Saturday, July 18, 2009
Mary Jo Kopechne died 40 years ago today
An infamous event in Ted Kennedy's history...
Mary Wentworth reminds us at CapeCodToday.com:
"Just past midnight on Saturday, July 19, 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy drove his black Oldsmobile sedan off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard, just off Cape Cod. The Senator escaped a watery death, but a passenger in his car, twenty-eight-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not."
The Media - Always trying to promote their agenda
This attempt at media bias didn't work out so well...
Noel Sheppard has the video at NewsBusters.org:
"On Saturday, CNN's Don Lemon learned this lesson the hard way.
Well after President Obama finished his speech in Ghana, Lemon was speaking live to correspondent Nkepile Mabuse who was reporting on location.
When Lemon asked whether the warm reception Obama received upon his arrival Friday was unprecedented, Mabuse caught him quite off guard with her response.
Pay particular attention to Lemon's body language when Mabuse says, 'It's not unprecedented. When President Bush was here, you will remember, in February, there were people who were drumming, there were dances, and President Bush joined some of them' (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript, h/t NBer Jon):"
Second City Ruse - WSJ.com
Politicians, educators, unions, etc., all continue to "fudge" the numbers to promote their agendas.
The real goals of education have fallen by the wayside long ago...
The real goals of education have fallen by the wayside long ago...
Here's the beginning of a Wall Street Journal opinion column:
"When President Obama chose Arne Duncan to lead the Education Department, he cited Mr. Duncan's success as head of Chicago's public school system from 2001 to 2008. But a new education study suggests that those academic gains aren't what they seemed. The study also helps explain why big-city education reform is unlikely to occur without school choice.
Mr. Obama noted in December that 'in just seven years, Arne's boosted elementary test scores here in Chicago from 38% of students meeting the standard to 67%' and that 'the dropout rate has gone down every year he's been in charge.' But according to 'Still Left Behind,' a report by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a majority of Chicago public school students still drop out or fail to graduate with their class. Moreover, 'recent dramatic gains in the reported number of CPS elementary students who meet standards on state assessments appear to be due to changes in the tests . . . rather than real improvements in student learning.'"
Friday, July 17, 2009
Meanwhile - in Australia - Town bans bottled water
I'm no fan of commefrcial bottled water.
Maybe this will cause others to catch on...
Maybe this will cause others to catch on...
PRE-LINK TEXT Bonnie Malkin reports in the U.K. Telegraph:
"Shops in the town will now be banned from stocking and selling bottled water and filtered water fountains will be placed on Bundanoon's main street so people can fill their bottles for free. Visitors to the town will also be discouraged, but not banned, from drinking bottled water.
Locals decided to act when drinks company Norlex Holdings announced plans to tap an underground reservoir in the town, truck the water up to Sydney and then send it back in bottles."
Thursday, July 16, 2009
"Put nothing in writing"
You can't get less transparent than this...
Mark Tapscott reports at WashingtonExaminer.com:
"Carol Browner, former Clinton administration EPA head and current Obama White House climate czar, instructed auto industry execs 'to put nothing in writing, ever' regarding secret negotiations she orchestrated regarding a deal to increase federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards."
Barack Obama - Broken Promises
Here's another example of the new administration's game plan.
In speeches and in interviews, they say one thing.
Then they do the opposite.
Unfortunately, the state run media nevers call them out on their obvious hypocricies...
In speeches and in interviews, they say one thing.
Then they do the opposite.
Unfortunately, the state run media nevers call them out on their obvious hypocricies...
At Cato-at-liberty.org, Jim Harper posts:
"“[O]nce it is clear that a bill will be coming to the president’s desk, the White House will post the bill online,” White House spokesman Nick Shapiro told New York Times reporter Katherine Seelye for her June 22 story on President Obama’s “Sunlight Before Signing” campaign pledge. “This will give the American people a greater ability to review the bill, often many more than five days before the president signs it into law.”
The story, titled “White House Changes the Terms of a Campaign Pledge About Posting Bills Online,” was about the White House effort to walk back from President Obama’s campaign pledge to post bills he receives for five days before signing them.
When the New York Times published the story, five bills had been presented to the president and were awaiting his signature. Four more were presented to him after the story’s publication. All nine are now law.
And for the life of me, I can’t find where any of them have been posted on Whitehouse.gov. Surely it was clear to the White House that the five bills it had and the four soon to come would reach the president’s desk."
Barack Obama - Birth mystery plot thickens
So, is it Hospital A, or Hospital B?
You have to click through.
Otherwise, you'll think I'm making this up...
You have to click through.
Otherwise, you'll think I'm making this up...
Joe Kovacs and Jerome Corsi have more birth confusion at WorldNetDaily.com:
"More than eight months after Barack Obama was elected president, the mystery surrounding his precise birthplace is deepening as the myth-busting website Snopes.com – along with several news agencies and an Obama community blog – directly contradict the president's own claim regarding the hospital in which he was born.
In an official letter signed by Obama on White House stationery, the president celebrates his birth at the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii."
Barack Obama - who wrote the book?
This writer has been making a case that the infamous William Ayres "helped Barack Obama write his acclaimed memoir "Dreams From My Father".
Over time, his case seems to be getting stronger.
It is troubling that Barack Obama's relationship with William Ayres (former domestic terrorist) was that close...
Over time, his case seems to be getting stronger.
It is troubling that Barack Obama's relationship with William Ayres (former domestic terrorist) was that close...
Jack Cashill writes at AmericanThinker.com:
"This I would call a B-level match. What raises it up a notch to an A-level match is the fact that both misquote 'Chicago,' and they do so in exactly the same way. The poem actually opens, 'Hog butcher for the world.'
Last week, the first email I received from Mr. West had in the message box '759 striking similarities between Dreams and Ayers' works.' This claim seemed so outsized I did not take it seriously. When I was unable to open the documents, I emailed Mr. West back, asked him to reformat, and then forgot about the email. He resent his documents a few days later.
This time I was able to open them and was promptly blown away. Mr. West's analysis was systematic, comprehensive, and utterly, totally, damning. Of the 759 matches, none were frivolous."
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
"Journalists protest Global Warming spin cycle"
Now, think about this: If the Earth continues to cool naturally AFTER certain laws are passed, it will be claimed that the laws were successful.
And, if the Earth continues to cool naturally, and NO laws were passed, there will be NO money to be made.
Did I just stumble on "the real plot"?...
And, if the Earth continues to cool naturally, and NO laws were passed, there will be NO money to be made.
Did I just stumble on "the real plot"?...
At AmericanThinker.com, William Tate discusses the "spin":
"Controversy erupted this week at the World Conference of Science Journalists over the National Science Foundation's 'underwriting' of media projects. It turns out that the NSF, which is heavily invested in propagating the Global Warming party line, has been quietly producing content for news outlets, content which the casual observer might not recognize for the propaganda it is.
According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the NSF's Jeff Nesbit was met with 'consternation' at the London conference for 'attempting to 'disguise' publicity as objective reporting.'
As stated earlier, the NSF is a major player in the Global Warming cult, having funded studies which claim that, despite cooling temperatures, warming is inevitable this century, and that it will impact everything from vintners who produce Pinot Noir to the world's largest freshwater lake in Siberia.
The NSF provides about twenty percent of all federal funding for scientific research. It is now also providing media outlets with content, such as the below from U.S. News & Report: ..."
"Magical Thinking in California"
Governments at work.
Wouldn't you think they could put a hold on these things until things get at least bit closer to "normal" again?...
Wouldn't you think they could put a hold on these things until things get at least bit closer to "normal" again?...
Eric Peters reports at Spectator.org:
"California's a mess. A bankrupt fiasco. A state that has regulated and spent itself into a well of debt so deep it makes the economic situation in the other 49 states seem not half-bad.
But instead of putting a chokehold on California's run-amok bureaucrats, the federal government just gave them the go ahead to impose California-specific fuel economy and emissions control requirements on new cars sold there, beginning with the 2016 model year. California has long wanted to demand that new cars achieve 40 mpg, on average -- 5 mph higher than the '49 state' requirement recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama.
Now there will be two sets of differing requirements for the flatlined auto industry to cope with: One for cars sold in CA, one for cars sold everywhere else. Maybe several different requirements, since a number of states have expressed interest in either following CA or maybe passing requirements of their own."
Hillary Clinton stabs NYC in the back?
Should this surprise us?...
Marcia Kramer reports at WCBSTV.com:
"Hillary Clinton was accused Monday of stabbing the Big Apple in the back.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said her betrayal has cost the city $260 million in lost tax revenues and counting.
It didn't take long for Clinton to double cross New York City. Six months into her tenure as secretary of state she has suddenly exempted diplomats from paying some property taxes here.
'It is totally unfair,' Bloomberg said.
The mayor said it's not only a double cross but a double flip flop. As New York's junior senator, Clinton fought to make diplomats pay up. And he said her reversal changes a longstanding policy."
Barack Obama - What The Media Didn’t Report
So, does this tell you anything?
Does it seem a little strange?...
Does it seem a little strange?...
I found this posted by Rob on SayAnythingBlog.com:
"In the last news cycle there were a lot of stories written about Obama’s visit to Russia. But one story that didn’t appear anywhere in the American media (that I saw) was about the Russian leaders refusing to shake Obama’s hand.
Here’s video"
"Disingenuous insurance scheme"
"Federal Health Board" - How's that sound to you?
Keep remembering that what this adminstration says is NOT what they do.
They already have a track record that proves it...
Keep remembering that what this adminstration says is NOT what they do.
They already have a track record that proves it...
The Republican-American explains what it means:
"During his informercial, President Obama said he would reduce medical costs by blocking patients, doctors and insurers from unthinkingly approving additional tests, procedures or therapies "that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care. Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller."
Maybe. But under KennedyDoddCare, that decision won't be left to you, your doctor and your insurer, but your friendly government bean-counter working for the 'Federal Health Board' who will be predisposed to say no to anything that's not actuarially beneficial because his main function will be to "reduce costs," aka ration care."
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Media - "The Duke Rape Case You Won’t Hear About"
This sure sounds ugly enough to get national attention...
At PinkElephantPundit.com, Tabitha Hale thinks she knows why it doesn't:
"These stories nauseate me. We all have a gut reaction to stories about children being hurt. He is being appropriately charged. People do horrible things. It’s nothing new… so why am I reporting this? Because I’m sick of political correctness and agendas tainting the news. First of all, there is virtually no coverage of this beyond the AP article that was released Friday. The AP article conveniently omits the fact that the little boy was black, and the fact that the father was gay. Which means that, since ABC, Fox, et al only reported the AP release, no MSM reported these facts. CNN hasn’t bothered putting the story on their website at all. Why?"
New Evidence on the Foreclosure Crisis - WSJ.com
Perhaps, someone should just compare mortgage loans to Mother Nature.
We all know you can't fool Mother Nature...
We all know you can't fool Mother Nature...
Stan Liebowitz writes about it in the Wall Street Journal:
"The analysis indicates that, by far, the most important factor related to foreclosures is the extent to which the homeowner now has or ever had positive equity in a home. The accompanying figure shows how important negative equity or a low Loan-To-Value ratio is in explaining foreclosures (homes in foreclosure during December of 2008 generally entered foreclosure in the second half of 2008). A simple statistic can help make the point: although only 12% of homes had negative equity, they comprised 47% of all foreclosures.
Further, because it is difficult to account for second mortgages in this data, my measurement of negative equity and its impact on foreclosures is probably too low, making my estimates conservative."
Global Warming - Trillions for a 0.1 degree reduction?
Americans have always been vulnerable to a good con.
Think "snake oil" salesman.
Eventually they always wake up.
Sooner or later, some fact, some phrase, or some surge of logic, will bury the global warming con...
Think "snake oil" salesman.
Eventually they always wake up.
Sooner or later, some fact, some phrase, or some surge of logic, will bury the global warming con...
Perhaps, Paul Driessen's post at Investors Business Daily will help:
"The legislation would cost millions of jobs and trillions of dollars, for a hypothetical 0.1 degree F reduction in global temperatures."
The Media - The New York Times
Do you think this is what is meant by "double standard"?...
At Townhall.com, Burt Prelutsky has this story:
"Back in 2008, New York Times correspondent David S. Rohde, along with Afghan reporter Taki Luden, were abducted in Pakistan by the Taliban. Because they felt it might adversely affect hostage rescue efforts, the Times requested a news black-out. The Associated Press and other news agencies respected the request and only broke the story recently, after Rohde and Luden had scaled a wall and made their escape. It would be nothing other than a story with a happy ending, except that the Times has time and again ignored the government’s requests that it not report the specific ways in which we were combating Islamic terrorists."
Benefit payouts will exceed income tax revenue - Telegraph
Read this carefully.
This could soon be the story in America.
Maybe it already is..
This could soon be the story in America.
Maybe it already is..
This is reported by James Kirkup in the U.K. Daily Telegraph:
"Treasury figures show that welfare payments will exceed income tax receipts by almost £25 billion. Normally, income tax receipts comfortably cover the benefits bill.
In 2008/09, gross income tax receipts were £152.5 billion. In the same year, social security benefits cost the Exchequer £150.1 billion.
In 2009/10, the Treasury is expecting to take in £140.5 billion in gross income tax receipts. Social security benefits are projected to be £164.7 billion."
Monday, July 13, 2009
Politicians - Labour MP Harry Cohen
MP is the abbreviation for Minister of Parliament.
The U.K.'s Daily Telegraph has been exposing their abuse of expenses.
They are resigning left and right.
If only it could happen here in the U.S...
The U.K.'s Daily Telegraph has been exposing their abuse of expenses.
They are resigning left and right.
If only it could happen here in the U.S...
Rosa Prince reports the latest:
"A Labour MP who designated a converted schoolhouse in Colchester as his main residence while claiming second home expenses on a property nine miles from Parliament has announced his resignation."
Barack Obama - "the most naive president in U.S. history?"
Some recent actions make it seem possible...
In the U.K. Telegraph, Nile Gardiner explains:
"The new deal, which Obama hopes to wrap up with the Kremlin by December, creates a far more level playing field for the Russians, whose strategic conventional weapons capability is greatly outclassed by that of the Americans, and whose deteriorating nuclear weapons stockpile is aging and in decline. The whole agreement makes no sense, and is little more than a vanity exercise for Barack Obama who has ludicrously pledged to carve out a nuclear-free world. Surely a better strategy would be to further build up America’s defences, including a global missile defence shield, rather than cut defence spending and further gut the superpower’s nuclear capability.
At this rate, even Jimmy Carter looks like General Patton compared to the dove-like current U.S. president. Why cut nuclear weapons at a time when rogue regimes such as North Korea and Iran are busy building their own programmes? Does the President seriously believe this move will encourage the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong Il to renounce their nuclear designs? What evidence is there in history that a unilateral policy of disarmament will prompt tyrannical regimes to change their behaviour?"
Albany, I give up! - New York Post
The common thread within all things going wrong seems to be "Politicians".
No surprise there!...
No surprise there!...
In the New York Post, Fredric Dicker writes about New York State government:
"The Empire State -- once a beacon of progressive state government to the nation -- is on the brink of ruin. And it doesn't look like anything can be done to stop it.
In two words: We're doomed.
Hapless Gov. Paterson and the street-fighting leaders of the state Senate have, as everyone knows, turned state government into a national laughingstock.
Within the Capitol itself, where knowledge of the disaster is more acute, the assessments are far harsher and more personally painful. They are disbelief, disgust, and even despair."
Barack Obama - Same Inaccurate Claim on Oil Imports
A lie repeated becomes the truth.
The current administration is perpetuating false information and it's tiresome...
The current administration is perpetuating false information and it's tiresome...
FactCheck.org's Andrew Karter writes:
"Same Inaccurate Claim on Oil Imports"
"In a July 6 interview with Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, President Obama repeated his false claim that the U.S. 'import[s] more oil today than ever before.' When Obama first said this in February during an address to a joint-session of Congress, we wrote that the president had gotten his facts wrong. We said then that oil imports peaked in 2005 and have 'substantially' declined since."
Hurricane Charlie - WSJ.com
This sure sounds ominous for Florida residents...
The Wall Street Journal discusses a potential Florida disaster:
"Florida Governor Charlie Crist is running for the U.S. Senate next year, and we wonder if one reason is that he doesn't want to be in Tallahassee when the next hurricane hits his state. His veto of a hurricane insurance reform bill last week all but guarantees a state disaster on top of any wrought by Mother Nature.
The bill would have trimmed the cost of a state-run enterprise that insures homeowners against storm damage. The program has an $18 billion unfunded liability and has taxpayers on the line for tens of billions in property losses from the next major hurricane. The Republican legislature tried to reduce those future losses, but Mr. Crist sounded like Barney Frank rolling the dice on Fannie Mae in declaring there's nothing to worry about."
Sunday, July 12, 2009
First Lady requires more than twenty attendants
Here's another of those articles that would likely be difficult for the American media to publish...
This is by Dr. Paul L. Williams at CanadaFreePress.com:
"No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn’t perform any official duties. But this hasn’t deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.
How things have changed! If you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans facing certain destitution, earning less than subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Miz Michele are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by John Q. Public:"
Government at Work - Sen. Harry Reid
Could a dirty little secret be that Senators CAN'T read?
That would sure explain a lot of things...
That would sure explain a lot of things...
Monica Gabriel and Marie Magleby write at CNSnews.com:
"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.) will not commit to giving senators and the public a full week to read and review the final version of a health-care reform bill before he holds a final vote on it."
Arms Control Amnesia - WSJ.com
I'm thinking "snookered"...
Keith B. Payne reports in the Wall Street Journal:
"Mr. Medvedev's solution is to negotiate, inviting the U.S. to make real cuts, while Russia eliminates nothing that it wouldn't retire in any event.
This isn't just my conclusion -- it's the conclusion of many Russian officials and commentators. Russian Gen. Nikolay Solovtsov, commander of the Strategic Missile Troops, was recently quoted by Moscow Interfax-AVN Online as saying that "not a single Russian launcher" with 'remaining service life' will be withdrawn under a new agreement. Noted Russian journalist Pavel Felgengauer observed in Novaya Gazeta that Russian leaders "have demanded of the Americans unilateral concessions on all points, offering practically nothing in exchange." Precisely.
Beyond the bad negotiating principle of giving up something for nothing, there will be serious downsides if the U.S. actually reduces its strategic launchers as much as Moscow wishes."
Meanwhile - in Cleveland - Bribery reigns
I bet you thought this only happens in your town,
What are these people thinking?...
What are these people thinking?...
John Caniglia reports at Cleveland.com:
"Federal prosecutors this morning charged a Cleveland construction contractor with bribing Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora with $33,000 in cash, lawn work, Cavs and Indians tickets and hundreds of dollars in meals and drinks for county contracts.
The charges said an unnamed public official whose description matches Dimora helped Steve Pumper's former company, D-A-S Construction, obtain work on county projects, including brownfield and public housing projects. The bribery charges were filed in U.S. District Court, and they allege that Pumper also used bribes to win contracts in Parma schools. They say he paid former board President J. Kevin Kelley $6,000 in cash to gain a $96,000 subcontract.
The charges also allege that Pumper begged Dimora to use his influence in his divorce, as well as a civil case that was pending before a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge whose description matches Judge Bridget McCafferty."
Saturday, July 11, 2009
California - the Welfare State
Gee, do you think this might be part of their problem?...
This comes from Chris Reed at SignOnSanDiego.com:
"As of September 2008, the latest available data, there were 3,821,600 people in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program getting government checks while they (in theory) sought to transition from welfare to work.
32 percent were from California! 1,226,362! California has 36.8 million of the nation's 304 million people -- 12 percent. (I'm using this Census Bureau Excel chart for all population figures in this post.) So we have nearly three times the number of people in this welfare program as our state population would suggest.
It only gets more amazing from here. California has more welfare recipients in this program than the next eight states combined! States with a total population of 95.8 million.
1. California -- 1,226,362 recipients -- 36.8 million population
2. New York -- 252,434 recipients -- 19.5 million population
3. Ohio -- 178,652 recipients -- 11.5 million population
4. Michigan -- 154,985 recipients -- 10 million population
5. Tennessee -- 138,744 recipients -- 6.2 million population
6. Washington -- 122,477 recipients -- 6.5 million population
7. Indiana -- 117,987 recipients -- 6.4 million population
8. Texas -- 114,258 recipients -- 24.3 million population
9. Pennsylvania -- 113,826 recipients -- 12.4 million population
This is stunning stuff."
Friday, July 10, 2009
John Stossel : "Better" Health Care?
I don't have much respect for the media; however, I can give John Stossel an exception...
At Townhall.com, John Stossel discusses "free" health care:
"President Obama says government will make health care cheaper and better. But there's no free lunch.
In England, health care is 'free' -- as long as you don't mind waiting. People wait so long for dentist appointments that some pull their own teeth. At any one time, half a million people are waiting to get into a British hospital. A British paper reports that one hospital tried to save money by not changing bedsheets. Instead of washing sheets, the staff was encouraged to just turn them over."
Thursday, July 09, 2009
"Honduras And Drugs"
This may seem like a Honduras sidebar story; however, it does seem to indicate the character of the deposed President...
I found this in an Investors Business Daily opinion column:
"Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez dropped a bombshell last week when he said Zelaya, the president who was thrown out by a constitutional process June 28 after defying the law, had a little side business with the Caracas caudillo allowing cocaine to roll into Honduras from Venezuela before heading to the U.S.
'Every night, three or four Venezuelan-registered planes land without the permission of appropriate authorities and bring thousands of pounds . . . and packages of money that are the fruit of drug trafficking,' Ortez told CNN En Espanol. 'We have proof of all of this. Neighboring governments have it. The DEA has it.'"
Honduras at the Tipping Point - WSJ.com
Here's some of the story on the Honduras issue...
Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes in the Wall Street Journal:
"Mr. Zelaya's violations of the rule of law in recent months were numerous. But the tipping point came 10 days ago, when he led a violent mob that stormed a military base to seize and distribute Venezuelan-printed ballots for an illegal referendum.
All but a handful of my letters pleaded for international understanding of the threat to the constitutional democracy that Mr. Zelaya presented. One phrase occurred again and again: "Please pray for us."
Hondurans have good cause for calling on divine intervention: Reason has gone AWOL in places like Turtle Bay and Foggy Bottom. Ruling the debate on Mr. Zelaya's behavior is Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez, who is now the reigning international authority on "democracy."
Mr. Chávez is demanding that Mr. Zelaya be reinstated and is even threatening to overthrow the new Honduran president, Roberto Micheletti. He's leading the charge from the Organization of American States (OAS). The United Nations and the Obama administration are falling in line.
Is this insane? You bet. We have fallen through the looking glass and it's time to review how hemispheric relations came to such a sad state."
U. of Illinois jobs-for-entry scheme
Corruption seems to be everywhere...
Jodi S. Cohen, Tara Malone and Robert Becker report in the Chicago Tribune:
"E-mails reveal law school put a price on admission of unqualified candidate"
Meanwhile - in Nevada - "Lights out"
It sure looks like American businesses are being shut out from doing what they do to benefit Americans.
The cumulative effect of denied, delayed, or "blocked by special interests" projects is that no progress is being made.
You know how "pay me now, or pay me later" works.
Pay me later always costs much more...
The cumulative effect of denied, delayed, or "blocked by special interests" projects is that no progress is being made.
You know how "pay me now, or pay me later" works.
Pay me later always costs much more...
This is from a Las Vegas ReviewJournal.com editorial:
"Last week, tired of wasting time promoting a relatively clean, low-cost energy option opposed by the entire ruling political class, from President Obama and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid on down, utility NV Energy formally withdrew its application through the state Public Utilities Commission to build the Ely Energy Center.
The $5 billion, 1,500-megawatt central Nevada plant would have generated enough energy to power 900,000 homes. It will now be delayed at least a decade, until costly technologies can be developed to capture all such a plant's harmless emissions of carbon dioxide -- a gas necessary to life on Earth, a gas of which mankind's production is dwarfed by that churned out by the oceans and volcanoes, but to which eco-extremists attribute the supposed danger of 'global warming.'
Meantime, Air Force officials urged the federal government to deny construction applications for a $700 million solar power plant near the Nellis flight-training range, up Tonopah way, about 175 miles northwest of Las Vegas -- even though the company had already shifted its site 25 miles further away from Air Force lands than originally planned."
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Global Warming - Something is wrong here!
No honest debate or dissenting opinion is permitted.
What kind of open discussion and transparency is this?...
And there's more...
What kind of open discussion and transparency is this?...
You can see what I mean at theHopeForAmerica.com:
"Senator James Inhofe On Buried EPA Memo"
And there's more...
At the PowerLineBlog, John posts the actual emails:
Barack Obama - and his regulation czar candidate
Well, this sure would be "change".
Don't you agree?...
Don't you agree?...
At theHill.com, Alexander Bolton reports:
"Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) has blocked President Obama’s candidate for regulation czar, Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, because Sunstein has argued that animals should have the right to sue humans in court.
Obama has picked Sunstein, his adviser and longtime friend, to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, an office that has power to review and assess all draft regulations proposed within the administration.
But Chambliss worries that Sunstein’s innovative legal views may someday lead to a farmer having to defend himself in court against a lawsuit filed on behalf of his chickens or pigs."
Meanwhile - in the U.K. - tax & spend fails
In the U.K., the Labour Party is the equivalent of our Democrats.
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, heads the Labour Party.
The U.K. is farther along the "tax and spend" idea that the U.S. is.
It has failed badly in the U.K. and political change is all but a certainty.
For U.S. citizens, there is a lesson in what's happened in the U.K...
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, heads the Labour Party.
The U.K. is farther along the "tax and spend" idea that the U.S. is.
It has failed badly in the U.K. and political change is all but a certainty.
For U.S. citizens, there is a lesson in what's happened in the U.K...
In the U.K. Telegraph, Simon Heffer predicts the future:
"Even though there is an unanswerable case that our country is being brought to its knees by over-borrowing, even though it is far from clear that the massive borrowing already engaged in has done anything but keep the public sector and the rest of the clientele shielded from the realities of the Brown economic miracle that the rest of us are having to suffer, that is how Labour proposes to continue.
The only reason this persists is, I suspect, that Mr Brown knows very well not just that his party has lost the next election but that the defeat will signal the overdue end of his public life. It hardly matters, in that case, that he continues to order the borrowing of absurd sums, and that their waste on pointless public sector schemes delivers no great public benefit. He has manifestly admitted to himself that not only will he not be around in office to have to clear up the mess after the next election, but neither will any of his unlovely circle of trusties, toadies and admirers.
One does not need a degree in political science to see the benefits to the Labour tribe of this strategy. The Tories will – I trust – see that they have no option, if elected, but to cut public spending and raise taxes not merely on the 'rich' but on everybody. There will be howls of complaint from the clientele. Labour will say, entirely dishonestly, that it would never have happened had they been returned to power, and that this is what comes of electing wicked, heartless Tory toffs to run the country. The script can be written now, and it is entirely contemptible."
The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease - WSJ.com
There must be something else involved here.
No one in their right mind would push to adopt policies that are proven to NOT work. (Did I just say something?)...
No one in their right mind would push to adopt policies that are proven to NOT work. (Did I just say something?)...
This is just part os a Wall Street Journal opinion column:
"President Obama has bet the economy on his program to grow the government and finance it with a more progressive tax system. It's hard to miss the irony that he's pitching this change in Washington even as the same governance model is imploding in three of the largest American states where it has been dominant for years -- California, New Jersey and New York.
A decade ago all three states were among America's most prosperous. California was the unrivaled technology center of the globe. New York was its financial capital. New Jersey is the third wealthiest state in the nation after Connecticut and Massachusetts. All three are now suffering from devastating budget deficits as the bills for years of tax-and-spend governance come due.
These states have been models of 'progressive' policies that are supposed to create wealth: high tax rates on the rich, lots of government 'investments,' heavy unionization and a large government role in health care."
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Meanwhile - in the U.K. - Oops!
Facebook has already been the source of many public indiscretions.
This looks like a fairly big one...
This looks like a fairly big one...
In the U.K. DailyMail, Jason Lewis has this story:
"MI6 chief blows his cover as wife's Facebook account reveals family holidays, showbiz friends and links to David Irving"
Monday, July 06, 2009
"Preventive Care Is a Sick Idea"
This goes against the prevailing idea; however, the writer does make some interesting points...
David HarsanyiDavid Harsanyi writes about the "preventative care racket" at Townhall.com:
"According to studies, preventive medicine thwarts little, though it does mean early diagnoses for relatively harmless ailments -- and treatments for them.
As H. Gilbert Welch, a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, contends: 'Recent expansions in the definitions of diabetes, high cholesterol and osteoporosis defined millions more as suddenly needing therapy. A new definition of 'abnormal bone density' … turned 6.8 million American women into osteoporosis patients literally overnight.'"
Cash for Clunkers
This politically motivated "great sounding" piece of legislation won't cut it...
At CarAndDriver.com, Steve Siler offers:
"Here are five reasons we don’t think this program is worth the time it took to draft it, let alone a billion dollars:"
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Barney the Underwriter - WSJ.com
You may have to read this twice to believe it.
It's an excellent example of NOT learning from history...
It's an excellent example of NOT learning from history...
This is from a recent Wall Street Journal opinion column:
"Back when the housing mania was taking off, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank famously said he wanted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to "roll the dice" in the name of affordable housing. That didn't turn out so well, but Mr. Frank has since only accumulated more power. And now he is returning to the scene of the calamity -- with your money. He and New York Representative Anthony Weiner have sent a letter to the heads of Fannie and Freddie exhorting them to lower lending standards for condo buyers.
You read that right. After two years of telling us how lax lending standards drove up the market and led to loans that should never have been made, Mr. Frank wants Fannie and Freddie to take more risk in condo developments with high percentages of unsold units, high delinquency rates or high concentrations of ownership within the development."
In Our Schools - Rubber rooms?
"You just basically sit there for eight hours".
Ugh! Government and unions sure know how to spend our tax dollars...
Ugh! Government and unions sure know how to spend our tax dollars...
I found this Associated Press story at FoxNews.com:
"Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that's what they want to do.
Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its 'rubber rooms' — off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings.
The 700 or so teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint portraits of their colleagues — pretty much anything but school work. They have summer vacation just like their classroom colleagues and enjoy weekends and holidays through the school year"
Saturday, July 04, 2009
"How Politicians Bankrupted California"
As the writer says, many blame California's problems on the citizens referendums; and, as the writer says, that's just NOT true.
Putting a cap on property taxes is what allows retirees to stay in their homes longer. I think that a good thing.
Politicians controlling spending would also be a good thing...
Putting a cap on property taxes is what allows retirees to stay in their homes longer. I think that a good thing.
Politicians controlling spending would also be a good thing...
Carol Platt Liebau writes at RealClearPolitics.com:
"Of all the problems contributing to the fiscal mess, state under-taxation is the least of them. California's sales and gas taxes are the highest in the country - and it has the highest vehicle license fees and the second-highest top-bracket income tax, too. Its corporate tax rates are the highest of all Western states, and for the fourth year in a row, a survey of 543 CEO's found that California's toxic combination of high taxes and intrusive regulations made it the worst place in the nation to do business.
In fact, at the real root of California's fiscal misery is the profligacy of arrogant, big-spending, left-wing legislators, who have treated taxpayers as if they exist only to support the government."
Meanwhile - in Mass. - housing homeless in motels
You can form your own opinion...
At WPRI.com, Bruce Morin reports this:
"A record number of families are being put up in motels in Massachusetts. High unemployment and the rising number of home foreclosures is the reason the state is taking this action.
Housing Massachusetts’ homeless is costing tax payers around $2 million per month."
