Paperworth

Future posts go here: Mac Beach

2007-09-30T18:51:00.000Z

AKA:
http://blog.macb.net

The Paperworth domain was a joke that never materialized, as a joke anyway. Instead it has materialized in real life, millions of times over.

Somewhere along the line I decided to use it as a home for (mostly) political views. But the domain is about to expire, and I can't think of any good enough reasons to renew it. So in preparation I'm going to stop posting to this blog. Simplify, simplify!

For more on the nature of the Paperworth joke, go *here*

Works and Days: What If…

2007-08-11T23:50:00.000Z

What If…

What would be the press reaction—if George Bush announced that he wanted to invade nuclear Islamic Pakistan? Or if he addressed a group of African-Americans and adopted a fake-black accent as if implying all spoke with flawed Southern-accented grammar? Or if he went to a Daily Kos convention and praised lobbyists? Or if he told a reporter that he hated a Congressman? Or if he said that our soldiers in Guantanamo reminded him of Nazis, Stalinists, and genocidal followers of Pol Pot? Or he said that Abu Ghraib was about the same as when Saddam’s murderers ran it? Or if he said another Congressman reminded him of Hitler? Or he lost his temper and began yelling at Fox’s Chris Wallace?

Valerie Plame's Lawsuit Dismissed

2007-07-19T21:51:00.000Z

"A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal."

OH! The follow-on book deals!

A Habitable World?

2007-07-17T01:32:00.000Z

"Still, for the brave few who stuck with all 174 hours of Live Al, there was something oddly touching about seeing rock gazillionaires who'd flown in by private jet tell Joe Schmoe all the stuff he doesn't need. Your own car? A washer and dryer? Ha! Why can't you take the bus and beat your underwear on the rocks down by the river with the native women all morning long?"

Cafe Hayek: Chinese Atrocity

2007-07-02T17:03:00.000Z

"One of the great mistakes committed by many pro-liberty enthusiasts in America is to forget how free we Americans still are compared to persons elsewhere, especially to persons outside of western Europe and the English-speaking world. Yes, we Americans are not as free as we should be; our government insults and harasses us continually with pernicious regulations and taxes; our 'leaders' typically are venal liars, with no more personal integrity than ordinary pick-pockets -- they would be clowns worthy of belly-laughs if their access to power over us were only pretend."

Court Under Roberts Limits Judicial Power - WSJ.com

2007-07-02T15:49:00.000Z

But the biggest change under Chief Justice John Roberts might not involve who wins on the merits. Rather, it may be who gets through the courthouse door in the first place. In case after case, the court shifted toward what Chief Justice Roberts has previously referred to as "judicial self-restraint." As it addressed issues large and small, in civil disputes and criminal justice alike, the court's resurgent conservative bloc repeatedly found that the question didn't belong before a judge at all.

Bravo!

Lincoln letter on Gettysburg found at U.S. archives | U.S. | Reuters

2007-06-07T21:07:00.000Z

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An optimistic two-sentence note that Abraham Lincoln penned to his top general after the Civil War's decisive battle was unveiled on Thursday at the National Archives where it was undetected for nearly 70 years."

Fortunately this was not among the materials pilfered by former Clinton administration officials.

Our Soviet Health System - WSJ.com

2007-06-07T01:28:00.000Z

The essential problem is this. The pricing of medical care in this country is either directly or indirectly dictated by Medicare; and Medicare uses an administrative formula which calculates "appropriate" prices based upon imperfect estimates and fudge factors. Rather than independently calculate prices, private insurers in this country almost universally use Medicare prices as a framework to negotiate payments, generally setting payments for services as a percentage of the Medicare fee structure.

My Way News - Democrats Hide Pet Projects From Voters

2007-06-03T20:23:00.000Z

"After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify 'earmarks' - lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states."

A Green Card in Every Pot by Ann Coulter - HUMAN EVENTS

2007-05-31T01:22:00.000Z

"Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, immigrant and first Jewish member of the Supreme Court, said that Americanization required that the immigrant adopt 'the clothes, the manners and the customs generally prevailing here' and that he adopt 'the English language as the common medium of speech.'

But, Brandeis said, this is only part of it. '(W)e properly demand of the immigrant even more than this -- he must be brought into complete harmony with our ideals and aspirations and cooperate with us for their attainment. Only when this has been done will he possess the national consciousness of an American.'

Or as George Bush would call it, 'empty rhetoric.' And as Linda Chavez would call it, 'racist.'"

C'est Si Bon by Ann Coulter - HUMAN EVENTS

2007-05-10T01:56:00.000Z

"With Nicolas Sarkozy's decisive victory as the new president of France, the French have produced their first pro-American ruler since Louis XVI."

Florida to dump touch-screen e-voting systems

2007-05-03T23:07:00.000Z

Where it all got started, finally, an end.

What happened to the Obama profile?

2007-05-02T18:50:00.000Z

Not that I'm likely to vote for Obama, or Hillary, but here is an interesting glimpse into how the fan-base looks for these left-wing candidates. Can you imagine any discussion about conservatives being so devoid of actual content? It's all about personality, who is a "nice" person and who isn't. No "issues".

Will they go public with any actual plans for a presidency this early? Not in Myspace I'm sure. We'll have to look elsewhere.

Isn't it way too early for all of this? Whoever wins will be gray-haired by the time they take office. Too worn out for actual decision making, and too trained by their handlers to just keep their opinions to themselves.

Package Forced NBC to Make Tough Decisions - New York Times

2007-04-19T04:31:00.000Z

"In an interview last night on MSNBC, Mr. Williams said NBC had been concerned about the sensitivities of broadcasting as much of the material as it did.

“This was a sick business tonight, going on the air with this,” he said."

I wonder: what didn't stop them?

Fact-checking the Gray Lady

2007-04-16T19:44:00.000Z

"The NYT may also have found the ride a bit rough. There's this vibration, you see, caused by the big spinning three-blade thingies on the front of the engines of GA-ASI's King Air. Memo to NYT. If you really want to get your credibility above the Jayson Blair level, maybe you should assign aerospace stories to someone who knows the difference between a propeller and a jet."

Elizabeth Edwards afraid of neighbor

2007-04-09T15:26:00.000Z

Johnson, 55, acknowledges his Republican roots. But he takes offense to the suggestion he has purposefully left his property, including an old garage he leases for use as a car shop, in dilapidated condition.

Johnson said he has lived his entire life on the property, which he said his family purchased before the Great Depression. He said he's spent a lot of money to try and fix up the 42-acre tract.

"I have to budget. I have to live within my means," Johnson said. "I don't have millions of dollars to fix the place."

The Coming Tax Increase - WSJ.com

2007-04-06T04:09:00.000Z

"The new House and Senate majorities have now passed budget resolutions -- five-year budget outlines -- that include the repeal of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. Republicans are overstating things when they imply this means a tax increase this year. The Bush tax cuts don't expire until the end of 2010, and Democrats aren't about to tip their tax hand before the 2008 election. But under the cover of zero media attention, Democrats are constructing a budget process that will make a tax increase all but inevitable."

Thank you so much "blue state" Americans (What, you weren't happy being called "reds"?) I'm sure the money will be well spent.

About the New Orleans imagery in Google Maps and Earth

2007-04-03T00:25:00.000Z

Given that the changes that affected New Orleans happened many months ago, we were a bit surprised by some of these recent comments.

Which comments? Ohhhh, you mean these?:

Citing an Associated Press report from Thursday, the House Committee on Science and Technology's subcommittee on investigations and oversight asked Google Inc. Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt to explain why his company is using the outdated imagery.

"Google's use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history," subcommittee chairman Brad Miller, D-N.C., wrote Friday in a letter to Schmidt.

Never, I mean NEVER underestimate congressional bungholes ability to be, er, bungholes. They get paid for it too!

Isn't it scary though that people like this have oversight over anything? Is to me. Of course this won't get the traction that the "Tubes" analogy did. Only Republicans get ridiculed for technical incompetence (even though the bad tubes analogy made a valid point while, in this case, they are critical of a company for doing a GOOD job, as long as they can imply that there is some sort of funny-business going on with the evil Bush administration, hey I read it on the Daily Kos!).

ABC's Silent Expert

2007-04-02T02:55:00.000Z

"Mr. Stephanopoulos doesn't mention his own valuable expertise on the subject of fired federal prosecutors, the kind of expertise that might help place the current mess in context. Mr. Stephanopoulos was the Clinton White House communications director in 1993 when the Justice Department cleaned its slate of all 93 U.S. attorneys, and he was central to the administration's finessing of the episode--just the sort of insider experience, presumably, that prompted ABC News to hire Mr. Stephanopoulos fresh out of the White House in 1996."

FOXNews.com - World Bank Anticorruption Drive Blunted as China Threatens to Halt Loans

2007-03-26T22:04:00.000Z

"Making loans to developing countries is central to the bank’s very reason for existence — so the threat to quit borrowing is a blow at its mission, and to the job security of some 26,000 World Bank bureaucrats, staffers and consultants around the world."

Pope: Europe Losing Faith in Its Future

2007-03-24T20:59:00.000Z

"'One must unfortunately note that Europe seems to be going down a road which could lead it to take its leave from history,' the pontiff told bishops in Rome for ceremonies to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, a major step toward the creation of today's European Union."

Pajamas Media: The Gospel of John & Yoko: The Origins of Mad Morality

2007-03-19T02:33:00.000Z

"If you believe the Gospel of John and Yoko represents a higher morality, you will naturally begin to resent such obstacles in the way of “progress” as reason, the rule of law, common sense, the need to be a master of your own life, and the responsibility for your own well-being. And since the United States of America was built on such values and remains their most dedicated proponent, any honest and consistent “progressive” is bound to develop a seething hatred towards this country.

In the “progressive” book of virtues, American values are the quintessence of evil. So if you are a “progressive” and you aren’t mad at this country, that just means you’re neither honest nor consistent. But then again, because living by this dead-end moral code is logically impossible, one has to resort to hypocrisy and seek compromises, forever balancing on the edge of madness."

indirectly, from the web site linked below. A good one.

The People's Cube - Correct Opinions for Progressive Liberals - Political Humor & Satire

2007-03-19T02:30:00.000Z

Tom DeLay.com - Home - A Clog in the Democrat's 'Swamp Drain'

2007-03-15T17:13:00.000Z

"the spirit of this earmark rule is about openness. It is about allowing the public the ability to scrutinize the use of their tax dollars during the lawmaking process. A constituent has every right to know where their money is going and which members are spending it. Yet, the Democrats have decided that the public is better served by Democrat staffers removing all their parties’ earmark request letters and hiding them away in some closet until the 11th hour. So much for transparency – but then again, Democrat rules were made to be broken."

In Washinton, It's Always the Year of the Rat

2007-03-14T23:25:00.000Z

"To the contrary, the problems at Walter Reed are further proof of the Democrats' failed domestic policies -- to wit, the civil service rules that prevent government employees from ever being fired. (A policy that also may account for Robert Byrd's longevity as a U.S. senator.)

Thanks to the Democrats, government employees have the world's most complicated set of job protection rules outside of the old East Germany. Oddly enough, this has not led to a dynamic workforce in the nation's capital."

American Thinker: I Call for Justice

2007-03-07T19:37:00.000Z

"Sordid the episode is, but not because of anything Libby did. And "a troubling picture" of Washington it is-but not of this Administration. The Bush crowd is guilty only of terminal naiveté and the foolish idea that high standards of probity will ever beat the opposition's utter unscrupulousness and willingness to misuse the legal system to their own partisan ends, even if it means the ruination of an innocent and capable man and enormous hardship to his family."

Good luck in calling for justice from the mainstream media. After all they are "unbiased" right? That word seems to have a different meaning in their lexicon though. Even mentioning that there might be another angle to a story seems to qualify.

I even found nuggets of truth in the Washington Post, but I had to look real hard:

washingtonpost.com

"Fitzgerald was overzealous," Zelnick says, and "the effect is serious and adverse. It's going to take a long time for reporters and their sources to figure out how to deal with each other in a way that doesn't risk contempt citations and imprisonment."

and...

blog.washingtonpost.com

"The reality that Armitage was the original leaker doesn't change the fact that Libby subsequently dined and whined with reporters to push the bosses' agenda. But Armitage is not a Cheney guy, and his revealed role does question the presumption of White House conspiracy and Cheney guilt.

The truth is that everyone at the top gossips. I hate to say leak for that suggests a piece of information of greater importance. Gossip fuels Washington, and the relationship between the top reporters and the top officials shape the news and fuels the ship of state.

Saying everyone gossips also isn't meant to excuse Libby or the government cesspool: My attitude is always that it is a great day for America when a government official is led away in handcuffs. These people are not above the law.

But they are above it all. "

An editorial gets it right. How did THIS slip through:

washingtonpost.com

"Mr. Libby's conviction should send a message to this and future administrations about the dangers of attempting to block official investigations.

The fall of this skilled and long-respected public servant is particularly sobering because it arose from a Washington scandal remarkable for its lack of substance."

But then, when you think about previous administrations, this is small potatoes. We can't be sure what goes on in other people's minds, only what they actually do. This man will go to jail for what hist intentions MIGHT have been, while others will get book deals and speaking engagements even though we KNOW they did wrong. How is this a good thing again? Because it will warn future administrations not to get caught?

From the same editorial:

"Mr. Wilson's case has besmirched nearly everyone it touched. The former ambassador will be remembered as a blowhard. Mr. Cheney and Mr. Libby were overbearing in their zeal to rebut Mr. Wilson and careless in their handling of classified information. Mr. Libby's subsequent false statements were reprehensible. And Mr. Fitzgerald has shown again why handing a Washington political case to a federal special prosecutor is a prescription for excess.

Mr. Fitzgerald was, at least, right about one thing: The Wilson-Plame case, and Mr. Libby's conviction, tell us nothing about the war in Iraq."

Much less difficult to get this other angle from bloggers:

powerlineblog.com

"The whole Libby affair remains something of a mystery. President Bush ordered all executive branch personnel to cooperate with the Fitzgerald investigation. Other people, apparently including Dick Cheney, told investigators that they had discussed Wilson and Plame with Libby. It's hard to understand why Libby's testimony was so out of step with that of the other Executive Branch witnesses. At the end of the day, imperfect memory seemed as good an explanation as any. But the jury didn't see it that way."

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Speaks

2007-03-05T16:02:00.000Z

First Justice Thomas refers to media inaccuracies caused by forcing all news into a false model of their own making, and then as if to demonstrate, the next question is:

Father Brooks made a point of trying to recruit a lot more African Americans to campus in the months before you came. Do you think that recruitment drive helped you?

Oh no. I was going to go home to Savannah when a nun suggested Holy Cross. That's how I wound up there. Your industry has suggested that we were all recruited. That's a lie. Really, it's a lie. I don't mean a mistake. It's a lie.

I had always been an honors student. I was the only black kid in my high school in Savannah and one of two or three blacks in my class during my first year of college in the seminary. I just transferred. I had always had really high grades so that was never a problem. It was the only school I applied to. It was totally fortuitous.…The thing that has astounded me over the years is that there has been such an effort to roll that class into people's notion of affirmative action. It was never really looked at. It was just painted over. Things were much more nuanced than that….You hear this junk. It's just not consistent with what really happened.

Touchy, Ain't She? by Jed Babbin - HUMAN EVENTS

2007-03-02T19:27:00.000Z

"In a display of courage equal to proclaiming undying support for Mother's Day, the Virginia legislature has voted to apologize for the state’s role in slavery. According to one report, “This session will be remembered for a lot of things, but 20 years hence I suspect one of those things will be the fact that we came together and passed this resolution,' said Delegate A. Donald McEachin, a Democrat who sponsored the bill. No, Mr. McEachin. This session of the Virginia legislature will be remembered in the same way that the 109th Congress will be remembered: for doing what is expedient instead of what is necessary."

Hillary Clinton's hidden thesis - Hillary Clinton News - MSNBC.com

2007-03-02T19:13:00.000Z

"Hillary Rodham (who wasn't the valedictorian of the Wellesley class of '69, no matter what Wikipedia has said since July 9, 2005) was indeed an honors student and received an A on the thesis after her oral defense of it that May, recalls professor Schechter, who was one of the three graders."

One good thing about Hillary, she actually finished college, she actually made good grades, she actually took challenging classes. The left won't have to make things up or leave things out as they did (and still do) with Al Gore. But how will her young conservatism play? Will is be an asset or a liability?

'In her paper, she accepted Alinsky's view that the problem of the poor isn't so much a lack of money as a lack of power, as well as his view of federal anti-poverty programs as ineffective. (To Alinsky, the War on Poverty was a “prize piece of political pornography,” even though some of its funds flowed through his organizations.) “A cycle of dependency has been created,” she wrote, “which ensnares its victims into resignation and apathy.” '

One has to ask then: What happened to HRC's common sense view of the world?

Left and Right wing partisans should take to heart this notion from the comments section:

"You can't have both, either what they did in the past influences who they are now or it doesn't. You can't insult Bush for actions at 21, and then say what Hillary did at 21 doesn't matter because she was young. They're both accountable or neither are accountable."

Greenhouse sceptics to congregate - National - theage.com.au

2007-02-28T04:11:00.000Z

"'Environmentalism has largely superseded Christianity as the religion of the upper classes in Europe and to a lesser extent in the United States,' Mr Evans says in the publication.

'It is a form of religious belief which fosters a sense of moral superiority in the believer, but which places no importance on telling the truth,' he says.

'The global warming scam has been, arguably, the most extraordinary example of scientific fraud in the postwar period.'"

Group says Gore's home overuses electricity - USATODAY.com

2007-02-28T04:09:00.000Z

"Utility records show the Gore family paid an average monthly electric bill of about $1,200 last year for its 10,000-square-foot home.

The Gores used about 191,000 kilowatt hours in 2006, according to bills reviewed by The Associated Press spanning the period from Feb. 3, 2006, to Jan. 5. That is far more than the typical Nashville household, which uses about 15,600 kilowatt-hours per year."

Patriot Files, Links to Motivational Materials

2007-02-26T19:56:00.000Z

From site (linked in title), a variation on the several guys go to a restaurant analogy:

Tax Cuts - As Explained By A Democrat

If you don't understand the Democrats' version of tax cuts (and you are not alone), maybe this will help explain it:

50,000 people go to a baseball game, but the game was rained out. A refund was then due.

The team was about to mail refunds when the Congressional Democrats stopped them and suggested that they send out refund amounts based on the Democrat National Committee's interpretation of fairness.

After all, if the refunds were made based on the price each person paid for the tickets, most of the money would go to the ticket holders of the most expensive tickets. That would be unfair and unconscionable.

People in the $10 seats will get back $15, because they have less money to spend. Call it an "Earned Income Ticket Credit." Persons "earn" it by demonstrating little ambition, few skills and poor work habits, thus keeping them at entry-level wages.

People in the $25 seats will get back $25, because that's only fair.

People in the $50 seats will get back $1, because they already make a lot of money and don't need a refund. After all, if they can afford a $50 ticket, then they must not be paying enough taxes.

People in the $75 luxury seats will have to pay another $50, because they have way too much to spend.

The people driving (or walking) by the stadium who couldn't afford to watch the game will get $10 each, even though they didn't pay anything in, because they need the most help (sometimes known as Affirmative Action!).

Now do you understand?

If not, contact Representative Nancy Pelosi, Senator Ted Kennedy or Senator Hillary Clinton for assistance.

Some quite powerful presentations on the War on Terrorism too.

Woodward, Novak Say Libby Wasn't Leak - WSJ.com

2007-02-12T21:12:00.000Z

Mr. Woodward's testimony provided Libby's attorneys a victory in making that argument. They persuaded a judge to let them play a one-minute excerpt of Mr. Woodward's taped interview with Mr. Armitage. In it, Mr. Woodward asks about a CIA fact-finding mission that Mr. Wilson says helped him debunk prewar intelligence on Iraq.

"Why would they send him?" Mr. Woodward asked.

"Because his wife's a (expletive) analyst at the agency," Mr. Armitage replied.

"It's still weird," Mr. Woodward said.

"It's perfect. That's what she does. She is a WMD analyst," Mr. Armitage said.

(expletive) this whole sham process.

Penn and Teller: Bullsh*t! Recycling

2007-02-11T06:12:00.000Z

Not new, but new to me. Handy resource for those tired of trying to get this message across to, those certain people in your lives.

(Of course they won't believe it anyway)...

Good news there about recycling aluminum at least.

Will Al Gore Melt?

2007-02-05T20:33:00.000Z

"But if we are to follow Mr. Gore's suggestions of radically changing our way of life, the costs are not trivial. If we slowly change our greenhouse gas emissions over the coming century, the U.N. actually estimates that we will live in a warmer but immensely richer world. However, the U.N. Climate Panel suggests that if we follow Al Gore's path down toward an environmentally obsessed society, it will have big consequences for the world, not least its poor. In the year 2100, Mr. Gore will have left the average person 30% poorer, and thus less able to handle many of the problems we will face, climate change or no climate change."

Mark Steyn : What's so hot about fickle science?

2007-02-05T03:09:00.000Z

"The question is whether what's happening now is just the natural give and take of the planet, as Erik the Red and my town's early settlers understood it. Or whether it's something so unprecedented that we need to divert vast resources to a transnational elite bureaucracy so that they can do their best to cripple the global economy and deny much of the developing world access to the healthier and longer lives that capitalism brings. To the eco-chondriacs that's a no-brainer."

See below.

Great Series from Canada.com on Global Warming Junk Science

2007-02-04T03:54:00.000Z

"One place to start is with the American Meteorological Society, which has a committee on probability and statistics. 'I believe it is amazing for a committee whose focus is on statistics and probability that of the nine members only two are also members of the American Statistical Association, the premier statistical association in the United States, and one of those is a recent PhD with an assistant-professor appointment in a medical school.' As an example of the statistical barrenness of the climate-change world, Wegman cited the American Meteorological Association's 2006 Conference on Probability and Statistics in the Atmospheric Sciences, where only eight presenters out of 62 were members of the American Statistical Association.

While Wegman's advice -- to use trained statisticians in studies reliant on statistics -- may seem too obvious to need stating, the 'science is settled' camp resists it. Mann's hockey-stick graph may be wrong, many experts now acknowledge, but they assert that he nevertheless came to the right conclusion."

Free the Fitzgerald One! by Ann Coulter - HUMAN EVENTS

2007-02-01T19:17:00.000Z

"The exact same people who are now demanding prison for Libby for not remembering who told him about Plame are the ones who told us it was perfectly plausible for Bill Clinton to forget that Monica Lewinsky repeatedly performed oral sex on him in the Oval Office. Even if chubby Jewish brunettes aren't your type, be honest: Which of the two events would stand out more in your memory? "

Duke Case: The Larger Tragedy

2007-01-30T10:38:00.000Z

"Moreover, a virtually identical pattern of self-destructive attitudes and behavior has been found among British lower-class whites, where none of this can be blamed on racism or a legacy of slavery. (See 'Life at the Bottom' by Theodore Dalrymple.)

What the two self-destructive communities on opposite sides of the Atlantic have in common is hearing a steady diet of propaganda blaming all their problems on others, and depicting 'society' as determined to keep them down, regardless of anything they might do to try to lift themselves up."

Anti-war protesters spray paint Capitol building

2007-01-29T02:04:00.000Z

"'While there were minor instances of spray painting of pavement by a splinter group of Anarchists who were seeking a confrontation with the police, their attempts to breach into secure areas and rush the doors of the Capitol were thwarted,' Morse said. 'The graffiti was easily removed by the dedicated [Architect of the Capitol] staff, some of whom responded on their day off to quickly clean the area.'"

(Run-together words corrected by your editor... Seems like professionals would have learned by now that when you cut and paste from MS Word to a web based application you get words run together at the end of every line. They are still figuring out this fancy new Internet thing over at MS you know.)

Now as to my comment: I'm so glad I live a safe distance from DC these days. I wouldn't want the DC police to have to risk a confrontation with criminals on my behalf. Would you?

reviewjournal.com -- Opinion - EDITORIAL: Democrats kill pork-buster

2007-01-26T22:59:00.000Z

"President Bush came back last year to propose a weaker, modified version. Instead of being empowered to unilaterally strike items from bills, he would have been authorized to send one or more line items back to Congress for up-or-down votes. A simple majority vote would then have been sufficient to retain the spending, as opposed to the two-thirds supermajority required under the earlier plan.

But, ah, the members would be on the record, you see. Constituents could then ask the senator from Delaware why the heck he was spending their hard-earned tax money studying how to use the byproducts of a Washington state salmon cannery, or on some Alaskan 'bridge to nowhere.'"

Report: NYC May Lose Top Financial Spot

2007-01-22T19:51:00.000Z

According to the study, by the consulting group McKinsey & Company, New York and other U.S. cities are falling behind in financial services while cities including London, Dubai, Hong Kong and Tokyo are surging ahead.

It concludes that the U.S. is losing its advantage because of three main factors:

_The American regulatory framework, particularly Sarbanes-Oxley, is "a thicket of complicated rules, rather than a streamlined set of commonly understood principles, as is the case in the United Kingdom and elsewhere."

_While New York offers a promising talent pool for its financial services work force, "we are at risk of falling behind in attracting qualified American and foreign workers."

_The legal environments in other nations "far more effectively discourage frivolous litigation."

YouTube - "Chris Matthews" vs. "Hillary"

2007-01-22T01:27:00.000Z

Hard to believe the NBC PC censors didn't zap this:

Losing Strategy

2007-01-19T21:21:00.000Z

Publication Note

2007-01-16T03:45:00.000Z

http://blog.paperworth.com

now resolves to this address. Old address will continue to work as well.

Sandy Berger: What Did He Take and Why Did He Take It?

2007-01-16T01:35:00.000Z

What could have been important enough for Berger to take the risks he did? What could have been important enough for a lawyer of his distinction to risk disgrace, disbarment, and prison?

To paraphrase the questions asked of Richard Nixon by members of his own Party, what did he take and why did he take it?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/15/america/web.0115americanism.php?page=1

2007-01-15T23:08:00.000Z

Taken as a whole, the chapters in the book suggest it is not too late to undo some of the damage that has been done to America's global reputation. Gauging the strength of anti-American sentiment around the world, in all its varieties -- and understanding its roots -- is a crucial first step toward reversing it. Dialogue with those who express radical anti-American sentiment and would take up arms against us may not be possible or desirable. With everyone else, it is imperative.

That is, as long as dialog does not equate to capitulation. Popular among the loopy-left these days seems to be the assumption that if we disagree with any external entity on any issue, we must by definition be wrong. Can't have it every-which-way after all, but if you are one of the new-age hippies you can certainly hallucinate such things. While our "core values" have withered substantially we still have at least a vestige of what made this country great. Will that short attention span induced by "Twenty Four Hours" hypnotics (or Youtube for that matter) further erode who we are?

Probably.

Hang 'em!

2007-01-03T01:37:00.000Z

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged." - Abraham Lincoln

Real Estate Fairy visits pols who believe

2006-12-28T19:40:00.000Z

The Real Estate Fairy and Obama bought adjoining property. The Real Estate Fairy paid the asking price for his parcel; Obama paid less than the list for his and, presto, Obama had a home in Kenwood and a nice vacant lot next door.

Obama said that if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn't, since it didn't look right, perhaps because all of political Illinois knew that Rezko was by then toxic, infected with federal grandjuryitis.

A picture tells a 1000 words

2006-12-27T19:59:00.000Z

"Check out this photo from our mess hall at the US Embassy yesterday morning. Sen. Kerry found himself all alone while he was over here. He cancelled his press conference because no one came, he worked out alone in the gym w/o any soldiers even going up to say hi or ask for an autograph (I was one of those who was in the gym at the same time), and he found himself eating breakfast with only a couple of folks who are obviously not troops."

Al Qaeda Sends a Message to Democrats

2006-12-22T20:59:00.000Z

Zawahri calls on the Democrats to negotiate with him and Osama bin Laden, not others in the Islamic world who Zawahri says cannot help.

As quoted by ABC:

"The first is that you [Democrats] aren't the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen -- the Muslim Ummah's vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq -- are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost,"

A possible ambassadorship for former President Clinton or Carter?

Who really cares?

2006-12-13T02:00:00.000Z

A new book, titled "Who Really Cares" by Arthur C. Brooks examines the actual behavior of liberals and conservatives when it comes to donating their own time, money, or blood for the benefit of others. It is remarkable that beliefs on this subject should have become conventional, if not set in concrete, for decades before anyone bothered to check these beliefs against facts.

House Ethics Report Finds No Rules Broken

2006-12-08T19:47:00.000Z

Elections over, holidays coming up, time for every good MSM reporter to tidy up their desks:

"Hmmm, whats this stack?"

"Foley. Name doesn't ring a bell. Hey Don, can I borrow your trash can, mine's already full."

"Let's see, what can we cook up for 2008?"

Father of Chelsea's Boyfriend in Prison for Fraud, Scams

2006-12-08T19:33:00.000Z

More for the reader comments than the story itself:

But then, says Zauzmer, Mezvinsky began to steal from clients and even his own mother-in-law to raise the money to try yet another scheme.

"He was always looking for the home run. He was always trying to find the business deal that would make him as wealthy as all the people in his social circle," said Zauzmer.

Former Aide Parts With Carter Over Book

2006-12-07T19:49:00.000Z

That criticism is the latest in a growing chorus of academics who have taken issue with the book, including Alan M. Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard, who called the book “ahistorical,” and David Makovsky, director of the Project on the Middle East Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Did George W. Bush Kill JFK?

2006-11-27T15:28:00.000Z

That’s what makes us so smart. We know that JFK was actually assassinated by a 17-year-old George W. Bush in order ensconce fellow Texan Lyndon Johnson in the White House, thus laying the historical background necessary to facilitate Lady Bird Johnson’s highway beautification scheme years later—a scheme that encourages oil consumption by brainwashed pleasure drivers entranced by the wafting aroma of beautiful mind-controlling uber-poppies. Oh, and Halliburton.

Great article.

The Giant, Helpless, Pitiful Democratic Majority

2006-11-25T01:23:00.001Z

In the Senate, there is no such thing as a majority. Ever since the elder Bush's administration, the filibuster has become routine. No longer reserved for civil-rights issues or for egregious legislation, it now is used to counter even motions for recess and adjournment. Members of the Senate are no longer subjected to the indignity of standing on their feet and reading a telephone book. Rather, the gentlemen’s filibuster applies.

Clinton Won Easily, but Bankroll Shows the Toll

2006-11-21T23:09:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — She had only token opposition, but Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton still spent more on her re-election — upward of $30 million — than any other candidate for Senate this year. So where did all the money go?

Same place all your tax money will go if she gets to be Pres. Dems are not provably better than Repubs at keeping their hands out of the public trough. They are better at increasing the size of the trough though.

Democrats Target Wealth Gap Democrats Target Wealth Gap And Hope Not to Hit Economy

2006-11-21T19:50:00.000Z

Divide Between Rich and Poor Continues to Widen; Spurs 'Robin Hood' Plans

Surprise!

December 7, 2008

2006-11-19T05:43:00.000Z

"The failure of many Americans, including many of the leading Democrats in Congress, and some Republicans, to fully appreciate the persistent, long-term threat posed to America's liberties and survival, and to the future of Liberal Democracies everywhere, by an Islamic Resistance Movement that envisions a world dominated and defined by an Islamic Caliphate of religious totalitarianism, and which will fight any war, make any sacrifice, suffer any hardship, and pay any price to achieve it, may prove to be the kind of blunder upon which the fate of America turns, and falls."

Rubin's Tax Gambit

2006-11-14T14:05:00.000Z

By the way, how does Mr. Rubin continue to dodge any historical accountability for the dot-com bust of 2000 and the recession that followed? In the liberal economic narrative, we are supposed to believe that the Clinton Administration somehow ended in 1999, and that Mr. Bush is to blame for everything that followed. Yet the Nasdaq peak came in the spring of 2000 and the third quarter of that year recorded negative growth. The shallow recession began in March 2001, with slower-than-average growth continuing until the tax cuts on dividends and the top marginal income rate passed in 2003 and the expansion moved into high gear.

One wonders.

Brilliant

2006-11-09T04:04:00.000Z

Peace mom Sheehan arrested in Washington

2006-11-09T02:53:00.000Z

WASHINGTON - Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Wednesday as she led about 50 protesters to a White House gate Wednesday to deliver anti-war petitions she said were signed by 80,000 Americans.

Better get the publicity now Cindy. The old act won't show so well now.

The Left, Glad to be Hoodwinked

2006-11-08T03:05:00.000Z

Honesty is not just therapeutic. Fiscal honesty is a practical necessity. A New Direction for America rightly denounces the staggering fiscal irresponsibility of Republican leaders and duly promises "pay-as-you-go" spending. But in the entire document there is not one explicit revenue raiser to balance the many new spending programmes and tax credits.

Michael Kinsley is glad he voted before he found out the Dems have no fiscal plan. Now we know what sort of thing we are dealing with in the mainstream media: "Don't confuse us with the facts."

But it has been pointed out that the Left has no plan for months, years. No plan for Iraq either, by the way. With the attention span of MTV junkies, our country, like Nicaragua, will swing left again and hope to somehow eliminate poverty and disease overnight. Good luck.

It is our continued good fortune to watch Europe and parts of South America try socialist experiments over and over again and fail. In their case, that, coupled with the fact that their "Mexicans" are also Jihadists is going to be an irreversible disaster. Maybe someday, only after much of western civilization is wiped from the history books, someone will learn from these experiments. It doesn't look like it will be us though, or if so, not soon.

If there were a rocket ship to go to some desolate planet to get away from you loonies, I most certainly would be booking passage.

The Dems embrace an anti-war hoaxer

2006-11-05T02:31:00.000Z

John Kerry's "botched joke"/habitual troop slander has soaked up most of the blogosphere and MSM's attention the past week. But under the radar screen, another embarrassing controversy involving the Democrats and the military has been brewing.

But the video at the end of the story seems even more incredible.

As frequently as the left uses the word "lie" you would think they would check the "facts" that support their theories a bit more carefully.

October Surprise in November, From Surprising Source

2006-11-03T18:09:00.000Z

Is it Christmas already? Here is another related link.

I guess with American attention span becoming so short these things have to be put off as long as possible.

Could there yet be a "Day of election surprise"?

Kerry's '72 Army Comments Mirror Latest

2006-11-02T16:05:00.000Z

During a Vietnam-era run for Congress three decades ago, John Kerry said he opposed a volunteer Army because it would be dominated by the underprivileged, be less accountable and be more prone to "the perpetuation of war crimes."

Priceless

2006-11-02T03:57:00.000Z

AARP's Tax Trap

2006-11-02T02:34:00.000Z

Translation: AARP was hoping to use its candidate survey to nail down enough support to raise taxes on Social Security and to defeat private investment accounts if Mr. Bush pushes for reform again next year. But now that its scheme has been exposed and is hurting its Democratic pals in tight races, AARP leaders want to deny that this is what they meant. Let's hope Republicans remember this AARP double-dealing, which resembles what the lobby did in endorsing a drug plan for Medicare in 2003 only to call it inadequate now.

... But I ONLY joined for the free stuff!

Deaf School's Leader Ousted Amid Protests

2006-10-30T17:41:00.000Z

I've been hearing and reading this story for weeks and I still don't know what the issue is. Like so much protest these days all you hear about is the immediate objective, and often, as in this case not even the whys and wherefores of it all. What exactly was wrong with this woman? One report said that it had to do with WHEN she learned sign language. That's IT? According to one of the stories here that's not it at all. So, what IS it?

Is this a failure of the MSM to get to the bottom of the story, or is there perhaps no bottom to it?

I have a sneaking suspicion that this is all drummed up by "professional" protesters who no doubt have made or are about to make a buck or two off this whole thing. this protest will launch a career or two, and it has nothing to do with who gets the job of president. Several years from now you will hear about some new head of the DNC or some such organization and they'll be saying that person got their start by organizing this protest.

You are witnessing a new job class finally surpass lawyers in caring more about winning than in the actual effects of the outcome.

Hurray for our side. Now what?

The Non-Contract With America

2006-10-28T21:10:00.000Z

As a campaign strategy, this may well pay off. But if they do win, Democrats will have to fill their campaign vacuum with something, and the best clue to what that would be is what they've already proposed. We've taken some time to inspect these policy priorities and thought we'd share a few of the highlights, if that's the right word. (Warning: Keep sharp objects away from drug-company and Wal-Mart shareholders.)

A New Campaign Tactic: Manipulating Google Data

2006-10-26T16:55:00.000Z

Indeed, if all campaigns were doing it, the playing field might well be leveled.

Mr. Bowers said he did not believe the practice would actually deceive most Internet users.

But of course for the left, it's OK to try deception, while admitting that it might not work. Ever wonder why? Whether it is a stunt like this, or a misleading Oreo cookie analysis of the economy, or a parade of misleading victim testimonials on TV, the left will do anything to get their full power back.

Their goal: to trade the principles that made this country great for the principles that caused the Soviet Union to collapse. Oh, but to paraphrase John Kerry, they'll do it better than the Soviets.

Now when I confront a liberal with that comparison to the Soviets, there is always a denial that the goal is anything like Communism, or even Socialism. But what other label fits? "Progressivism" is meaningless, describing a state of perpetual change rather than an actual ideal state of being. Look at the specific goals:

To marginalize all religious practice and engender a total reliance on federal government solutions to every problem.

To bring down those filthy capitalists who run billion dollar companies (the rhetoric always leaves out what should be done about top sports and move stars and somehow you get the notion that its OK for them to make big bucks).

To take away almost any freedom of choice in personal matters (with the sole exception of course of those things that go on in the bedroom).

To install political correctness as the primary state sanctioned religion. This is thought control in as blatant a form as ever envisioned by George Orwell. they do it in their campaigning (as this stunt is a perfect example) and they'll carry the notion to its conclusion if empowered to do so. You can bet that the "Ministry of Education" will simply instruct Google and other such providers where certain search terms should take you. No need to "Google bomb".

The air-head actors of Hollywood threatened to leave the country when Bush got elected, but as far as I know none of them did. Of course they had plenty of places they could have moved that were closer to their ideal of an all-powerful central government, Canada simply being the closest, while the countries of Europe being more ideal. Why didn't any of them leave?

Where will you go when there is no freedom of thought (at least not that can be expressed openly) in America? Will there be pockets of such freedom in such places as Australia? Don't count on it.

Marx understood that for his theories to work, all avenues of escape must be cut off. World Communism wasn't just a nice goal, it was an absolute necessity for the system to succeed. There are those among us who have the same idea regarding our countries founding principles. They don't like states rights, which are all but gone thanks to judicial activism. States rights allow pockets of freedom to shine forth and attract those who love it. The existence of private (to their way of thinking) schools makes it impossible to make public education work, just as the existence of medical people who opt out of government subsidies make their ideal of health care impossible to achieve.

Where will you go after the revolution?

Not Facing Reality

2006-10-23T21:50:00.000Z

In his interactions with both secularists and Christians after writing his first book, he notes "my correspondence with liberals has convinced me that liberalism has grown dangerously out of touch with the realities of our world … despite abundant evidence to the contrary, liberals continue to imagine that Muslim terrorism springs from economic despair, lack of education and American militarism.

"I don’t know how many more engineers and architects need to blow themselves up, fly planes into buildings or saw the heads off of journalists before this fantasy will dissipate."

and

The one group which speaks with moral clarity about the war in the Middle East is the religious right, Mr. Harris notes, while admitting he disagrees with that group over almost every other political issue.

"Unless liberals realize that there are tens of millions of people in the Muslim world who are far scarier than Dick Cheney, they will be unable to protect civilization from its genuine enemies," he concludes.

Prosperity Amid the Gloom

2006-10-19T18:50:00.000Z

Nancy Pelosi vows that if Democrats capture Congress they will "jump-start our economy." A "jump-start " is administered to a stalled vehicle. But since the Bush tax cuts went into effect in 2003, the economy's growth rate (3.5 percent) has been better than the average for the 1980s (3.1) and 1990s (3.3). Today's unemployment rate (4.6 percent) is lower than the average for the 1990s (5.8) -- lower, in fact, than the average for the past 40 years (6.0). Some stall.

John Stossel: Health Insurance Isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be

2006-10-17T18:11:00.000Z

Great, let's bankrupt America even faster! Medicare already has an unfunded liability of $32.1 trillion — that's how much more money the politicians have promised versus the amount the Treasury has to pay for it. The Medicare Trust Funds report says expenditures "are expected to increase & at a faster pace than either workers' earnings or the economy overall."

Can We Talk? Apparently Not

2006-10-17T17:44:00.000Z

The real issue, however, is neither heterosexual or homosexual, and it extends even beyond the important question of the best interests of the child.

The larger question for American society is, as Joan Rivers has often said: "Can we talk?"

Political bigwigs in San Francisco say "No." They are demanding that Pete Wilson resign. In San Francisco, no one is supposed to criticize anything done by homosexuals.

Couldn't Resist

2006-10-13T04:04:00.000Z

A Party Without Principles

2006-10-02T20:28:00.000Z

"If Democrats cared about poor women and minorities, they would be clamoring to reform Social Security. But instead they get a childish gratification out of stamping their feet and refusing to discuss the subject. They can't muster the courage to block the suspension of habeas corpus. But when it comes to blocking entitlement reform, the Democrats ride out to battle."

Even lifelong liberals get it every now and then.

Funny thing, the article started with the phrase: "After years of single-party government, " and the first thing that popped into my mind was the period from 1952 to 2000. For most of that time the Repubs were a minority, at times very much so. They continued to work for their ideals and worked to block things they were against without simply rejecting anything that the Dems came up with. For the most part, the Republicans are STILL making concession after concession to the Democrats as if they (the Republicans) were still the minority.

And let's not forget the left still controls the media via which most of you are being brainwashed without even knowing it. The trick is not slanted coverage (although there is plenty of that too) but mostly a slant in picking what to cover. The news you never see is what the left is all about. Why else would they be so concerned about the occasional exception such as Fox News? For their slant to work, they need exclusivity. Not a foreign notion after all, as any Socialist will tell you, their system works best when the Capitalists have no place to escape to.

THE ASSOCIATED (WITH TERRORISTS) PRESS

2006-09-22T04:04:00.000Z

"Let me repeat that: An Associated (with terrorists) Press journalist gets caught with an alleged al Qaeda leader and tests positive for bomb-making materials. That. Is. News. How does a news organization explain away its decision to sit on it for five months? Like this: "The AP has worked quietly until now, believing that would be the best approach."

The best approach to journalism? No. The best approach to suppressing a damning connection to terrorists.

The mainstream media enjoys mocking bloggers as journalistic wannabes who don't do any "real" reporting and have no concern for the "public interest." But as in the case of the Reuters photo-faking debacle this summer, it is bloggers in their little home offices -- not the professionals on the ground thousands of miles away -- who smoked out a war story with profound national security implications."

Media Clowns

2006-09-08T21:10:00.000Z

"One of the biggest media figures boycotting the Plame story has been MSNBC host Chris Matthews who has yet to mention the scandal at all since the Armitage report broke, a dramatic contrast to the 27 times he mentioned the "scandal" in the five months leading up to it."

Back in the USSR

2006-09-07T23:41:00.000Z

And they say Bush has dictatorial aspirations!

Snow Should Grant Hothead Newsman's Wish

2006-09-06T20:23:00.000Z

Newsman to Tony Snow: 'Don't Point Your Finger At Me!' said apparent member of the loopy left David Gregory, who doesn't like having his bias pointed out.

Why can't the MSM just fire these guys? With all the party-school fodder being turned out of journalism schools these days, replacements should be a dime a dozen. It would go gentle on that bottom line too. Is this the kind of publicity you need NBC?

I suggest for starters, Tony Snow honor his request and never point to him again. That should pretty much end his need to attend the White House press conferences in the first place. Leave the rest to NBC.

One more from the gang that can't shoot straight...

2006-09-01T19:24:00.000Z

"Armitage's involvement in the matter does not fit neatly into the assertions of Bush administration critics that Plame's employment was disclosed as part of a White House conspiracy to besmirch Wilson by suggesting his Niger trip stemmed from nepotism at the CIA. Wilson and Plame have sued top administration officials, alleging that the leak was meant as retaliation."

Theya-culpa

Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe

2006-08-10T22:45:00.000Z

Unless you count "green with envy" of George Bush.

"Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself."

WSJ.com - Socialism in Reverse

2006-07-30T02:30:00.000Z

"This week Robert Poole and other scholars at the Reason Foundation released the 20th Anniversary Edition of their annual global privatization report. It chronicles this sweeping economic trend that began in Margaret Thatcher's England, spread to the U.S. under Ronald Reagan, then to China and the former communist nations of Eastern Europe. A 2005 World Bank report also finds that, from 1990-2003, governments around the globe have generated $410 billion in privatization proceeds."

Capitol Hill Blue - Screwing the pooch

2006-07-28T17:23:00.000Z

"With the help of 'Bill' and some other volunteers who held the intervention Monday that helped me see the light we've gone back through the databases and removed quotes from unverified sources and eliminated stories that didn't fit the criteria I claimed to follow but did not.

The stories we have removed from the database include:

* Bush's erratic behavior worries White House aides (June 4, 2004)
* Bush's obscene tirades bother White House aides (Aug. 25, 2005)
* Dangers of a drunk Dubya (Sept. 22, 2005)
* Bush's Increasing Mental Lapses and Temper Tantrums Worry White House Aides (Nov. 2, 2005)
* White House keeps dossiers on more than 10,000 political enemies (Nov. 8, 2005)
* Bush on the Constitution: It's just a 'goddamned piece of paper' (Dec. 9, 2005)
* Secret Service agents say Cheney was drunk during shooting incident (Feb. 22, 2006)
* Bush just can't stop lying (March 22, 2006)
* The decider-in-chief: Drunk with power (July 22, 2006)

There will be others. It takes a long time to go through three different databases from the three different publishing systems we've used over the years to try and correct too many mistakes."

WSJ.com - Osama in Genevaland

2006-07-13T12:10:00.000Z

"Mr. England's memo overturns a 2002 Justice Department memo that ruled explicitly that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to members of al Qaeda or the Taliban, a policy change the White House confirmed late on Tuesday. For an Administration that has fought so hard, and in our view rightly, to protect its executive powers, this is being heralded as an embarrassing reversal. It also has the smell of a bureaucratic fiasco, since we can't recall another situation in which Presidential power was so freely handed away."

12 DOWN: TOP SECRET WAR PLANS, 36 ACROSS: TREASON

2006-07-04T14:56:00.000Z

"What if, instead of passing information from the government's secret nuclear program at Los Alamos directly to Soviet agents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg had printed those same secrets in a newsletter? Would they have skated away scot-free instead of being tried for espionage and sent to the death chamber?

Ezra Pound, Mildred Gillars ('Axis Sally') and Iva Toguri D'Aquino ('Tokyo Rose') were all charged with treason for radio broadcasts intended to demoralize the troops during World War II. Their broadcasts were sort of like Janeane Garofalo and Randi Rhodes on Air America Radio -- except Tokyo Rose was actually witty, and Axis Sally is said to have used a fact-checker."

Auditors: FEMA Paid $1 Billion In False Hurricane Claims

2006-06-15T01:05:00.000Z

"Included in that is $10 million in housing assistance that went to 1,000 convicted criminals who already had housing -- in prison.

'FEMA's fraud detection and prevention controls were so weak or nonexistent that these fraudulent applications were never detected, let alone prevented,' said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

The hearings left some members of Congress exasperated because FEMA's top officials never showed up to answer questions. That left a 20-year civil service FEMA employee to field the brunt of representatives' wrath.

'Why weren't these steps taken?' one congressman asked.

'Sir, I think that's a very difficult question to ask a career person,' the FEMA employee answered."

The irony being that it is the career people, and not temporary appointees who should have the best handle on the workings of FEMA and every other Federal agency

Scientists respond to Gore's warnings of climate catastrophe

2006-06-14T16:14:00.000Z

"But it becomes smaller still. Among experts who actually examine the causes of change on a global scale, many concentrate their research on designing and enhancing computer models of hypothetical futures. 'These models have been consistently wrong in all their scenarios,' asserts Ball. 'Since modelers concede computer outputs are not 'predictions' but are in fact merely scenarios, they are negligent in letting policy-makers and the public think they are actually making forecasts.'

We should listen most to scientists who use real data to try to understand what nature is actually telling us about the causes and extent of global climate change. In this relatively small community, there is no consensus, despite what Gore and others would suggest."

What if it turns out that, as one study suggested, reduced amounts of soot and other light blocking pollutants has actually caused more heat generating light to hit the ground and is thus responsible for what we call "global warming"? Would Gore and his followers suggest then that we all go back to burning coal in our fireplaces rather than using natural gas or electric heat?

Like many politicians, he can only operate in an environment where there is a "boogyman" to be overcome. Let's turn our collective boogyman field glasses on the destructive power of simplistic Powerpoint presentations as a substitute for true substantive debate. The left made a surprisingly stupid mistake when they tried to make the Bush academic record a campaign issue, inviting comparisons with Gore's record. Gore was the type of guy you loved to have in your class to bring the curve down. View the movie as a comedy, if you must see it. We really are dealing with a conspiracy of dunces here. Real scientists hopefully won't be distracted from real work on the issues by all the needless media attention created by the Duncmaster General.

Hurricanes and Global Warming

2006-06-12T03:53:00.000Z

"Now there’s a few modelers around who know something about storms, but they would like to have the possibility open that global warming will make for more and intense storms because there’s a lot of money to be made on this. You know, when governments step in and are saying this – particularly when the Clinton administration was in – and our Vice President Gore was involved with things there, they were pushing this a lot. You know, most of meteorological research is funded by the federal government. And boy, if you want to get federal funding, you better not come out and say human-induced global warming is a hoax because you stand the chance of not getting funded."

Not news, but news to me.

Impact of Inevitable Sanctions on Iran

2006-06-02T15:19:00.000Z

According to the WSJ, maybe not so bad...

"For oil-importing countries, even though Iran exports roughly 2.7 million bbl/d in petroleum, a complete cutoff of these shipments could be offset in large measure by increased OPEC and non-OPEC output, greatly diminishing the dreaded prospect of $100-a-barrel oil. Saudi Arabia has the most untapped capacity, in the order of 1.3 million to 1.4 million bbl/d. Other OPEC members, according to the International Energy Agency, have spare capacity of 1.1 million bbl/d, not including Iraq's estimated 700,000 bbl/d. With a total of 2.4 million to 3.1 million bbl/d in idle capacity, OPEC alone could offset a loss of Iranian exports. Furthermore, global oil consumption is anticipated to grow in the range of 1.4 million to 1.6 million bbl/d this year, while new supply is expected to increase by 1.2 million to 1.3 million bbl/d. Much of the imbalance is expected to be covered by OPEC exports of LNG."

WSJ.com - A Beautiful Sunset

2006-06-01T18:01:00.000Z

"Ronald Reagan used to quip that the closest thing to immortality in this life is a government program. We'd add one modern caveat, which is that under Beltway budget rules tax cuts automatically expire after five or 10 years, but spending programs and tax increases live forever.

The latter would change, however, if a group of House Republicans led by Texan Jeb Henserling and Mike Pence of Indiana succeed in pushing new rules to sunset out-of-date federal programs. Under their proposal that has been promised a vote this summer, Congress would have to reauthorize agency budgets every five years, or they would die. The legislation would also create a sunset commission to recommend program terminations, and Congress would vote up or down on the package. This procedure is modeled after the successful military base closing commissions."

Sounds like something worth writing your congress person (and everyone else you know) about, doesn't it?

Mr. Murtha's Rush to Judgment

2006-05-29T15:24:00.000Z

"A year ago I was charged with two counts of premeditated murder and with other war crimes related to my service in Iraq. My wife and mother sat in a Camp Lejeune courtroom for five days while prosecutors painted me as a monster; then autopsy evidence blew their case out of the water, and the Marine Corps dropped all charges against me ['Marine Officer Cleared in Killing of Two Iraqis,' news story, May 27, 2005]."

Unstoppable Drones

2006-05-09T17:36:00.000Z

Crazy talk? Maybe not.

Cops: Kennedy Was Under Influence - May 5, 2006

2006-05-05T21:21:00.000Z

Or as one pundit put it: It's 3AM, do you know where your Kennedys are?

USNews.com: Despite a troubled history, police across the nation are keeping tabs on ordinary Americans

2006-05-01T16:25:00.000Z

"The outfit stumbled in 2002, when two of its agents were assigned to follow around the county executive. Their job: to determine whether he was being tailed--not by al Qaeda but by a district attorney investigator looking into alleged misspending. A year later, one of its plainclothes agents was seen photographing a handful of vegan activists handing out antimeat leaflets in front of a HoneyBaked Ham store. Police arrested two of the vegans and demanded that they turn over notes, on which they'd written the license-plate number of an undercover car, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is now suing the county. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial neatly summed up the incident: 'So now we know: Glazed hams are safe in DeKalb County.'"

VOTE.COM - ROUSING THE ISOLATION GENIE

2006-04-21T15:23:00.000Z

"This withdrawal from globalism is a predictable consequence of the quagmire of Iraq. Bush has spent the constructive energies unleashed by Sept. 11 on his bid to make Iraq a stable democracy. Whether he has squandered our national vigor or simply invested it wisely will only become apparent in the next few years, but what is glaringly obvious is that our patience is over.

Republicans criticize Democrats for not proposing new solutions to the Iraq war, but the GOP misses the point that their opponents don’t have to do so. The wind of isolationism is at the Democrats’ back, propelling them onward to the likelihood of massive victories in 2006 and 2008."

“‘Just War Theory’ vs. American Self-Defense” by Yaron Brook and Alex Epstein

2006-04-07T20:10:00.000Z

The reason is that, despite their claims that they will do whatever is necessary to defend America, our leaders believe that it would be wrong—morally wrong—to do so. They believe this because they consistently accept a certain moral theory of war—one that has come to be universally taught in our universities and war colleges. This theory is accepted, at least implicitly, not only by intellectuals, but by our politicians, the leadership of our military, and the media. And while the American people are not explicitly familiar with this theory, they regard the precepts on which it is based and the policies to which it leads as morally uncontroversial. The theory is called Just War Theory. To understand today’s disastrous policies, and to reverse them, it is essential to understand what this theory holds.

Putting the cuckoo in our clocks�

2006-04-02T17:22:00.000Z

"In other words, it isn't 1975 any more; we've made one or two technological advances since then; and did anybody stop to think that people might actually take advantage of the daylight by driving their gas-burning cars to more places? "