Monday, August 31, 2009
"Wind farms will be a monument to an age when our leaders collectively went off their heads"
For some reason the facts about wind farms escape the view and reasoning of politicians.
Apparently, wind farms are the equivalent of "the emperor has no clothes"...
Apparently, wind farms are the equivalent of "the emperor has no clothes"...
Recently, Christopher Booker wrote in the U.K.'s Daily Mail Online:
"There are a few contenders for the title of the maddest thing that has happened in our lifetime.
But a front-runner must be the way in which politicians of all parties have been seduced by the La-La Land promises of the wind power lobby.
If you still haven't made your mind up about wind power, just consider some of the inescapable facts - facts which the Government and the wind industry do their best to hide from us all.
So far we have spent billions of pounds on building just over 2,000 wind turbines - and yet they contribute barely one per cent of all the electricity that we need.
The combined output of all those 2,000 turbines put together, averaging 700 megawatts, is less than that of a single, medium-sized conventional power station.
What's more, far from being 'free', this pitiful dribble of electricity is twice as expensive as the power we get from the nuclear, gas or coal-fired power stations which currently supply well over 90 per cent of our needs - and we all pay the difference, without knowing it, through our electricity bills.
But despite its best efforts to conceal the fact that wind turbines expensively and unreliably generate only a derisory amount of electricity, the Government keeps on telling us of its megalomaniac plans to build thousands more of them - at a cost of up to £100billion."
Global Warming - and the U-H-I
Is it possible that politicians don't know that parking lots are hotter than suburban and rural areas...
This map at c3headlines.com makes an interesting point:
"Washington D.C. Grows Hot While Nearby States Do 'Global Cooling'
Urban Heat Island effect is possible cause of 50+% of all U.S. warming since 1940's."
Global Warming - and Carbon Dioxide
There are times when a graph tells you all you need to know.
By the way, for what it's worth, the Environmental Protection Agency says carbon dioxide is a "pollutant"...
By the way, for what it's worth, the Environmental Protection Agency says carbon dioxide is a "pollutant"...
It's posted at C3Headlines.com:
Global Warming - "Bury the messenger"
The idea that global warming is human caused has lost it's credibility.
Nonetheless, the proponents of that insanity are trying everything they can...
Nonetheless, the proponents of that insanity are trying everything they can...
A recent Washington Times editorial points out more censoring of those who dissent:
"That examination shows, Mr. Carlin said, that 'available observable data... invalidate the hypothesis' that humans cause serious global warming.
With the administration so heavily invested in a regulatory scheme to combat supposed warming, this message was far from welcome. Hence the effort to bury the report, an effort that was thwarted when Mr. Carlin posted the report on a personal Web site.
The administration struck back. Mr. Carlin works for the EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics. On Friday, Inside Washington Publishers reported that 'Obama EPA officials are said to be considering scrapping" the center's role in scientific analysis. Never mind the reality that doing so would undermine the entire reason for its existence, namely (citing the article) "researching environmental health issues to improve risk assessment data used in economic analyses for [new regulatory] rules.'"
Global Warming - "New Movie Seeks to Refute Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’"
Al Gore made a movie; now, there's a counter-movie.
Seems fair to me...
Seems fair to me...
Adam Brickley writes about it at CNSnews.com:
"A new documentary on climate change is highly critical of the claims made by former Vice President Al Gore in his film, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' and seeks to refute the main points Gore made.
'Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies are More Dangerous than Global Warming Itself,' is a 40-minute documentary produced by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free market group, which can be viewed online."
Sunday, August 30, 2009
"Things only a Kennedy could get away with"
"Getting away with it" is an accurate description and it was enabled by the past and present media's failure to do their job...
Mark Steyn writes at OCregister.com:
"We are enjoined not to speak ill of the dead. But, when an entire nation – or, at any rate, its 'mainstream' media culture – declines to speak the truth about the dead, we are certainly entitled to speak ill of such false eulogists. In its coverage of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's passing, America's TV networks are creepily reminiscent of those plays Sam Shepard used to write about some dysfunctional inbred hardscrabble Appalachian household where there's a baby buried in the backyard but everyone agreed years ago never to mention it.
In this case, the unmentionable corpse is Mary Jo Kopechne, 1940-1969. If you have to bring up the, ah, circumstances of that year of decease, keep it general, keep it vague. As Kennedy flack Ted Sorensen put it in Time magazine:
'Both a plane crash in Massachusetts in 1964 and the ugly automobile accident on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969 almost cost him his life …'
That's the way to do it! An 'accident,' 'ugly' in some unspecified way, just happened to happen – and only to him, nobody else."
Mary Jo Kopechne (1940 - 1969) - Find A Grave Memorial
Mary Jo Kopechne - it is what it is...
Her story is at FindAGrave.com:
"Teacher and Administrator, she is most remembered for her controversial death in an automobile accident with Senator Edward Kennedy; the resulting political scandal caused Kennedy to reverse his decision to run for the US Presidency."
"The needy little boy behind Ted the titan"
The Brits are straight up on politicians.
Ted Kennedy doesn't escape their scrutiny...
Ted Kennedy doesn't escape their scrutiny...
Dominic Lawson writes about it at TimesOnLine.com:
"As Edward Kennedy was laid to rest yesterday, accompanied by a further fusillade of eulogies, we were forcibly made aware, once again, of the American fixation with the idea of personal redemption. The British are a less forgiving people. While even the right-wing US press skated around the late senator’s appalling personal behaviour over many years, in this country even politically sympathetic newspapers published excoriating accounts, concentrating on the incident 40 years ago when the 37-year-old Ted Kennedy abandoned Mary Jo Kopechne to die alone in a car he had driven off a small bridge linking Chappaquiddick to Martha’s Vineyard.
It was only in a British newspaper that the American author Joyce Carol Oates was able last week to publish the following (factually accurate) account: 'Kennedy chose to flee the scene leaving the young woman to die an agonising death, not of drowning, but of suffocation over a period of hours. It was over 10 hours before Kennedy reported the accident, by which time he’d consulted a family lawyer. The senator’s explanation for this unconscionable, despicable, unmanly ... behaviour was never convincing.'"
The Media - ABC's Charlie Gibson
Oh Yeah. And the media isn't biased?
To me, this is the same as a confession...
To me, this is the same as a confession...
Victor Davis Hanson writes in this Investors Business Daily editorial:
"The anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan headed to Martha's Vineyard this week, where President Obama is vacationing. Once again she is protesting our two wars abroad.
But Sheehan is a media has-been. ABC's Charlie Gibson used to cover her anti-Bush rallies in Crawford, Texas. Now he says, with a sigh, of her recent anti-Obama efforts, "Enough already.""
Saturday, August 29, 2009
"Palin Flummoxes the Elites with Common Sense"
Common Sense!
Now there's an item Americans could use a good dose of.
Numbers one and two could be you can't spend more than you earn and you can't borrow more than you can pay back...
Now there's an item Americans could use a good dose of.
Numbers one and two could be you can't spend more than you earn and you can't borrow more than you can pay back...
I found this in a posting by Scott Ott at PajamasMedia.com:
"Sarah Palin — invariably portrayed by reporters and politicians as a either a vacuous celebrity or an ill-informed hooftie — has apparently thought through the issues more than most of them. She makes plain sense, while her opponents push an agenda of greater centralized government control. The world has seen the results of such experiments within the past century. They lead inevitably to dependence, despair, despotism, and disaster."
Health Care vs. Political Longevity
This is certainly going to be interesting.
I just hope any result is not devastating to our health and economy...
I just hope any result is not devastating to our health and economy...
At National Review Online, Jim Geraghty offers this as part of his writing about the Health Care proposal:
"Come September, it’s quite possible we’ll see quite a few Democrats who got an earful and a half at their town meetings coming out and offering a dramatic justification: 'I know this is controversial, I know my constituents have serious worries, but this is the right thing to do and I’ll be willing to accept the consequences.'
There may be other members of Congress who will proudly disregard opinion in their districts. Lawmakers who call their constituents 'un-American' and 'political terrorists' and compare them to the Klan and Timothy McVeigh almost express pride in disregarding the distant mewling of the unwashed masses foolish enough to elect them. Between the two approaches, enough Democrats could find their cover and the bill could very well pass along heavily partisan lines.
The irony is that the conservative grassroots have done a lot right in this fight. They’ve identified several angles of attack (the deficit, financial incentives for end-of-life counseling, unaccountable treatment-review boards, funding for abortion, access to doctors, the gradual squeezing out of private insurers, the dubious claims of cost savings from 'preventive care' and 'wellness programs'). Unlike some members of Congress, they’ve read the bill. They’ve shown up in droves, they’ve made their voices heard, and their expressions of their deeply held views have stunned more than a few members of Congress.
Yet all of that may not be enough. This may be the legislation that Democrats are willing to sacrifice their congressional majorities over."
Global Warming - Solar Activity and Climate
Here's a report with a lot of charts and graphs.
I don't understand all of them. Perhaps you will.
Considering the amount of work involved, I think the conclusion is worth noting...
I don't understand all of them. Perhaps you will.
Considering the amount of work involved, I think the conclusion is worth noting...
At TMGnow.com, K. Lassen comes to this:
"Conclusion
70-90 years oscillations in global mean temperature are correlated with corresponding oscillations in solar activity. Whereas the solar influence is obvious in the data from the last four centuries, signatures of human activity are not yet distinguishable in the observations."
Friday, August 28, 2009
"Obama: Every move you make, I'll be watching you online"
Considering that there's been no need for this since 2000, we should wonder why it's necessary now.
After all, a government website really BELONGS to us, and we should be allowed to visit it freely...
After all, a government website really BELONGS to us, and we should be allowed to visit it freely...
I found this at WND.com:
"The Barack Obama administration has announced plans to lift a government ban on tracking visitors to government websites, and potentially, collect their personal data through the use of 'cookies' – an effort some suspect may already be in place on White House sites. "
"Health Care’s Taxing Problem"
Health insurance has a big connection to our tax laws.
It's one of those things that no one is talking about...
It's one of those things that no one is talking about...
At NationalReview.com, Regina Herzlinger explains it. She begins:
"Mainstream economists generally agree that current U.S. tax policy for health insurance is fundamentally irrational, regressive, and ultimately destructive. Fixing this system should be one of Congress’s top priorities when it comes to health reform. Sadly, the current Congressional health-reform proposals would leave the worst feature of the current system in place and make a bad situation worse.
Current tax policy generally permits employers, but not individuals, to use pre-tax income for buying health insurance. Therefore, it is much cheaper to buy insurance through an employer than in the individual market. Because tax-exempted employer-based insurance is not portable — workers can’t take it with them when they change jobs — this harms labor mobility: People hesitate to leave jobs at big firms that provide health insurance to work for small firms that might not. The phenomenon, known as 'job lock,' robs small firms of talent and slows U.S. job growth, because small, entrepreneurial firms have generated 70 percent of new jobs."
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Barack Obama - doesn't understand about profit?
Apparently not.
Profits are the fuel that a free economy runs on.
Profits are the reason behind discoveries, efficiences, and an increased standard of living.
Whether it's health care or chewing gum, we should always want the profit motive to be there...
Profits are the fuel that a free economy runs on.
Profits are the reason behind discoveries, efficiences, and an increased standard of living.
Whether it's health care or chewing gum, we should always want the profit motive to be there...
John Stossel discusses health care and the profit motive at RealClearPolitics.com:
"What Obama says in favor of a public option -- as of today, at least -- tells us how little he understands competition. The public option's virtue, he told Smerconish, is that 'there wouldn't be a profit motive involved.' But as St. Lawrence University economist Steven Horwitz writes in The Freeman magazine, profit is not just a motive. Profit (along with loss) is what enables competition to perform its discovery role:
'Suppose for a moment that we try to take the profit motive out of health care by going to a system in which government pays for and/or directly provides the services. ... (P)ublic-spirited politicians and bureaucrats have replaced profit-seeking firms.'
'By what method exactly will the officials know how to allocate resources? By what method will they know how much of what kind of health care people want? And more important, by what method will they know how to produce that health care without wasting resources? ... In markets with good institutions, profit-seeking producers can get answers to these questions by observing prices and their own profits and losses in order to determine which uses of resources are more or less valuable to consumers. ... (P)rofits and prices signal the efficiency (or lack thereof) of resource use and allow producers to learn from those signals.'
Profit is the key to competition. Anyone who claims to favor competition but looks down at profit has no idea what he is talking about."
"A Deck Stacked with Race Cards"
These points seem to have merit.
Apparently, transcendancy AND transparency were empty campaign promises...
Apparently, transcendancy AND transparency were empty campaign promises...
At NationalReview.com, AUTHOR writes:
"After all, it was not Obama’s detractors who immediately fell into the comfortable groove of racial grievance and familiar 'narratives' when Henry Louis Gates insisted that a police instructor in racial sensitivity had to be a racist. That was Obama and his choir of heralds.
From Day 1, Obama’s supporters have tirelessly cultivated the idea that anything inconvenient for the first black president just might be terribly, terribly racist.
This was always the nasty side of Obama’s implied hope for unity. Obama gave oxygen to the idea that disagreement with him amounted to obstructing his mission to 'transcend race.' During the campaign, that meant anyone who got in his way was wittingly or unwittingly abetting racism (just ask Bill Clinton). A writer for Slate insisted journalists must not call attention to the fact that Obama is 'skinny.' Such observations fuel racism by highlighting his physical appearance, and that in turn might suddenly alert racist American voters to the fact that Obama is . . . wait for it . . . black.
Now that he’s president, if you question his tax policies, energy plans, or health-care ambitions, you are 'hoping he will fail' — and that, with the help of roundabout reasoning, is tantamount to hoping we cannot transcend race."
The Media - A surprise from CNN's Rick Sanchez
It is surprising to see CNN doing this.
I wonder if it could be an indication that the honeymoon is really over?...
I wonder if it could be an indication that the honeymoon is really over?...
This video is titled: Obama:Caught Lying Again-Making Back Room Deals with Pharmaceutical Lobbyist
The Middle East
Here's an informative article about the Middle East.
I'm sure there are other opinions...
I'm sure there are other opinions...
At FrontPageMag.com, Steven Plaut writes this and more:
"President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seem to think the idea of Palestinian statehood is the most wonderful idea to come along since the Thirteenth Amendment. And almost all world politicians, along with the Israeli Left, insist that all Israeli settlements must be removed from the West Bank because they serve as the main obstacle to peace. The reality is that the Middle East conflict has very little to do with debate over Palestinian statehood and even less to do with Israeli 'settlements.' In fact Israel has agreed in principle, somewhat foolishly, to the erection of such a Palestinian state, at least subject to some security conditions and other concessions from the Palestinians -- like recognizing Israel’s right to exist. As it turns out, even so-called 'moderate' Palestinians reject any such idea.
Meanwhile debate about the Middle East conflict is based on an incredible absence of historic information and on a series of stylish misconceptions about Middle East history. The anti-Israel Lobby, which grows by the day in its maliciousness and anti-Semitism, counts on the ignorance of much of the public concerning how the Middle East got to where it is.
Here are just a handful of popular misconceptions and their antidotes: "
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Global Warming - The Trial of the Century?
Why not?
Let everybody hear the evidence.
In fact, we need something like this on other subjects, too...
Let everybody hear the evidence.
In fact, we need something like this on other subjects, too...
Jim Tankersley reports in the L.A. Times:
"The nation's largest business lobby wants to put the science of global warming on trial.You can be sure that the writers of the articles at this link would show up...
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, trying to ward off potentially sweeping federal emissions regulations, is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a rare public hearing on the scientific evidence for man-made climate change.
Chamber officials say it would be 'the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century' -- complete with witnesses, cross-examinations and a judge who would rule, essentially, on whether humans are warming the planet to dangerous effect.
'It would be evolution versus creationism,' said William Kovacs, the chamber's senior vice president for environment, technology and regulatory affairs. 'It would be the science of climate change on trial.'"
"The Comprehensive Link List Disproving Man-Made Global Warming":
"Surgical Strike: Surgeons' Group Blasts Obama's $30K-$50K Foot/Leg Amputation Claim"
These factual "errors" are pretty frequent.
Unfortunately, far more people hear the original statements than hear corrected versions or rebuttals.
I wouldn't be surprised that the misinformation is calculated and intentional?...
Unfortunately, far more people hear the original statements than hear corrected versions or rebuttals.
I wouldn't be surprised that the misinformation is calculated and intentional?...
Tom Blumer discusses this one at NewsBusters.org:
"CHICAGO—The American College of Surgeons is deeply disturbed over the uninformed public comments President Obama continues to make about the high-quality care provided by surgeons in the United States. When the President makes statements that are incorrect or not based in fact, we think he does a disservice to the American people at a time when they want clear, understandable facts about health care reform. We want to set the record straight.
Yesterday during a town hall meeting, President Obama got his facts completely wrong. He stated that a surgeon gets paid $50,000 for a leg amputation when, in fact, Medicare pays a surgeon between $740 and $1,140 for a leg amputation. This payment also includes the evaluation of the patient on the day of the operation plus patient follow-up care that is provided for 90 days after the operation. Private insurers pay some variation of the Medicare reimbursement for this service."
Counting Hurricanes
More hurricanes lately? Apparently NOT!
More sophisticated tracking technology? Yes!
Increased opportunity for exploitation? Yes!..
More sophisticated tracking technology? Yes!
Increased opportunity for exploitation? Yes!..
This is from the N.O.A.A. website:
"The new study, reported in the online edition of the American Meteorological Society’s peer-reviewed Journal of Climate, shows that short-lived tropical storms and hurricanes, defined as lasting two days or less, have increased from less than one per year to about five per year from 1878 to 2008.
'The recent jump in the number of short-lived systems is likely a consequence of improvements in observational tools and analysis techniques,' said Chris Landsea, science and operations officer at NOAA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami, and lead author on the study. 'The team is not aware of any natural variability or greenhouse warming-induced climate change that would affect the short-lived tropical storms exclusively.'
Several storms in the last two seasons, including 2007’s Andrea, Chantal, Jerry and Melissa and 2008’s Arthur and Nana, would likely not have been considered tropical storms had it not been for technology such as satellite observations from NASA’s Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT), the European ASCAT (Advanced SCATterometer) and NOAA’s Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), as well as analysis techniques such as the Florida State University’s Cyclone Phase Space. "
Did you miss this?
Well, I have to admit I did.
Considering the huge number of citizens affected, you would think the media would cover this big time...
Considering the huge number of citizens affected, you would think the media would cover this big time...
Kevin “Coach” Collins reports on his blog:
"This is another important story being smothered by the Democrat controlled media.
The Obama administration has quietly announced there will be no raise in social security payments next year and maybe not until 2012, a presidential election year.
Citing a 2008 third quarter cost of living decline, Congress has voted no cost of living increase in next year’s Social Security checks for the first time since 1973.
The Democrats are pointing to their own prediction of a '… [steady] decline in consumer prices through the first three quarters of this year…' Based on this they claim to foresee no need for raises until possibly 1212.
Democrats ignore Consumer Price Index: hide behind flat Inflation "
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Media - selectively not so thorough
Here's our media again showing their biased reporting...
Gabriel Malor posted this at the Ace of Spedes blog:
This is a big deal, but not just for the reasons you think:
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan and the Federal Bureau of Investigations say Hassan Nemazee, with residences in Manhattan and Katonah, N.Y., fraudulently applied for the loans for Nemazee Capital Corp., of which he is chairman and chief executive.
Federal prosecutors contend Nemazee obtained the money by giving the banking giant 'numerous documents that purported to establish the existence of accounts in Nemazee's name at various financial institutions containing many hundreds of millions of dollars,' the Justice Department said in a statement. 'In fact, those were fraudulent and forged documents.'
Do you know what's not in the CNN article? Or this Reuters one? Or this AP one?"
The Media - They're NOT working FOR us!
Here are two items pertaining to what I view as the failure of our media to press for the truth and highlight those things which are NOT true.
Opinion forming would certainly be easier if we could trust our media outlets...
Opinion forming would certainly be easier if we could trust our media outlets...
This is from Warner Todd Huston at at PubliusForum.com:
"Why Do They Let Obama Get Away With it?"
And this is from FactCheck.org POST-LINK TEXT:
"Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans."
Explaining the Town-Hall Protests - WSJ.com
I think there is a political axiom somewhere that says, in effect, never underestimate the power of American citizens.
Most Americans may seem slow to take notice; however, that doesn't mean you can blow something past them...
Most Americans may seem slow to take notice; however, that doesn't mean you can blow something past them...
John C. Goodman explains in the Wall Street Journal:
"Why are they so angry? The reasons are manifold, but the single biggest reason is the arrogance of our elected officials in Washington. Think about it. For the past seven months a small group of politicians has been meeting behind-closed-doors with powerful special interests to decide whether you will be able to keep your current insurance, where you will be directed to get new insurance and at what price, what fines you and your employer will have to pay if you don't conform, and how they're going to get your doctor to change the way he or she practices medicine. In the process, they never asked you what you thought about anything. If you are not mad about this, odds are you don't understand the situation."
Barack Obama - "He's spending your future"
The U.S. is now Number 3.
That's the 3rd worst debt-ridden country.
The question is: Are we trying to be Number 1?...
That's the 3rd worst debt-ridden country.
The question is: Are we trying to be Number 1?...
In the Washington Times, Mark Steyn discusses our current fiscal condition:
"Meanwhile, in Brazil, India, China, Japan and much of Continental Europe, the recession has ended. In the second quarter this year, both the French and German economies grew by 0.3 percent, while the U.S. economy shrank by 1 percent. How can that be? Unlike America, France and Germany had no government stimulus worth speaking of; the Germans declined to go the Obama route on the quaint grounds that they couldn't afford it.
They did not invest in the critical signage-in-front-of-holes-in-the-road sector. Yet their recession has gone away. Of the world's biggest economies, only those of the U.S., Britain and Italy are still contracting. All three nations are big stimulators, though Prime Ministers Gordon Brown of England and Silvio Berlusconi of Italy can't compete with Mr. Obama's $800 billion porkapalooza. The president has borrowed more money to spend to less effect than anybody on the planet.
Actually, when I say 'to less effect,' that's not strictly true: Thanks to Mr. Obama, one of the least indebted developed nations is now one of the most indebted -- and getting ever more so. We've become the third-most-debt-ridden country after Japan and Italy. According to last month's International Monetary Fund report, general government debt as a percentage of gross domestic product will rise from 63 percent in 2007 to 88.8 percent this year and 99.8 percent next year. "
In Our World - Prayer Lines
I guess we could have seen this coming...
I found this at LarkNews.com:
"DES MOINES — Last month, Lori Danes, 43, called the prayer line of a major television ministry and requested prayer for her mother's persistent ulcers. But her prayer representative, who called himself "Darren," prayed in a strong Indian accent that 'all the gods would bless her mightily.'
'I was stunned,' Danes says. 'It was like I'd called a demon prayer line.'
The manager of India Prayer Solutions, located in Mumbai, India, apologized for the incident and fired the employee who, he said, had not been properly trained. But dozens of similar incidents have rattled U.S. callers since major ministries began outsourcing their prayer lines to India. The ministries insist they are overwhelmed by the growing number of calls for prayer.
'There aren't enough Americans willing to sit in the prayer tower and take calls anymore,' says a prayer coordinator at a major ministry which jobbed out its prayer lines last year."
Americans are waking up
Here, a veteran speaks up at a townhall meeting...
Monday, August 24, 2009
Meanwhile - in Europe - Can't say?
We sure do live in interesting times...
At TimesOnline.com, Chris Hastings reports:
"It could be construed as a black day for the English language — but not if you work in the public sector.
Dozens of quangos and taxpayer-funded organisations have ordered a purge of common words and phrases so as not to cause offence.
Among the everyday sayings that have been quietly dropped in a bid to stamp out racism and sexism are 'whiter than white', 'gentleman’s agreement', 'black mark' and 'right-hand man'.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has advised staff to replace the phrase 'black day' with 'miserable day', according to documents released under freedom of information rules."
The 2010 Census Will Violate the Constitution - WSJ.com
There may well be "loser" states; however, I think ALL American citizens are the loser here.
Lately, it seems that every aspect of our lives has a politcal piece; i.e. what's good for a political party overrides what's right for most Americans...
Lately, it seems that every aspect of our lives has a politcal piece; i.e. what's good for a political party overrides what's right for most Americans...
John S. Baker and Elliott Stonecipher: write about te 2010 Census in the Wall Street Journal:
"Next year’s census will determine the apportionment of House members and Electoral College votes for each state. To accomplish these vital constitutional purposes, the enumeration should count only citizens and persons who are legal, permanent residents. But it won’t.
Instead, the U.S. Census Bureau is set to count all persons physically present in the country—including large numbers who are here illegally. The result will unconstitutionally increase the number of representatives in some states and deprive some other states of their rightful political representation. Citizens of “'oser' states should be outraged. Yet few are even aware of what’s going on."
Tax Withholding and a Separate Payroll Tax Hide the True Burden of Government - WSJ.com
Taxes are a disincentive.
They get countries in trouble when they get unbalanced and/or out of hand.
As the author writes, America's democracy is now corrupted...
They get countries in trouble when they get unbalanced and/or out of hand.
As the author writes, America's democracy is now corrupted...
Charles Murray writes this and more in the Wall Street Journal:
"Our democracy is corrupted when some voters think that they won't have to pay for the benefits their representatives offer them. It is corrupted when some voters see themselves as victims of exploitation by their fellow citizens.
By both standards, American democracy is in trouble. We have the worst of both worlds. The rhetoric of the president tells the public that the rich are not paying their fair share, undermining the common understanding from the bottom up. Meanwhile, the IRS recently released new numbers on who pays how much taxes, and those numbers tell the people at the top that they're being exploited.
Let's start with the rich, whom I define as families in the top 1% of income among those who filed tax returns. In 2007, the year with the most recent tax data, they had family incomes of $410,000 or more. They paid 40% of all the personal income taxes collected.
Yes, you read it right: 1% of American families paid 40% of America's personal taxes.
The families in the rest of the top 5% had family incomes of $160,000 to $410,000. They paid another 20% of total personal income taxes. Now we're up to three out of every five dollars in personal taxes paid by just five out of every 100 American families."
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Politicians - Sen. Ted Kennedy & more
Politicians are frequently despicable.
This article reminds us of more than just this one.
It's worthwhile reading, lest we forget their true nature...
This article reminds us of more than just this one.
It's worthwhile reading, lest we forget their true nature...
Leo Shishmanian gives a recap at Examiner.com:
"But, cancer or no, Senator Kennedy's attempts to change the law just to protect Democrat power is nothing short of incredible. It is gamesmanship of the most cynical variety with politicians granting and denying powers like demi-gods.
I suppose, given the corruption we've witnessed, Kennedy's acts should come as no surprise. They are just the most fragrant example of our political system's putrescence and the stench is getting worse. Fortunately (and mercifully) for Senator Kennedy, he'll shuffle off soon enough and the State Run Media will wring their hands in anguish while lionizing the trust-fund multi-millionaire for his life long service to 'The Little Man'. Unfortunately for us, he'll leave behind arrogant abuses of power, corruption and decay for us to fix."
Lockerbie bomber: Lord Mandelson faces new questions over Libya links
Politicians are all cut from the same cloth.
Here's the storyline in the U.K....
Here's the storyline in the U.K....
Andrew Alderson, Patrick Hennessy and Colin Freeman report in the U.K. Telegraph:
"The Business Secretary denied that the Government had done a deal to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, who was convicted of the 1988 terrorist atrocity that claimed 270 lives. However, his claims were contradicted by Saif Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, in a conversation with Megrahi as the pair flew home from Glasgow.
In a transcript obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Gaddafi tells Megrahi: “You were on the table in all commercial, oil and gas agreements that we supervised in that period. You were on the table in all British interests when it came to Libya, and I personally supervised this matter. Also, during the visits of the previous prime minister, Tony Blair.” "
"Tom Ridge Changes Tune, Now Suggests Politics Influenced Terror Alert Levels"
Politicians.
It seems they go whatever way the favorable wind blows.
Maybe he thinks it will increase his book sales...
It seems they go whatever way the favorable wind blows.
Maybe he thinks it will increase his book sales...
This is from Pittsburgh's KDKA.com website:
"Ridge claims other members of the Cabinet pressured him to raise the terror alert level shortly before the 2004 Presidential election.
He says Attorney General John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pressed him to support increasing the nation's terror threat level from yellow or "elevated" to orange, meaning "high."
Just four days before the election, Osama Bin Laden had issued a videotape threatening new attacks on the United States.
But in his book, Ridge says there was "no support" within his department for boosting the threat level and he refused.
He writes: "I wondered, 'Is this about security or politics?'"
This new contention directly refutes what Ridge told KDKA-TV's Ken Rice in an interview in June of 2008.
Rice: "Was there ever pressure to raise the alert level for some reason that had nothing to do with the actual threats out there?"
Ridge: "Never."
Rice: "Never even a hint of that?"
Ridge: "Never. It's a great question though." "
Saturday, August 22, 2009
"President Obama Finances Offshore Drilling..." - WSJ.com
Sounds good; except...
The Wall Street Journal writes about it:
"The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a 'preliminary commitment' letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas."
Friday, August 21, 2009
Barack Obama - according to Zogby International
I'm not inclined to accept a SINGLE poll result as gospel; however, almost every recent poll has shown similar results.
I believe THAT says something!...
I believe THAT says something!...
The latest Zogby Poll finds:
"Obama's Job Approval Sinks to Record Low 45%"
Stimulus Transparency Watchdogs Keep Contract Details a Secret - ProPublica
Our government needs to be held accountable.
If they don't respond, they should be voted out.
Out! Out! Out!...
If they don't respond, they should be voted out.
Out! Out! Out!...
At ProPublica.com, Christopher Flavelle writes about this lack of transparency:
"In all, 25 pages of a 59-page technical proposal — the main document in the package — were redacted completely. Of the remaining pages, 14 had half or more of their content blacked out."
Meanwhile - in Sacramento - at the Squeeze Inn
Here are two articles about the Squeeze Inn.
Perhaps, you'll agree, sometimes, laws deserve exceptions...
This one mentions four lawsuits THIS year...
Perhaps, you'll agree, sometimes, laws deserve exceptions...
This is from Mark Anderson in the Sacramento Business Journal:
"Squeeze Inn owner Travis Hausauer said after being hit with the suit he would have to move to a new location and close the Squeeze in at 7916 Fruitridge Road.
'It was only because of public outcry that this lawsuit against the Squeeze Inn was dropped,' said Marko Mlikotin, Northern California regional director for California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse."
This one mentions four lawsuits THIS year...
The Sacramento Bee's Bill Lindelof reports:
"The suit against the Squeeze Inn was the fourth since January that Block and her lawyers have filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento under the Americans With Disabilities Act."
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Obama Cuts Funding for Missile Defense - WSJ.com
Think about this.
There are JOBS involved.
National Defense is involved.
Advancing American made technology is involved.
Geez! What's not to like?
Could it be because it was Ronald Reagan's idea?...
There are JOBS involved.
National Defense is involved.
Advancing American made technology is involved.
Geez! What's not to like?
Could it be because it was Ronald Reagan's idea?...
This is from a recent Wall Street Journal opinion column:
"The latest encouraging news came Thursday courtesy of the Misssile Defense Agency. The Airborne Laser prototype aircraft this week found, tracked, engaged and simulated an intercept with a missile seconds after liftoff. It was the first time the Agency used an 'instrumented' missile to confirm the laser works as expected. Next up this fall will be the first live attempt to bring down a ballistic missile, but this test confirms how far along this innovative effort has come.
Along with space-based weapons, the Airborne Laser is the next defense frontier. The modified Boeing 747 is supposed to send an intense beam of light over hundreds of miles to destroy missiles in the 'boost phase,' before they can release decoys and at a point in their trajectory when they would fall back down on enemy territory. It's a pioneering use of directed energy in defense. The laser complements the sea- and ground-based missile defenses that keep proving themselves in tests.
Yet the Obama Administration isn't buying it. Funding for missile defense was cut in the 2010 budget by some 15%—$1.2 billion to $1.6 billion, depending on how you calculate it. The number of ground-based interceptors was reduced. The Missile Defense Agency's budget for the Airborne Laser is to be slashed in half, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates pulled the plug on buying a second plane. The Pentagon says the program will have three tries to hit a live missile, or be killed altogether."
"Young Voters Should Take Another Look at Obama"
I've said this before. Americans got snookered.
Now, young, idealistic, inexperienced voters may get what they voted for.
Hopefully, it will be a lesson learned well enough to have them think before they act next election...
Now, young, idealistic, inexperienced voters may get what they voted for.
Hopefully, it will be a lesson learned well enough to have them think before they act next election...
At Townhall.com, Michael Barone discusses the subject and wonders:
"The larger point is this: You want policies that will enable you to choose your future. Obama backs policies that would let centralized authorities choose much of your future for you. Is this the hope and change you want?"
Meanwhile - in San Diego
Is this the same California that doesn't want oil drilling so that the ocean environment can be protected?...
Mike Lee reports at SignOnSanDiego.com:
"The Point Loma plant treats sewage from 2.2 million people inside and outside city limits, and it discharges about 170 million gallons a day into the Pacific Ocean. San Diego is the only city in California that hasn't committed to meet the secondary treatment level for discharges to the ocean.
Sanders has worked for nearly two years to convince regulators that San Diego is fulfilling the terms of its current exemption and should be permitted to keep processing sewage without a major retrofit. San Diego received two earlier waivers — one in 1995 and the second in 2002."
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Managing money the California way
I think that most governments do most of the stupid things that California has done, except on a smaller scale.
If we don't soon purge the political class, we're going to be in serious trouble for generations to come...
If we don't soon purge the political class, we're going to be in serious trouble for generations to come...
This is from Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee:
"What, one might ask, is the appropriate metaphor for California's convoluted budgetary situation?
Would be it be Enron, which cooked its books to fool investors and lenders? Perhaps a Third World country whose rulers run up a mountain of debt while squandering revenues? Or both?
Whatever it may be, years of irresponsibility by politicians and voters alike have left California with ongoing spending obligations that are nearly 50 percent higher than its ongoing revenues – roughly $110 billion a year in the former and $75 billion in the latter – and debts that would be daunting even were the economy to improve dramatically.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators have narrowed the structural budget gap in the short run with temporary taxes, temporary spending cuts, up-front and backdoor loans, projected asset sales, bookkeeping tricks and raids on local governments, but will probably see major deficits appear again soon."
Endangered Species Act Causes California Drought - WSJ.com
Here's an example of government management.
In this case it's water.
It certainly should give us pause when we consider other things that they want to manage...
In this case it's water.
It certainly should give us pause when we consider other things that they want to manage...
Devin Nunes writes in the Wall Street Journal:
"But today the San Joaquin Valley is being transformed into a dust bowl. Hundreds of thousands of acres are fallow, while almond and plum trees are being left to die in the scorching sun. Tens of thousands of people have been tossed out of work—the town of Mendota alone has an unemployment rate of about 40%—and the lines for food donations stretch down streets. The reason? There isn't enough water to go around this year, and the Obama administration is drawing up new reasons to divert more of it from farms and people and into the San Francisco Bay."
Have I got a deal for you!
So, what do you think about this?
Is it the path to Government Motors solvency?...
Is it the path to Government Motors solvency?...
At Spectator.org, Eric Peters writes:
"We live in incoherent times, but maybe someone can explain it to me: How does a $40,000 'economy' car make economic sense?"
"Will Electric Cars Crash The Grid?"
Here's more on the Chevy Volt.
No doubt, it's a great idea; however, it seems that a lot of changes will be necessary before it's potential can be realized...
No doubt, it's a great idea; however, it seems that a lot of changes will be necessary before it's potential can be realized...
In a editorial, Investors Business Daily discusses the issues:
"Writing in the New York Post, he notes that in much of the nation, particularly in flyover country, many utilities use heavy fuel oil to generate that electricity. So the more electric cars you plug into the grid, we may actually be increasing pollution and carbon emissions by using oil that's not included in miles-per-gallon computations.
As Victor puts it, 'If a few thousand well-meaning dupes plug a few thousand new Chevy Volts into electrical outlets (especially in urban centers), you could actually add millions of pounds of dangerous, dirty unregulated pollution and carbon into the air we breathe — possibly more pollution than would be offset by putting the Volts on the road.'
Since most U.S. electricity generation is not carbon-free, the Congressional Research Service agrees. The 'widespread adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles through 2030 may have only a small effect on, and might actually increase, carbon emissions,' it observes.
Also not included in these mpg calculations is the coal used to generate much of this electricity. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office says the move to electric cars may only shift the problem somewhere else."
Remembering the Reagan Bull Market of August 1982 - WSJ.com
Ah Yes. The good old days.
Hopefully, the current administration will wake up to policies that have been proven to work.
Hopefully..
Hopefully, the current administration will wake up to policies that have been proven to work.
Hopefully..
Jason DeSena Trennert reminds us in the Wall Street Journal:
"It was on Aug. 12, 1982, that the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped to its 1980-82 recession low of 776.92—almost precisely where the Index had closed in January 1964. Starting as a trickle, the decline in inflation and long-term interest rates picked up speed that summer, and investors in common stocks began to have confidence that they were being liberated from the shackles of double-digit inflation and interest rates, an innovation-sapping regulatory regime, and a tax code that was antithetical to capital formation.
During that lazy summer, institutional and individual investors came to the conclusion that the back of inflation had been broken. Not insignificantly, they also believed that they had a friend in the White House.
When Henry Kaufman of Salomon Brothers said that Treasury yields had reached their highs in a note to clients on Aug. 17, 1982, stock prices exploded. This provided free-market optimists with desperately needed evidence that their principles would provide a path forward. The simple—yet difficult to achieve—strategy of getting the government out of the way and turning the economy over to free enterprise set the stage for a period of tremendous economic growth and wealth creation."
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
"Obama Joker artist unmasked"
Oops!
It was NOT a Republican.
It was NOT a conservative.
It was NOT a right wing extremist.
Now, let's see what the media does or does NOT publicize...
It was NOT a Republican.
It was NOT a conservative.
It was NOT a right wing extremist.
Now, let's see what the media does or does NOT publicize...
Mark Miliam posted the story on thee L.A. Times Blog:
"Nope, it turns out, just a 20-year-old college student from Chicago.
Bored during his winter school break, Firas Alkhateeb, a senior history major at the University of Illinois, crafted the picture of Obama with the recognizable clown makeup using Adobe's Photoshop software.
Alkhateeb had been tinkering with the program to improve the looks of photos he had taken on his clunky Kodak camera. The Joker project was his grandest undertaking yet. Using a tutorial he'd found online about how to "Jokerize" portraits, he downloaded the October 23 Time Magazine cover of Obama and began digitally painting over it.
Four or five hours later, he happily had his product.
Obama-joker-time On Jan. 18, Alkhateeb uploaded the image to photo-sharing site Flickr (shown at right). Over the next two months, he amassed just a couple thousand hits, he said.
Then the counter exploded after a still-anonymous rogue famously found his image, digitally removed the references to Time Magazine, captioned the picture with the word "socialism" and hung printed copies around L.A., making headlines."
Death Panels are Inevitable Once Government Takes over Health Care - WSJ.com
Sometimes, a little story clears things up...
In the Wall Street Journal, Andrew Klavan begins his with this:
"The people behind the long table do not know what they've become. The drug of power has been sugared over in their mouths with a flavoring of righteousness. Someone has to make these decisions, they tell their friends at dinner parties. It's all very difficult for us. But you can see it in their eyes: It isn't really difficult at all. It feels good to them to be the ones who decide.
'Well, we have your doctor's recommendation,' says the chairwoman in a friendly tone. She peers over the top of her glasses as she pages through your file."
Politicians - Sheila Jackson Lee
I've watched this congresswoman on TV for several years now.
She NEVER answers the question.
She ALWAYS has some amazing verbal spiel that has little to do with the subject matter.
I guess I'll give her credit for doing all that with a straight face...
She NEVER answers the question.
She ALWAYS has some amazing verbal spiel that has little to do with the subject matter.
I guess I'll give her credit for doing all that with a straight face...
PRE-LINK TEXT David Forsmark posted this recently at NewsRealBlog.com:
"After all, this is the Houston congresswoman who, while on a visit to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, famously asked if the Mars rover could send back pictures of the flag planted by Neil Armstrong.
Houston, you have a problem.
Jackson-Lee also once brightened our moods in the wake of disaster, by complaining that hurricanes are only given 'lilly-white names,' and suggested that in the future the weather service should 'try to be inclusive of African American names such as Keisha, Jamal and Deshawn.'
Jackson-Lee is once again front and center thanks this this video of her talking on a cell while a constituent who is a cancer survivor asks a question.
So, when Lee appeared with CNN Newsroom’s afternoon anchor Rick Sanchez– master of the inappropriate comment, the emotional outburst and king of the non-sequitur– hilarity, as they used to say in old movie reviews, was bound to ensue."
Monday, August 17, 2009
Hillary Clinton - Constitutionally Ineligible to Serve as Sec.of State?
Well, the law is the law; and, the Constitution is the Constitution. Isn't it?
I guess we'll have to wait to find out...
I guess we'll have to wait to find out...
I found this posted at JudicialWatch.com:
"'Congress must not be allowed to do an end run around the U.S. Constitution,' said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. 'Hillary Clinton is ineligible to serve as Secretary of State until 2013. The Constitution is crystal clear on this point. We hope the court puts a stop to this naked attempt to circumvent the Constitution in the name of political expediency.'"
The Media - the Associated Press
Articles by the Associated Press find their way into every local newspaper in the country.
Some, including this writer (and me), think they are NOT trustworthy...
Some, including this writer (and me), think they are NOT trustworthy...
At NorthStarWriters.com, Dan Calabrese summarizes:
"The bottom line is that the AP is nothing more than a propaganda service for its own political biases. It lies. You can’t trust anything the AP says, especially when they run one of their “analysis” or “AP Impact” pieces, and especially when they run a story full of conjecture from anonymous sources. (Oh wait. That’s practically every AP story!)
But generally speaking, if the story carries an AP dateline, you will never go wrong refusing to believe a word of it"
Obama and the Practice of Medicine - WSJ.com
Maybe the President hasn't done his homework.; or, maybe he's just getting bad info from his unqualified hired help...
Scott Gottlieb asks in the Wall Street Journal:
"Why is the president convinced so many doctors and patients are making irrational decisions?"
Dodd and Conrad May Not Have Provided Sworn Testimony to Senate Ethics - WSJ.com
Wanna hear a good joke? - "The Senate Ethics Committee"
It's a clear case of the fox guarding the henhouse.
I wonder what their definition of "substantial" is?...
It's a clear case of the fox guarding the henhouse.
I wonder what their definition of "substantial" is?...
The Wall Street Journal editorializes about it:
"As the old Irish toast goes, may your sins be judged by the Senate ethics committee. Actually that's not an Irish toast but it must be the fervent hope of every politician who received a 'Friend of Angelo' loan from former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo. Late last week the six Senators on the ethics panel dismissed complaints against Senators Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd with a mere admonishment about the appearance of impropriety.
The three Republican and three Democratic Senators say they conducted an exhaustive probe and inspected 18,000 pages of documents. They say they found 'no substantial credible evidence as required by Committee rules' that the Senators received mortgage rates or services that weren't commonly available to the public, and thus did not violate the Senate gift ban.
We'll have to take their word that the evidence wasn't 'substantial,' because they didn't release those documents, nor did they encourage Mr. Dodd to release any of his records."
"Mother Knows Best"
Here's an opinion that might serve all of us well...
Susan Estrich writes at RasmussenReports.com:
"So am I for health care reform? Do I support the House bill, whatever it is, or the Obama plan, which may or may not be the same thing?
Not yet. Not until I know what it is. Not until someone convinces me that whatever it is will do more good than harm, both for the country and for my family. Mother knows best."
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Corporate Earnings Are No Sign of Recovery - WSJ.com
Earnings are up.
Don't be deceived that it means anything for the U.S. economy...
Don't be deceived that it means anything for the U.S. economy...
Zachary Karabell explains in the Wall Street Journal:
"Companies are increasingly less constrained by any national economy, and their success is no harbinger of national economic growth or sustained economic health for the United States.
First, companies have been profiting because they can cut costs aggressively. It’s not as if demand in the U.S. or Europe has picked up. Take Starbucks, which reported a surprising surge in profits. Little of that was due to American consumers suddenly becoming comfortable with $5 grande mocha lattes. Instead, it was because Starbucks—faced with weak demand and sluggish sales—closed stores and laid off workers. That has been a trend across industries.
Second, many larger companies have been profiting because they can focus on where the growth is around the globe. Companies such as Intel, Caterpillar, Microsoft and IBM now derive a majority of their revenues from outside the U.S., with the dynamic economies of the Asian rim and above all China assuming an ever-larger role. Companies are thriving in spite of economic activity in the U.S., not because of it."
The Media - NBC's Jonathan Capehart
This may have been a genuine slip-up; or, it may have been genuine but careless.
You can decide.
Either way, it is a bit humorous...
You can decide.
Either way, it is a bit humorous...
Mark Finkelstein reports at NewsBusters.orgT:
"Jonathan Capehart let the mask slip on just how much the MSM is one with Pres. Obama and Democrats at large. Here's the WaPo editorialist on Morning Joe today, discussing the daunting task of selling ObamaCare to a doubting public:
'We've got two problems here. We: I should say the administration or Democrats have two problems.'
Sorry, Jonathan. Cat out of bag. Toothpaste out of tube. Bell rung."
Saturday, August 15, 2009
IBDeditorials.com: Third World Care?
When government officials say things like this, the media should be all over them.
It's just another indication of how bad our media really is...
It's just another indication of how bad our media really is...
Investors Business Daily countered this baloney with the facts:
"'Frankly,' HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a recent meeting of AFL-CIO leaders, 'the health delivery system is under-delivering in terms of quality of care. We spend over twice as much as any nation on earth, and our health results look like we're a developing country.'"
The Truth About Health Insurance - WSJ.com
There is information in this article that I wasn't really aware of.
Perhaps, you weren't either...
Perhaps, you weren't either...
This from a Wall Street Journal editorial column:
"Sounds like a good time to explain a few facts about the modern insurance market. Start with the reality that nine out of 10 people under 65 are covered by their employers, most of which cover all employees and charge everyone the same rate. President Obama's horror stories are about the individual insurance market, where some 15 million people buy coverage outside of the workplace.
Mr. Obama does have a point about insurance security. If you develop an expensive condition such as cancer or heart disease, and then get fired or divorced or your employer goes out of business—then individual insurance is going to be very expensive if it's available. But what the President and Democrats won't tell you is that these problems are the result mainly of government intervention.
Because the tax code subsidizes private insurance only when it is sponsored by an employer, the individual market is relatively small and its turnover rate is very high. Most policyholders are enrolled for fewer than 24 months as they move between jobs, making it difficult for insurers to maintain large risk pools to spread costs."
Friday, August 14, 2009
Politicians - U.S. Rep. John Murtha
Yea, yea; he had no knowledge.
This is a career politician, and he SHOULD know where the money is going.
This is exactly what we DON'T need representing us in Washington, DC...
This is a career politician, and he SHOULD know where the money is going.
This is exactly what we DON'T need representing us in Washington, DC...
Paul Singer writes about it at RollCall.com:
"A contracting firm that had hired the brother of Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) as its lobbyist took the proceeds from a Murtha-provided, $8.2 million Air Force earmark and distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to other companies represented by the Congressman’s brother for items that were not part of the project, the Justice Department charged Thursday."
"Capitol Hill Censoring Conservative Web Sites"
So, what do you think about this?
The "state run" media seems for the most part "voluntary"; however, censorship of opposing views is pretty heavy-handed...
The "state run" media seems for the most part "voluntary"; however, censorship of opposing views is pretty heavy-handed...
This is posted by someone id'd Guardian Council at the DCwriteup.com:
"Capitol Hill offices have censored at least two conservative-leaning Web sites without providing a public justification, The D.C. Writeup has found.
The Politicizer, a site that bills itself as 'A Fresh Perspective On Politics and Society From the Internet Generation,' has been inaccessible every day for the last two weeks on Capitol Hill. For the entirety of that period, users from a variety of other locations – including other D.C. government buildings and nearby offices – had no difficulty loading the site.
While the Politicizer does not claim to be partisan, the site’s content is mostly ideologically conservative, including recent articles such as “Obama’s Small Business Problem” and “Oppose Obamacare.”
The D.C. Writeup has also been inaccessible from the Hill since July 10. Like the Politicizer, the site is not explicitly right-of-center, but features a significant amount of content critical of the Obama administration.
Prior to July 10, the site loaded properly, suggesting that either an automated system or a government official decided to prevent it from functioning."
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Fact-checking Obama on Healthcare
Here are five facts that seem to conflict severly with what a certain President is saying...
David A. Patten has them at NewsMax.com:
"Several statements that President Barack Obama made at his town hall meeting at Portsmouth High School in New Hampshire on Tuesday merit closer inspection.
Among them:"
Obama camp plants fake doc, Che fan at Jackson Lee forum
It's really sad that town meetings aren't to be trusted either.
Notice, once again, that politicians are involved.
They can't even run a fake town meeting without getting caught...
Notice, once again, that politicians are involved.
They can't even run a fake town meeting without getting caught...
Matt Bramanti posts at LoneStarTimes.com:
"I’m not sure why, but something didn’t smell right. So my colleagues and I did a little digging, and wouldn’t you know it? Roxana Mayer is, like, totally not a doctor.
But she is an Obama campaign volunteer.
Our own David Jennings secured a phone interview, in which Mayer admitted to impersonating a physician, saying — get this — she thought it would help her credibility. (It didn’t.)
Now here’s where it spins off into a whole new dimension of weird. See the bug-eyed woman seated behind not-doctor Mayer?"
Soaring deficit may defy forecasts - USATODAY.com
You can skip the article but DON'T miss the chart on the left side of the page...
USA Today's Richard Wolf reports:
"As the White House and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) prepare to release new deficit estimates this month, several economists say the news is likely to be as bad as or worse than forecasts.
'This is going to be a very depressing outlook,' predicts former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, top adviser to Republican John McCain in last year's presidential election. 'They have just a nightmare in terms of these health care bills, which do nothing but make things worse.'
A fiscal year 2009 deficit of $1.8 trillion was anticipated by the White House, $1.7 trillion by Congress. Reaching that level would produce a deficit four times last year's $459 billion deficit, just as Congress is considering health care overhaul plans that could cost $1 trillion over 10 years."
California is still in big trouble
Even the math in this article doesn't come close to fixing this problem...
Investors Business Daily editorializes:
"Every problem facing state governments seems super-sized in California. The state has just closed, after a fashion, a $26.3 billion budget deficit. But it now faces unfunded pension liabilities of as much as $300 billion. That figure is the estimated gap between what the state has promised retired state and local employees and what it has earmarked for that purpose.
Where is this money going to come from? Not from a state budget already pinched to an extreme, with workers on forced furloughs and up to 100 state parks likely to close this fall. And it's not likely to come from maxed-out taxpayers in this high-tax state."
Delphi and PBGC settle pension dispute - WSJ.com
Think about this: the current administration preaches equality while providing special treatment to certain groups of people at the taxpayers expense.
Does anybody see this?...
Does anybody see this?...
The Wall Street Journal writes about the latest and summarizes their editorial with:
"When the PBGC was created in 1974, Democrats running Congress assured everyone there was no taxpayer risk because the agency would be funded by fees from pension plans, as well as by the assets of plans the company takes over. But like Fannie Mae, we are learning that sooner or later these government guarantees always come due. Now the PBGC has a $33.5 billion deficit even before Delphi, and more bankruptcies are headed its way. Mark it down as one more way the taxpayers are being put on the hook for GM, the UAW and Michigan’s 17 electoral votes in 2012."
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Barack Obama - Liar, liar, pants on fire
Did you ever think you'd be living in a country where the media wouldn't be calling out a President who said what's on this video?...
This Naked Emperor Mews video is at Breitbart.tv . It's titled:
" ‘Obama’s Mother of All Political Lies and the Town Hall Mayhem It Caused’"
"Nancy and the Astroturfers • Looking at the Left"
It would be pretty hard not to acknowledge that some protesters signs are hand-made and other protesters signs are professionally made.
In my opinion, that makes it pretty easy to determine which group is genuinely concerned and which is "hired help".
Well, easy for me, but probably impossible for the media...
In my opinion, that makes it pretty easy to determine which group is genuinely concerned and which is "hired help".
Well, easy for me, but probably impossible for the media...
Looking AtTheLeft.com has quite a few pictures that seem to support my comment:
"I'll let you form your own opinion"
Cash For Clunkers Cost =$9594 for every $4500 rebate
As a somewhat analytical person, I've had some of these same thoughts.
It's hard for me to buy or buy into something without thinking about unspoken costs, unforeseen circumstances, and unintended results.
It's sometimes tough being that way, as it often seems like everyone else just accepts what's offered...
It's hard for me to buy or buy into something without thinking about unspoken costs, unforeseen circumstances, and unintended results.
It's sometimes tough being that way, as it often seems like everyone else just accepts what's offered...
Shaun Pickford writes about C.A.R.S. at reddit.com:
"With $1 billion spent setting up and administering the program, and $775 million spent on the rebates, that totals up to $1.775 billion spent so far for the program. Divide THAT amount up between 185,000 consumers and thats $9594 per consumer. So the government had to spend over $9,000 per person to give out $4,500 rebates. Sure, 185,000 consumers helped seems like a lot, and that number is likely to rise, and may even double or triple with the extension of the program, but 185,000 is only roughly .061% of a country of about 307 million."
"Health Care Reform: A Better Plan"
I think this massive overhaul should be rejected out-of-hand.
There's plenty of time to do this right, if that's truly the goal.
We must be very careful NOT to be overzealous to the point of disrupting the things that work so well...
There's plenty of time to do this right, if that's truly the goal.
We must be very careful NOT to be overzealous to the point of disrupting the things that work so well...
At Townhall.com, Charles Krauthammer gives his opinion:
"In overhauling any segment of our economy, the 1986 tax reform should be the model. Yet today's ruling Democrats propose to fix our extremely high quality (but inefficient and therefore expensive) health care system with 1,000 pages of additional curlicued complexity -- employer mandates, individual mandates, insurance company mandates, allocation formulas, political payoffs and myriad other conjured regulations and interventions -- with the promise that this massive concoction will lower costs."
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
"Work, Jobs, and Worth"
Remembering the pre-entitlement days.
We certainly have gone far off the track...
We certainly have gone far off the track...
Bruce Walker, at AmericanThinker.com, includes this in his article:
"A century ago nearly everyone in America had a "job," and most had jobs on farms. Men, women, and children got up before sunrise. Women slaved with iron stoves to make breakfast, while men and boys ate in preparation for a long grueling day of generally boring work. Then the women, after doing all their chores, prepared lunch, and at sundown, they made supper.
Everyone had a job. Everyone engaged in productive labor. And everyone looked toward a hopeful future in which there would be less work that needed to be done. We reached that goal after the Second World War. Our nation had what we call "full employment," but the jobs were engineers, oil field workers, men in factories, clerks in stores and shops. We had people engaged in activities that produced goods and services which people in the free market wanted to consume."
Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb
Coming soon to a country near you...
Adrian Michaels reports in the U.K. Telegraph:
"The numbers are startling. Only 3.2 per cent of Spain's population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe's Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by 2015. In Brussels, the top seven baby boys' names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.
Europe's low white birth rate, coupled with faster multiplying migrants, will change fundamentally what we take to mean by European culture and society."
