Discovery Launch As Seen From a Passing Airliner

This is pretty cool video of last week's launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery:



Welcome Instapundit readers! Always glad to have you stop by.

Gov. Scott Walker Schools Obama on Collective Bargaining

*SMACK!*  *POW!* *OOF!*:

Gov. Scott Walker on Monday afternoon responded to comments President Barack Obama made earlier in the day about the protests in Madison:

I’m sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay. And I’m sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts.


Furthermore, I’m sure the President knows that we have repeatedly praised the more than 300,000 government workers who come to work every day in Wisconsin.


I’m sure that President Obama simply misunderstands the issues in Wisconsin, and isn’t acting like the union bosses in saying one thing and doing another.

If it was a fight it would have been called in the first round. Obama has empty platitudes while Walker has facts.

Iranians Are Seeing Things

Look closely - what do you see?

Iran says the logo for the London Olympics says "Zion":

Iran objects to the logo for the 2012 London Olympics, contending it is racist because it resembles the word "Zion" and warning of a possible boycott of the games.

The secretary general of Iran's National Olympic Committee said Iran sent a letter to International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge. The letter claims the 2012 logo spells out "Zion," a biblical term widely recognized to refer to the city of Jerusalem.

The Olympic organizers aren't buying it:

"Our response is as follows: The London 2012 logo represents the figure 2012, nothing else," the IOC said.

I guess we'll just have to get along without all those Iranian gold medal winners.

The Charlie Sheen of the Wisconsin State Assembly

This guy might have a future in sitcoms (from 620 WTMJ):

Last week, we heard that State Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) had been busted in a prostitution sting.

State Rep. Gordon Hintz was issued a municipal citation in Appleton earlier this month for violating a city sexual misconduct ordinance.

Appleton police said the citation was issued Feb. 10 in conjunction with an ongoing investigation of Heavenly Touch Massage Parlor, 342 W. Wisconsin Ave., in Appleton. Police searched the business and a nearby residence in the 1300 block of North Division Street Jan. 28, after investigators had staked out the properties for several days after receiving a tip.

**

Last Friday.... after the Assembly voted to engross the Budget Repair Bill, Hintz turned to a female colleague, Rep. Michelle Litjens and said: "You are F***king dead!"

Must be the new tone.

Political Video of the Day

From the Heritage Foundation and Reason TV, here's what you need to know about the budget battles currently underway in several states:

Obamacare Quote of the Day

From Sen. Orrin Hatch:

"Every state has different demographics, every state has different problems. It's good to allow them to work out their own problems rather than a one-size-fits-all federal government dumb-ass program. It really is an awful piece of crap."

Hatch would like to get re-elected in 2012.

Political Headline of the Day

From Say Anything Blog:

Barack Obama To Mitt Romney: You Should Be Proud Of Romneycare

I think you could call that a campaign abortion - trying to kill Romney's campaign while it's still in the womb.

Bonus Political Quote of the Day

From Michael Barone:

“Public-employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic Party.”

It's the union circle of life.

34,000 Black Churches Oppose Obama's DOMA Decision

I wondered if there might be a backlash among black church members over Obama's decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act which banned gay marriage:

A coalition of 34,000 black churches is blasting President Barack Obama's decision to stop defending the federal law that bans recognition of gay marriage.

The Rev. Anthony Evans, who heads the National Black Church Initiative, says Obama "has violated the Christian faith" by failing to uphold Jesus' teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman.

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that, at Obama's direction, it would not defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in a court case where it's being challenged.

As a result, Evans says black churches must "reassess their extraordinary support for him."

In the 2008 election black voters in California turned out in large numbers to support Obama and to vote for Proposition 8, the California measure that banned gay marriage. Support for Prop 8 among black voters was something like 70% and it could easily be argued that their support put the measure over the top. Gay marriage is not popular in the black community at large, and blacks were even threatened with violence over their support for Prop 8.

The question now is whether black church members will be more faithful to their beliefs than to Obama?

Dems Will Not Benefit Politically From a Government "Shutdown"

First this:

Twenty-nine percent of likely voters would blame Democrats for a government shutdown, compared to 23 percent who would hold Republicans responsible, according to a new poll conducted for The Hill.

The results are surprising because most people blamed the GOP for the last government shutdown, which occurred during President Clinton’s first term. A week before the 1995 shuttering, polls showed the public blamed Republicans by a two-to-one-margin.

I put the word "shutdown" in quotes because as I wrote the other day very little of the government would actually be shut down. Social Security checks will still arrive (in fact, the March checks will have already gone out if the government funding runs out on the 5th), and all essential services will continue. You might not be able to visit the Smithsonian or other tourist sites, but otherwise there will be little evidence that the government is currently out of money.

If the government actually shut down, that would really be something, but that's not going to happen. Democrats would love to provoke another shutdown because they're always about a decade behind reality in their political strategy, but they won't benefit the way they did in 1995.

Something Stinks in San Francisco

Unintended consequences:

San Francisco's big push for low-flow toilets has turned into a multimillion-dollar plumbing stink.

Skimping on toilet water has resulted in more sludge backing up inside the sewer pipes, said Tyrone Jue, spokesman for the city Public Utilities Commission. That has created a rotten-egg stench near AT&T Park and elsewhere, especially during the dry summer months.

The city has already spent $100 million over the past five years to upgrade its sewer system and sewage plants, in part to combat the odor problem.

Now officials are stocking up on a $14 million, three-year supply of highly concentrated sodium hypochlorite - better known as bleach - to act as an odor eater and to disinfect the city's treated water before it's dumped into the bay. It will also be used to sanitize drinking water.

That translates into 8.5 million pounds of bleach either being poured down city drains or into the drinking water supply every year.

What I'd like to know is if they're actually saving water with the low flow toilets? From my experience you have to flush the things two or three times to accomplish the same thing the old toilets did in one try.

When something works, like the old toilets, leave them alone.

The Last WWI Veteran is Gone

Can you imagine what it must have been like to live through the history of the last 110 years?

The last American veteran of World War I has died.

At first, it didn’t seem like the like the Missouri-born Frank Buckles would ever see combat. He was repeatedly turned down by military recruiters on account of his age (he was only 16 when the war broke out) but successfully enlisted when he convinced an Army captain he was 18.

“A boy of [that age], he’s not afraid of anything,” said Buckles, who had first tried to join the Marines. “He wants to get in there.”

“I went to the state fair up in Wichita, Kansas, and while there, went to the recruiting station for the Marine Corps,” he told the AP in 2007. “The nice Marine sergeant said I was too young when I gave my age as 18, said I had to be 21.” A week later, Buckles returned to tell the Marine recruiter he was 21, only to be informed that he wasn’t heavy enough.

Buckles then tried for the Navy, but was turned down on account of his flat feet. Finally, he tried forthe Army. When a captain asked for his birth certificate, Buckles said they weren’t issued in Missouri at the time of his birth, but that there was a record in the family Bible. “I said, ‘You don’t want me to bring the family Bible down, do you?’” Buckles remembered with a laugh. “He said, ‘OK, we’ll take you.’”

In Europe, Buckles served as a driver, having been told by an old sergeant that if he wanted “to get to France in a hurry, then join the ambulance service.” He chauffeured dignitaries around Britain before convincing his superiors to send him to France. Although he never saw combat, Buckles told George Will in 2007 that he “saw the results.”

Returning home a corporal, Buckles still had a yearning for adventure. After a stint in business school he joined the White Star Line and traveled the world. He was in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded in 1941, and spent most of the next four years in POW camps. When his camp was finally liberated in 1945, he weighed less than 90 pounds.

That's quite a life.

Why Tobacco Will Never Be Banned

Despite all the hand-wringing from various government officials over health and tobacco use, the product will never be banned and here's why (from the Daily Caller):

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others in the anti-tobacco movement are working to turn America into a land without smokers. But what would an America without smokers look like?

Leaving aside the fact that more than 20 percent of Americans would be gone (or, more likely, extremely irritable), cigarettes bring in significant revenues for state and federal government.

In Fiscal Year 2010, the federal excise tax on cigarettes (currently $1.01 per pack) brought in $15.5 billion in revenue. That money went to fund an expansion of the federal State Children’s Health Insurance (SCHIP) program, which provides funding to states for health insurance for families that do not qualify for Medicare, but are still considered of modest means.

Cigarette sales are a boon to states as well. The tax imposed on cigarette packs varies by state, with Missouri having the lowest tax at 17¢ per pack and New York having the highest tax at $4.35 tax per pack. In 2009, states raked in more than $24 billion by taxing cigarettes and $8.8 billion in settlement payments from tobacco companies (under the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement).

Hans Bader, counsel for special projects at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, cited a number of studies pointing out, in an admittedly macabre fashion, that smokers also save taxpayers money by dying sooner and more quickly than the rest of the population.

“Smokers actually save the government money, both by dying earlier and thus reduce social security payments, and, to a lesser extent, by dying of relatively cheap ailments like lung cancer, a fairly quick killer, rather than more expensive, lingering ailments,” Bader told The Daily Caller.

In addition to folks extending their lives and adding additional burdens to the country’s already strained entitlement programs, John Nothdurft, director of government relations at The Heartland Institute, added that the government would likely raise taxes on other products if cigarettes were no longer available to tax in order to make up for the lost revenue.

Tobacco is the perfect drug...for government. Politicians know that most people who use tobacco will have a hard time stopping, and therefore they become the Christmas tree where all the tax ornaments can be hung. Want to fund some children's health issue? Tax cigarettes. Need new machines for your local county hospital? Tax cigarettes. The tobacco users may get mad, but they'll pay because they can't quit.

And the greatest percentage of tobacco users come from the lower income groups that don't have much political power, so they're not much of a threat to the politicians.

It's hard to imagine the government allowing the continued production and sale of any other product with such obvious health risks.

At Least One in Hollywood Doesn't Understand the Difference Between Private and Public Money

Meet Wally Pfister, who won an Oscar for cinematography:

At the Academy Awards tonight, best cinematography winner Wally Pfister made a point during his acceptance speech of thanking his union crew on “Inception.”

Backstage he went further, expressing shock at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal, which would limit union’s collective bargaining powers. Opponents of the plan have been protesting at the state capitol for 21 days.

“I think that what is going on in Wisconsin is kind of madness right now,” Pfister says. “I have been a union member for 30 years and what the union has given to me is security for my family. They have given me health care in a country that doesn’t provide health care and I think unions are a very important part of the middle class in America all we are trying to do is get a decent wage and have medical care.”

This is a classic example of a guy who's good at his craft, but isn't so good at understanding what's really going on in the news. SAG and AFTRA are entertainment unions that are funded with PRIVATE money, the money made by the entertainment industry thanks to the products they produce. In Wisconsin, the only unions affected by Gov. Scott Walker's bill are public employees who are funded by tax dollars. There is a big difference.

Public employees should never have been allowed to unionize. Even FDR, the hero of all things liberal, was very much opposed to public unions. Daniel DiSalvo explains:

Even President Franklin Roosevelt, a friend of private-sector unionism, drew a line when it came to government workers: “Meticulous attention,” the president insisted in 1937, “should be paid to the special relations and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government….The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.” The reason? F.D.R. believed that “[a] strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of government until their demands are satisfied. Such action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable.”

Read your history, Hollywood. Go ahead and have all the private unions you want, but public employees should not exist.

Political Quote of the Day

From Mike Tobin, Fox News reporter who has the misfortune of being in the middle of the dippy doper drum-bangers in Madison, WI, describing what it's like to report amongst those loons:

“One thing I think should make clear – the people coming after us from every live shot here, these people hate,” Tobin said. “These are people who don’t respect diverse viewpoints. In fact, they’re so afraid I’ll present a diverse viewpoint, that’s why they try to heckle me and shut down every live shot. They’ve made it clear, that what they want to make it harder for me to do my job. They are proud of that when they disrupt a live shot, when they really trample over the First Amendment rights or the First Amendment’s obligations of a reporter. Now, I am not saying that’s all of the people. Those are the people that come here and heckle and try to disrupt things. I look in their eyes – there is hate in their eyes. They don’t want to hear any kind of viewpoint that is different from their own. That’s why they do what they do.”

Tobin was assaulted by one of the union thugs.  When you have Democrats demonizing Fox News it gives their weaker-minded followers the idea that assaulting members of that organization is okay.

Diversity of opinion absolutely scares the left to death and it drives their hatred of Fox News because Fox often presents a different viewpoint than the loons read on the wacky left sites or see in the mainstream media. It scares them because it challenges their assumptions.

The King's Speech

Well deserved Oscar win for The King's Speech (and Best Director, Screenplay and Best Actor for Colin Firth).  My review can be found here.

Oscar Predictions

See how many come true:

• The show will generally be boring unless Charlie Sheen is a presenter or Anne Hathaway has a wardrobe malfunction.
• The show will run long because everything thinks their award is the most important of the night.
• Little tin men will be given to big tin men, both of whom would be happier if they only had a brain.
• Several women will prove that the only reason anyone pays attention to them is because of their boobs.
• Expect multiple shout-outs to the protesters in Wisconsin.
• Expect no shout-outs to the protesters in Libya.
• You'd probably have to go to Legoland to see more plastic than you'll see tonight.
• The hosts and presenters will awkwardly deliver poorly written jokes which are likely to include cracks at the Tea Party, John Boehner, Sarah Palin, Gov. Scott Walker and the Koch Brothers.
• Everyone will be quickly reminded just how good Billy Crystal was at hosting this mess.
• My mute button will get a real workout (my wife wants to watch the show and I agreed only if I can mute the acceptance speeches).
• The King's Speech will win Best Picture (I'm serious about that one, it was a great movie).
• None of these awards will change my life nor make the world better in any way, but the media will treat them as though they have lasting significance.  In America, celebrity is often confused with significance.

Are the Wisconsin Cops Going to Flee Their Duty Too?

The other day I posted an item about the plans to clear the Wisconsin Capitol Building this afternoon so they can clean the debris from the dippy doper drum-bangers who have been occupying the building for many days. The building will reopen in the morning, but for some this smacks of government abuse. The state cops, who are tasked with this debris removal (the people, not the trash) are apparently threatening to disobey lawful orders from their superiors and in effect stage an insurrection.

William Jacobson has the details at his blog, Legal Insurrection.

Some off-duty cop made an insipid speech about how the police work for the people and not the politicians, and though in a small sense that's true, they do not take their orders from the people, they take them from the elected and appointed leaders who have been given that authority under the law. Using that cop's logic the next time I'm stopped for a traffic violation I'm going to order the cop to tear up the ticket.   After all, he works for me.

Any cop who refuses a lawful order from his superiors must be fired. Period. The end. Fired. No recourse, no appeal.  Fired.  I don't care if they have to clean out the entire State police until they get down to the people who understand and obey the law.  There are plenty of out-of-work Wisconsinites who would be willing and able to take their place.

This whole protest movement is going to be good for Wisconsin in the long run because they're going to be able to identify a lot of people who are dangerous to the financial health of the state or are unwilling to do their jobs.  Cleaning those people out of government will be a significant step in returning that state to fiscal health.

UPDATE:  Apparently sanity has prevailed, at least among the cops.  They're enforcing the Capitol closure order, though not acting in any particular hurry.

UPDATE 2:  Wisconsin cops wimp out: New Media Meade catches protesters leaving the Capitol and the scene outside — including the scoop from police that anyone who wants to stay will be allowed.

Political Cartoon of the Day

From Michael Ramirez:

Fleebaggers On The Run

A Fleebagger's life is hard with all those nasty Tea Party folks out there:

WOODSTOCK, Ill. — Bob Jauch was here.

The Democratic state senator from Poplar and the rest of the 14 senators who escaped from Wisconsin spent parts of several days last week in this charming northern Illinois town of 22,000 where the movie “Groundhog Day” was filmed.

That movie, in which Bill Murray’s character was stuck in a single day, resonates with Jauch, who has been stuck for more than a week on an unplanned odyssey in his native state.

“It is the same thing,” Jauch said in an interview on Friday morning in a motel room in suburban Chicago. “You take the same precautions. You look in the rear-view mirror. You wonder who’s watching you.”

Day after day, since Feb. 18, Jauch, 65, has been waking up somewhere in Illinois, avoiding any possibility of being forced to vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill, which Jauch considers an outrageous assault on working people.

He hasn’t just been in Illinois — he and his colleagues have been moving around from place to place in a bizarre game of hide-and-seek. The seekers are Tea Party members who want the

senators to return to Wisconsin and vote on Walker’s bill. At least one of the Democrats has to show up to give the Senate the quorum it needs to take that vote. It’s a legislative journey unlike any Jauch, who was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 1982 and the Senate in 1986, has experienced.

But why be so evasive? When asked what he’s afraid of, Jauch doesn’t flinch.

“Those Tea Party folks are very harassing,” Jauch said, in an interview conducted under the agreement that the specific location wouldn’t be revealed. “They’re very intimidating. They’re in your face. They don’t care about anything that goes on in Wisconsin, and they’re very disruptive.”

So the senators meet in one location, sleep in other locations and meet with media in still other locations. Invariably, the Tea Party catches up with them, and they switch to new locations.

Poor baby. This isn't exactly The Fugitive, you know. He could end all this tomorrow by simply going back to work.

He might as well enjoy his last years in office. He probably won't win another election in his lifetime.

What If They Gave a Pro-Union Protest And Not Many People Showed Up?

You'd have a day like Saturday, when the wacky left predicted a turnout of a million people nationwide and probably didn't get 10% of that.  And if it wasn't for union thugs pushing their members to turn out, it probably would have been 10% of THAT.  Legal Insurrection has the numbers.

By the way, several hundred people showed up in Wisconsin for a rally to recall one of the Fleebagger Dem Senators.

Dear Oscar, I'm Available If You Need Me

I was just reading (when my DSL went down) that a blogger had been banned from The Oscars for giving out some info on the awards program that wasn't terribly flattering.  Since there's now an opening for a blogger I thought I'd offer my services.

Given how much I love actors who think their position in Hollywood entitles them to tell the rest of us how to live, I'd love an opportunity to report first hand on the awards and the mindless people that show up.  I'd be perfect!

Have your people call my people, Oscar.  We'll do lunch.

Sent via HolyCoast.com mobile.

"I Don't Think I Like The Anti-Cat Tone of That Post"

Now she wants editorial control. Geez...

Sent via HolyCoast.com mobile.

Too Many People Bought Carbon Credits in San Francisco

The last time I flew out of San Francisco Airport they had machines in which you could purchase carbon indulgences for the damage to the environment your flight would inflict.  The rental car place also offered, for an extra fee of course, the ability to offset your car's carbon footprint.

Apparently too many people bought those things (from the AP):

Hilly areas of San Francisco got a rare light dusting of snow, the National Weather Service said Saturday.

Snow fell briefly late Friday and early Saturday on the city’s Twin Peaks neighborhood and some other areas with higher elevations, meteorologist Mark Strobin said.

“A little bit up in the hills,” Strobin told The Associated Press. “It snowed down to about 400 feet.”

But there was only rain downtown and in other other areas of the near sea level city, and the snow that did fall disappeared rapidly.

The city last saw snow on the ground in 1976, when an inch fell.

Strobin said the higher regions might have had snow dustings since that measureable snow fell 35 years ago. He said it was still too early to tell how this event will be recorded.

Strobin, who is based in Monterey, Calif., said that city also got a rare dusting of snow.

The temperatures down here today are much lower than normal (it's about 55 as I write this), but not as low as expected earlier in the week. No snow in the foothills of Orange County (darn). I was hoping to get some great photos of snow on Saddleback this morning, but what snow there is was underneath the clouds and not as low as I thought it might be.

My Blogging Partner

She doesn't have her name on the byline, but Samira the Cat contributes the best she can.  She's not a bad leg warmer.

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Former Speaker Headlines of the Day

Pelosi and Gingrich news you can use:

Pelosi edits honorary resolution...on Pelosi

Apparently it wasn't fawning enough.

And this:

GINGRICH GIVES OBAMA 'IMPEACHMENT' WARNING...

NYT: FORMER SPEAKER COULD ANNOUNCE PRESIDENTIAL RUN NEXT WEEK...

That whole impeachment thing worked out so well for him last time.

ATTN: Madison WI Tea Party, Have I Got an Idea For You!

If you saw the previous item you'll know that The Merchant Restaurant in Madison, WI made up a story about Gov. Scott Walker being booed out of the place last night.  The whole thing turned out to be a hoax by the restaurant to try and drum up some pro-union patrons and a little liberal love.

I've got an idea for an appropriate way to pay back The Merchant for their fraud.  The local Tea Party group, or any conservative group that would love to teach these libs a lesson, should get a group of 40 or 50 people and go visit The Merchant right before their busiest time of the day.  Don't carry signs, bang drums, shout insipid slogans, or fornicate with pictures of Obama like the left does, but go in in groups of 2-5, get tables, and sit down.

And order coffee.  And nothing but coffee. (Or any other drink with free refills if you prefer.)

Sit there for a couple of hours during their busiest time of the day taking up every seat in the house, drinking your drink and discussing your praises of Gov. Walker and his efforts to rein in the out-of-control public employee unions.  A quiet protest like that would cost the restaurant thousands of dollars and inconvenience the lefties who are probably flocking there to patronize the place.

And when you're done, be sure to leave a tip.  A dime will do.

Send me pictures!

Lefty Madison Restaurant Beclowns Themselves With Fake Story

Kind of in a hurry this morning so I don't have much time to spell this all out, but bottom line is a story came out last night that Gov. Scott Walker had been booed out of a Madison restaurant. The lefties were ecstatic over the story...which now appears to be a hoax conducted by the restaurant itself to try and gain a little liberal love.

#FAIL

Read the post at Legal Insurrection for all the details.

UPDATE:  I have an idea how the Madison Tea Party can have a little fun getting back at these idiots.

Wisconsin to Throw The Slackers Out of the Capitol

It may take flamethrowers to decontaminate that place:

Protesters will have to clear out of the state Capitol by the end of the weekend so custodians can clean the building after days of nonstop demonstrations, officials announced Friday.

It was unclear whether the move could spell the end of demonstrations that have consumed the Capitol for nearly two weeks. Protesters said they would not give up. Some said they would not leave the building.

"Until this issue is resolved, we'll remain here," said Madison resident Amanda Postel. "You know what they say, 'The longer the fight, the longer your chapter in the history books."'

Uh...no. Although the work by the governor to reform the public employee unions in Wisconsin may end up being historic, the dippy doper drum-bangers that infested the place for the last couple of weeks will be but a blip in the historic record - largely because they're going to lose and the losers never get as much attention from history.

Wisconsin seriously needs to revisit the security of their Capitol building.  Allowing the unwashed union masses to roam wherever and whenever they want in the build and to remain there overnight is a recipe for disaster.  It's just a matter of time.

Least Surprising Headline of the Day

From Drudge:

WH names gay social secretary...

Funny, this announcement came just a day after Obama decided that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. Must have been part of the employment contract.

Just Like Wisconsin, California Benefits Are Unsustainable

But I doubt our state will do anything about it until it's too late:

Unlike Wisconsin, California stands virtually no chance of stripping public school teachers and other unionized employees of their collective contract-negotiating rights. But like Wisconsin, the economic downturn has put increasing pressure on state workers to accept deep concessions in their health and retirement benefits, experts say.

California is in the middle of a perfect storm – health insurance costs are rising, retirees are living longer, and the state's multibillion-dollar budget deficit is looming – and this means cash-strapped school districts will be increasingly insisting their employees bear more of the cost of their benefits, observers predict.

School districts in California last year picked up an average of 86 percent of the costs of their teachers' benefits, according to 2009-10 data from the state Department of Education. In Orange County, the ratio was even higher – taxpayers paid 93 percent of the total cost.

"The cost of benefits has been skyrocketing out of control, and many times teachers just have no idea – they don't realize how much per employee a school district and taxpayers are spending on their benefits," said Orange County schools Superintendent Bill Habermehl. "Our unions have been pretty understanding, but it's going to get tougher as time goes on. It's going to be so important that we have openness and good dialogue."

Yeah, good luck with that. The public employee unions in California OWN the Democrats. With a Dem governor and Dem legislature the odds of reforming this problem are approximately zero.

Political Video of the Day

The city of Rockford, IL capitalizes on the fleeing Wisconsin and Indiana Democrats:
Well done.

Today's Chris Christie Lesson in Government

The New York Times has a surprisingly flattering profile of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.  Surprising only that it comes from the Times:

Like a stand-up comedian working out-of-the-way clubs, Chris Christie travels the townships and boroughs of New Jersey­, places like Hackettstown and Raritan and Scotch Plains, sharpening his riffs about the state’s public employees, whom he largely blames for plunging New Jersey into a fiscal death spiral. In one well-worn routine, for instance, the governor reminds his audiences that, until he passed a recent law that changed the system, most teachers in the state didn’t pay a dime for their health care coverage, the cost of which was borne by taxpayers.

And so, Christie goes on, forced to cut more than $1 billion in local aid in order to balance the budget, he asked the teachers not only to accept a pay freeze for a year but also to begin contributing 1.5 percent of their salaries toward health care. The dominant teachers’ union in the state responded by spending millions of dollars in television and radio ads to attack him.

“The argument you heard most vociferously from the teachers’ union,” Christie says, “was that this was the greatest assault on public education in the history of New Jersey.” Here the fleshy governor lumbers a few steps toward the audience and lowers his voice for effect. “Now, do you really think that your child is now stressed out and unable to learn because they know that their poor teacher has to pay 1½ percent of their salary for their health care benefits? Have any of your children come home — any of them — and said, ‘Mom.’ ” Pause. “ ‘Dad.’ ” Another pause. “ ‘Please. Stop the madness.’ ”

By this point the audience is starting to titter, but Christie remains steadfastly somber in his role as the beseeching student. “ ‘Just pay for my teacher’s health benefits,’ ” he pleads, “ ‘and I’ll get A’s, I swear. But I just cannot take the stress that’s being presented by a 1½ percent contribution to health benefits.’ ” As the crowd breaks into appreciative guffaws, Christie waits a theatrical moment, then slams his point home. “Now, you’re all laughing, right?” he says. “But this is the crap I have to hear.”

Read the whole thing. I still don't want him to run for president in 2012, but by 2016 he'll be looking pretty strong if he keeps a good record in New Jersey.

Why There's Nothing to Fear From a Government Shutdown

There's not much to fear because not much gets shut down:

Social Security checks would still go out. Troops would remain at their posts. Furloughed federal workers probably would get paid, though not until later. And virtually every essential government agency, like the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard, would remain open.

That's the little-known truth about a government shutdown. The government doesn't shut down.

And it won't on March 5, even if the combatants on Capitol Hill can't resolve enough differences to pass a stopgap spending bill to fund the government while they hash out legislation to cover the last seven months of the budget year.

Fewer than half of the 2.1 million federal workers subject to a shutdown would be forced off the job if the Obama administration followed the path taken by presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. And that's not counting 600,000 Postal Service employees or 1.6 million uniformed military personnel exempt from a shutdown.

So we're talking fewer than one in four federal workers staying at home. Many federal workers get paid on March 4, so it would take a two-week shutdown for them to see a delay in their paychecks.

The rules for who works and who doesn't date back to the early 1980s and haven't been significantly modified since. The Obama administration hasn't issued new guidance.

The air traffic control system, food inspection, Medicare, veterans' health care and many other essential government programs would run as usual. The Social Security Administration would not only send out benefits but would continue to take applications. The Postal Service, which is self-funded, would keep delivering the mail. Federal courts would remain open.

Some of the tourist attractions like the Smithsonian would be closed, but no elderly Americans will be eating dog food because they didn't get their check, and the military won't be idly standing by as hordes of Radical Islamists swarm ashore.  There's no reason for the GOP to fear a shutdown if they can't get the budget cuts they want.

Political Headline of the Day

From Christopher Hitchens:

Is Barack Obama Secretly Swiss?

Hitch is not impressed with Obama's ditherings regarding the Arab uprisings. Read it all.

Cold, Wind, Rain, Hail...and Snow??

Global warming hits Orange County:

A cold and windy storm should hit with full force sometime after midnight in Orange County, the National Weather Service says, dropping snow levels low in the mountains and bringing heavy rain in places along with possible thunderstorms.

The expected wild weather prompted both a wind advisory and a flash-flood watch for Orange County starting late Friday; a winter-storm warning also is in effect from midnight until noon Saturday in the Santa Ana Mountains and foothills.

It could begin with light rain Friday afternoon on an otherwise mostly cloudy day with highs of 55 to 60.

Then winds pick up, gusting up to 30 mph with heavy rain at times. The wind advisory starts at 10 p.m. and lasts until 10 p.m. Saturday; the flash flood watch is from Friday evening to Saturday morning.

Winds could gust to 35 mph overnight, then there’s more rain Saturday morning, heavy in places — as much as a half inch to an inch in a three-hour period on the coast, up to two inches on lower coastal slopes. There’s a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon with possible hail.

The forecast of snow levels has varied over the past couple of days; the latest says we should expect snow down to 2,500 feet in the Santa Ana Mountains on Saturday and down to 2,000 Saturday night, with snow reaching lower levels in spots with the heaviest precipitation.

The heaviest rain should be over by Saturday afternoon, but daytime temperatures will be unusually cold: in the 40s to low 50s, about 15 to 25 degrees below average.

Wind gusts could hit 40 mph Saturday afternoon.

There’s still a chance of rain and a slight chance of thunderstorms and even hail Saturday night, and the cold overnight could get serious — as low as 32 — with wind gusts to 25 mph.

Saddleback mountain should be pretty picturesque tomorrow morning. I'm going to get some photos.

9/11 Truther Loses Millions

Unfortunately, a couple of hundred sane people are also losing out (from Morning Jolt):

Some good news to close out the week: A 9/11 Truther just lost millions. "If you're outraged by Charlie Sheen's interviews today, here's one fact that might make you feel better: The actor won't get paid for the axed Two and a Half Men episodes. Sources say Sheen will not receive his estimated $1.2 million per-episode salary for the remaining four half-hours that CBS had commissioned from Warner Bros. (There were originally eight episodes left in the season, but CBS reduced the order after the show went on a production hiatus so Sheen could seek treatment.) Sheen is currently ranked the highest-paid actor on TV."

By the way, if my job was to stand around in front of cameras looking pretty unhealthy, recite some tired punch lines, and then collect a $1.2 million check each week, it is possible that I, too, might become a jerk of epic proportions.

I've only seen one or two episodes of Two and a Half Men, and in every one of them, it seemed like every punchline was easier to see coming than Halley's Comet.

I'm with Jim Geraghty - I've only seen maybe two episodes of the show and found them generally insufferable. Sheen is clearly on an ego-maniacal bender and not only took himself out of a pretty sweet deal, but has put the 200 or so people working on the show out of a job as well.  It's pretty clear he doesn't much care about that.

My guess is he'll be found dead with his underwear around his ankles in some sleazy apartment before too long.

Today's Most Ridiculous Paragraph

Try this one:

American combat troops will get sensitivity training directly on the battlefield about the military’s new policy on gays instead of waiting until they return to home base in the United States, the senior enlisted man in Afghanistan said Thursday.

Boy, there's a Saturday Night Live skit just waiting to be written.

Soldier, I want to see a limp wrist when you salute. And when I call your name I want to hear 'Thir, yeth Thir'!

UPDATE: My Texas Correspondent reminds me that was already tried in the British military:

Conservatives Will Make A Mistake if They Spend Too Much Political Capital on Gay Marriage

There are a host of important issues facing the voters in 2012, but I'm afraid the gay marriage debate may get way too much emphasis from conservatives:

Angered conservatives are vowing to make same-sex marriage a front-burner election issue, nationally and in the states, following the Obama administration's announcement that it will no longer defend the federal law denying recognition to gay married couples.

"The ripple effect nationwide will be to galvanize supporters of marriage," said staff counsel Jim Campbell of Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal group.

On the federal level, opponents of same-sex marriage urged Republican leaders in the House of Representatives to intervene on their own to defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, against pending court challenges.

"The president has thrown down the gauntlet, challenging Congress," said Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. "It is incumbent upon the Republican leadership to respond by intervening to defend DOMA, or they will become complicit in the president's neglect of duty."

Conservatives also said they would now expect the eventual 2012 GOP presidential nominee to highlight the marriage debate as part of a challenge to Obama, putting the issue on equal footing with the economy.

I don't think hanging our nomination decision on gay marriage is a smart political move. With the economy still stumbling, radical Islam making new inroads all over the Middle East, Obamacare desperately in need of repealing, and a budget deficit which threatens to bankrupt America, I simply cannot put gay marriage at the top of my list of concerns and I don't want my nominee to be determined by his stance on that issue.  Obsessing over single issues is a frequent weakness of conservatives and that's how you lose elections.

As I've said before, I don't like the idea of a national law or Constitutional amendment concerning marriage. That's a state issue and should be left to the states to decide. The candidate who makes that argument, if any dare, will get a lot of respect from me.

Jerry Springer: Hey Libs, Picking on Palin is Stupid

I never expected Jerry Springer to be the voice of reason, but his advice to his fellow liberals is...well, pretty reasonable:

There is something about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin that really upsets the left and she often finds herself in their crosshairs as a target of ridicule and scorn. But by putting such contempt on display, is the left damaging itself?

In an appearance on New York City WABC radio’s “Goodman to Go” podcast hosted by David Goodman, Jerry Springer admitted a distinct disagreement with Palin’s world view. However, he also observed she has some redeeming qualities.

“I don’t want her to be president,” Springer said. “I don’t agree with her views. But I would never say anything mean about her. I think she is incredibly charismatic. I think she takes her religion very seriously and her views very seriously. I don’t think there’s anything mean-spirited about her.”

But here’s where Springer advised his fellow liberals not to be so quick to demonize Palin. He explained that by doing so, one runs the risk of offending others because there are people that identify with the former Alaska governor.

“I think where liberals may be doing the wrong thing is when they try to make fun of her because they’re making fun of a large section of America that has those fundamental beliefs that she has,” he continued. “And I think that’s dangerous. I don’t think that’s right to do. So I can honestly disagree with her, but I would never say anything disrespectful of her.”

As we've seen with the anti-Tea Party and more recently with the Wisconsin protests, there's an almost genetic need of liberals to belittle and mock their political enemies, especially when they have no facts to back up their arguments. This has been true of Palin's critics since the very beginning. There's something about her that drives them absolutely nuts, and so they worked very hard to establish a meme that she was stupid. Nothing could be further from the truth and she's played her detractors like a Stradivarius.

The left won't listen to Springer.  The attacks on Palin will continue, and with each attack her supporters will become even more committed.

However committed they might be, though, Palin does not show signs of running for president (from Mike Allen):

BIG SIGN SARAH PALIN ISN’T RUNNING: Neither she, nor anyone on her behalf, is courting top donors, early-state activists or experienced operatives – all of whom are getting locked down, day by day.

--THE LIKELY GOP FIELD, in order of relevance: 1) Mitt Romney, 2) Tim Pawlenty, 3) Haley Barbour, 4) Jon Huntsman, 5) Newt Gingrich, 6) Rick Santorum.

If that's all we got, we lose.

Media: Angry Tea Parties=Mobs, Angry Wisconsin Union Members=Democracy

Media bias is nothing new and the comparison between the media's treatment of the Tea Party protests and the Wisconsin union protests is very instructive.  The Wall Street Journal has a good piece comparing the media response to both protests here.

Chaos in Wisconsin as Assembly Passes Union Reform Bill

I just saw some video taken on the floor of the Wisconsin Assembly as the Republican majority called for a vote on Gov. Walker's budget repair bill.  Pure chaos.  Democrats and their supporters in complete meltdown.  Dave Wiegel reported it on Twitter this way:

Rumor spreads that Assembly is voting, crowd is shouting "This is not democracy."

Steve Hayes of the Weekly Standard called that the funniest tweet of the night.

The whole process in the Assembly was pretty weird:

Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly took the first significant action on their plan to strip collective bargaining rights from most public workers, abruptly passing the measure early Friday morning before sleep-deprived Democrats realized what was happening.

The vote ended three straight days of punishing debate in the Assembly. But the political standoff over the bill — and the monumental protests at the state Capitol against it — appear far from over.

The Assembly’s vote sent the bill on to the Senate, but minority Democrats in that house have fled to Illinois to prevent a vote. No one knows when they will return from hiding. Republicans who control the chamber sent state troopers out looking for them at their homes on Thursday, but they turned up nothing.

“I applaud the Democrats in the Assembly for earnestly debating this bill and urge their counterparts in the state Senate to return to work and do the same,” Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said in a statement issued moments after the vote. ...

 Walker issued a statement Friday praising the Assembly for passing the bill and renewing his call for Senate Democrats to return.

“The fourteen Senate Democrats need to come home and do their jobs, just like the Assembly Democrats did,” Walker said.

With the Senate immobilized, Assembly Republicans decided to act and convened the chamber Tuesday morning.

Democrats launched a filibuster, throwing out dozens of amendments and delivering rambling speeches. Each time Republicans tried to speed up the proceedings, Democrats rose from their seats and wailed that the GOP was stifling them.

Debate had gone on for 60 hours and 15 Democrats were still waiting to speak when the vote started around 1 a.m. Friday. Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kramer, R-Waukesha, opened the roll and closed it within seconds.

Democrats looked around, bewildered. Only 13 of the 38 Democratic members managed to vote in time.

Republicans immediately marched out of the chamber in single file. The Democrats rushed at them, pumping their fists and shouting “Shame!” and “Cowards!”

The Republicans walked past them without responding.

Democrats left the chamber stunned. The protesters greeted them with a thundering chant of “Thank you!” Some Democrats teared up. Others hugged.

“What a terrible, terrible day for Wisconsin,” said Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee. “I am incensed. I am shocked.”

It may not have been pretty, but democracy isn't always pretty. At some point obstruction has to end.

My guess is the Fleebaggers will now be even more motivated to stay away since the scene this morning in the Assembly was so crazy. But Gov. Walker shows no sign of backing down and he can wait longer than the Fleeing Fourteen Senators probably can. All it will take is one Senator returning to the chamber to allow the bill to be voted on in the Senate. Since the Senators won't be paid unless they pick up their checks in person in the Senate, it's going to get pretty expensive to keep hanging out in Illinois motels. They'll cave.

Gov. Brown: It's the Taxes or the Cuts

He's right, you know.

California Governor Jerry Brown pledged to cut $25 billion from an $85 billion spending plan to close the state’s budget gap if lawmakers block a special election to allow voters to extend temporary tax increases.

If lawmakers don’t approve the special election, Brown said he’d hold up the budget for as long as it takes to eliminate the $25 billion deficit through spending cuts.

“It’s very fundamental, whether you vote the taxes or you vote the cuts,” said Brown, a 72-year-old Democrat who was governor from 1975 to 1983. He spoke today at a joint legislative budget conference committee hearing in Sacramento.

Brown has pledged to fix the financial strains that have left California with the biggest deficit of all U.S. states, and the lowest credit rating. With an economy bigger than Russia’s, California has coped with $100 billion of budget gaps in the past three years amid the global recession.

I'm no fan of Moonbeam, but to his credit he's trying to fix the mess. The choice really does come down to extending some taxes or making massive cuts.  At least he's not talking about huge tax increases.  That's a plus.

Political Quote of the Day

Rush Limbaugh on a lawless president:

Obama is encouraging lawlessness in Arizona. He is encouraging lawlessness in Wisconsin. He is undermining state governments everywhere he can, particularly if they’re battleground states, which Wisconsin is. He’s ordering his Justice Department not to defend a federal law. Nobody has said the law is unconstitutional other than Obama and Holder, and they don’t have the power to do that. Obama is ignoring court orders he doesn’t like, such as drilling moratorium laws in the Gulf of Mexico, and, of course, DOMA, Defense of Marriage Act.

The president is lawless. The evidence is mounting every day. And the only ones blind to it are his ass kissers in the media. I don’t care, a leftist is a leftist. I don’t care whether they’re a journalist, so-called journalist or whether they’re a pundit or member of Congress or whatever, leftists are leftists. In fact, I think these guys are celebrating. They’re having all kinds of fun here. You had a prank caller to the governor of Wisconsin pretending to be David Koch. (imitating media) “Oh, wow, how creative, well, this is wonderful.” Whatever it takes to defeat conservatives, because the enemy is not Moammar Khadafy, the enemy is not Al-Qaeda, the enemy is not terrorist organizations. No, the enemy is conservative Republicans. That’s the enemy that the American left lines up against. I don’t even think these ass kissers in the media are blind to it. They are active supporters. They encourage this lawlessness. They applaud it. They laugh. They celebrate it. They love it whenever one of their own pulls the wool over our eyes, they think. They love it when one of their own tricks us or defeats us. That’s one of the reasons they loved Clinton so much.

Hard to top that.

Fleebaggers May Have to Pay Income Tax...in Illinois

How much do I love this?  A lot:

A Republican lawmaker from Illinois introduced legislation Thursday that would subject Wisconsin senators who crossed the border to Illinois income taxes for their time working in “the Land of Lincoln.”

Illinois Rep. Mike Tryon, of Crystal Lake, said the Wisconsin lawmakers should be subject to the Illinois tax in the same way Green Bay Packers players must pay Illinois tax for games played at Soldier Field…

Tryon said he opposed a 2007 bill that extended the 5% Illinois tax to temporary workers — including professional athletes and movie stars. But if it’s on the books, the Wisconsin senators should pay, Tryon said.

The GOP is playing this whole thing very, very well. Every minute the fleebaggers stay in Illinois they just look more idiotic.

Another Metrolink Versus Pedestrian in Orange County

I'm just hearing another dispatch in Tustin for a Metrolink train versus pedestrian. They had a suicide-by-train there on February 11th. According to the radio traffic the train engineer knows they hit someone but so far they haven't found the victim.

UPDATE:  They found some body parts near Red Hill and Edinger, not far from the Feb. 11th accident.  Still looking for the main part of the individual.  I don't envy the guys who have to do this work.

It appears to be the same train, #608, that was involved in the 2/11 accident.  According to the photos this was the same locomotive that was involved in the previous incident - #892.  Three more and it'll be an ace.

Train #608 seems to be the train of choice for all your suicide needs.  Given the schedules the Metrolink engineers work, it's possible the same engineer was involved in both accidents.  Engineers are going to be a little shaky coming through Tustin for awhile.

UPDATE:  Train has been offloaded of passengers after about 90 minutes.  Authorities won't allow it to be moved, so I'm guessing part of their victim is still underneath.

UPDATE - From the OC Register:

A man jumped from behind a fence onto tracks and was struck by a commuter train between the Santa Ana and Tustin train stations Thursday night, authorities said.
Tustin police Sgt. Luis Garcia said the man was killed.

Authorities responded to reports of a person being struck by a train near Red Hill Avenue about 7:40 p.m., Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Greg McKeown said.

Thank You, Obama

Can we open up drilling in the Gulf NOW?

Sent via HolyCoast.com mobile.

Update - the real grabber for me in that shot was the diesel price. For nine years I owned a 40' diesel tour bus that I used for the quartet. It got six miles to the gallon and had a 130 gallon tank. The most I ever paid for diesel was $1.80, right before I sold it. I can't even imagine what we'd have to do to keep that thing fed today.

California Will Get Their Pot Tax

Bad day for dopers:

California's tax collectors want their share of the burgeoning medical marijuana business.

The state Board of Equalization announced Thursday that medical marijuana dispensaries are not exempt from paying sales tax.

The decision reaffirms current policy that the selling of medical marijuana involves taxable tangible property, the board said.

The decision, reached in a vote Wednesday, involved the Berkeley Patients Group Inc., a Northern California dispensary, which maintained that marijuana should have the same exemption from sales tax as other medicines prescribed by doctors. Audits conducted for the period of July 1, 2004, through June 30, 2007, found that the Berkeley Patients Group owed the state in excess of $6.4 million in taxes and interest.

Pot today, Viagra tomorrow. Recreational drugs.