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February 28, 2010
Moonbat: "Americans Are Tyrannized by the Bill of Rights"
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:05 PM
Americans are tyrannized by 1776, The Second Amendment, The Bill of Rights, The Constitution and other colonial-era artifacts. They have been brainwashed into believing that those are the only thoughts there are. This is not freedom. Freedom means having a choice. If they could accept that there are other ways of thinking then they would have a choice! That's what freedom is about and what many, if not most, Americans don't understand.
If this guy weren't a Canadian, he'd be one of Obama's top policy advisors. But he is actually correct in a way. Some Americans feel tyrannized by the Bill of Rights. ACLU lawyers feel tyrannized whenever they see some vestige of Christian faith that hasn't been eradicated from public sight. Progressives curse freedom of the press because it keeps the Government from shutting down FoxNews and Rush Limbaugh.
The only people "tyrannized" by the Founding Documents are Progressive Fascists who think they know what's best for everybody and want the power of government to force everyone to live their way.
In other words, tyrants.
Hat Tip: Sondra K.
Where's Al?
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:59 PM
There was a "sighting" recently, if you can call a weekend New York Times OpEd as a sighting. But Global Warming/Climate Change High Priest Al Gore is still, well, missing. The gnomish Greg Gutfeld pondered Al's fate with his panel recently.
Hiding from ClimateGate is just too easy of an excuse. I like the "killing polar bears" theory, myself. Too damn many of them, and they -- eeewww -- kill their young. Humans would never do that unless they were unborn.
Newsweek Magazine: Master Prognosticators
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 3:54 PM
The Ugly American has dug up an editorial from way back in 1995 (the year Global Warming went into reverse) that shows just how super awesome the leftist Obama-fluffing journos at Newsweek are at predicting future trends.
Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.
Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.
Clifford Stoll
Newsweek magazine Feb 27, 1995
They don't think the Tea Party movement will ever amount to anything either.
Revealed: Pentagon Is Not Part of the Government
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:40 PM
A Tea Partier learns that there's not much use trying to argue about government healthcare with a moonbat:
On a tip from glenwood183.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:33 PM
Great RINO Minds: Meghan McCain
Posted by Dave Blount at 1:46 PM
Maybe the Republican Party should consider an entrance exam.
On a tip from Oiao.
Portraits in Countermoonbattery: Paul Ryan
Posted by Dave Blount at 1:37 PM
Just as Nigel Fagage mopped the floor with the steaming guts of Herman van Rompuy, Rep. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) delivered a more mannerly but equally effective smackdown of Comrade Obama at his farcical healthcare spectacle:
On a tip from glenwood183.
Portraits in Countermoonbattery: Nigel Farage
Posted by Dave Blount at 1:23 PM
MEP Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK's Independence Party, gives a five-star smackdown to the scuttling globalist serving as the President of the European Union, Herman van Rompuy:
Last time I saw something squirm like van Rompuy, I was fitting it on a hook in hopes of catching a trout.
On a tip from Incitatus.
Dallas Tea Party
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:08 PM
The Tea Party phenomenon rolls on. Compliments of JustAl, a few shots of the event in Dallas yesterday:
Despite the invitation, Keith Olbermann didn't show. He must have been afraid he would encounter too much of the diversity he likes to shriek about:
Alfonzo "Zo" Rachel, one of several black speakers on Saturday, accused Olbermann and other liberal pundits of painting the Tea Party as unwelcoming to anyone but conservative white Christians.
"Now, answer this," he shouted to the crowd. "Am I welcome here?"
The response was a thunderous affirmation.
Organizers said the lineup of speakers had nothing to do with Olbermann's jab.
"This has been set for four weeks," said Phillip Dennis, founder of the Dallas group. "There were no speaker changes. This is just the way it worked out." …
Many in the crowd, including Elida Muñoz of Carrollton, worry that programs like national health insurance are inevitable steps toward socialism, something she said she saw first-hand in her native Cuba.
"I saw what happened there," Muñoz said, "and what we had in Cuba was very much like this. So when the Tea Party started, I jumped in. I don't want [what happened in Cuba] to happen again."
Of course, the diversity that really scares Olby et al. is the ideological kind that deviates from politically correct incremental Marxism. Fortunately, they're safe from that inside their MSM bubble.
PS: Other locales that held First Anniversary Tea Parties include NYC, St. Louis, and Temecula, California. El Marco has a great birthday tribute to the Tea Party movement at Looking at the Left.
Global Warming Hockey Stick Graph
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:01 AM
Disgraced global warming hoaxer Michael Mann may have been onto something with his hockey stick graph. His only mistake was attempting to apply it to global temperatures, which required faking data and ignoring the medieval warming period. But the hockey stick concept works well applied to global warming skepticism (click for full size):
Via Zomblog, on a tip from Oiao.
Ronaldus on Personal Responsibility
Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:40 AM
From Reagan, A Life in Letters:
Today so many things we once thought of as personal or private responsibility are now just accepted as government's job.
Government exists to protect rights which are ours from birth; the right to life, to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A man may choose to sit and fish instead of working. That's his pursuit of happiness. He does not have the right to force his neighbors to support him (welfare) in his pursuit because that interferes with their pursuit of happiness.
[from Ronald Reagan to Philip; undated pre-presidential]
February 27, 2010
Tweety Continues to Live Teh Tingle
Posted by The MaryHunter at 1:20 PM
In order to divert MSNBC's remaining viewer from the abject FAIL for Obama and the Democrats that was the ObamaCare Health Care Summit, Chris Matthews spews something or other about the Republicans and North Korean commies I frankly couldn't quite catch because I couldn't stop staring at his plugs.
On a crazy tip from SK.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:36 PM
Lights Go Out on Chavez
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:17 PM
One problem with living in a country run by a ham-fisted Marxist tyrant is that the government isn't any better at providing electricity that it is at anything else except looting. Here the lights go out on a lefty favorite as he denounces George W. Bush yet again:
Let's hope Comrade Obama has a backup generator for his teleprompter. He'll need it if his stated plans to cripple the energy sector succeed.
On a tip from Air2air.
ObamaCare to Cost $900 Trillion Over 10 Years
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:05 PM
It must be true, I heard it on NBC News:
Via The Schnitt Show, on a tip from Oiao.
Lao the Troll's Movie Debut
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:58 AM
Whatever you do, don't make the mistake of taking anything a troll says seriously.
On a tip from Michelle.
Don't Mess With Grits
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:37 AM
With enough guys like Grits, civilization might just survive Hopey Change:
There is zero moral difference between Comrade Obama's never-ending spending spree at your children's expense and a punk pulling a gun at a convenience store. No knives are called for, but we had better show the courage to put up serious resistance, if this country is going to have a future.
On a tip from Incitatus.
Tramp Stamp of the Hopeychange Generation
Posted by The MaryHunter at 8:14 AM
Ever wondered about those folks who still have those Obama-HOPE decals on their cars?
It seemed so cool at the time. But now, the cool is gone and all that remains is a silly permanent mark.
Today, one can travel down any busy American street or highway and usually spot the new political equivalent of the tramp stamp. Namely, the ubiquitous 2008 campaign decal with the cartoonish stenciled portrait of Barack Obama gazing wistfully into the distance above the nebulous term "HOPE."
Created by "street artist" and George W. Bush antagonist Shepard Fairey based upon the 2006 photograph of Obama by Associated Press (AP) photographer Mannie Garcia, the image became synonymous with the Obama hysteria.
Here's an actual tramp stamp of the tramp stamp - to be technical, it should have been a few feet lower, but at least she's got a more prominent reminder of past indiscretions.
Apparently unconcerned with the sinister association, Laura Barton of the left-wing Guardian newspaper gushed that "Hope" had "acquired the kind of instant recognition of Jim Fitzpatrick's Che Guevara poster, and is surely set to grace t-shirts, coffee mugs and the walls of student bedrooms in years to come."
Ya think? (I defer to my esteemed colleague GoY for commentary on the Che icon.) Indeed, the emblem was hijacked almost immediately during Campaign 2008 by conservatives for their political ends, and it seems that the mock images are growing in popularity.
Whenever I see the original image, invariably I replace the "H" with a "D" in my mind's eye, to sort things out in my fragile soul. (Pre-election, it used to be a "N". Some help that was.) Comic renditions of this dubious icon have flourished and will clearly outlast the original, as the Cult of Hopeychange gives more and more ground to the Morning After Blues.
Please feel free to send in your renditions and share in this cultural-phenomenological backlash.
"Reasonably Enlightened" China Is Brutal Toward Girls
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:30 AM
Communist Country... a country much admired by Progressive Leftists like Thomas Freidman and Barack Obama because of its ability to steamroll personal freedom for the glory of building a more impressive state ... has long pursued policies of zero population growth through aggressive, coercive abortion. (Policies spoken of favorably by Obama Eugenics Czar John Holdren).
What do you imagine its like growing up as a girl in a culture where only one child per family is allowed by the Government, and only male children are considered valuable within the culture? A young Chinese woman describes growing up under the Authoritarian Regime so admired by our Progressive Left.
Where I come from, people talk about smothering a baby girl or just throwing it[!]into a stream ... to be eaten by dogs, as if it were a joke. How much do you think these women loved their babies?
Of course, many on the progressive left have the same attitude toward "unwanted" children, they just prefer to have their brains scrambled when they're still in the womb. Socialism is an inherently dehumanizing philosophy, manifested in neglected patients in state-run hospitals, the systemic elimination of those deemed inconvenient to the state's purposes, and the replacement of human compassion with bureaucratic indifference.
Source: Mark Steyn at NRO
Caturday Post: Medicare Denies More Claims Than Private Insurance - Discuss
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 12:58 AM
Medicare is held out by progressive leftists as the shining example that proves the Government can run health care more efficiently than the private sector. They maintain this fantasy even though:
- Medicare is bankrupt.
- Medicare blows $60,000,000,000 every year in waste and fraud.*
- Medicare denies more claims than private insurance companies.
This is the Progressive poster child for state-run health care. It is also the Conservative poster child for state-run health care.
* This is more than the entire annual revenues of all but two health insurance companies.
February 26, 2010
The Booger-Eater-in-Chief Is an Ignoramus
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:33 PM
Our president is a Harvard-educated Dumbass.
When I was young, just got out of college, I had to buy auto insurance. I had a beat-up old car. And I won't name the name of the insurance company, but there was a company -- let's call it Acme Insurance in Illinois. And I was paying my premiums every month. After about six months I got rear-ended and I called up Acme and said, I'd like to see if I can get my car repaired, and they laughed at me over the phone because really this was set up not to actually provide insurance; what it was set up was to meet the legal requirements. But it really wasn't serious insurance.
Now, it's one thing if you've got an old beat-up car that you can't get fixed. It's another thing if your kid is sick, or you've got breast cancer.
That's because you didn't buy collision insurance you freaking dumbass! Of course they aren't going to pay a claim for an accident if your insurance is liability only.
I bet Sarah Palin knows the difference between liability-only insurance and collision/comprehensive insurance.
What. A. Freaking. Dumbass.
Chris Matthews, your boyfriend is a dumbass.
I'm no birther, but I really want to see those college transcripts the BEinC is hiding.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:52 PM
Census Gets Personal
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:46 PM
The Census Bureau expects us to answer all sorts of personal questions, yet is unwilling to answer some very appropriate questions from Jerry Day:
Have a copy of the Constitution at hand for when Census flunkies come knocking.
On a tip from TED.
I Know It's Childish to Point This Out But...
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 1:53 PM
During the Health Care Summit, Dear Reader was doin' it, doin' it/Pickin' his nose, and/Chewin' it, chewin' it...
Hat Tip: The Other McCain
ObamaCare Lays Groundwork for Unprecedented Level of Totalitarianism
Posted by Dave Blount at 1:21 PM
Why are Dems willing to commit political suicide in a desperate attempt to ram through ObamaCare? Because once they seize control of the healthcare system, the game is pretty much over. Elections will hardly matter, with a totalitarian bureaucracy having power of life and death over us no matter which slate of statists we cast our votes for. The word totalitarian is not hyperbole in the context of the healthcare power grab, as Kyle-Anne Shiver makes clear:
Imagine, if you will, that you are living in a changed America, or in President Obama's words, an America that begged "re-making." In this now-changed America, hope is in big government and her closest ally, big science.
Now imagine that you and your spouse give birth to a child in this brave, new America, in a hospital linked by law to the federal citizens database. Immediately upon your child's birth, a hospital clerk assigns your newborn with a "Unique Health Identifier" (UHI), a specially coded number, which is then put into a national electronic database, along with your newborn's fingerprints and any other identifiers the bureaucrats in D.C. have demanded.
Sex. Weight. Length. Race. … Almost anything can be included in the database for future government needs, whatever those might be.
Imagine that all constitutional safeguards for an individual's privacy are deemed to have been complied with, when compiling this database, because healthcare is an interstate activity that the Feds can regulate and government access to the information improves the "general welfare." Imagine that it is even required that your newborn, before leaving the hospital, be fitted with a surgically implanted microchip, the way babies are now, in many states, required to be vaccinated and blood-typed. The implanted microchip can then be accessed with a scanner by anyone who has a scanning device, with or without parental consent.
Imagine an America where your Unique Health Identifier (UHI) is required for every access to a nationally controlled healthcare system. Imagine an America, where you must give your UHI, via a scan of your surgically implanted biochip, to pick up your prescription at the pharmacy and even when you buy over the counter medications. The number could eventually be required to purchase alcohol and tobacco products, perhaps even to track quantities of bakery goods, chocolates, trans-fats, beef, and even birth control products — or anything else the nanny bureaucrats decide to monitor. …
The plans to make these very things a reality right here in America are being made in this administration, under the leadership of the president's science guru, John Holdren.
Readers will recall that Holdren — Comrade Obama's "Science Czar" — has recommended forced abortions, government confiscation of babies, and putting sterilants in our drinking water; idolizes eugenicist Harrison Brown; and has been implicated in ClimateGate. Yet despite this being public knowledge, the creepy lunatic is still a central figure in the shaping of our country's increasingly ominous future.
Shiver shivers in terror at what she has learned by working with an appointed member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), the sub-committee on health and technology. This gives an idea at the degree of control our rulers are grasping for:
Members of this sub-committee were even heard discussing how women's menstrual periods could be state monitored. How people's defecation might be monitored and used to detect broad health concerns through electronic toilet management systems. How sexual habits could be state-monitored by managing the sale of all birth-control technology through the use of the UHI.
Control is an end in itself for liberals. There is no point at which they will ever say to the individual: that's enough, you keep the rest of your freedom, any more than they would ever say, that's enough, you keep the rest of your property. Liberalism is a cancer; it will continue to metastasize mindlessly until either it is cut out or it kills the host. There is no other possible outcome.
On a tip from Oiao.
Who Will Be The Next MSDNC Host?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 11:38 AM
Keith Olbermann's attempts to smear the Tea Parties as Klan Rallies totally blackfired when it was noticed that MSDNC's line-up of hosts looks like a polar bear eating a mayonnaise sandwich on Wonder Bread in an East Coast blizzard. Ignoring Queef's frantic spin that "some of our best second-string substitute hosts are coloreds," even the Congressional Black Caucus is criticizing parent company NBC for its lack of melanin.
It seems inevitable that MSDNC will have to put a Token Black up as a host, and it will have to cancel one of its low-rated hosts to do that. (Fortunately, MSDNC has no shortage of hosts with low ratings.) So, today's poll question is, who will they hire? Remember, it has to be someone who will fit in well with the ideology and rhetorical style of Olberman-Maddow-Schultz-Matthews-O'Donnell, and ideally will not speak with a "Negro Dialect."
I am probably missing some good suggestions, so, suggest away, crackers!
Update: Early Threadwinner: The Mark Amber Lamps Show (followed by...Counterpunches with Epic Beard Man)
Reuters Acknowledges That It Isn't Getting Any Warmer
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:14 AM
Time to spread a little jelly on the global warming hoax. If even the establishment libs at Roto-Reuters admit that it hasn't been getting any warmer despite the supposed ongoing crisis, you know the whole swindle is toast.
Climate scientists must do more to work out how exceptionally cold winters or a dip in world temperatures fit their theories of global warming, if they are to persuade an increasingly sceptical public.
At stake is public belief that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet, and political momentum to act as governments struggle to agree a climate treaty which could direct trillions of dollars into renewable energy, away from fossil fuels.
Public conviction of global warming's risks may have been undermined by an error [i.e., an outrageous lie] in a U.N. panel report exaggerating the pace of melt of Himalayan glaciers and by the disclosure of hacked emails revealing scientists sniping at sceptics, who leapt on these as evidence of data fixing.
Most of the article consists of vague doubletalk, apparently meant to leave us with the impression that global warming has just been lying low for awhile, the better to pounce on us when we least expect it. But once they admit that 1) there is no consensus that global warming is real, regardless of what Al Gore might bellow; and 2) it hasn't been getting any warmer, it's time for moonbats to invent a new crisis. A couple of highlights:
"There is a lack of consensus," said Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, on why global temperatures have not matched a peak set in 1998, or in 2005 according to one U.S. analysis. …
British Hadley Centre scientists said last year that there was no warming from 1999-2008, after allowing for extreme, natural weather patterns. Temperatures should have risen by a widely estimated 0.2 degrees Centigrade, given a build up of manmade greenhouse gases.
Some daring scientists are even starting to suggest that temperatures are determined not by taxes and regulations, but by that big bright thing hanging in the sky.
On a tip from Kevin M.
Progressive "Coffee Parties" Let the Crap Fly
Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:35 AM
Sooner or later, there had to be a liberal-progressive response to the Tea Party movement that wasn't exactly an astroturf affair. Now we have the Coffee Party.
The ideas aren't exactly fresh -- Tea Party chapters view themselves as civil, inclusive and fueled by collective will -- but the Coffee Party is percolating in at least 30 states. Small chapters are meeting up, venting frustrations, organizing themselves, hoping to transcend one-click activism. Kind of like the Tea Party did this last year, spawning 1,200 chapters, a national conference and a march on Washington.
Of course, everyone knows that coffee has much more of a stimulative effect on the GI tract than does tea. Therefore I'm sure we can expect to see even more stunning, high-velocity crap from the loony Newspeak left once this movement spreads through coffee houses on the blue coasts.
It's not exactly clear what the difference is between these Coffee Parties and the Cocktail Party movement, which is coming to a bath house near you. The latter group may simply not need coffee to achieve the same violent, stimulative effect.
On pungent tips from Penelope and V the K.
Lesbian Prison Marriage
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:24 AM
Another milestone in the march toward multiculti PC utopia:
Sara Crane, a convicted killer, and drug dealer Joanne Davies who are both 31, married in a private ceremony earlier this month.
The service was conducted by an official from Guildford Register Office at Send Prison in Surrey…
Next comes the artificial insemination. After all, killers have a right to a family life.
Hat tip: Nothing to Do With Arbroath, on a tip from Steve T.
Just Because You Won't See It Anywhere Else
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:06 AM
What do you know, there really is such a thing as racism:
[Miriam Leticia] Malave and three Hispanic men allegedly beat several white patrons inside M&T Bar [in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania] on Feb. 17.
Malave also allegedly yelled, "All the whites will die tonight," during the assault, and hit bartender Melissa Elrod with a baseball bat.
Malave is facing charges, but…
No charges have been filed against the three men involved in the fight, and they are not named in court documents.
Last time Malave got off too:
Malave and three Hispanic men tried to assault three people with baseball bats on Aug. 7, 2006, according to court records. Malave and the men instead began smashing the victims' cars with the bats before police arrived, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Authorities initially charged Malave with ethnic intimidation in that case, but those charges were later dropped, according to records. Charges of criminal mischief, recklessly endangering another person and conspiracy were also dropped.
Try to imagine a Caucasian pulling something like that and getting away with it without a supernova of media outrage. To borrow from moonbat vocabulary, our current state of affairs could be called "systemic racism."
On a tip from Incitatus.
Up to 1,200 Killed at One Hospital by British Version of ObamaCare
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:08 AM
From Airstrip One, yet another indication as to why the Dems are encountering so much resistance in their attempt to impose socialized medicine:
Up to 1,200 people lost their lives needlessly because Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust put government targets and cost-cutting ahead of patient care.
But none of the doctors, nurses and managers who failed them has suffered any formal sanction. Indeed, some have either retired on lucrative pensions or have swiftly found new jobs. Former chief executive Martin Yeates, who has since left with a £1million pension pot, six months' salary and a reported £400,000 payoff, did not even give evidence to the inquiry which detailed the scale of the scandal…
Socialism works great — for insiders. It's not so nice for the rest of us.
A recent inquiry discovered that patients' safety was "routinely neglected," and that they were subjected to "inhumane treatment," "bullying," "abuse," and "rudeness." Would you put the kind of people who run the local DMV in charge of the healthcare system? Britain did. The results were inevitable.
Some of the findings at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust, which is officially an "elite" National Health Service institution:
• Patients were left unwashed in their own filth for up to a month as nurses ignored their requests to use the toilet or change their sheets;
• Four members of one family, including a new-born baby girl, died within 18 months after of blunders at the hospital;
• Medics discharged patients hastily out of fear they risked being sacked for delaying;
• Wards were left filthy with blood, discarded needles and used dressings while bullying managers made whistleblowers too frightened to come forward.
The probe was launched to find out why deaths at the hospital were 27–45% higher than expected according to a report from a year ago. This implies that as many as 1,200 people died unnecessarily from 2005 to 2008.
Lowlights of the "elite" government care at the inaptly named Trust include a cheerleader having her leg amputated after bureaucrats posing as doctors dismissed her cancer as "growing pains." Immobilized patients have been reduced to drinking the water from flower vases.
Kelsey Lintern lost four family members to the hospital in a year and half.
Mrs Lintern, 36, almost became the fifth victim when a nurse tried to give her pethidine while she was in labour, despite her medical notes and a wristband clearly stating she was allergic to the drug.
Here's what happened when Kelsey's sister Laurie Gethin died of lung, bone, and lymph cancer that it took the bureaucrats 18 months to diagnose:
Her body, with her eyes still open, was left on her blood-splattered bed in full view of other patients.
Kelsey's 80-year-old grandmother Lilian Wood Latta died hungry and dehydrated:
She was left in her own excrement during her final days and the family said the dehydration was caused by staff failing to give her adequate fluids.
Only fiends would wish government healthcare on even their worst enemies. But there is literally nothing the authoritarian statists atop the Democrat Party would not do to increase their power over every detail of our lives and deaths.
On a tip from Smoke TNT.
Birth of the British Tea Party Movement
Posted by The MaryHunter at 8:01 AM
In what could be the best possible "Thank You" gift yet for the '60s-'70s British Invasion, some real Americana is heading back to the Old Country. Brighton will be the site of Great Britain's first Tea Party this Saturday 27 February, led by Conservative politician Daniel Hannan.
Labour has raised more than a trillion pounds in additional taxation since 1997. Yet, unbelievably, Gordon Brown has still managed to run up a deficit of 12.6 per cent of GDP (Greece's is 12.7 per cent). A far lower level of taxation brought Americans out in spontaneous protest last year.
If you happen to be coming to the Conservative Spring Conference, do please pop in: the Tea Party is five minutes' walk from the conference venue. [...] Oh, and this being England, we'll be serving actual, you know, tea.
Hats off to you, British cousins! Naturally, coverage of this has been sparse in the American press. But, we'll be watching -- especially to see how the liberal UK press portrays you "teabaggers".
Democrats Tried to Criminalize National Security Yesterday
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:54 AM
While the country... well, actually, just the media... were distracted by the spectacle of the spoiled, petulant president at the "Health Care Summit" sneering at any substantive criticism of his expensive health care takeover as "talking points," Congressional Democrats were trying to make it effectively illegal to interrogate foreign terrorists.
An Amendment to National Security Bill authored by radical leftist congressman Jim McDermott of Washington would have made it a crime, punishable by fifteen years in prision, to use any interrogation technique a Muslim terrorist considered "degrading." (Radical Muslims consider even talking to infidels degrading.)
The Democrats' bill would prohibit -- with a penalty of 15 years' imprisonment -- the following tactics, among others:
- "Exploiting the phobias of the individual"
- Stress positions and the threatened use of force to maintain stress positions
- "Depriving the individual of necessary food, water, sleep, or medical care"
- Forced nudity
- Using military working dogs (i.e., any use of them -- not having them attack or menace the individual; just the mere presence of the dog if it might unnerve the detainee and, of course, "exploit his phobias")
- Coercing the individual to blaspheme or violate his religious beliefs (I wonder if Democrats understand the breadth of seemingly innocuous matters that jihadists take to be violations of their religious beliefs)
- Exposure to "excessive" cold, heat or "cramped confinement" (excessive and cramped are not defined)
- "Prolonged isolation"
- "Placing hoods or sacks over the head of the individual"
Sounds like a list of Barney Frank's fetishes to me.
The Safe School Czar approves of rougher stuff than that as part of a middle school sex curriculum.
I've often said that Democrats define "torture" as any discomfort a terrorist complains about. They just proved me right.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 7:11 AM
Morning Briefs Item 3: Rolling Out the Astroturf
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:53 AM
The Democrat National Committee and Organizing For America are sending out their activists and agitators to spam blogs and talk-radio outlets with talking points in favor of ObamaCare. Nice to know that Kyle/Ghost of Wellstone has a job again.
We know that activists will be telling phony health care horror stories ... probably the same one will be told over and over again under different pseudonyms ... so, just to make this fun, why don't you make some suggestions to the astroturfers in the comments. I'll kick it off.
"My husband currently has a government job, but I am terrified of what will happen if he should lose his job and insurance. The thought that we would have to be responsible for our own medical bills terrifies me. He's far too stupid to work in the private sector. We need health care reform. - Jill in Delaware."
"I'm a columnist for the Atlantic and an immigrant to your country. I was recently gobsmacked and chagrined to discover that my insurance company considers rectal prolapse a pre-existing condition. Also, Trig Palin is not Sarah Palin's son. I am NOT a crackpot. - Andrew in P-Town"
Morning Briefs Item 2: FoxNews's Flaming Lefty
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:06 AM
FoxNews person Shepard Smith went off on Republican Senator John Thune for obstructing ObamaCare and later tried to run the senator down with his car. (Just kidding) (Maybe) It's not really that big of a deal, except that lefties point to Joe Scarborough at MSDNC as proof that it is an unbiased news outlet. (Never mind that its evening block consists of three deranged left-wing lunatics --- Matthews, Schultz, and Olbermann, and one snarky, quieter lunatic... Maddow.) Since that is the case, I guess the fact that a liberal lefty like Shep Smith has his own show on FoxNews means FNC is completely fair and objective also, right?
Speaking of MSDNC, Ed Schultz stated yesterday that "we" ought to rip out Dick Cheney's heart and "kick it around like a football." Is this that oh-so-superior lefty sense of humor at work? Oh, but I'm sure a right-winger said something mean in a blog comment once and that, according to lefty trolls, is exactly equal to a left-wing host saying this kind of stuff, every day, on a television news network.
Morning Briefs for Friday Item 1: Oakland CA Favors the Wealthy
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:58 AM
Good Morning Right-Wing Patriots and Left-Wing Loons,
Oakland California's city government recently ordered its police department to step up enforcement of parking fines in order to help close the city's budget deficit; except that police insiders have confirmed that they were ordered not to enforce parking laws in two of the city's most upscale neighborhoods.
Is this an example of Republicans looking out for their wealthy friends? Hardly. Oakland's Mayor is ultra-liberal Democrat Ron Dellums. Its prior mayor was Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown. The city is represented in Congress by kook leftist Barbara Lee. Its Cook Political Index is +38 Democrat.
The Wit and Wisdom of Jocular Joe
Posted by The MaryHunter at 5:49 AM
It's easy being vice president. You don't have to do anything.—Vice President Joe Biden, caught in a rare moment of honesty on a live C-SPAN mic during a break in the healthcare summit.
On a dour tip from Penelope.
Image courtesy of No Sheeples Here.
February 25, 2010
Sen. Harkin's Hometown Iowa Constituent Gimmick
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:40 PM
In the Theatre Kabuki that was the ObamaCare Summit to Nowhere, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin felt it necessary to deal one from the bottom of the deck.
[...] Harkin read a letter he said he received Tuesday from a farmer in Iowa. It said the man's health insurance premiums were going up almost 15 percent. It ended: "the health of my family and the future of my small business depends on [affordable health care.] Sincerely, Raymond Smith, Buffalo Center, Iowa."
However, Harkin did not mention that Raymond Smith is the brother of Dan Smith who works for the senator. Harkin's office says he read the farmer's full name and city and therefore had nothing to hide.
But one former Buffalo Center resident says Harkin was being disingenuous and dishonest for not disclosing the connection.
Rumor has it that the name "Dan Smith" on the signature was scratched out and corrected at the last minute by one of Harkin's aides. Just how many of the pathetic moral-blackmail stories blathered by the Democrats were actually crafted by congressional staffers is not clear at the moment.
Dem NY Governor Is Kind of a Scumbag
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:35 PM
New York Governor David Paterson doesn't seem like a very nice guy. He has this aide, David Johnson, who has been accused of beating up his girlfriends. When one of Johnson's victims tried to get a restraining order against him, Paterson apparently sent some State Troopers around to give her a talking to. Of course, the Governor and the State Police deny any wrongdoing. But something must be afoot because another Top Aide just resigned over the scandal.
This is as bad as the Democrat Governor of Ohio who kept a convicted child molester on his staff even after learning of his conviction, and even took him to Italy on vacation. (While a congressman, Strickland was one of only 13 {including Barney Frank of corse} who did not vote to condemn a study by the American Psychological Association that claimed it was okay for adults to have sex with kids.)
IMHO, what these two guys did is quite a bit worse than a certain Republican Governor who had a consensual extra-marital affair with an adult female (and who was universally rebuked by his party and the Conservative blogosphere.) But nothing will happen to either of these guys because, after all, they're Democrats. If Eliot Spitzer had just waited things out, he would have been fine... like Bill Clinton (rapist) or the Democrat Mayor of Portland (chickenhawk).
Paul Ryan Schools the Teleprompter
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:01 PM
Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) pummels Obama with facts while the president sits there trying not to look like a dumbass and failing. (Ace, once again)
Bravo, Congressman Ryan. PBO was obviously not prepared for someone with the facts so readily at his command. And Extra Credit for not reciting any dumb stories about old ladies with dead people's teeth in their mouth.
Summary of the ObamaCare Summit
Posted by The MaryHunter at 2:55 PM
Not what you'd call a very awesome day for the Hopeychange. In a word, what was predicted last Sunday over at Hope 'n Change pretty much came to pass, right in front of a rapt American TV/web audience:
Or, as NRO has dubbed it, "The Summit to Nowhere."
[A]n important part of the Democrats' problem is that Obama himself is their only star, and this format is not working for him. He certainly seems engaged and well informed (even given a few misstatements of fact, at least one of which John Kyl made very clear.) But he doesn't seem like the President of the United States--more like a slightly cranky committee chairman or a patronizing professor who thinks that saying something is "a legitimate argument" is a way to avoid having an argument. He is diminished by the circumstances, he's cranky and prickly when challenged, and he's got no one to help him. The other Democrats around the table have been worse than unimpressive. The Republicans seem genuinely well-prepared, seem to have thought through the question of who should speak about what rather carefully, and several of them have done quite a good job making their case against the Democrats' approach. If we were to judge by debating points, Republicans certainly won the morning handily.
It's easy to dismiss all this by saying no one is watching anyway, but that's not quite true. The purpose of this spectacle is not so much to move the public as to move Democratic members of Congress--to create some momentum that might last long enough to help wavering Democrats cast a very painful vote. That audience very likely is watching, and they are seeing their leadership fail to make a straightforward case for the Democratic approach to health care, or to respond to the most basic Republican objections about high costs, excessive spending, overregulation, and the effect of this plan on American families. They are managing to lose an argument about health care to Republican members of Congress--no mean feat.
On a prickly tip from TED.
GB Mocks the Democrats' Favorite Debate Technique
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 1:32 PM
Since every stupid Democrat at the Health Care Summit brought a sob story from a constituent... ("I know a lady who has dead people's teeth in her mouth because of obstructionist Republicans!") ... it seems appropriate to post this Glenn Beck send up of the type of letters Democrats always seem to get from their constituents.
Did you know Glenn Beck is often compared to left-wing host Stephanie Miller? Usually the comparison is, "Glenn Beck is really good. Stephanie Miller sucks."
Greece Reveals Our Near Future
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:53 AM
We don't need to wait until Hopey Change plays out to learn what happens when you put left-wing radicals and the union thugs who finance them in charge of a country. Greece is on the same road, but a few years further along. The Ministry of Truth reports on the street clashes accompanying the second general strike in two weeks.
The action was the biggest since Greece's socialist government introduced cuts to bring the country's debt and deficit under control. …
The country currently has a spiralling public deficit of 12.7%, more than four times higher than eurozone rules allow. …
The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens says that for the second time this month, Greece is isolated from the rest of the world for 24 hours as all flights into and out of the country have been cancelled.
Commuters have been left without most forms of public transport, while public schools, ministries, and municipal offices have been closed. Many hospitals are operating only with emergency staffing.
Don't worry, the bureaucrats have a plan:
The government has pledged to cut [the public deficit] to 8.7% this year, and also reduce the 300bn-euro ($419bn; £259bn) national debt, by freezing public sector salaries, raising the average retirement age to 63 by 2015, and increasing taxes on petrol, alcohol and tobacco.
It also wants to crack down on tax avoidance. Greece's black economy is estimated at 30% of official gross domestic product.
Jacking up taxes even further is bound to lessen dependence on the black economy. If that doesn't work,
Analysts say Greece may be forced to implement even tougher austerity measures to meet EU demands in the coming months. This could include a rise in value-added tax (VAT), which stands at 19%.
For an idea of what raising taxes during economic trouble will do, compare the disastrous FDR, who prolonged the Great Depression by tripling federal taxation, with the great Ronald Reagan, who turned a severe recession into a boom by cutting taxes.
But in Greece, the choice isn't between socialism and economic freedom. It's between socialism and communism.
Groups of youths then threw stones and smashed shop windows, police said. Three people were arrested.
The brief clashes were a distraction from the union's main message that Greece's rich should pay for the crisis, not the working and middle classes, our correspondent says. …
The country's two largest trade union groups, the private sector GSEE and the public sector ADEDY, had predicted a substantial turnout among their two million members.
"Today, from all locations in the country, a strong message of unity, struggle and protest is being sent," the head of the GSEE, Yiannis Panagopoulos said in a statement .
When unions turn against a socialist government because the "rich" haven't been bled completely out of existence yet, the hammer and sickle are not far from view.
Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos revealed a parallel between declining Europe's situation and our own:
Mr Pangalos also made a strident attack on the calibre of the EU's current political leaders, saying those of the 1980s … would never have permitted the current economic crisis.
"This is another level of leadership which we don't have today. The quality of leadership today in the union is very, very poor indeed," he said.
I know what he means.
At least Greece won't be able to dig itself much deeper into debt, even if the government veers even further to the left.
On Tuesday, the credit ratings of Greece's four largest banks were downgraded by ratings agency Fitch, a move that may worsen the country's financial woes.
The move will make it more expensive for the banks to borrow funds, and the government to get loans.
In short, deficit spending of the sort Obama et al. have been indulging in is causing Greece to become a failed state. Spain is next. If the Demonrats manage to ram through healthcare nationalization, the stratospheric cost will guarantee that America follows soon afterward.
Now who would want the American system to come crashing down? Two names well known in the radical circles that produced Barack Obama come to mind once again: Richard Cloward and his wife Frances Piven, leftists who advocated overloading the economy with deliberately excessive government spending.
Not even Nancy Pelosi could be clueless enough to think we can afford the healthcare bill they are about to impose despite massive public resistance. The idea is to create a failed state, which will quickly give way to a collectivist totalitarian state. For the last year, every time you've turned on the news, you've been witnessing a communist coup.
On a tip from Forest.
Fun and Games at Blair House
Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:59 AM
What, you can't drop everything to watch Obama having his lunch handed to him at the White House Health Care Smmit? John Ward at the Daily Caller is live blogging the fireworks.
If you can tilt your monitor away from the boss sufficiently, then try Breitbart.TV's live CSPAN-3 feed with amusing comment feed.
As Limaugh just observed: what is strikingly apparent is that the Republicans have actually read the bills, but Obama has not.
From my best count, as of 12:59 EST the score is something like: Rep. Cantor and the GOP: 57 touchdowns and six hat tricks; Sen. Reid and the DEMs: 18 scowls and a popped hemorrhoid; Obama: 39 personal pronouns and 198 stutters.
Oh, that's 199.
Killer Killer Whale Tied to Tea Party Movement
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:51 AM
Well, this was bound to happen.
(The prissy little trouser pilots at Medea Mutters are livid about this.)
DHS Loses 1,000 Computers in One Year
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:04 AM
Isn't it nice that we have massive federal bureaucracies to keep us safe? Like DHS, for example, which can't even keep its own computers safe:
New documents show that component agencies of DHS, specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) combined to lose no less than 985 computers in fiscal year 2008. Along with other component agencies in DHS, well over 1,000 computers were lost.
But not to worry:
CBP maintains that the computer losses were within acceptable standards for asset management, saying the losses only represented about .5% of their total computer inventory.
Also, CBP assures us that there is nothing of any importance on the computers, so there's no need for concern. If the thieves were after anything but the hardware itself, it would less likely be information than porn.
It's rare that the wildly metastasizing tumor that calls itself our government deserves any slack, but I will say that it can hardly be expected to see to our national security competently when it has its hands full consolidating control over every last aspect of our personal lives in the name of "global warming," "healthcare reform," "social justice," et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam.
On a tip from Nancz.
McCain Outflanks Moonbat Messiah on the Left
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:32 AM
As the global warming farce collapses in ruins, with even a main perpetrator confessing that there has been no warming over the last 15 years, and even the shameless Al Gore laying low, there are few dupes clueless enough to continue buying into the most expensive hoax in pseudoscientific history. John "Lettuce" McCain — whose incomprehensible ascendency to the top of the GOP ticket in 2008 handed the presidency to the radical left — is just such a dupe. Amazingly, McLame is now attempting to out-moonbat Comrade Obama on global warming:
Let me say to my colleagues, I am proud of my record on climate change. I have been all over the world, and I have seen climate change. I know it is real, and I will be glad to continue this debate with my colleagues and people who do not agree with that. I believe climate change is real.
McStain is upset that the Obamination Administration won't do anything about the imaginary crisis except use it as a pretext to vastly expand government power and loot the American economy to the point of ruin with Tax & Charade. Credit where it's due: at least the greedy criminals running the Democrat Party aren't dumb enough to believe the hoax is real.
Meanwhile, Arizona airwaves are choked with ads trying to position McCain to the right of his conservative primary challenger, the great J.D. Hayworth. Sadly, establishment dinosaurs like Bill Bennett have been lining up behind the guy who wants amnesty for illegal aliens, government control of political speech, and totalitarian restrictions on all human activity in the name of a hoax that has been decisively debunked.
On a tip from Edward.
Sodomites Demand the Census Be "Queered"
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:22 AM
Militant Gay Activists are upset that there is no question on the census about the respondents sexual orientation. For a sane person, there is a very good reason for this, it's not anyone's damned business.
Anyway, the MGA's are circulating an online position demanding that the Census Bureau ask this intrusive question on the census form. Their Facebook Page includes the instructions "How to fill out the Census as a Queer Person." (Fill it out while wearing leather chaps and shaking your bare butt to Lady Ga Ga, perhaps.)
For that matter, there shouldn't be questions on the census about race or anything else that serves no use other than to Balkanize us as a country.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:59 AM
Detroit's Mayor Is a Mad Man With an Evil Mind!
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 8:26 AM
That's a really obscure childhood TV reference. Does anyone get it?
The Actual Headline (Hat Tip: J) reads: "Detroit Mayor Bing emphasizes need to shrink city." And its actually an idea I support. Detroit has lost half its population since... well, basically, since it became a stronghold of progressive leftist government. Much of the city is reverting to wilderness, and by concentrating services on a much smaller geographical footprint, the city could save money. Meanwhile, those abandoned areas could become new communities. They might even prosper once they are no longer governed by the corrupt socialists that run the city of Detroit.
Naturally, of course the corrupt socialists in the City Council and the socialist Community Organizers aren't going down without a fight. Some are claiming its all a conspiracy to sell off city land to big business on the cheap. (Because big business is just dying to build factories and homes in Detroit, but they can't afford it. Right.)
Obama to America's Oldest Ally: Go (Bleep) Yourselves... Again
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:14 AM
Airstrip One is in a dispute with the dysfunctional South American country of Argentina over the Falkland Islands… again. Airstrip One would like to prospect for offshore oil in the vicinity of the islands, but the Argentines are being pissy about it. Airstrip One appealed to the president for support, which was happily provided by President Reagan the last time there was a dispute over the Falklands.
But Bammy told the Albionese to shove it.
"We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality," a State Department spokesman told The Times. "The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party."
In other words, he's voting "Present" on the issue.
The British --- who have already endured the return of Churchill's bust, the insulting gifts of cheap DVD's to the Prime Minister and an iPod filled with Obama speeches to the Queen --- are somewhat perturbed by Bammy's indifference.
It is truly shocking that Barack Obama has decided to disregard our shared history and insist that we have to fight this battle on our own. Does Britain's friendship really mean so little to him? Do the sacrifices Britain has made in defence of the Atlantic alliance count for nought? Who does he think will replace us as America's steadfast ally when she finds herself embroiled in a territorial dispute of her own -- possibly with the very same motley crew of Latin American rabble rousers? Spain? Italy? France? Good luck with that, Mr President.
To answer your first question: Yes, Britain's friendship does mean so little to Dear Reader. You're just a bunch of white imperialists. Now, if you were Chinese thugs who are financing his socialist makeover of the USA, or if you were Iranian mullahs, or a Latin American communist dictator, it would be a different story.
This must be more of that "Smart Diplomacy" … warm hugs for our enemies, cold shoulders for our allies.
Morning Briefs for Thor's Day Item 3: Another Brilliant Idea from The People Who Think They Can Run Our Economy Better than Private Enterprise
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:53 AM
It will be paid for by raising taxes on international airline tickets, thereby making it more expensive to travel to the United States.
You can see why none of these people is employable in the private sector. I swear the average Democrat politician would get stuck on an escalator in a power outage.
Hat Tip: Tigerhawk
Morning Briefs For Thursday Item 2: An Artist that Gets Che
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:41 AM
Communist mass murderer Che Guevara is an iconic hero among progressive leftists, but at least one artist, Frank Kozik, gets what Che was really all about.
Kozik had a complete Harley in the show which featured his "Dead Che" design in black with his signature orange and green coloring that gave it a cool underground military look. I asked Frank where he came up with the concept of a skull Che Guevara and he said he "thought that it was funny that all these hipsters were really into Che but he was like a f**king killer motherf**ker, there's a whole 'Che Vive' thing so I was like oh- 'No Che Vive'."
He also thinks Shepard Fairey, who designed iconic, socialist-inspired art for the Obama campaign, is a sell-out and a wanker.
Morning Briefs For Thursday Item 1: Another Day, Another Socialized Health Care Scandal
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:28 AM
A Facebook buddy informs me of yet another NHS scandal on Airstrip One.
Patients were routinely neglected or left "sobbing and humiliated" by staff at an NHS trust where at least 400 deaths have been linked to appalling care.
Staff shortages at Stafford Hospital meant that patients went unwashed for weeks, were left without food or drink and were even unable to get to the lavatory. Some lay in soiled sheets that relatives had to take home to wash, others developed infections or had falls, occasionally fatal. Many staff did their best but the attitude of some nurses "left a lot to be desired".
I strongly doubt any NHS bureaucrats had to suffer through the kind of conditions they forced patients to endure. In a state-run, bureaucratic system, the bureaucrats see to their own comfort first, and that of the public is a low priority.
NHS is the Albionese version of the Public Option that so many left-wing halfwits long for. Here's a clue: Anything "public" sucks. Public schools. Public housing. Public restrooms. All of these are notably inferior to their private counterparts. Anyone who wants to inflict a "public option" on sick people is an idiot and a sadist.
Belief in God Kicks the Blues
Posted by The MaryHunter at 5:26 AM
There just might be something to all that "God" stuff that secular humanists so often love to scorn.
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.
A new study released Wednesday by Rush University Medical Center in Chicago took the idea a step further.
In patients diagnosed with clinical depression, "belief in a concerned God can improve response to medical treatment," said the new research, which has been published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
The operative term here is "caring," the researchers said. "The study found that those with strong beliefs in a personal and concerned God were more likely to experience an improvement."
And, in modern America we pay Him back by stripping Him from our schools, our holidays, our society. (shakes head)
February 24, 2010
Woman Live Tweets Her Abortion
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:15 PM
So much for the leftist lie that abortion is a difficult personal decision, or a matter of individual privacy.
"I'm doing this to de-mystify abortion," she says. "I'm doing this so other women know, 'Hey, it's not nearly as terrifying as I had myself worked up thinking it was.' It's just not that bad."
Read the comments from pro-aborts cheering her on for murdering her unborn child. Truly sickening.
3 out of 4 Americans Oppose ObamaCare
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:08 PM
No doubt PBO is spending the evening having Axelrod, Plouffe, and Emmanuel drill talking points into his thick little head so he can repeat them at the Health Care Summit tomorrow, but, here's the thing, according to a CNN Poll, 73% of Americans say start over or ditch this entirely.
73% of the public doesn't want this bill. So why won't Democrats back off? Because they are obsessed. Taking over health care is "The Precious-s-s-s-s-s-." It's the White Whale. Every congressional liberal Democrat is like Rosie O'Donnell staring through the window of a Doughnut Shop after a month of Jenny Craig. If they were any more obsessed with health care, it would have changed its phone number and gotten a restraining order.
But to the American people, Democrat Health Care reform is about as appealing as Rosie O'Donnell before a month of Jenny Craig. Conservatives believe the bill is way too expensive in a time of trillion dollar deficits, and will only make health care more costly and less available. Leftists don't like the bill because they wanted health care destroyed and the country bankrupt today, not ten years down the road.
Americans want reform. We want health care to be less expensive and more widely available. This bill fails... utterly... on both counts.
How the CBO Cooked the Books on Stimulus Job Creation
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 2:17 PM
Dimwit lefties will continue to mindlessly spew the talking point that "The CBO says the Stimulus created or saved 2 million jobs," when it did no such thing. This is readily demonstrated by the fact that millions of jobs have disappeared since the Stimulus was enacted. And the reason the Congressional Budget Office came up with such a misleading figure is that they used a formula that equated Government spending with job creation.
This is going to go right over the heads of talking-point spouting liberals, but Brian Riedl, a budget analyst affairs at the Heritage Foundation, explains how the CBO got its figures. They didn't actually count jobs, they used models that were set up to always show Government spending always resulting in job creation. (Just like the Climate Scammers used models that always showed Global Warming regardless of real temperature data).
The CBO model started by automatically assuming that government spending increases GDP by pre-set multipliers, such as:
- Every $1 of government spending that directly purchases goods and services ultimately raises the GDP by $1.75;
- Every $1 of government spending sent to state and local governments for infrastructure ultimately raises GDP by $1.75;
- Every $1 of government spending sent to state and local governments for non-infrastructure spending ultimately raises GDP by $1.25; and
- Every $1 of government spending sent to an individual as a transfer payment ultimately raises GDP by $1.45.
Then CBO plugged the stimulus provisions into the multipliers above, came up with a total increase in gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.6 percent, and then converted that added GDP into 1.5 million jobs.
The problem here is obvious. Once CBO decided to assume that every dollar of government spending increased GDP by the multipliers above, its conclusion that the stimulus saved jobs was pre-ordained.
ABC News Staggers Toward Tar Pits
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:52 PM
The twin swindles of passing off global warming as a crisis and Barack Obama as a president may prove lethal to the decrepit dinosaur euphemistically known as the "mainstream" media. Eventually, the public was bound to get tired of being lied to by condescending left-wing apparatchiks. The latest lurch toward oblivion:
ABC News staffers got a memorandum Tuesday that promises to leave no part of the organization untouched, and will lead to massive personnel reductions by the end of 2010.
Although the memo from ABC News President David Westin specified no numbers, it was believed the goal for cutbacks is as high as one-quarter of the ABC News staff, which currently totals about 1,400.
"We will likely have substantially fewer people on staff at ABC News," Westin said in his memo.
He said personnel reductions would begin with voluntary buyouts to be offered employees in the days ahead. If the target number isn't reached, layoffs will likely follow.
"We anticipate that between now and the end of the year, ABC News will undergo a fundamental transformation that will ultimately affect every corner of the enterprise," Westin said.
Anything But Credible News will have company as it wades into the tar pits:
The drastic moves and cutbacks, which were not unexpected, echo those two years ago at NBC News, which also saved money by closing facilities in New Jersey and bringing CNBC and MSNBC staff to work at the company's Rockefeller Center headquarters.
CBS News is currently going through a round of layoffs.
But on the brighter side for the MSM, an estimated 11 moonbats tuned in to watch Keith Olbermann denounce America last night.
Hat tip: Reaganite Republican.
Back Then The Democrats Called It the Nuclear Option
Posted by The MaryHunter at 12:00 PM
Trip in our time machine back to 2005. It's fascinating to see what the minority party saidabout "ckecks and balances" and "the filibuster" and "reconciliation" "the nuclear option" when Bush was president.
Ed Morissey sums up concisely the oozing pustule of putrid hypocrisy that is the 111th Congress:
Dianne Feinstein said on the Senate floor that "it begins with judicial nominations, next will be executive appointments, and then legislation." Now, Democrats want to skip over the first two -- which never happened -- and leap right to legislation. Chuck Schumer called the 2005 suggestion to exempt judicial nominations from the filibuster as "almost a temper tantrum"; if that was the case in 2005, what does 2010 represent? A psychotic break from reality? Strauitjacket time?
It smells like desperation from a political party groaning under the heavy burden ... of an eighteen-seat majority.
Washington is Broken, brought to you by "the arrogance of power of this Republican Democrat administration," to slightly misquote then-Senate minority leader Harry Reid.
Hat tip: Hot Air.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:59 AM
Doctors for Oil
Posted by The MaryHunter at 11:20 AM
It looks like a clever twist on the barter system has reared its head in the Western Hemisphere: slavery. And who are the slaves? The crown jewels of Cuba's highly-touted medical system: doctors and nurses.
Seven Cuban doctors and a nurse sued Cuba, Venezuela and the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) for alleged conspiracy to force them to work in conditions of "modern slaves" in order to pay off the Cuban debt with the Venezuelan government for oil supply.
The defendants "intentionally and arbitrarily" held the health staff in "debt servitude" and the staff became "economic slaves" and "political advocates," according to the complaint filed in the United States, Efe reported.
In the complaint, the leading defense attorney ArÃstides Cantón argued that the plaintiffs travelled to Venezuela in "deceit" and "threats," and were forced to work unlimited hours in a social welfare program known as "Mission Barrio Adentro," in areas with high rate of crime.
But, isn't Cuba an absolute model for healthcare, not to mention, governance? That's certainly what Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, and other useful idiots in Hollywood would have us believe. Of course, every doctor enslaved to Venezuela is one fewer for the Cubans.
On a tip from Rush.
$1 Billion in Pension Liability for 100 Educrats
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:02 AM
Want to know why states are going broke? Have a look at this Illinois State Board of Education pension chart:
That's nearly $1 BILLION in pension liability for the top 100 overpaid educrats in Illinois, where the overwhelmingly Democrat political system produced our current Taxer and Spender in Chief.
Entrusting Democrats to run government is like hiring a drunk as night watchman at a liquor store. We're coming to the part where the store owner arrives in the morning to find the drunk watchman and all his friends passed out on the floor amid broken bottles and sticky puddles, the shelves stripped bare.
More on education pensions in Illinois:
This also explains why spending more on education does not prevent test scores from sinking through the floor.
Hat tip: Doug Ross, on a tip from Michelle H.
Newsweek/WaPo Columnist Disgusted by Patriotism at the Olympics
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:24 AM
Moonbats were delighted that an American hockey player was denied the opportunity to express his support for our troops on his helmet, but their joy was short-lived. There's apparently too much national pride on display for the refined tastes of the Progressive Left. Leftist Dingbat and WaPo/Newsweek columnist Susan Jacoby is chagrined by the blatant --- and in her peabrain completely unjustified --- pride in the success of our athletes.
Why, anyone would think that these medals were more important than the performance of American students on international comparison tests of achievement in school.
My guess is, if our Olympic athletes were trained by unionized progressive bureaucrats whose pay was unrelated to performance, they would suck as bad as our public schoolkids do. But of course, a leftist intellectual like Jacoby doesn't see that.
This Olympic coverage matters because it offers a window into a deeply provincial, reflexively nationalistic mindset that hampers our understanding of the rest of the world and prevents any realistic assessment of American weaknesses and strengths in comparison to other countries.
The conviction that the United States is morally and culturally better than other countries--including other developed democracies--is a real social disease that hurts us more than it does anyone else. It is also a profoundly anti-intellectual.
Hey, scrunt, why don't you pick one of those countries and move there, if you hate this culturally and morally backward country so much?
ObamaCare Includes Massive Tax Hike
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:17 AM
Electing an outrageously unqualified community activist who has spent his entire life surrounded by communists would result in lower taxes for the vast majority of Americans, we were repeatedly and emphatically promised. But the hype that installed our socialist kakistocracy is over. Now come the tax hikes:
The White House's new health-care proposal promises the "largest middle class tax cut for health care in history," which is a creative way of describing a vast taxpayer-subsidized insurance entitlement. Naturally, the fine print goes on to describe one of the largest tax increases for health care in history, too.
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Tax hikes are tax cuts.
This new ObamaCare bargain would for the first time apply the 2.9% Medicare payroll tax to "interest, dividends, annuities, royalties and rents," so-called passive income that we are told includes capital gains, though the latter wasn't explicitly mentioned in the proposal. This antigrowth investment tax would apply to singles earning more than $200,000 and joint filers over $250,000 and comes on top of the Senate's 0.9-percentage-point increase in the payroll tax, which would bring the combined employee-employer share to 3.8%.
The rate hike on investment income would presumably take effect at the same time the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts are due to expire next year, bringing the top rate to 22.9% as the current top capital gains rate would also rise to 20% from 15%. That's a 52% jump…
This will be sold in the name of "fairness," if anyone else in the press corps notices, but the worst implications are economic. The 0.9% increase is another tax on job creation, though Democrats claim they want more jobs. The devious 2.9% hike on investment income will raise the cost of capital, though Democrats claim to want more capital investment. Sometimes we wonder if Democrats even listen to their own rhetoric, or if they assume voters are too dumb to notice their contradictions.
We don't need to wonder what jacking up taxes during hard times will do to the economy. FDR tripled federal taxes during the Great Depression (from $1.6 billion in 1933 to $5.3 billion in 1940) — one of the main reasons the crisis he made a career of milking went on for so long. Reagan cut taxes, and turned a severe recession into the "Decade of Greed," as liberals call the economic boom Ronaldus Maximus created.
There's no serious dispute whether Democrats' policies will inflict severe economic harm. The only question is whether we can stop them.
On a tip from Mandible Claw.
The Future Under Useful Idiocy
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:09 AM
The Soviet Union is dead, but useful idiots continue to propagandize on its behalf. Communist Daoud Hamdani takes progressive projection to new extremes of self-parody while commenting on a pro-Soviet art exhibit in Airstrip One:
I'm no art critic, but I was fortunate enough to be able to look at this exhibition from an informed, leftwing perspective — and I was very impressed. Named after the Soviet Union's secret cosmonaut training city, Star City: The Future Under Communism brought together work by artists (from Russia and beyond) inspired by Soviet visions of the future and the space race.
In one room, Jane and Louise Wilson's film Star City, shot on location, is shown on all four walls using four projectors. It's an all-encompassing, smothering experience, symbolising the capitalist state's suppression of the individual for the sake of profit.
Freedom is an all-encompassing, smothering experience — unlike totalitarianism. That's why so many people got shot attempting to cross the Iron Curtain to the socialist east.
There's an impressive, life-size replica of Sputnik 1, the first satellite to orbit Earth. The US response to Sputnik blew up on its launchpad, earning it the name Flopnik. That made me chuckle.
Comrade Obama's gutting of the space program must have made him guffaw.
The exhibition's main theme is escapism — both through the space race and science-fiction. I took this to be symbolic of the escape from capitalist barbarism that the Soviet system as a whole achieved. One Polish artist, Pawel Althamer, has dressed residents of his former Soviet tower block in gold spacesuits. What this shows, like all the works, is that life under the Soviet Union wasn't the grey, backward stuff of US propaganda: it was full of life and colour.
I spent the summer of 1984 in the Soviet Union. The experience was instrumental in developing an explosive hatred of all things left-wing. Other than the washed-out red of the banners screaming nonsensical slogans about proletarian triumph, the only color I saw in that vast prison was gray.
As for the Soviet system's escape from capitalist barbarism, David Thompson comments:
Readers may be surprised to discover that barbarism was unknown in the Soviet Union and other communist nations, where altogether more civilised standards were adhered to and 100 million souls died of entirely natural causes.
Back to Hamdani for his starry-eyed conclusion:
I walked away from this exhibition with a sense of the artists' overwhelming conviction that socialism and communism are still the future. We've had the Soviet experiment. We'll get it right next time.
As the Dems are now proving with their continued push to nationalize the healthcare industry, nothing that happens in the real world will ever stop moonbats from trying to enslave us.
State Department's Posh New London Digs
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 8:06 AM
Ain't it great that the USA is so prosperous and financially secure that we can afford to spend $1,000,000,000 (before over-runs) to build a luxurious Embassy in London, complete with a moat to keep the peasants at bay?
What will the new embassy not have? Statues of Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower... those will be left behind when the old embassy is converted into a hotel. Obviously, the State Department doesn't want to be reminded of those awful men who stood up for America and defeated Communism in their time.
States to Fed: Don't Tread on Us!
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:15 AM
As if President Obama and the Democrat-run Congress didn't already have enough to worry about from Republicans having broken their once-famous "filibuster-proof" Senate majority, there's this little matter of the Tenth Amendment as well. Virginia and a number of other states have already taken up "Health Care Freedom" bills, and Arizona pulled out of a Climate Pact among western states. But that was just a taste of what's to come. Now, state legislatures from sea to shining sea are girding their loins for battle against the federal government.
Lawmakers in 44 states have introduced measures warning Congress not to trample states' rights and dozens of other resolutions opposing the government on issues including gun control and health care.
In conservative South Carolina, Republican House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham said his caucus made standing up to the federal government a top priority this year.
"I hear it at church, at the barber shop: 'You guys need to stand up.' The issue of federal intrusion is a John Doe issue," he said. "This is a yes-point for us. They're mad. They're upset. They expect us to respond."
That response included passing a resolution to assert the state's rights under several constitutional amendments. It says South Carolina's attorney general will sue if Congress passes mandates that the state deems unconstitutional, and that no state agency will follow the mandates while a decision is pending.
"To say public reaction and being vocal doesn't have any influence is ludicrous," Mr. Bingham said. "That's how you enact change in a civilized society."
Take-home message: keep up the tea parties, keep up the letter-writing, phoning and faxing to Congress -- but don't forget your own state representatives as providing yet a third front in this epic battle for freedom we are waging against out-of-control progressives in Washington.
Image courtesy of Spencer, Iowa Tea Party Patriots, who posted a nice history of the Gadsden flag you see here.
Cap and Trade: A Scheme by Which Companies Are Paid to Export Jobs
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:14 AM
EU Referendum has a story about how, thanks to the European Cap and Trade scheme, a multinational corporation is being paid billions to shut down a factory in Britain and move its production to India.
Under EU carbon trading rules, companies are paid for reducing the output of carbon dioxide. By shutting the plant down, the Tata Group that owns it will net a cool $2 Billion. Production will moved to a plant in India, that has far fewer pollution controls.
The 1,700 people at the steel mill will be out of work, but the environmental left doesn't care because none of them are so bourgeois as to work in a steel mill or any other kind of real job.
How the environment is any cleaner as a result of this is not clear, and beside the point. The Global Warming scare is not about making the Earth cleaner, it's about redistributing wealth, proven by this example.
Morning Briefs for Wednesday Item 3: A Health Care Summit Fantasy
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:49 AM
Everyone knows that tomorrow's "Bipartisan Health Care Summit" will be a farce. Demoncrats have been scheming to pass their version of the bill --- with no Republican input --- for weeks. We know the president will tell amazing lies about the legislation --- that it won't add to the deficit, that it will increase choice, that it will lower costs --- that no one will be allowed to challenge.
The president controls the format, and his media control the message. And we know the Republicans are far too incompetent to challenge him effectively.
But what if, at the start of the "summit," John Boehner stood up and said, "Mr. President, we have decided to yield our portion of the debate to some distinguished citizens who understand the health care issues, the constitutional law, and the American people. So, without further ado, let men introduce our debate team… Betsy McCoy, Mark Levin, and Rush Hudson Limbaugh."
Morning Briefs for Wednesday Item 2: Speaking of Brown
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:43 AM
A contributor for lily-white MSDNC --- the network obsessed with accusing the Tea Party movement of racism --- used a racial slur to refer to Florida Senatorial candidate Marco Rubio.
MSNBC and CNBC contributor -- and professed Charlie Crist admirer -- Donny Deutsch used racially charged language on Monday night, smearing Republican senatorial candidate Marco Rubio as a "coconut." Deutsch appeared on HLN's Joy Behar Show and used the word, which both the New York Times and Urban Dictionary define as a "person who is tan on the outside" and "white on the inside." Rubio is the son of Cuban exiles.
At least he didn't say "Macaca." Oh, wait, that would have been okay, because Deutsch is a liberal. (And to think the Progressives were all over the Dick Cheney thread moaning about "hypocrisy," yesterday. {Yeah, we know there's a mote in our eye, but there's an entire coniferous forest of beams in theirs.})
Morning Briefs for Wednesday Item 1: What Say the Brown-Bashers Now?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:38 AM
Good Morning Patriots, and as a Bonus, Atomic Lib Smasher Shows Us How a Moonbattery Troll Begins His Day,
Now that Scott Brown voted with the Democrats to pass a $15 Billion jobs plan that even the Obama-fluffing AP admits won't create jobs, will Queef Olbermann take back his description of Brown as "an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, teabagging supporter of violence against woman and against politicians with whom he disagrees."
February 23, 2010
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 7:12 PM
Reliable Workers Not Wanted
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:15 PM
Leave it to our politically correct British cousins to bastardize the very notion of gainful employment in an employment office.
A Hertfordshire recruitment agency boss says she was told she could not request "reliable and hard-working" applicants.
Devonwood Recruitment boss Nicole Mamo said the Jobcentre Plus in Thetford, Norfolk, told her such an advert could be "offensive" to unreliable people.
Cash for Caulkers - Another Stupid Idea
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:06 PM
The President-who-never-had-a-real-job-in-his-entire-life decided it would be a good idea to borrow/print $5 billion (maybe up to $23 Billion) and spend it doing something people are perfectly capable of doing for themselves without Government Money: Cash for Caulkers. So far, it's been about as successful as any other government program, which is to say its wasted oodles of money for almost no result. Bureaucratic red tape combined with Obama's edict that union wages be paid to home repairers has resulted in less than 10,000 homes being weatherized at an average cost somewhere north of $57,000 per house.
And that's just the beginning. Australia's version of Cash for Caulkers resulted not just in scam artists getting rich by ripping off the taxpayers, it actually killed some people.
The Rudd government's insulation installation scheme worked like this: anyone with the wherewithal to set themselves up as an installer could do so, and then gain access to funds set aside by the Environment Department.That's basically it. Well, you did have to insulate the odd house here and there, but there's insulating and then there's insulating, you know what I mean? No old biddy is going to crawl into her ceiling to check if you've dutifully filled every crevice or if you've just chucked a few batts around instead before hitting the next mark down the street.
So, in the one fantastic scheme, you've got these three elements: simple labour requirements; low overheads, mainly limited to warehousing, transport and wages; and no customer approval between work and payment.
The first hint that something was wrong with the scheme came with reports that an exceptional number of installations were costed right up to the $1600 limit. Big place, multiple levels, lots of roof area? About $1600 should do it. Granny flat with one window? Let's see now ... that'll come to exactly $1600.
Suddenly the number of registered installers exploded to 7000. Most, of course, had no background in insulation. Not coincidentally, the occasional roof began to explode as well. And workers began getting killed.
Some people think the way out of recession is for the Government to spend billions of dollars on idiotic make-work projects. That makes about as much sense as an unemployed person deciding his only hope is to max out his credit cards buying an army of Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men.
Obama Wins Media Dodging Award
Posted by The MaryHunter at 4:10 PM
The most open and transparent administration in modern times has set a new record for openness (the Newspeak version):
President Obama, who pledged to establish the most open and transparent administration in history, on Monday [Feb. 22] surpasses his predecessor's record for avoiding a full-fledged question-and-answer session with White House reporters in a formal press conference.
We can't blame Bush anymore, either:
President George W. Bush's longest stretch between prime-time, nationally televised press conferences was 214 days, from April 4 to Nov. 4, 2004. Mr. Obama tops that record on Monday, going 215 days - stretching back to July 22, according to records kept by CBS Radio's veteran reporter Mark Knoller.
The last time Dear Leader spoke uninhibited at a presser, he entertained us with his stunning wit and characteristic wisdom regarding police-minority relations. A White House beer party that was teh very awesome came out of the deal as well. It's therefore hard to imagine why Chairman Zero have been avoiding the press for so long.
Totalitarian "Tolerance" Targets Skirts on Schoolgirls
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:08 PM
One by one, every characteristic of our civilization has be to extirpated, to clear the slate for the politically correct multicultural utopia envisioned by liberals. Next to go could be skirts on schoolgirls. From the croaking canary in the coalmine of moonbattery, Airstrip One:
Schools which force girls to wear skirts may be breaking the law — because the policy apparently discriminates against transsexuals.
Official guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission says the dress code may breach the rights of girls who feel compelled to live as boys.
In a 68-page report on the human rights of transsexuals, the watchdog says that 'requiring pupils to wear gender-specific clothes is potentially unlawful'.
It says that research conducted for its report found that 'pupils born female with gender dysphoria experienced great discomfort being forced to wear stereotypical girls' clothes — for example a skirt'.
The Commission has threatened to inflict "costly legal action" on those schools that fail to comply with its demands.
Given Britain's impending future, I hope burkas are still okay.
On tips from Scott and Bill V.
How Stupid Do the Elites Think We Are?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 12:57 PM
About this stupid, apparently...
The American Academy of Pediatrics says they're interested in designing a choke-proof hot-dog that won't be a hazard to children.
In a policy statement, "Prevention of Choking Among Children," the AAP recommends that food manufacturers "should design new food and redesign existing foods to avoid shapes, sizes, textures and other characteristics that increase choking risk to children."
As blogger Sondra K points out, this is because the American Academy of Pediatrics thinks us poor stupid peasants are too stupid to figure out how to do this:
Weenies.
Pudgy Despot Throws a Hissy Fit
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 12:42 PM
Chubby Dictator (and Obama BFF) Hugo Chavez flounced out of a Latin American summit after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe stood up to the fat little Marxist prick.
Mr Uribe complained to Mr Chavez about a trade embargo Venezuela has imposed on Colombia, upsetting the Venezuelan president and further exacerbating their falling out ever since Bogota signed a military base agreement with the US last year.
Mr Chavez then accused Mr Uribe of planning his assassination by a paramilitary squad and threatened to walk out of the summit in disgust.
"An angry Uribe then shouted: 'Be a man! These issues are meant to be discussed in these venues. You're brave speaking at a distance, but a coward when it comes to talking face to face'," the diplomat said.
Mr Chavez is reported to have replied: "Go to hell!"
So hot-blooded, those Latins!
Obama's Personal Favorability Nosedives
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:29 PM
Even if we don't like his radical left policies, we still find Comrade Obama appealing as a person, right? Wrong:
Consider the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Though 46 percent of Americans still approved of the job he was doing, only 39 percent had a favorable personal opinion of Obama. That's an 11-point drop since July and a 20-point drop since inauguration. For a politician whose success was predicated on a personal brand, that's a catastrophic fall.
Considering that most blacks and virtually all liberal elite types will find a swarthy leftist appealing no matter how big a narcissistic jerk he is, we're left with a tiny percentage of everyone else that can stand the guy — after only one year in office and an establishment media slavishly devoted to making him look good.
Ed Lasky has a few ideas why the hype is not holding up:
How about serial lying and breaking of promises? How about threats and hectoring? How about stupid comments (using Special Olympics contestants for a joke, depicting policemen doing their job as "acting stupidly")? Add: insulting a wide variety of groups; spending his days giving speeches; traveling to high profile events; playing golf so much; listening to musical soirees he has started having in the White House; engaging in strong-arming and transparent photo-ops; pressuring allies and emboldening adversaries; indulging in whining (look at the mess I willingly inherited); finger-pointing, name-calling, and using straw men continuously; displaying his dependency on the teleprompter; and engaging in vainglorious behavior that is juvenile and ego-centric (the tape of his speeches given to Queen Elizabeth); the endless face-time and speeches (we are just tuning him out-his speeches have become the voices of parents in Peanuts cartoons).
But that's okay. Obama loves himself enough for all of us.
On a tip from J.
Edge Saves Polar Bears by Naming Rocks
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:45 AM
Here's the latest on what ecoweenie David Evans — aka "Edge" of the insufferably righteous moonbat pop band U2 — has been doing to make his Malibu development plans friendly to the polar bears:
The house that the U2 guitarist longs to build here would have a copper roof, fashioned to resemble fluttering leaves. Boulders that dot the property would be left in place and assigned charming names like Dinosaur Vertebrae and Cistern. The dirt dug up to build would be reused, when possible.
Yes there would be a pool, but its central purpose would be to ward off fire should the local native plants not do the job. And every imaginable green building technique would be used.
But all of this does not mollify those who police the mountainside along one of the most gorgeous stretches of American coastline, where public access versus exclusive seclusion is an ever-raging debate that even a member of the most vocally earth-hugging rock band on the planet cannot escape.
Although Wedgie considers his 156-acre development "a bench mark of sustainability," the other zillionaire moonbats who live in the tony LA suburb feel that it would upset the ecosystem. Maybe if he bought some carbon offsets from Al Gore…
Last fall U2 attempted to spare us a cold winter by going on tour and producing a prodigious 65,000 tons of carbon emissions. But it didn't work.
Hat tip: PapaTodd.com.
(Bumped) The Progressive Left: Classy as Ever
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 11:30 AM
Former Vice President Dick Cheney was hospitalized yesterday for chest pains. I wish this Mighty Patriot a swift recovery.
I decided to swing by the Puffington Host to see what comments hadn't been censored yet, but I was too late: Lefties were already complaining that their vitriol had been deleted. DailyKos did not disappoint however:
I hope he lives to get the same reward Reagan got many years stumbling around not knowing his own name while wallowing in his own (excrement)! And I hope his old lady is forced to stick around to have his stench become entrenched in her sinus cavities.
On a related note, crackpot socialist alcoholic Jesus-Hater Chris Hitchens writes an obituary for Alexander Haig that really raises the bar for Keith Olbermann and Bill Maher.
Update: Stop The ACLU has donned an EPA hazard suit and waded into the Toxic Waste Dump that is the Democrat Underground Message Board (DUMB) and found some more quotes from the people who think they're better than us.
- Damn... he's not dead yet.
- May Cheney live a long life - and for every day of that life may he be scourged with terrible pain and misery. May he drool his way to oblivion, and I'll be gleefully enjoying every minute of it. The guys is a total skumbag, and many of you jackassez worship him. You therefore deserve a fate no less miserable. Eff you all you pigs.
- It's always nice to start the day with good news.
- Finally, some good news to read!
- CHENEY IS THIE CENTURY'S HITLER;
- I saw the headline and eagerly read the article hoping for news of Cheney's demise. I'm seriously disappointed right now, but there is hope for the near future.
- Whatever the problem is, I hope it causes him immense pain before it kills him.
- Someone should copy the comments here and send them to Cheney in the form of a "Drop Dead Soon" card. Sign it: "From the citizens that loath you".
- I was so excited to hear that the old guy was on his way to GW in a EMS vehicle...I was so disappointed to hear that he made it there alive...bombers! Crap sure does stink long!
- Can't you just see this alleged human being doing a duck walk thru the halls at Bethesda with his big old hairy butt exposed out the back? Here's hoping that hios pain is excruciating and prolonged.
- What? I was so hoping for a long, slow, excruciatingly painful death for this boob. The same sort of death he's assured all of our children. May he never, ever rest in peace. May he suffer, suffer, suffer.
Here's the kicker... those aren't comments from the DUMB, they're from the Washington Post.
Obama's "Church of the Unholy Climate Change" Violates First Amendment
Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:59 AM
President Obama and other mindless Administration and Congressional adherents to the global warming hoax are but a few steps away from violating the First Amendment's Establishment Clause with their policies, or so suggests George F. Will.
Last week, Todd Stern, America's Special Envoy for Climate Change -- yes, there is one; and people wonder where to begin cutting government -- warned that those interested in "undermining action on climate change" will seize on "whatever tidbit they can find." Tidbits like specious science, and the absence of warming?
It is tempting to say, only half in jest, that Stern's portfolio violates the First Amendment, which forbids government from undertaking the establishment of religion. A religion is what the faith in catastrophic man-made global warming has become. It is now a tissue of assertions impervious to evidence, assertions which everything, including a historic blizzard, supposedly confirms and nothing, not even the absence of warming, can falsify.
Why invoke any jest? The behavior of warmists has all the hallmarks attributed to devout believers in any religion. Religious faith simply cannot be supported by existing science, and indeed, faith in The Climate Church simply cannot be supported by existing science. Well, that's all good and fine, as long as membership in this church is not forced upon Americans through senseless laws and ludicrous policies that will affect every single American's pocketbook, not to mention freedom.
Now, even with the notion of such "settled science" thoroughly discredited, President Obama and the high priests and priestesses of his Environmental Protection Agency continue the federal government's effort to establish climate change control based only on faith impervious to logic or reason.
All together now -- join hands and, no matter what happens or how cold it gets, chant with the high priests and priestesses: "Warming is real, and it's caused by human actions." If that's not establishing a religion -- what is it?
Anyone who still clings to the final straws of the AGW myth is a fool. Luckily there is a fool's church just for such folk. Unfortunately, it is supported by the rest of us taxpayers.
Image compliments of SK.
Kamikaze Attack on Our Healthcare System Is Still On
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:12 AM
In case anyone was under the misperception that Hopey Change has anything whatsoever to do with the consent of the governed, the moonbats controlling Washington are still trying to ram through ObamaCare, despite massive public resistance:
A mere three days before President Obama's supposedly bipartisan health-care summit, the White House yesterday released a new blueprint that Democrats say they will ram through Congress with or without Republican support. So after election defeats in Virginia, New Jersey and even Massachusetts, and amid overwhelming public opposition, Democrats have decided to give the voters what they don't want anyway.
Ah, the glory of "progressive" governance and democratic consent.
"The President's Proposal," as the 11-page White House document is headlined, is in one sense a notable achievement: It manages to take the worst of both the House and Senate bills and combine them into something more destructive. It includes more taxes, more subsidies and even less cost control than the Senate bill. And it purports to fix the special-interest favors in the Senate bill not by eliminating them — but by expanding them to everyone.
How could we possibly afford that with the economy already staggering under the burden of government debt? We can't, as Democrats well know.
Some explain the Dems' unconscionably irresponsible behavior as intergenerational theft, assuming our children and grandchildren will pick up the bill. Others refer to the Cloward-Piven strategy, the objective of which is to enable a great leap forward into coercive collectivism by causing our system to collapse under the weight of entitlement spending. Given Comrade Obama's radical background, the latter explanation is probably more accurate.
The reason Dems are willing to vote themselves out of office over healthcare is that once socialized medicine has been passed, it cannot be repealed. If ObamaCare is rammed through, America will never recover from it, just as it never recovered from the disastrous programs imposed by FDR, which continue to bleed us toward eventual bankruptcy to this day.
The difference is, the crop of socialists now in the White House don't have the patience to wait for America to bleed to death gradually. That's why Obama et al. are slashing open arteries left and farther left to make the red ink flow. Once it becomes clear that the debt can never be repaid, our currency collapses, and our savings become worthless, our helplessness will clear the path for Fundamental Change.
On a tip from Varla.
Olbermann FAIL!
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:27 AM
The Dallas Tea Party takes on race-baiting Obama-fluffer Keith Olbermann and PWNS his silly a$$.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:07 AM
Missile Defense Agency Succumbs to Obamunism
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:51 AM
Q: What do you get if you combine the Obama logo with the Islamic crescent?
A: The new logo for the Missile Defense Agency.
Unfortunately, this stylish symbolism probably does not mean that Chairman Zero has abandoned his hostility to missile defense. Why shoot down missiles when you can charm them out of the sky with lofty apologies?
Meanwhile, Iran's quest to acquire ballistic nuclear capability is going into overdrive.
Via Weasel Zippers, on a tip from Leslie D.
Will ObamaCare Abortion Funding Be Democrats' Bridge Too Far?
Posted by The MaryHunter at 7:19 AM
The abortion funding hot potato has now popped up again, in President Obama's latest, desperate attempt to get a health care reform bill passed in this Congress.
In his plan, Obama went with the abortion language that the Senate had adopted, which is less restrictive than the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. It came out of a last-minute compromise between Sens. Ben Nelson, an opponent of abortion rights, Patty Murray, and Barbara Boxer (both abortion-rights supporters).
"Any member of Congress who votes for the final legislation proposed by President Obama will be voting for direct federal funding of elective abortion ... and also an array of other pro-abortion federal subsidies and mandates," says Doug Johnson, the National Right to Life Committee's legislative director.
The abortion issue was most likely brought up again by Chairman Zero as a red herring to deflect attention from the main point of progressive healthcare reform: complete government control of our bodies and our lives. That said: with the Stupak-Pitts wording gone from Obama's tour-de-force in bipartisanship on health care, all bets are off on how many congressional Democrats would be willing to sign onto it in its current form -- meaning, just what price will be high enough as the bribes begin flying fast and furious.
To remind, here is a concise statement from Dear Leader during the campaign on his beliefs about abortion.
Hat tip: Big Government.
The Abortionist's Trophy Case
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:51 AM
An abortionist in Phildelphia --- under investigation after one of his procedures killed two people instead of just one --- was found to have over two dozen fetuses kept in glass jars in his office when it was raided by authorities.
Hat Tip: Gateway Pundit
Harry Reid: Unemployed Men Beat Their Women
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:42 AM
In arguing to borrow and spend even more enormous amounts of money on useless New New Deal boondoggles, Demoncrat Majority Leader Harry Reid said that unemployed peasants are prone to domestic violence.
"Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive. Our domestic crisis shelters in Nevada are jammed."
Another example of Demoncrats taking hostages to justify more needless spending: "Give us the dough, or the woman gets it." Also, probably as accurate as the Superbowl Domestic Violence Myth, another article of faith among people who think that the definition of "fact" is a made-up story that supports their prejudices.
If I were Mrs. Reid, I might start looking for another place to live, given Harry's re-election prospects.
Morning Briefs for Tuesday Item 3: Progressive Reporter Fired for Being Objective
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:26 AM
We aren't kidding when we call it "The Community-Based Reality."
Atlanta Progressive News has parted ways with long-serving senior staff writer Jonathan Springston. In an e-mail statement, editor Matthew Cardinale says Springston was asked to leave APN last week "because he held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News."
Hat Tip: Ace
Morning Briefs for Tuesday Item 2: Big Brother Is ... Effing Creepy
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 3:23 AM
Remember the kid who got in trouble when his school used his laptop to spy on him? Do you know what he got in trouble for? He got in trouble for eating Mike and Ikes in his bedroom. The dimbulb (and, IMHO, very creepy) school administrators who were spying on him saw him eating Mike and Ikes and claimed he was taking drugs. (Also, presumably, defying M'Chel's edicts against eating unhealthy snacks.)
Anyone who has had any interaction with public school administrators knows this is not an atypical level of stupidity.
I can't blame the parents for suing. For school administrators to be using computers to watch kids in their bedrooms is effing creepy. If NBC wants to assign a reporter to this case, may I suggest Chris Hansen?
Morning Briefs for Tuesday Item 1: Bill Maher Hates Patriots
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 3:02 AM
Progressive Left Thought Leader (because he is a celebrity with a TV show and an audience of trained left-wing seals who clap every time he reaffirms their group-think) Bill Maher referred to Tea Party Patriots concerned about the administration's reckless irresponsible spending and dangerous intrusion on individual liberties a "cult." He then went on to mindlessly chant the Obama slogan that "95% of the American people received a tax cut" under Obama.
(Demonstrably untrue, of course. Tax rates have not been reduced for anyone under Obama, so no one has really received a tax cut. The stimulus bribe was not a tax cut, it was also offset for at least 50% of the population by state and local tax increases, as well as tobacco taxes, which Obama increased.)
Then, of course, he did what all good Obama followers do to defend their leader from the criticism of heretics; he played the race card.
"I know that in their world, freedom means guns, diplomacy means weakness, elitist means reader, and socialist means black."
On cue, his audience applauded at this reaffirmation of their worldview.
February 22, 2010
Global Warming Meltdown
Posted by Dave Blount at 4:02 PM
John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, has sensibly called for Al Gore to be sued for fraud. Here he is on KUSI in San Diego sticking a fork in the remnants of Prince Albert's big scam:
Coleman's final word sums up the "crisis" nicely: fraud.
On a tip from glenwood183.
Countermoonbattery Saves a Life
Posted by Dave Blount at 1:33 PM
There's more to protesting abortion than expressing a point of view. Sometimes it saves lives, as with the child of Mechelle Hall, who pleaded guilty to second-degree assault after holding a knife to the throat of Leah Winandy for urging her not to get an abortion outside the "Building for Women" in Duluth. Hall will be getting probation without jail time, thanks in part to Leah's forgiveness, but that's not the happiest part of the story:
Hall said she decided to keep the baby after being confronted by anti-abortion protesters Leah Winandy and her mother, Sarah, on Nov. 24. She said she was stressed out and they made her realize that she didn't want to end the life she was carrying inside her.
Hall was asked if there was anything she'd like to say to the Winandys.
"Thank you for being there," she said. "If they weren't there, I probably would have gone through with it and regretted it for the rest of my life."
Her baby would have regretted it too.
Hat tip: Hot Air, on a tip from J.
But Where Was This Cynicism When We Needed It?
Posted by The MaryHunter at 11:29 AM
Sure, everyone has seen the new CNN poll that reveals three-fourths of the public are none too confident in the honesty of their elected officials, even our favorites from history.
"Part of it may be the recognition that, however much we revere them [Washington and Lincoln] today, both men were politicians, and Americans are always a little cynical about people seeking office. Part of it may also be a realistic assessment that the president sometimes has to keep things from the public," adds [CNN Polling Director Keating] Holland. "But whether it's based on cynicism or realism, or a little of both, it's an indication that Americans think that our government has been broken for many, many years."
If we are so cynical of politicians, then why why WHY did we so gleefully elect an un-tested, un-vetted, inexperienced politician as president when we knew he was all lies? For that matter: why why WHY do we keep sending those same liars back to Congress every year, if most of us believe that they're lying to us?
Message to America:
/rant
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:22 AM
Rajendra Pachauri Applies Green to the Golf Course
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:49 AM
If you thought the $30,000 power bills for Al Gore's mansion were impressive, check out Rajendra Pachauri's retreat and golf course:
The area around it is dry because water is in short supply in this region of India; nearby Gurgaon and Delhi sometimes don't have enough for drinking. But despite the allegedly melting Himalayan glaciers, there is enough water for Pachauri to piddle away 300,000 gallons a day during the summer to keep the greens looking lush.
The land was granted to Pachauri's highly profitable "nonprofit" TERI (The Energy and Resource Institute) with the stipulation that commercial exploitation is prohibited. But rules are for little people, not Rajendra Pachauri, who has been charging golfers $540 for membership.
Pachauri's tony facility also includes a cricket green and a badminton green. Speaking of green, he has enough left over after saving the world's poor from the global warming caused by capitalism to be driven around by a private chauffeur, being sensible enough to eschew the eco-friendly electric death trap provided for him.
Despite looking like he just crawled out of a refrigerator box due his unwillingness to groom himself, Pachauri is reported to spend £1,000 apiece on his fancy suits. Eco-moonbattery is a highly profitable racket.
Pachauri shared a Nobel Prize with the Goracle as head of the UN's IPCC by demanding that the rest of us revert to a medieval lifestyle on behalf of the polar bears. But being in a position to know that the global warming crisis is a deliberate hoax, there's no reason for Pachauri to inflict privations on himself.
If green gall is this outrageous now, imagine if environmentalist fat cats succeed at using Cap & Tax and Kyoto-like treaties to acquire totalitarian control over every aspect of our lives.
Hat tip: Watts Up With That? on a tip from Oiao.
Transgender Freakazoid Vomits on Susan Sarandon
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:15 AM
Sometimes we blog about serious issues like reckless spending, infringements on our freedom by the left, or the idiocy of progressive policies. And, sometimes, we come across stuff that just makes us smile. Like a drag performer vomiting on Tim Robbins's mother.
A transsexual cabaret performer named Rose Wood engaged in projectile vomiting on stage and hit (Susan) Sarandon with it.
"Apparently [Sarandon] got a big kick out of it. She squealed with surprise and loved it when several handsome gentlemen wiped it off of her. She had a ball! I saw her assistant downstairs afterward, and he was moved by it! She was in great spirits," Wood told the New York Press.
I wonder if we could get Rose Wood to reprise Marilyn Monroe at an Obama birthday party. 'Cos that would be awesome!
Hat Tip: Sondra K
Update: For all the commenters who have wondered if puking can be considered an art form:
2010 Election Bombshell: White House Has Violated Federal Election Law
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:59 AM
If Hopey Change means anything, it's that Chicago-style politics have gone national. Let's see if the whole country really wants to live with the sort of government that entails. Via The American Spectactor:
"Whoever solicits or receives … any … thing of value, in consideration of the promise of support or use of influence in obtaining for any person any appointive office or place under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both."
— 18 USC Sec. 211 — Bribery, Graft and Conflicts of Interest: Acceptance or solicitation to obtain appointive public office
"In the face of a White House denial, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak stuck to his story yesterday that the Obama administration offered him a "high-ranking" government post if he would not run against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary."
— Philadelphia Inquirer, February 19, 2010
Apparently the post offered Sestak was Secretary of the Navy.
This illegal block on behalf of the execrable Benedict Arlen isn't the Obamination Administration's first attempt to bribe fellow Dems with government posts:
In August of 2009, the Denver Post reported last September, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina "offered specific suggestions" for a job in the Obama Administration to Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff, a former state House Speaker, if Romanoff would agree to abandon a nomination challenge to U.S. Senator Michael Bennet. Bennet was appointed to the seat upon the resignation of then-Senator Ken Salazar after Salazar was appointed by Obama to serve as Secretary of the Interior. According to the Post, the specific job mentioned was in the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Post cited "several sources who described the communication to The Denver Post."
Now comes the part where we find out if we still have a government of laws, rather than a government of men. If some of the vermin currently infesting the White House end up in jail, we'll know it's the former. If this story sinks without a trace, we'll know it's the latter, compliments of the wing of the Democrat Party known as the media.
On a tip from the Knights of the Dumb Table at Blue Gold Nation.
Will to Power
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:54 AM
Doug M tells me and Powerline agrees that George Will's speech to CPAC was nothing short of amazing. So, I am embedding part of it.
Meanwhile, there seems to split opinions on Glenn Beck's keynote address. Bill Bennett and some others seem to think he was too hard on the Republican Party, others think it struck the right note for holding the Republicans' feet to the fire.
I have not heard people in the Republican Party yet admit that they have a problem. And when they do say they have a problem I don't know if I believe them. I haven't seen the come to Jesus moment of the Republican Party yet. I've voted Republicans almost every time in - every time I've gone. I - I don't know what they even stand for any more. And they've got to recognize that they have a problem. Hello! My name is the Republican Party and I've got a problem. I'm addicted to spending and big government.
Reading the complete text of the speech, I am more sympathetic to Beck's argument than to Bennett's criticism. While Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell have begun the task of cutting back their states' monstrous spending, I still haven't seen anything coherent on fiscal restraint, let alone rolling back progressivism, from the national party.
Harry Reid's Filibuster Flip Flop
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:59 AM
The filibuster was an integral part of our country's history, up until Dems took control of the Senate:
Thank you Senator Reid, for explaining why the filibuster is so important — and why the Democrat majority wants to destroy it. Reid's words back when Republicans held the Senate, from a transcript at Fox News:
…when legislation is supported by the majority of Americans, it eventually overcomes a filibuster's delay, as public protests far outweigh any senator's appetite for filibuster. But when legislation only has the support of the minority, the filibuster slows the legislation, prevents a senator from ramming it through and gives the American people enough time to join the opposition.
Mr. President, the right to extended debate is never more important than when one party controls Congress and the White House. In these cases, the filibuster serves as a check on power and preserves our limited government. …
For 200 years we've had the right to extended debate [i.e., filibuster]. It's not some procedural gimmick. It's within the vision of the founding fathers of our country. … They established a government so that no one person and no single party could have total control.
Some in this chamber want to throw out 214 years of Senate history in the quest for absolute power. They want to do away with Mr. Smith, as depicted in that great movie, being able to come to Washington. They want to do away with the filibuster. They think they're wiser than our founding fathers. I doubt that that's true.
Reid himself, on the other hand, is much wiser than the Founding Fathers.
Now if they could just use the "reconciliation" power play to quash the filibuster and ram through legislation that would ban keeping video of Democrats long enough to prove that they are completely full of BS.
On a tip from Milton.
Manbearpig Retreats Again
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:31 AM
Remember the leftist hysteria about Global Warming causing sea level rise? Remember how New York, Miami, and Berkeley were doomed --- DOOMED I tell you! --- unless the vengeful Goddess Gaia was appeased with the sacrifice of western industrial civilization on her altar?
Well. Like pretty much everything else the alarmists warned us about, it was a load.
Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings.
While I think it's possible --- indeed probable --- that humans affect micro-climates in densely populated urban areas, I think globally, we're just not much of a factor; we are at the mercy of the climate, not vice versa. And instead of destroying our techno-industrial culture to eliminate a completely harmless gas (CO2), let's look at some other more useful projects; like cleaning the garbage out of the Pacific Gyre or increasing the global supply of clean drinking water.
Speaking of Protection Rackets
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:10 AM
Internal documents from Toyota's Lobbyists show that, unlike its US competitors, Toyota understood the nature of the beast they were dealing with in the Obama administration.
Internal Toyota documents derided the Obama administration and Democratic Congress as "activist" and "not industry friendly," a revelation that comes days before the giant automaker's top executives testify on Capitol Hill amid a giant recall.
Well, duh...
And isn't it a little funny how, now that the Government owns General Motors, the regulators, Congress, and the media are all ganging up on GM's biggest competitor? Isn't this the Chicago way? Using the power of Government to help your friends (the UAW) and hurt your enemies (Toyota)? Isn't it funny that once the Government took over, GM's non-union plant in Spring Hill TN got shut down and production was moved to the union stronghold of Lansing MI?
It is also interesting that the Department of Transportation spokesperson for the Toyota matter is a former ACORN staffer implicated in voter fraud.
I don't want to sound like a conspiracy nut, but when you have a Chicago racket mob like Obama, Emmanuel, Axelrod, and LaHood combined with a Marxist media that wants Obama's nationalization strategy to succeed, and undeniable Union interests in harming non-union competitors --- let's just say every one of these entities has motive and opportunity. There doesn't have to be active collusion for them to all be working to promote a common interest.
Vladimir Putin's Protection Racket
Posted by The MaryHunter at 4:19 AM
Just when you hoped President Obama would bring in an effective New Diplomacy to bear on international despots -- no preconditions, all sweetness and light -- we instead get more inklings of a New World Order, just not the one we might find particularly orderly. The "protection" we in the West are receiving from our governments is primarily protection either from ourselves or from nonexistent threats such as the global warming hoax.
Meanwhile, the protection we are not getting from a nuclear Iran is becoming more evident every day, says Mark Steyn.
In Iran, the self-declared nuclear regime announced that it was now enriching uranium to 20 percent. When President Obama took office, the Islamic Republic had 400 centrifuges enriching up to 3.5 percent. A year later, it has 8,000 centrifuges enriching to 20 percent. The CIA director, Leon Panetta, now cautiously concedes that Iran's nuclear ambitions may have a military purpose. Which is odd, because the lavishly funded geniuses behind America's National Intelligence Estimate told us only two years ago that Tehran had ended its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Is that estimate no longer operative? And, if so, could we taxpayers get a refund?
And, who is going to benefit the most from a nuclear Iran in the face of all-talk-and-no-action Obama? Vlad the Neo-Red, that's who.
[E]ven without launching a single missile, Iran will at a stroke have transformed much of the map -- and not just in the Middle East, where the Sunni dictatorships face a choice between an unsought nuclear arms race and a future as Iranian client states. In Eastern Europe, a nuclear Iran will vastly advance Russia's plans for a de facto reconstitution of its old empire: In an unstable world, Putin will offer himself as the protection racket you can rely on. And you'd be surprised how far west "Eastern" Europe extends: Moscow's strategic view is of a continent not only energy-dependent on Russia but also security-dependent. And, when every European city is within range of Tehran and other psycho states, there'll be plenty of takers for that when the alternative is an effete and feckless Washington.
On a tip from Bergbiker.
Or, if you like: (couldn't decide which was more appropriate)
Morning Briefs for Monday Item 3: DoJ Attorneys Worked for Terrorists
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 3:53 AM
This is kind of old news, and maybe VH posted on it when I was still in one of my ether hazes, but Attorney General Eric Holder has admitted that no fewer than nine Department of Justice Attorneys have represented terrorist detainees; five representing them directly and four signing briefs on their behalf.
Some old cliche about foxes and henhouses has leaped to mind.
Morning Briefs for Monday Item 2: The Safe School Czar of 1978
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 3:48 AM
Rosalyn Carter meets serial-killer pedophile John Wayne Gacy. In addition to murdering dozens of young boys, Gacy was also a Democrat activist. And you thought Obama's associates were creepy.
Source: Digital Journal. Hat tip: Mr. Anon
Morning Briefs for Monday Item 1: The RINO Attacks
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 3:22 AM
Good Morning Right-Wing Patriots and Silly, Silly, Left-Wing Sods,
California Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggar is attacking GOP leaders for opposing the Spendulus. This is coming from a guy who defines bipartisanship by collaborating with Democrats for massive spending and tax increases that have driven his state to fiscal ruin. He has signed onto the Global Warming hoax, enacting Draconian Climate Change Regulations that have contributed to double digit unemployment in California. His approval rating stands at 27%, making him about as popular as toe fungus.
And yet some silly people think the GOP should try to be more like this guy. Meanwhile, at RedState, one of King Ahunuld's unfortunate subjects describes looking for a job in the PC Kingdom of Gullyfohnya.
Unlike opportunity in the United States, jobs in California are in fact a pie of limited size... the pie is getting smaller and smaller here almost daily.
Yeah, the GOP should totally emulate Ahnuld's "success."
February 21, 2010
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 3:15 PM
When America Has Fallen and Can't Get Up…
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:09 PM
…will be when our inept kakistocracy has seized control of the healthcare industry. Despite overwhelming public opposition, ObamaCare is still a threat to our physical and economic health. The latest ad in its support:
On a tip from TED.
Real Racism Is Scary
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:45 AM
Why is the liberal establishment so eager to convince people that Tea Parties are racist, when they clearly have nothing to do with race? In a word, the answer is projection. Color-blind conservatives are accused of "racism" precisely because they don't share the left's obsession with race. Via Western Voices World News, the videos below indicate what this obsession has been festering into among the Democrat base.
A black academic calls for the extermination of white people:
Not all racists are black supremacists. Some are brown supremacists:
It's out of racism that moonbats hate Columbus Day:
If Chairman Zero et al. succeed in causing systemic collapse with their obviously unsustainable spending, these people stand ready to capitalize on the chaos. Maybe the Weather Underground folks who launched Obama's career will find a use for the plans they laid to exterminate 25 million of us.
On a tip from Incitatus.
Obamano
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:56 AM
Tiger Woods having fallen into tabloid disgrace could open a whole field of opportunity for the Moonbat Messiah, who might make a comfy living on endorsements after he gets voted out on his conspicuously protuberant ear in 2012. It looks like he's gotten started already:
Compliments of Jeffery Wright.
The Queer Left's Answer to the Tea Parties
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:02 AM
A self-proclaimed Queer Left blogger has outlined her answer to the Tea Party movement: The Cocktail Party Movement. And its agenda is one of the most straightforward admissions of what the Progressive Left actually believes that you will ever read.
- Nationalize the banks
- Soak the rich with high taxes
- Abolish the Senate
- Abolish the Electoral College
- Free public education through college for all
- Free day care for elders and children
- National health care
- Universal accessibility
- Abolish all student loan, credit card and mortgage debt
- Withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan, shift resources to the Arts, and to an independent Haiti
- Forgiveness of all debt of developing countries
- Outlaw invidious discrimination
- Abolish prisons for all non violent crime, prioritize community rehabilitation for all crime
- Decriminalize sex work and drugs
- Open borders
- Abolish marriage
And, of course, all of this is possible because money is an infinite resource, criminals and terrorists are simply misunderstood and need to be hugged, and traditional moral values are tools of patriarchal oppression and not the result of thousands of years of Judeo-Christian experience in what works and what doesn't.
Is this satire? Browsing other posts, I am pretty sure this person is serious, and the comments indicate that these sentiments are much supported.
Hat Tip: Ace
Breitbart to Maddow: Hugs to You
Posted by The MaryHunter at 9:30 AM
The ever-eloquent, brilliantly droll Andrew Breitbart couldn't be happier with Rachel Maddow and the rest of the fawning state-run MSM. In an interview at CPAC, his polite sarcasm and cutting rhetoric fillets the Obamamedia which, with every sycophantic broadcast, validates the ascendant New Media. Toward the end of the clip, Breitbart goes into some more detail about James O'Keefe, Sen. Mary Landrieu, and the Louisiana Purchase, promising some new video on the topic.
Hat tip: NRO.
February 20, 2010
Historical Artifact: Harvey Milk's Letter to Jimmy Carter Defending Jim Jones
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:20 PM
In 1978, left-wing radical San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk --- who would later be the subject of a fawning and award-winning Sean Penn hagiography --- wrote a letter to Jimmy Carter praising Cult Leader Jim Jones, which has to rank as the all-time champion moonbat convergence. (Hat Tip: Ace)
Said Milk:
Rev. Jones is widely known in the minority communities here and elsewhere as a man of the highest character, who has undertaken constructive remedies for social problems which have been amazing in their scope and effectiveness. He is also highly regarded amongst church, labor, and civic leaders of a wide range of political persuasions. Our own Board of Supervisors has presented Rev. Jones with a Certificate of Honor, unanimously passed by all members, praising the church for its many projects "which have been so beneficial to all the citizens of the Bay Area." On the same occasion, he was also presented with a unanimously passed resolution by a Republican State Senator, Milton Marks representing that legislative body.
Jones, of course, went on to lead his followers to a mass suicide in Guyana; from which we get the expression "Kool-Aid Drinker" to describe blindly devoted followers of a political or personality cult.
One of the advantages to being a Religious Right Wingnut is you can spot a phony cult a mile away. It's the progressive lefties that always seem to get taken in by slick cult leaders, especially if there's a "minority community" angle.
Obama Expects "to Be Held Responsible" for Job Losses
Posted by The MaryHunter at 2:26 PM
And, Republicans intend to assist him in his goal.
Hat tip: Flopping Aces, on a gangsta tip from TED.
Catching Up with the Derangement Channel on a Caturday Afternoon
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 2:16 PM
Here's a few odds and ends I've failed to report in the past week.
MSDNC's Chris Matthews admits he doesn't know the meaning of the word "Patriot." Proving that he works for the right network.
Chrissy's MSDNC co-hort Ed Schultz says "Insurance companies are butchering people." I guess that's why Soylent Green is so cheap and abundant, even in these times of scarcity. He also thinks Democrats should be even more obnoxious than they already are. Where did this myth that Democrats are nice people get started?
CBS/NY Times tried to run a poll to see how viewers were responding to Chrissy, Ed, Rachel, and of course, Keith Olbermann's forays into hatred-fueled dementia. They ran into a problem. They couldn't find any people who watched them to poll.
Gee, I can't imagine why there isn't a huge audience for Rachel Maddow's new feature: Bad Partisan Poetry readings.
Caught on Video: Obama Brazenly Lying About Relationship With ACORN
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:47 AM
The way our moonbat rulers lie, you would think they had no idea that video can be preserved from one day to the next. Here's the Moonbat Messiah, formerly known as the Senator From ACORN, stating flatly that his only involvement with that shockingly corrupt voter fraud outfit was representing them regarding implementation of the Motor Voter Act:
In reality, Obama's involvement with ACORN has been as deep and as long-standing as his alliance with Bill Ayers, as has been documented here thoroughly. A few highlights, via Gateway Pundit:
One of Barack Obama's first big "community organizer" jobs involved ACORN in 1992. He worked along side ACORN before he became an elected official. Obama also trained ACORN employees. He represented ACORN in court. Obama worked with and protested with ACORN. His campaign donated $800,000 to ACORN in 2008 for voter registration efforts. … In 2009 Obama promoted a top ACORN operative, Patrick Gaspard, who's oranization was fined $775,000 for election violations, to a top post in the White House. Gespard is helping shape domestic policy today.
On a tip from Edward.
February 19, 2010
Troll Smackdown: The Movie
Posted by V the K at 7:17 PM
Geronimo Rumperstiltskin and Farmer Ted did a nice job of smacking down ZimaBaron (a.k.a. szot, a.k.a. Meh, a.k.a Arrgh! ... basically, a nic for each voice in its head) in the Elton John thread. So, with the help of extranormal and some heavy editing, I changed the thread into a movie. (Note, since there is a leftist progressive involved, I have to include a moderate language warning.)
It's not the full conversation, but I think I have captured the essence of each side's argument.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:24 PM
A Contract from America
Posted by The MaryHunter at 1:57 PM
From the "Hope for Change 2010/2012" Department: A call went out from Tea Party movement leaders directly to the grass-roots "Teabagger" activists (meant with all due respect) to create their own Contract from America. The goal is to produce a 10-item "Contract with America" - type document, but one issuing forth from We the People.
Ryan Hecker, a national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots and a member of the Houston Tea Party Society who developed the contract idea, said it "is a grassroots, bottom-up document."
Though the comparisons to Gingrich's "Contract with America" are unavoidable, Hecker said the new contract stands in stark difference to the 1994 document, especially how it originated with the people and not from elected officials. The message in the new Tea Party contract, Hecker said, is also more focused solely on economic conservatism than the one in 1994.
Hecker said more than a thousand ideas for the contract were submitted and were edited down to 20 through the help of hundreds of Tea Party activists and through a series of online surveys.
From the Daily Caller article:
A list of issues that the activists will vote on include:
- Amending the constitution to require a balanced budget and a two-thirds majority for any tax hike.
- Permanently repealing all tax hikes scheduled to begin in 2011.
- Requiring every bill in Congress to be made public seven days before any vote can be taken and all government expenditures authorized by any bill to be easily accessible on the Internet before the money is spent.
- Requiring each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does.
- Permitting all health insurance plans to be sold anywhere in the United States through the purchase of insurance across state lines. Allow small businesses and associations to pool together across state lines to buy insurance.
- Adopting a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and "replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words -- the length of the original Constitution."
- Imposing a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth.
- Allowing Americans to opt out of Social Security and Medicare and instead put those same payroll taxes in a personal account "they own, control and can leave to whomever they choose."
- Preventing any regulation or tax on the Internet.
- Improving education by eliminating ineffective and wasteful programs, giving parents more choices from pre-school to high school and improving the affordability of higher education.
- Authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition.
- Prohibiting the Federal Communications Commission from using funds to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.
- Creating a Blue Ribbon task force that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs.
- Blocking state and local governments that receive federal grants from exercising eminent domain over private property for the primary purpose of economic development or enhancement of tax revenues.
- Preventing the EPA from implementing costly new regulations.
- Placing a moratorium on all earmarks until the process is fully transparent. Also requiring a two-thirds majority to pass any earmark.
- Making all lawmaking regulators, including presidential appointed czars, be affirmatively approved by Congress and signed into law by the president.
- Audit the Federal Reserve System.
- Making sure the federal government does not bail out private companies. The government should also immediately divest itself of its stake in the private companies it owns from recent bailouts.
- Amending the constitution to require congressional term limits. No person shall be elected to the Senate more than twice or to the House of Representatives more than four times.
- Making all regulations "sunset" after 10 years unless renewed by congressional vote.
- Broadcasting all non-security meetings and votes on C-SPAN and the Internet.
We could only be so lucky if even a quarter of these points were codified into a new way of doing business -- the people's business -- in Washington.
Air Rage Guy: "Mitt Romney Used Vulcan Nerve Pinch On Me"
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 1:54 PM
Sky Blu, the rapper who was dragged off an Air Canada flight after an altercation with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, has accused the 62-year-old governor of using a "Vulcan Nerve Pinch" on him.
Blu, clad in his underwear while telling the story in a hotel room, went on to say that during the maelstrom Romney's wife screamed, he (Blu) threw in a few cuss words and that the cops didn't buy his version of the incident.
"The man assaulted me. I was protecting myself," he said.
Aw, poor widdow wapper got his ass kicked by a 62 year old Mormon.
Yeah, that's totally credible.
I've been waiting for an excuse to post this video.
Chairman 0's Theme Song
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 12:56 PM
Courtesy of El Rushbo.
Separated at Birth?
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:24 PM
Compliments of John L.
Don't Slip on the Trash on Your Way Out
Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:59 AM
Lest he not tick off our number one debt holders the Chinese, President Obama agreed to meet with the Dalai Lama in the White House, but only if he could disrespect the spiritual leader of Tibet as well.
Hat tip: Drudge, on a tip from Rush.
Racism? I'll Show You Racism
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:03 AM
The bizarre yet somehow predictable assertion on the far fringes of moonbattery that the Tea Party movement has something to do with racism isn't preventing Keith Olbermann's last few viewers from wandering off in search of someone with a clue, but that's no reason for UNC professor Jonathan Weiler not to take up the charge. When a New York Times piece showed too much subtlety in linking Tea Parties to racism, Weiler whined that
by burying the obviously ugly impulses and hatreds of many of the movement's elements, as well as bending over backwards to avoid making the salient point that one of our two major political parties is becoming a haven for racist extremism, Barstow ends up writing what amounts to a sympathetic puff piece, an Olympic-telecast-like human interest story that might as well have been placed in the style section.
True enough, one of our two major political parties is a haven for racist extremism. If you find someone who will admit having voted for Obama, they will probably also admit having voted for him because of his race. But being an unhinged moonbat, Viler probably didn't mean Democrats, although whether he was calling Republicans racists, or thinks Tea Parties constitute one of our two major political parties, or was simply duckspeaking incoherently cannot be determined.
Meanwhile, back in reality, there really is such a thing as racial hatred — right in Idaho, identified in the NY Times "whitewash" as a hotbed of racism:
Boise State's Cultural Center director, Ro Parker (photo), is at the center of campus controversy… because she put a racist illustration on her Facebook profile.
It began when Parker posted an image on Facebook. As the Boise State campus newspaper described, it's an "illustration" of "two black women, one of whom is pointing a finger in the face of a white man. He is holding his hands up in a position of semi-surrender. The caption reads 'shut the #### up, Whiteboy.'"
From Ro's bio:
Ro is the full-time Center Coordinator that works with students, departments and faculty in programming for the Cultural Center. … Her goal for the Cultural Center staff this year will be to plan programming that will raise awareness of marginalized groups, white privilege, identity and oppression.
Like many others in the liberal education establishment, Ms. Parker is paid in part by taxpayers to exacerbate racial hatred toward whites among impressionable college students.
To paraphrase Ann Coulter, if you want to know what liberals are up to, just listen to what they accuse you of.
On tips from Incitatus.
School Laptops Used as Telescreens
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:13 AM
Remember the Telescreens in Nineteen Eighty-Four? They were like TV sets, except they worked both ways: the government could see you through them, right in your own home, to make sure you weren't engaging in any political incorrectness. Once again, Orwell has served not at as a warning, but as an inspiration to the folks in charge — except in suburban Philadelphia, they use laptops:
Lower Merion School District officials used school-issued laptop computers to illegally spy on students, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
The suit, filed Tuesday, says unnamed school officials at Harriton High School in Rosemont remotely activated the webcam on a student's computer last year because the district believed he "was engaged in improper behavior in his home."
An assistant principal at Harriton confronted the student for "improper behavior" on Nov. 11 and cited a photograph taken by the webcam as evidence. …
The district has issued school-owned laptops to 2,290 high school students, starting last school year at Harriton, in an effort to promote more "engaged and active learning and enhanced student achievement," superintendent Christopher W. McGinley said in a message on the district website.
The lesson is driven home once again: don't take candy from strangers or free goodies from Big Government.
On a tip from NR.
America the Ungovernable?
Posted by The MaryHunter at 7:35 AM
Charles Krauthammer observes that the moaning from lefty talking heads about how ungovernable America has become due to partisan bickering (meaning, it's the fault of the Republicans) is simply a recapitulation of what we heard form the chattering class during the dark days of the failed Carter presidency. It's not the nation that is ungovernable, argues Krauthammer, it is a lack of presidential leadership that prevents the nation from being governed.
The tyranny of entitlements? Reagan collaborated with Tip O'Neill, the legendary Democratic House speaker, to establish the Alan Greenspan commission that kept Social Security solvent for a quarter-century.
A corrupted system of taxation? Reagan worked with liberal Democrat Bill Bradley to craft a legislative miracle: tax reform that eliminated dozens of loopholes and slashed rates across the board -- and fueled two decades of economic growth.
Later, a highly skilled Democratic president, Bill Clinton, successfully tackled another supposedly intractable problem: the culture of intergenerational dependency. He collaborated with another House speaker, Newt Gingrich, to produce the single most successful social reform of our time, the abolition of welfare as an entitlement.
It turned out that the country's problems were not problems of structure but of leadership. Reagan and Clinton had it. Carter didn't. Under a president with extensive executive experience, good political skills and an ideological compass in tune with the public, the country was indeed governable.
History appears to be in full Carter-repeat mode with Obama, thanks to a sleepwalking electorate lulled into Hopeychange by an empty suit with a teleprompter. But Americans are actually waking up sooner this time to the utter failure of this presidency, and it's not only reflected in the polls. Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts bear out in the voting booth that which we dedicated conservative patriots already knew: the scourge of this nation that is Obama (and Reid and Pelosi) must be, and can be, rejected. Our proud country, despite its faults, deserves so much more than this.
CBS Poll Confirms: Obama Is Total Failure
Posted by Dave Blount at 7:17 AM
A good, solid B+? That's not what his subjects say. The libs at CBS News gave the public a chance to grade the community activist they helped install in office. The results should reassure Jimmy Carter that he won't be known as our worst president for much longer. A plurality is giving The Anointed One an F in every single category:
The Economy
F: 70.22%
Foreign Policy
F: 61.66%
Health Care
F: 81.49%
Afghanistan
F: 31.32%
Iraq
F: 35.72%
Threat of Terrorism
F: 65.35%
Energy and the Environment
F: 59.00%
Social Issues
F: 57.46%
Bipartisanship
F: 80.65%
Obama's Overall Job as President
F: 63.22%
Did I mention that the poll is at CBS News? It looks like even liberals are figuring out that Obama's election was a catastrophe.
Maybe Affirmative Action shouldn't be applied to picking presidents after all.
On tips from TED and LouieLouie.
Morning Briefs for Friday Item 3: Shut Up and Don't Sing
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:05 AM
Noted sodomite Elton John is claiming that Jesus Christ was a "super-intelligent gay man." I am sure Lady Elton knows at least as much about Theology as Andrew Sullivan knows about obstetrics and gynecology.
Morning Briefs for Friday Item 2: Republican Governors Doing it Right
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:38 AM
While Dear Reader's commitment to "fiscal responsibility" consists of jacking domestic spending 24% and calling it a "freeze," pushing a multi-trillion dollar health care entitlement, and then appointing a toothless, symbolic "National Commission on Fiscal Responsibilty and Reform" (try not to spew coffee on your monitor when you laugh at that title), newly elected Republican governors Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell are doing the hard work of cutting the fat from their state budgets.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has cut more than 475 budget line items, especially hitting the bloated education and public transit bureaucracies. Go, fat man, go!
Virgnia's Bob McDonnell has cut over a billion dollars from his state's bloated education and health care bureaucracies, and ordered state bureaucrats to take a mandatory five days unpaid leave.
And as a special added bonus, the Republican Virginia Senate has passed a law allowing concealed carry in bars and restaurants.
Yes, these cuts are tough, but they are realistic. Governments simply can not keep taxing and spending like there was no tomorrow. Of course, people who don't live in reality have a different opinion. (Read the comments on the McDonnell article and you'll see what I mean.)
Posted by SHANAY on February 17, 2010 at 10:50 pmWell, well, well!!!! What a shock and a surprise! Our new governor would rather support drunks in bars with guns than disabled children and a child's education!!!! If I did not live in Virginia, I would be saying the state deserves this for voting like idiots (Richmond Times Dispatch included) but unfortunately my child is a part of this school system. You wanted so bad to prove a point to our President and you screw yourself in the process!!! Where is Sarah Palin when you need her??? If she is really who she says she is, she would not support this either (for all you TEA PARTY perpetrators/con artists/liars/racists)!!!!!!!
Morning Briefs for Friday Item 1: Did We Call It, or What?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:09 AM
Good Morning Right-Wing Patriots and Left-Wing Twits,
I repeat, did we call this one or what? Despite the fact that he left behind a rambling manifesto against big business, the Catholic Church, banks, and George W. Bush... the MSM are dutifully following the lead of the Kosturds and trying to link Joseph Andrew Stack to the Tea Party movement.
- Washing Post columnist Jonathan Capehart:"I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we're hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement."
- New York Magazine: "In fact, a lot of his rhetoric could have been taken directly from a handwritten sign at a tea party rally."
- Time Magazine includes in its discussion of Mr. Stack's motives, a hyperlink to a story about the Tea Party Movement.
Amy Bishop was much more embedded in the Hope and Change cult than Stack was with the tea party movement, but the media have been quick to portray her as an oddball loner, with nary a mention of he love for Obama.
February 18, 2010
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 5:38 PM
Commie Tunes
Posted by Dave Blount at 5:30 PM
Thanks for the laughs, libs!
Via CommieBlaster, on a tip from American Citizen.
This Image May Be Offensive to Moonbats
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 4:51 PM
This is the helmet that so offended the IOC, as well as some of our moonbat commenters. (Apparently, to the Progressive Left, the slogan "Support the Troops" is morally equivalent to "Death to America" or "Socialism or Death.")
More offensive images below the jump. (Hat tip: TED) (Photos: AP/AFP/Reuters)
What If…
Posted by Dave Blount at 1:52 PM
…Lisa Simpson aged, yet she never outgrew her liberal beliefs? If the years were unkind, one day she might come to look like this:
Compliments of SteveMelp.
A Note From Nancy
Posted by Dave Blount at 11:54 AM
In honor of yesterday's anniversary of the Porkulus outrage, an alleged "stimulus" bill that virtually everyone agrees stimulated nothing but the national debt, Nasty Pelousy has released a memo to those wondering when Dems will stop driving up unemployment:
Many of you have been asking, "Where are the jobs?" But what you fail to realize is no one needs a job when the federal government takes care of you.
A few years ago when Republicans were in control of Congress, we all needed a job, because the government was not trying to control all aspects of your personal and professional life.
But don't worry! Democrats are in control now, and we are making everything better. Want to know how? We are creating a dependence on the government and we are succeeding — just look at how great things are one year after Democrats passed the ultra-successful stimulus bill. …
Our stimulus plan has been so successful that we are using taxpayer money to fly Democrats all around the country today to make sure people know just how successful we have been. We have even been able to schedule these meetings during the day since so many people have free time on their hands.
Thanks, Nancy. I feel better now.
On a tip from John R.
The Kamikaze Douche's Manifesto
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 11:49 AM
You just know that all the hosts at MSDNC are salivating at the prospect of tying the guy who flew a plane into a Federal Building in Texas to Conservatives or the Tea Party Movement. (Just the way the left lied about ... and have not retracted ... the story of the census worker in Kentucky whom they alleged was murdered by anti-government conservatives.)
The Dumbasses at Kos are already calling this "teabagger terrorism." However, that contention is not supported by the Manifesto that Joseph Andrew Stack, the kamikaze pilot, left behind. If the manifesto is legit, then a few selected out-takes should dispel the notion that this guy was any kind of Tea Partier.
...the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple...
The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count.
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
His manifesto is rambling and disjointed. Someone from the left could just as easily cherry-pick passages to claim he was no left-winger. (And they will.) But any fair analysis would conclude Joseph Andrew Stack hated the government, the banks, big business, the Catholic church, life, and himself. He was an anarchist and a nutjob. Despite what Keith, Chrissy, Ed, and Kyle will claim tonight... he was not a conservative.
Update: I changed the title because the commenters are right; Joseph Andrew Stack was no Texan.
So far, it appears he only managed to kill himself. Prayers of gratitude should be said for the lives that were spared. You might also pray that his family will be comforted.
Hat Tip: Ace
Face of Hope
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:42 AM
Can you name this devoted Obamunist? She's made quite a splash lately:
Compliments of John L; links compliments of Henry.
Another Progressive Heroine Brought Down by The Man
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:36 AM
Crystal Mangum became a heroine to progressives everywhere when she falsely accused four Duke University Lacrosse players of rape. Eighty-eight distinguished progressive faculty members showed their devotion to fairness and equality by declaring the men guilty without trial. And, of course, when the men were exonerated, the faculty refused to apologize and whined about their victimhood because people had criticized them.
Well, Crystal Mangum is in trouble again.
Durham police arrested Duke lacrosse accuser Crystal Gale Mangum, 33, late Wednesday after she allegedly assaulted her boyfriend, set his clothes on fire in a bathtub and threatened to stab him.
I am sure it was all for the Glory of the Proletariat.
Is She Kidding Or Not?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:34 AM
Life is unfair. Progressives hate that some people, by accident of birth, have more wealth and privilege; despite progressives best efforts to impoverish everybody. New Republic writer Rachel Gurstein proposes a suitably radical solution.
How about redistributing babies at birth, a kind of big baby lottery? Since it is a matter of sheer luck whether one is born into a rich family and then, as a birth-right, is entitled to first-class housing, top-flight health insurance, excellent schools, and, if need be, the best attorneys money can buy, or whether one is born into a poor or middle-class family and not be assured of getting any of these amenities, why not give rational order to what has been a wildly haphazard and obviously unjust state of affairs?
One hopes she is being satirical, but it is hard to tell since her plan is no more insane than other progressive ideas, such as forcing banks to give out mortgages to people who can't pay them back, paying schools more if their students fail, destroying western capitalism in service of a climate scam, giving Constitutional Rights to foreign terrorists, or giving Ed Schultz a TV show.
Less than 2% of Overall Congressional Spending
Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:11 AM
And the question is: "What proportion of congressional spending was the result of earmarks in fiscal year 2010?" Only less than 2%. And there's more good news: the number of earmarks has come down from fiscal 2009 as well! (even if the total amount went up a bit)
For fiscal 2010, Congress included 9,413 earmarks in the annual appropriations bills that fund the federal government, down from 10,363 in 2009, according to a report released Wednesday by Taxpayers for Common Sense, an independent watchdog dedicated to rooting out waste. Those earmarks accounted for $15.9 billion, up from $15.6 billion the previous year, the group found. That represents less than 2 percent of overall spending appropriated by Congress each year.
So, it's NOT really a BIG DEAL, all this pork. However, if you are among the snippy folk who are offended by the notion of pork-barrel spending in a time of skyrocketing deficits and unimaginable unfunded mandates, here are a few Champions of Pork:
Senate*
Thad Cochran (R-Miss.): $497,591,000 (242 projects)
Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii): $392,432,850 (158)
Roger Wicker (R-Miss.): $368,039,000 (163)
Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.): $292,014,000 (96)
Tom Harkin (D-Iowa): $267,589,200 (194)
House
Bill Young (R-Fla.): $90,450,000 (41 projects)
Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.): $82,694,000 (51)
John Murtha (D-Pa.): $82,443,000 (34)
Harold Rogers (R-Ky.): $68,309,000 (36)
David Obey (D-Wisc.): $55,435,000 (54)
*Includes projects that senators served as lead sponsor but also shared credit with other lawmakers. House totals are for earmarks in which lawmaker secured them solely on his own.
And, the representation of Republicans among the porksters above is slightly higher than the overall percentage:
With fewer Republicans pursuing the line items, they accounted for 34 percent of the dollar value of earmarks dished out on a partisan basis, down from 43 percent in 2008.
In a time when trillion has become a part of our active lexicon, it's easy to lose sight of just how very much a billion is. When our children begin paying a phenomenal amount of interest every day on this "only 2%" plus the remaining 98%, they will be cursing our current leaders to the end of their days.
Congress Moves to Impose Homosexual Brainwashing of Children
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:01 AM
Situating a perverted creep like Kevin Jennings as the "Safe Schools Czar" is only the first step in bringing Hopey Change to primary education. Next, our liberal rulers need to pass the proper legislation to support the indoctrination of small children with homosexual propaganda. This legislation is known as HR 4530.
The ostensible purpose is to prevent "discrimination" against homosexual children. Since most children are too young to be homosexual, the real objective must be something else — namely:
The purpose of this bill is not what is being stated, but is quite simply to mandate in public schools one acceptable viewpoint on the issue of homosexuality, using purported violence or harassment as the rationale, and the power of the feds as the hammer. … In summary, this is an attempt to promote sexual deviance and its expression and silence those who want to protect children from such corruption.
As with everything coming out of Washington lately, another goal is to weaken federalism and consolidate increasingly intrusive centralized power.
Federal governmental intrusion and sweeping new unregulated powers in what are local and state matters are proposed in this bill. Enforcement will primarily be through federal agencies, which will craft new regulations to back up this bill's provisions with the President's approval.
But the main point of the bill is to facilitate the brainwashing of small children with the progressive kakistocracy's depraved sexual agenda, suppressing any speech deemed unsupportive of homosexual deviancy. As Jim Hoft puts it:
In other words, if you oppose radical sexual material detailing sex between first graders or promoting S&M but the Safe Schools Czar or some other official believes it is appropriate — tough. If you disagree with books romanticizing child rape or books with pictures of men having sex — tough. If you oppose weekend student-teacher seminars with fisting lectures and gay bar guides — tough. If government officials want to promote this in your child's classroom then you'll just have to get used to it.
On a tip from J.
Hippies Go BANANAs Over New Facebook Data Center
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:00 AM
The basic principle of the environmental left is BANANA: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody. Facebook --- the social networking site that advances society by letting you join a group that strives to make a goat more popular than Barack Obama --- is building an extremely environmentally-friendly data center in the Hippie-infested state of Oregon. The data center will be built to maximize energy efficiency, recycling server heat to warm the building, and cycling cool air from outside to cool the building. It will employ 35 people in a state with some of the worst unemployment in the country.
Environmentalist hippie progressives are unhappy, as usual, because the building's electricity is generated from coal, instead of the preferred enviro-left energy source: unicorn farts.
We hear whines from the left constantly that right-wing religion beliefs are keeping the USA technologically backward, but it's clear the real people holding us back are left-wing Gaia worshipers and fanatical devotees of the discredited Global Warming hoax.
Statists Indulge in Crisis Fantasy
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:07 AM
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste," top Obama henchman Rahm "Dead Fish" Emanuel advises. "What I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
Rahm's fellow statists rub their hands with glee as they imagine the opportunities for expanding still further the intolerably intrusive powers of the federal government that future crises might present. For example, a massive cyber attack would be damaging enough — but the response to it could be scarier still:
What if a crippling attack struck the country's digital infrastructure? …10 former White House advisors and other top officials joined forces Tuesday in a rare public cyber war game designed to highlight the potential vulnerability of the nation's digital infrastructure to crippling attack.
The results were hardly reassuring.
"We're in uncharted territory here," was the most common refrain during a three-hour simulated crisis meeting of the National Security Council, the crux of the Cyber Shockwave exercise.
Joe Lockhart, former press secretary to President Clinton, urged his fellow panelists to be bold. …
The panelists apparently took him to heart and, as the scenario unfolded, tossed out ways to maintain order — including nationalizing industries, rationing fuel and snatching suspects overseas.
It's a totalitarian's fantasy scenario.
Stewart Baker, former general counsel of the National Security Agency, said the White House should shut down cellphone networks even if no law specifically allowed it.
"We will be criticized if we don't do everything we can," said Baker, who played national cyber coordinator. "We can straighten out the [legal] authorities over time."
Chertoff later asked if the military could help. "I don't want to seem like a legal Nervous Nellie," he said. …
Frances Fragos Townsend, who served as counter-terrorism advisor in the George W. Bush White House, called for rationing of gasoline and other crucial supplies if necessary.
At least there was a little comic relief in the Foggy Bottom style:
John D. Negroponte, who spent most of his career as a diplomat before becoming the first director of national intelligence, urged a diplomatic approach. "We've got to sit down with these people," he said [referring to the imaginary saboteurs who brought the system down].
But back to the scary stuff…
John McLaughlin, who was deputy director of the CIA during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, suggested maximizing use of intelligence assets — and perhaps nationalizing electric power companies.
"We can turn the [National Security Agency] loose on this problem, and gather tons and tons of information, gigabytes beyond imagination," he promised.
In the end, no grand plan emerged, but the group did agree to advise the president to federalize the National Guard, even if governors objected, and deploy the troops — perhaps backed by the U.S. military — to guard power lines and prevent unrest.
A crisis that provides this many opportunities might be too good for Big Government to wait for someone else to cause. But if this is still America despite the Hopey Change, attempting to federalize the National Guard could cause more unrest than it prevents.
On a tip from Lyle.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 7:39 AM
Counter-Moonbattery: The Mount Vernon Statement
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:49 AM
Real hope and change from the Tea Party movement and the Conservative Right. The Mount Vernon Statement was signed yesterday at the home of dead white slave-owner George Washington by a coalition of social, economic, and national-security conservatives.
The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.
- It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.
- It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.
- It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.
- It supports America's national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.
- It informs conservatism's firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.
Go the web page and sign it.
Morning Briefs For Thursday Item 3: Amy Bishop, Bad Marxist
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:40 AM
As blogger Apotheosis points out, as far as Marxist murderers go, Amy Bishop is a piker. She only killed four people. To really show that you're down with the struggle, you need a much more impressive body count than that.
Compare her measly body count with the thousands butchered by leftist icons Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Shooting a teenager and four professors was something Che did before breakfast.
And then there are the tens of million killed by Anita Dunn's hero Chairman Mao, and the tens of millions butchered by Stalin as the New York Times scoffed, "You have to break a few eggs if you are going to make an omelet." And then there's Pol Pot, who only slaughtered two or three million people while American leftists high-fived each other at cocaine parties because they got the US out of southeast Asia.
And then there are leftists environmentalists like Rachel Carson, whose ban on DDT has led to as many as ninety-six million deaths from malaria; mostly children. Even Stalin and Mao must be impressed by those numbers.
Obama's mentor Bill Ayers was foiled in his attempt to nail bomb soldiers at Fort Dix, but at least he and his fellow Marxists in the Weather Underground had active plans to murder 25 million Americans once they took over. Perhaps this is what he meant when he lamented that he didn't do enough; too much planning, not enough follow through.
It's rumored that the reason Bishop murdered those people was because she was denied tenure. The blood on her hands is definitely a resume-enhancer. At her trial, she should blame capitalism. She can apply to the University of Illinois when she gets out of jail.
Morning Briefs for Thursday Item 2: SFW
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:25 AM
Let's check out the latest left-wing hate speech. First, Bill Maher spews some hate against Sarah Palin, the FoxNews audience, and kids with Down's Syndrome.
"Sarah Palin agreed to do commentary at Fox News. Which is actually very similar to her day job — talking to a baby with Down Syndrome."
As classy as he is handsome. Meanwhile, Keith Olberman is still bitch-slapping the dead donkey of "Where are the Black Faces at Tea Parties?" He's been on this for, what, every night this week? TMH refutes the idea in an earlier post, but I have to ask... What if there really were no blacks at tea parties? So Flippin' What? Would that make the tea-party message of fiscal responsibility and limited Constitutional government any less salient?
(Meanwhile, in the real world, a fanatically racist black juror has caused a mistrial in a Detroit corruption trial.)
Also, Olbie, showing his typical class and whip-smart debating skills, called Rush Limbaugh "bald, morbidly obese, and uses other people's Viagra." It's fun that the leading minds of the left and the dumbest comment trolls have virtually indistinguishable arguments.
Update: Olbermann versus the Dramatic Chipmunk
Morning Briefs For Thursday Item 1: Dissident Commentary
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:12 AM
Good Morning Smart Patriots, Good Morning Dumb Lefties Who Won't Comment on Any Thread Unless it mentions Sarah Palin or a Teleprompter,
Chairman Zero and his henchmen were bragging yesterday about how their "Stimulus" had created or saved two million jobs, and their propagandists in the mainstream media dutifully echoed the point. But in the real world, real unemployment is at 17%, and everybody knows the "Stimulus" was wasted to prop up unionized public employees.
They might as well be Soviet Kommissarrs proclaiming the success of the wheat harvest while buying grain from the USA.
February 17, 2010
Still Looking for Those Black Faces
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:47 PM
The gut-wrenchingly vile Keith Olbermann demands that Tea Partiers explain, "Where are all the black faces?" Hardly being likely to participate in something as patriotic as a Tea Party, and no doubt getting his news from his own network, Olbermann may actually believe his own unhinged rhetoric that Tea Parties are white supremacist rallies. After all, from the point of view of a liberal, everything is about race — and if you don't agree, you're a racist.
But as mentioned earlier, it's easier to find black faces at Tea Parties than it is among Olbermann's moonbatty NBC colleagues:
In response to the demand, here you go, Queef — taken by Varla at Tea Parties in Phoenix and Tucson:
But you wanted black faces. Will this guy do? Look quick before your own network edits his skin out:
American values must have some validity after all, now that we know that non-Caucasians believe in them.
Does This Mean We Can Send Him Back?
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:19 PM
From the Sudanese border:
Compliments of Henry.
Democrat Smear Machine Taking Aim at Tea Parties
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 1:33 PM
Progressive leftists can't win arguments on points, so they have to smear their opposition. Under the direction of the Clintons, the Democrat Party is preparing to smear the leaders of the Tea Party movement.
Big Government has learned that Clintonistas are plotting a "push/pull" strategy. They plan to identify 7-8 national figures active in the tea party movement and engage in deep opposition research on them. If possible, they will identify one or two they can perhaps 'turn', either with money or threats, to create a mole in the movement. The others will be subjected to a full-on smear campaign. (Has MSNBC already been notified?)
Big Government has also learned that James Carville will head up the effort.
Yeah, it's disgusting. But that's how they roll.
Three More Forks Stuck into Global Warming
Posted by The MaryHunter at 12:45 PM
More and more folks are peeling the scales from their eyes and seeing the global warming/climate change hoax for exactly what it is. The latest: three major coroporations have said "go blow" to Al Gore's scam.
The sudden pullout of three corporate giants from a leading alliance of businesses and environmental groups could be the death knell for climate change legislation languishing on Capitol Hill.
ConocoPhillips, BP America and Caterpillar's announced Tuesday they will pull out of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, citing complaints that the bills now in Congress are unfair to American industry.
The story continues with some CYA verbiage from corporate executives. And, the alliance brushes off this loss, even boasting that it expects to add new members in the coming months. However, in the real world, rats usually tend to escape from a sinking ship, not jump onto it.
The message of the ConocoPhillips, BP America, and Caterpillar pull-out is clear: We don't want to risk our businesses on a conspiracy built by liars and huxsters who consider believers as malleable rubes. Cap-and-Trade is simply Crap-and-Tax, and would be the death knell for businesses and the economy.
On a chilly tip from mandible claw.
Two Women and Their Dogs
Posted by The MaryHunter at 11:20 AM
Sarah Palin's dog.
Nancy Pelosi's dog.
On a vicious tip from nancz.
Crow Nation Throws Tea Party
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:26 AM
David Axelrot isn't going to like this:
Calling for new tribal leadership and a break from the federal government, founders of the first Crow Indian Tea Party movement rallied Monday in Hardin [Montana].
Leading the new Crow Nation Tea Party was Adrian Bird Sr., a former tribal chairman candidate who recently filed a civil complaint against the Crow executive branch alleging malfeasance for mismanaging tribal funds.
Bird, his wife, Lavanna, and fellow Tea Party founder Karmelita Plains Bull Martin are seeking to impeach the tribe's four executives and take the Indian government in a different direction. … Bird said the tribe would be better off if it developed the natural resources on the reservation, lived by tribal laws and declined federal government assistance.
Don't these folks know that liberty, self-reliance, and fiscal responsibility are tools of the paleface oppressor? Comrade Obama just isn't getting the message out.
On a tip from Edward. Hat tip: Gateway Pundit.
Rachel Maddow Is a Rather Dishonest Fellow - Continued
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:11 AM
In her zeal to attack Glenn Beck, MSDNC host Rachel Maddow cut and edited a clip from his radio program in order to call him a liar (or, at least, to distort the point he was trying to make). (This is how leftists "debate," by the way. They don't present arguments, they attack their opponents. In this case, dishonestly.) She claimed Glenn Beck was claiming that claimed the pair of snowstorms that hit the East Coast last week disproved Global Warming. Mr. Maddow left out from the clip the part when Beck said "How many times have I said both for hurricanes and no hurricane, this doesn't, one storm, one storm does not prove anything?"
So, Mr. Beck challenged her to play the clip in its entirety. Instead, Mr. Maddow spent nine minutes on her MSDNC program calling Glenn Beck a liar and claiming she didn't really care about his opinion, without ever playing the unedited part of the clip which contradicted what she claimed he said.
This is not the first time Mr. Maddow has distorted the truth in order to service a left-wing point of view, in 2009, Maddow falsely claimed that Democrats had been banned from Liberty University.
Governor Paterson's Right-Hand Man Is Abusive Ex-Con
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:56 AM
Chairman Zero isn't the only of our moonbat rulers to surround himself with highly questionable characters. Not even the New York Slimes seems to like the smell emanating from Governor David Paterson's right-hand man:
David W. Johnson has worked for Gov. David A. Paterson for much of his adult life. He began as a young, ambitious intern from Harlem when Mr. Paterson was a state legislator. He rose to be Mr. Paterson's driver, serving as a kind of protector and scheduler.
In recent months, however, Mr. Johnson's ascent has been striking: he is now one of the most senior people in the governor's administration, paid $132,000. He is described as Mr. Paterson's closest confidant, a man with a designated room for his overnight stays in the Executive Mansion, and a broadening role in areas like campaign strategy, government initiatives and the management of the governor's staff.
A review of Mr. Johnson's rise and his history, undertaken after he emerged as perhaps the man closest to the state's chief executive, shows that he was twice arrested on felony drug charges as a teenager, including a charge of selling [crack] cocaine to an undercover officer in Harlem [at age 18; he could have gotten 25 years].
The examination of his background, based on interviews and records, shows he has at least one other arrest, for misdemeanor assault in the 1990s, although there is very little publicly available about that case. …
Mr. Johnson, 37, has also on three occasions been involved in altercations with women, two of which led to calls to the police. As recently as October, the police responded to a complaint of harassment at a Bronx address of a woman involved with him. …
In 2001, when Mr. Paterson was a state senator, Mr. Johnson, according to a person who was present, punched a girlfriend outside the senator's Harlem office.
I don't know what the big deal is about Johnson being a former crack dealer. After all, Comrade Obama has publicly boasted about his cocaine use, and was possibly involved in smuggling heroin from southwestern Asia during his mysterious college days. Look what a marvelous president he's turned out to be.
At least we don't have to worry about Chairman Zero abusing women. His Bitter Half would lay him out on the floor. Johnson, on the other hand, is 6'7" and started working for Paterson essentially as muscle.
On a tip from Wiggins.
How's That Hopey Change Working for You?
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:15 AM
The "Miss Me Yet" billboard in Minnesota has some company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa:
Not to worry, folks. Chairman Zero has been on TV assuring us that he's created or saved millions and millions of jobs. If we could just find a way to pass through into the alternate reality our rulers inhabit, we would all be employed.
On tips from TED and Shep.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:52 AM
National Security Deputy Sucks Up to Pro-Terrorist Imam
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:28 AM
If only believing that a 20% recidivism rate for the terrorist maniacs whirling through the revolving door at Club Gitmo isn't bad were the only moonbattery recently served up by Obama's national security deputy John Brennan. While duckspeaking last week before Islamic law students at New York University, Brennan welcomed a question from Omar Shahin, self-identified as the head of the "North American Imams Federation." We know Shahin as the ringleader of the Flying Imams, who deliberately terrorized airline passengers into thinking another 9/11-style attack was underway, as part of a campaign to undermine anti-terror defenses. Shahin has boasted of planning to arrange "many, many cases" with a similar objective. He also runs the Tucson Islamic Center, where he preaches that sharia takes precedence over the laws of us infidels. Shahin denies that Muslims had anything to do with 9/11, leaving George Bush as the probable perpetrator.
The Jordanian native presented Brennan with a tediously familiar and nauseatingly phony pose:
"We came to this country to enjoy freedom. We feel that since September 11, we aren't enjoying these values anymore… Also, we feel that there's a big lack of trust between Muslims' community and our government… My question: Is there anything being done by our government to rebuild this trust?"
Sure: there's been lots and lots of politically correct groveling. Take it away, Michelle Malkin:
Instead of countering the narrative, exposing Shahin's true intentions, and vigorously defending America's homeland security apparatus, Brennan dutifully genuflected to the gods of political correctness. President Obama, he told the militant 9/11 inside-jobber and jihad white-washer, is "determined to put America on a strong course."
No, not a "strong course" that includes national security profiling of Islamic radicals pretending they care about our country's best interests. By "strong course," Brennan assured Shahin, he meant a course towards assuaging the civil rights groups who have objected to every security program at airports, borders, train stations, and visa offices for the past nine years.
Brennan told Shahin that the post-9/11 response of the Bush administration was a "reaction some people might say was over the top in some areas" (insert indignant grievance-monger nodding and mmm-hmm-ing here) and that "in an overabundance of caution [we] implemented a number of security measures and activities that upon reflection now we look back after the heat of the battle has died down a bit we say they were excessive, okay."
It gets worse: Brennan then went on to decry the "ignorant feelings" of Americans outraged at the jihadi attacks on American soil. And then he told Shahin and the audience of Muslim students that he "was very concerned after the attack in Fort Hood as well as the December 25 attack that all of sudden there were people who went back into this fearful position that lashed out not thinking through what was reasonable and appropriate."
The Fort Hood jihadist slaughtered 14 innocent [Americans including] an unborn baby after an Army career openly threatening the lives of our soldiers and Brennan is wringing his hands about the rest of us "lashing out" over government incompetence. He believes our true sin is not in the systemic underreacting by the military, homeland security, intel, and White House officials in charge, but in the "overreacting" of the American public.
With clueless capitulationists like Brennan in charge of our safety, who needs enemies?
No one who was paying any attention at all thought Comrade Obama or the moonbats he would be sure to appoint would lift a finger to defend us from Islamic terrorists. Apparently the idea was that if you signal weakness and submission to the bully, the bully will leave you alone. When the next 9/11 inevitably happens, every last fool who voted for Obama won't just have blood on their hands; they'll be drenched in blood.
On a tip from Edward.
The Bankruptcy of the Progressive Welfare State Model Is at Hand
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:55 AM
There is a very good editorial in the WSJ today. Let me choose a few choice bits to share with you before you go on and read the whole thing… which you should do.
Far from offering new ideas to reform the welfare state or compete better against rising global powers, Democrats have with rare exception tried to impose the same spending, tax and regulatory agenda that failed in the 1960s, 1970s and 1990s.
Medicare is heading toward bankruptcy, yet Mr. Obama's response is to make the entire health-care system like Medicare.
Otto von Bismarck's entitlement state for cradle to grave financial security is no longer affordable. The model has reached the limit of its ability to tax private income and still allow enough economic growth to finance its transfer payments.
You can see this in bankrupt Greece, where government spends 52% of GDP; or in California and New York, where the government-employee unions have pushed tax rates to punishing levels and the states still can't pay their bills. Americans can see that this is where Mr. Obama's agenda is also taking Washington, and this is why they are rejecting it.
Go ahead, read the whole thing. You know you want to.
Plugs Biden Is an Idjit
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:32 AM
Our VP is so stupid he not only thinks "JOBS" is a three-letter word, he also thinks "working" is a three-syllable word.
"Workinguh." That's right, he said "workinguh." And if the stimulusuh is really workinguh, that means it was actually intended to explode the deficituh and bailoutuh the unionizeduh bureaucrats who have been the primary beneficiaries of the funds expended so far.
Morning Briefs for Odin's Day Item 5: Would You Like Some Cheese to Go With That Whine, Mr. Capehart?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:00 AM
WaPo columnist Jonathan Capehart joins the chorus of liberals distraught at the departure of Indiana tower-of-blandness Evan Bayh from the senate.
Bayh's departure should be a shock to Democrats and Republicans alike because it could mean that the collegiality that was once the hallmark of the Senate is dead.
"Collegiality" sounds like another leftist codeword for "Republicans should roll over and let the Democrats impose their progressive, statist agenda."
Morning Briefs for Odin's Day Item 4: Just How Many Forks Can We Stick Into AGW?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:53 AM
OK, at this point, only the most fanatical and clueless still believe that our planet is doomed because of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) brought on by CO2 emissions which result from Western-style free markets and representative government. But just to jam another fork into that turkey, I note that Lake Erie is completely frozen over.
Also, AGW causes San Francisco to become foggier, except when it causes it to be less foggy.
Also, the UN underestimated the growth of Antarctic sea ice by 50%. Oops. And the collapsing ice shelf that was another talking point for the cult of Manbearpig was probably caused by unusual wave activity, not AGW.
Morning Briefs for Odin's Day Item 3: How Is This Woman NOT a Senator From Massachusetts?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:43 AM
The Amy Bishop saga grows ever more bizarre. We know she was a fanatical Obama cultie, that she shot and killed her brother and got off with the help of a Massachusetts congressman, that she went on to gun down six of her colleagues at the University of Alabama. Now, we learn about her going nuts in an IHOP.
In March, 2002, Bishop walked into an International House of Pancakes in Peabody with her family, asked for a booster seat for one of her children, and learned the last seat had gone to another mother.
Bishop, according to a police report, strode over to the other woman, demanded the seat and launched into a profanity-laced rant.
When the woman would not give the seat up, Bishop punched her in the head, all the while yelling "I am Dr. Amy Bishop."
IOW: "Do you know who I am?"
How did the Massachusetts Democrat Party miss this gem of a candidate?
Morning Briefs for Odin's Day Item 2: Bitter, Party of Two, Your Table Is Ready
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:33 AM
You probably don't want to watch two fat, unattractive, unlikeable women bitch for five minutes ten seconds about people who are far more popular and successful than they are, but if you do, check below the jump.
Newsbusters provides a partial transcript for those who are interested or not masochistic enough to watch the viddy.
Morning Briefs for Odin's Day Item 1: How Many Times Can I Call Them Douchebags?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:22 AM
Good Morning to Conservative Patriots, and to the Lefties... Sarah Palin! Sarah Palin! Sarah Palin!
By now you have heard about how the snitty bureaucrats of the IOC will not allow American Hockey Goalie Jonathan Quick to wear the slogan "Support the Troops" on his helmet. It's a petty, douchebag move, of course, and the IOC has been empowered to be petty douchebags. Whatever they claim as their rationale, we know the real reason; they hate America and they love being petty douchebags.
P.S. The IOC are a bunch of douchebags.
February 16, 2010
Clearing Out the Dead Wood in New Jersey
Posted by The MaryHunter at 5:35 PM
In the face of New Jersey Gov. Christie's drawing the line on government spending, some career public employees are seeing the writing on the wall.
In firehouses and police stations, union halls and county offices, workers eligible to retire are asking each other the same question: Are you putting in your papers?
With Gov. Chris Christie targeting public-worker benefits in fiery speeches, they're wondering if it's time to get out, before legislators remake the pension system.
I like that: disquiet in union halls. Anything to boink those bloated bullies with exorbitant benefits packages.
Sounds like it's more than time to do a little thinning in the bloated New Jersey bureaucracy. If some of that would drift downwind Washington, D.C. way it would be none too soon.
Another Moonbat Calls for Violence Against Republicans
Posted by Dave Blount at 3:05 PM
Arianna Huffington recently attacked Roger Ailes of Fox News for permitting Glenn Beck to acknowledge the tens of millions of deaths caused by left-wing statists during the 20th century, on the grounds that it could incite a "killing spree." Yet her execrable Huffington Post soon afterwards published a piece by David Proletarian, I mean David Bourgeois, echoing the recent call by Roland Martin of CNN for metaphorical violence against those who would stand athwart Comrade Obama's path to a glorious socialist utopia.
If mentioning the Holodomor is incitement, what do you call it when a political fanatic urges the head of state to do this:
You've given it your best shot, you've tried numerous times to talk with the Republicans, to negotiate, to meet them halfway on every single matter before the American people. But they hate you for many reasons. It's time you break kneecaps. It's time to destroy the Republican Party. They don't deserve a seat at the table when all they want to do is score political points by being the Party of No.
In case the bold in the original didn't get the point across, this graphic was included:
Just rhetoric? Sure. But it was more than rhetoric when Obama's SEIU shock troops sent Ken Gladney to the hospital for protesting plans to nationalize healthcare.
Liberalism is the ideology of the thug. Don't create wealth; seize it. Don't come to voluntary, mutually beneficial agreements; decide what you want others to do and force them to do it. Violent words and violent actions are to be expected from progressives, which is why they don't want the rest of us armed.
Hat tip: Big Government. On a tip from TED.
Obama the Redeemer Lands Hard
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:29 PM
The twin farces of Global Warming and Global Obamania are collapsing in tandem. Even as top global warming hoaxer Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit admits that it hasn't gotten any warmer since 1995, Carnival in Germany features this float:
At least some in France still buy into Obama — I think.
On a tip from Dystopic PC.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:57 PM
N.J. Governor Christie to Legislature: Reform and Discipline
Posted by The MaryHunter at 11:50 AM
Republican Governor Chris Christie has laid down the gauntlet to his Democratic legislature: insane spending MUST end. From his recent budget speech to the New Jersey State Legislature:
[T]oday, I am beginning the process of fiscal reform and discipline. Today, we are going to act swiftly to fix problems long ignored. Today, I begin to do what I promised the people of New Jersey I would do. Today, I begin to give them the change they voted for in November.
I take no joy in having to make these decisions. I know these judgments will affect fellow New Jerseyans and will hurt. This is not a happy moment. However, what choices do we have left? The defenders of the status quo will start chattering as soon as I leave this chamber. They'll say the problems are not that bad; listen to me, I can spare you the pain and sacrifice. We know this is simply not true. New Jersey has been steaming toward financial disaster for years due to that kind of attitude. The people elected us to end the talk and to act decisively. Today is the day for the complaining to end and for statesmanship to begin.
A video snippet from his recent speech (audio is faint; full transcript available here):
| Governor Christie tells legislature NJ is in financial crisis |
This kind of reform and discipline, should it play out successfully, would be a model for other states in dire financial straits, not to mention a nation set on a course for utter financial catastrophe by its Democrat president and congressional leadership. All eyes will be on the Garden State.
Lefty Blogger Lashes Out at Bayh
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:30 AM
Legal Insurrection reports that lefty blogger Matt Yglesias is furious at Evan Bayh.
He's an immoral person who conducts his affairs in public life with a callous disregard for the impact of his decisions on human welfare. ...
He's ditching his seat in a manner calculated to throw control of it to a conservative Republican ... Because he doesn't care about the welfare of the American people or the people of the world.
The last time I saw a hissy fit like that, it was when a spoiled teenaged brat on My Super Sweet Sixteen got the wrong color Porsche for her birthday. And Yglesias is normally one of the less histrionic lefty bloggers. You can imagine how heads are exploding at Kos, DUMB, and Firedoglake.
U.S. Census Wastes Millions before the Counting Begins
Posted by The MaryHunter at 9:50 AM
If you thought that the $2.5 million Super Bowl ad train wreck was the worst of the U.S. Census wastage, you would be sorely mistaken.
The Census Bureau wasted millions of dollars in preparation for its 2010 population count, including thousands of temporary employees who picked up $300 checks without performing work and others who overbilled for travel costs.
Federal investigators caution the excessive charges could multiply once the $15 billion headcount begins in earnest next month unless the agency imposes tighter spending controls, according to excerpts of a forthcoming audit obtained by The Associated Press.
The audit focussed on the Census Bureau's address-canvassing operation last fall, which had a 25% cost overrun to the tune of $88 million. The waste found by investigators included:
--More than 10,000 census employees were paid over $300 apiece to attend training for the massive address-canvassing effort, but they quit or were otherwise let go before they could perform any work. Cost: $3 million.
--Another 5,000 employees collected $300 for the same training, and then worked a single day or less. Cost $1.5 million.
--Twenty-three temporary census employees were paid for car mileage costs at 55 cents a mile, even though the number of miles they reported driving per hour exceeded the total number of hours they actually worked.
--Another 581 employees who spent the majority of their time driving instead of conducting field work also received full mileage reimbursements, which investigators called questionable.
On a positive note, the "investigators" loved the Census Bureau's effort at public advertising, however -- to the tune of $133 million. For my part, much of the advertising I've encountered has been focused on encouraging minorities to stand up and be counted. Radio ads with heavily accented latinos, and even bilingual spots, were airing in the D.C.-Baltimore area and I'm sure in numerous other radio markets with high concentrations of latino residents who are most certainly legal, tax-paying U.S. citizens.
It's so good to see our tax dollars once again put to good redistributive use.
Oh, Here's Some Black Faces
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:38 AM
Yo, Queef Olbermann, I have to think that college professor Amy Bishop --- the Obama-lovin' progressive whom Progressive Democrat Bill Delahunt (D-Mass) helped escape justice after she shot her own brother three times in the gut fatally and tried to jack a car --- was probably a big fan of yours.
Since you are so concerned about matters of race, Queef, would you care to check out the faces of the people she killed last week.
How many black folks have been shot to death at tea parties, Olbie? I know there was that one guy who got beaten up... but, oh, wait... he was beaten up by progressives from the SEUI.
I can't help notice that MSDNC isn't talking much about Amy Bishop, her fanatical leftism, or the fact that three of the people she shot to death were minorities. And you guys went totally wall-to-wall with coverage when George Tiller was shot to death. What's the deal, Olbie? Rachel? Chrissy? Is it because Amy is a fellow leftist, or is it because the deaths of three minority academics mean less to you than the death of one white abortionist? If a tea partier had shot six people, and killed three minorities, how would your network be covering that?
Hat Tip: Ace
The UAW's Animal Farm
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:18 AM
Is the UAW seeking to keep new hires at the companies it now owns non-union? Mickey Kaus thinks... maybe. Now that the UAW owns 60% of General Motors, all of a sudden, they have an incentive to make the company profitable; even if it means hiring non-union workers at lower wages.
George Orwell sort of saw this coming.
No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
"Where are the black faces?"
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 8:49 AM
You can tell when the progressive left has run out of talking points, because that's when they turn to accusations of racism. Progressive left thought leader Queef Olbermann is still bashing the Tea Party movement for its alleged racism, demanding: "Where are the black faces?"
Gee, Queef. That's a good question to ask... but not of the Tea Parties (which are open to everyone).
Undocumented Party Guests
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 8:28 AM
Congressman Ted Poe:
I can't help but notice the White House is surrounded by a real fence, not a virtual one.
Bob Beckel Gives Hannity the Finger
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:10 AM
Maybe this will get it through to Sean Hannity that his audience has had more than enough of the obnoxious Democrat hack Bob Beckel. Here's Beckel ungraciously presenting his host with the bird:
Beckel must have learned the subtle gesture from our Moonbat in Chief:
Please Sean. Bring Lanny Davis back — or even Alan Colmes.
Via Breitbart.tv. On tips from Milton and Wiggins.
The Donald Demands Al Gore Return His Cracker Jack Prize
Posted by Dave Blount at 7:57 AM
The collapse of the global warming hoax has definitely penetrated pop culture, with Donald Trump demanding that Al Gore's farcical Nobel Prize be revoked in light of the entire "crisis" standing exposed as a deliberate lie. Roars The Donald:
With the coldest winter ever recorded, with snow setting record levels up and down the coast, the Nobel committee should take the Nobel Prize back from Al Gore. Gore wants us to clean up our factories and plants in order to protect us from global warming, when China and other countries couldn't care less. It would make us totally noncompetitive in the manufacturing world, and China, Japan and India are laughing at America's stupidity.
The crowd at the Trump National Gold Club gave him a standing ovation.
With global warming staggering toward the dustbin of history, soon only Barack Obama's presidency will eclipse The Donald's hair for sheer absurdity.
On tips from Lunaticcringeradio and Byron.
Morning Briefs for Tuesday Item 3: I am thinking his hair came through this just fine
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:29 AM
Michelle "Mashed up bag of meat" Malkin reports that Mitt "Mittens" Romney was involved in an Air Rage incident. But unlike Patrick Kennedy, he was not the perpetrator of the air rage incident.
Mr. Romney, 62, and his wife, Ann, were sitting in Row 15 of the economy section of the Embrarer 190 airplane, waiting for the plane to take off when the incident happened. The man sitting in front of Mr. Romney's wife dropped his seat back and when Mr. Romney asked him to move it upright for takeoff, the man became "physically violent." Another report said that the man tried to strike Mr. Romney."Gov. Romney did not retaliate," said Mr. Fehrnstrom.Mr. Romney was not injured. The pilot returned to the gate and the passenger and his bags were removed by the RCMP.
But you know what I really like about this story? Mitt Romney, Republican millionaire, flying coach. Meanwhile, Al Gore --- the self-deified environmentalist --- takes private jets wherever he goes.
A striking contrast, n'est-ce pas?
Morning Briefs for Tuesday Item 2: Town to lazy, overpaid teachers, "You're Fired."
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:21 AM
Teachers in Central Falls, Rhode Island earn an average wage of $78,000 per year in a town where the median income is $22,000. The superintendent of schools wanted these teachers to work an extra 25 minutes a day. The Teacher's Union balked. So, she fired them. All of them.
Gallo blamed the union's "callous disregard" for the situation, saying union leaders "knew full well what would happen" if they rejected the six conditions Gallo said were crucial to improving the school. The conditions are adding 25 minutes to the school day, providing tutoring on a rotating schedule before and after school, eating lunch with students once a week, submitting to more rigorous evaluations, attending weekly after-school planning sessions with other teachers and participating in two weeks of training in the summer.
More Please.
Morning Briefs for Tuesday Item 1: How now you secret, black,and midnight hags?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:13 AM
Good Morning Right-Wing Patriots and Left-Wingers Incapable of Commenting on Substance,
Los Angeles Times Columnist, Burt Prelutsky doesn't think much of women California sends to Congress.
"Frankly, I don't know what it is about California, but we seem to have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office. I'm not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine, even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to Washington, we're number one. There's no getting around the fact that the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when the curtain went up on 'Macbeth'. The three of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of blab. You don't know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or simply marvel at their ability to form words."
He doesn't care for the rest of the Obamacrat agenda either.
TSA Overkill
Posted by The MaryHunter at 4:28 AM
The Transportation Safety Administration has done it again: saved us from the ravages of a stealth domestic terrorist.
Did you hear about the Camden cop whose disabled son wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces?
Unfortunately, it's no joke. This happened to Bob Thomas, a 53-year-old officer in Camden's emergency crime suppression team, who was flying to Orlando in March with his wife, Leona, and their son, Ryan.
Ryan was taking his first flight, to Walt Disney World, for his fourth birthday.
Procedures to protect our nation's safety were followed -- perhaps not the correct ones, but procedures nonetheless.
On Friday, TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said the boy never should have been told to remove his braces.
TSA policy should have allowed the parents to help the boy to a private screening area where he could have been swabbed for traces of explosive materials.
In honor of those brave, conscientious, and wise souls looking out for us every day in our nation's airports, this salute video bears re-posting:
February 15, 2010
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:44 PM
Biden Bashing the Obamination Administration's "Great Achievement"
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:39 PM
When Joke Biden recently crowed that the success of the surge in Iraq "could be one of the great achievements of this administration," he must have forgotten that the cameras were rolling while he and Comrade Obama did everything they could from the Senate to prevent it from happening:
After 1 year, this is what Hopey Change is reduced to: falsely claiming credit for George Bush's policies.
Via Breitbart.tv, on a tip from Milton.
Terrorist Gets Rorschached in Albionese Prison
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:51 PM
Dhiren Barot is an Al Qaeda terrorist serving 30 years (reduced from 40 in the typical soft-touch European approach to coddling the evil) for planning to bomb the New York Stock Exchange and downtown London with dirty bombs and/or limousines stuffed with nails. (Jihadist suicide bombers often stuff their bombs and clothes with nails to create shrapnel that shreds anyone not killed in the immediate blast.
Last week, another inmate threw boiling oil all over him, resulting in severe burns to his body and face.
Oh Noes.
I am trying to muster some sympathy but... (Al Qaeda terrorist! Nail bombs!) ... nope, it ain't workin'
No word yet on whether Dan Dreiburg and Laurie Juspecyk are going to bust him out using the Owl Ship.
Statistics 101: The Statistical Blip
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:45 PM
Some global warming/climate change alarmists, after having their argument for Snowmageddon that "warm air holds more moisture" eviscerated, will next resort to the tried and true "Well, these storms are just a statistical blip." Moonbattery University has found yet another statistical blip. See if you can identify it.
Excellent! You've passed the course.
It Must Be Tough to Be Al Gore
Posted by The MaryHunter at 5:51 PM
In an earlier thread today, 55in55 asked "Where is Owl Gore?" Egad, we've found him -- or at least, on Friday Feb. 12th someone claiming to be him left a few owl pellets on a blog called "AL GORE". It went something like this:
More evidence of the climate crisis is unfolding before our eyes. The situation in the Arctic is worse than data from satellite pictures have told us:
[then some bla-de-bla from a Time article]
Thanks for the link and quote, Al. Of note, this was posted just one day before Phil Jones, a certain famous climatologist buddy of Al's, went and confirmed that the dreadful thing folks call "global warming/climate change" was actually a wee little hoax all along. Since there has been no statistically significant warming for the last 15 years, I guess that Algore's poor little Arctic melty problem must be related either to the stabilization of the earth's average temperature, or a decrease. 'Cuz, those are the only two options left.
Rachel Maddow Is a Rather Dishonest Fellow
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 3:14 PM
In the latest promo for her MSDNC program, Rachel Maddow hilariously claims to have no agenda.
I'm not trying to push an agenda of any sort. I'm trying to figure out how to make the big, bad world out there make more sense.
Anyone who believes this is invited to send $50,000 to my PayPal Account. I promise you a personal Psychic Healing.
Rachel Maddow hasn't been funny since Twin Peaks.
Giant Obama Brandishes Broccoli in France
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:54 PM
Apparently there are corners of Europe where Obamania hasn't yet curled up and died. From Nice, France straight into the most grotesque nightmares you've ever had:
If that didn't frighten you into eating your broccoli — or from ever eating broccoli again — let's try a close-up:
Closer still:
It's okay if you screamed.
The theme being celebrated is "King of the Blue Planet." The float above is entitled "Yes We Can Be Ecologist." Let's hope King Zero's broccoli doesn't result in global warming by causing flatulence.
Hat tip: Left Coast Rebel.
Even The Taxinator Is Fed-Up with Eco-Moonbats
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 2:22 PM
Arnold Schwarzeneggar's tenure as Governor of Gullyfohnyah has been notable primarily for his willingness to roll-over for Democrats on every policy issue. He has been especially submissive toward the environmental left. To fight the discredited phantom menace of "Global Warming" has passed sweeping "climate change" regulations that have helped to drive industry out of California. and was one of the prime movers behind the Western Climate Initiative that Arizona decided to drop out of last week.
But even simpering RINO's have their limits. And with BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything) eco-Nazis blocking the construction of "green energy" projects, RINO Arnold has reached his.
"So the environmentalists . . . are confused because they want to have renewable energy but then when it comes to the permitting process, creating that renewable energy and building the solar plants, they are then in the way. And they then talk about, 'You cannot go and destroy this squirrel.'"
"I say, 'What squirrel? I was out there, I didn't see a squirrel.'
"They say, 'Well, there could be a squirrel coming very soon.'
"So I say, 'But there's no squirrel there right now.'
"'But you've got to protect things that could be there.'"
Arnie isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so he still hasn't quite realized that "clean energy" is not and never was the goal of the environmental left. But maybe he has wised up just a little bit.
The Skeletons of Wind Energy
Posted by The MaryHunter at 12:30 PM
Andrew Walden details the rise and fall of failed wind power in the United States in a long but highly informative American Thinker article. Besides the detailed history, the author reveals the visual and environmental impact of this anti-oil, anti-coal, anti-nuclear power scam. Even as Congress wants to devote more taxpayer money to this dubious alternative energy source, great monuments of this epic fail scar the landscapes of Hawaii and California, two of our most environmentally aware states.
Built in 1985, at the end of the boom, Kamaoa soon suffered from lack of maintenance. In 1994, the site lease was purchased by Redwood City, CA-based Apollo Energy.
Cannibalizing parts from the original 37 turbines, Apollo personnel kept the declining facility going with outdated equipment. But even in a place where wind-shaped trees grow sideways, maintenance issues were overwhelming. By 2004 Kamaoa accounts began to show up on a Hawaii State Department of Finance list of unclaimed properties. In 2006, transmission was finally cut off by Hawaii Electric Company.
California's wind farms -- then comprising about 80% of the world's wind generation capacity -- ceased to generate much more quickly than Kamaoa. In the best wind spots on earth, over 14,000 turbines were simply abandoned. Spinning, post-industrial junk which generates nothing but bird kills.
But wait -- isn't wind energy all about protecting the environment?
Altamont's turbines have since 2008 been tethered four months of every year in an effort to protect migrating birds after environmentalists filed suit. According to the Golden Gate Audubon Society, 75 to 110 Golden Eagles, 380 Burrowing Owls, 300 Red-tailed Hawks, and 333 American Kestrels (falcons) are killed by Altamont turbines annually. A July, 2008 study by the Alameda County Community Development Agency points to 10,000 annual bird deaths from Altamont Pass wind turbines. Audubon calls Altamont, "probably the worst site ever chosen for a wind energy project." In 2004 the group unsuccessfully challenged renewal applications for 18 of 20 Altamont wind farms.
Stay tuned for more skeletons of the green energy movement, coming to a community near you. Please warn your fine-feathered friends.
Indonesia Honors Presidents Day
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:50 AM
The bloom is off the rose for Hopey Change in Indonesia:
Authorities removed a statue of Barack Obama from a park in the Indonesian capital due to a public backlash and moved it Monday to a nearby elementary school that the U.S. president attended as a child.
The bronze statue, inspired by a childhood photograph of a 10-year-old Obama in shorts with a butterfly perched on an outstretched thumb, had been targeted by critics since it was erected in the Jakarta park last December.
Already even the country he grew up in has had enough. If only it were this easy to get the real one out of the White House.
On tips from Oiao and Shep.
Evan Bayh Bails
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:19 AM
The last major "moderate" has cast off in a life raft. The headline at The Hill:
BAYH TO RETIRE IN HUGE BLOW TO DEMS
Bayh was still favored to win, and had a $13 million war chest. But if current trends hold, he will be proven wise to have jumped rather than waiting to be pushed. Comrade Obama's radical policies are turning the country against Dems with a vengeance. Bayh must have heard constituents grumbling, "You're no moderate, you're a Democrat."
There is hardly anyone left to tether the Democrat Party even to the center-left, much less the average voter. It is now officially the party of unhinged radicals and nobody else. We'll see how long Obama's alliance of out-of-touch elitist kooks and welfare recipients can keep their heel on the throat of everyone in between.
On a tip from Byron. Hat tip: Right Wing News.
Harvard Race-Baiter's Historic Handcuffs
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:40 AM
Remember Comrade Obama's farcical friend, Harvard's professional race-baiter Henry Louis Gates? Police questioned Gates when he broke into his own home, resulting in a hebephrenic tantrum by the esteemed professor of victimology, whose behavior was so out of line that he had to be restrained. Chairman Zero, while admittedly not even knowing what happened, reflexively proclaimed from his bully pulpit that the police had "acted stupidly." Next came the burlesque Beer Summit spectacle, at which the Obamination Administration summed itself up by releasing this publicity shot:
As you can see, the spat-upon but always professional cop James Crowley helps the nasty old moonbat Gates down the stairs, while our man-child president strolls on obliviously.
Now we have another memento of this absurd chapter in an absurd presidency. Professor Gates has donated the handcuffs he forced the police to restrain him with to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture. No doubt they will be displayed with a plaque reading, ACTUAL SHACKLES OF RACIST OPPRESSION.
On a tip from Mandible Claw. Hat tip: doubleplusundead.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:05 AM
Moonbats Run Rampant in Vancouver
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:37 AM
The Olympics means cameras, and cameras mean moonbats, who have taken to the streets of Vancouver to show us what happens when spoilt little brats attain biological adulthood without ever receiving a proper spanking. Via ShotinVancouver.com:
Moonbats in black assaulted police officers, spray-painted cars and buses, smashed windows, and terrorized passers-by. A tiny handful were arrested Saturday, and only three were charged. This behavior is accepted by liberal authorities, which is why it persists.
More theatrics are planned for today. Canada had better "end poverty" — or rather, still more lavishly finance it — or these folks will join in the tantrum:
On a tip from Air2air.
Moonbat Slackers Solve World's Problems
Posted by Dave Blount at 7:59 AM
The solution to our "key economic, social and environmental problems" turns out to be surprisingly simple, according to the British taxpayer-financed New Economics Foundation. All we have to do is stop engaging in so much productive activity.
To solve inequality of outcomes between the industrious and the lazy, and to rescue the polar bears from their imaginary plight, a 3-day work week is proposed:
According to nef, there are several forces pushing us towards a shorter working week: lasting damage to the economy caused by the banking crisis, an increasingly divided society with too much over-work alongside too much unemployment, and an urgent need for deep cuts in environmentally damaging over-consumption.
Quoth Ann Coote, nef's Head of Social Policy:
So many of us live to work, work to earn, and earn to consume. And our consumption habits are squandering the earth's natural resources. Spending less time in paid work could help us to break this pattern. … It is time to break the power of the old industrial clock, take back our lives and work [or rather, refrain from working] for a sustainable future.
If we work less, we'll have less, so there will be less for liberals to envy. Plus a few die-hard moonbats still believe that doing anything other than loafing — or as nef would put it, partaking of "civic engagement" — at Starbucks makes it be too hot out.
According to Cootie's colleague Andrew Simms, producing less will also alleviate poverty and hunger, presumably because companies will have to hire twice as many people — with all the extravagant benefits and government-imposed liabilities that entails — to get the same amount of work done. How companies could stay in business under these conditions is left to the imagination. Presumably they will not — thus the promised reduction in harmless carbon emissions.
Here's an idea for NEF (I'm sorry, nef). Why don't we drop the incrementalism and go directly back to hunting and gathering — except without the hunting, because it oppresses animals? Only if the government forces everyone to subsist by foraging for roots and berries can we eliminate income disparities and limit carbon emissions to breathing and flatulence.
Hat tip: David Thompson.
California Goes Greek
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:46 AM
The greedy and corrupt public employees unions in the City of Los Angeles are refusing to accept a 5% pay cut. Now, c'mon really. Anyone who can't live on 95% of their current income is just pathetic. 5% is a typical family's budget for entertainment or tobacco and alcohol. And California is broke.
Similarly, the EU country of Greece is also insolvent. Greece also ran up its public debt to lavishly finance public employees unions, even under governments that were conservative by Eurotopian standards. (A European "conservative" is typically somewhere to the left of Dennis Kucinich.) Greece is demanding a bailout from the rest of the EU, just like California (and New York, which also ran up spending to buy off public employee unions) are demanding bailouts from the other, more solvent, more budget-wise 48 states. And BTW, Greek Public Employee Unions are opposed to any notion of sharing in the sacrifices necessary to restore solvency.
Greeks can retire at age 63. Germans have to wait until age 67. Naturally, Germans are not enthusiastic about having to work extra years so that Greeks can retire younger. But even worse, California public employees can retire at age 50 on 90% of their final pay. That is insane. If a person is in school until age, say, 22, retires at 52, and dies at 92... that person has spent twice as long living off society (60 years) as he spent contributing to it (30 years). That ain't sustainable, kids.
Socialism just never manages to quite pay or itself, does it? Conservatives understand this implicitly; to increasingly confiscate the wealth of the productive to lavish on the unproductive is unsustainable.
I read a really stupid comment on the blog that hates my guts over the weekend. I'm not going to link, but I'll convey it's essence because it is so typical of the mindset of those who support ObamaCare/socialized health care:
No health insurance company should ever be allowed to make a profit. Any profit margin at all in health insurance is not only unreasonable, but immoral and contrary to the spirit of health insurance. Why should health insurance be a for-profit business?
This is the wrongheaded kind of thinking that leads societies to bankruptcy. For the good of society, health insurance companies should have enormous profits. Because if an industry is profitable, it will draw more competition and more talent, which will bring more innovation and efficiency. To bring health costs down, we need more doctors, more hospitals, and more insurance companies. And the way to achieve that is to make those industries and professions more profitable. That will increase supply. When supply increases faster than demand, prices go down. Basic economics.
That is unless you want your health care provided to you by unionized government bureaucrats with exactly the same incentives to provide quality service as the people who work at the DMV; people who, like the public school teachers, receive the same pay regardless of the patient's outcome.
Michelle the Wide's War on Fatties
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:35 AM
Not content simply to humiliate her children in front of the national media for the sake of the Nanny State, First Klingon Michelle Obama is launching an all-out war against the scourge that is Obesity. Fattiness is, after all, a "threat to national security."
Video courtesy of Jihad Kitty and Granny Jan.
Chairman Zero's NSA is OK with 20% Terrorist Recidivism Rate
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:32 AM
Chairman Zero's National Security Advisor John Brennan steps in it again by claiming that it's not a big deal that 1 in 5 terrorists released from Club Gitmo return to terrorism.
"People sometimes use that figure, 20 percent, say 'Oh my goodness, one out of five detainees returned to some type of extremist activity,'" Brennan said. "You know, the American penal system, the recidivism rate is up to something about 50 percent or so, as far as return to crime. Twenty percent isn't that bad."
So, to this dimwitted leader of our national security brain trust, a terrorist released from Club Gitmo who goes back to suicide bombings is about the same as a guy who is released from the state pen and goes back to stealing cars.
I guess I shouldn't criticize Brennan, though, because he has made it clear that criticizing Chairman Zero's terror policy is unpatriotic.
And This Degree Qualifies You to Do What, Exactly?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:05 AM
The Llama Butchers looked up what passes for higher education at Washington and Lee University.
Women's and Gender Studies Program
The Women's and Gender Studies program at Washington and Lee University offers students both the opportunity to complete a multi-disciplinary minor in feminist and gender studies and a stimulating co-curricular environment in which to develop as intellectual and community leaders. Founded in 2001, the WGS is a vibrant academic program that links the classroom with the world and offers the theoretical basis for activism and social change.
The flexible Women's and Gender Studies capstone requirement allows students to pursue their particular interests with the kind of intensity that turns classroom competence into an abiding passion.
Do you want to make audiences laugh with women's humor? Or challenge the ways in which media images invade our consciousness and control our bodies? Study women artists or find out how women changed history? Want to learn how we might get more diverse elected officials, and figure out why homophobia is still part of public policy? Or write a poem that moves its readers to action against sexist oppression? Join us. That's what we do.
And this qualifies you to do what in the real world? The job of Safe Schools Czar is already taken.
Tuition at Washington and Lee University, FWIW, is $38,877 per year. You can get a pretty nice pick-up truck for that. And you could use it to get a job working a trade and actually providing a benefit to society, instead of spending your life working the phones for Planned Parenthood and Emily's List and dying as an embittered spinster.
I am reposting this video because it is topical and hilarious.
Morning Brief Item 3: Guns Don't Kill, Obama Trolls Kill
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 3:00 AM
Good Morning Right-Wing Patriots and the Lefty Obama Amen Corner,
That moonbat socialist professor, Amy Bishop, who shot three of her colleagues to death (as well as her own brother) was also a big-time Obama supporter.
A family source said Bishop, a mother of four children - the youngest a third-grade boy - was a far-left political extremist who was "obsessed" with President Obama to the point of being off-putting.
I wonder if this means she used to hang out in the comments of right-wing blogs, fanatically denying that Obama was dependent on a Teleprompter and attacking Sarah Palin. (Hat Tip: Ace)
As you can see below the jump, she was also quite a looker.
I have seen that scary, glazed over, dead-eyed, cult-follower stare before.
Now, I tweak the lefties here, but c'mon. If Amy Bishop had been a right-winger, wouldn't we be hearing a lot more about her beliefs in the mainstream media than we are?
Morning Brief Item 2: China Moves in on Canadian Tar Sands
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 2:53 AM
There may be more oil in Canada's tar sands than in the Middle East. Under pressure from environmental whackjobs (including Obama's Department of Interior Permanent Energy Dependency Ken Salazar), US oil companies have been forced to back off from investing in the tar sands. But guess who is stepping up to the plate. Just the same as the ChiComs are allowed to drill in the Gulf of Mexico where US companies are forbidden to.
Morning Brief Item 1: How to Dump a Soldier
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 2:45 AM
You'd be surprised how easy it is to leave a soldier on deployment. You can do it with a letter. (He can't argue with you. He doesn't have a phone.) If you lay the groundwork early, saying to the soldier before he leaves, "This will be the end of us, we might as well admit it," it's that much easier. The letter won't even come as a shock.
Somewhere, there's a soldier serving our country who is way better off without this self-centered scrunt of a wife. (Hat Tip: Ace)
February 14, 2010
Snow and No Snow Both Prove Global Warming
Posted by Dave Blount at 3:47 PM
It's amazing that moonbats can't keep the wheels from coming off the global warming hoax, when you consider that all weather is proof of global warming. For example, here they are screeching that the absence of snow proves global warming:
…and here's MSDNC's preposterous Contessa Sewer screeching that the presence of snow proves global warming:
Heads we win, tails you lose. It would be a great gimmick, if liberals hadn't squandered the last of their credibility.
Via Breitbart.tv and Hot Air. On a tip from Oiao.
Moonbats Celebrate Valentine's Day With Eco-Condoms
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:56 PM
The fewer humans there are, the better the sacred ecosphere likes it, so make sure to use contraception — that's the message promoted by the Center for Biological Diversity, which is passing out free condoms starting today.
These aren't just any condoms, but special eco-rubbers, with heartwarming artwork and inspiring slogans like
Wrap with care… save the polar bear.
and
Wear a condom now… save the spotted owl.
This one's especially romantic:
Hump smarter… save the snail darter.
Every time a human is not conceived, the polar bears, spotted owls, and snail darters cheer. CBD even offers a contest where you can win free condoms for life. If funding permits, maybe they can start offering free Valentines vasectomies, hysterectomies, and abortions. I'm sure the animals would love it.
The special Endangered Species Condoms will be passed out in bars, supermarkets, and of course schools.
Hat tip: PapaTodd.com.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:34 PM
GlacierGate Throws Hitler Into Despair
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:29 PM
Despite the media's best efforts, the global warming hoax has pretty much collapsed. Hitler in his bunker isn't taking it well:
On a tip from glenwood183.
Bill Maher and the Leftist Mouse in His Pocket
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 12:20 PM
Renowned Progressive Thought-Leader Bill Maher recently said this of our troops.
Yeah, we love the troops the way Michael Vick loves dogs.
He goes onto say that if we really loved the troops, we wouldn't make them fight wars. Following that "logic," if we really loved our firefighters, we wouldn't make them fight fires. If we really loved our police, we wouldn't send them after criminals. If we really loved our teachers, we wouldn't make them teach. Well, actually, we don't make them teach. Thanks to the Teacher's Unons, we pay them lavishly regardless of how poorly they do their jobs.
This is the same Bill Maher who previously smeared our troops as rapists. So, when he says "we" treat the troops like Michael Vick treats his dogs, he's speaking for himself and the idiot progressives who applaud him like trained seals every time he bashes Christian Americans. He is not speaking for the majority of Americans who support the troops and their mission.
He also couches his hatred of the troops in the fashionable leftist "We don't give them enough support services when they come home." Again, he is speaking for himself and the left. Patriots are more than willing to help out the troops any way we can... personally, not through yet another Government program. After all, we on the right are not the ones who look down on soldiers as dum-dums who didn't study hard enough and got stuck in Iraq.
Counter-Moonbattery Alert: Arizona Gov. Bails on "Climate Pact"
Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:20 AM
It's nice to see some elected officials acknowledge that global warming/climate change is a hoax -- or at least, comprehend the inordinate (and futile) cost of pretending that mere mortals can do something about it if it's real. Arizona is following the path of common sense over denial:
Not since King Canute have government officials engaged in an exercise as futile as in 2007, when seven U.S. states and four Canadian provinces got together to form something called the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative to reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions starting in 2012.
Since then, the nation has slid into a recession, and the only thing man-made about climate change has been the manipulated and manufactured claims that we are doomed if we don't act to fight it.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, seeing which way the snow is blowing, has issued an executive order saying her state will suspend its participation in the emission-control plan or any program that could raise costs for businesses and consumers.
Of course, it was Arizona's previous governor, our favorite cabinet secretary Janet Napolitano, who signed Arizona on to that 2007 climate initiative. Gov. Brewer isn't stopping with extracting her state from just one lame past decision, either:
Brewer also ordered Arizona's Environmental Quality Department to take another look at stricter vehicle emission rules, based on California's standards, set to take effect in 2012, fearing they would significantly raise new car costs.
We already know of the absolute farce that is the move for "green jobs" as a means toward economic advancement; Spain's failure on this front is unambiguous proof. Now, we have demonstrable fraud to back up the hoax that is man-made global warming/climate change. Even climatologist Phil Jones of ClimateGate fame admits that there has been no statistically significant warming since 1995. As ClimateGate, HimalayaGate, and myriad other 'Gates are putting the screws on believers, the hope is that, with a significantly more Republican Congress come January 2011, such common-sense moves as Gov. Brewer's will spread to a national scale. Despite some adherents in particularly high and respected places, climate fantasy is being trumped by economic reality.
On a sensible tip from Bergbiker.
Cheney Appears on 'This Week,' Politico Solicits Comments from Lunatics
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:53 AM
Vice President Dick Cheney --- the only human who can kick Chuck Norris's ass --- was invited to appear on ABC News This Week. This Week is the program that achieves "balance" by having four liberals gang up on George Will.
Patterico reports that the Politico --- blog, magazine, whatever it is --- sought comment on Cheney's invitation from a pair of prominent, deranged left-wing lunatics.
AIDS-addled blogger Andrew Sullivan took a break from his obsession with Sarah Palin's uterus and the international Jewish conspiracy to opine:
"Cheney's unprecedentedly aggressive approach ... reflects his own knowledge that he has committed war crimes of a very grave sort, war crimes that at some point could lead to prosecution and will undoubtedly lead to historical infamy."
Raving MSDNC nutcase Keith Olbermann was also asked to comment:
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann said in an e-mail to POLITICO that Cheney has been "shrill, totally unpatriotic and sounding more concerned with torture and interrogation than with results and intelligence. ... I think he may believe that only his vision can save America, and thus anything, including lying to America, is justifiable. This is, I believe, called 'a Messiah Complex.'"
By the way, I found a video that supports Oblie's theory about Bush and 9-11.
I am almost certain Olbermann and Sullivan really believe the Bush White House operated like that.
Update: Cheney scoffs at Obama bin Biden taking credit for the success in Iraq.
Obama and Biden campaigned from one end of the country to another for two years criticizing our Iraq policy. They opposed the surge that was absolutely crucial to our getting to the point where we're at now with respect to Iraq. For them to try to take credit for what's happened in Iraq strikes me as a little strange. If they had had their way, if we followed the policies of pursued from the outset or abdicated, Saddam Hussein would still be in power in Baghdad today.
No Global Warming Since 1995
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:01 AM
OK, what tea-bagging, climate-change denying, baby-eating redneck birther is making the absurd claim that there's been no measurable Global Warming since 1995?
Oh, it's "climate scientst" Phil Jones; he of the notorious "Hide the decline" emails.
Professor Jones also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now - suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon.
And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no 'statistically significant' warming.
So, this means the last fifteen years of hysterical media stories about vanishing polar ice caps, imperiled Polar Bears, vanishing glaciers, heat waves and hurricanes blames on Global Warming, islands sinking into the sea, various years proclaimed "the hottest on record," "the Earth has a fever," have been pretty much... um... what's the word I'm looking for...
Yeah, that's the one.
The Climate Change industry is concerned that "The admissions will be seized on by sceptics as fresh evidence that there are serious flaws at the heart of the science of climate change and the orthodoxy that recent rises in temperature are largely man-made" Yeah, no sh-t. Because, as we all know, skepticism has no place in science. /sarc
BTW: There has been a whole lotta backtracking on Global Warming Hysteria in the past couple of months.
Capitalist Russia, Socialist America
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:28 AM
Medvedev's order for a greater sale of key assets comes after he conferred with officials last week about ways to encourage investment -- and as the government is facing a budget deficit for a second straight year.
Medvedev also instructed the Cabinet to come up with a proposal to punish more severely those bureaucrats that hamper investment
Meanwhile, the Obama Regime, which has already taken over two car companies and several banks, wants to hire 300,000 bureaucrats to hamper investment. Our Obamunist Government pushes forward on its "jobs bill" which, like the last one, will borrow billions in order to keep Government bureaucrats at work, pushes forward on massive new regulations of finance and insurance, pushes forward on industry-destroying climate change regulations, and declares that companies that make profits are enemies of the regime.
And to complete the insanity, the President of France...FRANCE... has been tougher on Iran than the American president.
February 13, 2010
Guns Don't Kill, Socialists Kill
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:57 PM
Gateway Pundit has a fascinating rundown on socialist professor Amy Bishop, who yesterday or the day before shot and killed three of her colleagues after a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama. It seems, this was not her first murder. Back in 1986, she shot and killed her own brother during an argument. She was not prosecuted, however, because of the intervention of District Attorney Bill Delahunt, who is now a Democrat Congressman from, of course, Massachusetts (where election to Congress is pretty much a work-release program for perverts, murderers, drunks, and their enablers).
I guess this means, statistically speaking, you're in much more danger of being shot to death on by a socialist professor on a college campus than by a redneck at a Gun Show.
Commanders in Chief
Posted by Dave Blount at 4:45 PM
Comrade Obama has brought us precious little Hope, but there has been Change, as evidenced by our proud military's attitude toward the Commander in Chief who sends them into battle:
On a tip from Air2air.
Paleostinians Dress as Movie Aliens to Gain Sympathy from Idiot Moonbats
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 11:55 AM
The border wall has been incredibly effective in preventing suicide bombers from crossing into Israel to slaughter Jews. Naturally, Palestinians and leftist progressives want it taken down so the Jew-killing may resume. The Palestinians, knowing that most progressive leftists are idiots who confuse Hollywood movies with reality (cough... The Day After Tomorrow... cough), they decided to color themselves up like the peaceful natives of Pandora in James Cameron's dumb movie Avatar, and hope that western liberals would confuse them with the peaceful Na'Vi. Given the stupidity of those who support the terror-loving Paleostinians, it will probably work.
Keith Olbermann Blames Bush for 9-11
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 11:17 AM
As his tiny audience shrinks and shrinks, MSDNC Senior Obama-Fluffer Keith Olbermann is reduced to insane rants in hopes that a few more deranged lefties will tune in; flinging rhetorical feces with the wild abandon of a caged monkey.
3,000 people died on September 11th, 2001 because George Bush did not prioritize. Perhaps no one says it because it is such a painful, awful truth to confront, 3,000 people dead because Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld and others simply had other agendas than fighting terrorism.
The progressive revisionist history of the summer of 2001 first of all conflates an August memo on terrorism as though it contained an explicit warning about the September 11 attacks and Bush ignored it. The memo did no such thing. It merely reiterated terror warnings that had circulated throughout the 1990's.
Second, it ignores what the Democrats were doing throughout the summer. The Democrats were bitter about losing the 2000 and, in retaliation, were deliberately stalling Bush's executive appointments to prevent him from being able to move his agenda forward. When Jim Jeffords switched parties to give Democrats control of the Senate, they were able to stall Bush's appointments, preventing him from assembling a full national security staff. If Bush and company "had other agendas" then fighting terrorism, one of those agendas was trying to actually get its appointments through a Democrat Senate that was deliberately stalling them.
Chairman Zero's Marxist College Days
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:43 AM
Comrade Obama's college days are a secret that the mainstream media has resolutely refused to find interesting, possibly because he may have been involved in dealing heroin. Still more perniciously, he apparently disseminated hardcore communist ideology. The video below is lengthy, but it gives some much needed background on the guy in charge of spreading our wealth around until it's all gone. Former Marxist Dr. John C. Drew knew our man-child president back in the day:
As the pieces come together, people will come to understand just what has been allowed to take over America. Hopefully, it won't be too late to save our country.
Via Breitbart.tv, on a tip from JC.
Saracuda Not the First to Write Notes on Her Palm
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:39 AM
As the absurd brouhaha over Sarah Palin writing a few words on her hand to jog her memory during a speech finally begins to die down, it comes to light that prominent moonbat apparatchik Dianne Feinstein, currently a Senator from the Land of Fruits and Nuts, did the same thing during a debate — in direct violation of the debate rules:
I doubt this inspired many obscene "handjob" jokes from our liberal intelligentsia. As always, the only rule on the left is "Okay for me, not for thee."
Hat tip: The Blogprof.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:07 AM
49 States Have Snow on the Ground
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 8:04 AM
For the first time at since Global Warming became an obsession of the elite and the gullible, every state but Hawaii has snow on the ground.
And I can hear the Gaia cultists now. "But warm air holds more snow!" Yeah, right. Then why have we been getting more snow during a period of record low temperatures throughout the Northern Hemisphere? And how can you guys simultaneously blame Manbearpig for record snowfall and desertification/drought at the same time?
Caturday Essay: Mind the Perpetual Intercourse
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:53 AM
An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education exposes academia's cynical scam of graduate degrees in the humanities. The whole thing should be read by all of you (says Moonbattery kitteh), but here's a slice.
The myth of the academic meritocracy powerfully affects students from families that believe in education, that may or may not have attained a few undergraduate degrees, but do not have a lot of experience with how access to the professions is controlled. Their daughter goes to graduate school, earns a doctorate in comparative literature from an Ivy League university, everyone is proud of her, and then they are shocked when she struggles for years to earn more than the minimum wage. (Meanwhile, her brother--who was never very good at school--makes a decent living fixing HVAC systems with a six-month certificate from a for-profit school near the Interstate.)
This goes on for years: sleepless nights, anxiety, escalating and increasingly paralyzing self-doubt, and a host of stress-induced ailments. She has even removed the Ph.D. from her résumé, with some pain, but she lives in dread that interviewers will ask what she has been doing for the last 12 years. (All her old friends are well established by now, some with families, some with what seem to be high-powered careers. She lives in a tiny apartment and struggles to pay off her student loans.) What's left now but entry-level clerical work with her immediate supervisor just three years out of high school?
So, in essence, a group of elite academics brainwash naive young people into an idealistic vision of the world, and convince them that it is the path to true happiness. In truth, only a small number of well-connected people and a few token minorities will ever achieve elite status under this system, but those who have need to perpetuate the lie in order to maintain their status.
What an excellent metaphor for progressive liberal socialism.
The Best Thing to Come Out of Wyoming Since Dick Cheney
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:30 AM
I have GOT to move to Wyoming! The state legislature just passed a law permitting concealed carry without a permit. Now, that's progressive!
Meanwhile, in Washington state, a court has ruled that the City of Seattle cannot ban guns from public spaces in violation of state law. The city has thirty days to remove all signs banning weapons from public areas. (Hat Tip: Knowledge Is Power)
In the funhouse mirror world of progressive jurisprudence, stuff that is nowhere in the Constitution, like the "right" to an abortion or the "separatation of church and state" becomes inviolable law, while stuff that's explicitly spelled out in there, like free speech and the right to bear arms, is subject to judicial and legislative approval.
February 12, 2010
Moonbats Plan Cupid Stunt for Valentine's Day.
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:00 PM
So, like, there's this bunch of leftist morons who want to show sanctimoniously PC they are and how they are totally in step with the latest fashionable trends in social ideology. So, on Valentine's Day, a bunch of married moonbat couples are going to renounce their marital vows to show solidarity with teh gheys who can't get married.
Brides and Grooms will suspend their vows in a ritual officiated by Reverend Billy (of the Church of Stop Shopping). Tragic and hopeful love songs will be sung. Participants will be issued an official unmarried certificate suitable for framing.
And passersby will mutter "What a bunch of loser-freaks."
Once again, the pro-gay marriage crowd shows how seriously they respect and revere the institution of marriage.
Speaking of Cupid Stunts, alleged comedian Sarah Silverman has also fallen for the "Aw, honey, it's not fair that teh gheys can't get married so just let me bone you without a commitment" line and declared that for straight couples to marry "is like joining a country club that wouldn't allow Blacks or Jews."
Yeah, it's just like that.
Frozen Wasteland
Posted by Dave Blount at 6:54 PM
In case the Super Bowl halftime show left you in the mood for The Who, here's the Minnesotans for Global Warming version of Baba O'Riley:
On a tip from Oiao.
Vegetarian Eco-Fail
Posted by The MaryHunter at 12:34 PM
Eco-moonbat vegetarians in the UK and elsewhere just might need to reconsider their diet.
Adopting a vegetarian diet based around meat substitutes such as tofu can cause more damage to the environment, according to a new study.
The study concluded: "A switch from beef and milk to highly refined livestock product analogues such as tofu could actually increase the quantity of arable land needed to supply the UK."
The results showed that the amount of foreign land required to produce the substitute products - and the potential destruction of forests to make way for farmland - outweighed the negatives of rearing beef and lamb in the UK.
Meat substitutes were also found to be highly processed, often requiring large amounts of energy to produce. The study recognised that the environmental merits of vegetarianism depended largely on which types of foods were consumed as an alternative to meat.
The study authors also noted that increased vegetarianism might "result in the collapse of British farming" and more ruinition of worldwide ecosystems as agriculture moves to places with "less legal protection of forests and uncultivated land."
Oops.
And, since vegetarians may have smaller brains than the rest of us, how are we supposed to educate them about their eco-unfriendly diet?
Stupid Argument #1 for Snowmageddon: Warm Air Holds More Moisture
Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:36 AM
The intrepid researchers at NewsBusters.org have done a little research on D.C. temperatures during the recent large snowstorms. Not surprisingly, they found out that the "warmers" who claim that it's snowing because it's warming are just as stupid as we thought they were. When you compare D.C.'s actual temps with normal temps for the last 6 weeks of super storms, on every storm day, the temperature during the storms was colder than the past average for that day. Overall, for all of the storms:
Normal average temp: 37.40
Actual average temp: 29.04
Bottom line: the temperature was colder than average on every one of the snow days. On average the snow days were about eight degrees colder than average.
This isn't really a scientific counter-argument, but it sure is amusing. Physics is one thing (yes, warmer air DOES hold more moisture), but this time, the warmists really need to go back to their warped and ficticious datasets to find some other explanation for the recent D.C. global warming events.
Castro Regime Secretly Tapes Hollywood Liberals
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:23 AM
Listen to the Hollyweird elite gush with their love of the brutal communist dictator Fidel Castro, who took over a prosperous country and reduced it to a slave state so hellish that people take to shark-infested waters in inner-tubes to escape:
Naomi Campbell: "Fidel Castro is a source of inspiration for me! It is a great pleasure to be in Cuba. I've really enjoyed myself, and I plan to come back!"
Jack Nicholson: "Fidel Castro is a genius! We spoke about everything. Castro is a humanist. Cuba is simply a paradise!"
Chevy Chase: "Socialism works. I think Cuba might prove that."
Oliver Stone: "Castro is very selfless and moral, one of the world's wisest men."
Harry Belafonte: "If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro!"
Kevin Costner: "It was an experience of a lifetime to sit only a few feet away from him (Castro)."
Stephen Spielberg: "The eight most important hours of my life" (describing his dinner with Castro).
High-ranking Cuban intelligence defector Delfin Fernandez reveals a possible explanation for why they would lavish such grotesquely extravagant praise on such a wicked man:
My job was to bug their hotel rooms with both cameras and listening devices. … Famous Americans are the priority objectives of Castro's intelligence. When the celebrity visitors arrived at the Hotels Nacional, Meliá Habana and Meliá Cohiba, we already had their rooms completely bugged with sophisticated taping equipment. But not just the rooms, we'd also follow the visitors around, sometimes we covered them 24 hours a day.
Communist Cuba is prominent in the child prostitution/sex tourism trade [PDF]. Who knows what secrets are being held over the empty heads of Tinseltown Trotskyites who made pilgrimages to the island prison?
Then again, the public statements listed above are so vile, it's doubtful anything Cuba's secret police could reveal would damage their reputations — unless they were recorded saying something good about America, which could sink their careers, but isn't very likely.
Where moonbats are concerned, it's best not to ascribe to blackmail what could better be explained by ignorance, stupidity, insanity, and/or pure evil.
On a tip from Edward.
Larry O'Donnell Brings teh Crazy
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:17 AM
The good stuff starts at about 2:30 in, when he begins to rant like ZimaBaron. As O;Donnell veers into Alex Jones/Cynthia McKinney Troofer country, Joe Scarborough finally has to take his bottle away from him.
Previously, O'Donnell has gone on deranged rants against Mormons, deranged rants against Vietnam veterans, has ranted that dog-fighting is no different than fishing, and has ranted serially against Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, and Karl Rove.
But O'Donnell admits to being a complete chickensh-t when it comes to criticizing Islam.
And Larry O'Donnell is just one member of an MSDNC ape-house that includes Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, and David Shuster; any one of who is capable of out-ranting O'Donnell on any given day. But MSDNC still considers itself superior to Fox News for some reason.
My Kind of Candidate
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:38 AM
Tim D'Annunzio, a Conservative Republican running for Congress in North Carolina, held a fundraiser in which donors were served Carolina barbecue and given the opportunity to fire off MP-5's and Uzis. An AR-15 was given away as a door prize.
Naturally, this expression of a Constitutionally guaranteed right upset the local moonbats.
Wendy Michener with Fayetteville Peace with Justice says more often than not, guns kill and Thursday's fundraiser was a political ploy sending a dangerous message. "It indicates how little that we have thought about it, that this would be considered acceptable entertainment," she said.
Get a job, hippie.
Moonbat Scientists Prove That Beetles Don't Like Rush Limbaugh
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:03 AM
As the global warming farce confirms, science is not immune from the moonbattery that has been rotting away every aspect of our civilization. But research still produces breakthroughs. The latest: moonbats in lab coats have proven that other lower animals share their dislike of Rush Limbaugh. No, I'm not kidding:
Beetles are destroying ponderosa, pinyon, lodgepole pines and other trees important to the ecosystem. The beetles have their place in the ecosystem too, of course, but climate change and human activities have allowed beetles to take over more than they should.
Global warming causes beetles to eat trees! If you don't believe it, refer to the Warmlist.
To combat such infestations, scientists thought up the "nastiest, most offensive sounds" they could. Those included recordings of Guns & Roses, Queen, Rush Limbaugh and manipulated versions of the insects' own sounds.
The scientists then played these recordings near beetle-infested trees that they brought into a lab setting. The sounds disrupted tunneling, mating and reproduction for the beetles, making it harder for the insects to eat through the trees.
The solution to tree-eating beetles is obvious: blast Rush's show through loudspeakers wherever there are trees.
Richard Hofstetter, an entomology professor at Northern Arizona University who worked on the project, told Discovery News that "the most annoying sound" his colleague, Reagan McGuire, "could think of was Rush Limbaugh or rock music."
McGuire started to pump the sounds of Limbaugh into portions of infested tree trunks brought into their lab, but Hofstetter said McGuire "could not bear listening to Limbaugh, so he ended up playing Rush backwards, which still kept the voice and intonation the same, but the words were meaningless."
This is actual scientific research, no doubt funded by your tax dollar, as reported by the "mainstream" media.
Just to remove any last doubt that the "researchers" are moonbats:
The obvious musical choice would seem to have been The Beatles, but the scientists believe actual beetles wouldn't mind this band.
Hold on to your wallet…
Hofstetter said his team is currently seeking additional funding…
If they really wanted to know how insects feel about El Rushbo, they could have just asked Keith Olbermann.
On a tip from Weewilly.
Marvel Comics Apologizes for Capt. America's Tea Party Bashing
Posted by The MaryHunter at 8:35 AM
Holy irony of ironies, Batman! The developers of some of the most patriotic cartoon heroes ever produced are now having to back down from bashing some of the most patriotic people in America today.
Since 1941, Captain America has been one of the most popular comic book characters around. The fictional super-patriot fought Nazis during World War II, took on those who burned the American flag during the Vietnam era, and raked in hundreds of millions of dollars for Marvel Comics along the way. Now, the appearance that he is taking on the Tea Party Movement in a storyline about investigating white supremacists has forced Marvel to apologize for the comic hero.
In recognizing their superhero faux pas, which was first noted by Todd Huston on Publius' Forum, Marvel first argued, then finally apologized, thus:
Where Mr. Houston [sic] is correct is in our accidently [sic] identifying in one of the held up signs, the group as being a part of the Tea Party instead of a generic protest group. That's something that we need to apologize for and own up to, because it's just one of those stupid mistakes that happened through a series of stupid incidents.
Stupid keeps coming back as the simplest, most accurate description of those too-clever-by-half elitists with their leftist agendas. It will take a lot more than a few hijacked superheroes to keep those "Teabaggers" down.
On a tip from 66 Megaton Stinkbomb.
The Economist Gets Tea Parties
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 8:33 AM
While the American news media coverage of the Tea Party movement has been dominated by the likes of Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, and David Shuster giggling like 11-year-olds over the word "tea-bagger," Britain's The Economist approached the Tea Party movement with real objectivity.
The US Media (including, as TMH notes, the comic book media) dutifully portrays the Tea Parties the way the Obamacrats want them portrayed... as eiher a dangerous collection of ignorant hillbillies and birthers riled up by a cabal of corporatists, talk radio hosts, and FoxNews. But The Economist, using the radical journalistic technique of attending tea party events and reporting objectively, reaches a rather different conclusion.
Even after a long weekend of speeches and workshops in Nashville, the precise composition, aims and ideology of this movement remain hard to pin down. That is because the tea-party is precisely what its supporters say it is: not an artificial "Astroturf" creation of the Republican Party, but a genuine grassroots movement, highly decentralised and composed of many people who have not participated in politics before. They have no agreed platform and no unified national organisation: the Tea Party Nation is itself only one of many tea-party organisations that have sprung up spontaneously around America. These people are learning their trade, honing their tactics and defining their politics as they go along.
Which sounds about right. The media went out of their way to portray the radical anti-Bush movement as regular folk, ignoring the ties to George Soros, ignoring the involvement of ultra-radical organizations like International ANSWER, and proving fawning, soft-focus interviews with shrieking deranged harridans like Medea Benjamin and Cindy Sheehan. The only thing you can count on about the MSM is that they will portray every issue exactly 180 degrees from reality.
Hat Tip: Tigerhawk
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 7:25 AM
Friday Morning Brief Item 3: Yea, Governor Christie
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:16 AM
The New Republican Governor of New Jersey is dealing with his state's $2.2 Billion deficit by freezing state spending and cutting programs. Gee, it's almost as though he's saying Government shouldn't pay for things it can't afford. What a radical concept!
Naturally, New Jersey Democrats are squealing like pigs.
Governor Christie cut (transit) subsidies saying that the system needs to be fiscally efficient. Democrats played the environment card on that one saying that Christie's decision would hurt the environment and the economy because people needed the transit system to get to work.
Conservatives have a stereotype of Democrats as the party of gigantic, expensive, ineffective Government. The Democrats are all-too-willing to validate that stereotype at every opportunity.
Friday Morning Brief Item 2: Chairman Zero Lies Again
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:47 AM
Well, Chairman Zero's promise of bipartisanship lasted about as long as a slice of New York cheesecake in front of Rosie O'Donnell. Yesterday, rallying Democrats, he both attacked Republicans and told a massive lie at the same time.
Today President Obama told Senate Democrats that they had faced "enormous procedural obstacles that are unprecedented.."
"You had to cast more votes to break filibusters last year than in the entire 1950s and 1960s combined. That's 20 years of obstruction jammed into just one."
Hugh Hewitt gives the actual number of Republican-led filibusters in 2009: None. Zip. Zero. Nada.
Chairman Zero is lying so he can paint himself as the victim and advance the phony meme of Republican obstructionism. In 2009, the Republicans had the power to obstruct nothing in the House and the Senate.
Meanwhile, Plugs Biden is out there taking credit for success in Iraq, not mentioning that his plan for Iraq had been to split it into three countries, that he and Obama opposed the surge and were willing to throw Iraq to the jihadists. Now, they want credit for Iraq moving toward stability and democracy. What a couple of a-holes.
Friday Morning Brief Item 1: Always Check Under the Hood
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:40 AM
Good Morning Patriots, Good Morning Obama Culties (How's the Kool-Aid?),
An Arab Ambassador called off his wedding when he peaked under the burqa for the first time and saw that his bride to be was a cross-eyed bearded lady. Hey, it could have been worse.
It could have been this...
Reid Puts His Re-election Bid Before Bipartisanship
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:01 AM
Did someone say "a bipartisan jobs bill, with President Obama's blessing"? Whether or not said bill was worth the paper it was printed on, Harry Reid used clever parlimentarian tricks to do a bait and switch, scrapping the bipartisan bill for his own.
A bipartisan group of senators forged agreement on a jobs bill that drew the White House's blessing Thursday - but hours later Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scuttled the deal and replaced it with his own Democrat-written measure.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, tried to offer the Baucus-Grassley jobs proposal on the Senate floor Thursday night but Mr. Reid blocked him.
Instead, Mr. Reid set the table for a partisan fight on his version, which would forgive Social Security payroll taxes for new hires who had been unemployed at least 60 days, fund highway and infrastructure projects and extend tax benefits to small businesses.
Wait, how could the Reid bill sound even slightly more conservative than a bipartisan bill?
Minutes after he blocked the bipartisan proposal and introduced his own bill, Mr. Reid, who is in a difficult re-election race, took credit for the move in an e-mail to constituents back home. He said his version "will help put Nevadans back to work, cut taxes for business, and invest in job-creating transportation projects in our state."
In order to shoot adrenaline into his flacid re-election bid, Reid has gone against Senate colleagues and Dear Leader in one blow. Come to think of it: anything that Chairman Zero has signed off on can't be good, so maybe Harry Reid is actually doing the right thing for America here.
Image hat tip: Support Your Local Gunfighter.
President Obama, You're No Jack Kennedy
Posted by The MaryHunter at 5:29 AM
Charles Krauthammer sums up eloquently the exasperatingly myopic decision by Dear Leader to kill America's manned space program:
Obama's NASA budget perfectly captures the difference in spirit between Kennedy's liberalism and Obama's. Kennedy's was an expansive, bold, outward-looking summons. Obama's is a constricted, inward-looking call to retreat.
Fifty years ago, Kennedy opened the New Frontier. Obama has just shut it.
Even worse is the unavoidable corollary: America has now lost in space, as the Chinese and Russians will scramble to fill this embarrassing gap.
February 11, 2010
Michael Mann Cleared of Wrongdoing by Penn State
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 6:52 PM
So, let's consider this, a public university that receives millions in grant money to study "climate change" exonerates its star scientician of any wrongdoing in the CRU email scandal.
This is like the board of Enron investigating their accounting staff and finding nothing amiss.
The left is still claiming the exposure of the CRU emails was all a Bolshevik conspiracy. Yeah, those crafty Russians, tricking the climate scienticians in to writing emails about "Hiding the decline" and corrupting the peer review process. Funny how the left never worried about Russian trickery during the Cold War.
A Wild-Eyed Plot to Impose Huge Government in Every Aspect of Our Lives
Posted by Dave Blount at 6:35 PM
Is the global warming hoax a totalitarian plot? In a word: yes.
We dodged a bullet when the Copenhagen farce collapsed. But so long as there is freedom, statists will attempt to snuff it out — and radicals still control our government.
On a tip from Oiao.
On Airstrip One: Cops Arrest Old Man for Waving His Cane At Teenage Thugs
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 4:51 PM
So, this nadsat malchik and his droogs were enjoying a festive nochy of prestoopnik ultraviolence. And everything was all horrorshow until this starry ded came out of his domy and started waving his shlaga at them. Then, the rozz showed up and arrested the chinny starry veck and brosatted him in the staja.
Translation: This gang of teenage punks were harassing this 84 year old man and his wife, vandalizing cars, and generally engaging in hooliganism. The police did nothing about it, despite repeated complaints, until the old geezer shook his cane at them, at which time the police arrested the old man on "suspicion of assault."
Organizing for America: Grassroots Astroturf Fail
Posted by The MaryHunter at 3:31 PM
Some die-hard Obots were working hard for their man on ObamaCare... at least until the reporter's questions got a little too challenging.
Organizing for America: Grassroots? Astroturf? It's a floor wax. No, it's a dessert topping. No, it's both. And, OFA is still fighting for ObamaCare in a community near you.
Video courtesy of SophiaElenaReporting, on a shimmery tip from Jed.
Obama Studies 101: Never Back Down from a Bad Fight
Posted by The MaryHunter at 2:08 PM
Moonbattery University continues to be fascinated at the audacity of Dear Leader and his hack political machine, which is still stuck on stupid and in campaign mode. Another e-blast went out today from Organizing for America Socialism, an attempt at firing up the Obot base with news of what we knew all along: Dear Leader is not giving up on ObamaCare. It is an instructive read.
Dear MaryHunter:
As we head into an election year, the new strategy for killing reform is claiming that members of Congress who vote for it will suffer at the polls.
For months, our opponents have spread lies about reform to scare voters away. But the simple truth about what reform would actually do -- save jobs, guarantee all Americans affordable, stable coverage, and significantly reduce the deficit -- is something most Americans strongly support.
The question is, come November, will the voters know the facts?
OFA supporters have asked for a way to show every member of Congress that if they fight for reform now, we'll back them up this election season.
That's why we're launching "You fight, we'll fight" -- a volunteer pledge bank where you can commit your time to back up candidates and officials who fight hard for health reform.
We're shooting for 1,000,000 hours pledged to spread the word to fellow voters. And if we get there, we'll publish the total hours pledged in USA Today, so there will be no doubt that health reform is both good policy and good politics.
Can you pledge right away?
President Obama has made it crystal clear that he has no intention of walking away from health reform -- and this movement has made its desire to fight on just as clear.
And many members of Congress are already working hard by his side to get the job done. But for those on the fence about whether or not to proceed, knowing you are there to back up a courageous stand can make all the difference.
Your volunteer hours can have a huge impact no matter where you live. You can make calls into critical districts where health reform champions are in jeopardy, write letters to the editor, volunteer for nearby campaigns, or even just talk to friends, family, and neighbors to help cut through the special interest spin.
We'll offer lots of ways to get involved between now and the elections in November, and you can decide which are right for you -- the important thing right now is to publicly show your commitment to fight for those who make health reform a reality.
Please help us hit our ambitious goal of one million volunteer hours pledged:
http://my.barackobama.com/YouFight
We've certainly faced setbacks in this fight. But as President Obama told OFA supporters last week, that only means we need to work that much harder.
Thanks for making it possible,
Mitch
Mitch Stewart, Director, Organizing for America
The hubris of Team ObamaFail knows no bounds. But what can conservatives and libertarians learn from this pathetic pitch that focuses on the rotten deadwood yet ignores the majority of the forest?
Some might say that one lesson could be: a little reverse Cloward-Piven right now might be useful.
Global Warming Hits Dallas
Posted by Dave Blount at 1:43 PM
Compliments of Lyle and his kids:
Sen. Inhofe Builds a Habitat for Al Gore
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 1:12 PM
And it only has an infinitesimal fraction of the carbon footprint of Al Gore's real house.
Hey, Oklahoma. My senators suck. Can I just pretend Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn represent me?
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 12:38 PM
Planned Parenthood's Abortion Valentines
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 12:21 PM
Once again giving lie to the leftist talking point that "No one is pro-abortion," Planned Parenthood is publishing abortion-themed Valentine's Day cards. Because nothing says "love" like murdering the child that results from unprotected sex.
The cards feature a large heart on a white background with the message, "I love pro-choice doctors" and a link to the pro-abortion group's web site.
The cards are designed to be sent to abortionists, to thank them for making it possible for people to have unprotected recreational sex without consequences; which is the most important progressive value.
BTW, Georgia Right-to-Life has been erecting (yeah, I chose that word deliberately) billboards that read "Black Children Are An Endangered Species" to acknowledge that Black babies are aborted at three times the rate of white babies. The New York Waste of Times says we need abortion because the dark folk won't stop breeding, and we need to keep abortion safe and legal so those "undesirables" (as Ruth Bader Ginsburg called them) won't out breed white folk. (I may be taking liberties with my interpretation of the NYWoT's position.)
It's the Hubris, Stupid!
Posted by The MaryHunter at 11:22 AM
To extend the "stupid is dangerous to your health" theme, Michael Barone has a few related thoughts on Team Obama:
How could such smart people do so many stupid things? That question, or variations on it, is being asked in Washington and around the country about the Obama administration.
The same people who directed the campaign that defeated Hillary Clinton and routed John McCain, a campaign that raised far more money and attracted far more volunteers than any before it, have within a year come up with a legislative program that is crashing in ruins and that, to judge from recent polls, has left the Democratic Party weaker than I have seen it in almost 50 years of closely following politics.
Team Obama failed to realize they were no longer running in Chicago or in the Democratic primaries or facing an electorate fed up with Republicans. And, more important, they failed to realize that vastly expanding government goes deeply against the American grain -- and against the basic appeal of their successful campaign.
Indeed, former Virginia governor and continuing Obama devotee Douglas Wilder has a great idea for Dear Leader: dump the Chicago political machine that got Obama elected and is is currently calling the shots in the Obama White House.
It's not rocket science where the American public wants the president to concentrate his energies. In all the above elections I cited [Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts], voters were practically screaming one word with four simple letters: Jobs.
People will rightly hold Obama accountable. Obama must in turn hold the people on his own team accountable.
Taking the Wilder idea to its logical (though surely unintended) conclusion, the very head of Obama's Chicago political machine -- The One, himself -- should also be sacked. Think about it: 3 years of President Biden would not likely be any worse than what we have now, and would most certainly guarantee a Republican victory come November 2012.
On an insightful tip from Bergbiker.
iPork
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 11:20 AM
A Florida school district is spending $350K in Spendulus money to give away iPods to people who respond to an online survey. Hm, maybe that 53-cents-out-of-every-dollar-wasted figure is a little low.
Update: The source for this story has shoved it into the memory hole. Perhaps, the initial reporting was inaccurate.
Chairman Zero Won't Listen to Your Protests, But Will Listen in on Your Cell Chat
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:57 AM
Remember when lefties were all up in arms because the Bush Administration's NSA wanted the authority to listen in on cell phone calls to known foreign terrorists? Remember how American soldiers died because bureaucrats in our intelligence services were more concerned with terrorist privacy rights than saving the lives of our troops?
I wonder if the left will be similarly upset over the Zero Administration's scheme to track cell phone users.
The Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.
I am expecting, maybe a token objection here or there, but nothing like the hatred and paranoia that was directed at the Bush Administration.
NY Times: Snow Caused by Global Warming
Posted by Dave Blount at 10:12 AM
Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Snow is caused when freedom makes it be too hot out.
There's a price to be paid for painting yourself into a corner by promoting a hoax. The New York Slimes is paying it with the last tattered remnants of its credibility in a hilarious attempt to convince us that global warming caused mountains of snow to bury large parts of the country.
Most climate scientists respond [to those of us guffawing at statists' farcical "crisis"] that the ferocious storms are consistent with forecasts that a heating planet will produce more frequent and more intense weather events.
That is, all weather events are caused by global warming. It must be true, because the government that has been spending $zillions of our money on "research" to push the hoax as a Trojan horse for a massive power grab and the largest tax increase in history (politely known as Cap & Trade) says so:
A federal government report issued last year, intended to be the authoritative statement of known climate trends in the United States, pointed to the likelihood of more frequent snowstorms in the Northeast and less frequent snow in the South and Southeast as a result of long-term temperature and precipitation patterns. The Climate Impacts report, from the multiagency United States Global Change Research Program, also projected more intense drought in the Southwest [back on earth, the desert around Phoenix has been turning green from all the rain] and more powerful Gulf Coast hurricanes [back on earth, when was the last big one?] because of warming.
In other words, if the government scientists are correct, look for more snow.
If there's snow in the winter, we'll know the government was right. If there isn't, we'll know global warming made it melt.
Unfortunately the Shady Gray Lady is late to the story once again. Both snow and the lack of snow have already been added to the Warmlist.
On a tip from Incitatus.
An "Agnostic" President Meets a Public with No Faith in His Gospel
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:00 AM
Chairman Zero has proclaimed himself "agnostic" on the possibility of a massive middle-class tax hike to pay for his massive spending and deficits. In other words, he is neither opposed nor supportive of a massive tax increase he really wants a massive tax increase to punish all those families for driving SUVs and keeping their thermostats at 72 degrees.
Of course, he and his party will have to enact the tax increase against a public that already believes 53 cents our of every dollar sent to Washington is wasted. But I don't think they care what the public wants. The Obamacrats think the public is stupid. That they are waking up to the amount of waste in government suggests otherwise.
Hey, Look, a Moonbatcicle!
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:37 AM
CNN Analyst Wants Obama to "Go Gangsta"
Posted by Dave Blount at 9:13 AM
There's a reason CNN has been spiraling downward into obscurity. With the market for moonbattery heavily oversaturated, and the nation realizing it made a big mistake in November 2008, where's the audience for pigswill like Roland Martin's recent rant urging Chairman Zero to "go gangsta" on anyone who gets in his way?
Veins bulge in Martin's forehead as he demands that the Community Activist in Chief dispense with tedious checks and balances by making recess appointments for anyone too radical to get through even the Democrat-controlled Senate.
I'm sick and tired of Democrats having power and being unwilling to use it. … If there are members of your own party who stand in the way, such as Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, then you also blast them and make them pay for acting so foolishly.
Even lame duck Nelson of the Cornhusker Kickback opposed sneaking Card Check in the back door by appointing union lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.
Continuing to play footsie with opponents will only get him into more trouble.
Far from playing "footsie," Obama et al. have locked the Republican opposition out of every meaningful discussion since he took office. But wait, Martin is still shouting:
Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price.
That's the kind of leadership CNN "political analysts" want us to submit to. Fortunately, most Americans have already had more than enough of it.
On a tip from Lunaticcringeradio.
Food Stamps Are Not Welfare
Posted by Dave Blount at 8:12 AM
With the help of the statist media, Big Government is making progress in its drive to corrode our culture to the point that dependence on coercively funded handouts is both socially acceptable and ubiquitous:
A decade ago, New York City officials were so reluctant to give out food stamps, they made people register one day and return the next just to get an application. The welfare commissioner said the program caused dependency and the poor were "better off" without it.
Now the city urges the needy to seek aid (in languages from Albanian to Yiddish). Neighborhood groups recruit clients at churches and grocery stores, with materials that all but proclaim a civic duty to apply — to "help New York farmers, grocers, and businesses." There is even a program on Rikers Island to enroll inmates leaving the jail.
The more parasites the government can enlist, the more people have a stake in the advance of socialism toward communism. Ideally, the welfare roles will expand to the point that the whole system collapses. In the circles that produced Barack Obama, this is extolled as the "Cloward-Piven strategy." It brought NYC to the brink of total collapse in the 70s, so why not try it again?
"Applying for food stamps is easier than ever," city posters say.
But our current rulers won't be content to bring down one city.
After a U-turn in the politics of poverty, food stamps, a program once scorned as "welfare," enjoys broad new support. Following deep cuts in the 1990s, Congress reversed course to expand eligibility, cut red tape and burnish the program's image, with a special effort to enroll the working poor. These changes, combined with soaring unemployment, have pushed enrollment to record highs, with one in eight Americans now getting aid.
Don't forget: food stamps are not welfare. Neither should you forget that socialism is not theft or slavery. What our rulers do want you to forget is that 1990s welfare reform was overwhelmingly successful at reducing government dependence and therefore poverty.
RINOs are on board with the campaign to reverse welfare reform, now that the era of Big Government being over is over:
"I've seen a remarkable shift," said Senator Richard G. Lugar, an Indiana Republican and prominent food stamp supporter. "People now see that it's necessary to have a strong food stamp program."
Eric Bost, W's food stamp administrator, drives home the Orwellian point:
I assure you, food stamps is not welfare.
Bob Dole, aka the "Tax Collector for the Welfare State," was also a major fan of food stamps.
Unsurprisingly the biggest "Republican" (at least, he was originally elected as one) supporter of food stamps is the nanny state totalitarian mayor of New York:
Since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took office eight years ago, the rolls have doubled, to 1.6 million people, with most of the increase coming in his second term after critics accused him of neglecting the poor.
He intensified outreach. He reduced paperwork. He hired a new welfare commissioner, Robert Doar, with orders to improve service for the working poor.
"If you're working, I want to help you, and that's how the mayor feels," Mr. Doar said.
As Doar indicates, the main objective now — after reducing the stigma of parasitism among anyone with vestigial remnants of morality — is to expand the program among people who have jobs and clearly don't need it. Rapid progress has been made in both respects, to the New York Times' unconcealed delight.
On a tip from Ianto.
Iran to Chairman Zero: You FAIL!
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 8:07 AM
In another victory for Smart Diplomacy (TM), Iran today announced that it has succeeded in enriching uranium and is ready to join the nuclear club. Allahu Akbar!
Commentary Magazine explains Chairman Zero's failure in detail
The problem here with Obama's painful dithering for the past 12 months is not just that we have wasted a precious year that the Iranians used to get closer to their nuclear goal while the West did nothing to stop them. It is that this year of engagement, during which the Islamist leaders of Iran brutally repressed domestic dissenters while Obama refused to speak up for regime change, has convinced the Iranians that Obama is a weakling whose rhetoric will never be backed up by action.
In summary, Smart Moonbat-Hippie diplomacy doesn't work against thug regimes.
Lefties are down-playing this, naturally. Obama's Amen Corner at MSDNC is already trying to give Dear Reader some cover saying that Iran's rhetoric is in advance of its capabilities. But that's really beside the point, isn't it? The point is that Iran does not take Chairman Zero seriously, and he does not take the threat of nuclear terrorism seriously. Chairman Zero attacks bankers and insurance companies, while making nice with the mullahs in Iran. Obamacrats, in general, are more concerned about the threat of patriots with teabags than jihadists with nukes.
Why Is Nancy Pelosi Such a Stupid Bint?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 7:32 AM
It could be the botox, according to scientists.
"Botox [also] induces a kind of mild, temporary cognitive blindness to information in the world, social information about the emotions of other people" [Discovery News].
So, the reason Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Katie Couric, and the other out-of-touch leftist elites are completely clueless about and indifferent to the challenges of average Americans might be that they've been rendered brain-dead by Botox. Or, it could be because they are all elite, spoiled, narcissistic leftists who have never had to make a payroll, run a business, or even buy their own freakin' groceries.
Yeah, that could be it, too.
Hat Tip: Ace
Now, They Call It "Hate Speech"
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:53 AM
Not so long ago, they proudly called it "dissent." This is old news, but it's always intriguing to see first-hand what recent history reveals about the sheer hypocrisy of the whiny Democrat progressive liberal left.
Video courtsy of TURK3471.
On a dissentful tip from TED.
Democrat Leaders Have Something Else to Worry About
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:20 AM
If Pelosi, Reid, and Obama didn't already have enough to worry them at night, here's one more thing:
LONDON (Reuters) - Intelligence comes second only to smoking as a predictor of heart disease, scientists said on Wednesday, suggesting public health campaigns may need to be designed for people with lower IQs if they are to work.
Research by Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC) found that lower intelligence quotient (IQ) scores were associated with higher rates of heart disease and death, and were more important indicators than any other risk factors except smoking.
Clearly the Democrat Congress and Dear Leader Obama have proven themselves particularly stupid when it comes to choosing legislation to ram down America's collective throat. It wasn't clear from this report whether deafness to the body politic or rampant corruption were also risk factors, but if so, they must be walking around with one foot in the grave.
February 10, 2010
It Is to Snicker
Posted by The MaryHunter at 4:36 PM
Your humble correspondent's favorite Fox News Channel show, Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld, is nonetheless worthy of considerable renown.
"Red Eye." Fox News Channel's snarky 3 a.m. comedy-cum-news show celebrated its third anniversary last week by clocking more 25-to-54-year-olds -- the currency of news programming -- than did any of CNN's primetime programs. The show bagged 180,000 people in that age bracket. "Campbell Brown" settled for 155,000, "Larry King Live" 156,000 and "Anderson Cooper 360" 163,000.
Even an FNC intentionally comical news show surpasses these unintentionally amusing attempts by CNN. In recognition of Red Eye's anniversary and their cable prowess even at such an ungodly hour, here is perhaps their most notable and thoughtful segment.
That is, their most notable and thoughtful segment featuring Carrie Keagan.
On a tip from Penelope.
Video courtesy of RedEyeRecap.
Sarah Palin Haters Show Themselves as Effing R-Words
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 4:26 PM
Some frothing-at-the-mouth left-wing bloggers have attacked Sarah Palin for wearing a black bracelet with the name of her son Track engraved on it. Track Palin is bravely serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq (and not as a way to avoid jail for vandalism as the deranged left previously claimed.) Supposedly, according to these left-wing military experts fashion critics, it is a horrific, scandalous breach of protocol to wear the name of a live soldier on a black bracelet.
It began with an as-of-this-time unretracted post at the Yale Daily News, and the deranged Palin-haters of the left quickly ran with the story.
Crooks and Liars whined ... "To wear a bracelet that someone had to order that would clearly indicate it's a memorial bracelet for your child that's alive.Horrifying."
DailyKos simpered .... "this blatant disregard for the norms of military families, and one of the most recognizable symbols of grief, while completely unsurprising, needs to be highlighted." (Pretty rich coming from the website whose most famous sentiment on the grief of those who were lost in wartime is "Screw 'em!")
Once again, the left's hate has made them R-worded. Because that's not what the bracelets are for at all, as a simple Bing search would have revealed. The bracelet Sarah Palin wears is a deployment bracelet, which is available in both black and silver.
I guess Rahm Emmanuel was right about left-wing activists.
Open Thread
Posted by Dave Blount at 2:44 PM
It's Cooling Because It's Warming
Posted by The MaryHunter at 1:45 PM
MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan "gets" that the TARP talk from Obama is a big fat lie, but he doesn't quite get that global warming/climate change is a big fat lie, too.
It is getting beyond comical to watch the left and its media division contort "science" as they continue to cloak themselves in the mantle of manmade global warming/climate change, even as said mantle unravels daily from ClimateGate, HimalayaGate, RussiaGate, Tree-RingGate, AmazonGate, and any number of other related 'Gates disclosed over recent weeks.
As regards the Republican governor of Virginia "believing" in global warming: easy, lefty trolls, we'll give you that one. It is definitely George Bush's fault.
Hat tip: Glenn Beck.
Government Blows $50 Million on Virgin Islands Beach
Posted by Dave Blount at 1:13 PM
Where do the $trillions stolen from our future go? William La Jeunesse has tracked down $50 million to the Castle Nugent National Historic Park:
It's in the U.S. Virgin Islands, about a thousand miles from Miami and an expensive jet ride to get there.
Two weeks ago, on a near party line vote, a huge Democratic majority in the House agreed to spend $50 million to buy the former cotton plantation on the island of St. Croix.
The National Park Service hadn't even completed their study of the purchase before our Democrat rulers decided they just had to have it. Not even the high-living Dems can beat 3,000 acres of beachfront property as a vacation haven. Plus, it's far enough away that they won't have to worry about encountering any of their unwashed constituents, many of whom aren't smelling any better since being crowded into unemployment by the explosive expansion of Big Government.
Meanwhile, according to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT):
Currently the National Park Service has an estimated $9 billion in backlog maintenance on existing parks.
Future generations are going to have quite a job climbing out of the hole this extravagant spending is digging. As Louis XV would say, "Après Obama, Pelosi, et Reid, le déluge!"
On a tip from Nancz.
Brings New Meaning to the Term "Working Man"
Posted by The MaryHunter at 12:40 PM
Nearly 20% of men in this age group [25-54 yrs] are out of the workforce, and none of the overall second-derivative labor market improvements seem to be helping much. How this trend impacts society more broadly should be interesting, to say the least.
Well, at least crime is down to its lowest levels in over 40 years, too.
Another Day, Another Perfectly Cromulent Word Labeled 'Racist'
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 11:54 AM
As part of Chairman Zero's lifelong quest to avoid meaningful employment in the private sector, B. Hussein Obama taught a few law courses at the University of Chicago. One way to describe a person who teaches in a university setting is "professor." But according to Charles J. Ogletree, a Harvard professor, if you refer to PBO as "Professor Obama," that's racist.
Ogletree, founding and executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, says he sees the "professor" label as a thinly veiled attack on Obama's race. Calling Obama "the professor" walks dangerously close to labeling him "uppity," a term with racial overtones that has surfaced in the political arena before, Ogletree said.
"He has these ideas that are left wing, that are socialist, that he's palling around with terrorists — those were buzzwords, but the reality was they were looking at this president as an African American who was out of place."
Right, because if he had been a white half-term senator who was pushing the most radical socialist agenda since FDR, who spent 20 years in a church led by a rabidly anti-American minister, who came out of the corrupt Chicago Democrat machine, and whose closest associates were unrepentant sixties radicals with blood on their hands … the Tea Party patriots would be okay with all that. /sarc
Why don't these guys just say what they really mean; All criticism of Obama is racist heresy. All opposition to his policies is ra