Sunday, February 28, 2010

Just once I'd like to hear a Congressman talk like this

The of the whole of the Left was overcome with the vapors when Joe Wilson said the words "You lie!".  Hearts raced and blood boiled during the the SOTU address when Judge Samuel Alito dared to silently mouth the word "Not true.".  Amateurs, the both of them.  This is how you face down on incompetent president:




H/T to Jonah Goldberg @ The Corner

Nancy Pelosi: Just a Tea Party kinda gal

Pelosi and the Tea Party 'Share Views'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has much in common with the Tea Party. The speaker now says she shares views with movement she dismissed last summer as being “Astroturf” -- her suggestion that the grassroots of the Tea Party were a creation of the Republican Party.


Maybe it's me, but, somehow the words just don't mean the same thing coming from Nancy.

For more on discussion on Nancy Pelosi go to Potluck.

Rubio talks common sense on energy

H/T to Humberto Fontova at Babalu for the video of Rubio espousing common sense solutions to the energy problems this country faces.  Question:  are we going to be an "all of the above" country that enjoys energy independence or continue to allow a vocal minority to stand between us and our full potential as an energy leader in the world?  Drill. baby, drill!


Ladies Only "Rule 5" Sunday

Well ladies, it is Rule 5 Sunday which means that to read our conservative brother's posts today we will have to slosh through a veritable mountain of mammary.  Personally, if you've seen one set of silicone you've seen 'em all. 

I've come to believe that for men "sexiness" is based purely on physical attributes.  Otherwise, how would you explain such potty mouthed, dumb as a door knob and ill mannered, dare I say it-bimbos, (think Megan Fox) whose images often "grace" the conservative male blogosphere? 

To be sure, women appreciate physical attractiveness-alot.  But for women, true VAVOOMiness encompasses intellect, ethics, manners and humor as well as cute as bug in a ruginess.  It is the "whole package" that sets our hearts aflutter.  So ladies, here is my Rule 5-no nakedness, lots of yumminess:





  Andy Garcia



This Cuban born actor risked his career by bringing his movie The Lost City to the “big screen”. The movie, produced, directed and starring Garcia portrayed the reality of the Cuban revolution in contradiction to Hollywood’s preferred near orgasmic admiration of Castro and the murderous Che. An excellent interview of Garcia can be found here
 
 
 
Stephen Hayes
 
Writer for the Weekly Standard, author of Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President and don’t miss panelist on Fox’s Special Report w/Bret Baier. Hayes, along with Charles Krauthammer, brings reason and logic to the panel as opposed to the often emotion based responses of fellow panelist Juan Williams.
 
 
 
 
 

Glenn Reynolds
 
Reynolds, of the must read Instapundit  and must see PJTV is a law professor, author and bacon connoisseur  who, as a proponent of smaller government and greater personal liberty has done an incredible job of promoting the Tea Party movement through his site. Adding to “yummy factor”  Reynolds is living proof that a strong, confident, intelligent man will be attracted to strong, confident, intelligent woman.  


Marco Rubio


The son of Cuban immigrants and former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives,  faced an uphill climb when he announced that would run against Charlie Crist for the Republican nomination for the US Senate. When told that he could not overcome Crist’s name recognition and campaign contribution advantage, Rubio took to the road and met with every Conservative group who would have him. As a result he has smashed Crist in every single straw poll taken to date and in the latest Rasmussen Poll leads Crist by twenty points, 51% to 31%.

The NRSC, who backed Crist, remains silent.

Watch Rubio’s speech at this year’s CPAC

Mark Steyn



Writer, critic and the man who puts the “oh” in my “oh-la-la” tackles the serious issues that face us with a rapier wit that always amuses as he educates on otherwise dry subjects such as demographics, Islam and conservativism. A favorite Steyn quote (also one of Pundette’s)

When a society loses its memory, it descends inevitably into dementia.

Watch Steyn on Conversations with History.

 


 
Fortunately, there is no shortage of sexy conservative men.  I'll have more of them next Sunday.

"You can't wish it away" VS "We can't control nature"

Al Gore took the New York Times in an effort to save his income stream and the perfect answer to his foolishness came from an unlikely source:



“We can’t control nature.”

Unintentionable pearls of widsom-you've got to love it.  Does this mean that our President, who has pushed Global Warming, on a gut level knows that the theory is hooey?

Jules Crittenden has a much better answer to Gore than I could ever compose.  A brief excerpt:

Personally, once they’re done failing to accomplish the health care thing, I have to say that if they fail to accomplish nothing else, I’d like to see them fail to accomplish the warming thing. That will really croak them in the 2010 midterms, and if it drags out anything like health care, still could be a real problem for Obama when he has to start gearing up for 2012.

Gore spends the next few graphs yapping on about the cap-and-trade thing, making excuses for why a bad idea has gone nowhere. Then, he gives a big shout out to Kerry, Graham and Lieberman, who plan to pushing this thing next week. I’m looking forward to the minority grilling … if Dems still hold the Senate … when Al gets called in to testify. I’m also looking forward to those hearings on which warmal scientist lied about what, and who was grinding what axe, putting the fix in to spike which scientific papers. Maybe they can talk about research funding while they’re at it. But that will have to wait till the Dems lose the Senate, at which point Al can still be called in to explain himself.
Personally, I look forward to the day when like con artists before him, we see pictures of Gore led to jail in handcuffs.

Read Crittenden's takedown.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Selective abortion and female genocide

My daughter, my first child, was born in Turkey.  I was thousands of miles from home and scared to death.  I felt like I had no one to talk to about all the conflicting feelings.  For the older women on base pregnancy was old hat.  Honestly, I was so ignorant about pregnancy and motherhood that I felt silly talking to other women.  And when I did the conversation always came back to labor which resulted in the other women engaging in one upping each other with stories of how long their labor had been, how painful it had been, etc.  Despite all that, I found myself breathlessly, completely in love with the child that grew inside me.

At the same time I came to know a Turkish taxi driver whose wife was also pregnant with her first child.  The man was over the moon with joy over his wife's pregnancy.  I never met her but through him we shared our experiences during those months.  Just days before I would give birth he picked me up again.  During the ride he told me that his wife had given birth and that the child had died.  I was devastated for him and his wife and started crying as I told him how very sorry I was.  He pulled the cab over and turned around in the seat to talk to me.  I will never forget him trying to comfort me with these words, "It is okay.  It was a girl."

Mark Steyn, writing at The Corner:

When state-of-the-art totalitarianism meets primitive village culture, the result is industrial-scale depravity. These are the words of a young Chinese female university graduate:

Mother love is supposed to be such a great thing, but so many babies are abandoned, and it’s their mothers who do it. They’re ignorant. They feel differently about emotions from the way you do. Where I come from, people talk about smothering a baby girl or just throwing it[!]into a stream … to be eaten by dogs, as if it were a joke. How much do you think these women loved their babies?
Sex selection abortion is far too common in much of the world and not just China, whose "one child" policy has led to the deaths of literally millions of baby girls.  Consider this
 
These practices arise in areas where cultural norms value male children over female children. Societies that practice sex selection in favor of males are quite common, especially in countries like the People's Republic of China, Korea, Taiwan, and India.

In 2005, 90 million women were estimated to be "missing" in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea and Taiwan alone, apparently due to sex-selective abortion. The existence of the practice appears to be determined by culture, rather than by economic conditions, because such deviations in sex ratios do not exist in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean
"Missing"?  Is that a fluffy PC way of saying murdered?  Well, as long as it is occurring somewhere over there it really doesn't effect us now does it?  It's not like anyone is advocating for it here.  Or are they?
 
Since 2005, test kits such as the Baby Gender Mentor have become available over the internet. These tests have been criticized for making it easier to perform a sex-selective abortion earlier in a pregnancy. Concerns have also been raised about their accuracy.

While sex-selective abortion is controversial, even within the pro-choice community, some commentators have championed it as a means to empower women and increase familial happiness. For example, bioethicist Jacob M. Appel has written, "Mothers who want boys should have boys and mothers who want girls should have girls. Pre-implanting diagnosis offers the promising of increasing the number of children who are loved and wanted. I look forward to the day when every son knows that his parents wanted a son and every daughter knows that her parents wanted a daughter." (emphasis added)
I have no idea how many American undergo sex-selective abortions nor of those who do which sex is most often selected for termination.  The practice of selective abortion is only banned in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Illinois in the United States.  I also note that a google search of "Planned Parenthood and selective abortion" and "NOW and selective abortion" didn't result in a finding of either organization taking a position on the practice.  Does silence equal acceptance?

Abortion is an evil practice and selective abortion magnifies the evil.  "It's okay.  It was a girl" should be repugnant to every parent of a daughter and it's irony should not be lost on any woman.

Sen. Jim Bunning stands alone

Sen. Jim Bunning, from my former home state of Kentucky, stands alone.  From Redstate:

Last night, while most Americans were watching the Olympics, Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) was standing strong for the American people on the floor of the United States Senate. Oh, it won’t be portrayed as such - believe me. But when no other Senator, including anyone in Republican leadership, would stand up, Senator Bunning took to the floor to object to a unanimous consent request to call up and pass the House-passed extension of a number of expiring so-called “stimulus” and other benefit programs, because Bunning dared to ask the simple question of how these extensions would be paid for.
Gee, when did we start worrying about how to pay for things?  Isn't that what China is for?

Some personal information just so nobody thinks that I am blowing the very real and very serious problem of unemployment off.  For the last ten plus years I have worked for a credit union whose membership is open only to labor union members and their families.  We are seeing nearly as many unemployment checks as paychecks and there is no end in sight.  I see the effects of unemployment every single day.  These are people that I have come to care very deeply about and I know exactly how difficult these times are for them.  And this is why the words of Sen. Jay Rockefeller make me angry:

“It is simply unfair for one senator to attempt to hold the Senate hostage on this issue,” Durbin said. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) told POLITICO that it’s “just awful,” and that Bunning’s objection could turn off televisions for millions of households with satellite dishes, since the package has provisions dealing with that issue.“You’ve got to be pretty mad about something to stop that,” Rockefeller said of Bunning. (emphasis added)
What, pray tell, does the ability to watch TV have to do with unemployment?  Unemployment is a serious issue, watching TV isn't.  Why are these two things tied together?  That is the problem with Washington.  Our Congressmen come up with a bill to deal with a specific subject and then load the bill up with nonsense so that if you object to the nonsense it affects the specific issue the bill was created to address.

Sen. Bunning is a champion for standing up against the "pass it and the taxpayers will pay for it" attitude that permeates Washington.  Millions of American families are making choices and setting priorities for the family budget.  Should a family choose to pay for cable TV over buying groceries?  Of course not.  That would be irresponsible.  It is no less irresponsible for the federal government to expect taxpayers to pony for their little pet projects. 

Sen. Bunning is asking a very simple question, "how are we going to pay for it?".  I would add to that, "what are we paying for?". 

Our government needs to take a lesson from our families and start setting some priorities.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Uh oh, they're on to you, Al

Have you ever sat through a shareholder's meeting?  Trust me, having your wisdom teeth removed is less painful.  There is always that one person who refuses to dispense with reading of the last meeting's minutes.  Cold. Hard. Miserable. Misery.  And that's before they start going over the financial statements.  And yet...

At the first opportunity for audience participation just several minutes into the proceeding, a longtime and well-known Apple shareholder--some would say gadfly--who introduced himself as Shelton Ehrlich, stood at the microphone and urged against Gore's re-election to the board. Gore "has become a laughingstock. The glaciers have not melted," Ehrlich said, referring to Gore's views on global warming. "If his advice he gives to Apple is as faulty as his views on the environment then he doesn't need to be re-elected."
Well, hot damn!  With any luck this is the first in a long line of people standing up and saying that Al Gore is a phony and bad for business.  He deserves to be called out in public.  Bless you, Shelton Ehrlich, wherever you are.

h/t Another Black Conservative

Joe Biden: Obama's personal Homer Simpson


Totally copped from the other Carol.  She is the best!

What do Obama and Roman Polanski have in common?

So what is the general reaction to yesterday's ObamaCare health care summit?  The titles tell the tale.

From the Right:

Full speed off the cliff

Healthcare Summit To Nowhere

 Health Care In Spinsville

 We’ll have to beat Obama’s “fall-back” position, too.

“A Ponzi Scheme That Would Make Bernie Madoff Proud”

 Health Care Summit Review: ‘I Laughed, I Cried, It Was Better Than Cats!’

I think it is fair to say that Conservatives expected a whole lot of nothing from the President and bless his nose picking heart, that is exactly what he delivered.  The Left never had any intention of compromising, working in the spirit of bi-partisanship or any of that blah, blah, blah, they were yada, yada, yadaing about.  Their attitude can be summed up thusly:

Majority rules: Let's vote...and let's move on

Speaking of the majority, what about the majority of Americans who have made it quite clear that they don't want a takeover of our health care system?  The Dems are telling them to "get over it."

Obama has become the Roman Polanski of nationalize health care.  He just won't accept that "no" really means "no".

Is Charlie going Indie?

From the Sun Sentinel:

Will Charlie Crist ditch the GOP for the U.S.Senate?

Two highly placed and independent sources, speaking strictly on background, tell me that Gov. Charlie Crist is preparing to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent in the race for the U.S. Senate.

With Crist trailing Marco Rubio by 18 points in the latest polls, the Crist campaign has been in panic mode, launching attack after attack on the conservative Rubio.

Yesterday, the attacks reached a crescendo with the Crist campaign, and/or his disgraced Republican Party of Florida thug bootlickers, leaking Rubio's credit card expenses from his time as speaker of the Florida House.

According to published reports, the former RPOF chair, the bovine bully-boy buffoon Jim Greer, spent more in a month than Rubio did in his entire two years as state House speaker. If all the Crist campaign has on Rubio is $53.49 at Winn-Dixie in Miami for ``food” and a couple of plane tickets for his wife, then it's game, set and match, as far as the Republican primary for Senate is concerned.

From what's been made public, Rubio's credit card expenses make him the most frugal of the Republican leaders with RPOF credit cards.
Charlie Crist is a political opportunist who left the principals of the Republican party behind a long time ago, assuming he ever really embraced them to begin with.  He can't win the Republican primary on merit so he is stooping to a smear campaign against Rubio.  Problem is, there is nothing to smear and Crist has only succeeded in making himself look puny, pathetic and if possible, more desperate than usual.

Leave the Republican party, Charlie.  Don't let the door bump your ass on the way out.

Obama to Great Britain: Bend over

On April 2, 1982, Argentina invaded and occupied Great Britain's Falkland Islands.  Initially the United States tried to negotiate with Argentina but when that didn't work out we threw the weight of the United States military behind our friends and allies, the British.

Fast forward to yesterday's headline in the Telegraph written by Toby Young:

Et tu, Barack? America betrays Britain in her hour of need

Young writes:

It was a headline I never expected to read: “US refuses to endorse British sovereignty in Falklands oil dispute.” Washington has declined to back Britain in its dispute with Argentina over drilling rights in the waters surrounding the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands. President Obama’s position is one of strict neutrality, refusing to take sides. According to the State Department:

We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality. The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party. (emphasis added)
My response to Young is and this surprises you, why?  What has Obama done since taking office (or before, for that matter) that gave you guys the idea that he gives any merit to the long standing friendship and alliance between our countries?  Remember, Obama comes from the Zinn school of social justice (and revisionist history) where Great Britain, like the United States, represents imperialist oppressors.  He feels no loyalty to Britain and little for his own.

For this alliance to survive, both countries must recognise their obligations and, from time to time, that involves one of us setting aside more localised concerns for the sake of the cause. Tony Blair would have preferred it if President Bush had been prepared to wait for a second UN resolution before launching the invasion of Iraq, but he decided that Britain should follow America into battle nevertheless. He recognised that the preservation of the Atlantic alliance had to be prioritised above all else, both for our sake and the sake of the world.

In return, we naturally expect America to side with us when it comes to our own territorial disputes — and this element of quid pro quo was recognised by Ronald Reagan when he backed Margaret Thatcher in the Falklands War. It wasn’t in America’s regional interests to side with us, but Reagan knew the terms of the deal: It was your country, right or wrong. You don’t abandon your closest ally in her hour of need.
No, you don't abandon your friends.  I would hope that Sec. Clinton would recognize this but then again, hers is but a ceremonial position of late.  These are difficult times for the United States and by extension, for our traditional allies.  I would note that many in Great Britain like their counterparts in Europe hailed the election of the Anointed One.  Sadly, now that they've found that Obama is a lesser god it is too late to get the cowboy back.

I imagine our next president on his "apology tours".  But unlike Obama he won't be grovelling before Mid Eastern terrorists.  Our next president will be apologizing for actual wrongs against Poland, the Czech Republic and yes, Great Britain. 

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Paul Ryan wows at the health care summit

I kept the health care summit streaming on my computer at work today.  Honestly, it was pretty much what I had expected.  I knew that the Republicans were ready to present their ideas and I was confident that they would present their ideas well.  I wasn't disappointed.  However, I also believed going in to it that it was basically a show.  I had no hope that the President was going in with any intention of incorporating the Republican ideas in to "his" bill.  Sadly, I was right. 

Ruby Slippers, posting at Potluck, wrote on Rep. Paul Ryan giving the gathering a truly awesome lesson on the math tricks buried in ObamaCare:



Enjoy the roundups over at Potluck.  I'm taking my killer headache and putting it to bed.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Jeb Bush's Newsmax interview

I found the following video at Talking Points Memo in a post titled Jeb Bush On Sarah Palin: If She Only Had A Brain...  Now that's not very nice.  In fact, if you read Bush's words at TPM you could easily come to the conclusion that he is not a Palin fan.  But if you watch the video a different impression emerges.  However, Bush does have some very damning words for a fellow Republican-Charlie Crist.  Do watch the entire video, I am a Jeb fan and believe he's a treasure, but if you must, skip to 23:00 where the fun begins.

Don't like the message? Make a racist remark.

From Newsbusters:

MSNBC and CNBC contributor — and professed Charlie Crist admirer — Donny Deutsch used racially charged language on Monday night, smearing Republican senatorial candidate Marco Rubio as a “coconut.” Deutsch appeared on HLN’s Joy Behar Show and used the word, which both the New York Times and Urban Dictionary define as a “person who is tan on the outside” and “white on the inside.” Rubio is the son of Cuban exiles. [Audio available here.]

Deutsch employed the derogatory term while hitting politicians with no experience. He noted the success of such candidates and derided, “…You almost need that blank piece of paper. That’s the new model. Like, you know, this coconut Rubio down in Florida.”
Lest you're not up on the latest slurs that Lefties use to describe free-thinking (read:  Conservative)
peoples who refuse to get in lock step with the "progressive" agenda, Michelle Malkin has a primer:

If you are a conservative with Latino/Pacific Islander/Filipino heritage, you’re a coconut (brown on the outside, white on the inside).

If you are a conservative with Asian heritage, you’re a Twinkie or banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside).

And if you are a conservative who happens to be black, you are an Oreo (black on the outside, white on the inside).

Okay, who is getting hungry?
Let's not forget that women like Malkin and Condolezza Rice are a twofer for Lefties like Douche Deutsch-they get attacked on their gender and their race.  I assume that when one is, as Malkin said, stuck in Sophomore year, it is easier to make racist and sexist remarks than to discuss actual ideas.  Deutsch went on after the "coconut" remark to call Tea Partiers racist and I quite certain that the irony was completely lost on him.

Look, on the Left they describe Conservatives as a bunch of old, white men.  That is their story and they are going to cling to it till Hell freezes over.  If someone doesn't fit their narrative they make them fit. 

Note to anyone who might claim that Deutsch isn't a Lefty because he is a Crist supporter, I'll respond as soon as I quit laughing.

Note to Charlie Crist, nice friends you got there.



Tuesday, February 23, 2010

It's all about the O

From Dan Riehl:

Obama looks like he's fighting hard today. And he is. But that's only because his back is against a wall without very much support. If he loses this latest round in the health care debate, anything holding him up will likely collapse and the whole of his first two years in office and image are going to plunge right off the edge. Obama isn't fighting for health care, he's fighting for his own political life. And he appears to be willing to sacrifice Democrat majorities in both Congresses to preserve what he can for himself at their expense.
And Pat Austin quoting Krauthammer:

We've never done it for a bill of this scope...however it's not illegal. Obama is trying this not because he wants to placate the left and show he gave it the college try...he wants to be the father of national health care...It's about ideology and politics.
Obama likes to say that it isn't about him.  Sure it is.  Everything is about Obama in Obama's world.  Everything about Obama screams "look at me."  He has his ego invested in getting health care passed.  What else has he got?  Without health care his legacy will be debt, deficits and unemployment.  Look at it this way, would you want to go down as worse than Jimmie Carter? 

So, where will we go when we need health care? Updated

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams who decided to have the heart surgery he needed in Florida rather than his native Canada. Mark Steyn wrote this today:

If I were minded to make a health care TV ad, I'd rustle up the Premier of Newfoundland's interview on NTV last night. Justifying his decision to eschew the pleasures of the monopoly government health care system he presides over for heart surgery in a Florida hospital, Danny Williams told his fellow Newfs:

It's my health, it's my choice.
As Scaramouche points out, there's your slogan.

By the way, the Canadian state does not accept that proposition, which is why, if a Canadian such as Mr Williams wishes to exercise his choice he is obliged to leave the country
Now that Canadian style health care is coming to the States where will we go for care we can't receive or can't receive in a timely basis? I for one will not go to Cuba. I don't care how glorious Michael Moore makes it sound.

Cross posted at Potluck

Update:

Here's a useful link from the comments at Potluck:

Obama Health Care: Doctors Will “Tweet” Patients

Monday, February 22, 2010

Absorb this

pjMom posting a comment at Potluck:
Imagine your family’s finances if you spent and borrowed like Washington: you’d owe $60 in credit-card loans for every $100 of income. Every month you’d pay back a little but borrow even more. In 10 years, you’d owe $87 for every $100 you made. At some point you’d hand off the debt to your kids. If they worked until 2035, they’d owe more than $180 for every $100 they earned. In 2050, your grandkids would owe more than $320. By 2080 they’d owe seven times their earnings. Of course, lenders would cut them off well before then, and your family would be ruined. But this is the path your government is on right now.

–Rep. Paul Ryan in Newsweek.
In 2050 my grandchildren will be 46 and 49 years old.  I imagine they will have children that they are trying to put through college.  How can we possibly saddle them and their generation with that kind of debt?  It is nothing less than immoral.

When did “eclectic” come to mean "It's time to reward our Masters"?

This is a joke, right?  Personally, I never had much hope for the federal deficit panel but seriously, this is a joke.  Right?  I know Michelle Malkin is laughing:

Ow. Ow. Ow. I am laughing so hard I can’t breathe. Can. Hardly. Type.

WaPo brings us the beyond-satire news that the White House wants to put SEIU president Andy Stern on the federal deficit panel. Now, it’s not just a dog-and-pony show. It’s a dog-pony-and-thug show. I love how WaPo uses the word “eclectic” to describe the choice. “Eclectic” is the new synonym for corruptocrat:

Eclectic trio of candidates considered for Obama deficit panel:

Republican David M. Cote, the chief executive of Honeywell International, has emerged as a top contender for a slot on President Obama’s commission to bring the nation’s soaring debt under control, a senior administration official said Saturday.

The White House is also considering appointing two Democrats: Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, and Alice M. Rivlin, a budget expert and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve who recently launched a separate, independent effort to draft a bipartisan plan to stabilize government borrowing…

…Stern and Rivlin are well-known in Washington. Stern is president of the 2.2 million-member SEIU and an ardent supporter of Obama’s health initiative.
Yeah, I bet Andy Stern is well-known in Washington.  And particularly at the White House.  I guess the prevailing thought in the Obama administration is heck, since Karl Marx isn't available Andy Stern is the next best thing.

If this isn't a joke it can only mean one thing:  Obama is paying back his piper. 

Thanks to Jill for the heads up.

More news from CharlieLand

Seems my esteemed governor is plum peacock proud he took those stimulus dollars:

Crist says he has no regrets about accepting federal stimulus funds

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) said he has no regrets about accepting stimulus funds for his state.

Crist, who's locked in a very competitive primary challenge from his right being waged by former Florida state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R), defended accepting assistance from the $787 billion Recovery Act signed into law a year ago.

Accepting stimulus money was the "responsible, right thing to do," Crist told reporters at the White House on Monday.

"It puts people above politics," Crist said.

When asked about whether he had any regrets, Crist said he had "none whatsoever."

"I don't apologize for it at all," Crist added. "It was the right thing to do. We needed the money."

Crist's self-defense comes as Democrats seek to go after Republicans who had opposed the stimulus only to have touted projects to result from the act.

Crist was one of the few Republican political figures in the country to openly back the stimulus package, having notably appeared with President Barack Obama in Florida last year to promote the stimulus.

Rubio has used Crist's support for the stimulus as a cudgel in his conservative challenge to the governor in Florida's Senate GOP primary.

Crist shot back at his primary challenger, whom some polls have showed him trailing, saying Rubio's criticism is irrelevant.

"It doesn't matter. Not one iota," Crist said. "He's wrong, and I'm right."
It is true that the stimulus money helped the public sector but the private sector, well, not so much.  And make no mistake, those of us in the private sector are taking note.  From Daniel Foster at the National Review:

Poll: Rubio 54, Crist 36

Bad, bad news for Charlie Crist. From Rasmussen via TampaBay.com:

Rubio now carries male GOP voters by a two-to-one margin but break even with Crist among women. The governor also breaks even among moderate Republicans, but conservatives in the party favor his challenger now by more than 40 points.

It’s telling that Florida Republican Primary voters are now evenly divided over Crist’s performance as governor. Forty-eight percent (48%) approve of the job he is doing, down eight points from January, but 49% don’t approve. Those numbers included eight percent (8%) who strongly approve of how Crist is governing and 20% who strongly disapprove. Keep in mind that those figures are among Primary Voters in the Governor’s own political party.
When Crist took the stimulus money he thought it was a win/win.  He could use the money to plug holes in the state budget rather than make the necessary cuts needed to keep the state out of the red and he assumed that by the time the whole house of cards came crashing down that he would be sitting safely in the US Senate.  Now he has no choice but defend the indefensible.

We still have six months to go until the primary.  Those six months favor Rubio.

So what's left?

Prof. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection caught my eye with this:

Does This Mean My House Never Will Be Waterfront?

 I really didn't care when they revoked the claim that the glaciers would disappear. I don't live near glaciers.

But now the seas are not going to rise? My dream of a waterfront home is melting away faster than the glaciers:

Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings.The study, published in 2009 in Nature Geoscience, one of the top journals in its field, confirmed the conclusions of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It used data over the last 22,000 years to predict that sea level would rise by between 7cm and 82cm by the end of the century....
Not to worry Professor, I've got a prime piece of waterfront property I'll sell you cheap.

Seriously, what's left?  The seas aren't rising, the glaciers aren't melting, the rainforests aren't disappearing and it hasn't warmed in fifteen years.  The scammers powers that be are either going to need to come up with something new to blame on Global Warming Climate Change or admit that the jig is up they were "mistaken" all along.

Headline of the day

From my local Tampabay.com:

Crist, at White House, stays 'well beyond hugging range'


Poor Chuckie, he just can't catch a break. 

Speaking of which, the Chuckster will be debating Marco Rubio on Fox on March 28th.    Chuckie Cheesy would do well to study Rubio's awesome CPAC speech for some pointers.  He needs all the help he can get.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

A subject that Conservative and Progressive women should agree on

Donald Douglas at American Power has a post via Blazing Cat Fur on the West's appeasement to Islam.  Of course the example given is the trial of Geert Wilders in Amsterdam currently taking place.  Wilders is on trial for offending Islam.  Considering the Hell that Wilders is being subjected to by the "Religion of Peace" I would say he is only slightly luckier than his fellow Dutchman Theo van Gogh who was stabbed to death in retribution for his offense of Islam.  Closer to home we have the persecution via prosecution of Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant at the hands of our immediate neighbors to the north.  How long will it be before we see these types of lawsuits in the United States? 

The first line of defense against the spread of Sharia in this country should be our women.  The debasement of woman under Sharia is well known and therefore, halting the influence of Sharia in this country should be the one area that Conservative and Progressive women should be in agreement on.  But are we?  Never a peep from Progressive women regarding the subjugation of their sisters under Sharia.  Did you hear about the honor killing in Texas?  Not if you read Jane Hamsher or any other female "Progressive" writer.  Read any good articles on genital mutilation by Ellen Goodman lately?  No, I imagine not.  And be certain, when our liberated sisters on the left talk about "misogyny and the church" they never include the mosque in the discussion. 

Has the influence of Islam spreads to and across our shores, women who refuse to give up their hard won freedoms should be standing shoulder to shoulder.  But when it comes to my progressive sisters I won't hold my breath.

Is the writing (finally) on the wall for the Global Warmists?

Via Doug Ross I came across an article on Global Warming that gives me hope that this nonsense is finally on its last legs.

Here's a small excerpt from American Thinker's article Time to Turn Up the Heat on the Warmists:

But the creature called man has the capacity to worry, and worry he does. He worried about global cooling in the 1970s and then later about global warming. Then it became "climate change." He worried about causing rising seas, even though we know that the ocean around Florida was once 300 feet lower and at another time 100 feet higher. He worried that CO2 -- a naturally occurring gas necessary for life and conducive to plant growth (which is why botanists pump it into greenhouses) -- would spell our end. Never mind how it's said that C02-level changes follow temperature changes, not the reverse. A hypothesis needed its data.

Then, oh, boy, did we hear about that data. First there was Climategate, with emails showing that "scientists" had schemed to suppress inconvenient truths and had refused to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. Then came the admission that the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was dead wrong about Himalayan ice melt. And other shoes have dropped as well. Remember the IPCC warning that climate change could cause the loss of 40 percent of the Amazon Rainforest? It was based on a report by an advocacy group, the World Wildlife Fund, that misrepresented a study. Then we learned of other notable IPCC sources as well, such as a student's Master's dissertation and a sporting magazine.

Next, notorious University of East Anglia head and central Climategate figure Phil Jones may not yet be starting to sing, but he is singing a different tune. He now admits that the Medieval Warm Period might have been toastier than today, meaning that current temperatures "would not be unprecedented." To those of us who vaguely remember stories about dinosaurs and Mesozoic CO2 levels 5 to 10 times today's and temperatures 11 to 22 degrees greater, this isn't exactly earth-shattering. Jones also admits that there has been no "statistically significant" warming since 1995, something that, when asserted mere months ago, got one branded a flat-earther. In addition, he now says that the Gorelesque view that "The debate is over" is "not my view." Interestingly, though, he never made this known until he was caught green-handed.
The Global Warming scam is falling apart faster than an under cooked soufflé.  The first hint that all was not well should have been when warmists felt the need to change their moniker to "Climate Change".  Switching to an all encompassing descriptor allowed the warmists to take an "everything including the kitchen sink" approach that they hoped would fuzzy up the facts.  Mainly they just succeeded in looking foolish. And desperate.

Back to American Thinker:

Yet, amidst this exposition of fact and exposure of fiction, one point never changes: We have been had. And one question remains: Will justice be done?

Let us be clear on the gravity of the Climateers' crime: They have used billions of our tax money to fund fraudulent science. And why?

For the purposes of promoting policies that would steal billions more.
Forgive me if  don't take being screwed over lightly  I do believe that there are a number of Global Warmists who have been innocently sucked in and duped.  I'm willing to give the run of the mill Chicken Little a pass.  But not the IPCC, not the scientists who racked in the grants under false pretenses and certainly not the truly insufferable Al Gore, the failed divinity student who took a bogus belief system and peddled it with the religious fervor of a PT Barnum.  Come comeuppance is a bitch and it is time that Gore learn the true meaning of the words "Hell hath no fury..."

When did "You can succeed" become a radical message?

Over at the aptly name Crooks and Liars Heather Sunday has a problem with Glenn Beck's CPAC speech.  Exactly what the problem is remains a mystery.  Does Sunday object to Beck's message of self-sufficiency?  Is it somehow radical that people actually succeed by their own hard work rather than by the largess of the nanny state?

Progressives seem perfectly happy to cede their individualism to the state.  It is as if they are aware that there are winners and losers in life and the simply more comfortable allowing the government to separate the wheat from the chaff.  They just don't believe that Joe Schmo is smart enough to wander through this life without the guiding hand of an omnipotent and omnipresent government referee overseeing the game of life.

Conservatives know that alot of us will fail, repeatedly, before we succeed.  Conservatives know that life isn't fair and that alot of us will struggle.  But Conservatives also believe that each one of us was endowed with the ability to succeed.  Reaching a personal level of success may not be easy but it is far more satisfying than the false Utopia that Progressives cling to.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Caption contest

Ruby Slippers has a caption contest going on over a Potluck.  Here's my take:


Go over to Potluck and put in your two cents.

Momma always told me...

the hardest part of being a liar is keeping all your stories straight.  Mom always said it was better to tell the truth, even when the truth might not be in your best self interest, because if you lie sooner or later you will get caught and then you'll not only be a liar, you'll be a fool.  Obama could have used my Momma advice but he was raised with a different set of values than I was and now he's been caught in a whopper:



Gateway Pundit has all the details.  Suffice to say, Obama was lying when he tried to downplay his relationship with ACORN

In my opinion ACORN is a criminal organization that is manned by Marxist thugs whose sole purpose is to promote Marxist ideals.  Our president and the creeps at ACORN are "thick as thieves".  Obama shares their principals and their ideals.  Now, Obama is smart enough to know that publicly throwing his lot in with the thugs at ACORN isn't a good idea but as the video shows, he's just not smart enough to keep his lies straight.

Read Gateway's post.

Rumors confirmed!

I'm on Day Two of the "no walking allowed" tour of my couch.  Despite my mandatory lack of activity I've managed to confirm the rumor that there is a new blog in town.  It is called Potluck and it is written by eleven Conservative women, each bringing their own unique prospective to the table.

In addition to your truly you will find posts from the authors of :

Adrienne's Corner

And So it Goes in Shreveport

Backyard Conservative

Coffee Milk Conservative

Fuzzy Logic

No Sheeples Here

Obi's Sister

Politicaljunkie Mom

Pundit & Pundette

Ruby Slippers
 
This is a group of women who's work I greatly admire and I am honored to be a part of their team.  A special thanks goes out to Pundette, who brought us all together and did the heavy lifting of getting the site up and running. 
 
Now, go over to Potluck and give us a look see.

Who are they advocating for?

I readily admit that everything I know about our court system I learned from Law & Order but that was back in the days when Fred Thompson was the DA so maybe things have changed.  I was under the impression that in criminal cases that there are two sides: the government, who advocates for "the people", us, and the defense, who advocates for the accused.  Each side has an obligation to act passionately on behalf of the people they represent.  That is why I am more than a bit disturbed by this headline from the Washington Examiner:

Holder admits nine Obama Dept. of Justice officials worked for terrorist detainees, offers no details

So, these nine have switched sides so to speak.  Have they?  Have their passions changed?  Their mindset?  Or is it fair to say that the mindset of our current Justice Department, under the leadership of Atty. Gen. Eric Holder changed?

I don't think I'm too far out on a limb by saying that Holder has made some questionable decisions.  Holder certainly didn't advocate for on the side of Philadelphia voters when he ordered that the case against Black Panthers who stood outside polling places on Election Day with weapons be dropped against the adive of career lawyers. Holder clearly is advocating on behalf the people in Manhattan (or any of us) by choosing to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the civilian courts in mid town Manhattan.

Holder is using cronyism to load up the Justice Department with values that are out of step with the very people they are charged with defending-us.  So again, who is he advocating for?

Friday, February 19, 2010

I'm still here

The Princess of Procrastination, me, had an 8:15 a.m. appointment  this morning with a surgeon for a consult for a relatively minor problem that wouldn't even exist if in the real world (as opposed to the one I so often find myself) problems would simply go away when I chose to ignore them.  After all, I have a system and if would work at least occasionally I would be ever so grateful.  As it happened, I didn't see the surgeon because she had an emergency and was in surgery so I saw another doctor in the same office who was very nice, very informative and very helpful.  She gave me a cortisone shot and told me to stay completely off my feet for forty-eight hours.  So here I am all tucked in and bored nearly to tears.  Beyond that, I have two problems:  a) I'm here and everything I want is there and b) the bathroom is way over there.  Now, how's that for a fine kettle of fish?  Here I lounge as snug a bug, perfectly comfortable, throwing myself a po', po' little ol' me party over a mere inconvenience.  Enough of that-time to take care of some business.

First and foremost I want to send my prayers and best wishes to Dan Collins of POWIP fame.  Dan was admitted to the hospital earlier this morning with a as of yet undiagnosed condition.  Please remember Dan in your prayers and send him a cheery thought in the comments at POWIP.

On to the Lefty blogosphere of shame.  Couldn't you just see it coming a mile away.  Some total whack job flies his plane in to a building that houses the IRS, leaves behind a rant about "the man" and wham, bam, thank you ma'am it's the Tea Party's fault.    This guy went off on George Bush AND Daniel Patrick Moynihan.  Someone please enlighten me as to the link between those two.  But the Left doesn't believe in non-affiliated nutjobs, unless said nutjob's name is Amy Bishop, in which case they quickly unaffiliated any affiliations the affiliated nutjob may have had while whilst peeing their collective pants over this broad based hater in Austin.  Can I get a SHEESHPundette does a thorough job of frisking the Joe Stack = the Tea Party nonsense and Prof. Jacobson tears apart the Scott Brown gives Joe Stack a pass foolishness.  Me, I just think it is all just par for the course.

Speaking of par for the course, how 'bout that Tiger Woods (how smooth was that?)?  I am a big believer in redemption but redemption, like confession, should be handled privately.  This pretty much sums my feeling on the whole sticking affair(s):

Katie Couric: Getting ready to cover Tiger's statement. Being at the epicenter of such humiliation, and judgement must be very painful.

Jake Tapper: I assume you're talking about the pain his wife and children feel, not him.
No. doubt.

Just to keep everyone updated, I'm still chasing down rumors.  Still nothing specific but I did hear something about a "launch" and "tomorrow".  Hmmm, something is going on.

Good night all.

I have made my choice

Marco Rubio faced the gathered Conservatives at CPAC yesterday and told them that each of us must make a choice.  Our country is extraordinary in an ordinary world.  We have opportunities that are not afforded to any other citizen in any other country.  But if we do not stand up to our ever encroaching government, the opportunities will be lost to generations who follow us.  Marco's speech:



`Rubio is a leader and he could have come at a more opportune time.  We have a leadership vacuum in this country right now but I have hope that together we can set this country back on the right path.

h/t  The Daley Gator

Thursday, February 18, 2010

I'm chasing down rumors again

I heard it through the grapevine that a group of fabulous female bloggers are joining forces to form a new blog.  I don't have any details yet but I suspect that Pundette may somehow be involved.  So far she's being very closed mouth about it but Pundette did mention that Pat might know the scoop.  Pat claimed she didn't know anything about it but I have the feeling she knows more than she's telling.  Anyway, Obi's Sister said she spoke to a Backyard Conservative who saw Ruby Slippers over at Adrienne's Corner talking Fuzzy Logic to a Politicaljunkie Mom while a Coffee Milk Conservative pretended not to notice.  We all know what that means.  Well, if I were one to gossip, which obviously I'm not, I would say they are all up to something.

I have no idea what he is talking about

That absolutely darling Sir Troglopundit has accused me of being a shameless flirt!  I cannot imagine what that debonair little dickens is referring to.  I am the very definition of a demure southern belle and just because I may have referred to the cutie as a hot slice of man flesh is no reason for Sir Trog to cast aspersions upon my person.

I hope I've cleared that up.

Why are we just now learning about the "Fort Jackson Five"?

I drive my friends and family crazy because of my obsession over the "news".   I take a great deal of pride in the fact that I stay up to date on the current events that affect the world in general and more importantly, my country in particular.  So I am more than a bit disturbed that there was an attempted terrorist attack on one of our military bases before Christmas and word of the attack is just now filtering out.  From Michelle Malkin:

Erick Stackelbeck has the exclusive on a disturbing news development at Fort Jackson in South Carolina:
CBN News has learned exclusively that five Muslim soldiers at Fort Jackson in South Carolina were arrested just before Christmas. It is unclear whether the men are still in custody. The five were part of the Arabic Translation program at the base. (emphasis added)

The men are suspected of trying to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson.

A source with intimate knowledge of the investigation, which is ongoing, told CBN News investigators suspect the “Fort Jackson Five” may have been in contact with the group of five Washington, DC area Muslims that traveled to Pakistan to wage jihad against U.S. troops in December. That group was arrested by Pakistani authorities, also just before Christmas.
Why was this information withheld from the American public?  Further, why is it "unclear whether the men are still in custody"?  These terrorists attempted to kill our servicemen on our soil, surely they haven't been turned loose.

I understand that information should not be released prior to arrests being made but once we have terrorists in custody the only reason that the government would keep the public in the dark is because the facts are embarrassing to the government. 

Well, too bad if the facts are embarrassing.  Our troops put themselves in harm's way to keep us safe.  No member of the American military should be in harm's way while on American soil.  I want to know if political correctness once again has placed our service men in danger.

The NTSB is investigating Austin plane crash as an "intentional act

Fox News is reporting that a small plane has crashed in to a building that houses the local IRS in Austin, TX.  It is being reported that the pilot set fire to his own home prior to flying a small plane in to the downtown building.  Witnesses have said that the plane banked sharply and then flew directly into the building.

More when it is known.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

There's a rumor floating around

It is said that the Troglopundit is having an anniversary tomorrow.  Hmmm.  Given that the rumor is being advanced by somewhat respectable bloggers (The Classical Liberal, Caught you with a Corndog, The Other McCain, Wyblog, Fisherville Mike, The Camp of the Saints, The Blogprof and Trainwife) I wish to join with my campadres in congratulating Sir Trog on his milestone and thank him for the unmeasurable pleasure his blog has provided to me.

'Sláinte!' (Cheers) dear Trog!

Killer blog comment of the day

From the comments on Solomania:


My Brush With the Alabama Shooter's Psycho History - Amy Bishop Was Ipswich Pariah
February 17, 2010 9:15 AM
#15 nickless  


Consider a person who believes that their superior intellect has placed them above their fellow man.


They will seek to control. They will seek to lead. They will become more and more control-fixated as their attempts at control, in the name of improving everything around them, are rebuffed.


It can become panic, even fear, as they realize that their superior view does not grant them control of very much at all, that other people remain stubbornly free from their control, and that they, perhaps, are not captains of their fate, much less Moses's, leading the huddled masses to the Promised Land.


Liberals and intellectuals both have this common thread. Liberal intellectuals, well, that's just doubling up on the crazy.


But enough about Obama. This Bishop nut is no bargain, either.
Scary thing is, I know someone who fits the above description to a "T".

UPDATE:

I threw post up just as my lunch was ending and failed to give credit where credit was due.

H/T and apologies to Paco

I'm starting to think that Amy Bishop may be nuts

First the background from The Boston Globe:

In March, 2002, Bishop walked into an International House of Pancakes in Peabody with her family, asked for a booster seat for one of her children, and learned the last seat had gone to another mother.

Bishop, according to a police report, strode over to the other woman, demanded the seat and launched into a profanity-laced rant.

When the woman would not give the seat up, Bishop punched her in the head, all the while yelling "I am Dr. Amy Bishop."
Now, here comes the money quote:

Bishop received probation and prosecutors recommended that she be sent to anger management classes, though it is unclear from court documents whether a judge ever sent her there.
Oh, I think it's clear.  I'm not sure that it is the correct scientific term, but Bishop appears to be what I would call a "whackadoodle".  First, in 1986 she "accidentally" shot and killed her own brother.  Considering that she fired the gun three times before hitting him, I think it is safe to say that she "accidentally" missed him twice. Now, coming up I walloped my brother more than once but Momma drew the line at spilling blood.  But then, just seven years later she turns up as the prime suspect in the attempted pipe bombing of a Harvard Medical School professor. I don't know much about law enforcement but I am betting that they don't come up with prime suspects by pulling names out of a hat.  Nine years later she punches some poor woman over a booster chair.  What was she doing during the gaps-performing splenectomies on unsedated puppies? 

Law enforcement is supposed to protect and serve not help irresponsible mommies cover up for their psycho kid's criminal misdeeds.  The Bishops seem to have taken a page from the fellow Bostonians, the Kennedys.  At least with Teddy, only one person died.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Russell Simmons is mad as hell and twice as incoherent

Over at HuffPo Russell Simmons is taking on the banks for something.  Here's an example of what passes for lucid over at the Po:

What's clear to me now is that banks are still increasing the cost to the powerless (poor) while they offer everyone else money to open accounts. I'm watching banks hold back features that they and I both know will help people save money and improve their lives. They trick customers into doing things that are not good for them through lack of transparency, and surprise them with new fees when they can least afford it. I'm learning an important lesson about ethics -- or lack of ethics -- in this industry. In fact, I'm fighting with a bank right now that doesn't know what kind of ass whipping they are going to get when I expose them for the abusive practices and exuberant fees they are charging the poor. They are trying to double their already outrageously high fees in exchange for providing absolutely nothing to customers. All I want to do is to get the poor a better deal, with more reasonable fees with better services. This bank is intentionally trying to destroy my industry, which is building a platform for under-served communities. And for this, they should be ashamed of themselves.
Well okey dokey, did you get all that?  Since Simmons gave no specific examples I can only take a stab at what he might be talking about.  But first let me clear something up.  Under the Community Reinvestment Act, which was passed in 1977, banks are required to meet the needs of low and moderate income neighborhoods and must tailor products specifically to low income people.  One way that banks meet this requirement on the deposit side is by offering accounts that have no monthly maintenance fee if the depositor has a direct deposit.  That does not mean that the accounts will never be charged any kind of fee but those fees that are charged are typically tied to the actions of the account holder.  Usually if an account racks up large monthly fees they either consist of NSF fees or debit card fees.  I am assuming that Simmons is referring to these fees but it is really impossible to tell by his rambling.
 
My guess is that Simmons has listened to too many Obama "fat cat" speeches and is simply jumping on the bandwagon.  If Simmons has a specific beef then he should air it but punching wildly in the air does nothing to help poor people and simply serves to make him look foolish.  Next time he gets the itch to take someone on he would do well to put down the pipe before he picks up the pen.

Boys and their toys

Doug Ross says his wife never reads his blog.  Good thing.

Global warming: the only thing melting is the fake facade


A round up of the most recent Global Warming news:


The glaciers aren’t melting
The Earth isn’t heating
The rain forests aren’t disappearing
The Dutch and the poley bears aren’t drowning.

Did I leave anything out? Oh yeah, storms aren’t increasing in either frequency or strength.

In the blink of an eye we’ve gone from “the science is settled” to “I dunno”. Which leads us to one very important question-where the Hell is Al Gore? Has anybody seen or heard from him since the postponement of the end of the world?

I’d imagine that Big Al is hunkered down with his broker. He has a lot of divesting to do and moving millions and millions of dollars can’t be rushed. But I’m sure that sooner or later he’ll emerge teary eyed to proclaim that he too was a victim of the Global Warming scam. He’ll remind us, perhaps for the first time, that he is not a scientist, just a failed divinity student, and he trusted others because, well, he’s a humanitarian.

Don’t cry for Al. There’s a sucker born every minute and scams are a dime a dozen. Al will be back on his game in no time.
 
 
Image from FAPO.org

Monday, February 15, 2010

Your Tax Dollars at Work, Part ?

Frankly, I've lost count of how much money has been wasted so far.  This latest example come from Don Surber:

I suspected it, and now a report in the Detroit News confirms it: “Advisers, lawyers and consultants have billed General Motors Co.’s bankruptcy estate more than $90 million in fees and expenses since last summer, a figure that will grow as unwanted assets such as real estate, equipment and factories are liquidated.”

Where are those Astroturf busloads of protesters who marched against AIG bonuses last year?

Perhaps our president should issue a proclamation that you cannot go to Detroit on the taxpayers dime.
Yeah well, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that.
 
No small part of the GM problem is that it is an additional $1,600 in "legacy costs" has to be tacked on to the price of every vehicle sold.  Legacy costs refer to the health care and pension benefits guaranteed to each and every retiree* by their UAW contract.  Guess who is backing up those costs now.
 
The only reason GM continues to exist is the largess of the taxpayer.  But in this country when a company fails to adjust to market forces that company deserves to go under.  We are a free market society not a socialist society.  At the risk of being called naive, I believe that had the taxpayers been forced to come to GM rescue the company and the UAW would have found some way to pull their own fat out of the fire.  As it is, they have no incentive to innovate or trim expenses.

GM has emerged from bankruptcy but the taxpayer remains on the hook.  The time has come to pull the plug.

*For an eye-opening look at what "legacy costs" are doing to individual state budgets courtesy of bloated SEIU contracts see Doug Ross' post The New Math:  Union Pensionomics Levies Crushing Debt on State and Local Governments.

If you can't question 'em, kill 'em

I just read an interesting post at Legal Insurrection where Prof. Jacobson points out quite correctly that he predicted that the end result of giving rights to terrorists would be that more terrorists would die.

Removing the incentive to take terrorists captive may have an unintended consequence of leading to more terrorist deaths. The closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp (Gitmo), and providing terrorists captured abroad with the full panoply of US constitutional rights, makes this unintended consequence more likely.
I am a strong believer that a dead terrorist is a good terrorist but clearly, a talking terrorist is vastly better.  Unfortunately, in bowing to the Left the administration tied its hands on interrogation and instead has stepped up the used of drone predators to deal with terrorists.  In answering criticism from Dick Cheney, VP Joe Biden claimed that this administration had killed 12 of al-Qaida's 20 top leaders.  That is all well and good, if true, but what actionable intelligence did we ring out of those "top leaders" prior to "eliminating" them?  None.

Granted, it is not always possible to capture "top leaders" and when it is not possible "eliminating" is the next best thing.  But the current administration has all but given up on capturing members of al-Qaida because once caught there is nothing we can do with them.

How much valuable information is being lost due to Obama's policies?  Sadly, we will never know.

Read Prof. Jacobson's post here.

Marco Rubio in his own words

The following video was posted by Val at Babalu.  I am so proud to support Marco Rubio for US Senate and this video is a prime example of why:

Hitler does "Global Warming"

Hat tip to American Digest for the following video:



Lest you think that the video is just an amusing parody of the Global Warming scam consider that today's environmentalists are in many ways like the Nazis of yore.  Consider this from Reason:

Hitler was a visionary environmentalist. Think a sensitivity to nature is necessarily progressive and benign? Think again. There’s been no more environmentally sensitive state than the Third Reich, which took ecological concerns carefully into account whether preserving woodlands or planning autobahns. The Nazi “Blood and Soil” mystique drew heavily on anti-industrial work that started appearing in the 19th century, and turned it into public policy. As early as 1913, authors like Ludwig Klages (German link) were excoriating deforestation, consumerism, urban sprawl, tourism, species extinction, capitalism, the idea of progress, and even the slaughter of whales; the Nazis embraced such work. Radical thinkers like Janet Biehl and Peter Staudenmeier have been among those attempting to protect contemporary environmentalist movements from their latent regressive tendencies, and it would be helpful to them if their work got big, splashy reviews in the Times.
Like Hitler, liberal fascists have no qualms about forcing their myopic vision of a environmental Utopia down people's throats via totalitarian means.  Environmentalists want to control every aspect of modern society.  If that doesn't make them Hitler-like, I don't know what does.

Atlanta billboard and Planned Parenthood's legacy of shame


In an earlier post I quoted from CDC data:

Abortion kills more black Americans than the seven leading causes of death combined, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2005, the latest year for which the abortion numbers are available. Abortion killed at least 203,991 blacks in the 36 states and two cities (New York City and the District of Columbia) that reported abortions by race in 2005, according to the CDC.  During that same year, according to the CDC, a total of 198,385 blacks nationwide died from heart disease, cancer, strokes, accidents, diabetes, homicide, and chronic lower respiratory diseases combined. These were the seven leading causes of death for black Americans that year.
Given the facts, the money quote in the Huffington Post's article regarding the billboards popping up in the Atlanta area is this:

"To use racist arguments to try to bait black people to get them to be anti-abortion is just disgusting," said Guy-Sheftall, who teaches women's history and feminist thought at the historically black women's college.

"These one-issue approaches that are not about saving the black family or black children, it's just a big distraction," she said. "Many black people don't know who Margaret Sanger is and could care less."
If it is true that black people do not know who Margaret Sanger is then shame on Guy-Sheftall.  Shame on the black churches and shame on those who chose the history curriculum taught in our schools.  Margaret Sanger, and her evil invention Planned Parenthood, are to black people what Hitler was to Jews.
 
Sanger, like Hitler, was a eugenicist.  Her goal, like Hitler's, was to rid society of "undesirables".  She considered black people to be "feeble minded" and as such, a drag on society.  Sanger started the "Negro Project"  and enlisted prominent black preachers of the day to aid her in convincing black society to embrace birth control and abortion. 
 
In The Truth About Margaret Sanger blackgenocide.org quotes from George Grant's Killer Angel.
 
In his book, Killer Angel, George Grant says: "Myths, according to theologian J. l. packer, are stories made up to sanctify social patterns.' They are lies, carefully designed to reinforce a particular philosophy or morality within a culture. They are instruments of manipulation and control.
Killer Angel tells the real story behind one of the biggest myths that controls our culture today the life and legacy of Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. Grant exposes "the Big Lie" perpetuated by Sanger's followers and the organization she started.

Through detailed research and concise writing, Grant unveils Sanger's true character and ideology, which included blatant racism, revolutionary socialism, sexual perversion and insatiable avarice. Grant includes direct quotes from sources such as Sanger's Birth Control Review to support his findings. His biography spans Sanger's disturbed and unhappy upbringing which Sanger said contributed to her agitation and bitterness later in life to her eventual fixation with drugs, alcohol and the occult.

Particularly shocking was Sanger's involvement in the Eugenics movement. Grant says: "[Sanger] was thoroughly convinced that the inferior races' were in fact human weeds' and a menace to civilization.' . . . [S]he was a true believer, not simply someone who assimilated the jargon of the times as Planned Parenthood officials would have us believe."

Sanger died September 6, 1966, a week before her eighty-seventh birthday. Grant says: "[She] had nearly fulfilled her early boast that she would spend every last penny of Slee's [her second husband] fortune. In the process, though, she had lost everything else: love, happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, family, and friends. In the end, her struggle was her naught."
Planned Parenthood has long played down its racist legacy and denied that it targets minority communities and women.  The facts say otherwise.