tea partiers against Harry Reid

A picture is worth a thousand words. Not exactly a fringe movement, salad tossers.

Climate gate continued

Sorry to just post someone else's stuff (one Adam Collyer) but this is too good:

The Chairman of the independent review into the science published by East Anglia University’s Climate Research Unit has been appointed.

He is Lord Oxburgh.

Lord Oxburgh is President of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, and Chairman of Falck Renewables, a wind energy company.

No conflict of interest there then.

If that’s what East Anglia University think is meant by an “independent review”, then it really sheds some light on why their Climate Reasearch Unit is now discredited.

Do they think we’re stupid?

Yes, yes, they do

History?

Well, let's start with Senator Amidala on youtube.

Liberty is under attack, my friends, and the useful idiots are making it happen. Ben Franklin is turning in his grave and Marx is laughing.

Coffee Party fun

A local newsman I follow on Twitter posted this Coffee Party graffiti pic.

My reply: "funny, you don't see much tea party graffiti."

His reply: "Different demographic."

yep.

Remember these photos from the Inauguration vs the Tea Party rally in DC?

I (heart) funny

I wish I could do this full time, so i could find little bits of awesomeness and funniness like this from D r u d g e: That's comedy, right there.

'END' OF THE 'END GAME' OR 'THE END'?

TODAY: Obama pushing on health care end game (AP)

Last year:

July 28: Healthcare endgame on Capitol Hill (Reuters)

August 21: Analysis: Health care endgame near but uncertain (AP)

October 14: Senate, administration begin healthcare endgame as Dem leaders express unity (Hill)

October 25: Senators say health care bill endgame is in sight (Politico)

October 27: End Game: So When Will Health Care Really Happen? (TPM)

October 30: Health reform inches closer to endgame (WaPo)

November 23: The Health Care Endgame (NPR)

Riding that Train....

I posted at some length with my thoughts about Ohio's rail plans, but here is an excellent video from Reason TV about the national version that is supporting Ohio's boondoggle.

The text from the video description, for your reading pleasure:

President Barack Obama has pledged $8 billion in tax dollars to build a national network of high-speed rail—trains that can carry passengers at speeds in excess of 150 MPH.

But the Supertrain fantasy was a mistake back in the 1970s, when it gave rise to one of the most expensive—and rotten—TV shows in history. And it's just as much of a wreck in the 21st century for at least three reasons:

1. The lowball costs. CNN estimates that delivering on the plan could cost well over $500 billion and take decades to build, all while failing to cover much of the country at all. Internationally, only two high-speed rail lines have recouped their capital costs and all depend on huge subsidies to stay in operation.

2. The supposed benefits. "We're gonna be taking cars off of congested highways and reducing carbon emissions," says Vice President Joe Biden, an ardent rail booster. But most traffic jams are urban, not inter-city, so high-speed rail between metro areas will have no effect on your daily commute. And when construction costs are factored in, high-speed rail "may yield only marginal net greenhouse gas reductions," say UC-Berkeley researchers.

3. The delusional Amtrak example. Obama and Biden look to Amtrak as precedent, but since its founding in 1971, the nation's passenger rail system has sucked up almost $35 billion in subsidies and, says The Washington Post's Robert J. Samuelson, "a typical trip is subsidized by about $50." About 140 million Americans shlep to work every day, while Amtrak carries just 78,000 passengers. There's no reason to think that high-speed rail will pump up those numbers, though there's every reason to believe its costs will grow and grow.

"Supertrain 2010" was written and produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie, who also hosts. Approximately 3 minutes.

Why Business has less power than Government

Walter E. Williams says a lot in a little space here, and many will be able to expand his ideas, but I'll only post a couple of highlights for those that won't hit the link. He asks and and answers the question "Who Poses the Greatest Threat?" Big business or government? I'm sure you know his and my answer.

"Rich people can gain power over us, but to do so, they must get permission from our elected representatives at the federal, state or local levels.

Politicians love pitting us against the rich. All by themselves, the rich have absolutely no power over us. To rip us off, they need the might of Congress to rig the economic game. It's a slick political sleight-of-hand where politicians and their allies amongst the intellectuals, talking heads and the news media get us caught up in the politics of envy as part of their agenda for greater control over our lives.

Politicians preach the politics of envy whilst reaching into the ordinary man's pockets, through the IRS, and handing it over to their favorite rich people and others who make large contributions to their election efforts."

After quoting Thomas Sowell's new book and showing that our representative government is starting to behave the way tyrants have, he brings it around with this quote from Thomas Paine:

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."

Ain't that the truth?

Health, mine, that is.

So, Barney, who works with me, has had Job-like stuff in his life lately (and although he's Jewish by heritage, he's atheist in practice, so the Job allusion would be mostly lost on him), but it's his life, so I'm not dumping it out here. Over the weekend, he gets news that in addition to everything else going wrong, he's got type-2 diabetes.

Barney is 50 and in better aerobic shape than most 30-somethings, he's a Zumba nut. I only see him eat yogurt, bagel-fuls, and mostly healthy portions, although he drinks way too much regular Coke. He's in better shape than me, for sure.

As I always do, I offered up two articles from Men's Health magazine about how diet is so important, and in one doctor's practice, can eliminate the symptoms completely, but in the process of explaining why I know this and why I think it's valid (my Dad had and my Sister has diabetes), I realized that I was the one that needed this advice. That was Tuesday morning, I haven't had but an accidental sip of sugar since, nor any bread or villainous carbs since. That's fantastic for me, folks, I have some chocolate of some kind like every day. Every day.

So, here's the upshot, I'm going public with this little nutritional epiphany of mine, (I know, I know, I'm the only one that reads this) and committing to change. For the record, it started Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 midmorning, as I had a brownie at home for breakfast.

Wish me luck!

Monday, March 8th update, lost 6 pounds, just by cutting out almost all the garbage in my diet, yet allowing myself some ice cream Saturday night and some chocolate Sunday.

There's a Communist....

...living in the White House, according to Victoria Jackson, from SNL back in the day. Funny, pointed, will never see press in the MSM. Thanks New Zeal!

Also on the New Zeal blog, another Youtube link I had never seen contrasting Reagan's statements and Obama's.

health care dog and pony show Part II, the Sequel

Michelle Malkin is all over this, so I don't have to be: consider this a non-twitter ReTweet.

Here's and excerpt, it's the roundup of Sen. Obama's quotes about the so-called nuclear option when the R's were in charge:

"CBS Interview 11/2/04

My understanding of the Senate is that you need 60 votes to get something significant to happen, which means that Democrats and Republicans have to ask the question, do we have the will to move an American agenda forward, not a Democratic or Republican agenda forward?

Change to Win Convention 9/25/07

The bottom line is that our healthcare plans are similar, the question once again is, who can get it done? Who can build a movement for change? This is an area where we’re going to have to have a 60% majority in the Senate and the House in order to actually get a bill to my desk. We’re going to have to have a majority to get a bill to my desk. That is not just a fifty plus one majority.

Obama Interview with the Concord Monitor 10/9/07

You’ve got to break out of what I call the sort of fifty plus one pattern of presidential politics. Maybe you eke out a victory of fifty plus one. Then you can’t govern. You know, you get Air Force One, there are a lot of nice perks, but you can’t deliver on healthcare. We are not going to pass universal health care with a fifty plus one strategy.

Center for American Progress Conference 7/12/06

Those big-ticket items: fixing our health care system. You know, one of the arguments that sometimes I get with my fellow progressives, and some of these have flashed up in the blog communities on occasion, is this notion that we should function sort of like Karl Rove where we identify our core base, we throw ’em red meat, we get a fifty plus one victory. See, Karl Rove doesn’t need a broad consensus because he doesn’t believe in government. If we want to transform the country, though, that requires a sizeable majority."

Coffee Party? Really?

Well, I've had some liberal friends (yes, I have friends with whom I disagree politically, it's totally possible and very healthy) that have joined the Coffee Party Movement. I clicked the Facebook link, and yes, it's exactly what I thought, but this wording from the dailykos linked there struck me:

"the movement to counter the Tea Party Movement has grown from an idea of a few progressive friends...."

So wait, a movement (the Tea Partiers) that seeks to emulate and foster the ideals of the founders of our nation, smaller government, fiscal responsibility, etc. that takes all political parties to task as it is not tied to any (although it shares more commonality with one) is something that needs to be countered?

Now, I happen to agree with those that say that our government is too big, doing too much, and that we need to rein in back it quite a bit. I am offended that critics of the Tea Party folks refer to them as "teabaggers" as I know what that means (and am on the verge of calling all progressives "salad tossers") and think it's disgraceful to attack fellow patriotic Americans that way (which is why I have refrained so far with trying to start the "salad tosser" ball rolling :)). Although I have never been to a Tea Party event, I, with my knowledge of American history totally get it and support it. Here's a tip: how much do you pay in Federal Income Tax? Did you know that the straw that broke the camel's back for our founders was a one cent increase in the tea tax? For that final insult, they went to war with the only world superpower of the day?

This idea that a group of people that want a smaller, more representative, less onerous government needs to be countered is disturbing to me, and that people I know agree with that idea is a little disturbing.

Reading the Kos article, it is laughable that this is yet another example of a liberal who just doesn't get it, blaming the ills on the bogeyman "lobbyists" and truly hysterically calling this grass-roots movement "astroturf" in an attempt to steal that term from the conservatives that created it. Funny if it weren't so sad.

One line is all you need to get the total insanity that has gripped the writer: "Most people don't realize that 95% of people actually got a tax cut under Obama." Wow. No taxes have been lowered since Obama became President. None. nada. zippo. zero. Promises have been made, but no tax cuts have been enacted. Tax credits in the Stimulus bill are not tax cuts, moron. Go back and finish 8th grade. I can't believe I even went that far to refute these ravings of a lunatic. Drivel.

Update #1 This isn't drivel. Well done, William A. Jacobson, sir, doing the work that a truly independent Press should be doing.

So, it's actually worse than I thought: these Coffee Stains (I hereby lay claim to that pejorative) are just another arm of the Obama Army, and that is scary. Seriously scary when you look at the attitude of the Kos writer towards Obama's already established arm, so that it now looks to me like deliberate disingenuiousness: more like a bait and switch "leave those liberal groups and join our progressive group!"

Update #2: There is a group on Facebook for the Cocoa Party! Funny stuff right there.

AGW nutroots, and lets's blame...?

Thanks to @danaloesch for the story tip on twitter, these are the types of stories that make you just want to scream. Parents commit global warming fear-inspired suicide/murder.

Now, I know that there are just crazy people, but this really points out the damage that these crazy global warming nutcase doom and gloom endtimes types cause. So read this story (thanks @brooksbayne for that one!) about how the science is very unsettled next to Algore's attempt to keep scaring us all in the New York Times, and determine for yourself if there's any cause and effect going on here, ok?