fairytales of the left

All hate speech is wrong, but some is more wrong than others

As Jeffrey Lord at the American Spectator reports, this quote from NOW FORMER DEM CONGRESSMAN PAUL KANJORSKI "seemed to vanish in the pre-election haze." It was reported in the Scranton Times on October 23 with hardly a raised eyebrow - just more of the Congressman's famous "loose lips."

I leave it for you to judge whether these "eliminationist" comments by Kanjorski about Florida's then candidate for Governor Rick Scott should have received a little wider play:

"That Scott down there that's running for governor of Florida," Mr. Kanjorski said. "INSTEAD OF RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA, THEY OUGHT TO HAVE HIM AND SHOOT HIM. Put him against the wall and shoot him. He stole billions of dollars from the United States government and he's running for governor of Florida. He's a millionaire and a billionaire. He's no hero. He's a damn crook. It's just we don't prosecute big crooks."

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/01/dem_congressman_suggests_shoot.html

Of course this wasn’t a big deal, because the speaker was a Democrat.

  

Sarah Palin: Inciting violence? I don’t think so

(Palin) “And ya know, hearing the news reports lately, kinda this ginned up controversy about us, common sense conservatives, inciting violence because we happen to oppose some of the things in the Obama administration.”

Interrupted from audience: “We do it with our vote!”

“AMEN, BROTHER! THAT’S WHAT YOU DO IT WITH, WITH YOUR VOTE! You got it right. WE KNOW VIOLENCE ISN’T THE ANSWER. When we take up our arms, we’re talking about our vote. We’re talking about being involved in a contested primary like this, and picking the right candidate too–John McCain, we thank you for that.”

http://bigjournalism.com/pjsalvatore/2011/01/10/flashback-palin-answers-lamestream-media-charges-of-incitement-in-march-2010-when-we-take-up-arms-were-talking-about-our-vote/

There are lies, damn lies and then liberal pundits.

A climate of hate: The MSM’s role

All of this evidence, which is easily accessible on the Internet, points to the possibility that Loughner may be suffering from a mental illness like schizophrenia. The vast majority of schizophrenics are not violent, and those that receive treatment are not violent. But as Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, a research psychiatrist, writes in his book, “The Insanity Offense,” ABOUT 1 PERCENT OF THE SERIOUSLY MENTALLY ILL (OR ABOUT 40,000 INDIVIDUALS) ARE VIOLENT. THEY ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT HALF THE RAMPAGE MURDERS IN THE UNITED STATES.

….In short, the evidence before us suggests that LOUGHNER WAS LOCKED IN A WORLD FAR REMOVED FROM POLITICS as we normally understand it.

Yet the early coverage and commentary of the Tucson massacre suppressed this evidence. The coverage and commentary shifted to an entirely different explanation: Loughner unleashed his rampage because he was incited by the violent rhetoric of the Tea Party, the anti-immigrant movement and Sarah Palin.

MAINSTREAM NEWS ORGANIZATIONS LINKED THE ATTACK TO AN OFFENSIVE TARGET MAP ISSUED BY SARAH PALIN’S POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE. The Huffington Post erupted, with former Senator GARY HART FLATLY STATING THAT THE KILLINGS WERE THE RESULT OF ANGRY POLITICAL RHETORIC. Keith Olbermann demanded a Palin repudiation and the founder of the Daily Kos wrote on Twitter: “Mission Accomplished, Sarah Palin.” Others argued that the killing was fostered by a political climate of hate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/opinion/11brooks.html?_r=1

The worst part here is when will the media realize by blaming SP or talk radio, they are contributing to the “Climate of Hate,” they are condemning.

  

Turn the other cheek?

MARK HALPERIN: I just want to single out one thing. I don't want to over-generalize but I think the media and THE POLITICIANS HAVE BEHAVED PRETTY WELL so far. The thing I'm most concerned about now is the anger on the right-wing commenatariat: on Fox, and George Will, and other conservatives are, in some cases justifiably upset at liberals. But they're turning this right now, in the last 24 hours, back into the STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE OF ALL OF THIS IS WAR AND FODDER FOR CONTENT, RATHER THAN TRYING TO BRING THE COUNTRY TOGETHER.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Wait a second, Mark. I think they would say that you have that backwards. THAT A SHOOTING WAS TURNED INTO FODDER TO ATTACK CONSERVATIVES.

HALPERIN: And I, and I, and I already made that criticism as well. They're right. BUT RATHER THAN SEIZING ON IT AND TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK, THEY ARE BACK AT THEIR WAR STATIONS. And that's not going to help us.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2011/01/11/az-aftermath-halperin-praises-media-condemns-fox-news-and-conserva#ixzz1AjkNBfvy

“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.“ Barack H. Obama September 2008

Halperin is a fool. He reminds me of the old joke when a kid comes crying to his mother, “Mommy, Billy hit me in my hand with his eye!”

Political Opportunism

  

How do we react to the horrific murders of Christina Green, 9; John Roll, 63; Gabe Zimmerman, 30; Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Schneck, 79; and the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and 13 others?

For one thing, WE CAN REFUSE TO ENGAGE IN POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM. There's been too much of that.

  

Before any relevant facts about the alleged shooter were in, New York Times' columnist Paul Krugman posted a blog in which he admitted that he had no proof that the right was involved, but BLAMED SARAH PALIN ANYWAY FOR TARGETING THE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSWOMAN'S DISTRICT IN "CROSSHAIRS." MSNBC host Keith Olbermann did likewise

.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_debra_j_saunders/the_first_casualty_is_not_partisanship

Her last line says it well: “IT SEEMS THAT AS A COUNTRY, WE HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO MOURN.”

Poll: Americans don’t buy political rhetoric as a cause of the Tuscan shootings

Overall, 57 percent of respondents said the harsh political tone had nothing to do with the shooting, compared to 32 percent who felt it did. Republicans were more likely to feel the two were unrelated - 69 percent said rhetoric was not to blame; 19 percent said it played a part. Democrats were more split on the issue - 49 percent saw no connection; 42 percent said there was.

Independents more closely reflected the overall breakdown - 56 percent said rhetoric had nothing to do with the attack; 33 percent felt it did.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20028105-503544.html?tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea

The American public once again shows its common sense. I guess a nut is just a nut for most Americans.

Test your knowledge now!

1. Which right-wing, fascist US president said "If they bring a knife, we bring a gun."?

• A. Ronald Reagan
• B. Barack Hussein Obama
• C. Thomas Jefferson
• D. Calvin Coolidge…

Continue the quiz here: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/01/right_wing_hate_speech_quiz.html

Paul Krugman Buffoon

WITHIN HOURS after Jared Loughner's killing spree, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman went straight for the gutter, proclaiming, WITH NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER, THAT LOUGHNER'S ACT WAS IN ALL LIKELIHOOD "POLITICAL," and going on to blame Republicans for the murders. I denounced Krugman's vile blog post here.

WE NOW KNOW THAT LOUGHNER'S MURDERS WERE NOT POLITICAL. He was deranged and had no coherent political philosophy. TO THE EXTENT THAT HE HAD ANY POLITICAL BELIEFS AT ALL, HIS FRIENDS DESCRIBE HIM AS LEFT WING……

In Krugman’s latest column he says:

Where's that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let's not make a false pretense of balance: it's coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE A DEMOCRATIC MEMBER OF CONGRESS URGING CONSTITUENTS TO BE "ARMED AND DANGEROUS" without being ostracized; but REPRESENTATIVE MICHELE BACHMANN, WHO DID JUST THAT, is a rising star in the G.O.P.

….My guess is that KRUGMAN HAS NO IDEA WHEN MICHELE REFERRED TO BEING "ARMED AND DANGEROUS," or why, or what the rest of the sentence was. Krugman's biggest problem isn't that he is stupid. HIS BIGGEST PROBLEM IS THAT HE IS LAZY. He is incapable of doing even the most rudimentary research, which is why his columns rarely contain many facts, and when they do, his "facts" are often wrong.

As it happens, I--unlike Krugman--know all about Michele's "armed and dangerous" quote, because she said it in an interview with Brian Ward and me, on our radio show. It was on March 21, 2009. THE SUBJECT WAS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S CAP AND TRADE PROPOSAL. Michele organized a couple of informational meetings in her district with an expert on global warming and cap and trade, and she came on our show to promote those meetings. SHE WANTED HER CONSTITUENTS TO BE ARMED WITH INFORMATION ON CAP AND TRADE so that they would understand how unnecessary, and how damaging to our economy, the Obama administration's proposal was. THAT WOULD MAKE THEM DANGEROUS TO THE ADMINISTRATION'S LEFT-WING PLANS.

 
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/01/028118.php

I think the author’s viewpoint of Krugman being lazy is actually applicable to many on the left. They don’t take the time to actually research. To many on the left, simply believing something is true requires no actual facts to back them up.

Generic Ballot

REPUBLICANS HOLD AN 11-POINT LEAD OVER DEMOCRATS on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending January 9, 2011. That’s up one point from last week and six points from the week before. IT'S THE WIDEST GAP BETWEEN THE TWO PARTIES SINCE RIGHT BEFORE ELECTION DAY.

New Rasmussen Reports telephone polling finds that 47% of Likely U.S. Voters nationwide say they would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate, while 36% would choose the Democrat instead.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/generic_congressional_ballot

This really doesn’t mean anything at this point in time, but is interesting to keep an eye on it to see which party is making inroads.

Ohio becomes 25th state to contest healthcare plan

Ohio is joining a multistate lawsuit over the federal healthcare reform plan passed less than a year ago because the law "tramples on the rights of Ohio's citizens," the state's new attorney general said on Monday.

OHIO WILL JOIN 21 OTHER STATES IN A LEGAL CHALLENGE TO THE HEALTHCARE REFORMS THAT IS LED BY THE STATE OF FLORIDA. Virginia has filed a separate lawsuit and Oklahoma's attorney general has announced plans to do the same. That means HALF OF ALL STATES ARE FIGHTING THE PLAN IN FEDERAL COURT.

The lawsuits primarily revolve around the plan's requirement that an individual have health insurance or pay a penalty.

 
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7096D420110110

There are other things happening in the news. Just thought I would bring this one up.