Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Obama takes over General Motors
Of all the economic teams beavering away in Washington, any ranking of the least likely to produce credible results would have put the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry high on the list.
Headed by a former journalist turned investment whiz, the task force also includes a union industrial strategist, three climate change experts, a smattering of economists and a former legislative assistant to Hillary Clinton...
[And we'll all be shocked and surprised when it ends badly.]
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A Whiff of Fascism from the White House
[HT:MW]
There is a whiff of Fascism emanating from the Obama White House. Reports say that the head of GM is quitting under duress from the Obama administration: General Motors chairman and chief executive G. Richard Wagoner is resigning at the request of the White House, clearing the way for the Obama administration to offer the company more federal aid...
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image toon - mny 1st auto - National Debt crater vs. government qualifications
There is a whiff of Fascism emanating from the Obama White House. Reports say that the head of GM is quitting under duress from the Obama administration: General Motors chairman and chief executive G. Richard Wagoner is resigning at the request of the White House, clearing the way for the Obama administration to offer the company more federal aid...
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Hero's welcome for GI injured in Afghan blast
With horns blaring, a six-car caravan packed with well-wishers sped up Lotus Street in Jefferson Park on Saturday to welcome home a hero. One by one, members of Warriors' Watch Riders hugged National Guard Staff Sgt. Nate Rivera, who returned last week from Afghanistan where he survived a roadside bombing."These soldiers make us proud to be Americans, We're honored to welcome them home."
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Talking ourselves to death: Obama must get tough on an increasingly dangerous Iran
Iran is making fools of everyone.
Even as it lies about its closeness to acquiring nuclear missiles, it continues to menace the political order throughout the Middle East, pressing on with rocketry and rearming Hamas and Hezbollah. And that mischief is nothing compared to what it will do if it is allowed to become a nuclear power.
President Obama's tentative video overture to the Iranians on Friday must not become an opportunity to let them buy more time for their nuclear program.
Nuclear Iran will be a threat to U.S. national security, worldwide energy security, the efficacy of multilateralism and the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Having defied the world so brazenly, it will be emboldened to use terrorism to threaten or subvert others in the area.
And Iran, through its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and the Ba'ath Party in Iraq, has the capacity to put direct pressure on Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinians and the Iraqis. Tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands would join radical Islamist groups in the belief that Islamism is on the march.
Fundamentally, a nuclear Iran represents a unique threat. The fear of mutually assured destruction has long restrained other nuclear powers.
But there is a real risk that [the leadership of] Iran is not rational...
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Apologies Just Tell Our Enemies We’re Weak
First, President Obama sends a message to the Muslim world, effectively apologizing for the policies of George W. Bush. Excuse me, but shouldn’t the Muslim world be apologizing to America for their contributions to the radicalization of their brethren that led them to kill 3,000 Americans on 9/11?
Then, Secretary of State Clinton criticizes the country she represents and does it on Mexican soil, no less. She blames the demand for drugs in America for the drug cartel wars being waged against each other and the Mexican government.Great nations don’t apologize unless they are guilty of a serious moral affront (The Holocaust, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are two that come to mind as worthy of apologies).
But if an apology or confession is to be made, it should be delivered in private, not in public. Besides, what good does it do? Unless explicit policies accompany such confessions or apologies, I fail to see how it lowers the level of violence in Mexico or reduces the continuing threat of Islamic extremism - just the opposite in fact...
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Leading Iranian Official Ridicules Obama’s Overture
Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, on Wednesday criticized the United States in harsher terms than any other leading Iranian figure has done since President Obama extended his videotaped olive branch to Iran last week.
''“The problems will not be solved by them altering the words or selecting the terms they use,''
Mr. Larijani said, apparently a reference to Mr. Obama’s praise of Iran’s culture and history.
[I couldn't agree more.]
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Iran Clenches Its Fist
The danger is that direct talks may facilitate, not reduce, threats to U.S. interests
The State Department recently named Dennis Ross, a seasoned Middle East negotiator, as a "special adviser" to the Gulf region -- a bureaucratic but important prerequisite for direct talks with Iran. Unfortunately, a new envoy and a new diplomatic tone cannot disguise the ongoing substantive collapse of U.S. policy and resolve in the teeth of the Islamic Republic's growing challenge.
First, diplomacy has not and will not reduce Iran's nuclear program. Ironically, European leaders are belatedly feeling hollow in the pits of their diplomatic stomachs, now that their failed diplomacy has left us with almost no alternatives to a nuclear Iran. Imagine their dismay that President Obama is now "opening" to Iran, thus eviscerating their tentative efforts to "close" the diplomatic cover under which Iran has almost achieved the worst-case outcome, deliverable nuclear weapons.
Second, dealing with Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria as though they are unrelated to Iran's broader threat is exactly backwards. Mr. Obama is again following Europe's mistaken view that ending the Arab-Israeli conflict will help to resolve other regional problems. But concentrating on Gaza only increases Hamas's leverage, just as negotiating with Syria only enhances its (and thereby Iran's) bargaining power.
We should deal instead with diseases, not symptoms...
[Recommended > ]
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Gates prefers sanctions
Washington - Defence Secretary Robert Gates says that he thinks economic penalties rather than diplomacy are more likely to bring success to US efforts on Iran. Gates says that if enough economic pressure is placed on Iran, diplomacy might provide what he calls ''an open door'' for Iranians if they choose to change their policies. Gates says economic penalties are likely to get the Iranians to the table...
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Sudan's wanted president welcomed at summit
DOHA, Qatar–Sudan's president, who is sought by an international court on charges of war crimes in Darfur, received a warm welcome Sunday in Qatar, where he will attend this week's Arab League summit.
President Omar al-Bashir was greeted with hugs and kisses by Qatar's emir in a red-carpet welcome at Doha's airport on Sunday. He later had coffee with the emir and the head of the Arab League. The summit begins Monday.
The 22-country Arab League has already said it would not enforce the International Criminal Court's arrest order for al-Bashir issued on March 4 and the Sudanese leader visited Eritrea, Egypt and Libya over the past week in a show of defiance
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Islamist Hate Exposed By Traditional Values Coalition
The Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Fairfax, Va. went before the local planning commission Wednesday night to seek an expansion of their controversial and secretive school funded and controlled by the Saudi government.
A large group of residents near the school asked the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) for help in organizing and strategizing against the expansion, which has seen raids by local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and used anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and anti-American textbooks.
The school is operated by the government of Saudi Arabia and there has been some confusion over whether federal or local officials should take jurisdiction over the extremist Wahhabi teaching and clandestine activities which have marked the ISA’s history... [snip]
The campus of the Islamic Saudi Academy operates under the principles of Shariah law.
The principal who was arrested for not reporting the sexual abuse of the five year-old student because he was following Shariah law when he turned the child back to her abusive father and suggested he “get control” of her.
Under brutal Shariah law, children do not have basic human rights and neither do women. [snip]
Local residents were astonished at the treatment they received from the commissioners as compared to the deferential and preferred treatment given to Islamic Saudi Academy proponents.
Virginians who expect fair treatment from their government are being outbid by the Saudi extremists who pump money and illegal grassroots support into the campaigns of the liberal Congressman and Board of Supervisor candidates’ campaigns...
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No more US dictating to Latin America: Biden
SANTIAGO: US Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday that the United States would no longer “dictate unilaterally” to Latin America, and that it had entered a new era in the historically troubled relationship. “The time of the United States dictating unilaterally, the time where we only talk and don’t listen is over,” Biden said in Santiago...
[Like with Columbia?]
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Canada passes Colombia, Peru trade deals
The House of Commons has passed the legislation needed for Canada's free trade agreements with Colombia and Peru to come into effect, improving conditions for the Canadian exporters looking to break into the South American market.
Stockwell Day, the Minister of International Trade, said Thursday the agreements would open new doors for Canadian companies doing business in the two countries by expanding market access in key sectors...
[Meanwhile in the U.S., nothing. {same reason: unions}]
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OBAMA'S MOST PERILOUS LEGAL PICK
[HT:YP]
JUDGES should interpret the Constitution according to other nations' legal "norms." Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts. The United States constitutes an "axis of disobedience" along with North Korea and Saddam-era Iraq.
Those are the views of the man on track to become one of the US government's top lawyers: Harold Koh.
President Obama has nominated Koh -- until last week the dean of Yale Law School -- to be the State Department's legal adviser. In that job, Koh would forge a wide range of international agreements on issues from trade to arms control, and help represent our country in such places as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice.
It's a job where you want a strong defender of America's sovereignty. But that's not Koh.
He's a fan of "transnational legal process," arguing that the distinctions between US and international law should vanish... [snip]
Even though he's up for a State Department job, Koh is a key test case in the "judicial wars." If he makes it through (which he will if he gets even a single GOP vote) the message to the Obama team will be: You can pick 'em as radical as you like.
[Recommended > ]
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Then > 
"OPPOSE HAROLD KOH NOMINATION"
Whitehouse: mailto:president@whitehouse.gov
Senate-Reid: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
YOUR Senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
or: Speed Message them with your personal distribution list...
and as always, pass it on...
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Hazards rooted in Sept. 11
With the financial meltdown in full force across the globe, finger-pointing for the problem has become a national preoccupation. Easy credit, low interest rates, mismanagement and political interference are often mentioned as culprits.
Overlooked in this heated debate, however, is Sept. 11, 2001, the day the Earth shook with horror. In addition to the more than 2,800 people who lost their lives on that fateful day, the world economy took a financial hit that accumulated to somewhere between $1 trillion and $3 trillion. By contrast, the terror operation cost about $200,000, a destructive leverage of at least 5 million to 1.
But that wasn't the end of it. The post-Sept. 11 trauma in the Middle East and fragile world economies reliant on oil inexorably put pressure on world oil supplies. U.S. failures to develop offshore oil resources and other non-oil and non-gas energy increased pressure on oil prices. These pressures climaxed with oil at $140 a barrel and caused the transfer of about $7 billion a day in liquidity from industrial economies to oil-producing nations.
Yet it is curious that this seemingly obvious point was not made by the Bush administration, nor was it raised during the recent presidential campaign. In fact, had this issue been addressed, it would have moderated the Obama claim that economic exigency was due to the bungling of the Bush economic team.
What turns out to be most noteworthy is that the events that preceded the economic downturn have been ignored or forgotten. Only eight years after Sept. 11, the nation seems to suffer from historical amnesia...
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Obama's energy policy will INCREASE dependence on foreign oil
President Obama’s energy policy is to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil imports by eliminating oil and replacing oil with alternative renewable “clean” biofuel. That sounds good in speeches. It is quite impressive to all those who know little about oil or biofuels, which includes the majority of the public. The devil, of course, is in the details which no one seems to have investigated.
Ethanol subsidies began in 1979. Ethanol has had 30 years of taxpayer-assisted experience. Ethanol is the only “feasible” alternative renewable biofuel in the competition. All other biofuels lack the production potential that ethanol has. [snip]
According to Professor Chris Hurt of Purdue, in 2006 the US had about 79 million acres of corn. Professor Richard Meilan of Purdue estimates that one acre of corn will produce 450 gallons which is 10.7 barrels of ethanol. Using all of the corn crop land in the US for ethanol — no movie popcorn, no corn syrup sweetener, no bourbon, no tortillas, no grits, no corn to eat at all — ethanol production can reach only 845 million barrels in 2022, or 2.31 million barrels per day.
Department of Energy data shows that the US is producing 4.95 million barrels of oil per day and importing 9.00 million barrels of foreign oil per day. Including the 0.60 million barrels of ethanol per day, our current oil demand is 14.55 million barrels per day... [snip]
US oil production has been declining since 1985. This decline is almost ruler straight.
By 2022, it is estimated that US oil production would be approximately 3 million barrels per day. In 1972, foreign oil imports were 811 million barrels, 19% of demand, the year before the devastating Arab Oil Embargo. Currently, foreign oil imports are at a rate of 3.3 billion barrels annually, 62% of current demand, and are expected to increase in the future... [snip]
Everything is not going to be fine in the future under President Obama’s biofuel and oil policy. President Obama’s biofuel and oil policy is on a collision course to a national catastrophe. Among a great many other critical problems, it will cause an increase in our dependence on foreign oil.
[Difficult to 'brief' as looks at the facts from several angles {including the increased emission of CO2 ethanol use generates} - all of them seemingly no-brainers that we're handling exactly wrong - Highly Recommended > ]
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FACTS ABOUT AMERICAN HEALTH CARE
Medical care in the United States is derided as miserable compared to health care systems in the rest of the developed world. Economists, government officials, insurers and academics alike are beating the drum for a far larger government role in health care. Much of the public assumes their arguments are sound because the calls for change are so ubiquitous and the topic so complex.
However, before turning to government as the solution, some unheralded facts about America's health care system should be considered, says Scott W. Atlas, a professor at the Stanford University Medical Center.
Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers:
- Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom*.
- Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the United Kingdom* and 457 percent higher in Norway.
- The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British* men and women is about 40 percent higher.
- Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit are taking statins, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease.
- By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons and 17 percent of Italians receive them.
Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report "excellent" health compared to Canadian seniors (11.7 percent versus 5.8 percent).
Conversely, white Canadian young adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower income Americans to describe their health as "fair or poor."
Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the United Kingdom:
- Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long -- sometimes more than a year -- to see a specialist, to have elective surgery like hip replacements or to get radiation treatment for cancer.
- All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada.
- In England*, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.
[* Highlighted Britain's NHS throughout piece because it's the world's oldest government run health care system. So it's had the longest to learn how it's done, yet consistently ranks at or near the bottom of every category. What's that tell us?]
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WHAT BIG MISTAKE ARE WE MAKING?
The National Journal recently asked health policy experts what health care issue they would look back upon 10 years from now and really wish we had paid more attention to in 2009?
They said that in the current health care debate, we are making three very big mistakes:
- Believing that we can control health care costs without having anyone choose between health care and other uses of money.
- Believing that we can improve quality without having providers compete for patients based on quality.
- Believing that we can improve access by inducing people to drop their private coverage and join public plans that pay providers below market rates.
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Clinton, Drugs, and Clinton
A story in Reuters is headlined, “U.S. to blame for much of Mexico violence: Clinton.”
“Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the death of police officers, soldiers and civilians. I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility.”
Let’s stipulate that drug use in America is a factor in what is happening in Mexico, even as we stipulate that Mexico is largely responsible for what happens within its own borders.
Perhaps it’s worth pointing out, then, that under Republican presidencies — Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush — drug use went down significantly (drug use dropped among high school seniors every year from 1985 through 1992).
During the Clinton presidency, drug use went up. Under President Clinton’s watch, more than 50 percent of our high school seniors experimented with illegal drugs.
During the 2nd Bush presidency, illegal drug use by American teens again dropped - by 25 percent (and methamphetamine use dropped by 50 percent).
In order to make Secretary Clinton’s life easier — and life for both Americans and Mexicans better — let’s hope that President Obama follows the lead of his predecessor...
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Quincy Tax Day Tea Party this Saturday
An event coming up this weekend will be reminiscent of the Boston Tea Party more than two hundred years ago. It's all part of the Quincy Tax Day Tea Party this Saturday.
Thousands of people from all over Quincy, Western Illinois and Northeast Missouri are expected to crowd into Clat Adams Park in Quincy to protest the massive federal spending in stimulus projects and bail-outs...
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Tea Parties And Thugs
Media Bias: The press need not support every protest it covers. But when it ignores a grass fire movement against government spending while its favored politician watches closely, then there's dereliction of duty.
Five more "tea parties" took place last weekend to protest runaway congressional spending. The weekend protests were held in Orlando, Fla.; Raleigh, N.C.; Solomon's Island, Md.; Lexington, Ky., and Ridgefield, Conn.
Showing up with hand-lettered signs were people not often seen at protests.
Bloggers and local press do cover these events, but the national TV and print media are conspicuous by their absence. Some big news outlets see these events as atomized and unlikely to lead the nightly news.
But the real reason the major media aren't interested in these protests is that they don't agree with them. In the final analysis, these affairs are really taking issue with the political party they helped elect with overt bias in the last election.
That's why a small scrum of Acorn-financed wackos on a bus tour to intimidate AIG execs last weekend made the news while the tea parties didn't... [snip]
Another 150 tea parties are set for tax day April 15.
[Including one in Pleasanton, for those interested]
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No 'Tea Party' in NY Times, But Room for Leftist 'Bus Tour' of AIG Homes
A left-wing "bus tour" protest prowled the affluent neighborhoods of Fairfield, Conn. on Saturday afternoon, looking for AIG execs to harass. The protest, run by a group sponsored by unlabeled leftists ACORN, were railing against the bonuses paid out to employees of the struggling insurance giant.
The New York Times found the stunt worthy of a full story in the national section of Sunday's paper: "Carrying a Populist Message Into A.I.G. Territory." (The online headline differs from the print version.)
Reporter Manny Fernandez, while sounding supportive, remarked drily that more media than passengers were in attendance.
Also left unmentioned by The Times was that the organizer, the Connecticut Working Families Party, is merely a front group for the controversial left-wing housing group ACORN.
A Nexis search indicates the Times has yet to devote a full story to any of the grassroots "tea parties" in opposition to Obama's big-spending package that have been held in various cities -- including one held in Connecticut on Saturday in its own back yard.
[The most pervasive spin: omission]
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Justice Department to San Francisco Police: Shut Up.
Allegations that presidential pal Bill Ayers was involved in the murder of a San Francisco policeman appear to be running into something of a gag order from at the Department of Justice.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Justice Department and the San Francisco Police Department have contacted the San Francisco Police Officers Association and told them not to talk about the Ayers case.
As mentioned in the AT article of Wednesday, March 18, the Police Association had sent out a letter of support to Kincaid and his Campaign for Justice for Victims of Weather Underground Terrorism, observing:
There are irrefutable and compelling reasons to believe that Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn, members of the terrorist group 'Weather Underground', are largely responsible for the bombing of Park Police Station and other police stations throughout the United States during their 'tour of terror' in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
According to the Chronicle:
Police Officers Association President Gary Delagnes confirmed that his union got a call from federal investigators telling them they had an "active investigation and should not be commenting on the case."
Exactly what did they say that would damage an "active investigation?" Are they claiming that no one knows the book is still open on that case? Are the statements above likely to compromise an "active investigation" if indeed it is truly active?
Mr. Holder, as Shakespeare said: "me thinks thou dost protest too much." So out with it! What, or who are you really trying to protect?
Friends of the President or not, Mr. Holder, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are two career criminal psychopaths, who have cheerfully left a lifetime path of destruction in their wake.
You need to step up to the plate, Mr. Holder. All these Weather Underground cases, and the park station bombing especially, need to be solved. If the heat is too much, either get out of the fire or help solve the case.
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CNN Defines 'A Moderate Republican'
After earlier this week defining what a moderate Democrat is, on Saturday CNN tried its hand at defining what a moderate Republican is.
CNN Newsroom featured a segment on governors who are refusing stimulus funds because of the inevitable Federal strings. Anchor Fredricka Whitfield had this exchange with CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser:
STEINHAUSER: Exactly. That is very -- a very different case there, too, because Arnold Schwarzenegger is very much of a moderate Republican. He's kind of on the different end of the spectrum from Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford and Bobby Jindal.
Right. That's why:
In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle's Washington bureau chief titled a column "Schwarzenegger's liberal views leave GOP flummoxed: Actor is pro-choice, pro-gun control and pro-gay rights." At about the same time, National Review editors determined "Schwarzenegger, it seems clear, does not merit conservative support."
The following year, columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote: "No matter what Schwarzenegger's boosters may claim, at the end of the day Schwarzenegger is a liberal Republican." Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, who knows a thing or two about matters leftist, has written the "fact is that Schwarzenegger is for all intent purposes a Democrat to the consternation of Republicans and quiet glee of Democrats in the great Golden State."
The Sacramento Bee reported in 2007 that the UK's Daily Telegraph compiled a list of America's 100 most influential liberals and conservatives. Schwarzenegger made the list - as a liberal.
Then we have today's Arnold, the one who commends Barack Obama "for the courageous leadership and the great commitment that he has displayed over these last few months." The one who calls Obama a "fantastic partner." The one who counsels fellow Republicans: "You know, you've got to go beyond just the principles."
So that's what a moderate Republican looks like. If CNN hadn't told us, we might still think Arnold Schwarzenegger is a liberal. Oh, that's right. At CNN there's no such thing.
[First: control the language.]
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FLASHBACK >
CNN Defines 'A Moderate Democrat'
Let's briefly examine the congressional voting record of the "moderate Democrat" Ellen Tauscher....
Palin won't budge on parental-consent abortion bill
JUNEAU -- State legislators are talking about compromising on a major abortion battle over parental consent, but Gov. Sarah Palin isn't interested in the deal.
The compromise under discussion would be legislation that requires parental notification but not consent. That means parents would have to be told about their teenager's plan to have an abortion but wouldn't have to give their permission for it to happen...
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'New York Times' Spiked Obama Donor Story
A lawyer involved with legal action against Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) told a House Judiciary subcommittee on March 19 The New York Times had killed a story in October that would have shown a close link between ACORN, Project Vote and the Obama campaign because it would have been a “a game changer."
The former worker had been a “confidential informant for several months to Times reporter, Stephanie Strom...
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TEACHERS IN BID TO EXPEL UNION
Charter-school teachers to their union: Butt out.
The educators, at two city charter schools, have filed for permission from the state to cut their ties with the United Federation of Teachers.
The action, at KIPP Academy in The Bronx and KIPP Infinity in Manhattan, came after the UFT recently tried to meddle in the schools' business without consulting the staff first.
Earlier this year the teachers union filed a grievance against KIPP Academy's "at-will" employment practice and pushed for collective bargaining at KIPP Infinity without warning.
"None of that was with communication with teachers," said Matt Hureau, 28, who works at KIPP Academy. "It was the union acting and notifying the teachers afterward"...
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NBC's David Gregory, Unintentional Comedian?
File this one in the "When I Need a Laugh" folder:
David Gregory, host of NBC's "Meet the Press," told this week's Parade Magazine,"I don't accept the proposition that I have an ideological point of view that comes through. I work very hard to avoid that."
As Newsbusters has documented, Gregory indeed has a habit of letting his bias "come through"... [long list...]
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Monday, March 30, 2009
Rep. Manzullo to Geithner: Your Plan Is 'Radical'
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In testimony before the House Financial Services committee that just adjourned, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner just had to defend his institutional takeover plan against charges of radicalism.
Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) asked.
Geither began, before Manzullo interrupted him.
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In testimony before the House Financial Services committee that just adjourned, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner just had to defend his institutional takeover plan against charges of radicalism.
"Do you realize how radical your proposal is?"
Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) asked.
"It's not radical. . ."
Geither began, before Manzullo interrupted him.
"You're talking about seizing private businesses and you don't consider that radical?"
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Just 11% Say Government Can Run Financial Institutions Better
Only 11% of Americans think a financial institution will run better if it’s run by the federal government, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Sixty-seven percent (67%) say the institution will not run better, and 22% aren’t sure.
Eighty percent (80%) of Republicans, 67% of unaffiliateds and 56% of Democrats do not believe the government will run it better.
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Researchers: Cyber spies break into govt computers
A cyber spy network based mainly in China has tapped into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of Tibetan exiles, Canadian researchers said Saturday.
Once the hackers infiltrated the systems, they gained control using malware — software they install on the compromised computers — and sent and received data from them, the researchers said.
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Spy chiefs fear Chinese cyber attack
Intelligence chiefs have warned that China may have gained the capability to shut down Britain by crippling its telecoms and utilities
They have told ministers of their fears that equipment installed by Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant, in BT’s new communications network could be used to halt critical services such as power, food and water supplies...
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China fury at US military report
Beijing has reacted angrily to a Pentagon report on China's military power, which claimed it was altering the military balance in Asia. A foreign ministry spokesman called it a ''gross distortion of the facts'', and urged an end to ''Cold War thinking''.
In its annual report to Congress, the Pentagon said China was developing ''disruptive'' technologies for nuclear, space and cyber warfare.
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Cybersecurity Chief Resigns
[HT:BM]
The government's coordinator for cybersecurity programs has quit, criticizing what he described as the National Security Agency's grip on cybersecurity. Rod Beckstrom, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, said in his resignation letter that the NSA's central role in cybersecurity is "a bad strategy" because it is important to have a civilian agency taking a key role in the issue. The NSA is part of the Department of Defense.
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Damascus set to receive MiG 31E planes
Damascus will take receipt of advanced MiG 31E fighter jets in the near future, the outgoing head of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency Lt.-Gen. Michael D. Maples told the Senate earlier this month.
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Defense Ministry eyes possible lift of US ban on foreign sales of F-22 fighter
The Defense Ministry will closely follow discussions in Congress next month over the United States' 2010 fiscal defense budget amid growing speculation that a ban on foreign sales of the stealth F-22 fighter jet may be lifted to keep the threatened production line alive.
Israel has in the past expressed interest in the fifth-generation aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin, but has been unable to place an order due to a congressional ban on foreign exports.
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'UAVs hit Gaza-bound weapons convoys'
Israel used unmanned aircraft in a series of attacks on Iranian convoys in Sudan which were attempting to smuggle long-range missiles into the Gaza Strip, according to a report in London's Sunday Times.
The Sunday report quoted Israeli defense forces as saying that the strikes, which were widely reported last week, were carried out by Israeli-made Hermes 450 drones.
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Nearly 70 tons of explosives smuggled into Gaza since IDF op
Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin on Sunday briefed the cabinet on ongoing efforts to stem the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip Dozens of tons of explosives have been smuggled into the Strip since Israel concluded its three-week offensive against the Hamas leadership in January, Diskin said.
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Yes, Hugo Cheated
Democracy: In a little-noted agency hearing, the CIA admitted that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez rigged his recall referendum in 2004.
So why does he still merit global recognition as a democratically elected leader? Anyone who steals an election has no claim to democracy.
But somehow there's an exception for Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who's still recognized as a "democratically elected" leader by the U.S. and others...
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Dodd's 'Democrat' Tightens His Grip
Hugo Chávez's threat last week to bring tanks to the streets if his side does not win key states in Sunday's gubernatorial elections is chilling. But it is not surprising. It is only the next logical step in what is the Venezuelan president's drive to seize all power and silence all dissent.
[the Dodd reference explained within]
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Obama, Charity, and 'Fairness'
Leave it to Barack Obama to justify a tax proposal that would significantly reduce the amounts going to charity -- on grounds the proposal is necessary for "fairness."
But the real reason is not "fairness." As Randy Shaw, the editor of BeyondChron (San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily), wrote earlier this week, there is a much different goal:
Even if we accept that charitable giving would decline by nearly $4 billion under Obama's plan, this critique addresses the wrong issue. The key question is whether the United States is better off having wealthy taxpayers pay more toward funding universal health care, or rather are free to give more billions to Harvard and Yale, more billions to elite art museums, and to otherwise spend tax dollars [?] in a way that does not address a pressing public priority.
And there you have it: the 'problem' is that taxpayers can benefit charities of their choice, rather than send the money to Washington to "address a pressing public priority" the government deems more important.
Shaw concluded that opponents of Obama's plan "miss the big picture" -- which is that
"Government, not private donors, should decide how tax dollars are allocated."
Implicit in this view is the conclusion that charitable contributions are actually the government's money -- and the government wants part of it back.
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"There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."
James Madison, "Father of the Constitution"
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Will A Weaker America Be A More ''Just'' America?
President Barack Obama has no intention of helping to grow the United States economy. On the contrary, he is doing everything a President can do to weaken it. I know that sounds harsh. Maybe it seems outrageously ''partisan.'' Maybe it just seems outrageous.
But after roughly ten weeks, Obama has consistently proposed ideas and plans (and in one case signing legislation) that will weaken the U.S. economy...
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'Make the World Safe for Tax Increases'
[meanwhile, in the MSM...]
You know what President Barack Obama's real economic problem is? He's not raising taxes enough.
On top of that he needs to raise taxes not only on the very wealthy but on almost everybody else. That is the opinion of Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Jr.. Here is Dionne recommending that Obama raise taxes on nearly everyone:
"The debate on the budget is phony, the howling on deficits a charade. Few politicians want to acknowledge that if you really are concerned about long-term deficits, you have to support tax increases."
Somehow Dionne just can't seem to find anything in all the "stimulus" earmark pork that can be cut. Nope. Can't do it. The answer MUST be to raise taxes on almost everybody...
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"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much."
-- Ronald Reagan
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30% Say Government Should Limit Pay for Athletes and Movie Stars
Thirty percent (30%) of Americans believe the government should make it illegal to pay movie stars and athletes more than $1 million per year.
There is a more support—but not much more--for capping the pay of corporate executives. Thirty-six percent (36%) say the federal government should make it illegal to pay any executive more than $1 million a year.
The majority (54%), however, disagree.
[Still, ~1 in 3. How is that possible in America? My answers:
> An education system that no longer teaches the founding principles of this country.
> A political party that promotes class envy and enslaves groups with government handouts.
> A media that ceaselessly promotes both.
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50M G20 Summit Is an Exercise in Colossal Vanity
International summits are little more than colossal exercises in political vanity. Full of hot air and meaningless photo opportunities they are designed purely to feed the self-importance of the global oligarchy.
Politicians like to see themselves as heroic figures grappling with the world’s problems but in reality are incapable of achieving anything beyond the misuse of public money...
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Just In Time For 'Earth Hour': Americans Care Less Than Ever About Globaloney
Gallup has issued two polls in the past couple of weeks showing that the reality is breaking through the non-stop, years-long propaganda blitz known properly known as the Great Global Warming Hoax:
- On March 11, the pollster told us that a record-high 41% now say it is media coverage on the topic is exaggerated.
- On March 19, we were informed that "For the first time in Gallup's 25-year history of asking Americans about the trade-off between environmental protection and economic growth, a majority of Americans say economic growth should be given the priority, even if the environment suffers to some extent." And it's a 51-42 rout.
"global warming is clearly the environmental issue of least concern. In fact, global warming is the only issue for which more Americans say they have little to no concern than say they have a great deal of concern."
Media attention has been, as one would expect, virtually nil.
A New York Times advanced search on "Gallup environment" (not in quotes) shows no primary results, only references to Times blogs on the right of the results. A Google News search on "Gallup warming" (again not in quotes) for March 25-26 comes back with four results. Only two besides the Gallup poll itself were directly relevant.
Americans' growing resistance to threatened globaloney mandates and Europeans' flat-out refusal to go along with them (a possible topic for another post, if it can be kept shorter than a book; the tide of European anti-globaloney news is almost overwhelming**) continue to be among the most under-reported stories of the year.
[**That's key: do not believe the EU government/media's contention that America is somehow a hold out: most of the EU nations citizens are ahead of us in admitting that the Green Emperor has no cloths (as you'll note by the origin of most climate-reality pieces coming to the fore).
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Environmentalists hail Earth Hour as a big success
For environmental activists, the message was clear: Earth Hour was a huge success. Now they say nations have a mandate to tackle climate change."The world said yes to climate action, now governments must follow,"
the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said a day after some followed its call to turn off lights for an hour.
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[Big success? ... ]
No Drop in Elecricity Usage in NY and CA at Earth Hour
The Greenies did not convince the average liberal New Yorkers and Californians to turn off their lights at the appointed Earth Hour of 8:30 PM local time. By looking at real time data in New York and California, there was no drop in electric usage...
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Copenhagen: Environmental Munich
[HT:SP]
Climate: Czech President Vaclav Klaus once called global warming a new religion, a Trojan horse for imposing a global tyranny worse than communism. Details about the Copenhagen Conference prove how right he was.
A 16-page informational note obtained by Fox News outlines the goals and agenda of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a body paving the way to Copenhagen with good intentions. Behind this alphabet soup is a list of ideas and talking points for what the U.N. calls an "ambitious and effective international response to climate change."
We're not sure how effective it will be, but it's certainly ambitious as it seeks to reorder the world economy in a de facto repeal of the Industrial Revolution. Under the supervision of the U.N., free trade would die, industries that survived could be relocated across borders, and we would have mandatory carbon offsets and cap-and-trade imposed on a global scale...
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Telling CO2 Lies to Destroy America
The Wall Street Journal
My friend, the internationally famed climatologist, Dr. S. Fred Singer, calls them “the CO2 wars.” It is the last ditch attempt by the Greens, under the aegis of the Obama administration, to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant and thus open the door to its regulation. Singer says such regulation“would be the equivalent of an atomic bomb directed at the U.S. economy—all without any scientific justification.”
When it comes to CO2, Obama, his so-called science advisors, and the Environmental Protection Agency are all lying. It is governmental gangsterism.
As reported in The Wall Street Journal,“The Environmental Protection Agency has sent the White House a proposed finding that carbon dioxide is a danger to public health, a step that could trigger a clampdown on emissions of so-called greenhouse gases across a wide swath of the economy.”
Here are a few things you need to keep in mind about carbon dioxide: [I.e., the argument it's a polutant or harmful to life is inane... snip]
As the Wall Street Journal noted,“The administration has proposed a cap-and-trade system that could raise $646 billion by 2019 through government auctions of emission allowances.”
The EPA proposal is not about science. It is about power and it is about money...
[Highly Recommended > ]
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Look who's sneaking into the country using known drug routes
[HT:SN]
It's Hezb'allah and they are getting assistance from Mexican drug cartels:
Hezbollah is using the same southern narcotics routes that Mexican drug kingpins do to smuggle drugs and people into the United States, reaping money to finance its operations and threatening U.S. national security, current and former U.S. law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism officials say.
Logically, we should be able to kill two birds with one stone by stepping up border security - interdict drugs and stop Hezb'allah from infiltrating America. But that would require the will to do so.
And it doesn't appear that there is a will to do much except marginally improve border security while talking about what a wonderful job the government is doing to protect us...
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Delay in Immigration Raids May Signal Policy Change
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at U.S. workplaces in recent weeks, asking agents in her department to apply more scrutiny to the selection and investigation of targets as well as the timing of raids, federal officials said.
A senior department official said the delays signal a pending change in whom agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement choose to prosecute...
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Napolitano says thanks but no thanks, DHS has funds
The head of the Department of Homeland Security turned down an offer for more money to fight crime along the U.S.’s southern border, saying she’ll pay for it with the funds she has.
At a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he requested an additional $380 million in funds for enhanced border protection....
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Examiner Editorial: Adopt-A-Highway services stalled by political correctness
No new permits have been issued since last June for California’s popular Adopt-A-Highway volunteer program, where businesses and organizations pick up garbage along state highways in exchange for a small roadside sign recognizing their efforts.
The San Diego Minutemen were approved for a litter pickup permit in November 2007, then randomly (also cluelessly) assigned to clean a two-mile stretch of northbound Interstate 5 passing a major Border Patrol checkpoint a few miles from the Tijuana gateway.
Within days after the “San Diego Minutemen” roadside sign went up, Caltrans officials were bombarded by complaints from immigrant rights groups and Latino legislators insisting the Minutemen were racist vigilantes who must be expelled from Adopt-A-Highway.
The Minutemen countered they are just law-abiding citizens devoted to upholding enforcement of U.S. immigration laws and border security.
Under pressure from Sacramento higher-ups, Caltrans soon removed the recognition sign and offered to reassign the Minutemen to clean up a 'less controversial' San Diego highway site...
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New Political Study Center? Turn Right at Berkeley
If you’re interested in studying left-wing social movements like organized labor, civil rights or feminism, virtually all universities and colleges have special programs and research centers devoted to the subject. But no similar institutions exist in academia for those looking for a place to study conservatism in America and abroad.
Now, with backing from an anonymous donor, the University of California, Berkeley, where ’60s-era students stood atop a police car and ignited free-speech protests, is creating a Center for the Comparative Study of Right-Wing Movements. According to experts in the field it is the first of its kind in higher education.“This is unique, There are no other centers that I know of.”
said Paola Bacchetta, an associate professor at Berkeley...
[Remember this the next time our schools deny that they're liberal indoctrination centers. "unique", "no other centers", "is the first of its kind in higher education".
Anyone with the I.Q. of a cabbage must recognize these statements as proof positive that in the center-right nation that is America, something is seriously wrong to have o-n-e (1) non-liberal study center - and that one labeled "right wing" and taught be Democrats.]
We need massive education reform at all levels.]
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Transparency and Accountability: The Simple Solutions
This past week in Colorado, Senate Bill 57, also called the Public School Financial Transparency Act, which simply require public school districts to put their spending online, died in committee. How could any responsible public official forbid parents from seeing how their tax-dollars are spent educating their children?
The answer to that question is simple: Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations and National Education Association.
How many parents are aware that school districts use taxpayer money for political lobbying purposes? Does the NEA want mom and dad to have easy access to teacher's salaries, health care costs, pension payouts as well as performance reviews? The answers respectively are none and no.
If parents understood the financial realities of how their money is spent, the education system would actually be accountable to children, not unions and lobbyists. Politicians would fear the wrath of voters more than the NEA.
The same can be said for our entire political system... [snip]
Nebraska state treasurer Shane Osborn recently addressed transparency in the Wall Street Journal. He rightfully bragged about the economic situation in his state compared to the rest of the country.
"Our state's unemployment consistently hovers in the 4%-5% range (the latest federal figures peg it at 4.5%, while the national average is 8.1%). The national foreclosure rate is one in every 500 homes; in Nebraska it is one in 25,500. The state currently has a record surplus. We ended the year with about $550 million in our rainy-day fund, and project a modest 1.2% growth in tax revenue this year."
Osborn attributed Nebraska's success to "an inquiring public that demands to know how tax dollars are spent." He credits the public's desire for transparency as his "inspiration" for creating a website that "discloses every aspect of state government spending". [snip]
In July 2008, the Sam Adams Alliance created the government transparency website Sunshine Review. The goal of this open-wiki source is to empower everyday citizens to serve as government watchdogs, giving them the tools to bring open and honest government to the state and local level.[snip]
The success of Sunshine Review as well as the economic climate in Nebraska is proof that an involved and knowledgeable citizenry can do what the mainstream media has failed to accomplish-make open and honest government a reality.
[I.e., it's in our interest to force our 'representative' governments at all levels to operate in this fashion. Is yours?
More, Highly Recommended > ]
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Then >
"Enact 'Sunshine Review' policies in government."
Whitehouse: mailto:president@whitehouse.gov
Senate-Reid: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
House-Pelosi: http://speaker.house.gov/contact/
YOUR Senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
YOUR Congressman: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
CA Governor: http://gov.ca.gov/interact mailto:governor@governor.ca.gov
YOUR CA Legislators (Sen+Assy): http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
or: Speed Message them with your personal distribution list...
and as always, pass it on...
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Labor's Agenda Undermines its Members' Livelihoods
Organized labor has accelerated its metamorphosis in recent years away from a movement committed to improving the lot of workers towards becoming a vast policy advocacy effort devoting a disproportionate share of its efforts to political operations.
In doing so, much of the traditional labor movement has been hijacked by newer unions devoted to vast expansions of government and an undermining of the economy in a way that directly punishes those they call "brothers"...
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The Sadness of 'Sexting'
Can a child be accused of child pornography? Could a child then be formally charged and convicted of it? These are the questions raised by the disturbing new trend called "sexting," teenagers sending nude or semi-nude pictures around on their cell phones. In some jurisdictions, prosecutors are playing hardball, threatening that students caught with naughty pictures could face jail time and being registered as sex offenders. At a minimum, prosecutors are demanding a 10-hour rehab program.
Does this offense seem too casual to justify throwing the legal book at children? Consider that it’s undeniable that if Johnny was a day or two over 18 and was sending around these images, he’d be treated as a sicko – with prison time a real possibility...
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As teen pregnancies soar, what does the Government do?
Abortion clinics are to be allowed to advertise on television and radio for the first time. Condom manufacturers will also be permitted to broadcast advertisements at any time of the day or night.
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Enviro Wikipedia Assault on Human Achievement Hour
[Intend for Friday by life intervened - apologies]
Environmentalists are leading a worldwide hour of shame and darkness on Saturday, March 28.
In response to this hour of darkness and shame, the Competitive Enterprise Institute launched a "Human Achievement Hour" - to celebrate the achievements of men, including the widespread use of energy that lifts the peoples of the world out of poverty.
Along with blog posts and press releases, CEI also created a Wikipedia page on Human Achievement Hour to let people know why it was established and how they might participate-- just as environmentalists had created a Wiki entry for Earth Hour.
However, not content with their hour of darkness, some in the environmental movement are determined to stamp out any opposition to their campaign.
Almost immediately after the Human Achievement article was published on Wikipedia, environmentalists began attacking the idea and calling for its deletion. (see previous such examples ). Eventually, the editors were convinced this week to delete the HAH article on the grounds that it did not meet "notability standards," despite the dozen or so newspaper articles, radio shows on the topic, and blog references (including Michelle Malkin).
As CEI analyst Michelle Minton explains on OpenMarket.org, the Human Achievement Hour called on people to "celebrate the achievements of humanity" The main philosophy of Human Achievement Hour is to celebrate the products of mens' minds and to oppose environmentalism that would have government prevent individuals from achieving in the future.
Update: The HAH article on Wikipedia was restored on March 27.
[But only because of our eternal vigilance against the thought police at Wiki...]
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Name That Party: March Madness Edition
The Chicago Tribune, taking a cue from its hero Barack Obama, gave bracketeering a try. The contenders, all former Illinois and Louisiana public officials, were selected for a smackdown to determine the most disgraceful.
The rivals from Louisiana were former Governors Huey Long and Edwin Edwards, former Congressman William "Refrigerator" Jefferson, and former New Orleans City Council president Oliver Thomas (identified as Thomas Oliver by the newspaper.). Weighing in from Illinois were former Governors George Ryan and Milorad "Call Me Rod" Blagojevich, former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, and former Chicago alderman Arenda Troutman.
The Trib gave the nod to Edwin Edwards, although I think the competition was marred by not having an Illinois Daley in the competition. Setting that aside, what was interesting is the Tribune didn't mention party affiliation in its bracketeering. Seven of the eight contenders, or 87.5 percent, were Democrats.
Gee, what a surprise.
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California ‘Cool’ Paints Initiative Ugly, Lazy
If California regulators get their way, auto makers may soon be forced to rewrite a cliché from the Ford Model T era and start telling customers they can have any color they want as long as it isn’t black.
The problem stems from a new “cool paints” initiative from the California Air Resources Board. CARB wants to mandate the phase-in of heat-reflecting paints on vehicle exteriors beginning with the ’12 model year, with all colors meeting a 20% reflectivity requirement by the ’16 model year.
The rationale goes like this: Vehicle AC units sap engine power and hurt fuel economy. If vehicle paint and glass reflect more heat, car interiors will be cooler. That means drivers will use their AC units less, the compressors won’t have to work as hard and auto makers will be able to use smaller AC units in the future.
[The paint's on the outside, we sit on the inside - how stupid do they think we are {don't answer that}.
If they were serious about reducing AC time, they'd allow us to super-tint our windows to keep the sunlight out. But that would prevent cops from seeing who's using the commuter lane alone - and we can't have that.
When are we going to fire these idiots? {don't answer that either (sigh)}]
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NBC Highlights Downbeat 'State of Black America' Report
Wednesday's NBC Nightly News highlighted the downbeat “State of Black America 2009” report, but failed to identify the group behind it, the National Urban League, as liberal nor note the left-wing policy prescriptions recommended in the report.
Though NBC anchor Brian Williams acknowledged Barack Obama's election “was a reminder of the great strides this nation has made in race relations,” he warned that“today there was a reminder of how much work remains to be done to heal what has long been this nation's greatest wound.” [snip]
National Urban League President Marc Morial, the former Democratic Mayor of New Orleans, then charged:“The country's in a ditch, and black Americans have lost ground over the last eight years..."
[The grivance industry: too big to fail.]
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Kansans to vote on right to own guns
Kansans will have the chance to vote next year on a constitutional amendment guaranteeing individuals the right to own firearms. The House passed a resolution Wednesday to place the issue on the 2010 general election ballot.
The vote was 116-9, far more than the two-thirds majority needed. The Senate adopted the resolution Tuesday, 39-1.
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