Sarah Palin might have miffed the Utah Republican Party and left her hairdresser unpaid, but Helen Rappaport, a Utah Democrat, was thrilled with the former Alaska governor's visit to Salt Lake City.Of course, tomatoes at Costco come in something like packs of 50 so it would have been tough to throw one of those.
Rappaport stopped at the Salt Lake City Costco to do some shopping, unaware that Palin was scheduled to be there for a book signing.
So Rappaport, after noticing the parking lot full of cars, was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to maneuver her shopping cart through the store with hardly anybody in the aisles. She also got a prescription filled with no wait.
While going through the check-out lane, again with no wait, she told the clerk she forgot to get some grape tomatoes, which she loves, so she would be right back.
That's when the bells went off.
The clerk told her they had no tomatoes that day.
No tomatoes? At Costco?
As she was leaving, she noticed a man with a store manager's name tag and asked him why they had no tomatoes. He informed her the store did have tomatoes, but they were taken off the shelves for a few hours.
It turns out that Palin had been pelted with a tomato at an earlier stop on her book tour and the management at the Costco was determined it wouldn't happen here.
The manager told an employee to go into the storage area and get Rappaport some tomatoes, which he gave her for free.
So, because of Palin, Rappaport not only got to shop with no lines, she got free tomatoes.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sarah Palin Creates a Tomato Shortage in Utah
Sarah Palin has had some interesting experiences during her book tour, including the idiot that threw a tomato at her. The management of a Costco in Utah made sure that wasn't going to happen again:
More Accidental Visitors at the White House
Some people have all the luck:
The White House is once again explaining how uninvited guests wound up shaking hands with President Barack Obama.In 2005 I had a White House tour scheduled but it was canceled, without our knowledge, to make way for some NCAA athletes. When we showed up at the gate we were told we were out of luck. Nobody invited us to the NCAA event.
This time, a Georgia couple hoping to tour the White House ended up at an invitation-only Veterans Day breakfast.
White House officials say the couple mistakenly showed up a day early and were allowed into the breakfast because there were no public tours available. They say the couple, Harvey and Paula Darden of Hogansville, Ga., were properly screened for security.
Harvey Darden, however, said there appeared to be a mix-up. No one told them about the breakfast, he said, and the Dardens thought they were starting their tour until they were ushered into the East Room and offered a buffet.
I would have gone if we'd been asked.
Global Warming Quote of the Day
From The Governator, speaking at the Global Climate Summit in Copenhagen:
“The desire and hope and desperate need for planetary transformation is what brought me here. Is it a dream, a fairly tale, a false hope? If not how can we make it real?”I'll go for a planetary transformation if we can become a comet. Comets are cool, though if you think the climate's a problem now, just wait until we're an icy dust ball flying around the cosmos.
However, if the folks in Copenhagen have anything to do with it we'll just be a black hole swallowing up the rest of the galaxy.
Either Vote to Fund Abortion Or I'll Shut Down Your Air Base
I was just listening to Hugh Hewitt who had some inside info on the meeting between the Senate Dems and Obama regarding the Obamacare bill. While changes have been made to dump the public option and the Medicare buy-in to placate Joe Lieberman, the funding for abortion is still in the bill and that's a no-go for Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson.
According to a report Hugh was reading Rahm Emanuel has informed Nelson that if he doesn't drop his objection to the bill the White House will place Offhut Air Force Base in Nebraska on the base closing list. Offhut employs some 10,000 people and isn't just another Air Force Base, it's also home to the Strategic Defense Command which would lead our forces in responding to an attack on the homeland. They chose that location on purpose - in the middle of the country where they would have the greatest amount of time to prepare for an incoming strike.
You may remember that Offhut played an important role on 9/11. When Air Force One was looking for someplace where the president could conduct a video conference with the Pentagon and White House officials, that's where they headed after refueling in Louisiana. It's a very important base. (They now have video conferencing capability on AF1.)
This is Chicago politics at its best. Either vote for me or a lot of innocent people will get hurt. It also shows that the White House has no concern whatsoever about national defense, but is more concerned about passing their leftist social program.
Ben Nelson needs to call their bluff.
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Tears of a Clown
Oh brother. Just look at this item from Global Warmist Bill McKibben, one of those guys who are pushing this nonsense that mankind can somehow change the global climate:
This afternoon I sobbed for an hour, and I'm still choking a little. I got to Copenhagen's main Lutheran Cathedral just before the start of a special service designed to mark the conference underway for the next week. It was jammed, but I squeezed into a chair near the corner. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, gave the sermon; Desmond Tutu read the Psalm. Both were wonderful.Oh grow up.
But my tears started before anyone said a word. As the service started, dozens choristers from around the world carried three things down the aisle and to the altar: pieces of dead coral bleached by hot ocean temperatures; stones uncovered by retreating glaciers; and small, shriveled ears of corn from drought-stricken parts of Africa.
Anti-Gun Hysteria Doesn't Pan Out in Atlanta
The Examiner took a look a the aftermath of some new gun laws in Georgia and how reality compared to the anti-gun hysteria that followed the change in the law:
In reality, wherever concealed carry laws have been relaxed crime has gone down. Why? Criminals don't like targets that might shoot back so they seek different opportunities. All it takes is a story or two of an armed citizen stopping an attack or robbery with his personal weapon to take the enthusiasm out of the bad guys.
Bad guys seek soft targets. The potential of armed citizens in a particular area makes that a much harder target and one that's not worth attempting.
The Georgia General Assembly passed HB 89 in 2008, which made criminal prohibitions on carrying firearms on public transportation, in restaurants that serve alcohol, in state parks, and in wildlife management areas inapplicable to Georgians possessing a firearms license. HB 89 took effect on July 1, 2008, and many predicted mass bloodshed as a result. Nowhere was the controversy so acute as the city of Atlanta and its public transportation system.You have to understand the liberal mindset when it comes to guns. Guns are inherently evil, and anyone possessing one is likely to become evil. You never know when they'll just pull out a gun and start blasting away.
The city of Atlanta immediately declared the airport off limits to firearms, and won a lawsuit filed by GeorgiaCarry.Org seeking to enjoin arrests of people with firearms licenses at the Atlanta airport. The other hot button issue was the carry of firearms on the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit system, known affectionately to Atlantans by the acronym MARTA. People predicted shootouts on the trains and busses, and both the city of Atlanta and MARTA officials lobbied strenuously against the bill.
MARTA bus drivers gathered more than 1,000 signatures on a petition to have bullet proof shields installed, as if Georgia firearms licensees had just been waiting for the new law to pass so that they could shoot a bus driver. "We don't want cameras. Cameras don't save people's lives. ... We want something that gives us a fighting chance," said Terry Jackson, the MARTA driver who started the petition. Beverly Scott, MARTA's general manager, called the bill "vigilantism."
Atlanta's mayor went so far as to declare, "The presumption needs to be, in order to have a safe city, that there are no concealed weapons."
MARTA Office of Government and Community Relations employee Rhonda Briggins issued a widely distributed "Call to Action!" alert calling the gun bill "a recipe for disaster."
So at the end of 2009, it is worth a look to see what actually happened to crime rates on MARTA. Since July of 2008, there have been no news stories of blazing gun battles on MARTA, which would surely have been newsworthy events. That leaves interested researchers with the publicly available crime rates, and they tell a story at odds with the hysterical predictions of 2008.
Murders drop to zero
In 2007, MARTA had two murders occur on its property. In 2008, the year the new law took effect and peaceable citizens began lawfully carrying firearms on MARTA trains and busses, the number of murders dropped to zero, and there has not been a murder reported on the system since.
Robbery rate drops
The murder rate was not the only category of violent crime to go down in the wake of the new gun law. There were 94 robberies on the MARTA system in 2007. In 2008, the year the new law took effect, the number of robberies dropped to 71, and in 2009, it has dropped again to 67 (although we still have two weeks to go).
Overall rate lower
The overall rate per number of riders has also dropped since the new law took effect.
In reality, wherever concealed carry laws have been relaxed crime has gone down. Why? Criminals don't like targets that might shoot back so they seek different opportunities. All it takes is a story or two of an armed citizen stopping an attack or robbery with his personal weapon to take the enthusiasm out of the bad guys.
Bad guys seek soft targets. The potential of armed citizens in a particular area makes that a much harder target and one that's not worth attempting.
However, no matter how many situations like the one in the story above are documented, liberals will never understand that guns are tools, and in the hands of the right person, can create a more polite and safer society.
Another Great Moment in Education
A teacher's mind is a terrible thing to waste:
When I was a kid we'd draw pictures of bombers dropping bombs on things, or tanks shooting at the enemy. I would have spent my whole childhood in therapy if the rules in place today had been in effect back then.
A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.Better keep those school officials out of Catholic churches because you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Jesus on a cross (sorry, swinging dead cats is clearly a violent image).
The father said he got a call earlier this month from Maxham Elementary School informing him that his son, a second-grade student, had created a violent drawing. The image in question depicted a crucified Jesus with Xs covering his eyes to signify that he had died on the cross. The boy wrote his name above the cross.
“As far as I’m concerned, they’re violating his religion,” the incredulous father said.
He requested that his name and his son’s name be withheld from publication to protect the boy.
The student drew the picture shortly after taking a family trip to see the Christmas display at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, a Christian retreat site in Attleboro. He made the drawing in class after his teacher asked the children to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas, the father said.
“I think what happened is that because he put Xs in the eyes of Jesus, the teacher was alarmed and they told the parents they thought it was violent,” said Toni Saunders, an educational consultant with the Associated Advocacy Center.
When I was a kid we'd draw pictures of bombers dropping bombs on things, or tanks shooting at the enemy. I would have spent my whole childhood in therapy if the rules in place today had been in effect back then.
Nancy Pelosi, Time's Person of the Year??
She's being considered, and Allahpundit has her qualifications:
And, when there's a bloodbath in the 2010 election for Democrats, she can take credit for that too.
Via JWF, who could disagree? So far, with an 80-seat advantage in the House, she (a) passed the stimulus bill, (b) passed a cap-and-trade bill that’s dead on arrival in the Senate, and (c) passed an ObamaCare bill that’s headed for the trash can once Reid passes something and demands that she ping-pong it, which she may not have the votes to do. During her downtime, she’s repeatedly impugned the patriotism of heropponents. Oh, and she also managed to become one of the most widely loathedpoliticians in America, to the point where the GOP’s planning to use her instead of Obama as its chief boogeyman in attack ads next fall.Hey, if Obama could win the Nobel Peace Prize without actually accomplishing anything, certainly Nancy Pelosi can win this prize without accomplishing anything.
All in all, I’d give her a solid B+.
And, when there's a bloodbath in the 2010 election for Democrats, she can take credit for that too.
Al Gore's Latest Feverish Fantasy
Al Gore gets caught in a lie:
As desperation sinks in with the globaloney crowd more bogus claims like this are bound to spew from Gore's fevered brain.
There are many kinds of truth. Al Gore was hit by an inconvenient one yesterday.You'd think the guy who invented the internet could have looked this stuff up.
The former vice president, who became an unlikely figurehead for the green movement after narrating the Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," became entangled in a new climate change row.
Gore, speaking at the Copenhagen climate change summit, stated the latest research showed that the Arctic could be completely ice-free in five years.
In his speech, Gore told the conference: "These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr. [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years."
However, the climatologist whose work Gore was relying upon dropped the former vice president in the water with an icy blast.
"It's unclear to me how this figure was arrived at," Dr. Maslowski said. "I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this."
Gore's office later admitted that the 75 percent figure was one used by Dr. Maslowski as a "ballpark figure" several years ago in a conversation with Gore.
The embarrassing error cast another shadow over the conference after the controversy over the hacked e-mails from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, which appeared to suggest that scientists had manipulated data to strengthen their argument that human activities were causing global warming.
As desperation sinks in with the globaloney crowd more bogus claims like this are bound to spew from Gore's fevered brain.
Gitmo Illinois
Enough criminals have come out of Illinois, so I guess it's only fair to return some:
A prison complex 150 miles from Chicago will house Gitmo detainees, the Obama administration will announce Tuesday.Obama is doing this to convince the rest of the world that he's kind and compassionate towards terrorists, which is the kind of president foreigners prefer. Of course, this move is little more than symbolic because there are quite a few guys in Gitmo that will never be moved. And it's a liberal fantasy that terrorists are recruiting others because we have some guys locked up in Cuba, and that the recruiting will be reduced because of this move. The guys at Gitmo were written off long ago by the bad guys.
A senior administration official tells ABC News that on Tuesday the administration will announce that President Obama “has directed that the federal government proceed with the acquisition of the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Illinois to house federal inmates and a limited number of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.” …
“Closing the detention center at Guantanamo is essential to protecting our national security and helping our troops by removing a deadly recruiting tool from the hands of al Qaeda,” the official said. “Tomorrow’s announcement is an important step forward as we work to achieve our national security objectives.”
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Sen. Dick Durbin, two leading officials — both Democrats — who have supported the move, will be briefed on the decision Tuesday by administration officials.
They're Going Through With It Even If It Kills Them
Byron York takes a look at why Democrats are proceeding with Obamacare even though the voters don't want it and it will cost them big time in 2010:
To some observers, the Democrats' race to pass national health care seems irrational -- even suicidal. Don't party leaders understand how much the public opposes the bills currently on the table? Don't they know that voters are likely to take their revenge at the polls next year? Given that, why do they keep rushing ahead?Dems are convinced of their righteousness on the health care issue, just like they were on Social Security and Medicare, both of which are now going broke and threatening the entire economy. Health care will be no different. They are sincere...sincerely wrong.
Just look at the RealClearPolitics average of polls, which shows that Americans oppose the national health care bills currently on the table by a margin of 53 percent to 38 percent. That's not just one poll that might tilt right or left, it's an average of several polls by several pollsters. And the margin of opposition seems to be growing, not diminishing. And yet Democrats seem determined to defy public opinion. Why?
I put the question to a Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous. Yes, Democrats certainly understand that voters don't like the current bills, he told me, and they are fully aware they will probably pay a price next year. But they have found a way to view going ahead anyway as the logical thing to do, at least in their eyes.
You have to look at the issue from three different Democratic perspectives: the House of Representatives, the White House and the Senate.
"In the House, the view of [California Rep. Henry] Waxman and [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi is that we've waited two generations to get health care passed, and the 20 or 40 members of Congress who are going to lose their seats as a result are transitional players at best," he said. "This is something the party has wanted since Franklin Roosevelt." In this view, losses are just the price of doing something great and historic. (The strategist also noted that it's easy for Waxman and Pelosi to say that, since they come from safely liberal districts.)
"At the White House, the picture is slightly different," he continued. "Their view is, 'We're all in on this, totally committed, and we don't have to run for re-election next year. There will never be a better time to do it than now.'"
"And in the Senate, they look at the most vulnerable Democrats -- like [Christopher] Dodd and [Majority Leader Harry] Reid -- and say those vulnerabilities will probably not change whether health care reform passes or fails. So in that view, if they pass reform, Democrats will lose the same number of seats they were going to lose before."
All those scenarios have a certain logic (even if the Senate calculation undercounts the number of potentially vulnerable Democrats). But each scenario is premised on passing an unpopular bill that hurts the party. Even if there's a strategic rationale for doing it, why are Democrats dead-set on hurting themselves?
"Because they think they know what's best for the public," the strategist said. "They think the facts are being distorted and the public's being told a story that is not entirely true, and that they are in Congress to be leaders. And they are going to make the decision because (expletive), it's good for the public."
Rasmussen: Democrats Summoned to the Woodshed
Obama is calling in the Senate Dems to try and get them to pass his health care bill:
They may not get their public option in this bill, but it will be inevitable if this version passes.
President Barack Obama will meet with Senate Democrats at the White House Tuesday to press for action at a make-or-break moment for his health care overhaul.The message to the Dems will be simple - PASS SOMETHING! At this point it almost doesn't matter what's in the bill as long as a bill passes before Christmas. The Dems can declare victory and proclaim that they've "reformed" health care, and the resulting bureaucratic nightmare that will result will require more reform in the near future and that's where the Dems will get their public option and Medicare buy-in. They'll also start collecting billions in new taxes and setting the table for the destruction of the private health insurance industry.
All 60 members of the Democratic caucus have been invited, according to three Democratic officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public.
The meeting comes as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid works to round up votes to get a sweeping health bill passed before Christmas. The outcome is uncertain with moderates in danger of defecting on issues including abortion and a proposed expansion of Medicare.
They may not get their public option in this bill, but it will be inevitable if this version passes.
Global Warming Headlines of the Day
From Drudge:
Reporters catch Gore in 'embarrassing error' about Arctic ice -- Gore admits...
Sunshine speeded 1940s Swiss glacier melt: scientists...
Canada freezes as 'one of the worst snow storms on record' strands thousands...
Snowy dusting in Australia's summer...
NYT: Bloomberg flying to UN climate summit 'by private jet...ranks among worst individual polluters ever to hold public office'...
Dem Retirements Could Become an Epidemic
Marc Ambinder takes a look at the surge of Democrat House members who are retiring or likely to retire, and why:
Stipulating here for a moment: the NET number of Democratic congressional retirements is -1, which is not necessarily predictive of a wave in the distance. Of the nearly two dozen Democrats and Republicans who've decided to step down, Republicans are in a good position to pick up about seven seats -- Democrats are in a position to pick up three.Forty-one is a tall order, but if Dem retirements pick up and they continue to push stuff nobody wants, it may be very doable. According to the Cook Report, which handicaps all the House races, the number of Likely Dem seats is down to 218 - a bare majority.
But the biggest psychological driver of congressional retirements is the perception that the next election won't be worth the personal/political/ego rewards of the 2010-2011 congressional cycle. It's not so much that Democrats expect to be in the minority, although it is possible. It's that Democrats of a certain type -- John Tanner, Bart Gordon, Brian Baird -- expect to be in a narrower, more liberal majority that forces them to take harder votes -- a majority where the new Republicans elected from open district seats are suddenly invested with major bargaining powers.
Who's next? The White House worries that Rep. John Spratt, the chairman of the budget committee in the House, a long-serving Democrat from South Carolina, is thinking through the consequences of stepping down. Republicans are watching Rep. Ike Skelton (the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee) and Collin Peterson, from a devastated auto-producing district in Minnesota; if those two go, they expect a half dozen other Democrats to take their lead.
The GOP needs 41 pick-ups to retake the House.
Monday, December 14, 2009
When You Control the Mail, You Control...Information!
That quote from a famous Seinfeld episode, and before I go to the story I have to run this clip:
It'll happen.
If your mother-in-law's mail goes through the Waterbury or Wallingford post offices, she might not have received the birthday card you sent in time.Go forward a few years when another government run industry, health care, quotes a government doctor saying "We've had issues with them hiding the old sick people."
Apparently managers at the post office have been hiding mail, Ray Arcovio, president of the Waterbury area postal worker’s union, told the Waterbury Republican-American. And he wants to sincerely apologize.
Workers have been stuffing mail into closets and unused rooms at mail facilities in Waterbury and Wallingford because they don’t know how to keep up with such a high volume of mail, he told the newspaper.
"They're just pushing it aside for the next day," Arcovio told the paper. "We've had issues with them hiding the mail."
It'll happen.
Health Care Quote of the Day
From the wacky left site DailyKos:
Insurance companies win. Time to kill this monstrosity coming out of the Senate.So, Harry Reid works up a compromise that gets rid of the public option and the Medicare buy-in in order to get Joe Lieberman's vote, but loses the wacky left in the process. I wonder how many lefty Dem Senators might be influenced by that - especially since they like the money that Kos can raise.
Breast Cancer Suddenly Becomes Politically Incorrect
I did several posts earlier this year on the politically correct diseases like breast cancer and AIDS which gain tremendous attention and funding while a disease like pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which kills just as many as does breast cancer every year but has no survivors or cures, gets very little attention. Nobody painted their race cars a special color for IPF, or draped ribbons in honor of IPF over the White House. It is not a politically correct disease. (You can click on the "Pulmonary Fibrosis" label below to see the other posts.)
However, breast cancer, for which the color pink is now almost synonymous, has suddenly run into a bit of political opposition, at least among lefties who are upset that Joe Lieberman's wife, Hadassah, is a global ambassador for the Susan G. Komen For the Cure organization. You see, Joe Lieberman has run afoul of the lefties who desperately want socialized medicine in this country and Lieberman is refusing to cooperate. Some on the left are now calling for an end to donations to the organization until they dump Hadassah from their roster.
I never thought I'd see breast cancer funding used as a weapon against a liberal, but when one strays from the reservation, I guess anything is possible.
John McCain Bashing Potential Conservative Challenger
John McCain is worried. He's up for re-election again in 2010 and Mr. Moderate Maverick may be facing a challenger in the primary - a conservative challenger:
J.D. Hayworth is a very attractive candidate. Much younger than Maverick and very articulate in his conservative views. I think the citizens of Arizona have had all they want of McCain, and should Hayworth get into the race, he'd be very tough to beat.John McCain, although absent from the actual festivities, dominated the buzz at last evening’s AZ GOP Christmas party. Several partygoers were comparing notes on the push-pull polling calls they had received, obviously done at the behest of the 2010 McCampaign.
The questions asked by the “Parent’s Group” pollster began with generalities such as how likely the recipient was to vote in the upcoming election. They escalated to more targeted information such as questioning whether any family members were military veterans or did they own a firearm. Finally, they got to the nitty-gritty of a match up between McCain and former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, who is not even a declared candidate. When the pollster was told that Hayworth, if he were to enter the race, had their vote, out came the long-knife slasher questions, linking Hayworth to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, even though Hayworth was vindicated and cleared of allallegations. There was even a question disparaging his family members.
It appears John McCain is running scared and is already out in front of the still phantom candidate, spending money to denigrate him, should he decide to enter the fray. These embarrassing polling numbers, courtesy of Rasmussen Reports, could be the reason for the defensive actions.
What's Really Going on in the Senate?
Hard to say, but this video might give you an idea of where the idea of allowing 55-year olds into Medicare came from:
There's quite an elaborate dance going on right now between Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman, and the rest of the Dem caucus. Everybody's pretty mad at Lieberman for refusing to go along with the Medicare plan or public option in any form, and the Dems are so desperate for a deal at this point they're likely to agree to anything.
Time to start over.
There's quite an elaborate dance going on right now between Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman, and the rest of the Dem caucus. Everybody's pretty mad at Lieberman for refusing to go along with the Medicare plan or public option in any form, and the Dems are so desperate for a deal at this point they're likely to agree to anything.
It's a dangerous time.
UPDATE: Just look at this from Major Garrett's Twitter feed:
Of course, the question then becomes what's left after you take the public option and Medicare buy-in out of the bill? 2,000 pages of pork?Sen. Harkin (D-Iowa), key HC negotiator, says Pub Option & Medicare buy-in now out of Reid bill. "It's not fair but it's reality."
In a related development, Sen. Lieberman, key sticking point, says he can vote for HC bill w/out Pub Option or Medicare buy-in.
All this jockeying conveys deep WH desire for deal -- any deal -- to move Senate bill before Christmas break.
Time to start over.
End of the World Could Be Delayed Six Years
I guess we have longer than we thought to save the planet. From the London Times:
"Copenhagen Stalls Decision on Catastrophic Climate Change for Six Years"I believe Al Gore was just quoted as saying the Arctic Ice Sheets will be gone in 5 years, so at least for those taking a cruise to the next UN Global Climate Summit they'll be able to go right over the top of the world if they'd like.
The key decision on preventing catastrophic climate change will be delayed for up to six years if the Copenhagen summit delivers a compromise deal which ignores advice from the UN's science body.
World leaders will not agree on the emissions cuts recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and are likely instead to commit to reviewing them in 2015 or 2016.
One thing's for sure, the guy who leaked or hacked the ClimateGate emails is a hero. Without that this whole thing might have progressed unhindered by facts.
The Wandering Churchgoer
This is a follow-up to a previous post about the fickleness of today's churchgoers:
Going to church this Sunday? Look around.This doesn't really surprise me in today's "remote control" society. If we don't like what we're watching, we switch the channels to see what else is on and keep doing that as we quickly grow bored. We look for spiritual satisfaction in whatever the latest fad might be.
The chances are that one in five of the people there find "spiritual energy" in mountains or trees, and one in six believe in the "evil eye," that certain people can cast curses with a look — beliefs your Christian pastor doesn't preach.
In a Catholic church? Chances are that one in five members believe in reincarnation in a way never taught in catechism class — that you'll be reborn in this world again and again.
Elements of Eastern faiths and New Age thinking have been widely adopted by 65% of U.S. adults, including many who call themselves Protestants and Catholics, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released Wednesday.
Syncretism — mashing up contradictory beliefs like Catholic rocker Madonna's devotion to a Kabbalah-light version of Jewish mysticism — appears on the rise.
And, according to the survey's other major finding, devotion to one clear faith is fading.
Of the 72% of Americans who attend religious services at least once a year (excluding holidays, weddings and funerals), 35% say they attend in multiple places, often hop-scotching across denominations.
They are like President Obama, who currently has no home church. He has worshiped at a Baptist church, an Episcopal one, and the non-denominational chapel at Camp David.
"Mixing and matching practices and beliefs is as much the norm as it is the exception," Pew's Alan Cooperman says. "Are they grazing, sampling, just curious? We really don't know."
Even so, says Pew researcher Greg Smith, "these findings all point toward a spiritual and religious openness — not necessarily a lack of seriousness."
Among the findings:
•26% of those who attend religious services say they do so at more than one place occasionally, and an additional 9% roam regularly from their home church for services.
•28% of people who attend church at least weekly say they visit multiple churches outside their own tradition.
•59% of less frequent church attendees say they attend worship at multiple places.
The survey of 2,003 adults Aug. 11-27 has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. It measures Protestants, Catholics and the unaffiliated; there were not enough people of other faiths surveyed for analysis.
"For an extremely long time, most of us thought belonging or membership or home church was monogamous, even if it was serial monogamy, because we all know about church-switching," says sociologist of religion Scott Thumma, a professor at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Hartford, Conn. "Today, the individual rarely finds all their spiritual needs met in one congregation or one religion."
Churches have tried to respond with various movements designed to make the churchgoing experience more relevant, and frankly more entertaining, but this "church light" doesn't scratch the deeper spiritual itch in many people. Consequently, they start seeking "enlightenment" through all kinds of nutty things.
Or they just quit looking altogether.
It doesn't help when mainstream denominations abandon traditional Biblical principles and start chasing liberal social causes like gay "rights". They are dying denominations, accelerating their own demise.
What's the answer? I really don't know. There's a world out there looking for spiritual answers and apparently many, many churches are not providing what they need.
Global Warmists Getting Hot Under the Collar in Copenhagen
The little countries are trying to force more money out of the big countries:
U.N. climate talks were thrown into disarray Monday as developing countries blocked negotiations, demanding that rich countries raise their pledges for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.As Don Surber points out in his post, the whole set-up in Copenhagen is ridiculous.
Representatives from developing countries said they refused to participate in any working groups at the 192-nation summit until the issue was resolved.
The move was a setback for the Copenhagen talks, which were already faltering over long-running disputes between rich and poor nations over emissions cuts and financing for developing countries to deal with climate change.
“Nothing is happening at this moment,” Zia Hoque Mukta, a delegate from Bangladesh, told The Associated Press. He said developing countries have demanded that conference president Connie Hedegaard bring the industrial nations’ emissions targets to the top of the agenda before talks can resume.
They accused the developed world of being undemocratic because of a refusal to allow every tinhorn dictator in some itty-bitty state to have the same voice as nations representing tens and hundreds of millions of people.You can poke the big dog just so many times before the big dog bites, and right now the big dogs are getting a little tired of the yappy little toy poodles who have been given far more authority than they deserve at this conference.
Tuvalu, population 11,000, gets the same vote as China, population 1.3 billion? That is cuckoo.
That is the United Nations.
Lefties Want to Kick Lieberman to the Curb
Lefty blog Talking Points Memo has pretty much had it with Joe Lieberman:
Secondly, this strategy still doesn't get them to 60 votes. Even if they get Snowe, without Ben Nelson they're stuck at 59.
And finally, I don't think Snowe is willing to be the only Republican vote for the bill. Defying her entire caucus, not to mention the majority of voters, isn't all that likely when it comes to final passage. They'd have to craft a bill that would at least gain one additional GOP vote - probably Snowe's fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins - and that would likely hurt them with the lefty Democrats.
It's starting to seem like it may just be better for Dems to try to make a deal with Olympia Snowe, kick Joe Lieberman out of the party and be done with it. The leadership in the senate thought that Lieberman was on board with the latest compromise. But in an appearance on Face the Nation and later in a sit-down with Sen. Reid, Lieberman said he'd join the Republican filibuster if the Medicare buy-in remained in the bill.There are a couple of problems with that strategy. For one thing, Lieberman's not a Democrat, he's an independent. They can kick him out of the Dem caucus but they can't kick him out of the party.
What's most telling about Lieberman isn't his positions, which are not that much different from Sen. Nelson's and perhaps Sen. Lincoln's. It's more that he seems to keep upping the ante just when the rest of the caucus thinks they've got a deal.
If it happened once, a misunderstanding might be a credible explanation. But it's happened too many times. Sen. Nelson has driven Dems to distraction on this bill. But his demands have been fairly consistent over time. Lieberman just doesn't seem to be negotiating in good faith. He keeps pulling his caucus to some new compromise, waiting a few days and then saying he can't agree to that either.
It's coming to a breaking point.
Secondly, this strategy still doesn't get them to 60 votes. Even if they get Snowe, without Ben Nelson they're stuck at 59.
And finally, I don't think Snowe is willing to be the only Republican vote for the bill. Defying her entire caucus, not to mention the majority of voters, isn't all that likely when it comes to final passage. They'd have to craft a bill that would at least gain one additional GOP vote - probably Snowe's fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins - and that would likely hurt them with the lefty Democrats.
At this point every analysis indicates that passing this bill will be worse than doing nothing. It's time to kill the bill and start over, concentrating on a number of relatively minor changes that could be made to the health care system that would solve most of the problems Obamacare was supposed to fix. For instance, allowing policies to be sold interstate could make a huge difference in costs, and that's a pretty minor fix.
UPDATE: Here's another article on the various punishments the left would like to inflict on Joe Lieberman.
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Dems Could Lose Both Biden and Obama's Old Senate Seats
Two safe Democrat Senate seats now seem bound for a party change:
Obama was only in his seat barely two years when he chose to run for president, but Biden held his seat since 1973. The loss of both would put a dent in the Dem caucus, and with others like Harry Reid, Chris Dodd and Blanche Lincoln teetering on the edge, that big majority they currently enjoy could be whittled down considerably.
Al Gore's old House seat will also be a toss-up next year. The guy who has held that seat through 13 elections, Bart Gordon, has decided to retire. This seat has now gone from "safe Dem" to "toss-up". A lot of senior Democrats are suddenly finding the need to "spend more time with their families".
President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won't be on the midterm ballot next year, but their former Senate seats will be, and both races are now either tossups or leaning Republican in high-visibility contests.The details can be found at the link.
Obama was only in his seat barely two years when he chose to run for president, but Biden held his seat since 1973. The loss of both would put a dent in the Dem caucus, and with others like Harry Reid, Chris Dodd and Blanche Lincoln teetering on the edge, that big majority they currently enjoy could be whittled down considerably.
Al Gore's old House seat will also be a toss-up next year. The guy who has held that seat through 13 elections, Bart Gordon, has decided to retire. This seat has now gone from "safe Dem" to "toss-up". A lot of senior Democrats are suddenly finding the need to "spend more time with their families".
56% Oppose Obamacare
There's little doubt that those who are promoting Obamacare are working against their own re-election chances:
Fifty-six percent (56%) of U.S. voters now oppose the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s the highest level of opposition found - reached three times before - in six months of polling.And yet Harry Reid presses on. His numbers in Nevada are even worse that Obamacare nationally. Passing this bill pretty much guarantees his defeat next year.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 40% of voters favor the health care plan.
Perhaps more significantly, 46% now Strongly Oppose the plan, compared to 19% who Strongly Favor it.
Overall support for the health care plan fell to 38%, its lowest point ever, just before Thanksgiving. This is the fourth straight week with support at 41% or less. With the exception of a few days following nationally televised presidential appeals for the legislation, the number of voters opposed to the plan has always exceeded the number who favor it.
“The most significant detail in the data is that 63% of senior citizens oppose the plan, including 52% who strongly oppose it,” says Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports. “Seniors are significant in this debate both because they use the health care system more than anyone else and because they vote more than younger voters.”
The CHRIST-mas Tree
Boss Creations, a new holiday decor company, has introduced the new "CHRIST-mas" Tree, featuring the unique trait of a trunk in the shape of a wooden cross. Company owner Marsha Boggs says the tree was specifically designed to counter the "war on Christmas."I think I'll just stick with our "Memory Tree".
"When I became a Christian a few years ago," says Boggs, "I was appalled by the secularization of the Christmas holiday. When retail stores started substituting 'Happy Holidays' for 'Merry Christmas,' and schools began calling their Christmas programs 'Winter Plays,' it all seemed ridiculous to me. That's why we have created products that remind people what the Christmas season is really all about - the birth of Christ."
The "CHRIST-mas" Tree is size adjustable up to 7.5 foot tall to accommodate various ceiling sizes. Additionally, the company offers ornaments, wreaths and gift items all with Christian-based themes.
Lieberman/Nelson Won't Vote for Harry Reid's Bill
At least as it's now written:
We'll see.
Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) both said a Medicare "buy-in" option for those aged 55-64 was a deal breaker.Of course, you can't count on these guys sticking with those positions. Any change in the bill...ANY change could cause them to decide that all is forgiven and it's too important to America to let it fail.
"I'm concerned that it's the forerunner of single payer, the ultimate single-payer plan, maybe even more directly than the public option," Nelson said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Lieberman said Democrats should stop looking for a public option "compromise" and simply scrap the idea altogether.
"You've got to take out the Medicare buy-in. You've got to forget about the public option," he said.
If Democrats stick to relying primarily on the bill's subsidies, the legislation would pass easily and with bipartisan support, Lieberman argued.
We'll see.
Obama Trips Over a Dreidel
You just can't please everybody:
At the White House, as the Obama administration is learning all too well, a party is never a simple affair. (Just ask the Salahi-stricken Secret Service.)I'm not quite so quick to assume that Obama is dissing the Jewish community, but if Joe Lieberman votes against Obamacare, all bets are off.
The latest kerfuffle, the New York Times reports, involves the Obama administration's first Hanukkah party.
One bone of contention has been the guest list: Administration officials say they are inviting 550 people, just 50 less than President Bush invited to his White House Hanukkah parties. But reports in the Israeli press spawned fast-spreading rumors that the Obama White House was only inviting 400 – and that the Bush White House had actually invited twice that number.
It was, some suggested, a snub – and one that critics said should not come as a surprise.
The rumors appear to have been touched off by an opinion piece by Tevi Troy, who was a liaison to Jewish groups in the Bush administration. As the Times reports, Troy suggested the Obama administration was taking Jewish votes for granted, citing as evidence the administration's call for a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The guest list issue, Troy said, created "a nagging sense that there may be a studied callousness at work here."
Sunday, December 13, 2009
On This Day
A fond memory for many of us - on this day in 2000 Al Gore conceded the election to George W. Bush. I remember that night well because I was preparing to perform in a Christmas concert at Saddleback Church and they played the concession speech on the auditorium's big screens live as it was broadcast nationwide. After so many days and so many legal twists and turns, it all came as a big relief to millions.
In honor of this noble anniversary, perhaps it's time for Al Gore to concede that man-made global warming (or climate change as it's now known) is just as much a crock as his election challenges.
Do the right thing, Al.
A "Tree Ring Circus"
Democrats are still trying to save their precious cap-and-tax legislation:
The release of e-mails that suggest climate change data were manipulated is causing a "tree ring circus" that is trying to inflate a scandal to prevent international efforts to reduce global warming, a leading House proponent of climate change legislation said Sunday.Hey, problem solved! It was all hoax. You'll have to soak the taxpayers for more money another way.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who co-authored legislation to reduce U.S. manmade greenhouse gas production by 17 percent over the next 10 years, told "Fox News Sunday" that the thousands of e-mails now known as "Climate-gate" are actually a minute aspect of the overall study on global warming produced by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Markey's legislation with Rep. Henry Waxman passed the House of Representatives earlier this year but stalled after passing the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee. He said efforts to try to minimize studies that prove global warming -- like one that looked at the size of rings in trees in Siberia -- will make it harder to pass legislation that could help save both U.S. industries and the earth.
"The deniers want to create a Siberian tree ring circus," Markey said. "They want to take a small percentage of this entire study, a couple pages of it -- 1,000 pages -- and throw out the conclusion. ... The real scandal will be is if we don't solve this problem for coming generations."
And, no, you can't "save the planet". The coming generations will be just fine.
$15 Million Per Floozy
Those are some expensive females Tiger Woods was chasing:
A year away from golf would cost Tiger Woods $180 million in lost endorsements, tournament winnings and appearance fees -- about $15 million per floozy, industry analysts estimate.I think Tiger will probably be back, but probably not this year.
In an announcement that stunned the golf world, Woods said on Friday he was withdrawing indefinitely from the game to try and mend his broken marriage to his betrayed wife, Elin Nordegren.
The superstar swinger has earned an estimated $1 billion over his career, but his financial future is now at stake. Sponsors are jittery now that Woods' extramarital harem has swelled to at least a dozen reported paramours.
Woods earns about $110 million a year in endorsements -- the most lucrative being a $30 million deal with Nike. While the sports apparel giant has continued to support him, other corporate partners are distancing themselves from the iconic athlete.
Scientists Defying "Consensus"
Looks like the science of climate change isn't settled at all (sorry Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi). Don Surber provides some quotes:
A few scientists though are speaking out. Many of them believe in Global Warming, but hate what Phil Jones, Michael Mann and the others did.That last line from Surber is the most important at all. Science used to gain great respect from the average schlub who didn't know any better. Now all science is becoming suspect. After all, if a hoax like global warming can go on as long as it has, what else is currently being promoted as "settled" that in fact is a crock?Via columnist Joe Konopka, John Christy, a scientist at the University of Alabama, said: “It’s disconcerting to realize that legislative actions this nation is preparing to take, and which will cost trillions of dollars, are based upon a view of climate that has not been completely scientifically tested.”
Via Vincent Carroll, the University of Colorado’s Roger Pielke Jr. said, “We do want some institutions that take a step back from advocacy… If climate scientists want to regain lost credibility, and indeed not see it diminish further, they are going to have to stop playing the rest of us for fools.”
Eduardo Zorita of Germany’s Institute for Coastal Research: “I may confirm what has been written in other places: research in some areas of climate science has been and is full of machination, conspiracies, and collusion, as any reader can interpret from the CRU-files. They depict a realistic, I would say even harmless, picture of what the real research in the area of the climate of the past millennium has been in the last years. The scientific debate has been in many instances hijacked to advance other agendas.”
Scientists need to forget saving the world and begin saving science.
Imagine There's No Religion
That line from John Lennon's insipid tune came to mind as I read this story:
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a report [that]... points out that many Americans are now choosing to “blend Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs” and that “sizable minorities of all major U.S. religious groups” said that they have had supernatural experiences, like encountering ghosts....Democrats also seem a lot more likely to believe in fairy tales like the idea that man can save the planet from climate change and that bigger government equals more freedom.
Twenty percent of Protestants and 28 percent of Catholics said they believe in reincarnation... [A]bout the same percentages said they believe in astrology, yoga as a spiritual practice and the idea that there is “spiritual energy” pulsing from things like “mountains, trees or crystals.”...
[T]hose who identified themselves as Christian were more likely to believe these things than those who were unaffiliated....
Furthermore, 16 percent of Protestants and 17 percent of Catholics said that they believe that some people can use the “evil eye” to “cast curses or spells that cause bad things to happen.”...
... Democrats were almost twice as likely to believe in ghosts and to consult fortune-tellers than were Republicans, and the Democrats were 71 percent more likely to believe that they were in touch with the dead....
Global Warming Photo of the Day
From the Daily Telegraph - FIRE BEARS!
Nothing says global warming protest like panda bears with their hair on fire.There's more on the protest from the Telegraph:
Something’s rioting in Denmark:Anybody else notice that global warming protests always seen to take place on the coldest days of the year?More than 600 people have been arrested at a demonstration against climate change in Copenhagen today.
Against climate change? Doesn’t seem so, unless windows are agents of warming:
What started as a peaceful demonstration calling for action on climate change, descended into rioting as hundreds of masked youths threw bricks and smashed windows in the Danish capital.
It’s an ursine uprising:
Some activists dressed as polar bears and panda bears to highlight the environmental impact of climate change, while others carried inflatable snowmen and barriers saying “Act Now!”.
And the cops did, 600 times.
UPDATE. We’re up to 968 arrests. Of those, 150 were tag-and-release deals.
UPDATE II. Brrr:
One activist group accused the police of abuse complaining people had been forced sit on the road for hours in near-freezing temperatures.
It’s so unfair. The police could at least have moved them closer to the four cars that were set on fire during the peaceful awareness-raising.
UPDATE III. AIEEEEEEEEE! Zombie climate mimes!
What if Gore Won? A Liberal Fantasy
If you want a little light reading, try this essay at Newsweek - an alternate history of the last decade which begins with an Al Gore win in 2000. Of course, anything that Bush did that the left opposed or disliked is corrected by Gore, though his term is not without problems.
Leap of Faith
Please read this post from Erick Erickson at Red State. It's his personal statement of faith and something from which we could all benefit.
A Message From Christmas Past
While driving down the 101 in Santa Rosa on Friday a Lexus pulled along side us and on the rear he had a custom-made license plate holder that read "I Miss Ronald Reagan".
I do too:
I do too:
Playbook for the Senate GOP Members
Erick Erickson at Red State has some advice for the GOP members in the Senate. Here's part of it:
At one point Sen. Coburn threatened to make the Senate read the health care bill out loud every time such a reading is required under Senate rules. He backed down because members of his own party wouldn't support it and they got cold feet that it would play poorly in the press.
Who cares what the press thinks? This is life or death stuff now, and we need to stop this bill. The most recent analysis shows us that passing this bill will be worse than doing nothing, so by stopping it we're preventing further disaster. That's the way GOP obstruction has to be portrayed to the press and anyone else who needs to know.
The Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, has parliamentary rules and procedures that give the minority the ability to stall legislation. In fact, unlike the House, the minority have the ability to virtually paralyze the Senate. Doing so is not something we would want or expect for every bad bill that comes through Congress, but the proposed healthcare legislation is probably the worst piece of legislation ever considered by the United States Congress. It is the most intrusive, most damaging, most costly, most dangerous bill to the economic and personal freedom and liberty of individual Americans that Congress has ever considered. If there is any bill that deserves being stopped by shutting down the Senate, it is this one.Read the rest of it here. It's all good advice.
There are a whole series of parliamentary maneuvers that could be used by Republican senators to stop this bill. There is a hard backstop to the current process (Christmas). The Republicans’ goal should be to prevent Reid from passing the bill before that time. If he goes past Christmas and is forced to adjourn or recess, the momentum will shift in favor of those opposing the bill.
How could this be done?
To start with, they should stop constantly agreeing to “unanimous consent” requests from the Democrats. Senate Republicans, to date, have allowed Democrats, by unanimous consent, to process 10 amendments. The amendments that have been accepted – Democrat amendments – did not make the over 2000-page atrocity any better. The Republican strategy of trying to pass their own “message” amendments carries no message unless you consider “no strategy to kill the bill” a message. There are no amendments that could possibly make this bill a palatable piece of legislation – and any amendments the Republicans get passed that supposedly make the bill “better” may just make it easier for the Democrats to get final passage. If the Republicans want the news media to cover what they are doing to educate the American people even further about the atrociousness of this bill, they have to create drama on the floor of the Senate. And the only way to do that is through an all-out fight with no holds barred. They need to look like Braveheart, fighting to the end to save freedom. Because, in fact, it is our very freedom and liberty that is at stake.
The most powerful words in the Senate are “I object.” Senate Republicans should have been shouting those two words on the Senate floor early and often from the moment this bill was considered, instead of the complete silence we have heard – other than to constantly agree to conduct business through unanimous consent. Here are just a few ways those words can (and should) be used in a very effective way:
The rules of the Senate require that a quorum be present to transact business. A quorum is 51 Senators. In most instances, outside of roll call votes, there are no more than 4 Senators on the Senate floor. If a Republican Senator suggested the absence of a quorum, Democrats could not transact business on the bill. It is a common courtesy to allow the quorum call to be dispensed with, without requiring 51 members to show up on the Senate floor (to get 51 Senators to appear without a roll call vote is very time consuming). When the Democrats ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with, the Republican should immediately shout “I object.”
At one point Sen. Coburn threatened to make the Senate read the health care bill out loud every time such a reading is required under Senate rules. He backed down because members of his own party wouldn't support it and they got cold feet that it would play poorly in the press.
Who cares what the press thinks? This is life or death stuff now, and we need to stop this bill. The most recent analysis shows us that passing this bill will be worse than doing nothing, so by stopping it we're preventing further disaster. That's the way GOP obstruction has to be portrayed to the press and anyone else who needs to know.
Roy and Dale Rogers Museum Closes
This is too bad (h/t Laura):
It was a great chance to meet some very special people.
Anyone planning to visit the Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum Attraction in Branson should hurry.I had a chance to do a New Year's Eve banquet with Roy and Dale in 1986. They were really great people and very gracious to everyone there. Somewhere I have a photo with Roy - I'll have to try and find that again. Dale, upon hearing that my future wife and I were engaged, spent some time talking to her about the Rogers' long marriage.
The attraction, which moved to Branson in 2003 from Victorville, Calif., is closing later this month, according to a news release.
The Rogers family cited a combination of factors in the decision, including the overall economy and a lack of visibility; the museum is located at 3950 Green Mountain Drive, away from the main Branson Strip.
The museum includes an extensive memorabilia collection, including Roy Rogers' first guitar, the mounted figures of his horse, Trigger, and Nellybelle the Jeep. Roy Rogers died in 1998, and his wife Dale Evans passed away in 2001.
The family hopes to find a single buyer for the collection, but it could be auctioned off in pieces as well.
"Roy said, `At the end of the day, it's just things,'" Dustin Rogers, Roy and Dale's grandson, said in the release. "He didn't want it to be a financial burden to anyone."
It was a great chance to meet some very special people.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Houston Chooses Lesbian Fiscal Conservative for Mayor
I guess there's a first for everything:
The city of Houston, Texas appears to have elected its first gay mayor.Fiscal conservative beats liberal every time, and I don't care what the sexual orientation is.
The new mayor is Annise Parker, currently the 53-year-old city controller.
In a light turnout and a relatively close runoff, she defeated local attorney Gene Locke with about 53% of the vote with not quite all ballots in.
Parker becomes the second woman to become mayor of Houston and the first lesbian to head a major American city. Houston is the fourth largest U.S. city.
Parker neither proclaimed nor sought to hide her sexual orientation and ran on a platform of firm fiscal conservatism and her long experience in urban financial matters.
Locke sought to distance himself from a last-minute anti-gay campaign that did not work.
Avatar Making People Nauseous
This headline from Drudge regarding the new movie Avatar:
3D effects left several viewers feeling nauseous...The rest of them were left nauseous by the flamboyantly liberal left politics.
The Shadow King
Sorry Charlie:
And if this thing works out over there, could we try it over here? Maybe a "Shadow Obama" to do the majority of the president's work.
Oh wait, we've already got one of those. We just haven't yet identified who it is.
The Queen is to hand over a substantial part of her public duties to Prince William to help him prepare for the day when he becomes King, according to a confidential document obtained by The Mail on Sunday.Hey, I'm distantly related to the royal family - why not me?
Secret papers reveal that plans to ease the strain on the 83-year-old monarch and her 88-year-old husband, Prince Philip, are at an advanced stage.
The disclosures come despite months of denials from the Palace that the Queen was planning to step back from her official work in favour of her 27-year-old grandson.
And if this thing works out over there, could we try it over here? Maybe a "Shadow Obama" to do the majority of the president's work.
Oh wait, we've already got one of those. We just haven't yet identified who it is.
We're in the Very Best of Hands
Just look at this exchange on the Senate floor regarding Harry Reid's health care bill:
Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin admitted Friday that he is “in the dark” about the national health care bill currently under construction by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In an exchange on the Senate floor, Republican Sen. John McCain asked Durbin, “Should we not at least be informed as to what the proposal is that the Senate Majority Leader is going to propose to the entire Senate?” Durbin’s answer: “I would say to the senator from Arizona that I am in the dark almost as much as he is, and I am in the leadership.” Durbin explained that during a Democratic caucus, Reid and the small group of senators involved in crafting the bill turned to their fellow Democrats and “basically stood and said, ‘We are sorry, we can’t tell you in detail what was involved.’”If Reid can't even fool Durbin (that's not all that hard), this bill is in trouble.
It was a dark and stormy day...
Open Letter to Global Warming Fanatics
Doctor Zero at Hot Air writes to the global warming fanatics:
Dear global warming fanatics,Please. Stop. You’re embarrassing yourselves. Take a deep breath, and try to understand what has happened to you during the past month. You need to accept that your dreams of global domination are over. Increasingly shrill attempts to terrify the masses into ignoring Climagate are only making you look foolish. The con job you’ve been running for the last thirty years is busted forever.
I know this is difficult for you to accept. Things seemed to be going well. You’ve got the cap-and-trade bill lurking over the United States, ready to shatter an already weakened economy plagued with unemployment problems, and effectively end America’s role as a dominant industrial power. Your beliefs have been instituted in public schools as the official state religion, whose rituals and incantations are forced upon millions of school children. The wealthy royalty of popular culture is pleased to produce an endless string of movies, music, and television programming to market your beliefs. Your critics were marginalized to the point where the vice-presidential candidate from the 2000 Democrat ticket felt comfortable referring to them as Nazis.
I can see how losing all of this cultural and political power in a few short weeks would be stunning. I hope the shock has dissipated enough for you to understand where we are now, and where we are going from here.
You aren’t going to frighten the world into reducing the human population. You’re not going to succeed in terrorizing free people into embracing totalitarianism, to fend off a phantasmal catastrophe that no democratic nation has the discipline to combat. We’re not going to politely ignore swarms of private jets and limos ferrying you to carbon-belching “climate summits,” where you draw up plans for the Western proletariat to live as primitive hunter-gatherers. We’re not going to let apampered elitist, who once flew around the world to attend cricket practice, tell us that we need to make do without air travel and ice water.
We’ll never be foolish enough to allow a band of fanatics to use “peer review” to rule all dissenting opinion out-of-bounds, then declare themselves the proud owners of a mighty consensus. You global-warming fanatics underestimate how much youneeded those tactics to gain power. You’ll never have that kind of unchallenged authority again, because we will never stop demanding the raw data, and we’ll drown you in laughter when you mutter something about deleting it by accident. We will never forget that you began with a conclusion and sought to harvest data that supported it – the exact opposite of the scientific method.
There's a lot more here. Read it all.
The Obamacare Bill's Death Panel Clause
The longer the debate takes, the more we find out about the hidden clauses that will affect the lives of millions:
A loophole in the Senate health care bill would let insurers place annual dollar limits on medical care for people struggling with costly illnesses such as cancer, prompting a rebuke from patient advocates.Pay up or die, suckah.
The legislation that originally passed the Senate health committee last summer would have banned such limits, but a tweak to that provision weakened it in the bill now moving toward a Senate vote.
As currently written, the Senate Democratic health care bill would permit insurance companies to place annual limits on the dollar value of medical care, as long as those limits are not "unreasonable." The bill does not define what level of limits would be allowable, delegating that task to administration officials.
Adding to the puzzle, the new language was quietly tucked away in a clause in the bill still captioned "No lifetime or annual limits."
UN Climate Change Official: We're Not Bothered by the Facts
They're not letting pesky facts get in the way of their attempt to control the world through climate regulation:
Of course they haven't been distracted. Anything that might cast their global warming religion in doubt must be ignored or face the wrath of Gaia. These are the true believers and high priests of the global warming religion that are gathered in Copenhagen.
Pointing out the obvious manipulation of the data would be like going to a meeting of the Catholic cardinals and suggesting that placing more emphasis on the worship of Mary than of Jesus demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the scriptures. They wouldn't appreciate you pointing out flaws in their faith.
A top United Nations climate official said climate skeptics had “exaggerated” the impact of thousands of hacked e-mails that suggested attempts by scientists to supress doubts about global warming.Who's the denier now?
“There would be one or two countries, maybe perhaps a few more, that would like to seize on this and — if I’m not to mince any words — would exaggerate the threat of this,” said Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Pachuari said the scandal, known as “climategate” has had little impact on international climate talks currently underway in Copenhagen.
“I’ve been talking to all the negotiators over here, and I get the sense that they haven’t been distracted,” he said.
...
“Our credibility is not under question,” he said.
Of course they haven't been distracted. Anything that might cast their global warming religion in doubt must be ignored or face the wrath of Gaia. These are the true believers and high priests of the global warming religion that are gathered in Copenhagen.
Pointing out the obvious manipulation of the data would be like going to a meeting of the Catholic cardinals and suggesting that placing more emphasis on the worship of Mary than of Jesus demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the scriptures. They wouldn't appreciate you pointing out flaws in their faith.
Gay Activists Lose Their Opportunity to Deny First Amendment Rights to Their Opponents
We all know that in today's politically correct America certain points of view are inviolable while others cannot be allowed. Being pro-gay marriage is inviolable, being against it cannot be allowed.
Theirs was an effort to intimidate and harass people with opposing views, and certainly did not meet the standards of tolerance and acceptance they demand of everyone else. They were thugs. You can click on the "Proposition 8" label below for other examples.
And this effort to require political opponents to expose any and all documents or discussions regarding Prop 8 is an absolute violation of their opponents rights on several levels. Had this been allowed to stand every campaign would be subject to such requests from political rivals.
The gay marriage proponents have tried to paint all opposition as the equivalent of a hate crime, and thus effectively criminalize opposition to their political and social views. That's simply un-American and the court was right to reject it.
However, the Ninth Circuit disagreed (h/t Don Surber):
The anti-Prop 8 forces did everything in their power to punish anyone who supported the gay marriage ban. They released the names of donors to Prop 8 and actively encourage economic and other retribution against businesses whose owners or employees helped support the Prop 8 effort. They also went after organizations like the Mormon Church, which provided some funding for the campaign.The sponsors of California’s gay marriage ban do not have to turn over internal campaign documents as part of a lawsuit to overturn Proposition 8, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
Reversing the judge presiding over the case, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that forcing backers of the voter-approved ban to reveal their private conversations and internal strategy would discourage like-minded people from working together to advance their political views — a violation of their First Amendment rights.
“The freedom to associate with others for the common advancement of political beliefs and ideas lies at the heart of the First Amendment,” Judge Raymond C. Fisher wrote for the panel.
Attorneys for the two same-sex couples who are trying to get Proposition 8 overturned as a violation of their civil rights have been seeking the information in preparation for the trial, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 11. They are trying to prove that bias against gays and lesbians alone motivated the ballot initiative’s supporters to put it before voters.
The 9th Circuit decision means that to prove their point, the couples’ attorneys will need to rely almost exclusively on published materials from last year’s campaign and interviews with the main players behind the ban.
Theirs was an effort to intimidate and harass people with opposing views, and certainly did not meet the standards of tolerance and acceptance they demand of everyone else. They were thugs. You can click on the "Proposition 8" label below for other examples.
And this effort to require political opponents to expose any and all documents or discussions regarding Prop 8 is an absolute violation of their opponents rights on several levels. Had this been allowed to stand every campaign would be subject to such requests from political rivals.
The gay marriage proponents have tried to paint all opposition as the equivalent of a hate crime, and thus effectively criminalize opposition to their political and social views. That's simply un-American and the court was right to reject it.
The Dying Obit Pages
My comments on this in a moment:
What Americans need right now is a good government-subsidized obituary.Unfortunately, I had a recent experience with this. I wrote my father's obituary and had planned to run it in the local paper...until we found out what it was going to cost. Somewhere between $800 and $1,000 for a single day placement.
You probably didn’t read the story – because what red-blooded American reads a newspaper anymore? – but apparently the nation’s newspapers, having already lost their editorial dominance to cable news and the Web, their sports coverage to fan sites, their classifieds to Craigslist, and their editorial pages to the blogosphere, are now under heavy assault on their last profitable redoubt: the obituary page.
The story, from the Wire Service That Shall Not Be Quoted, reports that a new study by Northwestern University finds that social networks and on-line memorials are increasingly taking the place of that old print stand-by. This, of course, is shocking news: given the average age of today’s typical newspaper reader, the obituary page is likely the first and only one they read over their bowls of stewed prunes.
Thus, and for good reason, the Northwestern researchers recommend that newspapers not cut back on either those pages or the staff who produce them. To that strategy, one can only say: fat chance.
For about the same money we were able to get an online memorial that would stay up for a year, would allow people to add their own comments, and included streaming video from the service which others around the country were able to watch live, and later via a link. The newspaper obit would have been there one day and that was it.
No contest.
No contest.
Newspapers are dead. It's time to write the obit...and post it online.
Judge Gives ACORN Back Your Money
Of course she did:
Congress doesn't have to appeal this ruling. They can simply refuse to include ACORN in any future legislation, and given the attention ACORN has gotten, it will be difficult for any congressman to make an appropriation to that corrupt organization without drawing a lot of unwanted attention to himself.
The U.S. government's move this fall to cut off funding to ACORN was unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Friday, handing the embattled group a legal victory.Judge Gershon is a Bill Clinton appointee.
U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon issued the preliminary injunction against the government, saying it's in the public's interest for the organization to continue receiving federal funding.
ACORN claimed in its lawsuit that Congress' decision to cut off its funding was unconstitutional because it punitively targeted an individual organization.
Gershon said in her ruling that ACORN had raised a "fundamental issue of separation of powers. They have been singled out by Congress for punishment that directly and immediately affects their ability to continue to obtain federal funding, in the absence of any judicial, or even administrative, process adjudicating guilt."
Bill Quigley, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of ACORN and two affiliates, said the decision sends a sharp message to Congress that it can't single out an individual or organization without due process.
"It's a resounding victory for ACORN," he said. "I'd be surprised if the government decides to appeal."
Congress doesn't have to appeal this ruling. They can simply refuse to include ACORN in any future legislation, and given the attention ACORN has gotten, it will be difficult for any congressman to make an appropriation to that corrupt organization without drawing a lot of unwanted attention to himself.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Political Video of the Day
First, the background:
Sarah Palin made a surprise appearance on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” on Friday — and turned the tables on actor William Shatner.And here you go:
In recent appearances on the late-night television show, Shatner has adopted a serious pose and recited some of Palin’s less serious observations.
He was brought out again Friday to read passages from Palin’s blockbuster “Going Rogue.” The carefully selected passages included ones about rapper Kid Rock and stalking sheep.
Afterward, it was Palin’s turn to read from Shatner’s autobiography, “Up Till Now.” The former Alaska governor’s selections included one in which Shatner talks about visiting an African elephant “in my underwear.”
After the readings, there appeared to be no hard feelings. The two left the stage arm-in-arm.
The Vice Squad is Coming! The Vice Squad id Coming!
One if by land, two if by sex sting:
A man who acts as a mascot for the New England Patriots is among 14 people who have been arrested for prostitution-related crimes in Rhode Island since a new law went into effect that banned indoor prostitution."I regret that I have but one giant head to lose for my country."
The bill signed into law in November made prostitution a misdemeanor crime regardless of where it occurs. Previously, indoor prostitution was allowed because of a legal loophole.
State Police say Robert Sormanti of Warwick was among those arrested in an undercover sting at a hotel. The Providence Journal reports Sormanti is among the team's mascots.
The Patriots said in a statement that multiple people wear the mascot costume and that the "individual in question" has been suspended.
Avatar is the Most Flamboyent, Liberal Left Movie Ever Made
That's the opinion of Hollywood Elsewhere, who in typical Hollywood fashion, is quite happy about it:
The political import of Avatar -- and, there's no waving this aspect away because it's right in your face start to finish, and especially in the third act -- is ardently left. It is pro-indigenous native, anti-corporate, anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. Iraq War effort, anti-U.S.-in-Afghanistan (and anti-troop-surge-in-that-country, or strongly against the thinking of President Barack Obama and Gen. Stanley McChrystal), anti-rightie, anti-Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld, etc.Which, of course, means it's a shoe-in for the Oscar.
Yes, it's very teenaged adolescent in its super-imaginative wacko visions and exuberant energy levels, but politically it's pure Che Guevara (more the Motorcycle Diaries or Che-in-Cuba version than Che in Bolivia), Naom Chomsky, Hugo Chavez, Howard Zinn, Gore Vidal, Oliver Stone, etc. Cameron is an earth-hugging lefty from way back (the flagrant despise-the-arrogant-rich current in Titanic being but one example) so this should come as no surprise to anyone. I for one am cheered and heartened.
If Sarah Palin sees Avatar and then sits down and actually thinks about what it's saying (which is always a dicey proposition, I admit), she'll hate this movie. Because Avatar hates her and her kind. Some righties will pretend to like it ("great popcorn flick! took my kids!"), but they'd have to be in major denial mode not to recognize that Avatar is much more MSNBC than Fox News. It really spits on the Fox News philosophy/worldview. If Cameron had for some inane reason put a Fox News-type character in the film, he/she would end up with a Na'vi arrow through his/her chest, trust me.
Call it the most flamboyant, costliest, grandest left-liberal super-movie anyone's ever seen -- a political tract that cost Rupert Murdoch God knows how many hundreds of millions to make and yet is totally pro-loincloth, pro-native, despise-the-greedy, hug-the-earth, worship-the-earth, down with the soulless short-end, down with the us-first, masters-of-the-universe thinking behind the Goldman Sachs/Timothy Geithner culture and up with the eternal/spiritual in all cultures and all corners of the globe. The tragedy of the Vietnam War echoes all through this film. Somewhere Ho Chi Minh is smiling.
It'll make a zillion dollars because of the fantasy nature of the thing, but they'll lose a lot of money that might have made once the political angle of the movie gets out.
UPDATE: John Nolte also has a review:
REVIEW: Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ Is a Big, Dull, America-Hating, PC Revenge Fantasy
Global One Child Policy Reappears
Jonah Goldberg writes at The Corner about an old idea which has resurfaced from the ooze:
This is all part of the takeover of human life that the global warming crowd wants. It's not about saving the planet, it's about controlling the world.One of the simultaneously heartening and dismaying aspects of the Obama era is how it demonstrates that bad ideas never, ever, ever, die. They can go into remission, to be sure, but the the bacillus lives on. Via Drudge, I just read this hideous call for a planetary one-child policy.
I don't have the time to go through all of the arguments why Diane Francis's supposedly brave truth-telling is disgusting and idiotic, but the good news is that I'll have plenty of opportunities in the future!
But one point does cry out to be made. Imagine if someone wrote an op-ed saying that we need a planetary ban on abortion. Feminists would get their dresses over their heads in outrage about such a naked assault on "reproductive freedom." But here is a woman in a very prestigious Canadian newspaper arguing, in effect, that every country in the world should force women everywhere to have an abortion if they already have a child. Put aside, for a moment, the pro-life objections to this. Even if you think the unborn are really just a bunch of cells, mere "uterine contents" with no more moral import than fingernail clippings, how on earth can anyone believe in "reproductive freedom" and not be absolutely horrified by the police-state evil of such proposals?
Stanford Globaloney Professor Calls in Armed Guards to Stop Inconvenient Questions
Boy, these guys are getting really touchy:
Those days are over, bub.
A Stanford Professor has used United Nation security officers to silence a journalist asking him “inconvenient questions” during a press briefing at the climate change conference in Copenhagen.These guys think they can throw out their pronouncements and theories and because of who they are they must not be challenged.
Professor Stephen Schneider’s assistant requested armed UN security officers who held film maker Phelim McAleer, ordered him to stop filming and prevented further questioning after the press conference where the Stanford academic was launching a book.
McAleer, a veteran journalist and film maker, has recently made a documentary “Not Evil Just Wrong’ which takes a sceptical look at the science and politics behind Global Warming concerns.
He asked Professor Schneider about his opinions on Climategate – where leaked emails have revealed that a senior British professor deleted data and encouraged colleagues to do likewise if it contradicted their belief in Global Warming.
Professor Phil Jones, the head of Britain’s Climate Research Unit, has temporarily stood down pending an investigation into the scandal.
Professor Schneider, who is a senior member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said he would not comment on emails that may have been incomplete or edited.
During some testy exchanges with McAleer, UN officials and Professor Schneider’s assistants twice tried to cut short McAleer’s question.
However as the press conference drew to a close Professor Schneider’s assistant called armed UN security guards to the room. They held McAleer and aggressively ordered cameraman Ian Foster to stop filming. The guard threatened to take away the camera and expel the film crew from the conference if they did not obey his instructions to stop filming Professor Schneider.
The guard demanded to look at the film crews press credentials and refused to allow them to film until Professor Schneider left the room.
Those days are over, bub.
Tiger Will Take a Break
Probably a good idea:
Please understand, I'm not in any way excusing Tiger's behavior. It was reprehensible and he'll pay a much deserved price for his dallying around. However, quitting golf at this point in his life would not save his marriage or in any way benefit Tiger.
Some people are born to do certain things. Michael Jordon was born to play basketball. Mickey Mantle was born to play baseball. Rush Limbaugh was born to be a radio talk show host. Tiger was born to play golf and do it just about better than anybody.
Tiger Woods, in a statement posted on his Web site Friday evening, said he is taking an "indefinite break" from professional golf.There was a rumor earlier that Woods' wife had given him an ultimatum: Golf or me! That would be a terrible mistake on many levels.
The announcement comes after several women have claimed affairs with Mr. Woods, following an early-morning one-car accident outside his Florida home two weeks ago in which he was injured.
Woods's Statement PGA Tour Web Site "I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children," Mr. Woods says in the statement.
"I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but I want to do my best to try.
"I would like to ask everyone, including my fans, the good people at my foundation, business partners, the PGA Tour, and my fellow competitors, for their understanding. What's most important now is that my family has the time, privacy, and safe haven we will need for personal healing," the statement says.
"After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person."
Please understand, I'm not in any way excusing Tiger's behavior. It was reprehensible and he'll pay a much deserved price for his dallying around. However, quitting golf at this point in his life would not save his marriage or in any way benefit Tiger.
Some people are born to do certain things. Michael Jordon was born to play basketball. Mickey Mantle was born to play baseball. Rush Limbaugh was born to be a radio talk show host. Tiger was born to play golf and do it just about better than anybody.
I grew up in Orange County not far from where Tiger grew up, and I remember seeing stories in the local paper about a 3-year old golf phenom named Tiger Woods. As he grew up it was obvious that he was made for the game. It was his passion and he was gifted with the skills and inherent abilities that could be developed into the top player in the game.
He's won 14 Majors - just four shy of Jack Nicklaus - and there's every reason to suspect he could catch or surpass Jack in the remaining years of his career. Hopefully he'll get everything squared away at home and get his personal life back on track. When he does, he'll once again be the fearsome competitor we've all gotten to know, even though his image was carefully crafted to hide some personal flaws.
Family comes first and he needs to get that fixed if possible, but then it's time to return to his true calling - golf.
The Most Popular Politician in America
You may think it's Barack Obama, or possibly Sarah Palin, but it's not. You'll never guess who it is - take a look.
San Francisco Gets the Vapors Over a Pelosi Protest
A local Irvine politician attended a recent protest of an appearance by Nancy Pelosi and his attire has drawn critical reviews from San Fran Nan's home crowd:
You can see the illustration here.
The left decided to bring foreign dictators into the American political game when they started comparing Bush and Cheney to Hitler. They started it, and now they're reaping what they started.
Big deal.
That protesters on both sides of the political spectrum equate America's leaders with dictators like Hitler isn't new. But critics were shocked when such a comparison was made by an elected official.YAAAWWWWNNN.
Last Friday, a group rented a room at the Irvine Hilton to protest the Democratic Party of Orange County's 15th Annual Harry Truman Awards and headliner House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Joining the demonstration was Irvine Councilman and Assembly candidate Steven Choi.
An OC Register photographer caught Choi roaming the Hilton lobby before Pelosi's address. Choi is seen in a suit, tie and a depiction of Pelosi as Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator who killed millions under his Great Terror campaign. Another photo shows Choi posing with a woman who is wearing a Pelosi-SS guard illustration.
You can see the illustration here.
The left decided to bring foreign dictators into the American political game when they started comparing Bush and Cheney to Hitler. They started it, and now they're reaping what they started.
Big deal.
Get Rich, Word for the Feds
If you work in the private sector your pay may be capped by Obama's "Pay Czar", but if you're a federal government employee the sky's the limit for your pay:
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.If Obamacare and cap-and-tax pass, we'll all be federal employees - we just won't get the big salaries.
The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.
When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.
The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech. The primary cause: substantial pay raises and new salary rules.
Holy Cow!
I blame this post entirely on my Texas Correspondent who sent me the photo and even chose the post title:
It's not unusual for calves to have markings on their foreheads, but a calf born a week ago at a farm in Sterling gives a new meaning to the term "unusual."
When the calf was first born, Brad Davis, the calf's owner, didn't see anything unusual about it.
Davis said, "At first we didn't notice his marking, until later in the day and his fur dried and then it went back into position and the hair straightened out. That's when we noticed we had something special here."
Something special indeed.
The calf, which is mostly brown, had an all-white cross in the middle of its forehead.
Davis said, "Well, I think it's maybe a message from up above. I'm not sure. We're still trying to figure that out."
When a cow was born with a Mickey Mouse-shaped design on its side it was sent to Disneyland and renamed "Mickey Moo". Maybe they can send this one to the Crystal Cathedral and use it in "The Glory of Christmas".
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