This is so funny I had to make sure you read it.  It is copied completely from Ed Driscoll, and I have laughed so much I just had to share.

Follow along with these carefully researched findings!
1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country — if they could find the time — and if they didn’t have to leave Southern California to do it.
6.The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it, thank you very much.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
8. The New York Post is read by right leaning people who don’t care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.
10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped homosexual minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country, or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.
11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.
12. The Minneapolis Star Tribune is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something in which to wrap it.
I copied this from Ed Driscoll who  apparently copied some of it himself.
(Apologies to the Bard of Jasperwood for that last item.) A friend of mine who works on Wall Street sent me the above list today; I have no idea who the original author is, but it must have been based on this classic riff from England’s Yes, Prime Minister, which ended on an infinitely better punch line:

Good Ole Al Gore, "He can't help it, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth"

See update below after  you read this.
Plus he doesn't know any better because apparently he really doesn't know exactly what the attacks show. In today's New York Times (online) he has an editorial essay, much of which can be disputed.

We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change
It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it.

We cannot wish it to happen, either. As for the attacks on the science, well, if the science were valid it would be able to withstand those attacks. The recent email and document releases and revelations, however, show us the science is corrupted.
He goes on to say:

Of course, we would still need to deal with the national security risks of our growing dependence on a global oil market dominated by dwindling reserves in the most unstable region of the world, and the economic risks of sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas in return for that oil. And we would still trail China in the race to develop smart grids, fast trains, solar power, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources of energy — the most important sources of new jobs in the 21st century.

In the Washington Post, Sunil Sharan writes of the Green Jobs Myth, he undoubtedly knows what he is talking about as this is how he is described, "The writer, a director of the Smart Grid Initiative at GE from 2008 to 2009, has worked in the clean-energy industry for a decade." He knows whereof he speaks. He ends his essay with this:

For the purpose of creating jobs, then, a "clean-energy economy" will not offer a panacea. This does not necessarily mean that America should not become green to alleviate climate change, to kick its addiction to foreign oil or to use energy sources more efficiently. But those who take great pains to tout the "job-creation potential" of the green space might just end up inducing labor pains all around.

Read Al Gore's editorial, then read Sunil Sharan's.  They both say much more than I have copied here.  I think I know which one will gain your respect.

Update   I found this link at Ann Althouse:
Gore’s Dual Role: Advocate and Investor  it is from Nov 2009.   Read it to see what a hypocrite he is; nowhere in his editorial does he say how much money he has already made or what he expects to make on "green jobs."

An Editorial Concerning Natural Gas in the Washington Post

This morning I received an email concerning a finding of oil reserves in the US. 
The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska 's Prudhoe Bay , and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The email questioned why it was not well known or discussed in the media.
Well, those of us who are addicted to the internet knew about this report when it came out, but apparently we are the only large group who did.
So it is encouraging to at least see this editorial in this mornings Washington Post online.
A natural choice

IN AMERICA'S climate debate, one of the most promising developments of recent months has been the growing recognition in Washington that natural gas may play a key role in curbing carbon emissions. The resurgence of gas comes through the discovery of massive deposits in Appalachian shale formations and elsewhere -- a reserve that offers the prospect of stable domestic supplies and relatively low prices. Since burning natural gas produces half the emissions of burning coal, switching the two fuels could put a significant dent in America's carbon footprint.

The rumor this month was that such arguments had swayed the White House and that President Obama would back policy aimed at discouraging coal and encouraging natural gas at a speech he delivered to the Business Roundtable on Wednesday. The rumors didn't bear out. That's too bad. With climate-change legislation still stalled in Congress, nudging gas forward is something that the government can do quickly and relatively cheaply to meet its medium-term emissions goals if current trends persist.

To be sure, America doesn't want to depend too much on one commodity. Drastically ramping up the amount of natural gas burned to generate electricity would require infrastructure investments in certain regions as well as retrofits of certain plants or the construction of entirely new ones.

But existing gas-fired plants are running at only about 25 percent capacity, in part because many are switched on only when demand spikes. The Congressional Research Service reports that doubling the use of existing plants could replace about a third of coal-fired power, getting America a third of the way to its goal for 2020. For reasons of infrastructure, that might be too optimistic a scenario. But BP -- which has a stake in natural gas -- estimates that retiring the 80 dirtiest coal plants and replacing them with gas-fired power would get America 10 percent of the way to its 2020 emissions target and increase domestic gas consumption by only 5 percent.

Even if you don't trust BP's numbers, a range of attractive policy options is available, starting with tax incentives to decommission old coal plants. Natural gas is so competitive, it might not take much more than that. However, policymakers might also consider coupling that with some carrot to switch to gas. States that demand that utilities derive a certain portion of their electricity from clean sources could also allow natural gas to count in such requirements, discounting for the carbon emissions it does produce. Federal legislators contemplating a similar, national standard might also consider this.

In the long term, natural gas is only a bridge fuel as America weans itself off carbon, since it still produces plenty of emissions. With a rising carbon price, natural gas will become too expensive to burn. But it can provide the country some time to bring to market the cleaner technologies on which America eventually must run.

Big Tea Party in St. Louis

1,500 patriots turned out today at the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition Anniversary Celebration.
KMOX reported on the rally today:

A crowd of around 1,000 people gathered on the steps of the Gateway Arch, Saturday, to mark the one-year anniversary of the Tea Party movement in St. Louis and throughout the United States. Speakers talked of “sounding an alarm” in 2009 and following up by influencing the 2010 political races.

For more of the story and photos go to Gateway Pundit.

The British are having a Tea Party

Firom the telegraph UK
British Tea Party Movement to launch on Saturday
By Daniel Hannan

The inaugural British Tea Party will take place on Saturday in my home town of Brighton, and I’ll be speaking. Do try to come: here are the details.

Labour has raised more than a trillion pounds in additional taxation since 1997. Yet, unbelievably, Gordon Brown has still managed to run up a deficit of 12.6 per cent of GDP (Greece’s is 12.7 per cent). A far lower level of taxation brought Americans out in spontaneous protest last year.

If you happen to be coming to the Conservative Spring Conference, do please pop in: the Tea Party is five minutes’ walk from the conference venue. It is, however, outside the security zone, and anyone is welcome to come. Oh, and this being England, we’ll be serving actual, you know, tea. I hope to see some of this blog’s readers there.

Nice to know the cause of the first tea parties is having one of their own.

Daniel Hannan, European Parliament member and Conservative Party member is best known to Americans as the politician who gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a dressing down in his "devalued Prime Minister of a devalued government" speech last year, which became a YouTube hit - will speak at the event.

hat tip Booker Rising.

This Gives Me NO Confidence in Homeland Security

UPDATED
From Volokh Conspiracy:
Two Homeland Security agencies lost almost thousand computers in one year

by David Kopel
As detailed in an investigation by the Independence Institute’s Todd Shepherd. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) lost at least 985 computers in the 2008 fiscal year. ICE also lost 13 automobiles, while CBP lost 235 night vision scopes.
I guess I can understand some of the losses, night vision scopes can't be seen after you drop them in the dark, but this is ridiculous. Just kidding on the scope thing.
Update  Feb 25
Instapundit has this update:
ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails: “I once worked for a school district where a large number of laptops were reported stolen. It was later discovered that a good portion of these were instances of teachers viewing porn and not knowing how to remove it from the computer. Instead of facing the embarrassment of admitting it, they just reported their laptop as stolen.”

Rasmussen has a new report out on Texas races

Election 2010: Texas Governor
Texas Governor: Perry, Hutchison Still Lead White

It doesn't have as much change as I would have expected. Click on the above link to read it.

Have you seen this interesting/crazy/scary/ strange logo for the Missile Defense Agency?

Missile Defense Agency  go take a look.
It's like a mix between the Obama campaign logo and the Islamic star and crescent.
I first saw this at Gateway Pundit, then went to the MDA and then to the Washington Times. 

Update on Women on Submarines

This one doesn't come from Navy Times but from someone who thinks like a man at Yahoo news.
Hourglass Figures Affect Men's Brains Like a Drug
Charles Q. Choi

Watching a curvaceous woman can feel like a reward in the brain of men, much as drinking alcohol or taking drugs might, research now reveals.
These new findings might help explain the preoccupation men can have toward pornography, scientists added.

If you are a man you probably already knew this but you might want to read the whole thing anyway.  Just another reason to say "What are they thinking?"

In which I agree with the Associated Press- Summit will not break logjam on

Well, actually they are reporting, but I agree.
Dems, GOP: Summit will not break logjam on health
by CHARLES BABINGTON

WASHINGTON – Here's one point on which Democrats and Republicans agree on health care: President Barack Obama's much-touted televised summit has virtually no chance of breaking the political logjam. That means Democrats will be forced to find a way to pass an overhaul on their own or face a huge political defeat.

Lawmakers from both parties suggested the Obama-hosted meeting Thursday will amount to little more than political theater. No cracks appeared in the GOP's overwhelming opposition to Democrats' efforts. And both parties saw the president's revised, far-reaching proposal, released Monday, as a call for Democrats to try to pass the legislation on their own under Senate rules that would bar Republican delaying tactics.

Go ahead and read it all, if you want. Probably not much new.

ACORN'S New face

Big Government has a good article on ACORN's plans to put a new name on the same ole, same old.
ACORN Official: Gangster Group Will Be Bankrupt Soon But Fake Spinoff Groups Will Carry On The Corruption
by Matthew Vadum
The ACORN crime syndicate is not going away anytime soon, but it’s going to look different.

ACORN will probably run out of money and fold by year’s end but a dozen ACORN state chapters reincorporated to seem like new, independent organizations will spring up in the next week to carry on ACORN’s business, a leaked email from ACORN’s online director suggests.
“The truth is that it is hard for us to forsee [sic] any scenario where ACORN continues beyond the end of 2010 and some of us think it might not last that long,” writes Nathan Henderson-James, director of ACORN’s online campaigns, in an apparently authentic Feb. 22 email.
“Last one to leave turn out the lights and wipe the server,” he writes at the end of the message.

In the email Henderson-James explains the subterfuge ACORN will use to lead Americans to believe ACORN is breaking apart.
“It is definitely true that over the next week or so we should see a dozen or more organizations launched on the state level by staff who used to work for ACORN and leaders who developed their skills as ACORN members. These are not just simple name changes, but reimaginings of how best to organize low and moderate income constitiuencies [sic] without any of the legal problems and funding issues dogging ACORN, not to mention the brand damage.”
It is a “tactically smart…reaction to the global situation that helps the work of building power for poor people to continue,” writes Henderson-James, an ACORN employee since 1997.
Read it all here.

Something Tells Me this is going to be Trouble

Pentagon announces end of ban on women on subs
By Philip Ewing
The Pentagon on Monday notified Congress that women will be able to join submarine crews within 30 legislative working days, making good on the wishes of top Navy commanders announced last fall.
As required by law, Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent a letter to legislative leaders announcing the Navy’s plan to lift its ban on female submariners, giving the House and Senate time to absorb the decision and, if members want, to take action. Congress can pass a law forbidding integration, requiring the Navy to wait or perform a study. If it does nothing, as expected, the ban will expire around the end of April.
Technically, the Defense Department needs to give Congress time to absorb the policy change before it can spend money to accommodate women, Gates wrote, according to a copy of his letter obtained by Navy Times.

Read it all, they give their reasons and they may make sense to some.

I think they need to study the science of sex, pheronomes are not  conscious they are innate and hormone related. They are airborne. So we are planning to take young men and women and put them in a tube and keep them confined with recirculated air.  How do you think that will work?  I think it will work exactly the way nature intended.

We have a new envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)

Criticism of Obama’s OIC Envoy Raises Questions About the Need for Such an Envoy
By Patrick Goodenough

(CNSNews.com) – President Obama’s decision to appoint an envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has focused renewed attention on the Saudi-based body, and what role a U.S. envoy should play.
Partly overshadowed by the controversy surrounding statements Rashad Hussain made six years ago about a man indicted for supporting terrorists, is the question of whether the U.S. should have an envoy to the Islamic bloc in the first place.
With a secretariat based in Jeddah, the OIC was established as a direct response to an attempt by an Australian, later declared insane, to set fire to the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City in 1969. ...
The position of U.S. envoy to the OIC was created by President George W. Bush in his last year in office.
Heritage Foundation scholar Brett Schaefer said Monday that the appointment of that envoy brought “little discernable improvement in OIC behavior,” pointing to its conduct at the U.N. and Human Rights Council.
He questioned the wisdom of having an envoy at all.

  Read the rest of the history of the conference and make up your mind.

I'm Not Insulted, I'm Outraged

There are several good articles from the Washington Examiner I'm linking today, this is the first.
Obama's nanny care insults the American spirit
By: Michael Barone

You are victims. You are helpless against the wiles of big corporations and insurance companies and you need protection. You need the government to take over and do things you cannot do for yourself.

That is the thinking of what David Brooks calls "the educated class" that favors the Democrats' health care bills. Members of this elite spout tales of woe of people denied coverage or care with the implication that there but for the grace of government go you. So sign on and the government will take care of everything.

It's an argument that has often been appealing to Europeans but that has always been unappealing to Americans. That's why these advocates segue to other arguments, like Barack Obama's assertion that the government can expand coverage and save money at the same time.

But voters quickly sniff out what this means....

I like what Michael Barone says here.  Read more at the Washington Examiner:

Too Many Apologies

by Thomas Sowell
Wednesday February 24, 2010

The police cannot possibly maintain law and order by themselves. Millions of people can monitor their own behavior better than any third parties can.

Tiger Woods doesn't owe me an apology. Nothing that he has ever done has cost me a dime nor an hour of sleep.

This is not a plea to be "non-judgmental." I am very judgmental about all sorts of things, including Tiger Woods' bad behavior. But that is very different from saying that he somehow owes me an apology.

For all I know, my neighbors may be judgmental when I drive out of my driveway in a 15-year-old car. But they have never said anything to me about it, and I have never offered them an apology. This is not equating driving a 15-year-old car with what Tiger Woods did. But the point is that any apology he might make should be made to his family, who were hurt, not to the public, who might be disappointed in him, but not really hurt.

Public apologies to people who are not owed any apology have become one of the many signs of the mushy thinking of our times. So are apologies for things that somebody else did.

Among the most absurd apologies have been apologies for slavery by politicians. For one thing, slavery is not something you can apologize for, any more than you can apologize for murder.

If someone says to you that he murdered someone near and dear to you, what are you supposed to say? "No problem, we all make mistakes"? Not bloody likely!

Slavery is too serious for an apology and somebody else being a slaveowner is not something for you to apologize for. When somebody who has never owned a slave apologizes for slavery to somebody who has never been a slave, then what began as mushy thinking has degenerated into theatrical absurdity-- or, worse yet, politics.

Slavery has existed all over the planet for thousands of years, with black, white, yellow and other races being both slaves and enslavers. Does that mean that everybody ought to apologize to everybody else for what their ancestors did? Or are the only people who are supposed to feel guilty the ones who have money that others want to talk them out of?

Read the entire article here

Roll Call is onto Ortiz

Hometown Makes Ortiz a Frequent Flier
by Paul Singer

Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) has accepted tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of trips to China from a development corporation in his hometown that he aided by securing earmarks and other federal assistance worth millions of dollars.

Ortiz has also traveled on at least one of these trips with his former chief of staff, Lencho Rendon, who was working for Ortiz when he secured a $5 million earmark for the Robstown Improvement Development Corp. The corporation has now hired Rendon as a consultant. Robstown Improvement is a nonprofit, city-chartered corporation that uses sales tax revenue to try to spur economic development in the city.

Armando Gonzalez, president of Robstown Improvement, said the China trips are part of an aggressive effort on the part of the city of Robstown to lure foreign investment, and that Ortiz, a frequent traveler to Asia, is “the best ambassador of our little town. ... He has a lot of relationships that are established there that pretty much open doors for us over there in our business relationships.”

“We’ve invited him a few times to China with us on our trade missions,” Gonzalez said.

On Jan. 2, Ortiz, Rendon and seven other businessmen and local officials flew to China for a nine-day visit sponsored by Robstown Improvement.

Read It all, this is not exactly we see it reported in the CC Caller Times.

US Health Care Better Than Canada's According to the Premier

'My heart, my choice,' Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery

An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have a "minimally invasive" surgery for an ailment first detected nearly a year ago, based on the advice of his doctors.

"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.

"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."

Good thing he had it done before we ruin the system.  Read it all here.

Feds will pay for abortions three ways in the O's bill

According to a post in Weekly Standard bog by John McCormack
President Obama's health care plan would use federal dollars to pay for abortions in at least three ways.

First, it contains Ben Nelson's so-called compromise amendment in which allows insurance plans purchased with federal subsidies to cover abortions. Nelson's amendment doesn't apply to the whole bill, so there are two other provisions that would allow direct federal funding of abortion.

The National Right to Life Committee notes that Obama's plan would provide $11 billion dollars for community health centers--$4 billion more than the original Senate bill--and there is no language preventing these funds from paying for abortions.

Third, the Senate bill allows for direct federal funding of abortions on Indian reservations.

All three of these measures were slipped into the Senate bill at the last minute in the manager's amendment. Ben Nelson admitted that the funding of abortions on Indian reservations was an oversight that would "have to be addressed in the conference." Except now there isn't going to be a conference--just a House vote on the Senate bill and some minor fiddling with the numbers through reconciliation with no significant changes to the abortion language.

Members of Congress liked to hide behind the fig leaf of Nelson's "segregation of funding" amendment to claim the bill banned abortion funding, but they can't make this claim regarding community health centers or Indian reservations.

What else is in there? I will try to keep up with it and let you know.

Another "Gee, Who Knew?" Moment on Iraq

From the Washington Post, it does seem to be behind the curve on quite a lot.
U.S. plans for possible delay in Iraq withdrawal
By Craig Whitlock

The U.S. military has prepared contingency plans to delay the planned withdrawal of all combat forces in Iraq, citing the prospects for political instability and increased violence as Iraqis hold national elections next month.

Under a deadline set by President Obama, all combat forces are slated to withdraw from Iraq by the end of August, and there remains heavy political pressure in Washington and Baghdad to stick to that schedule. But Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Monday that he had briefed officials in Washington in the past week about possible contingency plans.

 Read the rest.

CBO and Obama's New Healthcare Bill, er, uh, Outline

The Obama Administration’s Health Care Proposal

This morning the Obama Administration released a description of its health care proposal, and CBO has already received several requests to provide a cost estimate for that proposal. We had not previously received the proposal, and we have just begun the process of reviewing it—a process that will take some time, given the complexity of the issues involved. Although the proposal reflects many elements that were included in the health care bills passed by the House and the Senate last year, it modifies many of those elements and also includes new ones. Moreover, preparing a cost estimate requires very detailed specifications of numerous provisions, and the materials that were released this morning do not provide sufficient detail on all of the provisions. Therefore, CBO cannot provide a cost estimate for the proposal without additional detail, and, even if such detail were provided, analyzing the proposal would be a time-consuming process that could not be completed this week.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Health.
h/t Instapundit

Keith Olberman, Come On Down

To the Dallas Tea Party



h/t Instapundit

Call it by its real name, a federal crime

The American Spectator is not afraid to report on this and call it by its name. And they have the facts.
White House Accused of Federal Crime in Specter, Bennet Races
By Jeffrey Lord

"Whoever solicits or receives … any….thing of value, in consideration of the promise of support or use of influence in obtaining for any person any appointive office or place under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both." -- 18 USC Sec. 211 -- Bribery, Graft and Conflicts of Interest: Acceptance or solicitation to obtain appointive public office.

"In the face of a White House denial, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak stuck to his story yesterday that the Obama administration offered him a "high-ranking" government post if he would not run against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary."

-- Philadelphia Inquirer, February 19, 2010

D.C. job alleged as attempt to deter Romanoff"

--Denver Post

September 27, 2009

A bombshell has just exploded in the 2010 elections.

For the second time in five months, the Obama White House is being accused -- by Democrats -- of offering high ranking government jobs in return for political favors. What no one is reporting is that this is a violation of federal law that can lead to prison time, a fine or both, according to Title 18, Chapter 11, Section 211 of the United States Code.

The jobs in question? Secretary of the Navy and a position within the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The favor requested in return? Withdrawal from Senate challenges to two sitting United States Senators, both Democrats supported by President Obama. The Senators are Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania and Michael Bennet in Colorado.

Much more at the American Spectator, go read it all.

A Fun Sarah Palin Piece

From American Thinker
I Am Sarah Palin's Brain
By Stuart Schwartz

I am Sarah Palin's brain.

I'm here, I'm healthy, and I'm doing very well, thank you. Contrary to what you're told by the elites of both right and left, I exist.

And, unlike the brains of our beltway politicians and pundits, mainstream media and Hollywood grandees, my neurons are not stuck on "I" or kicking into hyperdrive at the thought of controlling every waking moment in the life of Joe the Plumber or Josie the Beautician.

No, I am an American brain, savvy and predisposed toward optimism, the kind of gray matter powering the doers of this country since our founding. Robin of Berkeley, the resident psychotherapist of American Thinker, says my "sunny disposition" allows me to "(glide) by like a majestic bird in flight."

This is one of the best things you will read all day.  I've just posted a snippet, go read it all, you will love it, too.

Who Are The Tea Party Leaders?

From Real Clear Markets
Pin the Bogeyman On the Tea Party

By Bill Frezza

Have you watched with amusement as various political commentators have tried to demonize the amorphous Tea Party movement by outing behind-the-scenes bogeymen allegedly pulling the strings of this latter day Great Awakening?

Sarah Palin. Glenn Beck. Dick Armey. Newt Gingrich. Grover Norquist. Jack Abramoff. Lyndon LaRouche. The John Birch Society. The list goes on.

None of it is sticking.

From time to time one professional politico or another may try to jump out in front of the parade. But everyone knows that the Tea Party has no leader, and with a little luck never will. That's because it's not a political party. In the best tradition of the American Revolution, it's an angry mob. Hence, the name....
...The Tea Party is not a political party. It does not seek power and money. The Tea Party is the primal voice of "No." It is the embodiment of the admonition that when you find yourself at the bottom of a hole you should stop digging. It is the realization that when a giant Rube Golberg machine starts to come apart at the seams, patching it up with more hairy contraptions designed to hold the monstrosity together until the next election almost always makes matters worse.
The Tea Party does not want Congress to do the People's business. It wants the People to do the People's business, each minding his own

This says much of what has been written here, but go read it all.

This is not the healthcare model we are looking for

From Dolley Doright who lived in Scotland under this system. It is from the Daily Mail UK
Children at top hospital had to wash in buckets

Sick children at a leading hospital were forced to wash in buckets for almost a month after bosses failed to fix the hot water supply.

More than 100 youngsters, some of them seriously ill, were left without hot running water.

Parents were forced to carry hot water in buckets from a single working tap in a sluice room so their children could wash. Youngsters suffering from brain tumours and cystic fibrosis were among those affected.

Read the rest, it is sickening. We will be reduced to this is this administration has its way.

DHS is Busy, Busy,

And somehow I don't think we are getting any safer.  This is from their own press release, I guess they think we are going to be pleased.

Readout of Secretary Napolitano's Meeting with Faith-Based and Community Leaders
Release Date: January 28, 2010
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today met with leaders from Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and Arab communities—key partners in homeland security that contribute to many different parts of American life and exemplify the diversity that is a hallmark of our country—to discuss ways the Department can increase engagement, dialogue and coordination, and enhance information sharing between DHS and faith- and community-based groups.

"In times of crisis, leaders of faith-based communities and other grassroots organizations often play a critical role in the broad and timely dissemination of accurate information," said Secretary Napolitano. "Strengthening our partnerships with faith- and community-based groups will allow improved information sharing and better coordination in preparing for, assessing and responding to threats."

During the meeting, Secretary Napolitano and leaders in attendance examined existing information sharing capabilities such as the Secure Community Network—a model for information sharing with faith- and community-based communities designed to quickly improve overall security awareness in a crisis situation—and discussed ways to expand and enhance current initiatives and partnerships.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov/crcl.

Feel better now? I didn't think so. I don't think any of those were Christian faith based organizations, where were they?  hat tip to Jim H Little

A Healthcare Reform Clue

I just wish the Republicans had a clue about what to do.

On the freakish chance any senators or representatives are reading this, here's a clue.

Approach healthcare reform it like a real business would handle a problem. Analyze, categorize and prioritize. Take the issues, categorize them and handle them separately, by logical category groups, over three to four years -- relying heavily on people who actually work in healthcare (physicians, hospital administrators, etc.). They live it every day and know what is broken and why. And in the meantime, get someone in charge of Medicare who will actually do something about the $140 million PER DAY that is lost to fraud, waste and abuse.

Glenn Beck at CPAC

"Hello, my name is the Republican Party and I have a problem. I'm addicted to spending and big government."

Read this in a post about the event at the Townhall blog.

Victory, how does it happen?

Victor Davis Hanson addresses the question and gives the answers.
The Tragic Truth of War

What we dare not say: Killing the enemy brings victory.

by Victor Davis Hanson - National Review Online

Victory has usually been defined throughout the ages as forcing the enemy to accept certain political objectives. “Forcing” usually meant killing, capturing, or wounding men at arms. In today’s polite and politically correct society we seem to have forgotten that nasty but eternal truth in the confusing struggle to defeat radical Islamic terrorism....

....When an enemy finally gives up, it is for a combination of reasons — material losses, economic hardship, loss of territory, erosion of civilian morale, fright, mental exhaustion, internal strife. But we forget that central to a concession of defeat is often the loss of the nation’s soldiers — or even the threat of such deaths.

Like all his writings, it is well worth reading it all.

This is a Scary Thought - Justice Obama

By Jeffrey Rosen in the Washington Post:
Supreme Court Justice Barack Obama?

He's too detached and cerebral . Too deferential to Congress. Too willing to compromise . And he's too much of a law professor and not enough of a commander in chief, as Sarah Palin recently admonished.

These are some of the qualities for which the president, rightly or wrongly, is criticized. They are also the qualities that make him well suited for another steady job on the federal payroll: Barack Obama, Supreme Court justice.

Think about it. Though Obama has struggled to find his footing in the White House, his education, temperament and experience make him ideally suited to lead the liberal wing of the court, especially at a time when a narrow conservative majority seems increasingly intent on challenging progressive economic reforms for the first time since the New Deal. Obama is clearly eager to take on the four truly conservative justices -- Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas -- as his State of the Union smackdown suggests. But as president, he's constrained by that pesky separation of powers. So what better way to engage the fight than to join the bench? ...

.....Obama's academic credentials for the court -- including serving as president of the Harvard Law Review and teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago -- are obvious. But it's his even temperament and low boiling point that seem tailor-made for the court at this polarized moment.

Rosen just rambles on and on about Obama's credentials, personality traits, etc. etc. It is a scary scenario, but not one I think will ever happen. Read it all if you must.

A Non-conservative Conservative

This case would be one of those referred to in the former post. (link or see below).
Mr. Hastert’s perks

"Just like families must live within their budgets, the federal government must live within its means. We have passed appropriations bills that have been fiscally responsible while recognizing our national priorities."

That was then-House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, congratulating himself and other Republican leaders in the 109th Congress for being frugal.
Such talk of smart spending was a staple of Hastert's rhetoric when he was in office. So why is he still spending taxpayers' money more than two years after leaving office?
Federal law allows a little-known perk for former speakers — a taxpayer-funded office anywhere in the country for up to five years. Taxpayers fund the rent, utilities, staff, travel expenses and other incidentals related to the office, which are intended to "facilitate the … conclusion of matters pertaining to or arising out of" the former speaker's duties in the House.
So, Mr. Former Speaker, conclude already.
The Tribune reported last week that Hastert has taken advantage of that quirky perk to the tune of more than $1 million in taxpayer money. He pays three assistant-type staffers more than $100,000 a year, rents an office for $6,300 per month and travels — staffers in tow — in an $860-per-month SUV....
....One reason Hastert's no longer speaker: People grew tired of Republican talk that wasn't matched by reality. When Republicans controlled Congress, they spent and spent and spent. They preserved Washington's gross sense of entitlement....
...Hastert, who is well into a new career as a lobbyist and business consultant, still believes he's entitled to an office and a car and three staffers, all provided by taxpayers.
He spent years telling us he was opposed to wasteful government spending. It's never too late to make good on his word.

As I said before, it is this one of things referred to by the president of the Libertarian Party in the post below.

Libertarians Speak Out

This is from the Mail Tribune of Southern Oregon -via Lucianne

Where are real conservatives? They're libertarians

We heard an awful lot about "limited government" from the mouths of Conservative Political Action Committee politicians as they held their annual conference. If I had a nickel every time a conservative said "limited government" and didn't mean it, I'd be a very rich man.

Unlike libertarians, most conservatives simply don't want small government. They want their own version of big government. Of course, they have done a pretty good job of fooling American voters for decades by repeating the phrases "limited government" and "small government" like a hypnotic chant....

....The fact is, liberals and conservatives both want gigantic government. Their visions sometimes look different from each other, but both are huge. The only Americans who truly want small government are libertarians.

Wes Benedict is executive director of the Libertarian Party.

I've posted only a small portion of this, but you need to read it all. 
After you read it, come back here and comment on it.  Let me know what you think.

Not my fault, I didn't do it, ... and even if I did, it's not MY fault

Jonah Goldberg  in National Review Online

Pick an Excuse, Any Excuse

Dems think none of their problems are their fault.

Remember that great scene from the Oscar-robbed classic The Blues Brothers? Jake and Elwood (John Belushi and Dan Akroyd) are finally cornered by Jake’s former fiancée (Carrie Fisher). Jake left her at the altar with 300 guests and the best Romanian caterers in the state waiting.

“You betrayed me!” she exclaims.

“No I didn’t. Honest,” Jake explains. “I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!”

This is pretty much how Democrats sound these days. None of their problems are their fault. ....

......Why is this happening? If you listen to the White House and its defenders in the press, the answer is simple: It’s everyone else’s fault.

Read the rest, you'll be glad you did.

Climate Science Advocacy and Modeling

From Watts Up with That

Lindzen on climate science advocacy and modeling – “at this point, the models seem to be failing”

This is a letter professor Richard Lindzen of MIT sent to the Boston Globe and was published today. It is well worth the read.

KERRY EMANUEL’S Feb. 15 op-ed “Climate changes are proven fact’’ is more advocacy than assessment. Vague terms such as “consistent with,’’ “probably,’’ and “potentially’’ hardly change this. Certainly climate change is real; it occurs all the time. To claim that the little we’ve seen is larger than any change we “have been able to discern’’ for a thousand years is disingenuous. Panels of the National Academy of Sciences and Congress have concluded that the methods used to claim this cannot be used for more than 400 years, if at all. Even the head of the deservedly maligned Climatic Research Unit acknowledges that the medieval period may well have been warmer than the present.

The claim that everything other than models represents “mere opinion and speculation’’ is also peculiar. Despite their faults, models show that projections of significant warming depend critically on clouds and water vapor, and the physics of these processes can be observationally tested (the normal scientific approach); at this point, the models seem to be failing.

Finally, given a generation of environmental propaganda, a presidential science adviser (John Holdren) who has promoted alarm since the 1970s, and a government that proposes funding levels for climate research about 20 times the levels in 1991, courage seems hardly the appropriate description – at least for scientists supporting such alarm.

Richard S. Lindzen

Cambridge

The writer is Alfred P. Sloan professor of atmospheric sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

DOJ Lawyers Cleared in "Torture" Findings

Many different newspapers and blogs have stories on this but I like this by Jennifer Rubin in Commentary best.
Yoo and Bybee Cleared, Justice Department’s Shoddy Investigation Exposed
by Jennifer Rubin

The Justice Department has finally closed a sorry chapter in its history — the attempt to criminalize the work of Department lawyers who rendered legal judgment on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in American history. The Office of Professional Responsibility, as the Washington Post report notes, had doggedly pursued John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who as Justice Department lawyers authored memos providing advice and direction on enhanced interrrogation methods including waterboarding. In a Friday information dump (which tells you it does not aid the cause of the administration and those seeking Yoo’s and Bybee’s punishment), we got a glimpse at two drafts of OPR’s report, its final report, and then the recommendation of David Margolis, a career lawyer and Associate Deputy Attorney General.

Margolis’s report is 69 pages long. Margolis essentially shreds the work of OPR, finding no basis for a referral of professional misconduct for either lawyer. It is noteworthy that all throughout, Margolis adopts many of the criticisms of OPR’s work that outgoing Attorney General Michael Mukasey and his deputy Mark Filip rendered before leaving office at the end of the Bush administration.

At times the work of OPR itself seems to have violated the professional standards it was charged with enforcing. Sloppiness abounds. Margolis finds, for example, that OPR applied the wrong legal standard, the “preponderance of evidence” rather than the more stringent clear and convincing evidence” standard that state bar proceedings would utilize. (p. 11) Margolis also concludes that OPR’s findings ”do not identify violation of a specific bar rule.” ( p. 12) Margolis further notes that OPR’s analysis and legal standard shifted from draft to draft. (pp.13, 15-16)

Rubin's article is long and detailed but if you want a good evaluation of the report read the whole thing.

Click on Over to Gateway Pundit, lots going on there.

More Bad News from the Obama Crowd

This is from Politico.
Islam envoy retreats on terror talk

President Barack Obama’s new Islamic envoy, Rashad Hussain, changed course Friday — admitting that he made sharply critical statements about a U.S. terror prosecution against a Muslim professor after initially saying he had no recollection of making such comments.

“I made statements on that panel that I now recognize were ill-conceived or not well-formulated,” Hussain said, referring to a 2004 conference at which he discussed the case.

Hussain’s reversal came after POLITICO obtained a recording of his presentation to a Muslim students’ conference in Chicago during which he can be heard portraying the government’s cases towards professor Sami Al-Arian, as well as other Muslim terrorism suspects, as “politically motivated persecutions.” Al-Arian later pled guilty to aiding terrorists.

The comments touched off criticism from conservative commentators, who questioned whether someone who held those views should represent the United States in the Muslim world.

This is a real Good Grief!! moment.  We have so many of these from this administration.
Read more lots more to see there.

A New Surprise from the Obama People Everyday!

Everytime we think we have heard the worst, here comes some more.
Holder admits nine Obama Dept. of Justice officials worked for terrorist detainees, offers no details
By: Byron York

Attorney General Eric Holder says nine Obama appointees in the Justice Department have represented or advocated for terrorist detainees before joining the Justice Department. But he does not reveal any names beyond the two officials whose work has already been publicly reported. And all the lawyers, according to Holder, are eligible to work on general detainee matters, even if there are specific parts of some cases they cannot be involved in.

Holder's admission comes in the form of an answer to a question posed last November by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley.....

...In his response, Holder has given Grassley almost nothing. He says nine Obama political appointees at the Justice Department have advocated on behalf of detainees, but did not identify any of the nine other than the two, Katyal and Daskal, whose names Grassley already knew.

To read the rest, and there is a lot more go to the Washington Examiner.

A Discussion on the "Big Lie"

It's from American Thinker.
The 'Big Lie' explained by a good man
by William D. Zeranski

Lying, as a daily practice, is hard, because you have to remember the lie and keep repeating the lie, never forgetting it, especially, if the liar begins expanding on the original deception.

Many of us are aware of something known as the ‘big lie.' A lie so colossal, so unbelievable, and so inexplicable, the lie is believed because the originator, the teller of the lie, couldn't possibly believe or make such an incredibly, grotesque and inaccurate statement.

It turns out the phrase was first used by Harry S Truman and is still very good advice for today.

The technique of the "big lie" consists of two things. It consists first of making a charge against one's opponents which is frightening and horrible and so extreme that nobody could believe that a decent person would make it if it were not true. Hitler explained this very clearly. He said that if a lie is bold enough people will think there is some truth in it because it would never occur to them, in their own experience, to lie on such an exaggerated scale.

The second part of the "big lie" technique is to keep repeating the lie over and over again, ignoring all proof to the contrary.

The "big lie" technique is immoral and subversive. It is not a weapon which democratic society can afford to use. It violates the rules of the political game which underlie our constitutional form of government. It violates them in just the same way that riot and revolution violate them.

Go read it all, it is good advice and good history.

Friday Links from the Washington Post

Official: Son of al-Qaeda-linked terror leader killed in U.S. strike

Four NATO troops killed on sixth day of Marja offensive in Afghanistan

Republican Marco Rubio is anti-Crist challenging Florida governor in Senate primary
Dana Milbank leads off with a play on words, he probably thinks that is really clever, but as a Christian I take offense to it. This is what he follows it with:

The anti-Crist came to Washington on Thursday. In the ballroom of the Marriott Wardman Park, they acted as if he were the Messiah.

Michael Gerson has this: A primer on political reality
Be sure to read this one. 

It's nonsense to say the U.S. is ungovernable
by Charles Krauthammer
The meat of the article is down into it:

It's 2010, and the first-year agenda of a popular and promising young president has gone down in flames. Barack Obama's two signature initiatives -- cap-and-trade and health-care reform -- lie in ruins.

Desperate to explain away this scandalous state of affairs, liberal apologists haul out the old reliable from the Carter years: "America the Ungovernable." So declared Newsweek. "Is America Ungovernable?" coyly asked the New Republic. Guess the answer.

That is just a part, read it all.

This is just a part of what they are offering today, to see what all they offer go to
Washington Post.

Is the IRS Criminal Investigations Unit Really That Big?

I was surprised to see this in the Houston Chronicle as I read about the man who ran his plane into the building:

Stack took off in his single-engine Piper Cherokee from Georgetown Municipal Airport at 9:40 a.m. Twenty minutes later, his plane crashed into the IRS building in north Austin that houses the criminal investigations unit, sparking a fire and sending two people to the hospital.

This in no way condones what he did, it just makes me wonder.  I had assumed the IRS would be extremely busy this time of year with tax time, it never occured to me the building would not have been used for that purpose.  Apparently the criminal investigations unit is far larger than I had ever imagined. 

John Brennan and the Flying Imams

From Front Page Magazine:

 It’s bad enough that John Brennan, President Obama’s national security deputy, thinks Gitmo jihadi recidivism is “not that bad.” But in his talk last week with Islamic law students at New York University, Brennan made even more reckless comments about our counterterrorism programs while pandering to one of the worst Muslim grievance-mongers and sharia peddlers in America.

During the question-and-answer session, Brennan welcomed a question from Omar Shahin. He identified himself as the head of the “North American Imams Federation.” What he didn’t mention was his role as the chief ringleader of the infamous flying imams. You remember them: They were the six Muslim clerics whose suspicious behavior — provocatively shouting “Allahu Akbar!” before boarding the plane, fanning out in the cabin before take-off, refusing to sit in their assigned seats, requesting seat-belt extenders, which they placed on the floor — led to their removal by a U.S. Airways crew in 2006.

h/t Jim H Little

Another of Those "Gee, who knew?" Moments

It's from the Associated Press and I'll just let the headline speak for itself:
Jobless claims rise unexpectedly
click the headline to read, if you really want to.

UN Climate Change Head Honcho Resigning

This is an AP story, guess it was getting a little warmer in his office.
Top UN climate official resigning
By ARTHUR MAX

AMSTERDAM — Top U.N. climate change official Yvo de Boer told The Associated Press Thursday that he was resigning after nearly four years, a period when governments struggled without success to agree on a new global warming deal.

His departure takes effect July 1, five months before 193 nations are due to reconvene in Mexico for another attempt to reach a binding worldwide accord on controlling greenhouse gases.

De Boer is known to be deeply disappointed with outcome of the last summit in Copenhagen, which drew 120 world leaders but failed to reach more than a vague promise by several countries to limit carbon emissions — and even that deal fell short of consensus.

But he denied to the AP that his decision to quit was a result of frustration with Copenhagen.

And - he didn't say he needed more time to spend with his family, or if he did it wasn't reported here.  Nothing was mentioned in the article about the scandals reported associated with the most recent report. It goes on to say:

De Boer said he will be a consultant on climate and sustainability issues for KPMG, a global accounting firm, and will be associated with several universities.

For a little more go here.

Climate law could cost Texas lots of jobs

More from the Houston Chronicle.
Study says climate law could cost Texas lots of jobs
By TOM FOWLER

Proposed U.S. climate change laws could cut Texas' manufacturing output by more than 5 percent and increase electric prices by as much as 52 percent by 2030, according to a study to be unveiled today by a conservative Texas think tank.

The state's energy-intensive industries — including oil and gas producers and chemical plants — would be hit particularly hard by laws aimed at putting a price tag on greenhouse gas emissions, said Margo Thorning, one of the authors of the study done for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. It will be released at a Houston news conference.

If pending legislation such as the Waxman-Markey bill is enacted, the Texas economy will experience slower growth and thousands of valuable jobs will be lost,” Thorning said, referring to the climate change bill passed by the House of Representatives last year. “Energy-intensive industries with foreign competition could reduce their operations in Texas and relocate in countries without similar mandates.”

Read the rest here.

What the Opposition is Up to

We don't hear much of this candidate on the Democratic side so I found this very interesting.  It's from the Houston Chronicle.
Shami camp fights gaffes, image issues
By R.G. RATCLIFFE AUSTIN BUREAU

Businessmen Clayton Williams and Tony Sanchez bought instant credibility in their runs for governor through large investments of their personal fortunes, but hair-care millionaire Farouk Shami isn't finding it so easy.

Political professionals say he isn't being taken seriously because he has shown a naivete about state government (he did not know the names of the state comptroller or attorney general when asked who they were), has had a series of miscommunications and had his professional campaign staff turn over twice. He fired one staff after they'd been on the job for 10 days, and the second quit Wednesday.

Even Shami's gaffes have gotten little media attention.

“It's a campaign where the only thing serious about it is it involves serious money,” said Dave McNeely, a former political columnist who now lectures at the University of Texas.

McNeely said if it was not for the $5 million Shami personally has lent his campaign, the media would not take him any more seriously than the five other long-shot candidates who have filed to contest the party's nomination with former Houston Mayor Bill White.

Shami received little more than a media blip from his statements that there may have been a government conspiracy in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or that white people do not want to work or that Texas needs foreign workers because a day without Mexicans is “like a day without sunshine.”

“People aren't taking him seriously, and there's a bleed-over in the media,” said UT journalism professor Bill Minu­tagli.

Of course, if he were a Republican or Conservative making gaffes we might hear more about it.  The highlighting and emphasis are from Rockport Conservative.

More About the Tea Party groups

This one by Lloyd Marcus in American Thinker. I love it!
Tea Party Movement Untamed

It appears that everyone and his brother is seeking to categorize, direct, and control the incredible, increasingly powerful phenomenon known as the Tea Party Movement. Some say that it is doomed to fail because it does not have a single charismatic leader. Some say that taking a stand on social issues such as abortion is death to the movement. "Stick to the Constitution" is their mantra. Some fret, "What about the infighting and groups splintering off to form new groups?" Ticket prices sparked controversy at the first Tea Party Convention. Some believe that the movement should forever remain grassroots. Some say that the GOP is hijacking the movement. Some say that we should not pick candidates. Some say that it is silly not to pick candidates.

During CNN and BBC radio interviews, I as a black conservative was confronted with,

"And what about those racist signs at the Tea Parties?"

Yes, the feelings, thoughts, and opinions of Tea Party patriots are all over the place. What a mess! Well, I say, how wonderful! I mean, think about it. Millions of Americans who have been passively watching our country slipping away for years are suddenly passionately seeking to restore it. So frankly, I do not care if the movement is a bit wild and free. Scott Brown's shocking, historic win in Massachusetts confirms that we are making a huge difference.

It's very good, read it all.

An Email from Tea Party Patriots

I receive a lot of emails from the Tea Party Patriots but this one needs to be seen by more people than just those signed up to receive their emails.  There are quite a few "talking heads" who could do with a good perusal of this and others of its kind. They are not saying anything we have not said and discussed on this blog, but they have a much larger mailing list.

TPP Statement on Tea Party Political Party

Dear Fellow Tea Party Patriots,

There is much talk of the formation of a third political party based on the tea party movement.

Tea Party Patriots is issuing this statement in order to make it clear that we are not associated with any attempts to form a third party. Additionally, we believe that such efforts are unproductive and unwise at this time. The history of third party movements in this country is one of division and defeat. We believe that it is instead time for all Americans to rise up and demand appropriate reform within their own parties. The mechanisms exist for citizens to participate in their parties, and to drive their parties in the right direction.

The Tea Party Patriots encourage all citizens to get involved in the party process, and to reshape their parties into something in which they may once again believe. This country does not belong to any one party, nor does it belong to the career politicians. This country belongs to the citizens. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "We have given you a republic madam, if you can keep it." The founders knew that it would be our sacred obligation as citizens to get involved, and to work hard to hold on to this great nation. We have much work to do, and future generations will look back in judgment. We hope you will join us in preserving the republic.

You are the heart and soul of the Tea Party Movement. Thank you for promoting the causes of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets with us!

Your Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator Team
Debbie Dooley, Mike Gaske, Kellen Giuda, Ryan Hecker, Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Meckler, Sally Oljar, Diana Reimer, Billie Tucker, and Dawn Wildman

It has to Start With US

The LA Times has an article we all need to read and make notes on.
'Tea party' activists filter into GOP at ground level
By Kathleen Hennessey

The conservative movement is urging its members to seek positions as Republican precinct representatives. Their goal is to remake the party - and U.S. politics - from within.

First there was the "tea party" protester. Now meet the Tea-publican.

Conservative activists who once protested the political establishment are now flooding the lowest level of the Republican Party apparatus hoping to take over the party they once scorned -- one precinct at a time.

Across the country, tea party groups that had focused on planning rallies are educating members on how to run for GOP precinct representative positions. The representatives help elect county party leaders, who write the platform and, in some places, determine endorsements.

"That's where it all starts. That's where the process of picking candidates begins. It's not from [GOP leader] Michael Steele's office down. It's from the ground up," said Philip Glass, whose National Precinct Alliance is among the groups advocating the strategy. "The party is over for the old guard."

Read it all here.

The AP has a long article on the Climategate exposure

And the Washington Post has an article, that if not damning is at least telling the liberal world that something is afoot and it isn't going to be good for those whose religion is climate change. The AP article is not as critical as any of the British papers but it is a start for the American MSM.
First the Associated Press:
Scientists seek better way to do climate report
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON – A steady drip of unsettling errors is exposing what scientists are calling "the weaker link" in the Nobel Peace Prize-winning series of international reports on global warming.

The flaws — and the erosion they've caused in public confidence — have some scientists calling for drastic changes in how future United Nations climate reports are done. A push for reform being published in Thursday's issue of a prestigious scientific journal comes on top of a growing clamor for the resignation of the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Now for the Washington Post:

Series of missteps by climate scientists threatens climate-change agenda  
By Juliet Eilperin and David A. Fahrenthold

With its 2007 report declaring that the "warming of the climate system is unequivocal," the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won a Nobel Prize -- and a new degree of public trust in the controversial science of global warming.

But recent revelations about flaws in that seminal report, ranging from typos in key dates to sloppy sourcing, are undermining confidence not only in the panel's work but also in projections about climate change. Scientists who have pointed out problems in the report say the panel's methods and mistakes -- including admitting Saturday that it had overstated how much of the Netherlands was below sea level -- give doubters an opening.

This still doesn't give us details, but it is shining some light on the idea there may be a problem at the IPCC.

Another in the Washington Post with a lighter side:
Global warming's snowball fight
by Dana Milbank

The back-to-back snowstorms in the capital were an inconvenient meteorological phenomenon for Al Gore. ....

....Al Gore, for one, seems to realize it's time for a new tactic. New TV ads released during last week's blizzards by Gore's climate advocacy group say nothing about climate science. They show workers asking their senators for more jobs from clean energy.

That's a good sign. If the Washington snows persuade the greens to put away the slides of polar bears and pine beetles and to keep the focus on national security and jobs, it will have been worth the shoveling.

How Much Damage can Brennan Do To his reputation?

 Power Line pundit Paul Mirengoff has a post on him and his recent statements.  Here are a few of his comments:

 "Have we ever had a high level national security official who made as many foolish comments as John Brennan, President Obama's chief counter-terrorism adviser? I can't recall one."

"Brennan's latest words of wisdom pertain to the issue of recidivism among former terrorist detainees."

"You know, the American penal system, the recidivism rate is up to something about 50 percent or so, as far as return to crime. Twenty percent isn't that bad,"

Brennan may be agnostic on how to deal with potential "ticking time-bomb" scenarios. But at least he's clear that there's no real problem with the large-scale release of terrorists where we can expect one in five of them to engage in future terrorism

He ends with this

Obama should relieve Brennan of his counter-terrorism duties so that he can devote more time to visiting Islamic centers.

I've left much of the article out of this post, go read it all.

Time for Tea Party to Walk the Talk: Part 2

This is Part II of my essay on why the Tea Party should remain small and localized to maintain its momentum, strength and impact.

If the Tea Party tries to go “national” it will collapse on its own weight like the Democratic and Republican parties are doing now. Except it will collapse faster and more easily because it is new and amateurish. And then it will be absorbed back into the three groups -- Dems, GOP and independents -- because people will be disillusioned, once again, by the political process that does not work, but keeps getting repeated. Doing the same thing gets the same results.

Scott Brown was not elected because of the Massachusetts Tea Party. He was elected because people wanted to say no to government’s socialist trend – specifically the movements to take over healthcare, automobiles and energy.

Currently history looks like it's going to be repeated with the Tea Party. It will be a paragraph in history books ten years from now. If we act now, it can still exist in ten years and continue to help keep this country on track. But it will take the same discipline the Tea Party movement is asking of our Congress -- to limit yourselves.

Desire to grow bigger is part of the problem. It is not the solution. People think "we must do more!" Not true. There is huge power and sense in doing nothing. Being "the party of 'No'" was the most powerful thing for the Republicans this past year. Refusing to buy in to the Left's panicked cry of "We Must Do Something!" was wonderful, and the right thing to do with “Comprehensive Healthcare” takeover and Cap n Trade (energy takeover) movements. Those campaigns were a jump off a political cliff into a new regulatory depth and power over individuals and private business that the government simply should not have. And it was stopped by saying no.

Limited government starts with the individual. And it’s time for the Tea Party to limit itself to a few basic tenets in small, localized groups, and keep itself more like states – not a federal government. Do not "go national". Don't try to be a party competiting with the Big Two. The Tea Party should limit its focus to rallying more and more people to make the system work again -- by getting more people to be active in politics – starting with the simplest of activities: VOTING.

Look for part 3 next week.

Links on the Climate Gate Scam

It is proving more and more scandalous. When I think of the money we could have saved that has been spent on the religion of global warming AKA climate change and as well as the greenie religion that grew out of it, I am afraid my blood pressure shoots up into real global alert territory.

Here are just todays headlines and links:

World may not be warming, say scientists

Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995

The Greening Of Africa Destroys IPCC Credibility

Many meteorologists break with science of global warming

Climategate's Phil Jones Confesses to Climate Fraud

And for all the latest from the scientist check out Watts Up With That.

It's Not Just Medina

From the Houston Chronicle:

GOP governor hopeful denies conspiracy, but Democratic candidate Shami not so sure
By JOE HOLLEY

...About the time Medina was trying to clarify her position, her Democratic counterpart, Houston hair-products magnate Farouk Shami, offered up the same kind of remarks she was trying to disavow.

In an interview during a taping of Inside Texas Politics on Dallas' WFAA-TV, Shami refused to discount so-called “truther” theories that suggest the U.S. government played a role in the terrorist attacks.

“I'm not sure,” said Shami, who was born in Palestine and has lived in the United States since 1965. “I am not going to really judge or answer about something I'm not really sure about. But the rumors are there that there was a conspiracy. True or not? It's hard to believe, you know, what happened. It's really hard to comprehend what happened. Maybe. I'm not sure.”

Shami also said during the interview that he cannot find many white people willing to work, so he hires Hispanics and African Americans instead.

I'm pretty sure he is not one of those "ultra conservatives" referred to in the last post.

To read the whole article go here.

Republican primary ballot propositions

From the Corpus Christi Caller Times, to see their commentary on the "ultra conservative" such as this:

The five initiatives are longtime projects of the ultraconservative arm of the GOP, political scientists said.

Read it all, in the meantime here are the propositions:

Ballot Proposition 1:

Photo ID

The Texas Legislature should make it a priority to protect the integrity of our election process by enacting legislation that requires voters to provide valid photo identification in order to cast a ballot in any and all elections conducted in the state of Texas.

Ballot Proposition 2:

Controlling government growth

Every government body in Texas should be required to limit any annual increase in its budget and spending to the combined increase of population and inflation unless it first gets voter approval to exceed the allowed annual growth or in the case of an official emergency.

Ballot Proposition 3:

Cutting federal income taxes

In addition to aggressively eliminating irresponsible federal spending, Congress should empower American citizens to stimulate the economy by Congress cutting federal income taxes for all federal taxpayers, rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars on so-called “federal economic stimulus.”

Ballot Proposition 4:

Public acknowledgment of God

The use of the word “God,” in prayers and the 10 commandments, should be allowed at public gatherings and public educational institutions, as well as be permitted on government buildings and property.

Ballot Proposition 5:

Sonograms

The Texas Legislature should enact legislation requiring a sonogram to be performed and shown to each mother about to undergo a medically unnecessary, elective abortion.

Should we ask a Politician to Commit Political Suicide?

That is the question Walter Williams is asking and discussing in this article From the American Spectator. After writing what the constitution actually says,

"Who is to blame for a federal government that spends a third of our income, regulates most every aspect of our lives, and has snuffed out the personal liberty envisioned by our founders? It is tempting to blame politicians whom we elect and send to Washington.

It is tempting to blame politicians whom we elect and send to Washington. I shared that view until a luncheon conversation I had with the late Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina during the 1980s. ...

....he asked me to tell him how could he remain senator from North Carolina and vote against crop subsidies. He said that if he voted against crop subsidies, North Carolinians would run him out of office and elect someone else whom I’d find worse than he."

My conversation with Sen. Helms was an epiphany of sorts: how reasonable is it for us to ask or expect a politician to commit what he deems to be political suicide?

Go to the American Spectator to read the entire article. It is up to the usual standards and fine writing of Walter E. Williams.

The Wisdom of Harry S. Truman

From the Urgent Agenda blog:

WONDERFUL QUOTE – AT 5:23 P.M. ET: Reader Don Hodun refers us to this quote from David McCullough's biography of Harry S. Truman. It's from the section in which McCullough describes Truman staff members' view of their boss:

And all of them, it seems, admired his sense of history, which they saw as one of his greatest strengths. "If a man is acquainted with what other people have experienced at this desk," Truman would say sitting in the Oval Office, "it will be easier for him to go through a similar experience. It is ignorance that causes most mistakes. The man who sits here ought to know his American history, at least." When Truman talked of presidents past - Jackson, Polk, Lincoln - it was as if he had known them personally. If ever there was a "clean break from all that had gone before" he would say, the result would be chaos.

Mr. Hodun writes, "I cannot help but think our current president's apparent disregard for history and precedent makes ol' Harry rather prescient."

I agree with Mr. Hodun.

Victor Davis Hanson Couldn't be More Succinct

He always has such a clear way of thinking.  This is from VDH Private Papers:
It is short and to the point so I am printing the whole thing.
The New Commandments on the Animal Farm Barn Wall
by Victor Davis Hanson

1. Savvy Americans always see through the fraud in the end and do the right thing are infantile and don’t know what’s good for them.

2. Democracy is finally working again in decline and the people are ungovernable.

3. The filibuster is a much-needed check on the Bush-Cheney steamrolling nexus evil.

4. Bloggers and pundits overwhelmingly support much-needed progressive change are a D.C. echo chamber we should ignore.

5. Congress has become a Culture of Corruption is full of hard-working servants who more than earn the perks they sometime receive.

6. Americans and their politicians should listen to brave voices of dissent within the intelligence community must support in bipartisan fashion their government’s policies against terrorism.

7. Bipartisanship is simply caving to Republican obstructionism a way to get the country moving again.

8. Trying KSM in New York is proof of the resiliency of the American system problematic.

9. Guantanamo Bay will be shut down a year from the inauguration sometime, perhaps, in the future.

10. Deficits are proof of the reckless Bush-Cheney fiscal policies necessary stimuli designed to move our country in a fairer and more equitable direction.

11. Wall Street bankers are greedy fat cats savvy businessmen whom we don’t begrudge.

12. C-Span should air health-care debates should never be allowed to air insider horse-trading will air bipartisan exchanges with the president.

Like I said, he just couldn't be more succinct, plus he is just so much fun to read.