Meanwhile, Back on Earth

[HT:WT]
Here’s a bailout we should welcome:

Some rich countries are planning a “great escape” - from promises to fight climate change as recession bites and a deadline nears to agree a new treaty, China’s climate ambassador Yu Qingtai told Reuters on Wednesday.

“The only conclusion many people like me are drawing is that countries are preparing for the great escape from Copenhagen,”

His comments underlined concerns that U.N.-led climate global negotiations in Poznan, Poland, are treading water as many delegates and observers question agreeing to a comprehensive treaty as planned in Copenhagen next year.

It’s time to stop treading water and get out of the pool altogether. After an endless election season of myth and fantasy, it feels as if we’re finally entering the season of long-awaited truths...

READ MORE

Opec agrees record oil output cut

The oil producers' cartel Opec has agreed to make a record cut in output, slashing 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from its current supply. Opec has made two other cuts since September, meaning it has cut a total of 4.2 million bpd in four months. (Snip) Opec said that it hoped the record cut would boost prices but that it had no formal price target...

[if only we had our own oil reserves to develop]

READ MORE

Another oil firm puts base overseas

The chief executive of Weatherford International said Thursday he and his company headquarters will move from Houston to Switzerland, joining at least two other top Houston oil services executives in seeking closer proximity to emerging oil producing regions overseas.

Halliburton Co. relocated its top executives to a Dubai headquarters in 2007 and offshore driller Transocean has announced plans to move to Geneva.

[while we sit atop the largest known-recoverable reserves on the planet. Why leave the US? Next...> ]

READ MORE

Energy squad to wean US off oil 'addiction'

Washington - Barack Obama intends to round out his environmental and natural resources team with three former Environmental Protection Agency officials from the Clinton administration. The president-elect's energy policy team will be responsible for implementing a far-reaching plan to wean the US off oil and bolster the economy by increasing energy efficiency and building renewable energy plants. [anyone believe that last bit about 'bolstering' the economy?]

[energy policy - from environmental protection advocates]

READ MORE

Biodiesal tax break fackfires

Federal subsidies to the U.S. biodiesel industry were supposed to help wean the nation from foreign oil, and a new law in 2009 will bolster the effort, but the money has fueled a controversial side business. Domestic producers of the renewable fuel have been selling huge quantities of biodiesel in Europe and in other foreign markets, where prices are often better, and then receiving a $1-per-gallon tax credit from Uncle Sam...
READ MORE

Who's Losing the U.S. Car Business?

Right after the UAW vetoed a compromise, bankruptcy-lite, Detroit-little-three rescue plan put together by Tennessee Republican Bob Corker, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger played the blame game by blasting Corker and the Republican party for “singling out” union workers to shoulder the burden of reviving the U.S. car business.

In truth, the UAW is to blame. [snip]


All Corker asked was a 2009 date for union pay restructuring. Sen. Corker never specified his date. He asked the UAW to name its date for a new pay package. But it had to be in 2009. In return, union members would get a lot of stock in this deal -- up to $10.5 billion of new equity as GM’s heavy debt burden would be converted into common shares.

But the UAW refused to make concessions. Instead, it insisted it would only renegotiate its current contract when it ends in 2011. That was the sticking point that killed the deal.

You have to ask this question: If the Detroit carmakers are in dire straits, going broke in two weeks, right now in late 2008, how can the UAW wait until 2011 to make its concessions?

[A: scream that the world will end, rely on the old media to dupe TV watchers into believing that fallacy, and wait for Bush to cave.

Worked like a charm.]

READ MORE

MEDIA MISTAKES ON DETROIT'S DIVE

Take this line from David Leonhart's article on Page One of Wednesday's New York Times:

"The real problem is many people don't want to buy the cars that Detroit makes."

Fact: For the past several years, GM sold one out of every four cars bought in America. Add the rest of Detroit, and it's close to one out of every two. Last I counted, that's a lot of people.

Then there's Times columnist Tom Friedman - who referred to GM as terrorists for marketing a campaign that provided gas relief and praising "green" Toyota.

Fact: Auto insiders know that Toyota's pose as "the green car company" is a brilliant marketing ploy - and deflected attention away from Toyota's own bid to get a bigger share of the highly profitable "truck" market with the launch of the eight-cylinder Tundra. Yet Friedman failed to even mention Toyota's gas-guzzling trucks... [snip]

The truth is, most Americans don't want to drive a Prius - especially not Americans with large families and lots to transport. And, while they want cars and trucks that are more fuel-efficient, they also want ones that are functional and safe - and the answer isn't just "hybrids, hybrids, hybrids,"

[which is why the Ford F-150 continues to be Ford's sales leader to this day. The cars are fine - quality wise and particularly design wise as the Big 3 are better a making the bigger vehicles most Americans (away from the coasts) want. I.e., it's not the cars...

It's the unions, period. Last year Toyota and GM both sold 9.3 Millions vehicles in the US (a bad year, it's usually double that). Toyota made ~17 billion doing it, GM lost 38 billion doing it. You figure it out.]

READ MORE

PROGRESSIVE' POLICIES WOULD CAUSE ECONOMIC REGRESSION

The governmental takeovers of the banking and auto industries have raised important questions concerning the future course of our country. Should America become a Europeanized sort of a nanny state in which the government manages our industries, their boards of directors, their products and their finances?

It shouldn't, but it is clear that the incoming administration believes strongly in governmental control of a great many parts of our economy:

• During the campaign, Barack Obama called for a 10 percent to 12 percent annual increase in government spending, on top of our current congressional spending surge.
• According to USA Today, this "is increasing the federal share of the nation's economic activity close to $1 out of every $4, the highest level since World War II," and will give us "a budget deficit headed towards a record $1 trillion."

Obama is urging several other pieces of government control legislation that would further Europeanize America's future:

• Government run health care: a federal statute regulating the price, content and supervision of health care, and a government council to significantly regulate the content and cost of health care policies.
• Downsizing of trade: trade creates jobs -- some five million Americans work for overseas companies; the export of American products support some six million domestic jobs, the export of services another five million, and U.S. trade as a share of gross domestic product reached 29 percent in 2007.
• From his previously stated opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement, to his dislike of other regional trade agreements, Obama's intentions will clearly shrink our economy to the degree he acts on them.

As for the environment, the Boxer-Lieberman global warming bill that failed to pass the Senate last June will be back, and with the Democrat Senate's new 58-seat majority instead of the current 51, it is much more likely to pass. This bill would shut down coal-fired plants and contains more than 300 production regulations and mandates, from a federal commission to impose environmental controls on businesses, to a protectionist agency that could impose tariffs on imported goods.

In short, bigger and more intrusive government is rolling down the tracks toward us, says du Pont. Taxes will be higher, government spending will be larger, and matters from automobile manufacturing to health care and trade will be Europeanized. The government will be in charge.

[OR - we could inform our representatives that these things will not transpire - ready? Silence will be taken as consent...]

READ MORE

WHAT CAN A HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNT DO FOR YOU?

Health savings accounts (HSAs) were introduced in 2004 and allow individuals to pay for medical services upfront through funds they deposit tax-free into a personal account. A required insurance policy then kicks in for catastrophic expenses. Any unused funds build up from year-to-year and collect interest in the process. [snip]

"Put simply, no other account has the tax advantages that HSAs do," "Throughout the life of an HSA its owners can withdraw funds for medical care tax-free. Because of this, taxpayers should consider fully funding their HSAs first, before other types of retirement accounts."

"With health care costs continuing to outpace wage increases and companies trimming retiree health benefits," said Fidelity Executive Vice President Brad Kimler in a recent release, "financing health care has to be central to retirement planning."

The beauty of HSAs is that they can be used to pay Medicare premiums, out-of-pocket expenses, long-term care insurance premiums, and many long-term care expenses, say researchers. Even better, HSAs can do all of this tax-free.

However, if you don't end up incurring these types of expenses, you can still use your HSA funds for other purposes and pay only regular income tax on your withdrawals after age 65.

[this is how we allow our children to avoid the coming bankruptcy re: medicare, and (finally) begin reducing the run away costs of medical treatment by spending our own money {the missing component that's allowed this asinine situation to grow in the first place}]

READ MORE

Marking in red pen 'can damage students'

Teachers who mark work in red pen could be inflicting psychological damage on their students, according to new guidelines. Australian educators are being urged to correct homework in less aggressive colours like green and blue, in an attempt to improve mental health in the classroom.

[ok, UK needs vouchers as bad as we do]

READ MORE

HOME SWEET HOME SCHOOL

The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that from 1999 to 2003 the number of home-schooled children increased from around 850,000 to roughly 2.5 million, a 29 percent jump in four years.

Some states keep their own figures: Virginia had 3,816 registered home schoolers in 1990; by 2007 the number had grown to 20,694; Maryland saw similar growth, from 2,296 in 1990 to 24,227 in 2006.

Survey research has revealed a heterogeneous population of home schoolers and higher rates of minority home schooling than expected, with the Black homeschool movement growing at a faster rate than the general homeschool population.

"Families are running out of options," says Jennifer James, National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance. "There's this persistent achievement gap, and a lot of black children are doing so poorly in traditional schools that parents are looking for alternatives."

READ MORE

History twofer...

.
They Won't Give Him Credit

From the beginning of his administration, President Bush has pushed for more aid to Africa. The president has pressed for greater aid to Africa across the board. The original PEPFAR legislation (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), which passed in 2003, was the largest single health investment by any government ever ($15 billion).

At the time the initiative was launched, only about 50,000 sub-Saharan Africans were receiving antiretroviral treatment for AIDS. Today, 1.7 million people in the region are receiving such treatment.

In July of this year, the president requested that funding for PEPFAR be doubled to $30 billion. The new funding will be used to train 140,000 new health care workers. It would also address other illnesses, like tuberculosis, that often complicate AIDS. [snip]

But for the beautiful people in America -- the Hollywood and university types, the book and magazine publishers, and of course, the major media -- have shown complete indifference to George W. Bush's dedication to a cause they purport to value. In fact, they've pointedly ignored it...

READ MORE


WaPo Recycles Myth of Reagan Inaction on AIDS

On the front page of Tuesday’s Washington Post, reporter Anne Hull recalled the devastating trail of the AIDS epidemic as marked by the moving of the D.C.-based Whitman-Walker AIDS clinic. But deep in the piece, in the 35th paragraph, Hull unearthed an old anti-Reagan myth:

Several blocks from the clinic was the White House, where President Ronald Reagan had barely uttered the word "AIDS" in his eight years in office. In 1989, the Centers for Disease Control reported 22,082 deaths from AIDS.

The real Reagan record on AIDS is different. AIDS funding skyrocketed in the 1980s, almost doubling each year from 1983 – when the media started blaring headlines – from $44 million to $103 million, $205 million, $508 million, $922 million, and then $1.6 billion in 1988. Reagan’s secretary of Health and Human Services in 1983, Margaret Heckler, declared AIDS her department’s "number one priority."

READ MORE

AP Photogs and Journos Withholding Bylines; World Somehow Survives

;^)
.

Putting the Boot In: NYT's Front-Page Mockery of Bush

.
The New York Times and the rest of the media can't get enough of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, with a front-page story calling the potentially dangerous action a "defiant act" and a "mythic moment" and commenting on shoe-hurling Muntader al-Zaidi's "hero status" in the Arab world.

The Times's editorial board blog joined in on the irresponsible fun with a lame headline, "If the (Thrown) Shoe Fits...." [snip]

Yet the Times, casting its own rhetorical shoe in its eagerness to draw a picture of Bush's unpopularity and the "glee" felt in the Arab world, sailed right by an idea raised by columnist Ralph Peters in the New York Post; THE SHOE 'NUF TRUTH - AN IRAQI FREEDOM MILESTONE:

"Bush won. Even if shoe-thrower Muntadar al-Zaidi (who works for an Egypt -based media outfit) walks out in his stocking feet and becomes a hero to dead-enders, he unwittingly showed what a great thing has been accomplished in Iraq.

"Other than Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, what Arab head of government holds free-wheeling press conferences? President" Mubarak of Egypt? Assad of Syria? The Saudi king? Qaddafi? If an Arab reporter had "shoed" any other leading Arab ruler during one of their staged events, he would've been fortunate to escape with his life."

READ MORE

Newsweek Still Dancing for Joy Over Anti-Bush Shoe-throwing Incident

Yesterday, Newsweek's daily Conventional Wisdom feature assigned a down-arrow to President Bush over Sunday's now-infamous shoe-throwing incident,

Today Newsweek continued to try to milk the incident for maximum Bush-bashing potential by assigning an up-arrow - to al-Zaidi:


Shoe-thrower: Iraqis rally to support Bush's assailant, Libyan first daughter awards him a medal.


READ MORE

Face of Defense: Refugee Becomes Marine to Repay Debt to Nation

When Bosnia erupted into civil war in the early 1990s, Buzaljko’s mixed Muslim-Catholic family’s life in Stolac was shattered. The Croatian military placed his father and uncle into a concentration camp, leaving his mother alone to care for Buzaljko and his baby brother [snip]

Despite the hardships Buzaljko’s family endured to leave their war-torn home, they remain supportive of their son and his service to their new country.

“I am very proud; you can’t even imagine,” his mother, Vesna Buzaljko, said. “He joined to say ‘thank you’ to the [United States] for welcoming us with open arms. It was a tough time when we left, but America took us in and saved our family. Now he has a purpose to help others like we were helped when we needed it, and we are so proud.”

READ MORE

A Christmas Letter From the Front Lines in Iraq

There's no better feeling for American military personnel in faraway lands than the one they get when they receive letters from loved ones. But this is close competition. It's an "insider" letter to you, me and all Americans from a senior officer in our armed forces on the front lines in Mosul -- his third tour in Iraq.

... This aforementioned success was obviously not something that happened overnight. This success is the result of many man-hours and sacrifices made by not only our coalition force soldiers but also all Iraqi security forces. We have spent countless hours helping them and have developed relationships with not only the ISF leaders but also the local leaders and civilians. They have our trust and know that the ISF will prevail in the overall mission, even after coalition forces pull out of Iraq.

This success is what I wish that everyone could see. It is not nearly as enticing as violence, which leads in the media, but it is the real story here in Iraq. I just hope that you spread the word of what the real story is here in Iraq, and that is that the Iraqi army and police are doing a tremendous job, and it is not without the hard work and dedication of our soldiers. Our soldiers are dedicated to the mission and their duty. They understand that the harder they work now the more likely they will not have to come back to Iraq in years to come...

God bless you, Capt. Bowers, and all who serve this Christmas season!

[there more - Recommended >]

READ MORE

[then, our turn...]

Dear Patriotic American,

Thousands of our financially struggling wounded troops will have to make an agonizing decision this Christmas: Should I pay for groceries and utilities OR provide my children with presents from Santa Claus?

I don't want our disabled heroes to have to make that choice, and I know you don't either. That's why the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes has just kicked off its 4th annual Emergency Secret Santa Project.

Brigadier Gen. Arthur F. "Chip" Diehl III
U.S. Air Force (Ret.)




Please click here to make your tax-deductible donation, which will help provide a $500 Christmas gift check to a disabled serviceman or woman.

And click here to send a Christmas THANK YOU and GET WELL card to a severely wounded young Marine



[and as always, strength in numbers: please pass on...]
.

CBS: Gitmo Ruling ‘A Big Legal Setback for the President's War on Terror’

At the top of Thursday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric referred to a recent court ruling to release five Guantanamo Bay detainees as: "A big legal setback for the president's war on terror."

Couric later introduced a report on the ruling and reiterated the idea of the ruling being a defeat solely for President Bush: "...a federal judge ruled today that five suspects held at Guantanamo Bay must be released...it's a major defeat for the Bush administration in its final days."

In the report, correspondent Wyatt Andrews described how: "...the ruling starts a nightmare for the Pentagon. The military now faces an oncoming rush of 200 Guantanamo appeals, not to mention an incoming president who wants to close the camp altogether."

One wonders if CBS will be using the phrase "president’s war on terror" with President Obama...

READ MORE

Gitmo Lawyers Are the Latest in Radical Chic

How about some pro bono work for the government?

Within the ranks of our leading law schools, law firms and legal centers, it would be hard to find a cause more popular than the detainees of Guantanamo Bay. Every lawyer wants his own detainee or detainee group. The result is that dozens of the world's most dangerous men now have their own legal Dream Teams.

In this context, wouldn't it be refreshing to hear the dean of some Ivy League law school, or a partner in a white-shoe law firm, stand up and say these words: "As part of our pro bono commitments, we hereby offer our services to the overworked men and women trying to keep our nation safe from terrorist attack."

You can imagine the reaction. Back in 2007, we had a taste when a Defense Department official suggested that corporate America might look askance at the high-priced law firms devoting their time and talents to those held at Gitmo. In accord with long-established Beltway rituals of public penance, this official soon published "An Apology to Detainees' Attorneys" in the Washington Post -- and soon after resigned.

[what do you call 200 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

READ MORE

a good start.]

'Iran rocket arsenal tripled in 2008'

In a sign that Iran is taking military measures to ward off the threat of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the country has tripled the number of long-range rockets in its arsenal, Channel 10 reported on Monday.

According to the report, Iran possessed 30 Shihab-3 missiles at the beginning of 2008. Currently, the country claims to have over 100 over long-range missiles capable of hitting Israel.

[so how are those China-Russia-vetoed UN sanctions working? {tic-tok, tic-tok...}]

READ MORE

Iran's growing influence at the UN

[HT:GP]
The Obama administration has promised to give the United Nations a far bigger role in American policy, Claudia Rosett reminds us in her superb new column in Forbes magazine.

We can see this from campaign statements he has made, his lineup of foreign policy advisers, his article in Foreign Affairs magazine (America needs to "rededicate itself to the United Nations"), his Global Poverty Act that would lead to higher taxes on Americans to feed UN programs, his elevation of the US Ambassador to the United Nations to be a Cabinet position, and myriad of other steps he intends to take when he assumes office.

Rossett lays out the perils of becoming to intertwined with the United Nations. Iran has all but infiltrated the UN; its emissaries occupy key roles in a raft of subgroups within the UN. The Iranians will be able to exert outsized influence on what the UN agenda is, how money is spent, and what actions will be taken. America gives the United Nations over 20 billion dollars a year (Iran's contribution is paltry) and Iran will play an important role in how our money is spent.

Rossett's recommendation: try to kick Iran out of the United Nations or bypass the organization entirely when American interests are at stake. She provides the details...

[Highly Recommended {good shooting GP} > ]

READ MORE

The EU-constitution & Lisbon Treaty

[meanwhile, at the other one-world-government...]

Under EU laws, if one of its member states rejects a treaty, the EU is mandated to scrap the bill. But the European Union's contempt for direct democracy is likely to lead them to ignore the Irish referendum and pursue the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty anyway - underscoring the fact that the EU is nothing more than an illegitimate autocracy of manufactured consent.

75% of people in the EU want a referendum on any new treaty which gives more powers to the EU. In the UK, 83% would want a vote to be held. A majority in all 27 countries would want a referendum.

"If a new treaty is drawn up which gives more powers to the EU do you think that people should be given a say on this in a referendum or citizen consultation or do you think that it should just be up to the national parliament to ratify this treaty? "

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/mainfindings.pdf

Across the EU as a whole, 28% think the EU should have more powers than it has now and that more decisions should be taken at the European level. 23% think the EU should keep the powers it has now, but should not be given any more. 41% think the EU should have less powers than it has now and that more decisions should be taken at a national or local level. In the UK the equivalent figures were 11%, 27%, and 58% - a clear majority for taking powers back. [snip]

EU Constitution Kingpin: We Will Ignore Referendums

"If the Eurocrats continue to ignore the will of the people
as expressed in the NO-votes in three referenda in a row,
the EU looses all legitimacy and eurocrats therby underscore
that the EU is nothing more than an illegitimate
autocracy of manufactured consent."

[How 'manufactured'? Simple-summary: The people don't want an EU constitution, so, call it a 'treaty' instead which moves its acceptance into the realm of bureaucrats, then load up said treaty with employment-for-life provisions for those same bureaucrats and voila: 'governments' vote for it in direct opposition to the will of their constituents.

Actually not much different from our so-called 'representatives', except in scope: passage of this 'treaty' will permanently strip Europeans of self determined government.

Object lesson: You'd think there would be rioting in the streets - but their dependence on their governments for their social programs have stripped them of all independence, and so the loss of liberty marches forward...]

Good luck cousins, and pay attention Americans - this is how government tyrannies start: 'for our own good' ]


READ MORE

Ice Skating Down the Bayou

The President-elect is unable to join the 11,000 politicians, business big-wigs, and environmentalists meeting in Poznan, Poland right now for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). But at least some politicians in the southern states are free to catch up on the proceedings via TV, radio, and Internet - seeing as government offices in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi have been closed due to crippling snowstorms.

The snow is expected to reach about 8 inches later in the day, which should be right around the time some statesman in Poznan gets behind a podium to decry America’s indifference to the earth’s certain infernal demise. Oops, that happened already:

“We are looking to the United States to step out of the dark ages of inaction and become a leading light on climate change,” said Apilsai Ielemia, the prime minister of Tuvalu, a small island-state.

“For years, people have been saying that the United States of America has to lead. They soon will,” said President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana.

Sure - as soon as we dig ourselves out from under the Dixie blizzard. I know, I know: Extreme winters are a sign of “climate change.” Except mild winters are also a sign of climate change. Whatever truth there is to global warming, it isn’t inconvenient. It’s the most easily adaptable “crisis” ever discovered.

Not only is it supported by the only scientific theory to be confirmed by contradictory data, but its adherents don’t have to worry about defending themselves, because as Barack Obama recently said, “The science is beyond dispute.” And the solution fits into a wildly popular pre-existing paradigm: blame America, then ask it for things...

READ MORE

Realizing Reality

In Europe, the financial turmoil has broken the stride of the EU’s lockstep approach to climate issues. Those with greater economic vulnerability — Italy, Poland, and much of Eastern Europe — refuse to accept a new climate deal, crafted by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, on the grounds that it will further damage their already fragile economies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks exemptions for her country’s heavy industries. Italian environment minister Stefania Presciagiacomo pooh-poohs the idea that “green jobs” will transform advanced economies, scoffing, “Some people claim environmental measures are a way to re-launch industry. But let’s be realistic: Resources are limited, and they will be even more so because of the economic crisis.”

Meanwhile, developing countries remain adamant that they will not accept any new limits on their emissions in Kyoto II. This is a fact of no little salience, given that China is today the world’s No. 1 emitter of greenhouse gases, followed by the United States, Indonesia, and India.

(It’s worth keeping in mind what the U.S. gives the world along with those emissions: the United States is the best performer by a very wide margin, producing $2,000 in economic value per ton of greenhouse emissions to China’s $450, India’s $497, and Indonesia’s $679. A ton of emissions from the United States brings the world 4.5 times as much economic good as a ton of emissions from China.) [and that not factoring the North American CO2 Sink which literally absorbs emissions to below zero {.2%} - but the UN 'doesn't count' that][snip]

For eight years, the United States has been the object of criticism, harsh and unfair, for its unwillingness to be afflicted with sweeping emissions limits and the punitive economic consequences that will go along with them. And now, the very same international parties that censured the United States for looking to its own interests have themselves become the agents of delay...

[ Recommended > ]

READ MORE

Majority of Public Opposes Auto Rescue

Most Americans continue to oppose a government-backed rescue plan for Detroit's Big Three automakers as majorities blame the industry for its own problems and are unconvinced failure would hurt the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. [snip]

Opposition to the automaker bailout is fueled by the widespread perception that the companies themselves are responsible for their predicament, not the faltering economy. In the new poll, three-quarters of Americans said Detroit's woes are mainly the fault of its own management decisions, and a sizable majority of those who blame the front office object to government help. [snip]

Union households are no more apt than those without a union member to favor the plan, 44 percent compared with 42 percent. However, the union householders who support the plan are more likely to be strongly behind the bailout.

[that's it: 13 paragraph article that makes repeated references to management failures - but the above three 'unions' are the only references to unions - and "UAW" isn't mentioned once.

our 'professional' media]

READ MORE

[NNBrief FLASHBACKs:

081216: UAW Gave $1 Million+ to Pro-Bailout Congressmen; Media Focus on Anti-Bailout Interests

"It's the unions that have brought them to the brink. So definitely, I think the reason they want a political solution and a car czar is because a car czar can protect the unions through this whole process at the expense of the taxpayer."

081117: AP's Auto Bailout coverage journalistically negligent

"The Big 3 has a cancer that needs to be removed. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why they cannot compete profitability (sic). They have parity on supply costs, materials, and energy with Honda and Toyota. So why can’t they compete? It is clearly the cost of unions."

080612: CBS Blames Gas Prices In GM Closures, Disregards Expensive Union Labor

"But Bowers omitted one detail: GM (NYSE:GM), Ford (NYSE:F) and Chrysler all have ties to the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which forces those manufacturers into collective bargaining agreements with very expensive labor costs."

more...]

Who Really Runs Washington And Why Americans Lose on Every Issue

We all know that money is power in politics. But most Americans are of the opinion that it is big corporate money that is currently controlling Washington DC and they believe this because this is what they have been told by Democrats, the labor unions who fund them and the press who does their public propaganda bidding.

From 1998 thru 2008, the top twenty political donor organizations gave over $558,963,408. $326,504,578 of that money came from twelve of the top twenty donors, all of which are labor unions, and of course 95.7% of those funds were given to Democrat politicians. Of the top twenty totals, 77% was given to Democrats, with only 21.8% being given to Republicans.

The 12th largest political donor in America is an organization called Communications Workers of America. Communications Workers of America represents 740,000 workers in telecommunications, broadcasting, journalism and other fields. The union’s members work for many of the nation’s top newspapers and broadcast stations. (Reported by the Center for Responsive Politics)

In other words, the American press is represented by the Communications Workers of America Union, which has invested $25,785,989 in American politics over the last ten years, 99% of it given to Democrats... [snip]

In short, America’s Silence is its Consent

It is never the biggest, strongest, smartest man in the battle who wins the fright. It is the man most committed to winning who wins, every time.

At present, 30% of Americans are winning by outspending the other 70% five to one...

[surprising stats galore - Highly Recommended > ]

READ MORE

OUTLAWING BOYHOOD

BOYS WILL BE BOYS - EXCEPT IF SCHOOLS HAVE THEIR WAY

Girls have not just surpassed boys in the education system. They have trounced them. So what if 57% of undergraduates are women? There's no rule that everything between the sexes is always going to come out fifty-fifty. [funny; that argument doesn't work re: Title IX][snip]

... investigates an education system in which women principals oversee women teachers who treat girl behavior as standard. All the way down this gynocracy, normal male behavior (squirming in preschool, being more interested in war stories than relationships, pretending to shoot each other) is redefined as antisocial, threatening, or (most sinister of all) indicative of "special needs" that gets boys disappeared to the Gitmo of Special Ed. (Boys are diagnosed with attention disorders at four times the rate of girls). [snip]

"What do you see in a reading circle? A teacher reading and the girls sitting and the teacher stopping to say, 'Stop moving around, Matt. Pay attention, Jules.' Boys who need to move around attract lots of negative attention. They get beat down early. They lose their spark."

... his son's third grade teacher frowned upon a picture of a battle scene the boy had drawn. "Did any of the students have a negative reaction?" Johnson asked. The teacher said no, but added, "I'm a parent. And if my son brought home work like this, I would tell him that it didn't represent our family values."

Ralph Fletcher, who teaches elementary school teachers how to teach writing, says he handed out a questionnaire to boys asking them to complete this sentence: "When we write at school, I wish we were able to . . ." The majority responded with some variation of "Write what I want." That's a beatdown. It isn't boys vs. girls but boys vs. their women teachers.

"Too often," says boys' psychologist Michael Thompson, "Boys are simply treated as defective girls."

[ Recommended > ]

READ MORE

Calif panel: cut chemicals in state products

CALIFORNIA
SACRAMENTO -- A panel appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says California should immediately start reducing toxic chemicals in the state's products and manufacturing.

A report by the panel Tuesday said the state should expand pollution prevention, introduce school science classes that focus on protecting the environment, and give consumers easy access to information about the chemicals in the products they buy.

The report is part of a plan by the California Environmental Protection Agency to eventually eliminate many toxic materials.

READ MORE

Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on the Web

The celebrated openness of the Internet -- network providers are not supposed to give preferential treatment to any traffic -- is quietly losing powerful defenders.Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content,

READ MORE

Court orders 'scareware' shut down

A Baltimore federal court judge ordered six absent defendants yesterday - including one from Maryland - to shut down Internet businesses that the Federal Trade Commission claims are part of a vast $100 million "scareware" scheme that tricked more than a million people into purchasing useless security software by making them think their computers were under attack. "The evidence in this case is quite overwhelming," said U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett.

READ MORE

Gay penguins expelled from zoo colony for stealing eggs are given their own to look after

A pair of gay penguins thrown out of their zoo colony for repeatedly stealing eggs have been given some of their own to look after following a protest by animal rights groups. Last month the birds were segregated after they were caught placing stones at the feet of parents before waddling away with their eggs. But angry visitors to Polar Land in Harbin, northern China, complained it wasn't fair to stop the couple from becoming surrogate fathers

[you can't make this stuff up]

READ MORE

[HT:GC]

Guard Responds to Winter Storm in Northeast

Dec. 15, 2008 – A round of winter storms that left several northeastern states covered in ice kept many National Guard units busy over the weekend.

Nearly 900 Guard members were on duty yesterday clearing debris, providing power generation, water, security, shelter and evacuations throughout the northwestern part of the state, which was hardest hit by the storms.

"All of the resources at our disposal have been made available to try to get the roads clear and power restored,"

The Guard members will stay on duty in the Northeast assisting local civilian authorities with clean-up efforts.

“We’ll be here however long they need us,”

READ MORE

Bush Excluded by Latin Summit as China, Russia Loom

Latin American and Caribbean leaders gathering in Brazil tomorrow will mark a historic occasion: a region-wide summit that excludes the United States. Almost two centuries after President James Monroe declared Latin America a U.S. sphere of influence, the region is breaking away.

From socialist-leaning Venezuela to market-friendly Brazil, governments are expanding military, economic and diplomatic ties with potential U.S. adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran...

[they look at how Washington treats a supposed ally like Columbia and find the bad guys the more reliable allies...]

READ MORE

Russian warships bound for Cuba in new show of strength

A group of Russian warships will from December 19-23 visit the Communist island of Cuba, a long-time adversary of the United States and Moscow's ally in the Cold War, the Russian navy said on Monday. "This will be the first visit to Cuba by Russian warships since the Soviet era," the Russian naval headquarters said in a statement.

[when will we learn: perceived weakness/lack of conviction invites aggressive behavior]

READ MORE

Ecuador plans to buy weapons from Iran

[HT:PS]
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa says Quito may buy weapons from Iran to enable the tightening of security on its border with Colombia. “We have a very serious problem on the northern border with Colombia, an irresponsible government that does not take care of its border,” AFP quoted Correa as saying on Saturday. “We need to equip ourselves… Iran can supply us and help us with credit,” the president explained.

READ MORE

Arab world hails shoe attack as Bush's farewell gift

Iraq faced mounting calls on Monday to release the journalist who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush, an action branded shameful by the government but hailed by many in the Arab world as an ideal parting gift to the unpopular US president. Colleagues of Muntazer al-Zaidi, who works for independent Iraqi television station Al-Baghdadia, said he ''detested America'' and had been plotting such an attack for months...

[priceless: all the while the 'professional' western media fails to point out that Mr. Zaidi would have been killed had he tried such public dissent against
Sadam. Isn't it wonderful how far Iraq has come?]

Btw: George dodge one, deflected the other and even had the presence of mind to notice it was a size 10 ;^) - not bad. Bush later said he saw the man's sole.]

READ MORE

Human Rights Watch says Iraq's main court falls short on fairness

BAGHDAD - A human rights group says Iraq's main court fails to meet international fairness standards, saying judges rely on evidence from secret informants and confessions that are 'probably' coerced.

Human Rights Watch also said thousands of prisoners wait months or years before learning the charges against them in the Central Criminal Court and cannot mount a meaningful defence.

[last I checked it was a nation at war. typical. {and I mean typical...(next)}]

READ MORE

It's time to end the impunity of Human Rights Watch

.
Seventeen blown apart shopping in Istanbul; eight children gunned down at a Jerusalem school; 58 slaughtered in front of the Indian Embassy in Kabul. These are just some examples of the terrorist atrocities that plagued the world in the past year. Yet NGO superpower Human Rights Watch, winner of this year's UN Prize for Human Rights, did not find these incidents of mass murder and violations of the most sacred of human rights, the right to life, significant enough to merit a single comment.

Instead, it spends millions attacking Western democracies for doing their best to protect civil liberties and fight terror in an age where its perpetrators have no respect for human life and are driven purely by hate and religious fanaticism. HRW's website lists 38 reports attacking counterterrorism efforts around the globe, but only three on the brutal impact of actual terrorism on civilians.

HRW released three reports in May immediately condemning Israel for the accidental death of a Reuter's cameraman whose equipment looked strikingly similar to a shoulder-fired rocket launcher. It took the organization more than two years and hundreds of suicide bombings, shootings, and missile attacks to issue a report of any significance on the Palestinian terror campaign against Israeli civilians...

December 2008 marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) - enacted to remedy the

"disregard and contempt for human rights" that resulted in "barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind."

Such acts of horrific violence will never come to an end so long as the perpetrators know that HRW, and other "human rights" NGOs will spend more time lobbying against the West than protesting the murder and wounding of tens of thousands simply going about their daily lives.

In the spirit of the UDHR, it is time for this hugely influential organization to stop the selective application of human rights and to take a firm stand against terrorist atrocities...

READ MORE

Prison bans chapel crucifix to avoid offending Muslims

A prison’s new chapel will not contain a crucifix to avoid offending Muslim inmates, it emerged today. Bosses at HMP Lewes have been told the traditional Christian symbol, featuring Jesus nailed to a cross, must not be used in the Grade-II listed Victorian jail’s ‘multi-faith space’. The room - part of a £1million new block - has been split in two, with one half featuring heated foot baths so Muslim worshippers can wash their feet before prayer.
READ MORE

Russia building 'Berlin Wall' in Georgia

London - forces are erecting a ''Berlin Wall'' as part of a campaign to cut off rebel regions from the rest of the country, said Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili. Russia is trying to divide Abkhazia and South Ossetia from the rest of Georgia, she said in a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank in London. (Snip) ''Russia physically destroys physical links between the regions of Georgia''
READ MORE

The World Bank’s Free Pass for China

Today, Robert Zoellick, repeating Beijing’s propaganda line on the global financial crisis, gave the Chinese a free pass on their mercantilist trade policies. So far, China’s principal plan to strengthen its “growth and recovery” has been to increase its exports. And its principal tactic for this purpose has been the lowering of the value of its currency to preserve price advantages for its exporters.

The plan, part of a package of export incentives, is evidently working. Last week, Beijing announced that November’s trade surplus is a monthly record. In the first week of this month, the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, extended the export campaign by driving down the value of the currency almost one percent in one day in an apparent warning to the international community that it will continue to seek unilateral trade advantages.

These exclusionary trade practices are violations of its World Trade Organization promises (such as its discriminatory auto parts tariffs that were just ruled illegal) - yet the world meekly tolerates all misbehavior in the mistaken notion that the West needs China more than it needs the West.

Zoellick, instead of issuing bromides from Beijing, should start speaking clearly about China’s predicament - and stop handing out free passes to China at his press conferences.

READ MORE

Truth, Economics, and Politics

As global warming pathologists insist that increasing carbon dioxide drives planetary meltdown, scientists who actually watch the climate trends -- as well as all the forces that affect it – see something different. They observe unchanging (if not declining) temperatures over the last dozen years despite increased global CO2 emissions during the same time period.

They see Antarctic ice swells despite a greater media emphasis on Arctic ice (PDF) loss. They see a current warming bias across temperature monitoring stations; a cooling pattern since 1997; and a valid theory that solar cycles affect climate change more than any other phenomena.

That's just a start to what I will finish momentarily, but the point is this: that the politicos who push for CO2 emission reductions, and grant-seeking activist researchers, should be put out to pastures where they can examine cow flatulence (methane) up close and personal.

Really, you alarmists: you waste our time and resources de-beefing your baloney. You lie about hockey stick graphs -- repeatedly (PDF). You deceive about "points of no return." You manipulate data and promote "tailored climate information." You claim there is agreement among scientists that supports your alarmist beliefs when in fact there is no such consensus. You attribute weather-driven disasters (PDF) to anthropogenic global warming. You talk all benefits and no costs when you tout the wonders of "green jobs." You've created a whole new industry sector for yourselves with this garbage. And now you've corrupted companies who want to skim off their portion.

Meanwhile we're not addressing more important issues like malnourished children, genocide, and modern-day slavery, and will have no funds to do so if your GWS (Global Warming Scam) sucks up every possible (and likely: impossible) dollar... [snip]

Please, you're killing us with this crap.

[but there's no profit in addressing those things]

[Recommended > ]

READ MORE

Worshipping the Weather

Everyone is religious. People will have their religion. The particular religion does not, necessarily, have to include worship of a god -- but it must include a dogma and rituals.

For many on the left, environmentalism has become a religion, no real surprise there. But the reason for the need of some religion, any religion, to fill the spiritual void on the left is rarely discussed. This article will examine some of the implications, and complications, of the new green creed -- which is, in fact, an ancient creed. It was once called "paganism."

Religion gives lives significance.

Likewise environmentalism. Traditionally religion posits an all-powerful God that saves a sinful humanity from itself through the intervention of a human clergy. In environmentalism, an all-wise clergy, composed of government bureaucrats and "scientists," saves the planet from a sinful humanity.

We are righteous when we act in conformity with the establishment's dogma -- and we are evil if we question it...

[Finally. Excuse my snobbery but as an atheist I've long come to the conclusion that history shows us that humans desire something larger than themselves to believe in and give their lives meaning - and with the assault on traditional religions diminishing their ranks other ideas eventually occupy the void.

The repeated failures of Communism and Socialism, which used to enjoy primacy among the faithless, forced a search for something more defensible and ta-da: environmentalism {aka: environmoralism, but I digress}.

Don't agree? Offended? Fine, then do the thing religions won't: encourage perpetual debate on the topic - as anything scientifically based is supposed to entail by definition - and let a logical review of all the facts lead us where the may.

And READ THIS > Highly Recommended > ]

READ MORE

Iran Proposes 2 Million Barrel Per Day OPEC Cut

Tehran, Iran — The Iranian Oil Ministry says Iran is proposing a cut in OPEC's production of up to two million barrels per day. The ministry's Web site quotes Iran's Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari as saying Iran would push for a production cut of 1.5 to 2 million barrels per day at organization's meeting in Algeria
[if only we had our own oil reserves]
READ MORE

Medvedev: Russia may join OPEC
Russia does not rule out joining the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday, reported the Russian news agencies Interfax and Ria Novosti, as quoted by AFP. This country is ready to join efforts with OPEC to reduce production in order to sustain the oil price, said Medvedev.
READ MORE

[select banner, & pass it on...]
.

UAW Gave $1 Million+ to Pro-Bailout Congressmen; Media Focus on Anti-Bailout Interests

.
Over the past month, accusations have been flying against several Southern senators who oppose a $14 billion bailout for the beleaguered big three automakers and support the the alternative of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. These senators, critics say, are representing the interests of foreign automakers that donate heavily to their campaigns.

But what has been largely ignored is the other side of the equation - the influence of the United Auto Workers (UAW) on the members of Congress that voted for the bailout.

According to campaign finance data from the Center for Responsive Politics Web site OpenSecrets.org, when broken down by how members of Congress voted, for the 2008 election cycle the UAW gave more than eight times as much in campaign cash to members that voted for the bailout than those that voted against it -- $1.14 million to proponents versus just $136,500 that voted against it.

As Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., pointed out last week - much of the force behind the push for the bailout can be attributed to the UAW - for fear that Chapter 11 bankruptcy would spell the end of their influence.

"The primary driver behind this is the unions, because bankruptcy allows the auto companies to basically restructure all their contracts in a way that a bankruptcy judge says will make them sustainable," DeMint said. "And if they do that, then essentially the unions lose all their leverage. It's the unions that have brought them to the brink. So definitely, I think the reason they want a political solution and a car czar is because a car czar can protect the unions through this whole process at the expense of the taxpayer."

Despite this data showing the UAW has overwhelmingly gave to bailout proponents versus its opponents, the media have largely ignored the union and has attacked bailout opponents for representing the interests of foreign automakers with manufacturing facilities in the United States.

[our 'investigative journalists' at their finest]

READ MORE

Republicans Crusading 'Against Very Idea of Americans Making Good Wages'

.
Granted, the Countdown host was on hiatus. But even if Olby had been around, he would have been hard-pressed to outdo Maddow for sheer silliness.

The preposterous proposition Rachel propounded?

"frankly they are seizing the ideological opportunity to crusade against the unions, and against the very idea of Americans making good wages at their jobs."

That's how Maddow in part explained the decision of Senate Republicans to oppose the Big Three bailout.

View video here.

READ MORE

Jindal: Medicaid program on skids

BATON ROUGE -- Arguing that "doing nothing is not an option, " Gov. Bobby Jindal on Friday proposed restructuring Louisiana's health-care program for the poor into a private insurance model that relies on managed-care principles to control costs and improve health outcomes.

"Our health-care system today is not working to help the very people it's designed to serve, " Jindal said at a late-afternoon press briefing to announce the Louisiana Health First initiative.

Jindal said change is needed because the state's Medicaid program, which serves more than 1 million poor, elderly and disabled Louisianians, is on an unsustainable financial path.

Whereas the program consumed about 8.5 percent of the general fund budget in 2006, it is projected to take up 21 percent by 2011, the governor said...

[finally, sanity. But will anyone listen?]

READ MORE

Another Barack in the Wall

Usually, children's books do not scare me. But I just read a children's book entitled "Barack" by Jonah Winter, with illustrations by AG Ford, published on September 30, 2008 by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. "Barack's" dust jacket states that it is for children ages 4-7. This book scared me very much.

I am scared because of what this book will do to my daughter and other children who read it. My little girl is six and a half years of age. I will not allow her to read this book or have it read to her without my being able to explain to her what was omitted from the book. I will be checking with her school teachers for the next five years or so to make sure that she is not exposed to this book without the material that was omitted. To do otherwise would allow my child to become a victim of political deception.

The entertainment value of "Barack" through an inspirational and abbreviated account of Barack Obama's life leading up to the Presidential election cannot justify the false impression it conveys. "Barack" will create another battle for parents to fight against a culture that teaches their children so much that is wrong...

[MUST READ for parents, then > contact the publisher of "Barack" at harpercollinschildrens.com.]

READ MORE

Chicago Schools Administrator: Homosexual High School Is 'Necessary'

Washington – A proposed homosexual-friendly Chicago public high school is ''necessary'' for the well-being of students, a Chicago Public Schools administrator told CNSNews.com Wednesday. Joyce Brown, who is in charge of the public school district’s high school counselors, said the ''Social Justice High School – Pride Campus'' is necessary because ''the issue (of homosexuality) is out there.''(snip) The proposed school would offer taxpayer-funded support for homosexual and lesbian students.

[where's 'don't ask, don't tell' when it's appropriate?]

READ MORE

MSNBC Rewrites History of Great Depression, Reinforces Liberal Creation Myth

... For example, her claim that Hoover "cut" spending. By this, Maddow must mean Hoover did not increase federal spending at a rate preferred by liberals, who have resorted to this rhetorical sleight of hand for decades.

But as conservatives and Republicans are well aware, Hoover did the opposite -- he increased spending, and not by a little.

He sought to provide jobs through public works; more was spent for this purpose in his administration than in the preceding thirty-six years, including the building of the Panama Canal.

Surely Maddow has heard of at least one of these projects, which bears the name of the man instrumental in initiating it -- the Hoover Dam -- the largest public-works behemoth of the era. Other public projects begun by Hoover include the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the Los Angeles Aqueduct...

READ MORE

Women at the top of business outearn men

A Carnegie Mellon University study has concluded that women executives out-earn their male counterparts.The study, which examined 16,000 executives over 14 years, found that women at the top of the business world bring in a bit more than men and are promoted at the same rate, countering the popular notion that women earn less than men for the same work.

"That common perception is not borne out by this study,"

READ MORE

Is California too unwieldy to govern?

California

California government is arguably more dysfunctional now than it was when Davis, a Democrat, got the boot. The budget deficit has grown so huge that a shutdown of government services looms. Partisan gridlock grips the Legislature, and lawmakers bicker as the state plunges into crisis. The state's latest collision course with insolvency has renewed the question in the Capitol: Has California become ungovernable?

Some say this nation-state is so oversized, Balkanized and polarized that it is destined for dysfunction no matter who is in charge. They cite its influx of immigrants, its constant tensions over water supply and its large, self-contained regions that bear little resemblance to one another.

It has been suggested that the state should break into multiple, more manageable pieces. More than two dozen attempts at that have been tried over the years, the latest by a Northern California lawmaker in the early 1990s.

"There is no center," Perata said. "I'm not talking about political center. There is no action center, or moral center, or anything else left in Sacramento"

[personally I've long been for it, NorCal/SoCal at a minimum, probably 3 pieces would be even better: the more local government, the better it serves]

READ MORE

Zambia says thankyou

Government has paid tribute to the United States for its continued support to Zambia in various fields. It says the US is particularly helping Zambia in its efforts towards fighting poverty. Charge de Affairs at the Zambia Embassy in Washington, Newstead Zimba, says Zambia is grateful for the support.

READ MORE