Friday, February 12. 2010
We think "global warming" is a political movement with quasi-religious overtones. Video via Moonbattery, who comments: "Is the global warming hoax a totalitarian plot? In a word: yes."
 Something has changed. Office romance is OK again.
The (loony) Lancet quietly corrects the record on autism
Bin Ladin's son thinks his Dad is a creep
What does "compromise" mean? Powerline
Obama-Care and Clinton's stent
Broder: Palin is pitch-perfect
Obama's Budget Would Redistribute $112 Billion From Top 1% of Taxpayers. Yes. That's the point.
At Kaus, the bit about the NYT and food stamps.
Iran has no respect for the O. They see him as a weak horse.
The O is changing his mind about raising taxes on the middle class. Nasty rant about the O at Blue Crab.
Via Surber:
“The fundamental understanding of the science of climate change, however, remains unchallenged and unchanged.”
Says who?
Thursday, February 11. 2010
If Amsterdam airport had a high-tech body scanner, the Christmas panty-crotch bomber wouldn’t have gotten on board. They’re in use at 19 US airports, so far. For those with privacy concerns about the explicit images they can produce, there is the option of a pat-down search.
Can you visualize the pat-down searches? Do you believe that a pat-down search would be as revealing of metal or non-metallic weapons, plastic or chemical explosives?
The Dutch are now using full-body scanners for US bound flights. “New software, however, eliminates that problem by projecting a stylized image onto a computer screen, highlighting the area of the body where objects are concealed in pockets or under the clothing and alerting security guards.”
Not to let science stand in the way of disarming security, the Figh Council of North America affiliate of the Islamic Society of North America and CAIR protesteth.
"It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women," FCNA explained. The group noted that Islam emphasizes modesty, considering it part of the faith. "The Qur'an has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts" and to be modest in their dress.
While exceptions can be made in cases of "extreme necessity," FCNA indicated that passenger body scans do not rise to that level.
I wonder if using them for this purpose would rise to that level?
An Arab Ambassador in the United Arab Emirates is suing his wife for emotional and moral damage after he married her without seeing her face and discovered that she was cross-eyed and had a beard.
In The Examiner:
...Obama was faced with a fundamental choice. He could either chart a bipartisan course in response to the economic emergency, or he could try to expand government to Western European magnitude as Democratic congressional leaders, elected for years in monopartisan districts, had long wished to do.
The former community organizer and Chicago pol chose the latter course.
To the surprise of many who watched previous presidents present specific administration policies to Congress, he allowed Democratic leaders to design the stimulus package they rushed into law in six weeks.
One-third of the money went to state and local governments -- an obvious payoff to the public employee unions that contributed so much money to Democrats -- and much of it went to permanently increase the baseline spending of discretionary programs, a longtime goal of Democratic congressional leaders.
Is Greece too big to fail? I doubt it. Also, at Cato, let them go bankrupt.
They obviously need a fresh start. Like California.
The O, via Biased BBC:
"The Middle East is a problem that has plagued the region for centuries."
 Dog training jigsaw puzzle for snowy days
Dr. Helen: Carnival of Misandry
Goofing off in college - and how colleges adjust to it (they lower their expectations)
Bearded and cross-eyed under her burkha
In which Krugman freaks out about the O. Yes, that was about News Flash: Obama Praises Capitalism
Obama Willing to Sign Less Ambitious Healthcare Bill. Duh.
Why Washington is blowing off Euroland
Two photos: Lahore and the UK
Menace in mad march of the thought police. h/t Steyn's Celebrate Conformity
The political goals of immigration in the UK, exposed. Put another way, can a government elect its own voters?
Rasmussen on the political class
MSM Ignores Republican Half of the Story on Healthcare Reform Efforts
From Bolt in Australia:
By deliberately not crossing T’s and dotting I’s, this government blew your billions, torched your houses, made death traps of others and lured four men to their deaths.
That in a simple scheme just to put insulation in roofs. Now they plan a great new tax to re-engineer our whole economy.
Should be a doddle for these clowns.
Andrew Cuomo's role in the housing mess
Knoller via Q&O:
When a sitting president calls for bipartisanship by the opposition – he really means surrender. And if they block his proposals, its “obstinacy” and not political views they hold as strongly as he holds his.
Wednesday, February 10. 2010
Mead: AP Story Breaks US Media Wall of Denial on IPCC Mess; Al Gore Still Silent. (via Driscoll's Global Warming: Is There Nothing It Can’t Do? Part Deux).
Also, from Mead's response to the NYT:
This is limp reportage and does a grave disservice to the Times readership. In the first place, a number of additional allegations have surfaced — some trivial, some more substantial. Rosenthal’s readers come away from this piece with no understanding of why the Guardian ran a commentary headlined “The Case for Climate Change Must Be Remade From the Ground Upwards” or another entitled “The IPCC’s Problems Have Been Exacerbated By Its Imperious Attitude“. They will not understand why in this Guardian report of Monday February 8 (“Climate Scientists Hit Out at ‘Sloppy’ Glacier Error“) climate scientists who worked on the IPCC report are said to be calling on Pachauri to step down. In case any New York Times readers are reading this post, here’s a quick summary of what the real story is and what it means...
ACNA Recognized in Spirited Debate by Church of England Synod, thus joining the Anglican Communion. It begins:
A spirited debate by the Church of England Synod saw the newly formed Anglican Church in North America recognized by all three houses – bishops, clergy and laity in an overwhelming vote.
and
On any kind of reading the passage of this resolution sends a signal to The Episcopal Church that they are not the only Anglican players in North America and the actions of TEC at GC2009 accelerated what took place here today.
How Global Warming Makes Blizzards Worse.
If there's no snow in DC next winter, that will be because of global warming too. I guess we'll have to add blizzards to the Complete List.
Also amusing: Moose numbers in MN dropping "because of global warming." Moose numbers in other states burgeoning...because of global warming?
Why they have begun terming snow "blizzards" I do not know. I took a drive this morning and saw nary a Moose, just an ordinary snowy day:
What an impressive, likeable, humble fellow he is. Video here.
Earthquakes prove anthropogenic global warming. Everybody knows that.
Prof Jones, via SDA:
Jones (nine years later) in a 2005 email:
(McKitrick and McIntyre) have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a freedom of Information act now in the UK, I think I'll delete the file rather than send to anyone.
Jones three days ago:
We interpret data. We don’t create or collect it. It’s all available from other sources.
A short appreciation and history of toilet paper
Who knew this was a felony? I am a repeat felon.
The New Dating Game - Back to the New Paleolithic Age.
Everybody agrees that the Obama invitation is a trap
The Federal Government is Working Hard To Shield States From Their Own Irresponsibility
Dick Morris: How Repubs will win the Senate
Hansen collegue says IPCC report "has no scientific merit". Related: Sen. Jim DeMint twitters: D.C. snow will continue 'until Al Gore cries uncle'
Related: Fred Singer on the IPCC:
In this enterprise, the group was aided not only by environmental zealots, anti-technology Luddites, utopian one-worlders, and population-control fanatics, but also by bureaucrats, businesses, brokers and bankers, who had learned how to game the system and profit from government grants and subsidies for exotic schemes to produce "carbon-free" energy and from the trading of carbon permits. Hundreds of billions have already been wasted -- most of this in transfers of tax revenues to a favored few.
These sums pale, however, in comparison to the trillions that would have been spent in future if some of the mitigation schemes had come to fruition -- such as an extension and major expansion of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to control greenhouse-gas emissions. Fortunately for the world economy and for taxpayers in industrialized nations, these schemes collapsed at the Copenhagen climate conference in Dec 2009.
Related: Bishop Hill vetted a random IPCC paragraph
Tuesday, February 9. 2010
First, from Dan Luskin:
New York Times, March 29, 2005:
...the big step by extremists will be an attempt to eliminate the filibuster, so that the courts can be packed with judges less committed to upholding the law than Mr. Greer. We can't count on restraint from people like Mr. DeLay...
New York Times, February 8, 2010:
Senators themselves should recognize this fact and push through changes in those rules, including eliminating or at least limiting the filibuster. This is something they could and should do, by majority vote, on the first day of the next Senate session.
The second from Q&O, from the NYT in 2005:
Mr. Bush has reacted by railing against Democrats for obstruction — as if Democrats are duty-bound to breathe life into his agenda and, even sillier, as if opposing a plan that the people do not want is an illegitimate tactic for an opposition party.
 The Harvard Psychedelic Club: Did LSD really kill the 1950s?
Is it a tragedy for languages to be lost?
Re the Trapp family, here's a good chronology
Pajamas: Hard truths about the immigration debate
At Volokh: What is the EU all about? I think it's about a bureaucratic empire and unelected mandarins who know what is best for the little people
Please, no! Coming together on a climate bill
Pam Geller destroys Reagan Jr
Thinking about John Jay of Rye and Katonah, NY
Day 386 of Chicago-style politics. Related, even Newsweek is worried (h/t, Dino)
George Will: Charting our way to solvency
The Antitrust Exemption For Health Insurers: Meaningful Or Not?
Monday, February 8. 2010
Highly recommended and hilarious: Pat Condell on the Saudis, human rights - and England. Pithy, as always.
I cannot keep up with the uncovering of the global warming scam. Now it's Africagate. Where is Fearmonger-in-Chief Al Gore hiding?
And even more! Now we have Alaska Glaciergate as a companion piece to Himalayan Glaciergate. Related at Driscoll: The global warming guerillas. A quote:
Journalists are wont to moan that the slow death of newspapers will mean a disastrous loss of investigative reporting. The web is all very well, they say, but who will pay for the tenacious sniffing newshounds to flush out the real story? ‘Climategate’ proves the opposite to be true. It was amateur bloggers who scented the exaggerations, distortions and corruptions in the climate establishment; whereas newspaper reporters, even after the scandal broke, played poodle to their sources.
Where is Big Oil? Not in the US
How about Mitch Daniels?
The t-shirt story at Powerline: But Enough About Me. What Do You Think About Me? (By the way, the lady did have medicalinsurance.)
A joke: Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. (h/t, Jules). Legal Insurrection (of RI) has a new mission.
Am Thinker: Desperate Times and Left-Wing Psy-Ops
$ and politics:
The House Democrats' campaign operation has a significant cash advantage over its Republican counterpart: $16.6 million to $2.7 million. And incumbents are fund-raising in anticipation of competitive contests. Florida's Mr. Grayson said Wednesday that his $861,000 fourth-quarter haul was more than any other Democratic candidate's.
From Fracking the Academic Left:
I've spent decades trying to teach college students, and I think I can say after all these years that I've never succeeded in educating anyone. Not even one. Occasionally education has been seen to happen in my classes, or at least I would like to believe so. But education always comes from within. Students bring their eagerness to learn with them; you can't make them educated any more than a parent can "grow" a child. People aren't carrots. You can't "grow" them.
Sex Week at Yale
Sunday, February 7. 2010
A reader referred us to a Weisberg post at Slate, subtitled Blame the childish, ignorant American public—not politicians—for our political and economic crisis.
I don't know what he means by "political crisis." The essay does seem to reinforce our post yesterday about liberal condescension. However, does he have a point or not, here?
Sixty percent of Americans want stricter regulations of financial institutions. But nearly the same proportion says we're suffering from too much regulation on business. That kind of illogic—or, if you prefer, susceptibility to rhetorical manipulation—is what locks the status quo in place.
At the root of this kind of self-contradiction is our historical, nationally characterological ambivalence about government. We want Washington and the states to fix all of our problems now. At the same time, we want government to shrink, spend less, and reduce our taxes. We dislike government in the abstract: According to CNN, 67 percent of people favor balancing the budget even when the country is in a recession or a war, which is madness. But we love government in the particular: Even larger majorities oppose the kind of spending cuts that would reduce projected deficits, let alone eliminate them.
Let me put the hypothetical question this way: What Federal programs would you cut or eliminate (in addition to the Federal Dept of Education) which affect you or your family personally?
Saturday, February 6. 2010
A 15 mpg clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year uses 800 gallons of gas a year. A 25 mpg vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year uses 480 gallons a year.
So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year. They claim 700,000 clunkers were turned-in, so that's 224 million gallons saved per year. That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil. 5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption.
More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars. So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million. We spent $8.57 for every dollar we saved.
I'm pretty sure they will do a great job with our health care, though.
Rightly or wrongly, they used to call these people "not college material." h/t Capt. Capitalism who thinks these things should have been learned in High School. I'd say Grade School. Readin, ritin, and rithmatic, right?
Who are the Tea Partiers? THEY ARE STARVING CANNIBAL MARTIANS WHO HAVE COME FOR YOUR CHILDREN AND PETS!!!!
Related: Tom Tancredo acts like a total jerk. Not funny, Tom.
The maybe coming Iranian Revolution. I hope they go for it.
Vanderleun: "Scientists said" is becoming the numero uno phrase that gripes my ass.
Krauthammer: The Electorate vs. Obama's Agenda
Why Antagonize China? The revitalization of Asian capitalism is the most important positive event in the world in the last 30 years.
Jules on Brown:
Whether Scott Brown realizes it or not, his future is not entirely in his hands. Their are people out there who have plans for him, and this has all the makings of an epic ride that doesn’t necessarily end well for him. Hang on. Remember that thing about getting a dog if you want a friend in DC.
Insty:
WAIT, I THOUGHT CALLING PEOPLE SOCIALISTS WAS A “SMEAR.” Gallup: Majority of Dems View Socialism Positively.
Related: A Stroll Down Extremism’s Memory Lane.
In response to a question asking Democratic Party delegates whether they felt George W. Bush was legitimately elected in 2000, fully 91% of respondents said he wasn’t. The poll also noted the response rate of self-identified Dems overall, 78% of whom thought Bush’s 2000 election was illegitimate (question 56).
Just for perspective.
Obama Reverses on Bankers. Like it or not...
First India throws the IPCC overboard - now the Netherlands. Oh, and now China. It's difficult to keep up. England, too:
Despite active measures by the BBC and the liberal Guardian newspaper to suppress climategate revelations, other media outlets like the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, and the TimesOnline have picked up the slack and have run story after story about the fraud, the bad science, and the shameful actions of scientists in trying to suppress opposing viewpoints.
The Economist: Neither the president nor Congress shows any sign of knowing how to tackle the deficit. Related from VDH: Is Greece our future?
However much people may want global warming (the warmists want it for their narrative and for their grant $, and people like me because we think it would be good for humans), the scientists worry: Signs of Damage to Public Trust in Climate Findings
Obama picks campaigning over leading
Friday, February 5. 2010
What a putz. Can you image if Bush...
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