Happy New Year

Enjoy - but but not too much. I'll be back next year.

Not all Folks is Born Stupid - Some Choose to be though and its a Cryin' Shame

It's Winter Time so its Global Warming Denial Time Again in the Wingnut-O-Sphere. The miserable sons of bitches don't do it in the Summertime. Instead they wait until this time of year to beat the grand drum of a vast GLOBAL global warming conspiracy taken a hold of the land.

Let's check in on today's disinformation and denial:

What's funny about this is that during the 1970s global cooling scare, environmental activists--in some cases, the same people who are now global warming alarmists--insisted that governments (ours, in particular) should paint the ice caps black in order to absorb more of the sun's radiation and thereby warm the Earth. At that time, activists thought it outrageous that politicians were too timid to take such an obvious step to save the planet. In both cases, what mostly seems to be involved is the will to power: "I think you should regulate," Chu says, which is really the whole point.

John Hindraker via Powerline Blog spreading the 1970s Global Cooling Myth

You notice what is going on here?

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How Da Game is Played

Old school style.

When word on the Internets leaks out that President Obama Praised the Owner of the Phillidelpha Eagles for giving a Michael Vick a second chance to play quarterback in the NFL after being released from Prison, what's a hardcore winger to do?

Simple. If you are Tucker Carlson, you prove your wingnut street cred by calling for the execution of Vick:

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Govmint keeps on Sticking it to Patriotic Teabaggers

This time it is Sweet Christine O'Donnell:

Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation of Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell to determine if the former Senate candidate broke the law by using campaign money to pay personal expenses, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to protect the identity of a client who has been questioned as part of the probe. The case, which has been assigned to two federal prosecutors and two FBI agents in Delaware, has not been brought before a grand jury.

Another Teabagger soon to be off the streets? It is too early to tell but I guess we know another reason she didn't spend all her campaing cash - to Pay Attorney's Fees.

You know what else that means - we can keep making jokes at her expense.

Like this:

UPDATE: According to Sweet Christine, its Biden's Fault:

So given that the King of the Delaware Political Establishment just so happens to be the Vice President of the most liberal Presidential administration in U.S. history, it is no surprise that misuse and abuse of the FBI would not be off the table. And further connecting the dots, do you think it is just a coincidence that Melanie Sloan was a senior Biden staffer just before she joined CREW and filed her complaint against me?!

"I have faith that our supporters and the general public will see right through these thug tactics. This is simply an Establishment trick to stop the anti-establishment Tea Party movement in its tracks. Heck, the Presidency is at stake in 2012."

A Conspiracy to take down the crazy lady? I don't think so. It is usually best to let the crazy lady discredit herself.

At least she didn't call it a "Witch Hunt."

The Airing of Grievances

Reports indicate that House Republicans are full of that Festivus Spirit:

In the nearly two months since the November midterms, the conventional wisdom has centered on the idea that President Obama’s agenda will be largely protected from an influx of Republicans by the Senate’s arcane rules and his own veto pen. With 47 members in the 112th Congress, the GOP will lack a majority, let alone a supermajority, to pass the legislation they’d need to pass to undo Obama’s accomplishments and blunt his progress — as if he’d sign those bills anyway.

But Republicans are all too aware of this conundrum, and have been looking for ways around it. What they found is an obscure authority provided by a 1996 law called the Congressional Review Act. It provides Congress with an expedited process by which to evaluate executive branch regulations, and then give the President a chance to agree or disagree.

House Republicans will have carte blanche next year, and will be able to pass as many of these “resolutions of disapproval” as they want. The key is that a small minority in the Senate can force votes on them as well, and they require only simple-majority support to pass. If they can find four conservative Democrats to vote with them on these resolutions, they can force Obama to serially veto politically potent measures to block unpopular regulations, and create a chilling effect on the federal agencies charged with writing them.

“I think that’s one of many tactics that will be used,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told me in an interview on the last day of the 111th Congress.

Yep. Its the airing of Grievances time for the GOP. Who knew so many of them celebrated Festivus. Thank God they live in a country where they won't be persecuted for the beliefs.

Holiday Season Light Posting In Progress

This the reason for the season.

With Hanukkah, Sol Invictus, Festivus, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year celebrations going on, I have not had much keyboard / computer time. If I left the holiday you celebrate off the list, I apologize. It was inadvertent.

I anticipate the things will be back to normal week and sporadic until then.

The Strange Lies of Sarah Palin - Refudiate it

She wasn't asking Peaceful Muslims to "Refudiate" themselves. It was just a typo - "Refudiate" that is:

While in the car, Sarah also talked to Todd about the time she tweeted the word "refudiate." "I pressed an F instead of a P and people freaked out," said Sarah, pointing out that her blunder was the second-most-searched word on Google trends. "Make lemonade out of lemons," said Sarah.

The Problem is that she made this very same typo before, but VERBALLY:

[video @ 2:36]

Hey Sarah, its OK to say you just F'd up. You don't have to go making up tall tales. Nobody is gonna confuse you with one of them egg headed rocket scientists. And what red-blooded American would want to be mistaken for one of them egg heads anyway.

My advice: Just go with it.

After all, if it feels good, why not do it? And this way you get to make up more shit.

More Mean Spiritedness - Beating Up Libertarians

Libertarianism, either ancient or modern, founders on its ability to deal with families or foreigners. Libertarian solutions are often the right answer to many economic and social questions but the philosophy has proven again and again it cannot deal with tyrants, teenagers or two-year olds. What is the libertarian approach to broken homes, and to attaching children to their fathers in general? To the education of children to promote a libertarian society? How do libertarians deal with bad actors abroad? Apparently by letting them have their way until they attack the United States directly, and not even then, (as we see by libertarian opposition to the Afghan war). Modern wars have sometimes required a draft. Libertarians balk at this. Thus libertarian government always stands vulnerable to foreign conquest and the loss of rights and autonomy that entails.

Libertarianism appears to be like arsenic, a stimulant in small doses but deadly poison when taken in large doses. For this reason, as a broad based political movement, libertarianism will always end up rolling Mr. Beam’s twelve-sided die in its mom’s basement because it fails when the family or the state are under threat

Via the ex-communicated Heretics at FrumForum

I like the part about living in the parents basement. Wasn't a condition of being granted bail for his phone tampering scheme that James O'Keefe be remanded to his parent's basement?

Dispatches from the Rebellion

Looking back 150 years

On this day in 1860, The NYTimes reprints an article from the London Times calling out South Carolina and its disingenuine outrage over the election of Abraham Lincoln and its general skullduggery:

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Epilogue- X-Mas

Jeff Buckley left this world too early, mayhaps at his own accord. Nevertheless he left too early. But he left behind haunting tracts:

Or this:

Merry Christmas

This Fella' left the earth much too early.

Dispatches from the Rebellion

Looking Back 150 years ago.

On this day in 1860, the Richmond Times Dispatch published the declaration of causes which justifies the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union. Having voted to secede from the Union one week earlier, the delegation making up the South Carolina Secession Convention graciously took the time to publish a list of reasons justify their action.

Guess what? They tell us that the reason the convention voted to secede from the Union was Slavery.

Hardly surprising. But this is important because we can travel back in time and read the words of those involved with the decision to secede from the Union and hear their reasons directly.

And the conclusion is pretty clear. The South Carolina Secession Convention voted to withdraw from the Union over the issue of Slavery.

At this point in time, only South Carolina has voted for secession. It is not yet certain that other states, other than those from the cotton belt, will follow her.

Dispatches from the wingnut-O-sphere - Year End Predictions

Obamacare figures to be a fount of gangster government if and when it is ever fully implemented. Over time it will render us all subjects of the administrative state.

Right Wing Blogger named Scott @ Powerline Blog 2010

Now that is scary.

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Mista Kurtz – he’s so Crazy - But he's on the Welfare so I Guess its Understandable

Stanely Kurtz, NRO Guy and Wingnut Welfare Recipient, is still trying to Explain away the Kurtz Fallacy:

But my main point is that American socialists changed their vision in the eighties. They took a new approach, this time running through community organizing rather than through direct nationalization. If some of America’s most die-hard socialists expanded their definition of socialism–or at least the pathway by which they hoped to achieve "classic" socialism over the long-term–Galupo ought to be willing to rethink his definition as well. The only way to decide is by reading what I call the "untold story" of post-sixties socialism in America.

Mista Kurtz’s Theory is basically this:

American Socialists are Tricky. As such, they don’t advocate or try to implement Socialism at home. That would be too obvious and everyone would know then. No, American Socialists are so tricky, that some of them don’t even know that they are in facts Socialists. That is how Tricky they are. To Understand Why American Socialists are actually Socialists, you need to read my book.

The Kurtz Fallacy is this then:

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Sarah Guns Down Rudolph?

What will we tell the children?

Lamestream Media Personality Conan O’Brien is Really MEAN!

[video]

This Video is an obvious FAKE. I think it may be a combination of two different videos spliced to together to make it appear as one video.

I know this because there is no way she hit Rudolph on her first shot. That is all that I'm saying.

UPDATE: Happy Festivus. I almost forgot that today's is Festivus.

I missed the Unconquerable Sun's Birthday on Monday, so thanks to John Cole for reminding me about Festivus.

North Korea and Iran’s Useful Idiots – The Boys from Powerline Blog

Stupid Post of the Day

It's from Powerline Blog Again, sigh.

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Guvmint Screws Over Joe Miller Yet Again

Just as I predicted:

The Alaska Supreme Court today ruled against Joe Miller on all counts, a decision that leaves his challenge of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s victory on life support.

“There are no remaining issues raised by Miller that prevent this election from being certified,” the Supreme Court declared in its 24-page ruling.

Murkowski leads Miller by more than 10,000 votes.

Miller’s last chance is in federal court. U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline is giving Miller 48 hours to argue that the federal courts should take up any remaining constitutional issues.

Joe needs to call out the Militia to stop all this madness. But I don't think Joe has the cojones to do it.

Loser.

Doing the Right Thing for a Change....

....or are the Current Republican Congressmen a little leery of the New Congressman about to start in January?

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Your Daily Dose of Stupid

From Powerline Blog

It's hard to keep up with the outrages perpetrated by the Obama administration, the lame duck Congress, and the Obamaite federal agencies. Our freedom is under assault on many fronts, but this one deserves special attention.

Since Congress declined to adopt the Orwellian "net neutrality" legislation, the FCC stepped into the breach. It's another example of the usurpation of constitutional government by the administrative state.

John Fund calls out the FCC in "The net neutrality coup," and David Harsyani proposes that we "Abolish the FCC." Michelle Malkin holds that net neutrality is the Obamacare of the Web. Senator DeMint is not amused.

What a Motely Crew this is. But Maybe our Powerline Blog writer is on to something.

Now that the FCC has taken over the internets, I call upon this Agency to immediately BAN Powerline Blog.

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"The War on Christmas Vacation" has been Joined!

The one way you don’t celebrate the Birth of Jesus, or the birthday of the Unconquered Sun or Santa Claus or whatever is to Ratify a Major Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty.

Everybody knows this, especially Senator Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina:

"It's clear with this treaty that [the administration is] trying to cram something down the throats of the American people under the cover of Christmas…. They're [the American People] not looking at politics right now, they're celebrating their holy Christmas holiday, and the fact that we're doing this under the cover of Christmas...is something to be outraged about."

Actually if one to were to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, an arms reduction treaty wouldn’t be a bad thing to do.

Note to Jim DeMint. In a representative democracy, the people elect representatives to conduct the nation’s business on their behalf. The people pay Jim DeMint and others a good salary with generous retirement and Health Care benefits to do this. The people expect their Congressional Representatives to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, even around Christmas Vacation.

Happy Sol Invictus, (the Roman Festival that was the precursor to today’s celebration of Christmas) everyone!

But She Can See Russia from her House!

These Folks favor The Nuclear Weapons Reduction Treaty with the Russians:

This one doesn't. Who do you think Congressional Republicans are going to follow?

From a Democratic Party Press Release:

“The individuals in the first group have over a century of foreign policy experience between them,” the statement continues, “and have worked closely on U.S.-Russia relations for decades. On the other hand, Palin can see Russia from her house. Apparently, that’s good enough for many Senate Republicans.”

Why are people so MEAN to poor Sarah?

[h/t] The Corner

Fact Check Alert

The Weekly Standard takes an unfair shot at Senator Chuck Schumer

Chuck Schumer, not content with the liberal trope that conservatives want to 'turn the clock back' to the 1950s, says that some "hard right people" in America "seem to be wanting to move us back to the 19th century."

Actually Grover Norquist has said that he wants to take us back there:

Question: You are known for saying that you want government to be “the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” Can you elaborate on this?

[Norquist]: I want to drop the government in half over the next 25 years, and then drop it in half again. The government’s about 33 percent of GDP, 33 percent of the economy. We want to take it down to 16 and a half percent, then take it down to eight percent, all of which would take us to where we were at the turn of the century.

Looks like Schumer is right on target to me. If you don't believe me, just ask Grover. He'll tell you himself.

Score one for Chuck.

Life Inside the Bubble – The Liberals Killed Jesus?

I seem to remember some other group getting the blame for this. But now we are informed that it was a “liberal court” that done him in:

For three years He was unemployed, and never collected an unemployment check. Nevertheless, he completed all the work He needed to get done. He didn’t travel by private jet. He walked and sailed, and sometimes traveled on a donkey.

But they made Him walk when He was arrested and taken to jail, and no, He was not read any Miranda Rights. He was arrested for just being who He was and doing nothing wrong. And when they tried Him in court, He never said a mumbling word.

He didn’t have a lawyer, nor did He care about who judged Him.

His judge was a higher power.

The liberal court found Him guilty of false offences and sentenced Him to death, all because He changed the hearts and minds of men with an army of 12.

His death reset the clock of time.

Never before and not since has there ever been such a perfect conservative.

Via RedState contributor and Infotainer Herman Cain

Personally I suspect it was one of those damned Judicial Activists that did it, but what can you say?

Now, unlike Mr. Cain, I can’t speak for Jesus, but I am pretty sure the Sermon on the Mount never addressed the immorality of the double taxation of dividends, or the DEATH Tax, or of making affordable insurance available for the working poor. It may be in the Bible somewhere (perhaps in the back of the book), but I haven’t found it.

I am filing this post under Cultural Anthropology because I can't really add anything else.

Herman Cain, by the way, currently enjoys a narrow lead over Sarah Palin in the latest RedState Presidential Poll. Make sure you go vote for you favorite.

Dispatches from the Rebellion

Looking back 150 years.

General David F. Jamison, President of the South Carolina Secession Convention gave this speech before the South Carolina Secession Convention providing the rationale behind Secession:

I trust that the door now is forever closed from any further connection with our Northern Confederacy. What guarantees can they offer us more binding, more solemn, and with a higher sanction, than the present written compact between us? Has that sacred instrument protected us from the jealousy and aggressions of the Northern people, which commenced forty years ago, and which ended in the Missouri Compromise? Has it protected us from the cupidity and avarice of the Northern people, who, for 35 years, have imposed upon us the burden of sustaining this government, chiefly upon the South? Has it saved us from Abolition petitions, intended to annoy and insult us on the very floors of Congress? Has that instrument enabled us to acquire one foot of the territory of Mexico, where the South furnished three-fourths of the men and four-fifths of their graves? Has it thrown any obstacle around us to the conversion of California into a free-soil State, without any previous territorial existence, without any defined boundaries? Did it throw any protection around the Southern settlers of Kansas, when the soil of that Territory was invaded by emigrants, armed in a crusade against the South by the Northern people; when even their women contributed Colt's revolvers to put down the slaveholder? Has not that instrument been trodden under their very feet by every Northern State by placing on their books statutes nullifying the laws for the recovery of fugitive slaves?

Reprinted in the Richmond Dispatch the morning of December 20, 1860.

Summing this speech up we find these five reasons for secession.

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Is Foxnews a Defective Product?

I Report - You Decide.

A new study is out which concludes that people who watch Foxnews Daily are (statistically) significantly less informed than those who get their news from other sources. The study also concluded that amongst Foxnews viewers those who watch Foxnews Daily are significantly less informed than those viewers who watch Foxnews two to three times a week.

Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that:

most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely)

most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points)

the economy is getting worse (26 points)

most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points)

the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points)

their own income taxes have gone up (14 points)

the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points)

when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points)

and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points)

In short, the more Foxnews you comsume, the dumber you get. We now have empirical proof that Foxnews makes its viewers dumber. Actually, I think its designed to work this way.

Think about this.

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House Tea Bag Caucus Chair Appointed to "Intelligence" Committee

Rep. Michele Bachmann, one of the most outspoken conservatives in the House, has won an appointment to the secretive House Intelligence Committee.

The move by incoming Speaker John Boehner to put Bachmann on the panel surprised Republican insiders, who see her as a fiery grass-roots leader of the tea party movement but not necessarily a leader on national security among House Republicans.

more

Hey Teabaggers, do you realize that this appointment is a cruel inside joke amongst Boehner and the rest of the D.C. fat cats. These insiders don't think Bachmann deserves the appointment. The Intelligence Commmittee is last place you'd expect someone like Bachmann to land. That's why they did it. It is a joke at your expense.

They are mocking you all. And they are doing it out in the open for all to see.

Bob Corker: Gays more scary than Nuclear Terrorism

I'm not quite sure why some people are afraid of Gay Folks, but apparently Senator Bob Corker is one of them.

Ol' Corky is so worked up about Gay folks and the vote to overturn the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy, that he's threatening to withhold support on the Nuclear Weapons reduction treaty.

Hey Bob, them Russian nukes in the hands of the terrorizers is far more of a Threat to the Nation gay folks. Time to Man up and get you priorities straight.

UPDATE: Now that DADT has been repealed will Ol' Corky blow up the Treaty?

Castles Made of Sand Fall into the Sea or the foolish Man who built his House upon the Sand

Anyone can be a critic, including me. Heck it can be a lot of fun. What’s not to like in criticizing the disgraced ex-speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich or other such ilk. Your run of the mill Teabagger can be especially fun to criticize and mock. But criticism only goes so far. Like assholes everyone has an opinion.

And that takes us to the Governor of Louisiana, one Bobby Jindal. Now you could refer to Mr. Jindal as an anchor baby, to use the vernacular found in right wing blogs to describe children born in the United States whose parents are not citizens. One could also point out that without the Civil Rights Reforms of the 1960s, Mr. Jindal’s parents would not have gained entry into the United States and that instead of Anchoring his family in Louisiana, Mr. Jindal would have been raised in India and not gone on to be the Conservative Governor of a Southern State. Despite these ironies, Mr. Jindal considers himself a conservative and to be quite comfortable within the GOP notwithstanding its hostility to immigration reform and other such subjects one does not discuss in polite society.

Now as far as opinions go, everyone has one including Mr. Jindal. And for Mr. Jindal as the governor of the state most affected by the gulf oil spill, this disaster presented the perfect forum to make his opinion known to the world. And boy did he:

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in a new book accuses the White House of caring more about President Barack Obama's image during the BP oil spill than fixing the problem itself.

The government led a "lackadaisical" response and the White House was guilty of "political posturing" over the spill, said Jindal, a conservative and the nation's first Indian-American governor. Jindal's name has come up as a possible candidate for the Republican party's presidential nomination in 2012.

The 256-page "Leadership and Crisis", which is part autobiography and part conservative manifesto, contains a long chapter on the spill with behind-the-scenes detail and singles out the federal government for criticism. "The White House seemed to focus on the wrong things. I felt like we needed to be on a wartime footing against the oil, and the president was wondering, why is everybody criticizing me," Jindal said.

Opinions. Everyone’s got one.

Jindal blames the President for focusing on the wrong things and having a lackadaisical attitude. Politically this made perfect sense for Governor Jindal. It puts him in the spot light fighting for the local folks against the bureaucracy back in DC. It gave him a chance to knock off the not ready for Prime Time image he earned after his dazed response to the State of the Union speech by not just offering opinions and criticism but by taking charge of the scene with a little common sense conservatism. And according to the Foxnews coverage, folks down in the Red States liked what they saw from Bobby Jindal.

So what does commonsense conservatism look like from a man of words and deeds:

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Life Inside the Bubble

A Contributor at RedState Blog warns the nation of a line in item in the Budget: a 400,000 dollar line item to repair a historical building.

To paraphrase the famous poem about the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere:

Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the midnight earmark for Paul Revere’s house,

On the fifteenth of December of one-zero;

Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that day when Tea Party Patriots could be hear yelling,

THE EARMARKERS ARE COMING!!! THE EARMARKERS ARE COMING!!! THE EARMARKERS ARE COMING!!!

And they are going to take all our money away.

Scary times my friends. But who wouldn't be afraid of a line item in the budget to repair Paul Revere's house? It scares me.

I have a suggestion for our friend. Instead of using the word "Earmarkers," next time use the far scarier term of Earmarxist. Earmarxists are far scarier than Earmarkers because of the, you know, marxism part.

Usually it is Bad form to pick on RedState contributors due to the Rule on Nutpicking, with the exception of Comrade Erickson and maybe one other, I generally refrain from such nutpickery. But this was funny.

Definitive Proof of Lamestream Media Bias

Look at these Poll Numbers:

Palin’s negative rating has climbed to 50%. That’s the highest negative rating for anyone measured in this poll (and it’s two points lower than Nancy Pelosi’s negative rating from last month). And get this: The only major subgroups that Palin wins in a head-to-head match-up with Obama are Republicans, conservatives, and FOX viewers. That’s it, folks. NBC/WSJ co-pollster Bill McInturff (R) says that this is “a sobering starting point” for Palin if she decides to run for president.

These numbers are totally unfair. Think about it. Sarah has not done anything yet. Sure she was the part time Governor of Alaska for a while. But that’s Alaska. It so far away it’s practically in Russia. I don’t think many Americans were paying attention to her during her abbreviated tenure as Governor. What's to hold against her?

Contrast Palin with Bush. George Bush left office with a 72% disapproval rate, but Bush actually did things. He was in office for 8 years through two mismanaged wars, a bungled Relief effort for Hurricane Katrina, while he authorized torture and was asleep at the switch when the economy collapsed. He earned that disapproval rate. President Obama has been President for 2 years through the worst economy since the Great Depression. There is a reason that he has a disapproval rate in the 40s. He’s doing things trying the clean up the mess.

But Sarah has not done anything other than to come up with good ways to Tax Oil Companies and spread that wealth to the people of Alaska. I doubt that anyone is mad at her for doing this. So that leaves the larger question of why her disapproval rate is so high? It is not like she ordered the invasion of the wrong country or anything.

I can’t think of any other reason than Lamestream Media Bias and Elitism of course.

Consider this definitive proof that the Media is Biased and Mean and Unfair and also Elitist.

Facts? We don’t need no stinkin’ facts

“Given the controversy over the veracity of climate change data we should refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question. It is not our place as journalists to assert such notions as facts, especially as this debate intensifies.”

Foxnews Propagandist Bill Sammon

Sounds good. Anything to confuse your constituency on inconvenient topics.

But what if the story is about the polar ice caps melting for the first time in recorded history or the gigatons of ice disappearing from the shrinking Greeenland Ice Sheet at an unprecedented rate given the 400,000 year Ice Core Record?

What’s Foxnews to do then? Just avoid the topic or report the controversy non-troversy I guess. Who are you going to believe, Foxnews or your own eyes? Foxnews of course.

Dispatches from the Rebellion

Looking back 150 years ago this week: Senator Wigfall of Texas answers a question posed by fellow Democrat, Stephen Douglas of Illinois.

Senator Douglas has asked Wigfall to explain to explain the grievances (real or imagined) of the southern states so that these grievances can be remedied.

Under this state of things I will state to him (SENATOR DOUGLAS) one of the grievances under which the Southern States think they are suffering.

It is, that this Government has denied that slaves are property, and upon that denial has refused to protect the owners of slaves in their title whenever they were within the Federal jurisdiction.

I have asked Mr. DOUGLAS whether he was prepared to give an assurance that our property would be protected within the Federal jurisdiction. I did not get a direct answer from him, and I suppose that I will not do so. He says he will show or answer by his vote, if a bill be introduced, whether he will afford protection or not.

Will the Senator (DOUGLAS) interpose by the Legislative, Executive, or Judicial Department to protect that species of property known as slaves, as well as every other species of property? Will he propose amendments to the Constitution? Will he vote in this body for amendments to the Constitution? Will he pledge in good faith to go back to the people of Illinois and urge before them the ratification of amendments to the Constitution that will vest in the Federal Government not only the power, but make it on imperative duty to protect slave property as it protects every other species of property? If he can do this, then it will end one of our difficulties.

Wigfall continues addressing the concerns of the states of the lower south, i.e., the cotton belt states.

The people of the different slaveholding States, especially the Cotton States along the Gulf, are dissatisfied with the Government as about to be administered by the incoming Administration. There is nothing that will satisfy them except proper amendments of the Constitution, and these amendments must be made by the Northern States unanimously, or the people of the Southern States will not be satisfied, and I say they ought not to be. If amendments to the Constitution, which would secure us everything we ask, were ratified by fifteen Slave and ten Non-Slave holding States, it would be considered a part of the Constitution.

But if eight of the Non-Slaveholding States voted against the amendments, and yet they were made a part of the Constitution, we would say at once here are amendments to the Constitution which are distasteful to eight of the Non Slaveholding States, and which wil[l] probably be disregarded just the same as they disregard the present Constitution.

In other words the states of the Cotton Belt won’t be satisfied until the people in all Northern States ratify the proposed Amendments of the Constitution “vest[ing] in the Federal Government not only the power, but [the] imperative duty to protect slave property as it protects every other species of property.”

Having identified a Federal Role in protecting slavery as the only thing that will satisfy the lower south, Senator Wigfall continues to other grievances:

If we could believe they would go to their constituents and urge the ratification of proper amendments, we believe the Gulf States would suspend action; certainly so if the amendments could be ratified and carried out in good faith; that they will cease preaching the "irrepressible conflict;" that they shall declare slaves are property; that they shall be delivered up when fugitives; that Abolition societies shall be abolished, and Abolition Presses suppressed; that Abolition speeches no longer be made; that we shan't have pirates and murderers and our women in slavery. Until an honest effort is made, I say, to meet the demands of the South, there is a prospect of giving them a fair consideration. ….

Stop within your borders flaming Presses, public speakers who excite the people against us. And I say to those States, you shall not -- that is the word I choose to use, and I represent a feeling of determination of the people I represent -- I say you shall not permit men to go there to excite our citizens by making John Brown speeches, and bringing strychnine within the limits of the State I represent. You shall not publish newspapers and pamphlets to excite the slaves to insurrection. You shall not publish newspapers and pamphlets to excite the non-slaveholder against the slaveholder. We will have peace, and it you don't offer it to us, we'll quietly have, our rights under the constitutional compact, or withdraw from the Union and establish a Government for ourselves. If you then persist in aggression, these sovereign States will settle the question, and when you laugh at those impotent efforts, as you regard them, I tell you that Cotton is King.

Wigfall has a list of Demands. And these demands are demands made upon the sovereignty of other States. He doesn’t like abolitionists, the free press or personal liberty laws that get in the way of enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act. Stop your people from doing this and stop your people from doing that, he urges.

Alternately what is needed is to amend the Constitution to establish supremacy of the Federal Government over the power of states to protect the right of property in slavery. Essentially this argument - increasing the power of the Federal Government and limiting the sovereignty of other states - is the Opposite of a justification of secession based upon states rights.

But whatever argument is made in favor of secession, the common denominator always turns out to be slavery.

Well, Teabaggers looks like this is how they are gonna treat you

You see a pattern here?

First thing the GOP does is to put the Prince of Pork in charge of the nation’s Purse Strings. The Next thing they do is to add another Trillion on the National Debt.

And now this:

Ratings agency Moody's on Monday warned the United States will put its top level credit rating at risk if Congress extends a sweeping package of tax cuts and unemployment spending.

As the hotly-contested package was being considered by Congress, Moody's said passage would lift the odds of a potentially damaging credit outlook revision.

"Unless there are offsetting measures, the package will be credit negative for the US and increase the likelihood of a negative outlook on the US government's Aaa rating during the next two years," said Moody's Steven Hess.

The threatened outlook revision would be one step short of a full downgrade, but could nonetheless rock global financial markets and see Washington's cost of borrowing soar.

The tax deal would extend by two years a series of massive tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 under president George W. Bush with a built-in January 1, 2011 expiration date, and would provide an extension of jobless benefits.

The overall cost of the plan as currently configured runs to nearly 858 billion dollars over 10 years, according to congressional experts.

I think you folks have been had. Seriously, the fat cats on Wall Street and K Street are laughing at you.

My advice to the Tea Party Patriots is for them to brush up on their Chinese.**

**EDITORIAL NOTE: Actually is this good career advice for young folks in general and not necessarily limited to the unwashed teabagging masses.

Stupid Post of the Week - Hinderaker Brings it:

Grade A Stupid that is:

The U.S. is the only country in the world that, as a matter of policy, does not develop its own energy reserves. It is hard to see a rational basis for that policy. Energy is an important component in every physical object that is manufactured and shipped. If a country is not competitive in energy, it is not competitive, period. A Facebook friend writes:

PETROBRAS BRAZIL DISCOVERS TRILLION-DOLLAR CRUDE OIL FIND. AND AMERICA IS F****** AROUND WITH USELESS BATTERY-POWERED GOLF-CART CHEVY VOLTS?

Well, yes. The difference is that Brazil wants to become richer and more powerful. I think there are many in the Obama administration who think it is unjust that we are richer and more powerful than Brazil and many other countries. So they design policies that are intended to retard our progress so that others can catch up. If you think this makes any kind of sense, you are undoubtedly a Democrat.

Yes Sweetheart. Just like with the global global warming hoax, you have stumbled onto another giant conspiracy. However, this time the evil conspirators, in addition to the Democrats, are the Capitalists and their damned free market which sets the price of oil with such evil forces as “supply” and “demand.”

Read more »

H. E. Double Hockey Sticks, Ctnd

Checking in on Sarah on tour in Haiti (sponsored by Foxnews).

I came across this Mean Lamestream Media Outlet publishing Mean things about Sarah’s hopey changey tour. They allege that “she wants to look just right for those poor cholera-stricken residents:”

Clad in a simple grey T-shirt and cargo pants - but with her trademark hairstyle firmly in place - this is Sarah Palin touring a Haitian refugee camp.

The Tea Party darling's trip to the impoverished country, still reeling from a devastating earthquake in January and now facing a brutal cholera epidemic, is being tightly stage-managed.

Mrs Palin has provided access on her tour solely to Fox News and the religious organisation she is travelling with has asked all other Haitian and American journalists to leave the area because of a 'security lockdown'.

MEAN. Now you know why she doesn't allow Lamestream Media around. BECAUSE THEY WRITE MEAN THINGS. Especially Katie Couric. She is really mean. As a rule, one should never trust Katie Couric. She may not look mean, but she is.

What would I suggest doing about Haiti? Annex it.

What's an International Conspiracy without the Jews?

Yes. Definitely so.

Now all good right wingers know that Anthropogenic Global Warming is a hoax. As a matter of fact, it is the greatest hoax known to mankind made up of the lowliest bureaucrats and researchers to the highest world leaders and tricksy Scientists. Yet, despite all the protests by leading Wingers, the Global Global Warming Conspiracy just keeps growing.

And now Israel is in on it:

Israel’s worst-ever forest fire earlier this month confirms predictions on the impact of global warming in the Mediterranean basin, according to one of Israel’s leading climate experts.

“The fire disaster in the Carmel Mountains near Haifa is a taste of the future,” Guy Pe’er, co-author of Israel’s National Report on Climate Change, said on Wednesday.

Nearly a decade ago, Pe’er and other scientists warned that warming would create conditions such as heat waves, decreased and delayed rainfall, leading to a higher risk of intense forest fires.

The recent four-day blaze, which destroyed some five million trees across 12,000 acres (4,800 hectares), arose from these very conditions, he said.

The national report predicted that a temperature increase of only 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times would cause the region’s desert to expand northward some 300-500 kilometers (200-30 miles).

Without deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions, the temperature increase by century’s end will be closer to 3.0 C (5.4 F), scientists say.

In either scenario, such a change would spell the end of Mediterranean-type ecosystems in Israel, Pe’er said.

The fire that raged in the Carmel mountain range, which rises more than 500 metres (1,500 feet) above sea level, was preceded by eight months of drought and occurred during a heat wave with temperatures around 30 C.

Normally, first rainfall should have come in September or October, and the maximal daily temperature at this time of year should be around 15-20 C.

Pe’er, currently a fellow at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, said it would be decades before the region began to recover.

It has got to be tough being a winger. Ice caps are melting without permission, fires are raging without permission and the Damn Tricksy Scientists keep trying to fool you. It must suck.

via

Poor Joe Miller

Now everyone knows that the Federal Bench is loaded with Judicial Activists.

So you'd think this would be just the trick for Senate Candidate Joe Miller's bid to disenfranchise the 10 thousand plus ballots he needed to move past Lisa Murkowski in Alaska's Senate race. A judicial activist. That would be the Perfect way to get what you want.

But alas, Poor Joe couldn't find an Activizer when he needed one. Poor Joe Miller.

Maybe he'll have better luck at the State Courts. Maybe? Not likely it turns out. It seems that you can't find a Activist State Court Judge when you need one, either.

JUNEAU, Alaska — A judge on Friday ruled against Republican Joe Miller’s lawsuit challenging how Alaska counted write-in votes for rival Lisa Murkowski in their Senate race, delivering a crushing blow to the tea party-backed candidate’s longshot legal fight.

Judge William Carey’s ruling all but ends Miller’s hopes of getting relief in state court. Miller can appeal to the state Supreme Court, and his spokesman said he was mulling the option, but Carey cited past decisions by the high court in his ruling.

The judge said his decision to throw out Miller’s lawsuit wouldn’t take effect until Tuesday to allow time for an appeal.

Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said there are still outstanding issues “in terms of wanting to get a true and accurate count, and we don’t feel like we’re there yet.”

Murkowski called on Miller to concede, telling The Associated Press: “It’s time to end this. It’s time to say that the election is over.”

There's still time for the Militia, though. Everyone knew that Judges appointed by the Government were just going to screw Poor Joe over when they got the chance. And they sure did.

Militia Joe. You are running out of time to act like you got a pair. Better call 'em out now before you run out of time.

Global Global Warming Conspiracy Grows Evermore Globally

The 2010 meteorological year, which ended on 30 November, was the warmest in NASA's 130-year record, data posted by the agency today shows. Over the oceans as well as on land, the average global temperature for the 12-month period that began last December was 14.65˚C. That's 0.65˚C warmer than the average global temperature between 1951 and 1980, a period scientists use as a basis for comparison.

The 2010 meteorological year was slightly warmer than the previous warmest year, the 2005 calendar year, when the average temperature was 14.53˚C.

In 2010, temperatures measured over land alone were also the warmest ever, with instruments showing a December-November average of 14.85˚C. Combining this warming with above-average ocean temperatures led to the global average of 14.65˚C.

Read More

2010 the Warmest Year on record? Damn those Liberal Scientists!

Why are they always trying to fool people with their theories and such about evolution, gravity and anthropogenic global warming?

H. E. Double Hockey Sticks

Word has it that Sarah Palin, the hockey mom from Wasilla, will travel to Haiti as part of a Christian Relief effort:

Once mocked for having a limited knowledge of world affairs, Ms. Palin is apparently determined to demonstrate that she has a broader world-view — perhaps in service of a possible presidential run in 2012.

A trip to Haiti this weekend could be followed next year by trips to Israel or Britain, both of which are reportedly under consideration.

Why would Ms. Palin travel abroad now? The speculation, of course, is that she is trying to boost her foreign policy credentials as a way of preventing the critique that she is not experience enough to sit in the Oval Office.

Traveling to Haiti with Graham as part of a Christian relief organization will also appeal to the conservative base of the Republican party, which will be key to the nominating process that begins next year.

A trip to Great Britain (where she might meet with conservative icon Margaret Thatcher) or to Israel (an almost ritual trip for Republican candidates ahead of elections) could send a powerful message as she prepares to run.

Once Mocked, they write. I don't know about Once. Well I guess this trip makes sense in some ways if she is going to move past the mockery. You can’t see Haiti from Alaska, after all.

And I agree that this is a big step for Poor Sarah - traveling abroad to foreign countries where they dress funny and speak ridiculous foreign sounding languages, and such. It is a big step indeed considering Poor Sarah had a hard time adjusting to multiculturalism in Hawaii while attending one of the 5 colleges she burned through back in the day.

My advice to Sarah if you are going to do this, you should avoid France. But if you do go remember that everyone there speaks English and will be happy to talk to you in English. However if you meet someone who is having a hard time understanding you, all you have to do is to speak extra loudly and extra slowly. Make hand gestures too. They'll appreciate it.

Dispatches from the Rebellion

Looking back 150 years.

One of the myths lost causers push is that the Southern States seceded from the Union because of “States Rights.” But this is not an accurate portrayal of the motivations behind secession.

Take this passage from a Richmond Newspaper, published on this day in 1860:

A constitutional Monarchy.

--A correspondent of the Columbus (Ga.) Times advocates that the proposed Southern Confederacy shall be organized as a "Constitutional Monarchy." Republicanism, he thinks, has been tried and found wanting, and the only safety of the South is in a "strong government." A correspondent of the Enquirer, published at the same place, thinks that if the South wants a King, it should "get a descendant of George the Third." Mr. Bartow, a secession leader in Georgia, advocates a "strong, consolidated government," and the abolition of all State governments in the Southern Confederacy. --"Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind."

A “Strong Government,” “the abolition of State Governments,” a constitutional monarchy under descendant of King George III are all proposed for the future governance of the Confederacy.

Want of a “strong government” or of a strong federal role to protect the Peculiar Institution of Slavery was not uncommon in many parts of the Southern States. The fear of slave revolts was one reason. Extension of the institution of slavery outside the Southern States and into the territories was another reason. The common denominator was always Slavery.

If one were to look at the South Carolina declaration of secession, you would see that one of the reasons used to justify secession was outrage over the lack of enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act in the Northern States.

The Feds weren’t doing enough to enforce the law, so it was thought, and the Northern States were refusing to enforce the law on the basis of States Rights. Those were the reason they gave. The problem was, according to those folks, that the Federal Government was doing what they wanted in furtherance of slavery and Northern States were not subordinating their State Law’s to Federal Law. To protect the institution of Slavery, a stronger government would be needed to overcome personal liberty laws in the North and the doctrine of Negative Popular Sovereignty in the Territories.

This passage reflects this concern.

Michele Bachmann: Radical Earmarxist!

RedState Blog Honcho, Erick Erickson, calls her out:

It’s time to nip something right in the bud. Michelle Bachmann and others have been complaining about how the House earmark is too restrictive because it will not allow for Members to get federal funding for their roads and bridges.[…]

Bachmann is essentially calling for an earmark moratorium that still allows for the infamous Bridge to Nowhere and exempts all earmarks in the highway bill. That would completely vitiate the House earmark ban, and all talk of it needs to be dropped immediately. […]

If House Republicans exempt highway spending from their ban, then they were never serious about it in the first place, and it will be further proof that they just don’t get it. Michelle Bachmann of all people needs to have a better grasp of that, because the last thing we need is for her colleagues to think that the tea party doesn’t care about actually cutting spending both big and small.

Sure, Michele Bachmann is the Chair of the House Tea Bag Caucus, but she’s still an Earmarxist at heart. Erickson, best keep on these Congressional Republicans because, in my experience, they just can't be trusted. They'll stick it to you when they get the chance.

Poor Baggers.

Baggers Make Out Like Bandits

Word on the Internets has it that failed Tea Bag Candidate Joe Miller still has near $1 Million in unspent Campaign Contributions from is Senate Race in Alaska. Not a bad haul for ol' Joe is it? You'd think he would have spent the cash during the campaign in an all out effort to bring the Voice of the Tea Party to D.C. Go figure. I guess everyone has their priorities.

Earlier reports have Failed Senate Tea Bag candidate, Christine O’Donnell sitting on almost $1 Million as well. Reports also have Christine, who is not a Witch, cashing in on a Book deal and starting her own PAC - thanks to the generosity of the Tea Party Crowd.

When I read distressing news such as this, my heart goes out the legions of Tea Party Patriots that opened their wallets for the cause. Poor fellows didn’t realize that unholy Teabaggery is just a racket run by millionaire fat cats, designed to whip up fauxtrage amongst the hard working red blooded Real Americans and turn ‘em out at polls. Miller and O’Donnell went along for the ride, cashing in along the way. Now that the election is over, the fat cats don’t need you any more.

It’s sad really.

Well they can always buy Sweet Christine's book when it comes out.

George H.W. Bush Urges Passage of START

Add the first President Bush to the list of prominent Republicans urging Senate Republicans to vote in favor of the Treaty.

The Treaty, which would reduce the stockpile of Nuclear Weapons that terrorists could acquire, is currently being held hostage by Senator Jon Kyl.

The Arizona Republican has yet to explain his objections to the Treaty.

Why Are People So MEAN to Poor Sarah

It just never stops.

House GOP sticks it to the Tea Party Patriots - TWICE in one day

Looks like the "Prince of Pork," Kentucky Congressman Hal Rogers is in as House Appropriations Chair. The Prince will hold the Purse Strings in the next Congress. That ought to make the Deficit Hawks and Tea Party Patriots happy.

Also turned aside is Tea Party Darling, Smokey Joe Barton of Texas, for the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Despite out polling Michigan Republican Fred Upton 53-3 percent at a recent gathering of Tea Party faithful, the D.C Fat Cats cast Bagger Preferences aside and picked Upton, a radical Light Bulb activist, instead of good ol' Smokey Joe. Say it ain't so.

Simply Outrageous:

The battle for the chairmanship of two powerful congressional committees has ended with Republican leaders flicking aside objections from some Tea Party and conservative activists to pick two longtime, traditionalist lawmakers.

Rep. Hal Rogers (R., Ky.), who has sought earmarks throughout his 30-year congressional career, was selected by the Republican Steering Committee to head the Appropriations Committee, which oversees all federal spending. The committee of 34 House members that makes committee assignments also picked 24-year veteran Rep. Fred Upton (R., Mich.) to chair the Energy and Commerce Committee. Mr. Upton drew the ire of some conservatives for supporting some Democratic initiatives.

It seems to me that the Fat Cats on Wall Street and K Street that run the GOP are laughing at the Poor Poor Patriots as they stick it to them over and over again.

This is simply outrageous.

For crying out loud they just handed the Nation's Purse Strings to a fella' nicknamed the Prince of Pork for the Hundreds of Millions of Pork Barrel spending he's brought home. I tell you that they are LAUGHING at you.

UPDATE: on the bright side, now that I've thought about it, I bet the Baggers will accept the Prince of Pork as the holder of the purse strings. After all it could have been worse, they could have appointed the Prince of Peace instead. Odds are he'd be more generous with the purse strings.

Baggers would really hate that.

Congressional Prayer Caucus Chastises President Obama, Ctnd

Irony ensues.

Earlier today Several Texas Republicans and members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus signed a letter chastising President Obama for not showing proper deference to Declaration of Independence as a significant founding document. Specifically they were upset about the President’s use of this phrase authored by Thomas Jefferson:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The President, according to the Prayer Caucus, does not reference the term “Creator” in Speeches with a frequency to these Congressmen’s liking. Thus aggrieved, these Fine Souls sought fit to write him a letter about it stating:

“By misrepresenting things as foundational as the Declaration of Independence and our national motto, you are not only doing a disservice to the people you represent you are casting aside an integral part of American society." Furthermore they stated “you are removing one of the cornerstone of our secure freedom. If we pull the thread of religious conviction out of the marketplace of ideas we unravel the tapestry of freedom that birthed America."

Okay. There is a lot there to unpack. But let’s consider this from a different side.

I say this because this reverence for the words of Jefferson is an interesting position for Texas Republicans to take. That is right, Texas.

If my memory serves me, I believe it was the Texas Board of Education that recently decided to delete Jefferson’s place as an intellectual Founder of America in the Curriculum. Instead the Texas Board replaced him with other figures such as Thomas Aquinas. But how could this be if the declaration that he authored is a Cornerstone of Freedom? How can you hold these two competing thoughts at the same time? It would seem that the Texas Board of Education is walking a dangerous line here by its denial of Thomas Jefferson.

Question of the Day:

If Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and the ideas contained in the Declaration of Independence represents “one of the cornerstones of our secure freedom,” is the Texas School Board “unravel[ing] the tapestry of Freedom that birthed America” as the Prayer Caucus states by Censoring Thomas Jefferson’s role as an intellectual founder of the United States.

I think they may well be, but for other reasons. Hopefully the Congressional Prayer Caucus will turn on the Texas Board of Education and set ‘em straight. But I am not holding my breath.