Sunday, January 31, 2010

Obama Organizing in High School

Hmm.  I don't have enough information to know how extensive this is but it needs to be watched:

Atlas Shrugs
An Atlas reader, Chuck, has a student in the eleventh grade in an Ohio High School. Her government class passed out this propaganda recruiting paper so students could sign up as interns for Obama's Organizing for America (OFA is the former mybarackobama.com site.)

Obama is using our public school system to recruit for his Alinsky-inspired private army. Organizing for America is (and I quote) recruiting in our high schools to "build on the movement that elected President Obama by empowering students across the country to help us bring about our agenda" ............of national socialism.

The Ohio High School is Perry Local in Massillon, Ohio.


Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Pro-lifers outnumber pro-choicers

Wow:

Zombie » Pro-lifers outnumber pro-choicers 500-to-1 at massive S.F. abortion rally
Visualize for a moment what would happen if San Francisco hosted a rally on the hot-button topic of abortion. How many people would you expect to show up to support each side?

Well, considering that San Francisco is the city that regularly votes in overwhelming numbers for Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer, two of the strongest abortion advocates in Congress, and that San Francisco is perceived as being among the most liberal cities in the nation, you would likely anticipate the pro-choice side to vastly outnumber the pro-life side at any rally.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

Because when the anti-abortion group Walk for Life staged a march in San Francisco last Saturday, January 23, they turned out an overwhelming and jaw-dropping 40,000 pro-life activists, who were met by a well-advertised counter-protest which managed to draw no more than 80 (that’s eighty, eight-zero) pro-choice advocates. 40,000 vs. 80 is a 500-to-1 pro-life advantage, something that seems inconceivable in the sex-positive liberal stronghold of San Francisco. How did this happen?


Democrats fall as fast as Nixon Republican

From Michael Barone:

Washington Examiner
I have not seen a party's fortunes collapse so suddenly since Richard Nixon got caught up in the Watergate scandal and a president who carried 49 states was threatened with impeachment and removal from office.

The victory of a Democrat in the special election to fill Vice President Gerald Ford's House seat in February 1974 was a clear indication that the bottom had fallen out for the Republican Party. Brown's victory last week looks as if something similar has happened to the Democratic Party.

Many people ask me whether the Democrats are in as much trouble as they were in 1994. The numbers suggest they are in much deeper trouble, at least at this moment. Back in 1994 I wrote the first article in a nonpartisan publication suggesting that the Republicans had a serious chance to win the 40 seats necessary for a majority in the House. That article appeared in U.S. News & World Report in July 1994.

This year political handicapper Charlie Cook is writing in January, six months earlier in the cycle, that Republicans once again would capture the 40 seats they need for a majority if the House elections were held today. I concur. The generic vote question -- which party's candidates would you vote for in House elections -- is at least as favorable to Republicans as it was in the last month before the election in 1994.


Sunday, January 24, 2010

Death Wish: Why Are We So In Love with the Apocalypse?

Very interesting:

Big Journalism
It’s impossible to avoid the apocalypse these days. Whether we encounter the End in the form of news reports on Global Warming, or fears of Iran getting bomb, or plague panics such as H1N1, we seem to be living in a high point of apocalyptic anxiety, with horrible Doomsdays lurking round every corner.

And yet, the End has never been so much fun. Roland Emmerich released his latest apocalyptic blockbuster 2012 in November, and since then we have enjoyed Zombieland, The Road, The Book of Eli, Legion and even Al Gore’s dreadful poem read aloud on morning TV in the presence of a fawning sycophant. Much more is to come, and this is to say nothing of video games, books, comics, or half the output of the History Channel.


Big government-Stop!

If they (The Economist) are turning against Obama and statism the Dems are in trouble:

The Economist
America’s most vibrant political force at the moment is the anti-tax tea-party movement. Even in leftish Massachusetts people are worried that Mr Obama’s spending splurge, notably his still-unpassed health-care bill, will send the deficit soaring. In Britain, where elections are usually spending competitions, the contest this year will be fought about where to cut. Even in regions as historically statist as Scandinavia and southern Europe debates are beginning to emerge about the size and effectiveness of government.

There are good reasons, as well as bad ones, why the state is growing; but the trend must be reversed. Doing so will prove exceedingly hard—not least because the bigger and more powerful the state gets, the more it tends to grow. But electorates, as in Massachusetts, eventually revolt; and such expressions of voters’ fury are likely to shape politics in the years to come.


Astoturf-Fakery on the rise

Lots of astroturfing being found:

Patterico's Pontifications »
Now that people are paying attention, the Astroturfers are coming out of the woodwork:

Jan Chen of Seattle writes to the Northwest Asian Weekly (a small Asian paper serving the Seattle area):

As one listens to the Republican anger over health care reform, one can imagine an anti-government protester cheerfully paying premiums on insurance policies that drop you after you make a claim, or happily sauntering out of an emergency room that denied them treatment because of a coverage problem. One can imagine a town hall sign-waver enthusiastically forking over most of their pay to bill collectors after suffering a catastrophic injury, thinking, “Wow, the free market system is great.”

Meanwhile, Gloria Elle writes to the Baltimore Chronicle — on the same page as Mark Spivey and Ellie Light:

As one listens to the Republican anger over health care reform, one can imagine an anti-government protester cheerfully paying premiums on insurance policies that cancel you for making a claim, or happily sauntering out of an emergency room that denied them treatment because of a coverage problem. One can imagine a town-hall sign-waver enthusiastically forking over most of their pay to bill collectors after suffering a catastrophic injury, thinking, “Wow, the free market system is great.”

Jan Chen and Gloria Elle certainly have a similar writing style, don’t they?

To the word. Thanks to liberrocky on Twitter for the find.


Saturday, January 23, 2010

Pro-choice is too kind a word for Obama’s latest nominee

Read the whole thing:

The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment
Dawn Johnsen is President Obama’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). It’s arguably the most important office at DoJ. OLC sets policy for the entire federal government.

When not serving in government, Dawn Johnsen spent her career promoting abortion-on-demand. She denies there is even such a thing as partial-birth abortion. Even the term, she maintains, is “intentionally provocative.” She does not think that “progressives”—that’s PC-speak for liberal—should suggest that abortion is ever a tragedy.


Most U.S. Union Members Are Working for the Government, New Data Shows

As if government workers even need to be union:

NYTimes.com
For the first time in American history, a majority of union members are government workers rather than private-sector employees, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Friday.

In its annual report on union membership, the bureau undercut the longstanding notion that union members are overwhelmingly blue-collar factory workers. It found that membership fell so fast in the private sector in 2009 that the 7.9 million unionized public-sector workers easily outnumbered those in the private sector, where labor’s ranks shrank to 7.4 million, from 8.2 million in 2008.

“There has been steady growth among union members in the public sector, but I’m a little bit shocked to see that the lines have actually crossed,” said Randel K. Johnson, senior vice president for labor at the United States Chamber of Commerce.

According to the labor bureau, 7.2 percent of private-sector workers were union members last year, down from 7.6 percent the previous year. That, labor historians said, was the lowest percentage of private-sector workers in unions since 1900.

Among government workers, union membership grew to 37.4 percent last year, from 36.8 percent in 2008.


Friday, January 22, 2010

Scary Times in Obama High

Yep:

Roger L. Simon
The scary thing is that many of us believe the President hardly knows much of anything, certainly not economics, and is surrounded by an increasingly paranoid and defensive group of advisers. It’s shades of Nixon, but worse. Tricky Dick, at least, knew what he was doing and could accomplish things. Obama is the biggest windbag to ever ascend to the presidency. He has no idea what he is doing and now things are getting rough. Frankly, I’m worried for our country because this man doesn’t really understand what the public is telling him. He just thinks we’re “angry.” He’s wrong – we’re furious and we’re furious because he blames everyone but himself and seems psychologically incapable of taking responsibility. One can imagine a ninety-year old Obama stumbling around in some rest home shaking his walking stick at George Bush. But forthe moment Bush is being replaced boy. Now evidently it’s the banks fault. The evil bankers are to blame. It’s capitalism, stupid


Thursday, January 21, 2010

The End of the Obama Mystique

Excellent:

American Thinker
The Obama of 2008 was a figure who came out of nowhere trailing clouds of glory. His followers hailed him as a new phenomenon, of a type unseen in America since JFK and perhaps not ever. He was hailed as superhuman, with more than a touch of the divine. Some openly called him a messiah. One of his media supporters stated for the record that Obama was a godlike entity.

Perhaps it seemed like that to some after his November victory. The stunned opposition among Republicans and conservatives were certainly tempted to view it that way. How else to explain the near-mad adulation, the absolute certainty, the pseudo-religious frenzy? People rushed to make offerings at Obama's feet. Buildings and schools were renamed for him. The Nobel committee trashed its reputation to offer him a prize normally given only after lengthy and productive careers.


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Obama’s tough year in public opinion

He's having a horrible year, and it's his own fault:

The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment
What a difference a year makes.

Tuesday’s historic election of Republican Scott Brown over Democrat Martha Coakley to the represent the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts makes Democrats and President Obama 0-for-3 in statewide contests since his election. Obama carried all of three of those states by more than 50 points combined.

It is accepted wisdom that President Obama’s approval rating has tumbled during his first year in office. What is dramatic, however, is the width and depth of the disenchantment. According to Gallup, the president’s approval rating has dropped among 39 out of 40 demographic and geographic groups studied. Both genders and every age, income, education, region, marital status, ideology and party affiliation measure view him less favorably than they did last January.

This naturally includes constituencies that helped deliver victory to Mr. Obama in 2008. Among women, his approvals have dipped 15 percentage points; young people, 17 points; and the big story, his base among Independents—52% of whom voted for him—has evaporated (down 17 points).

What’s more, the public has soured on Mr. Obama’s handling of specific issues, both foreign and domestic. On every economic measure—taxes, budget deficit, creating jobs, general economy, and that bĂȘte noir, health care, which is viewed through an economic prism—the president has upside down approval ratings, meaning more people are negative than positive about his performance.


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Brown Scores Upset Victory Over Coakley in Massachusetts Senate Race

Amazing:

FOXNews.com
In a victory few thought possible just a month ago, Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley Tuesday in the race for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy -- a win that could grind President Obama's agenda to a halt and portend huge losses for Democrats in the November midterms.


The Once-Appealing Barack Obama

Yep:

Commentary
“We have something very special here,” Obama’s top political aide Axelrod is quoted as saying. “I feel like I’ve been handed a porcelain baby.” Axelrod tells Obama — dubbed by his aides as the “Black Jesus” — that voters were looking for “a president who can bring the country together, who can reach beyond partisanship, and who’ll be tough on special interests.”

That was what we were promised. What we got instead is a president who increased the divisions in our nation, the most partisan and polarizing figure in the history of polling, one who is dogmatic and has been as generous to special interests as any we have seen. The efforts to buy votes in pursuit of the Obama agenda has added sewage to the cesspool.


Monday, January 18, 2010

Why We're Not Getting Married

The lack of commitment in our society is on the rise.  And then we wonder why marriages fail:

The Daily Beast
There is now a huge gray area between dating and marriage—it’s a place where men and women are forming long-term relationships that have many similarities to marriage, yet aren’t quite. It’s the place beyond the point of being just boyfriend and girlfriend, but not married. These are relationships that 50 or 60 years ago would have most likely culminated in marriage, but today are just part of the relationship experimentation that’s endemic to many people’s twenties and thirties.

A look at the numbers bears this out. The median age for a first marriage in the United States is the highest it’s ever been—27.1 for a man and 25.3 for a woman—and it skews even higher in many cities, giving way to more years of dating before marriage. In fact, 23 million adults are in unmarried committed relationships. Over 12 million unmarried partners live together, a trend that is being exhibited in a large part by the 25-to-34-year-old demo.

"Dating is not what it was 50 years ago. Dating is evolving into this gradual process of moving in. It involves nights spent over at one or the other’s place. There’s the toothbrush, then a few items of clothing. All of a sudden, they realize they’ve moved in,” says Pamela Smock, a sociologist at the University of Michigan who studies cohabitation.

“A Little Bit Marrieds” are the ones that write a prenup on a piece of loose-leaf paper as they move in, detailing who paid for the Ikea bureau, who brought the flat-screen TV, whose parents gave them the bed. They don’t share the cost of anything “just in case.” They each have separate shelf units for their books and DVDs. Are they roommates or are they building a life together? Are they husband and wife, girlfriend and boyfriend, or roommates? They may have seen friends go through a whole lifecycle—dating, marriage, and kids—but they still don’t own a couch together. Each thinks the other person is marriage material, but how can they commit when there are un-traveled continents and four more career paths to explore? Everything is great—but what if there is something better out there?


Sunday, January 17, 2010

After Obama Rally, Dems Pin Blame On Bush

Well I'm glad this is cleared up...it's Bush's fault.

 Hotline On Call
As audience members streamed out of Pres. Obama's rally on behalf of AG Martha Coakley (D) here tonight, the consensus was that the fault for Coakley's now-floundering MA SEN bid lies with one person -- George W. Bush.

"People are upset because there's so many problems," Rosemary Kverek, 70, a retired Charleston schoolteacher said as tonight's rally wrapped up. "But the problems came from the previous administration. So we're blaming poor Obama, who's working 36 hours a day ... to solve these problems that he inherited."

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), speaking with a gaggle of reporters after the event, said that while state Sen. Scott Brown (R) offers voters a quick fix, in reality, the problems created by "George Bush and his cronies" are not so easily solved.


Brown Has 9.6% Lead in New Poll

This is certainly getting interesting...

insidemedford.com
A poll conducted by the Merriman River Group (MRG) and InsideMedford.com indicates that Scott Brown leads Martha Coakley 50.8% – 41.2% in the contest to fill the seat of the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Liberty Party candidate Joe Kennedy pulls in just 1.8% support, while 6.2% of voters are still not sure. Brown and Coakley both have most of their supporters locked in. 98% of both candidate’s supporters say they are definitely or probably going to vote for their candidate. In contrast, 22% of Kennedy’s supporters are just leaning toward him, suggesting that Brown and Coakley may both want to take aim at swaying those voters.


Friday, January 15, 2010

HOW TO INSTALL A HOME SECURITY SYSTEM

1. Go to a secondhand store and buy a pair of men's used size 14-16 work boots.

2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy of Guns & Ammo Magazine.

3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and magazines.

4. Leave a note on your door that reads:

"Bubba,

Bertha, Duke, Slim, & I went for more ammo and beer. Be back in an hour.
Don't mess with the pit bulls; they attacked the mailman this morning and
messed him up bad. I don't think Killer took part, but it was hard to tell
from all the blood. Anyway, I locked all four of 'em in the house.

Better wait outside. Be right back.

Cooter"

HT: Milana

Mayan Calendar Mystery


Thursday, January 14, 2010

How the Media Are Covering ‘Head Start’s’ Failure

Hmm...

Cato @ Liberty
A day after it was released, here’s a roundup of how the mainstream media are covering the HHS study showing that America’s $100 billion plus investment in Head Start is a failure:


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Earthquake in Haiti

Extensive photos of the damage in Haiti.  Pray and you can donate here.
The Assemblies of God will be sending in large amounts of food and medical aid.

Earthquake in Haiti - The Big Picture - Boston.com
Tuesday afternoon, January 12th, the worst earthquake in 200 years - 7.0 in magnitude - struck less than ten miles from the Caribbean city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The initial quake was later followed by twelve aftershocks greater than magnitude 5.0. Structures of all kinds were damaged or collapsed, from shantytown homes to national landmarks. It is still very early in the recovery effort, but millions are likely displaced, and thousands are feared dead as rescue teams from all over the world are now descending on Haiti to help where they are able. As this is a developing subject, I will be adding photos to this entry over the next few days, but at the moment, here is a collection of photos from Haiti over the past 24 hours.


Monday, January 11, 2010

Loving your Enemies?

Matthew 5:43-48

Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
We must learn to love as Jesus loved.

But what does that mean?
Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Matthew 5 43.

Jesus was referring to the Rabbinic teaching which was supposedly based on Scripture. In Leviticus 19:18 we find the teaching about loving your neighbor It reads:

“You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”

This teaching is clear enough. The problem was that over time it had become twisted, and things were added on. Where is the “hate your enemy part?”

It’s not there, they had turned a passage that was speaking about loving everyone and narrowed it down to the point that it no longer carried much meaning.

It’s easy to love the lovely!

Who’s my neighbor? According to the teaching of the day it was anyone who was your friend, family member, or someone who treated you well. Now Jesus is turning this completely upside down…love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

To those listening to Jesus that day this must have seemed like an impossibility. How could anyone love his or her enemy? Enemies don't evoke love in anyone.

Jesus however wanted to make the point that He considered our neighbor to include our enemies. In other words no one is outside the scope of our love, or no one should be. We are called to show love to all people.

But then, Jesus takes it even further we are to pray for those who treat us badly.

He is not saying that we should pray for them to be struck by lightning or that a house should fall on them. Rather, He is saying that we should pray on their behalf. We should pray that God would begin to act in their lives, that they would be blessed by God so that relationship between us can be restored.

Prayer for our enemies is one of the deepest forms of love because it means that we have to really want something good to happen to those we can’t stand or who hate us.

I might do nice things for my enemy without any genuine desire that things actually go well with them. But prayer for them…genuine prayer is a matter of the heart. God knows if we are faking it or not.

Jesus and Simon

Luke 7:36-50 36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Good manners in that day required the host to have his servant wash the guest’s feet. He was expected to greet his visitor with a kiss on the cheek and anoint the guest’s head with oil.

Simon did none of these things, and it is apparent from our story that his actions (or lack thereof) were deliberate.

Imagine going to a party and extending your hand to someone, only to have them subtly refuse to extend their hand in return…They may even smile as they refuse, but you know – and they know – it’s intended as an insult. It’s meant to offend.

That’s pretty much what Simon intended in his behavior. BUT WHY? Why go to all the trouble inviting this new teacher to your home, putting on a lavish meal and perhaps even opening your home to the community so that they can come and observe him?

I believe Simon’s objective was to exasperate Jesus, to get under His skin, to throw Him off balance. He intended to goad Jesus into making a statement, or behaving in such a way that he could then use to embarrass Him and use against Jesus.

When we are off guard we often make verbal mistakes. These can then be used against you.

I believe that was Simon the Pharisee’s objective with Jesus. And it could have worked.

Hebrews tells us Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus knew Simon’s behavior was intended as an insult. He knew Simon’s heart. In my own experience, I’ve had people treat me rudely too - and I haven’t always responded well to it.

Even though I was a Christian, there was something infuriating about being mistreated in this way and my anger took over.

We’ve all encountered this at one time or another and we’ve said things we shouldn’t
or behaved in a less than gracious manner.

When reading of how Jesus behaved in this setting, it’s valuable for us to remember that Jesus not only came to give us life… He also came to show us how to live that life.

He was a bigger man and a better man than any of us would ever hope to be, and He showed us by His behavior how we who are His followers should treat people like this Pharisee.

In this situation, He simply ignored Simon’s behavior. He refused to give Simon the satisfaction of even commenting about this treatment.

The most influential US conservatives: 100-81

Interesting how the Brits see American politics.  Why they put Mark Sanford at 100 has me baffled, he has no clout anymore:

Telegraph
Telegraph.co.uk is presenting its second list of the 100 most influential conservatives and 100 most influential liberals in America a year after Barack Obama took the oath on the steps of the Capitol to become the 44th President of the United States.

The lists are both divided into five with 20 people in each 'instalment' and published over five successive days.


Saturday, January 09, 2010

Super-Shocker— Two Polls Show Massachusetts Senate Race as Toss Up – Scott Brown Surging

Brit Hume's Tiger Woods remarks shine light on true intolerance

Well said:

Michael Gerson - washingtonpost.com
Hume's critics hold a strange view of pluralism. For religion to be tolerated, it must be privatized -- not, apparently, just in governmental settings but also on television networks. We must have not only a secular state but also a secular public discourse. And so tolerance, conveniently, is defined as shutting up people with whom secularists disagree. Many commentators have been offering Woods advice in his travails. But religious advice, apparently and uniquely, should be forbidden. In a discussion of sex, morality and betrayed vows, wouldn't religious issues naturally arise? How is our public discourse improved by narrowing it -- removing references to the most essential element in countless lives?

True tolerance consists in engaging deep disagreements respectfully -- through persuasion -- not in banning certain categories of argument and belief from public debate.

In this controversy, we are presented with two models of discourse. Hume, in an angry sea of loss and tragedy -- his son's death in 1998 -- found a life preserver in faith. He offered that life preserver to another drowning man. Whatever your view of Hume's beliefs, he could have no motive other than concern for Woods himself.

The other model has come from critics such as Shales, in a spittle-flinging rage at the mention of religion in public, comparing Hume to "Mary Poppins on the joys of a tidy room, or Ron Popeil on the glories of some amazing potato peeler." Shales, of course, is engaged in proselytism of his own -- for a secular fundamentalism that trivializes and banishes all other faiths. He distributes the sacrament of the sneer.

Who in this picture is more intolerant?


Friday, January 08, 2010

CLIMATEGATE SCANDAL PROMPTS SCIENTIFIC HOUSECLEANING

This isn't going away any time soon:  HT: Ken

 Calgary Beacon
Recent responses to “Climategate” — the leaked emails from Britain’s University of East Anglia and its Climatic Research Unit (CRU) — remind me of the line “Are your feet wet? Can you see the Pyramids? That’s because you’re in denial.” Climate catastrophists like Al Gore and the U.N.’s Rajendra Pachauri have attempted to downplay Climategate, saying that it involves only a few intemperate scientists and there’s no real evidence of wrongdoing. Now let’s persecute the whistleblower.

A good example of this argument comes from University of Calgary Prof. David Mayne Reid, who recently penned a column in which he denied the importance of Climategate.

Unfortunately for Reid, however, old saws won’t work today: Climategate has blazed across the Internet, the blogosphere and social-networking sites. Even environmentalist writer George Monbiot has recognized that the public’s perception of climate science has been extensively damaged and has called for one of the Climategate ringleaders to resign.


The Giant Crystal Cave

Just wow:

The Iron Ammonite: The Deadliest place on Earth? Surviving Cueva de los Cristales - The Giant Crystal Cave
It's 50oC and has a humidity of 100%, less than a hundred people have been inside and it's so deadly that even with respirators and suits of ice you can only survive for 20 minutes before your body starts to fail. It’s the nearest thing to visiting another planet – it’s going deep inside our own.

For 'How Earth made us' I have been lucky enough to film everywhere from tiny Pacific islands to the centre of the Sahara desert, yet nowhere could prepare me for filming in The Giant Crystal Cave - Cueva de los Cristales of Mexico.





Thursday, January 07, 2010

Sluggish Coakley effort irks Dems

If Brown wins expect more Dem resignations:

The Sun Chronicle Online - News
GOP rival seen closing ground in US Senate race
Dennis Naughton was standing out in the cold at 7:15 Wednesday morning waving to passing motorists in Foxboro and holding a sign for U.S. Senate candidate Martha Coakley.

So when he hears reports that Democrats are not excited about supporting Coakley, he wonders who they are talking about.

"I think people are pretty motivated," he said of his party's faithful.

But, a poll out Tuesday and interviews with local Democrats tell another story.

The Democrats said Coakley has been too passive, and a Rasmussen poll found that state Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, had closed Coakley's once commanding lead to a mere 9 points. "I'm not happy with the level of campaign effort I've seen," state Rep. Bill Bowles, D-Attleboro, said of Coakley. "I think the campaign needs to step it up a notch."


Sunshine, Vitamin D, and Death by Scientific Consensus

Very interesting and potentially life saving:

Pajamas Media
The traditional “Top Ten Breakthroughs of the Decade” lists have been appearing in science-related publications. One breakthrough, however, is conspicuously missing from every list I’ve seen so far. I’m talking about the new understanding of the role and proper dosage of the sunshine vitamin D.

The “scientific consensus” that has held sway for four decades regarding both exposure to the sun and vitamin D has collapsed. What has emerged in place of the old “settled science” is the knowledge that most people in America are seriously vitamin D deficient or insufficient. The same is true for Canada and Europe, and the implications are staggering.

Simply put, unless you are one of the few people with optimal serum D levels, such as lifeguards and roofers in South Florida, you can cut your risks from most major diseases by 50 to 80 percent. All you have to do is get enough D. It also means we can significantly reduce both health care costs and the staggering national deficit by taking a few simple steps.


Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Student arrested over "Nobama" sticker gets settlement

Amazingly stupid on the part of the Sheriff's dept.  It's also nice to see the ACLU get one right:

The Denver Post
A Dakota Ridge High School student who wore a "Nobama" sticker taped across the front of his shirt prior to an appearance by Michelle Obama will receive $4,000 from Jefferson County authorities, the ACLU of Colorado announced today.

The $4,000 settlement agreement with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and the Jefferson County School District avoided a potential lawsuit, according to a news release from Taylor Pendergrass, ACLU staff attorney.


White House: We will NOT discuss broken C-Span promise

Transparency:

Washington Examiner
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to answer questions about the president's campaign commitment to hold health-care negotiations on C-Span. Gibbs said he had not seen a letter from C-Span's Brian Lamb to congressional leaders requesting the coverage and thus could not comment on it.

On Wednesday, Gibbs was asked again about the C-Span commitment. The story had gotten pretty big in the intervening time, and presumably Gibbs had had a chance to familiarize himself with it. So reporters tried for a second day to get him to comment on the president's commitment to holding televised health-care talks. Gibbs' answer? "We covered this yesterday." Gibbs referred reporters to the transcript of Tuesday's briefing and said, "The answer I would give today is similar."

But of course, he hadn't answered the question at all. Here is the transcript from the Tuesday briefing:


Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Ford Sales Surge

I won't buy GM or Chrysler as long as they are nationalized.  Apparently others agree:

The Volokh Conspiracy
Ford Motor Company’s December 2009 sales were up 33 percent from December 2008. By comparison, Chrysler’s sales were down 4 percent. GM has yet to report. One factor is almost certainly the quality of Ford’s product — my wife certainly loves her Ford Edge and hopes we’ll get another when the lease runs out — but I suspect Ford’s position as the only major U.S. automaker to neither go bankrupt nor take bailout money is another.

UPDATE: GM December sales were down 6 percent. Most foreign automakers posted December gains. Honda, for instance, reported a 24 percent increase in December sales; Nissan an 18 percent gain.



Monday, January 04, 2010

Ahmadinejad's web site has been hacked

Too funny:

Israel Matzav: Too good to check: Ahmadinejad's web site has been hacked
Too good to check: Ahmadinejad's web site has been hacked

Here's what the hack says: 
"Dear God, In 2009 you took my favorite singer - Michael Jackson, my favorite actress - Farrah Fawcett, my favorite actor - Patrick Swayze, 
my favorite voice - Neda.
Please, please, don't forget my favorite politician - Ahmadinejad and my favorite dictator - Khamenei
in the year 2010. Thank you."


Brit Hume: Jesus Christ Offers Tiger Woods Something Tiger Woods Desperately Needs

It's pretty amazing he had the gumption to give his true opinion.  Good for him.

Gateway Pundit
Brit Hume told Bill O’Reilly tonight that he wasn’t proselytizing when he suggested yesterday that Tiger Woods become Christian to help him with his marital problems. The left attacked Hume mercilessly for promoting Christianity on FOX News Sunday.

Tonight Humes said that, “Jesus Christ offers Tiger Woods something Tiger Woods desperately needs:”


Saturday, January 02, 2010

Could this actually be the greatest and potentially the deadliest of Obama’s screw ups so far?

Now that I think of it, it is surprising that this has been front page news.  The CIA doesn't like publicity of any kind:

Erick’s blog - RedState
People tell me the President’s rush to acknowledge the attack on the CIA in Afghanistan and mourn the deaths openly, publicly, and via press release is a huge no no. The CIA and greater intelligence community would prefer not to have the attention put on them. Additionally, because the President took the time to draft a blanket statement focused on the CIA in general instead of individually and more privately focusing on the families of the victims, it acknowledges the CIA’s work in Afghanistan, acknowledges that the attack has an impact on the CIA, and gives the terrorists a new recruiting tool — “you too can cause America to publicly mourn the loss of their spies.”

To you and me this may not seem like a big deal. But I’m told this is hugely significant and shows just how out of touch the Obama administration is with the intelligence community. I’m told that no other President has issued such blanket statements of public mourning directed toward an attack on the CIA and thereby having the White House itself confirming an attack on our intelligence community.


"VIP" Treatment Under Nationalized Health Care in Japan

Hmm...

Big Lizards:Blog:
Japan already has the system that proponents of ObamaCare eventually want to install here in America. So let's take a look at how it works in the real world.

After Mom reassured me about my father's condition, she started talking about last year around this time, when she had to have stomach surgery.

"Oh Sachi, the care I received was wonderful!" she said; "I stayed in a private room which was like in a nice hotel. It had a private bathroom. The nurses were nice. The doctors were wonderful. I spent nine days in the hospital and only paid ¥80,000!" [About 800 dollars]

"Really?" I asked; "government insurance actually covered all that?"

"Oh, of course not; I have three insurance policies," she proudly announced.

Before retirement, my father was a patent attorney. As a private business owner, he had to pay an exorbitant government insurance premium, both for himself and his three employees. But he always knew that would never be enough coverage, so he purchased two more private insurance policies. In other words, he spent more than twice as much on health insurance as a typical American spends now, pre-ObamaCare.

But even those extra policies wouldn't cover the VIP treatment my Mom got. I asked a few more questions, and she finally spilled the beans:

"I was supposed to be in a 4-person room. But I had a private room all to myself, thanks to your uncle."

Ah, my uncle the hospital administrator. I'd forgotten about him!