October 14, 2010

Union Killing Local Libraries?

-By Warner Todd Huston

In this era of severe budget cuts, layoffs, and job loss, people in the real world are making due with less. Businesses are cutting back and people are hurting everywhere in this era of Obama. Local governments are also starting to find this economic climate challenging. But even as local budgets are taking hits, unions seem to think it’s still the same flush economy they’ve been taking advantage of for decades.

In the case of two school libraries in Massachusetts, teachers unions are so arrogant and greedy that they would rather see the facilities shut down and books left unavailable to kids than see schools keep libraries open with volunteers manning them.

Teachers unions in Bridgewater and Raynham have filed a grievance that might prevent volunteers from working in the libraries. The volunteer workers were to serve as a stop gap effort by the schools to keep the libraries open and serving kids.

Catch this idiotic excuse that union thug, Anita Newman, babbled to explain why the union is trying to close libraries:

“You’re putting unqualified people into the library who are not certified,’’ Newman said, calling it the basis of the grievance. “We don’t want to ruffle feathers, but you’re responsible for the children. We don’t use volunteers for recess or lunch either.’’

Really? How much “training” and “certification” do librarians need to be “responsible for the children”? They are just librarians! One would think that all the school need do is run a background check and then show them the Dewey Decimal system and everything is set! How much expertise do you need to put books on shelves and check out kid’s selections? It ain’t rocket science.

The districts have been using volunteers in its libraries for some time and the reason they are relying on volunteers is to save the district money.

Susan Prewandowski, a regional school committee member and longtime school volunteer, thinks the union thugs are all washed up. “We felt the most important thing was to let the kids have access to the library,’’ she said.

But here is the thing, it’s all about money, money for union thugs. You see, if a union thug can’t be the one putting a book on a shelf then union thugs don’t want anyone doing it. Yes, these union thugs will even shut down libraries and prevent kids from being educated unless they get their cut.

It all goes to show that teachers unions do not care at all about kids. They don’t care about education, either. They only care about their cut of YOUR tax money.

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Posted by Warner Todd Huston at 1:08 pm | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Anti-Capitalism, Child Exploitation, Economy, Education, Fiscal Responsibility, Government malfeasance/misfeasance, Hypocrisy/Situational Ethics, News, Political Correctness, State Government, Stupidity, Union Mafias/Thugs, liberalism, public employee unions

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AGW Today: Polar Bears And Plastic Bags

I always get a kick out of these “let’s spend time with the cute and fuzzy bunnies*, er, polar bears” stories, because you know that one day they are going to end in tears, and the climaidiots will wonder why

In her spare hours, you’ll likely find Kathryn Ravey on stage, rehearsing for Eden Prairie High School theater productions, but this week, she faces a very different type of audience. Ravey, along with 17 other teenagers from the U.S., Canada and Australia, is currently in Churchill, Manitoba, surrounded by polar bears and lots and lots of ice.

Yo, folks, the polar bear is the Great White Shark of bears (well, really, more like the Bull Shark, which is the most dangerous, but, the Great White is a better visual, and bigger and badder): it is dangerous to anything that moves.

The week-long adventure is all part of a Teen Leadership Camp, sponsored by Polar Bears International. At the camp, the students spend the majority of the week living in “Tundra Buggy Lodge,” a caravan of 10-foot tall cars, much like a train that offers living quarters and work space that overlook the Polar Bears’ habitat. Ravey will be stationed in a section of Canada during a time of year where the polar bears congregate in anticipation of the ice freezing in Hudson Bay. In many ways it’s an experience that will be impossible to replicate in the years to come. Part of what Ravey is studying is the effects of global warming on the polar bear population.

Um, how much CO2 will said 10 foot tall cars put out? Nowhere on the website is a description of these vehicles being “green.” Furthermore, impossible to replicate? Just more alarmism and an ignorance of the facts. Neither the ice nor the polar bears are going anywhere.

Getting into the camp is no small feat. Ravey had to put together an essay, video and go through an interview process. The majority of the costs for each camper are covered by donations to Polar Bears International. Each participant must return with an action plan to educate the public on the effects of global warming. Ravey plans to focus on cutting down the use of plastic bags.

Her main advice to others is to reuse, recycle and “just to really be aware.”

Yeah, plastic bags, that’ll do it! Same with just to really be aware. Of course, what is meant is that everyone else should change their behavior. Interestingly, when one goes camping, even in some sort of vehicle, what do you do with your food? That’s right, you put it in containers that keep the smell in, like tupperware and……plastic bags!

You just have to wonder what all these polar bear sight seeing trips will do to the bears. Will they become so used to seeing humans that they truly start seeing us as a new food source?

Meanwhile, to highlight how divorced from reality the alarmists are

MAN-MADE climate change was a major cause of devastating floods in Pakistan this year, shifting monsoon rains away from flood defences and into areas of the country incapable of dealing with the deluge, according to Pakistani scientists. (snip through some of the blah blah blah climate hysteria for the money quotes)

Industrial activity in Eastern Pakistan had increased surface temperatures, preventing water in the atmosphere falling as rain.

“Warming in eastern parts has moved the moisture west,” he said.

This is what is called the urban heat island effect. In other words, local heating is changing the local weather. We see this all around urban areas. It is not a global pattern, but a local one, much like the defoliation around Mount Kilimanjaro causes warm moist air to flow up the extinct volcano sides and cause melting. Not global. Local.

*Cute and fuzzy bunnies is a reference to the movie One Crazy Summer, and the bunnies were big meanies.

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Posted by William Teach at 9:58 am | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under AGW hyposterics, Agenda based science, Australia, Canada, Collapsing Science, Education, Global Warming, Homeschooling, Indoctrination, News, Propaganda, Science/pseudo-science, Social Engineering, environmental activists/terrorists

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Which Party Is More Extremist?

Despite the decade long narrative from the Democrats about the Republican Party being extremist, the yammering on about “neocons” and “religious fundamentalists” (BTW, Obama himself would be considered a fundie, since he is a born again Christian), a narrative the Compliant Media were happy to run with, something went wrong (make sure to read the whole article, way too much to excerpt)

Likely voters in battleground districts see extremists as having a more dominant influence over the Democratic Party than the GOP.

This result comes from The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll, which found that 44 percent of likely voters say the Democratic Party is more dominated by its extreme elements; whereas 37 percent say it’s the Republican Party that is more dominated by extremists.

The revelations in a survey of 10 toss-up congressional districts across the country point to problems for Democrats, who are trying to motivate a disillusioned base and appeal to Independents moving to the GOP ahead of the Nov. 2 election.

Among Independents, it is a 43/37 split. And even 22% of Democrats surveyed think the Democrat Party is too extremist, versus 11% of Republicans who think the GOP is too far to the right.

The United States is a center-right nation. The People like their taxes low, their military strong, their government out of their lives. They want law and order, they want their government to listen and be responsive. They also like their social programs. Bush, for all of his faults, was really about the perfect American president. Strong on international affairs, kept taxes low, but was big on the social programs.

The story points out that despite the constant drum beat about the TEA Party and other conservatives, painting them as extremists, it is the Democrats who are more dominated by their fringe elements, their folks who want to massively increase government, increase their hold on our private lives, and want to raise taxes, among others. The principles of the Republican Party are more like the principles of the American People. They just have to remember to not forget those principles, as they did under Bush. I doubt the TEA Party will go away after the 2010 mid terms, and will hold the Congress Critters feet to the fire.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Re-Change 2010!

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Posted by William Teach at 9:02 am | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, Elections, GOP, News, Politics As Usual, Polls, Republicans, Research/surveys, Social Engineering, Socialism, Taxes, Tea Party/Protests, social parasites

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October 13, 2010

Vir. Rep. Moran’s Fake Endorsements

-By Warner Todd Huston

Democrat Representative Jim Moran of Virginia’s 8th District is seeking reelection and like all politicians he proudly displays those groups and individuals that have endorsed him on his campaign literature. But Moran has a bit of a problem with at least two of his claimed endorsements. They didn’t endorse him.

As it happens Rep. Moran has included two endorsements on his literature that simply can’t have happened. He lists endorsements from Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) but neither association endorsed him. Further neither ever endorse political candidates.

To be sure that neither DAV nor MOAA endorse political candidates, I gave both a phone call and it was confirmed by representatives from those groups that they do not do so. In fact, they cannot do so for tax reasons.

Click here to download a full sized .pdf of Moran’s literature.

So what gives, Rep. Moran? Will you make this right and announce your… uh… “mistake”? Or will you blunder ahead as if there is nothing wrong even as your campaign literature is filled with lies?

And will rival Patrick Murray make political hay out of this Moran gaffe like he should?

Check out Patrick Murray for Congress and see.

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Posted by Warner Todd Huston at 5:03 pm | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under Bald-face lies, Democrats, Elections, Fraud/misrepresentation, News, Politics As Usual, Veterans, military

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Bill Gates Buys Attention of ABC News?

-By Warner Todd Huston

On the heels of this Summer’s Old Media attack of News Corp’s donation of $1 million to the GOP, we discover that billionaire Bill Gates of Microsoft fame has given $1.5 million directly to ABC News so that they’ll cover his personal “news” issue; health conditions of the poor.

Gates has been spreading his money around in more traditional media buys over the last year or so, too. He spent $3.5 million to start a TV production company that is working with PBS to report on global health issues and he’s also spent millions buying newspapers to keep them afloat. Additionally Gates has donated money to journalism schools and other media operations.

But this direct donation to ABC News is a different animal than the other media related spending that Gates has done. This is a direct donation of money to ABC News to buy their attention for Bill Gates’s personal interests. ABC is supposed to be a self contained, independent news agency that funds its own reports governed under its own authority. Gates’s donation really brings this status into question.

As to which program is targeted, ABC is using Gates’s money for its upcoming Be The Change: Save a Life series.

Now it would be different if Gates’s TV production company created its programming and then bought time on ABC to air it. There’d certainly be nothing wrong with that. But this is far different and more troubling. This situation is far different thing, for instance, than corporations donating money to programming on PBS because those are independent productions that PBS merely airs.

It would also be different if Gates just bought the whole of ABC News. There would also be nothing wrong with that. But in this case Gates is buying just a portion of ABC News and using that entity as cover for his own personal issue advocacy, using ABC’s reputation as color of authority for his own issues.

It doesn’t matter if Gates’s issue is the most unconditionally selfless issue ever. Once ABC takes this money we cannot be sure who is pulling the strings nor can we be sure that this barrier now being broken down will open ABC — or even other TV news agencies — to being bought off by any other billionaire. Other billionaires might not be as spotlessly selfless as Gates might be.

Who would be alarmed if, say, George Soros bought part of ABC’s programming for his favorite issues? For that matter, what if the left’s favorite boogie men du jour, the conservative Koch Brothers, bought a portion of ABC’s news programming for their favorite issues to be reported upon? Would anyone trust that reporting?

Another big question is: will ABC News produce these TV reports as if these reports are wholly their idea or will ABC make it clear that these programs are bought and paid for by billionaire Bill Gates?

Even more directly, in order not to upset sugar daddy Gates, will ABC now steer clear of any “reporting” that might reflect badly on Gates, his friends and their interests if they should happen to find any connections between those people and the issues ABC is reporting upon?

Just how are we to know if all the money that Gates donated to ABC has also bought editorial control over that news agency? After all, even if ABC does fully disclose that Gates supplied the funding for this programming can anyone be sure that Gates didn’t also buy the contents and editorial direction of these ABC reports?

I would suggest that donating $1 million to a political party is far less eyebrow raising than someone actually buying off a portion of a news agency in order to get them to report on his own personal issues. It is also unseemly that a news agency has allowed this to happen and is acting as if nothing untoward has happened here.

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Posted by Warner Todd Huston at 4:16 pm | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under Healthcare, Hypocrisy/Situational Ethics, Journalistic Malpractice, Journalistic Prostitution, Liberal Media/Bias, News

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GE Paid $24.9 Million in “Stimulus” Funds, Then Cuts 18,000 US Jobs

The great thing about capitalism is that allows you to rise from nothing and climb to the very top. But the drawback is that once you get there, you have to stay competitive, or someone who works harder will supplant you. That’s why entrenched establishment dinosaurs like GE prefer crony capitalism — a system by which corrupt Big Government is bribed to pick winners and losers. This guarantees that regulations will be applied to keep down troublesome upstarts. It can also be highly remunerative:

The Obama administration gave corporate giant General Electric — the parent company of NBC — $24.9 million in grants from the $787-billion economic “stimulus” law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009, according to records posted by the administration at Recovery.gov.

Despite getting $24.9 million from U.S. taxpayers, GE decreased its U.S.-based employees by 18,000 in 2009, according to the company’s 2009 annual report.

According to Standard & Poor’s, GE took in $156 billion in revenue in 2009.

They didn’t need the money, and they sure didn’t use it to put Americans to work. But NBC News and MSNBC bent over backward to hype the Moonbat Messiah into office, so the $24.9 million payment was due for services rendered.

On a tip from J. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.

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Posted by Van Helsing at 3:10 pm | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Anti-Capitalism, Cronyism, Government malfeasance/misfeasance, Journalistic Malpractice, Journalistic Prostitution, Journalistic incompetence, Liberal Media/Bias, MSNBC, News, Political prostitution, Politics As Usual, Taxes, bailouts, corporatism, economic stimulus, liberalism, political bribes, political opportunism

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GOP Beating Dems In 8 Of 10 Open House Seats

Not shocking, really. What are the Democrat candidates going to say “I support Obama and Pelosi and their America destroying agenda?” Actually, what they are doing is what most other Dems are doing: running away from Obama and Pelosi and everything they stand for. So, voters say “why vote for a wishy washy fake Republican, when I can vote for an actual Republican”

Republicans are winning eight out of 10 competitive open House seats surveyed in a groundbreaking new poll by The Hill.

Taken on top of 11 GOP leads out of 12 freshman Democratic districts polled last week, The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll points toward 19 Republican victories out of 22 races, while Democrats win only two and one is tied.

How’s that hopey changey thing working out for you, Barack?

Republican candidates have taken big leads in two districts Democrats have held for nearly a century and a half-century, respectively, according to The Hill’s survey. A Republican is also ahead in the heavily Democratic district that contains President Obama’s hometown of Honolulu.

Many races are tight — 12 of the 22 fall within the margin of error — but the margins, though slim, preponderantly favor the GOP.

And the news gets worse and worse for Democrats, who thought that the 2008 elections were a mandate to fundamentally change America, rather than simply a repudiation of the way Republicans had been governing (which was more like the way Democrats govern,) not too mention McCain blowing it with his “I’m suspending my campaign to go to Washington” idiocy, and then not doing anything to help fix the economic problems.

The president continues to be a factor for voters in picking their next member of Congress. In the 10 open seats polled, a majority of voters said Obama will be an important consideration when they go to the ballot box.

Aren’t you glad you went along with the Obama progressive agenda, Dems?

Anyhow, read the whole article, lots and lots of chocolaty goodness in the article (the sad part about writing that line is that I had to think twice about leaving it in, since I could be accused of being a raaaaacist). Meanwhile, Fred Barnes lays out four reasons that will lead to a Democrat election nightmare.

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Posted by William Teach at 9:25 am | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats, Elections, GOP, News, Polls, Republicans

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EPA Set To Greenlight Use Of Ethanol 15 This Week

You’ll remember that I mentioned, back on September 21st, that the EPA was considering greenlighting the use of 15% ethanol gasoline, and the confusion it would create. Looks like they do not care, they’re on a mission from Gaia

The Obama administration plans to allow higher levels of ethanol for gasoline used by newer cars, a step that would benefit corn growers but which has been strongly opposed by auto makers, livestock ranchers, oil refiners and some public-health advocates.

As early as Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce it will allow ethanol levels in gasoline blends to be as high as 15% for vehicles made since 2007, up from 10% currently, according to two people familiar with the matter.

For cars made between 2001 and 2006, the agency will say it is awaiting the outcome of additional research and not ready to announce a decision.

So, exactly how will this work? Will there be just one or two pumps that have the E15 blend? Will people just have to know? Will there be someone out there directing people? What happens if you make a mistake? In states that do no allow you to pump your own gas, will the attendants have to ask what year your car is? Imagine the problems during rush hour, or on a Friday or Saturday afternoon during the summer in New Jersey, as everyone heads to the Shore (yes, Saturday too, because that is the turnover day for most weekly house rentals). Or will station managers/owners say something like “this is way too much of a pain. Just keep the E10 in all pumps”?

Anticipating such criticism, the EPA plans to also solicit comment on how gasoline pumps should be labeled, so as to avoid or reduce the potential that drivers will put the wrong fuel into their cars, the people familiar with the matter said.

How many of you look at the pump, other than to put your card in and pick the blend? Ranchers, the oil industry, auto makers, and, yes, even environmentalists oppose this project. What if the consumer makes a mistake? Will that leave the station liable for engine damage? Valero and Marathon Oil say they may not sell E15 even when approved.

No such split of the market exists for the 10% blend currently dispensed by almost every U.S. gasoline retailer. About four of every five gallons of gasoline sold has the 10% ethanol blend. But if E15 is approved on a limited basis, gas stations must decide if they want to invest up to $25,000 for new tank and gasoline dispensing systems to accommodate the new fuel.

“I’m not going to put in an E15 pump even if they legalize it. It’s too expensive. I’ll just keep selling the 10% blend,” Roz Jalali, owner of a Conoco station in West Des Moines, Iowa, told the newspaper.

And then there are the problems with using more food as fuel. Corn is already up in recent days. If you use more corn as fuel the price of corn will go up further, and leave less corn for food and feed. Then the price of other foods, such as beef, pork, and chicken increase.

Interestingly, one of the big groups behind the push for E15 is Growth Energy, an ethanol trade group led by Wesley Clark. They stand to make some serious cash if approved.

BTW, know where that cartoon came from? Treehugger, which is not thrilled with Ethanol.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Re-Change 2010!

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Posted by William Teach at 9:09 am | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under Agriculture/Farming, Anti-Capitalism, Barack Obama, Coal/Energy Resources, Dems In Charge: Now What?, EPA, Energy, Global Warming, Government malfeasance/misfeasance, News

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October 12, 2010

Obama’s Healthcare Rules Will Shut Down Catholic Hospitals Nationwide

-By Warner Todd Huston

Some of Obamacare’s most destructive forces are quickly becoming common knowledge. We have, for instance, become painfully aware that Obama’s claim that we all could keep our plans and doctors “if you like them” is an outright falsehood as some people are already losing their coverage. It is also becoming clear that companies will be dropping plans all over the place making a lie of the idea that plans will be cheaper and easier to get once Obamacre comes into force. Another aspect of the destructive nature of this top down-style of “healthcare” is that once government takes over the system Democrats will assume they have the power to force religious-based healthcare providers to perform abortions and this will cause thousands of facilities to close down. This will, of course, make care even harder to get in many cities across the nation as hospital beds are lost in great numbers.

In fact, we are already seeing this disastrous situation of closing hospitals playing out in Scranton, Pennsylvania where three Catholic-operated hospitals are likely going to be shut down and/or sold off because of the negative affects Obamacare will have on these facilities.

Kevin Cook, the CEO of Mercy Health Partners, the company that operates these three hospitals, told WNEP TV News that Obamacare “absolutely” playing a role in the decision to sell off the facilities.

“Health care reform is absolutely playing a role.” Cook said. “Was it the precipitating factor in this decision? No, but was it a factor in our planning over the next five years? Absolutely.”

Almost immediately Obama associate Carol Keehan of the Catholic Health Association came out to slam Mr. Cook.

Keehan’s press release says in part: “Reports that health reform is the primary motive behind the sale are completely false, misleading and politically motivated. Deliberations to sell the facilities began well before the Affordable Care Act became law and did not hinge on enactment of the legislation.”

The CHA is a for profit company that works for some Catholic hospitals as a sort of trade association and Keehan is a close associate of the president and a prominent supporter of Obamacare. Keehan was even a recipient of one of the 21 pens that Obama used to sign the Orwellian named Affordable Care Act — much to the chagrin of Catholic Bishops.

This Keehan apostate is constantly put forth by the Old Media as some representative of Catholic hospitals. Worse, few Old Media outlets note that she is an Obamacare activist and Obama associate.

As Jeffery Lord of the Spectator says, “In other words, Sister Carol is not just some kindly nun who reminds you of the nun whacking your knuckles in grade school for this or that offense. No, in the world of Washington Sister Carol is a powerhouse lobbyist — make that a liberal social justice lobbyist — with a clear set of political skills and a very, very high-powered set of very elite friends.”

For instance, back in March the AP passed off a false news story attempting to mislead the public into thinking that Catholic hospitals supported Obama’s healthcare bill. AP then reported the support of Obamacare announced by the CHA, an independent group that does not represent the Catholic Church nor Catholic hospitals per se, and conflated that announcement to a claim as if all Catholic hospitals and therefore the Church itself were standing behind Obama’s take over of the nation’s healthcare system.

AP reported the announcement by the CHA and made as if it somehow represented “Catholics,” but this group has no official relationship with the Catholic Church, nor does it represent any groups of religious Catholics, nor serve as a source for Catholic teaching or doctrine. Needless to say the CHA also does not represent all Catholic hospitals but only the few that have paid to join her association.

The costs that Obamacare will force upon hospitals isn’t the only problem for Catholic-based healthcare. Obama, his party, and their pro-infanticide supporting associates also intend to force Catholic and other religious based healthcare facilities to perform abortions whether it violates their consciences or not.

Recently former Senator Rick Santorum (R, Penn) raised this point in an editorial for Philly.com. Santorum cites a new effort by the ACLU to get Dr. Donald Berwick, Obama’s controversial abortion supporting recess appointment to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, to force all healthcare providers to perform abortion procedures.

Santorum rails against this effort saying: “This abuse of conscience betrays American principles that go back at least to the country’s founding, when George Washington respected the pacifist consciences of Quakers. Similarly, since Roe v. Wade and under both political parties, Congress has passed laws that respect the consciences of health-care workers.”

This effort to force all healthcare providers to provide abortion is a serious threat to the nation’s healthcare system.

By 2005 there were over 615 Catholic hospitals, some 400 healthcare centers, and over 1,500 specialized healthcare homes. These facilities employ almost 600,000 employees and accounted for more than 20% of all hospital admissions. And this is just the Catholic oriented healthcare facilities.

As the realities of the strict, anti-religious qualities of Obamacare dawns on people and as the government begins to crack down on religious organizations forcing them to obviate their consciences the eventual result will be the end of religious-based healthcare institutions. This will leave millions of Americans underserved and will also leave their health in danger.

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Posted by Warner Todd Huston at 4:26 pm | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under 10th Amendment, AP, Abortion, Anti-Americanism, Anti-Capitalism, Bald-face lies, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Fraud/misrepresentation, Government corruption, Government hostility towards religion, Government malfeasance/misfeasance, Government tyranny, Healthcare, House, Hypocrisy/Situational Ethics, Journalistic Malpractice, Journalistic Prostitution, Liberal Media/Bias, Nanny State, News, President, Senate, Social Engineering, Socialism, State Government, Totalitarianism, Unconstitutional, liberalism, social parasites

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Performance Art from Barry and the Circle-D Players: “How to Greet Defeat Ass First”

I received a humorous email from Mitch Stewart at BarackObama.com this morning. (My brother-in-law’s wife signed me up as a joke, but these goofy emails never cease to amuse.) In it, I was assured that if I only donated a mere $3, I would be registered, automatically, to win a trip to meet Barack Obama backstage (air fare and hotel included).

Where, you ask, is that sacred stage, behind which all my hopeychangey dreams would come true? Why, in Las Vegas! Yes, that very same Las Vegas that Dear Leader chose to demonize repeatedly as a regular Sodom and Gomorrha of the evil Wall Street Banking crowd, the one whose economy suffered considerably as a by-product of Obama’s rants. The Las Vegas mayor maintains that The One’s continued castigation is still costing the city both visitors and business. And Obama, sequined with audacity, is using Vegas as a backdrop for his path to victory in 2010. Cesar’s Palace, perhaps?

O irony of ironies. If it wasn’t for those recent, pathetic and baseless accusations, made by Obama and the DNC, that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spending foreign money on political campaigns against Democrat politicians, this Vegas visit would appear just profoundly hypocritical. Their eleventh-hour performances have now gone from the banal to the truly incomprehensible: imagine Alec Baldwin in a bad Tweety costume, holding a huge spiral lollypop, repeating his rant to his “rude thoughtless pig” daughter in Korean. Anything for attention.

The Democrat progressives and their messiah give new meaning to the term desperation. You know that you’ve overstepped if the Obama mouthpiece New York Times reports the Chamber of Commerce accusations as baseless, that the foreign money coming into the association is completely legal and fenced off from any dollars headed for electioneering. Ed Gillespie’s column in the Washington Post spells out clearly and succinctly the Jackass Party’s effort at eleventh-hour distraction, their clarion call to their ever-weary base to get out that vote for more government oppression, more taxes, more job-killing policies.

The Demonrats complain that folks supporting conservative causes and organizations wish to maintain their anonymity. However…

None of these Democrats expressed concern about such outside spending in 2008, when more than $400 million was spent to help elect Barack Obama, much of it from undisclosed donors. The liberal groups and Democrats who supported the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which established the legal framework for this new campaign spending, were much faster to adapt to its contours than the Republicans and conservative groups that largely opposed it, and liberal outside groups massively outspent Republicans in the past two election cycles.

Indeed, they’ve even tried to move the goal posts mid-game:

When conservative groups and their backers moved closer to spending parity (Democrats’ cries of being outspent omit the more than $200 million being spent by labor unions this cycle), Democrats tried to change the law again. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen and Sen. Chuck Schumer, who chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, tried to jam through a new campaign finance reform bill that would force the disclosure of donors but carefully adjust the disclosure thresholds to exempt labor unions. After this transparently political effort failed, the Democrats unleashed a torrent of calls for government investigations into groups for abiding by the law they passed in 2002 but failed this year to change.

And when they know deep within their bones that conservative groups are guilty as sin of [ fill in the blank ], then our nation’s founding principles need not apply.

Asked on CBS’s “Face the Nation” for any proof for these allegations, White House political adviser David Axelrod blithely responded that he didn’t need it — that it was up to the chamber to prove it hadn’t done anything wrong. In the West Wing, apparently, the American principle is that you’re guilty until proven innocent, and our highest elected and appointed officials are there to hurl the charges. It is telling that this White House equates ads that threaten its hold on power as a threat to democracy. They’re not actually one and the same.

The flailings of Obama and his Merry Troupe are political theater at its absolute worst. If this were an off-broadway play, starring the biggest internationally acclaimed, award-winning performance artist to have ever fallen in fame so far so fast, it should have closed before the end of its first night. Instead, this tasteless, purposeless production is funded at taxpayer expense. Therefore, even to empty seats the performers will shout and rant, weep and gnash their teeth, spread fear and loathing. They know that they’re being paid for this, their first and last night, and by God, they’re going to inflict their brand of art on We the People, whether we want it or not.

My biggest concern: after their box-office receipts are counted on November 2, after Barry is upstaged and the Circle-D Players are shown the door, will they try to burn down the theater before they leave?

How's the air up there, fellas?

Image courtesy of Moonbattery.com

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Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:19 am | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Bald-face lies, Barack Obama, Conservatism, Constitution, Democrats, Elections, Government, New York Times, Obamanuts, Republicans, Socialism, Stupidity, anti-Liberty/Freedom, chicanery, liberalism, political suicide, progressivism

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Joe Manchin, Democrat Senate Candidate, Blasts Climate Change Bill. Literally

Remember when Democrats pretended to run as Conservatives during the 2006 election? Now we have Joe Manchin, who is acting like a TEA Partier

Democratic Senate candidate Joe Manchin isn’t letting that kerfuffle over Sarah Palin’s political crosshairs deter his 2nd-Amendment enthusiasm.

In a new ad, the West Virginia Governor touts his NRA endorsement, and promises to “take on Washington and the administration, and get the federal government off our backs” while brandishing a rifle on an outdoor gun range. He also promises to “repeal the bad parts of Obamacare” and “take dead aim at Cap and Trade” before putting a bullet through the title page of that bill.

Let’s watch

The NY Times is not amused.

Meanwhile, a new peer reviewed study states that greenhouse gases only cause 35% of global warming. And the study does not make the claim that all the CO2 is from Mankind.

Both poles have record high ice extents. And to switch gears, women are not particularly enthused by Obama’s era of Hopey Changey. By majorities, they find ObamaCare, the Stimulus, and the the auto bailout as #FAIL.

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Posted by William Teach at 9:28 am | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

» Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Agenda based science, Anti-Capitalism, Barack Obama, Cap & Trade, Collapsing Science, Democrats, Elections, Global Warming, Healthcare, NRA, News, Political prostitution, Politics As Usual, Science/pseudo-science, Senate, State Government, Video, bailouts

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Obama Stumps For Joe Klein (D-Fla), Klein Hides

It seems as if the story about the accusation that the US Chamber Of Commerce is using foreign money for ads is gaining even more legs, though, the majority of the media is shooting the Obama/Dem talking point down. Anyone else besides me getting the feeling that it is simply a distraction from discussing the legislative record of Obama and the Democrats? Meanwhile, Obama spent Monday working to create jobs……oh, he didn’t? The Neverending Campaign was in full effect? Hmph.

President Barack Obama urged Democratic donors at an NBA star-studded Coral Gables fundraiser on Monday to get out the vote and boost Democrats, telling them that his 2008 election “was only the beginning of the dream.”

Obama spoke at the home of former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning, who was joined by Miami Heat players Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and former L.A. Lakers and NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.

As Top Of The Ticket points out, this little fundraiser would cost anywhere from $1,000 to $17,600 if you wanted a photo with Obama.

Obama told donors that the U.S. economy is beginning to recover because lawmakers were willing to take tough votes. But Republicans, he said, “said no each and every time . . . they don’t have new ideas.

Tough votes? This from a guy who consistently voted “present” when tough votes came up?

“We’ve got to tell them in this election you can’t have the keys back,” he said of Republicans, whom he accuses at fundraisers of driving the economy into a ditch — and then standing around “with Slurpees” as Democrats labor to fix it. “You don’t know how to drive!”

The man just won’t let go of idiotic sayings, will he? Here’s where it gets fun, and about the only news service that mentions it is the Miami Herald

The event raised an estimated $1 million for congressional Democrats and Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, who Obama apologized for calling Ron Klain in his introductory remarks. Klain is vice president Joe Biden’s chief of staff.

He gave two speeches open to the press; Klein did not appear next to him at either.

Shocker. Yet another Democrat who doesn’t want to be seen with Obama. It get’s funny, via the official transcript

Ron Klein is here, and one of the main reasons that we’re here — if he’s not here, I know — is he? Where is he? He’s inside. All right, we love him. (Applause.) Kathy Castor is here. (Applause.) Ted Deutch is here and his family. (Applause.)

Interestingly, the closest Obama got to mentioning ObamaCare was that Klein voted to “strengthen medicare.” Nor did Obama talk about during his dinner speech. He didn’t talk about Klein much, either.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Re-Change 2010!

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» Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats, Elections, News, Politics As Usual

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October 11, 2010

Dems Drop Complaint Against Fox for Donating to GOP, Media Mum

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Old Media went into a feeding frenzy when it was revealed that News Corp., the owner of Fox News, had donated $1 million to the Republican Governor’s Association to help GOP candidates this election cycle. The left immediately used this fact as a fundraising meme and the media was thrilled to play the news up when a few days later the Democratic Governors Association filed a complaint with the Ohio Election Commission against Fox over the donation.

But while the media loved the story of the DGA filing its complaint, that same Old Media establishment doesn’t seem nearly as interested in reporting that the Democrat’s quietly dropped their complaint, abandoning it without comment. As Mediaite reports, its sources have confirmed that the DGA has dropped its complaint. And not a peep from the Old Media.

There are hundreds of stories about the Democrat’s claims that the News Corp donation destroys the reputation of Fox News. Just to name a few, CNN reported on the donation giving Democrat bloviation top spot in its story. For its part Politico said that the donation might have “crossed over an inappropriate line.” Amusingly, Huffington Post gives all sorts of space to detractors but only one short quote to Fox spokesmen to reply. Many others played up this story, too, and there are certainly too many to detail here. (A Google search for “Fox donates to GOP” gets over 11,000,000 hits)

The story also made for fine material for the late night comedians. Comedian Jon Stewart, for instance, really gigged Fox over the donation. But he wasn’t so interested in the lopsided donations to Democrats that media conglomerate Viacom donated this year and in years previous.

Then, when the DGA announced a few days later that it was filing a complaint over News Corp’s donation, the news cycle was revived all over again (A search for “DGA complaint over Fox donations” gets 139,000 hits)

The Old Media milked the story for all it was worth, for sure. But now that the complaint has been dropped, will the media report this as widely as it did when the complaint was filed? Will the fact that the DGA realized that it could not justify its complaint in front of officials make news?

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Another panic from the obesity warriors

Fizzy drinks (“pop”, “soft drinks”) are regularly attacked by the obesity warriors because they are allegedly very calorific. Though milk, which is also highly calorific, gets a pass, for some reason.

The attack does not end there, however, there is also an unhappy band who attack fizzy drinks not only because they are sweet but because the particular sweetener in them is particularly naughty: Meet the fructose warriors. The article below is an introduction to the controversy and I will add a few further words at the bottom of it — JR

Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco, is the star of the video above. While he presents some material that’s scientifically sound, he also makes enough errors to warrant a healthy dose of criticism. There’s a ton of material he goes over, so instead of writing a multi-chapter opus, I’ll discuss the aspects that I feel are the most relevant and interesting.

Fructose is evil, context be damned

So, is fructose really the poison it’s painted to be? The answer is not an absolute yes or no; the evilness of fructose depends completely on dosage and context. A recurrent error in Lustig’s lecture is his omission of specifying the dosage and context of his claims. A point he hammers throughout his talk is that unlike glucose, fructose does not elicit an insulin (& leptin) response, and thus does not blunt appetite. This is why fructose supposedly leads to overeating and obesity.

Hold on a second…Lustig is forgetting that most fructose in both the commercial and natural domain has an equal amount of glucose attached to it. You’d have to go out of your way to obtain fructose without the accompanying glucose. Sucrose is half fructose and half glucose. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is nearly identical to sucrose in structure and function. Here’s the point I’m getting at: contrary to Lustig’s contentions, both of these compounds have substantial research showing not just their ability to elicit an insulin response, but also their suppressive effect on appetite [3-6].

But wait, there’s more. In studies directly comparing the effect of fructose and glucose preloads on subsequent food intake, one showed no difference [7], while the majority have shown the fructose preload resulting in lesser food intake than the glucose preload [8-10]. A recent review of the literature on fructose’s effect on satiety found no compelling case for the idea that fructose is less satiating than glucose, or that HFCS is less satiating than sucrose [11]. So much for Lustig’s repeated assertion that fructose and fructose-containing sugars increase subsequent food intake. I suppose it’s easier to sensationalize claims based on rodent data.

In the single human study I’m aware of that linked fructose to a greater next-day appetite in a subset of the subjects, 30% of total daily energy intake was in the form of free fructose [12]. This amounts to 135 grams, which is the equivalent of 6-7 nondiet soft drinks. Is it really that groundbreaking to think that polishing off a half-dozen soft drinks per day is not a good idea? Demonizing fructose without mentioning the dose-dependent nature of its effects is intellectually dishonest. Like anything else, fructose consumed in gross chronic excess can lead to problems, while moderate amounts are neutral, and in some cases beneficial [13-15].

I’m obviously not in favor of replacing anyone’s daily fluid intake with soft drinks, but I can already see a number of straw man arguments headed my way. This is because people have a tendency to think in either-or terms that strictly involve extremes. I’ll quote an elegant review by independent researcher John White that echoes my thoughts [16]:

Although examples of pure fructose causing metabolic upset at high concentrations abound, especially when fed as the sole carbohydrate source, there is no evidence that the common fructose-glucose sweeteners do the same. Thus, studies using extreme carbohydrate diets may be useful for probing biochemical pathways, but they have no relevance to the human diet or to current consumption.

Much more here. Follow-up discussion here.

Canada has half the obesity incidence of the USA yet fructose is the main sweetening agent in Canadian fizzy drinks too. And Australia uses sucrose (from sugarcane) almost exclusively in its drinks yet falls roughly half way between Canada and the USA in obesity.

Epidemiology is never positive proof of anything but is pretty persuasive as disproof and the comparison between the three rather similar countries that I have just quoted does not at all fit the pattern that the fructose fanatics would predict. Only a double blind study would settle the matter but the epidemiology hardly encourages such a study

I personally would be pleased if the fructose warriors were right. I come from sugarcane country in Australia and a ban on fructose would no doubt do wonders for my home town. Sugar from sugarcane is pure sucrose

UPDATE: I probably should note that sucrose is a naturally-occurring molecule in its own right. The fact that it can be analysed as a combination of fructose and glucose does not mean that it has to be produced that way nor does it mean that it has the same properties as those simpler molecules. If the lusty one wants to ban sucrose because fructose forms part of its chemical makeup he is in effect trying to ban all the major natural sweeteners — which is nuts — JR

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here

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Axelrod: Chamber Of Commerce Guilty Till Proven Innocent

Continuing that Great American Principle, Mr. Astroturf chimes in

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has the burden of proving false the charge by Democrats that the business group is funneling foreign money to Republican campaigns.

Axelrod was pressed by CBS’ Bob Schieffer on Sunday for evidence that the foreign campaign contributions benefiting the GOP is more than “peanuts.”

“Do you have any evidence that it’s not, Bob?” Axelrod said on “Face the Nation.” “The fact is that the Chamber has asserted that, but they won’t release any information about where their campaign money is coming from. And that’s at the core of the problem.”

Do you have any evidence that they are guilty, Dave? How about your boss, Barack Obama, who whined about the Chamber, a private entity, engaged in Constitutionally protected Free Speech, yet again on Sunday in Philly.

Tell you what, David: let’s have those investigations come late January. We’ll also investigate the donations to one Senator Barack H. Obama (oops, I wrote the H, means I’m a raaaaacist or something) during the run up to the 2008 elections. You’re good with that, right, David?

Obviously, the Chamber gives most of its money to Republicans, especially in the Senate, though, in 2008, they did give more to House Democrats than House Republicans. Shocker, since Democrats are continuously anti-business.

All this is is another distraction from the issues that matter to the American People, to steal a Democrat talking point. The People care about jobs, they care about the economy, they care about not seeing their cost of living skyrocket thanks to Dem policies, they care about not seeing their taxes go up thanks to Democrats. Democrats do not want to run on their record, so, they jump in the mud and distract. They lie, they distort, and they give us stupid platitudes

“Philadelphia, they can’t have the keys back,” Obama said. “They don’t know how to drive. They can ride with us if they want, but they’ve got to get in the back seat.”

Remember when Obama talked about a new way of doing business in Washington? How’s that hopey changey thing working out for ya, Obama voters?