Ed Whelan still Hot and Bothered about Gay Marriage?

Or is he? I am not sure. There may be some other principle at play.

A couple of Months ago, after US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife started up a Teabagging Outfit in D.C. called Liberty Central, I suggested that Judge Thomas may have to disqualify himself from cases where interpretation of our Blessed US Constitution was at issue.

This was so, I posited, because Tea Party Outfits have some pretty wild views on the Constitution. For example, various Tea Party Groups have called for the repeal of the 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th amendments. Certainly, involvement by a spouse of a Supreme Court Justice in a group that has shown so much overt hostility to the Blessed Constitution should cause concern to Judge Thomas and to members of the Court in general.

I wrote then:

This participation in the tea party movement may pose a conflict of interest for the Judge or an appearance of a conflict at minimum. I’d hate for We the People to lose confidence in the High Court should Judge Thomas be the deciding vote on any case with thorny constitutional issues. The reputation of the High Court should come first. Now that I think about it, Judge Thomas should probably sit out all cases that contain Constitutional issues from now on. It would be best for all.

Judge Thomas, who may read this blog, apparently was persuaded by this argument and agreed at least in part as his Wife recently resigned from the Tea Party Group in question. Yet to be answered is whether or not Judge Thomas will disqualify himself from cases in the future which involve the constitution.

I may have an ally in my call for Judge Thomas to disqualify due to this conflict of interest. And it is Big Ed Whelan, Legal Expert at the NRO.

Powerline Blog Reports:

Whelan argues, however, the Judge Reinhardt is obligated to disqualify himself from the panel. He points out that Reinhardt's wife, Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, reportedly consulted with the plaintiffs' lawyers about the decision to bring the case at hand.

The Code of Conduct for United States Judges requires that a judge "disqualify himself ... in a proceeding in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned." How, Whelan asks, is it possible that Reinhardt's impartiality in this case couldn't reasonably be questioned when his wife took part in confidential discussions with plaintiffs' lawyers over whether they should pursue the case?

YES!

Big Ed notices a connection between the wife of an appellate Judge and the ruling on Prop 8 (striking down a same sex marriage ban) and calls it like he sees it. This is just how I see it with the connection between the wife of Judge Thomas, her Tea Party Group and our Blessed Constitution.

It looks like Big Ed is sure to be on Board with my suggestion that Judge Thomas should sit out or at least consider sitting out any case involving the Constitution.

Good to have you aboard, Ed.

A spectre is haunting America - the spectre of EARMARXISM!

All the Powers of New D.C. have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre.

Yet they have been defeated in the Senate:

For those fiscal conservatives outraged at Republican spending on pet projects, they need look no further than this Roll Call vote to find out how to direct their ire. The pro-earmark Republicans were: Robert Bennett of Utah, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Richard Lugar of Indiana, and George Voinovich of Ohio.

Two of them, Voinovich and Bennett, are enjoying their final weeks as a U.S. Senator. Six of the eight--Cochran, Collins, Murkowski, Shelby, Voinovich, Bennett--are members of the Committee on Appropriations, which is in charge of handing out the earmarks. Two other Republican members of the Appropriations committee, Kit Bond of Missouri and Sam Brownback of Kansas, did not make the vote.

The Betrayal of the Tea Party has begun. It is time to sharpen the Guillotine.

Dispatches from Dixie, err, I mean REAL AMERICA

Yes there is such a thing as a Gun Sales Tax Holiday

More guns are sold in South Carolina in the weekend after Thanksgiving than at any other time of the year, according to Anderson retailers.

That is because, they said, of the state's Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday, which allows stores to waive the 6 percent state sales tax on many firearms.

The holiday, which marked its third year, has led many potential gun buyers to pull the trigger, said John Phillips, president of Grady's Great Outdoors in Anderson.

Phillips said he's sold hundreds of guns Friday and Saturday, just as the store has for the two previous Second Amendment Sales Tax Holidays.

"It definitely makes a huge difference in our firearms sales," he said. "I hope the legislature and the governor extends the holiday."

The two-day holiday started Friday at 12:01 a.m. and ended right after 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

[…]

South Carolina Budget and Control Board members have estimated that forgoing sales taxes on guns for 48 hours costs the state about $311,000 each year.

Now here’s a whole new meaning to the Term “Black Friday.”

This seems to be an odd way to spend $311,000 out of your state budget. But I guess they could always cut prenatal care for the needy.

Joe Scarborough is an ELITIST

Look at the Mean thing he said about Poor Sarah:

Republicans have a problem. The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public what they all complain about in private. Enough. It's time for the GOP to man up.

“Man up?” What's up with that?

Is it just me or is there more than just a whiff of Sexism to go along with Joe’s Elitism. Joe should apologize, but instead he continues the MEANERY:

Everybody knows that Palin is a busy woman. The former half-term governor of Alaska stays so busy these days that one wonders how this mother of five manages to juggle her new reality show, follow her eldest daughter’s dancing career and launch her latest frenetic book tour while still finding the time to insult a slew of revered presidents and first ladies.

You’ve got to admit hers is a breathtaking high-wire act.

What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a résumé as thin as Palin’s would flirt with a presidential run? It makes the political biography of Barack Obama look more like Winston Churchill’s, despite the fact that the 44th president breezed into the Oval Office as little more than a glorified state senator.

Palin is not a Witch, Joe. That was Christine O'Donnell who was concerned about evil Liberal Scientists Cloning Mice with fully functioning Human Brains. Not Sweet Sarah.

You should apologize. NOW!

Dispatches from the Wingnut-O-sphere: First they came for the……

First they came for this Hate Group and then they came for that Hate Group and by the time they got to my Hate Group, there was nobody left to speak for ME.

Via the NRO:

The Southern Poverty Law Center has made a thriving business of pretending to identify "hate groups," seeing vast, malicious conspiracies in pathetic clusters of anti-social losers living in their mothers' basements. But with the transvestites of the Klan an increasingly improbable stand-in for the SA [Editorial note: The Nazi-Era group referred to as the Brownshirts], the SPLC needed new enemies to keep the cash registers ringing. So, after the collapse of the Bush/Kennedy/McCain amnesty push in 2007, it joined with La Raza and other open-borders groups that wanted to effectively criminalize disagreement with their positions to find new "hate groups" among immigration skeptics, designating the Federation for American Immigration Reform as a "hate group."

Mayflower Mark Kirkorian complaining about the SPLC decision to designate 13 Anti-Gay Groups as Hate Groups next Year.

First they came for the Nazis and the Klan and then the so-called “Restrictionists” followed by the Anti-LGBT Rights Groups. Who’s next Mayflower Mark wonders. I guess he’s wondering if his anti-immigration group will be listed soon.

But think about it.

It has got to be a drag realizing that the wingnut welfare outfit that you work for could be labeled a Hate Group at any moment because there is not much you can do about it. Remember, with wingnut welfare, one’s wages are NOT determined by market forces such as the law of supply and demand such as the quality of the Content Mayflower Mark produces, but rather by wealthy right wing patrons. Thus Wingnut Welare creates a cycle of dependency depriving the recipient of Free Will chaining him to the ideology of his Patron.

But did I miss a Memo about The Klan and the orientation of its members? It’s hard to keep up with these guys. The Wingnut Mythology can get pretty zany at times.

Crazification Factor Alert, II

Another Near Miss.

A new poll reveals that 28% of Americans believe that Congressional Republicans will do the right thing and act in the nation’s interest rather than in a petty partisan interest:

Now that Republicans have won control of the U.S. House of Representatives, more than seven in ten registered voters in the U.S. — 72% — think Republicans should work with Democrats and President Barack Obama to get things done while 25% say the GOP should stand firm on their positions even if things don’t get done. Three percent are unsure.

[…]

However, when it comes to what they think will happen, just 28% of voters think the Republicans in Congress will negotiate with the president and the Democrats. Instead, 64% of registered voters believe the Republicans will hold fast to their positions. Seven percent are unsure.

Of course 27% represents the number of any given population that is stark raving mad. And expecting the GOP to put the needs of the Country above defeating President Obama is crazy.

Crazification Factor Alert

It strikes again.

Check that this poll is not exactly 27%. It’s a near miss but within the Margin of Error.

A new poll reveals that 28% of Americans surveyed think that Sarah Palin could defeat President Obama in 2012.

What might be most troubling for Palin within those numbers is that less than half of Republicans think she's capable of beating Obama- 48% think she would be able to, 37% think she would not be able to, and 15% have no opinion. Republicans continue overwhelmingly to like Palin- 67% have a favorable opinion of her- but a pretty large number of them have serious electability concerns about her.

Reporting from Real America, I can tell you that though Side Show Sarah is popular in Real America, many Real Americans have moved on and come to the conclusion that Sarah is a few bricks short of a load.

Of course 27% represents the number of any given population that is stark raving mad. Which is exactly the percentage of Americans surveyed that believes Sarah Palin could become President in 2012.

Crazier things have happened however.

If you surveyed Americans 10 years ago and asked folks if they thought it would be possible for then President Elect Bush to:

(a) double the national debt on his watch,

(b) leave office with the nation mired in two wars,

(c) authorize the use of torture, and

(d) turn the 1 Trillion Dollar Projected Surplus he inherited into a Multi Trillion Dollar Structural Deficit when he left office,

I think you’d have a pretty low percentage as well. And maybe, just possibly, the percentage of those who'd thought it would be possible for President Elect Bush to accomplish all these feats would be as high as 27%. Possibly.

But it happened.

Life inside the Bubble

Quote of the Day

On the NR cruise, media bias was one of the most frequently invoked points, with the question often asked, "what can we do to stop the media bias and the lies? Why doesn't our side ever fight back?" The complaint was invoked so frequently that I worry conservatives have come to use media bias as an excuse for when their preferred candidates and advocates just don't get the job done and fail to win over persuadable voters.

Ah what to do about the liberal media conspiracy and its dark efforts to confuse the winguttariat. As everyone knows, the Liberal Media Conspiracy consist of 10s of thousands, nay, 100s of thousands of reporters, editors, journalists, talking heads and other lessor conspirators. Members of the Conspiracy all meet every Monday Morning at Joe’s Coffee shop on Main Street to establish a plan of the week to spread bias and lies in order to confuse the wingnuttariat. Perhaps a fairness doctrine is the answer,

Nix that. There is no Media Conspiracy to spread disinformation to the public other than your weekly staff meeting at Foxnews.

So I think the best advice to give to the confused wingnut would be to tell him that some sources of news are partisan and biased while other sources of news try to be objective.

If you obtain your news only from Partisan Outlets, the rest of the media will appear biased against the propaganda promoted by your preferred partisan news outlet. Operations like Foxnews are partisan news outlets in which the line between opinion and fact is blurred often beyond recognition. This makes it difficult for you to determine the difference between fact and opinion. The problem then, dear wingnut, is not that media bias is systematic, but rather lies with your perception of it due to your reliance on Partisan news sources.

To fight Media Bias, then, one must first leave the cocoon.

And yes, shelling out cash to go on a National Review Cruise and mingle among your favorite infotainers is the very definition of being inside a cocoon.

Feds Bag another Tea Party Patriot

Its a disturbing but all too familiar pattern. A Sovereign Citizen and Tea Party member takes the law in his own hands and ends up in Jail. Its a sad tale, but its not unsurprising given the tenor of many of the Tea Party protests held during the last 18 months.

This time the Tea Party Patriot in question is 40-year-old James Schmidlin of Cleveland, TN. Reports indicate that Schmidlin holds a master's degree in divinity and that he once worked with Church of God World Missions. How's that for family values?

Anyway according to the Feds, the Patriotic Schmidlin is alleged to have taken part in coordinated telephone attacks against members of Congress during the Health Care debate, placing more than 150 calls to congressional offices from his cell phone alone. According to the Federal indictment, Schmidlin "willfully" threatened to [paywall]:

"unlawfully damage and destroy a building by means of fire; to wit the house of United States Congressman John Boccieri."

Fortunately the FBI apprehended Schmidlin before he took his threats to the next level. Put aside the irony of a self described "man of God" (and an apparent Teabagger as we soon shall see) taking the law into his own hands and threatening to burn down a congressman's house. Any kook could have made a threat like this.

However, we know that by what happened during his arrest, Schmidlin isn't just a kook but also a Teabagger -a hardcore teabagging man of god to be precise.

Prosecutors also say in court records that evidence also includes a blog -- laced with numerous misspellings -- that Schmidlin posted on the website of the New Patriot Journal.

[...]

Records show that when agents attempted to interview Schmidlin last spring he handed them a laminated "sovereign citizen" card and said the government would have to prove that he had the means to carry out the threat.

At Schmidlin's court appearance in Chattanooga following his arrest, the defense attorney and two church representatives vouched for his good reputation and said he is very active in the Church of God.

Sovereignty, Baby! Schmidlin is a Joe Miller style Teabagger. He even had a laminated card declaring himself a Sovereign Citizen. Plus he can't spell and is a Church Official. Nothing says Tea Party more than this toxic combination.

For those of you unfamiliar with our Sovereign Citizen friends, they believe that the government does not have the authority under the Constitution to pass a wide variety of laws from Traffic ordinances mandating "Stop Signs" to the Income Tax and most of everything in between.

Now it is easy to have a laugh at the expense of our Sovereign friend while imagining him trying to explain why the government lacked the authority to arrest him as FBI agents hauled him off to the big house. Easy indeed. Mr. Schmidlin is gonna be getting crash course in governmental sovereignty pretty soon, after all.

However, I can't help feeling a little sorry for him. Would he be in trouble he's in now had he not been infected by the hate and conspiracy churned out daily by the right wing noise machine? He'd have to be much better off, I'd think.

After all, it looks like in his effort to stop imaginary socialized medicine from never not happening by issuing terroristic threats to Congressmen, that now he'll get to experience some real government run health care first hand - in prison.

Yes he'd have been much better off without the right wing noise machine.

Poor Dumb Bastard. Enjoy the Government Health Care.

The John Stossel Thanksgiving Story:

Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and then got duped by Hucksters, Cheats and Scam Artists.

In today's episode poor John falls for the Old Marxian Time Travel Thanksgiving Hoax:

Had today's political class been in power in 1623, tomorrow's holiday would have been called "Starvation Day" instead of Thanksgiving. Of course, most of us wouldn't be alive to celebrate it.

Every year around this time, schoolchildren are taught about that wonderful day when Pilgrims and Native Americans shared the fruits of the harvest. But the first Thanksgiving in 1623 [editorial note: actually it occurred in 1621 but this would screw up John's story] almost didn't happen.

Long before the failure of modern socialism, the earliest European settlers gave us a dramatic demonstration of the fatal flaws of collectivism. Unfortunately, few Americans today know it.

Because it did not happen. What has happened is that Mr Stossel has been duped. He has fallen for an internet hoax. He continues:

The Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony organized their farm economy along communal lines. The goal was to share the work and produce equally.

That's why they nearly all starved.

Fortunately they were all saved by Private Property and Free Market Loving Native Americans who showed them the error of their Marxian ways.

Karl Marx, of course, had yet to be born when the Pilgrims celebrated the first of what we now call Thanksgiving, nor is there any evidence that the Pilgrims had an Advance copy of Das Capital when they arrived at Plymouth. But some things don't matter when you have a hackish point to make do they?

Poor John used to fancy himself a fighter against the Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists. Now he only carries water for them.

Give Me A Break John

Stupid.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and be sure not to fall for the old Marxian Time Travel Thanksgiving Hoax.

Sarah Palin Calls for Solidarity with NORTH Korea

As Border tension mount between North and South Korea, Sarah make the Call:

We must stand with our North Korean Allies - we are bound to them by treaties:

[Audio]

Statistically there is about a 50% chance of picking the wrong side to support here. All I'm saying is that no one is perfect and we all make mistakes. Never mind that one country is a brutal Communist Regime and the other is an ally and home to thousands of American Troops.

In baseball if you get a hit 50% of the time that's pretty damn good. Maybe we should cut Sarah some slack?

Actually I was thinking about writing a post this morning featuring a scene with Sarah and other Republican publicly and vocally supporting the Regime in North Korea after President Obama declared his support for South Korea. You know, to oppose the President at all turns. But I was too busy.

Oh, well.

Aha - I KNEW IT ! ! !

It’s Official.

NRO Writer and Wingnut Welfare Recipient, Johan Goldberg, has just been named 7^th Biggest Hack in America.

The Reason:

Goldberg favorite rhetorical move is to pretend that he's making some grand, semi-controversial point, then back off when asked to defend it. He wrote an entire book called "Liberal Fascism," about how liberals are the real fascists, but constantly insists that the theme of his book was not "liberals are fascists."

[…]

While he is the National Review's second-dumbest contributor, he is that publication's finest example of how far a name -- unattached to anything resembling an intellect -- can take you in the parallel conservative press. If the name were also attached to an attractive woman, he'd probably have his own show by now. It'd be called "No, You Completely Misunderstood My Point, With Janice Goldberg," and he could end each hour by claiming he never actually said what he said at the top of the show.

Question – Why only 7^th and not a little higher?

I guess it must be the Elitist in me, but I find this very funny. Mean, sure and Elitist, too as I mentioned, but it is still Funny. Really Funny.

Via balloon-juice

He was born with a Silver Foot in his Mouth

Quote of Day:

"I think the majority of Americans don't want to put up with the blue bloods. And I say it with all due respect because I love the Bushes. The blue bloods who want to pick and choose their winners instead of allowing competition to pick and choose the winners."

Sarah Palin attacking Barbara Bush’s wish for Sarah to stay the hell out of the Lower 48 states.

I supposed both are reasonable suggestions.

We could do with fewer blue bloods running the show. The 43^rd President comes to mind. And I think it would be better for all if Side Show Sarah stays in Alaska and leaves rest of us alone. Well, almost everyone. Folks in Alaska may disagree with that.

Can’t please everyone.

h/t Ann Richards

Radical Earmarxists to Descend on Washington

In this case, the Earmarxist in question is Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ):

Senate Republicans' ban on earmarks - money included in a bill by a lawmaker to benefit a home-state project or interest - was short-lived.

Only three days after GOP senators and senators-elect renounced earmarks, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Senate Republican, got himself a whopping $200 million to settle an Arizona Indian tribe's water rights claim against the government.

He's already stabbing the poor teahadists in the back.

I wonder what Kyl’s take of the 200 Million came out at? I sure he’ll say he didn’t get anything out of the Earmark, but he’s politician and they always LIE, so what can you say.

Senator Kyl is also the Senator threatening to block the Nuclear Weapons Treaty favored by the Defense Department, National Security experts of both parties, our European Allies and just about all thinking people who are concerned about Nuclear terrorism.

The treaty, however is disfavored by Al Qaeda, certain leaders within Iran, and various other terrorists groups. Sure Senator Kyl will say that he isn’t getting anything in return for blocking the Nuclear Weapons treaty, but he’s a politician and they all lie, don’t they? So what can you say?

Douche Bag.

Sessions Backs Down on Opposition to War Widows Bill?

Reports on the Internet have Senator Jeff Sessions reconsidering his opposition to the War Widows Bill before the Senate. He has reportedly stated that he does not currently intend to block the War Widows bill from receiving an up or down vote during this session of Congress.

A Maryville woman who is trying to bring her widowed Japanese daughter-in-law and infant grandson to the United States urged U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions today to stop holding up a bill that would allow her family to be reunited.

Robin Ferschke met with the Alabama Republican for about an hour in his office in Mobile and made a personal plea for him to let the legislation go forward.

"He said he does believe it should happen, that we need to make this right," Ferschke said. "He also said some of the wording is too open in this bill, and he's going to talk to his legislators and see what can be done."

Ferschke said the senator said he hopes to resolve the problems with the bill in December.

Unfortunately the Family will have to wait until December to see if Sessions lives up to his word or not.

Apparently he reads this Blog. That is good. The advice is Free

Still Not Dead YET – Miller Fights On

Third Times the Charm for Joe?

Having been first stabbed in the back first by the GOP and then stabbed in the back by the Feds (as always), Joe Miller has turned to the so-called State Courts of Alaska:

Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller followed through on a court order Monday and moved his lawsuit challenging the general election results to state court in Fairbanks from federal court in Anchorage.

Miller's 21-page lawsuit in Fairbanks Superior Court mostly mimics his earlier claims in federal court: that election officials improperly counted too many write-in votes for the apparent winner, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and failed to count legitimate votes for him.

But he added two new allegations. He said that in unnamed precincts, voters may have been allowed to take ballots even if they didn't have identification or weren't personally known to election officials. As evidence, he said, ballot rolls in some precincts failed to indicate whether the election official had asked for identification.

And he said that "in several precincts," handwriting samples indicate that the same person or a small group of people wrote in names on multiple ballots. He said that would be a violation of a requirement that a voter personally pen the name of a write-in candidate.

Good luck with that Joe. I think the State is gonna screw you just like the GOP and Feds screwed you. It’s looking like three strikes and you are out unless you take matters into your own hands.

Call out the Militia and end this madness.

Now this is low even for Jefferson Beauregard Sessions the Third

They say Politics is War by other means and for Sessions, if a War Widow and a Marine’s child are collateral damage, so be it.

Word of the internets has it that Senator Sessions (R-AL) is blocking a war widows’ bill from an up or down vote supposedly on immigration grounds. Titled the Marine Sergeant Michael H. Ferschke, Jr. Memorial Act, the bipartisan bill would solidify the immigration status of widows and the children of military personnel and in this case it would benefit a Marine killed in service to his country in Iraq.

The Ferschke’s met while Sgt Ferscke was stationed in Okinawa and separated when Sgt Ferschke was deployed to Iraq. Prior to Sgt Ferschke’s death, the couple planned to raise their son in Tennessee. Due to a technicality in immigration law when Sgt. Michael Ferschke Jr., was killed in Iraq on August 10, 2008, his wife Hotaru Ferschke and his son Mikey were forced to return to Japan after her visa expired. Mrs Ferschke is attempting to honor her husband’s wishes with the support of her in-laws by returning to Tennessee to raise their son. Their return, thanks to a Republican sponsored bill, had looked optimistic - that is until Session's latest shenanigan blocking certain passage.

With the clock ticking and the 111th Congress running out, Sgt Ferschke’s parents will Travel to Mobile to plead with Senator Sessions to allow the bill to move forward for an up or down vote which would allow their grandson to return home.

The Senator has not yet agreed to meet with Sgt Ferschke’s parents:

Mrs Ferschke, meanwhile, said she knows she's taking a risk by showing up at Sessions' office in Alabama. But, she said, it will be worth the risk if it brings her daughter-in-law and grandson home to Tennessee.

'I'll do whatever it takes,' she said. 'I promised my son, my daughter-in-law and my Mikey that I'm going to do it if it kills me. And it basically is.'

This is truly is a new low for Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. He states some vague concern about immigration but cannot tie this concern to the purpose of the Bill which is to aid Widows and Children in time of need. If there is some other reason than petty politics for holding up the bill, Jeff needs to either fess up or allow it to move forward.

Now that I think about it, the only thing I can remember Jeff doing during the 111^th Congress is taking a stand against Women, whether it be Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan or now Hotaru Ferschke.

What a piece of work.

UPDATE: Sessions Reconsidering Opposition

The back story - As stated by Republican Lawmakers:

Read more »

Now this is just plain MEAN, but really funny too, because I think its True

From Last Night's Simpsons

via Dish

A Right winger's Guide to the Global Warming Hoax

Yes it has to be hard being a Winger these days, this is especially so with the scientific consensus behind Anthropogenic Global Warming settled.

Everyone is against you. The arctic ice is melting without permission. Plants are growing farther north than they are supposed to be growing. The Scientists are tricksy and false (except the 3% of Climate Scientists who are undecided). Retired Generals and Admirals believe climate change will lead to national security challenges with some of those same folk committed to reducing the carbon footprint of the US Armed Forces. Mass Extinctions of species are occurring globally.

However it is all a ruse we are told. A vast Conspiracy or check that....., a GLOBAL Global Warming Conspiracy. For a conspiracy to exist, there have to be several shadowy groups involved. Who are these people and why are they dedicated to fooling Real Americans about the greatest hoax known to mankind.

Let's take a look at the players:

Climate Scientists. Well, Duh. Obviously, this group of liberals is on the list. Climate Science is dominated by 50 to 100 Uber-Scientists who are the only ones who really understand climate science. These Uber-scientists indoctrinate lesser Climate Scientists with a phony ideology, who then unknowingly indoctrinate the rest of us. Hat tip goes to Global Cooling Advocate Congressman Joe Barton on this discovery.

Corporate America: Ordinarily Giants such as General Electric, Alcoa, Duke Energy, DuPont, Dow Chemical, and Ford could be expected to be team players and not fall for the greatest hoax known to mankind. And yes while this is true in ordinary times, we are not living in ordinary times. End Times perhaps, but not ordinary times. No folks, part of Corporate America is in on the Global Global Warming Conspiracy due to Shareholder Activism from Tree Huggers and Labor Union Pension Fund Managers. These shadowy forces take over Corporate Boards of Directors and impose their will by corporate fiat.

Generals and Admirals. When these guys publish reports on various security threats that could arise due to climate change, you know what is going on, right? Funding. They want more money to buy cool stuff. That is all. It is really clever when you think about it.

Air Conditioner Sales Folk. Their motivation? They want people to buy more of their products, no?

Green Energy Companies. Just like the General and Admirals and the Air Conditioner Folks, they want in on the action, too, and are trying to con Congress into funding sustainable energy projects. These guys are opportunists who need to be called out. Maybe this is a job for Smokey Joe Barton at an upcoming congressional hearing.

Farmers. Farmers are inherently untrustworthy due to their dependence on government subsidies for their crops. They were one of the first groups to sell out to the Conspiracy no doubt with inducement from One-World Government Activists. Farmers aid the global conspiracy by growing certain crops further north than they should be growing them. Farmers are real Assholes and should never be trusted.

Bedouins. These Nomadic people claim environmental conditions are leading to a shrinking landscape suitable for their traditional way of life. But think about it. Isn’t it more likely that many Bedouins have been paid off by Liberal Scientists or One-World Government types to make this assertion? I’d trade a camel for a flat screen TV and an air conditioned Condo. Wouldn’t you?

One-World Government Activists. All good right wingers know that Global Warming Legislation is just one step toward global socialism and blue-helmeted United Nations Troops Stationed along the Border. First come the bicycle sharing programs and then the UN guards stationed in front of every home. These One-World Government activists team with liberal scientists (see below) to promote this objective. [h/t Powerline Blog]

Liberal Scientists. Liberal Scientists research topics such as wild life habit and declining populations of certain species of fauna. Not surprisingly these Scientists jump to the conclusion that animals such as Lizards are declining worldwide at alarming rates due to increased averaged global temperatures. These egg headed Scientists never consider the possibility that these animals are merely hiding from them because they, quite understandably, may not like liberal scientists.

Ice related Researchers. Any Scientist who Studies Ice is automatically suspect. Take Ice Patch Archaeology for example. These Researchers study melting glaciers and ice fields which they claim are melting at an unprecedented rate, to discover artifacts that are being released from the ice that has held them for thousands of years. Now if they would just admit that they really don't know why the ice is melting and that the various Ice Sheets could return at any time, perhaps tomorrow, they could be taken off the list but they don’t for obvious reasons.

Polar Bears. Obviously they are Ice-Related, See Above. For Visual Evidence, See Below.

Two Climate Activists on Ice Flow.

Though you cannot see it, I have it on good authority that one of these Activists is concealing a Blow Torch. That Bastard.

Obviously there are more to be added to the list. But now you know some of the players behind the greatest Hoax known to Mankind!

Global Global Warming Conspiracy Grows Ever Move Globally

Now all good right wingers know that Global Warming is a Hoax, right? Damn Right! As a matter of fact it is the greatest Hoax known to Mankind. Period.

More over this Global Conspiracy involves thousands of Scientists, World Leaders and Organizations throughout the globe all distributing Patronage and Propaganda. They are all working together, from the lowliest bureaucrats and scientists, to the highest governmental leaders. And they are all keeping this “secret” under wraps from the public. It is Corruption. It is Conspiracy and it is Dark. Only the wingers can see through the darkness to the truth.

However, as the so-called evidence behind Anthropogenic Global Warming grows every day, it has got to be difficult for a Winger to keep track of all the dark and shadowy forces behind the Global Global Warming Conspiracy. More groups join this Global Conspiracy every day.

The Latest Group I’ve uncovered is the United States Climate Action Partnership. USCAP is a group of businesses and leading environmental organizations that have come together to call on the federal government to quickly enact strong national legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. This is how one former congressman describes them:

This [i]s no collection of mom-and-pop shops operated by “tree huggers” sympathetic to any environmental cause but, rather, a step by hard-nosed, profit-driven capitalists. General Electric, Alcoa, Duke Energy, DuPont, Dow Chemical, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler signed on. USCAP, persuaded by scientific facts, called on the president and Congress to act, saying “in our view, the climate change challenge will create more economic opportunities than risks for the U.S. economy.”

It may sound like a credible group, but is it? In other words have these Large market loving Corporations, some of ‘em multinational, been fooled into believing that Anthropogenic Global Warming is real instead of being a hoax?

Of course not.

The answer lies in Shareholder Activism. What the Congressman is missing, I suspect, is that the Boards of Directors of these Corporations may have been taken over by “tree huggers,” Union Pension Fund Managers and others sympathetic to just about any environmental cause including Hoaxes like the Global Global Warming Conspiracy. Under ordinary circumstances these Giant Corporations wouldn’t want anything to do with AGW, but these are dark times as all Wingers know.

With that said it is time to add Corporate America to the list of those in on the Global Global Warming Conspiracy.

What Scopes Trial Conservatism Looks Like

Example:

Watching the raft of newly elected GOP lawmakers converge on Washington, I couldn't help thinking about an issue I hope our party will better address. I call on my fellow Republicans to open their minds to rethinking what has largely become our party's line:

denying that climate change and global warming are occurring and that they are largely due to human activities.

National Journal reported last month that 19 of the 20 serious GOP Senate challengers declared that the science of climate change is either inconclusive or flat-out wrong. Many newly elected Republican House members take that position. It is a stance that defies the findings of our country's National Academy of Sciences, national scientific academies from around the world and 97 percent of the world's climate scientists.

Why do so many Republican senators and representatives think they are right and the world's top scientific academies and scientists are wrong?

Former Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY)

This is a Question for some pointy headed College Professor with years of book learning and fancy degrees to tell us. But I'll take a shot:

It could be that the GOP has run off the rails as a professional political party. It could also be that the GOP has spent a generation preaching idolatry of Free Market Fundamentalism to the masses for short term political gain. It could be that the unwashed masses have bought the sales pitch and now believe in the bullshit.

It could be all the above.

Your Friends are real winners, Congressman.

I told you so, Joe

Hey, Joe, your name ain't Bush, why the hell did you ever think this would work:

A federal judge in Alaska declined on Friday to rule on Senate candidate Joe Miller’s lawsuit over how the state counted ballots in his race against fellow Republican Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Scott McAdams, saying the matter should be resolved by a state court.

The judge delayed the state’s plans to certify the election as long as Mr. Miller sues in a state court by Monday.

[...]

Mr. Miller early this month sued the state over its plans to count misspellings of Ms. Murkowski’s name in her favor. State law says a candidate’s full or last name should be written on the write-in line in order for a ballot to count. Mr. Miller argues that this means misspellings shouldn’t count, while the state says it’s important to consider “voter intent” in tallying ballots so as not to disenfranchise any voters.

“This is a State-wide election, conducted under State law, involving State candidates and impacting State citizens,” Judge Ralph R. Beistline wrote in his order. “The Courts of the State of Alaska are in the best position, at least initially, to apply Alaska law and to determine who won this election.”

I've been warning Joe Miller for weeks now not to trust the Feds.

But he didn't taking my advice - so I guess he gets to learn the hard way now. The Feds ain't gonna lift a finger to help out a Patriotic Bagger like Miller. I guess you can never find, an activist Judge when you need one.

Poor Dumb Bastard.

David Frum is Mean-Spirited and Really MEAN, too

Oh, the MEANERY!

I’ve now had a chance to read quite a lot of Sarah Palin’s new book, and I must say: I’m quite enjoying it. It’s like a huge irony fiesta, a huge display of non-self-knowledge. For example, on p. 111, Palin approvingly quotes a paragraph from a letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams. It has no footnote, so I don’t know if the quote is accurate, but still – listen:

“It should be your care, therefore, and mine to elevate the mind of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue.”

Yes, truly, if there is anything I associate with Palin more than excellence in every capacity and faculty – more even than her contempt of meanness and abhorrence of injustice – it is her commitment to industry and plain hard work.

You are left to wonder: are Palin’s ghostwriters making fun of her?

Rimshot.

No wonder he got kicked out of the GOP.

Boehner a Crybaby, really?

Quote of the Day II

"You know what? He is known to cry. He cries sometimes when we’re having a debate on bills. If I cry, it’s about the personal loss of a friend or something like that. But when it comes to politics — no, I don’t cry. I would never think of crying about any loss of an office, because that’s always a possibility, and if you’re professional, then you deal with it professionally,"

Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)

Who knew? They don't make 'em like they used to, I guess.