November 13, 2011

Must not criticize Obama’s various betrayals of Israel?

That’s what Foxy and his buddies want. The safety of Israel comes second to having a Democrat in the White House, apparently. Too bad if Obama sits on his hands while Iran gets nukes and attacks Israel with them

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have joined together to encourage other national organizations, elected officials, religious leaders, community groups and individuals to join them in signing the “National Pledge for Unity on Israel.” This initiative aims to rally bipartisan support for Israel while preventing the Jewish State from becoming a wedge issue in the upcoming campaign season.

“We want the discourse on U.S. support for Israel to avoid the sometimes polarizing debates and political attacks that have emerged in recent weeks, as candidates have challenged their opponents’ pro-Israel bone fides or questioned the current administration’s foreign policy approach vis-à-vis Israel,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.

Source

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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Pig-tailed Pippi Longstocking books branded ‘racist’ by German theologian

BERJAYA

To hell with German theologians! She probably is Christian in name only anyway. Other German theologians such as Rudolf Bultmann reject the Bible as just “stories”. Her main preoccupations seem to be “whiteness” and feminism so faith would struggle to get a look-in there, I would think. The first result Google gives for her is a talk called “Am Ende der Weissheit?”, which translates as “Towards the end of whiteness”. Sounds charming. Being white is obviously very bad.

Sweden’s much-loved Pippi Longstocking children books have been branded racist by a leading German theologian. Dr Eske Wollrad, from Germany’s Federal Association of Evangelical Women, has called on parents to skip certain passages or else explain to their children that they contain outdated colonial stereotypes.

She hit out at the Pippi Longstocking trilogy, written by author Astrid Lindgren and first published in 1945, at an anti-discrimination state conference in Leipzig at the weekend.

Dr Wollrad told German newspaper The Local: ‘It is not that the figure of Pippi Longstocking is racist, but that all three in the trilogy of books have colonial racist stereotypes.’

In the books, Pippi is an eight-year-old with superhuman strength who does not want to grow up and hates pompous adults.

Her father, once a king of a South Seas island, was originally known as Negro King before publishers changed it to South Seas King.

Dr Wollrad is demanding the book’s publisher make additions in the books to guide readers when ‘racist’ content arises.

She said that in the third book, Pippi In The South Seas: ‘The black children throw themselves into the sand in front of the white children in the book. When reading the book to my nephew, who is black, I simply left that passage out.’

Source

And how come a woman is pronouncing on theology anyway? The Bible is pretty clear about that: 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 reads: “As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.”

But I guess that to her the words of the epistle are just that silly old story book again

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The limited effect of political correctness in college

Sure, colleges are full of politically correct indoctrination. But how well does the indoctrination actually work? Poorly. How College Affects Students reviews the whole literature and finds that:

Net of the attitudes and other characteristics students bring with them to college, the small changes reported in students’ political orientations (on a continuum from left to right) virtually disappear.

In other words, college students end up a bit leftist because they start a bit leftist, not because their profs “raise their awareness.”

While college fails as a leftist re-education camp, it does have measurable effects on two narrow areas:

1. “[S]tudents’ racial, ethnic, and multicultural attitudes and values”:

The link persists in the presence of a wide array of controls, including those reflecting students’ precollege attitudes and values, and across various outcome measures, including cultural awareness, acceptance of different races and cultures, commitment to promoting racial understanding, support for busing, viewing racism as a continuing problem, and increases in openness to diversity broadly defined.

2. Gender attitudes. College increases support for equal economic opportunity for women and intolerance for date rape, and decreases support for the view that “women’s place in in the home.”

Bottom line: Whether you love P.C. or hate it, don’t overrate it. Colleges nudge students’ views on multiculturalism and sexism. But they don’t turn moderates into liberals, or liberals into socialists.

SOURCE

Changes in expressed attitudes may not mean much — particularly in the area of race and racism. Since LaPiere’s study in the 1930s, psychologists have known that the relationship between expressed attitudes and behavior is weak to non-existent. So the kids may learn to say the “right” thing but how they act when free to do so will be another matter.

Note also that Right/Left orientation is highly hereditary so again little real change is likely as a result of the college experience — JR

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Another Leftist claim of psychological dysfunction among conservatives

Leftists have been projecting their own psychological deficiencies onto Conservatives since at least 1950 — and they are not going to give up any time soon.

The latest installment is a book by Warmist Chris Mooney called “The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Don’t Believe in Science”. Below is an announcement of it which I will follow with some comments

Over the last year here at DeSmogBlog, my writings have converged around a set of common themes. On the one hand, I’ve shown just how factually incorrect today’s political conservatives are, documenting the disproportionate amount of misinformation believed by Fox News watchers and the disproportionate wrongness of the right when it comes to science.

At the same time, I’ve advanced a variety of psychological explanations for why we might be seeing so much political and scientific misinformation today on the right wing. For instance, I’ve unpacked the theory of motivated reasoning; and I’ve also talked about why conservative white males in particular seem to be such strong deniers of climate science.

All of this, I’m now prepared to say, is just the iceberg tip. You see, for the last year, I’ve been working on a book on the same topic, which explains why conservatives are so factually incorrect-drawing on the latest research in social psychology, political science, cognitive neuroscience, and other fields.

The book is now finished in draft form-due out next year with Wiley-and it is long past time to formally announce its existence. After all, it is already up on Amazon. But I can go farther by showing the draft cover image (the current subtitle is likely to change, as this phenomenon goes far, far beyond science, as does the book). I can also share the text that will soon go up to Amazon and elsewhere. Eat your heart out, Ann Coulter:

Bestselling author Chris Mooney uses cutting-edge research to explain the psychology behind why today’s Republicans reject reality-it’s just part of who they are.

From climate change to evolution, the rejection of mainstream science among Republicans is growing, as is the denial of expert consensus on the economy, American history, foreign policy and much more. Why won’t Republicans accept things that most experts agree on? Why are they constantly fighting against the facts?

Science writer Chris Mooney explores brain scans, polls, and psychology experiments to explain why conservatives today believe more wrong things; appear more likely than Democrats to oppose new ideas and less likely to change their beliefs in the face of new facts; and sometimes respond to compelling evidence by doubling down on their current beliefs.

* Goes beyond the standard claims about ignorance or corporate malfeasance to discover the real, scientific reasons why Republicans reject the widely accepted findings of mainstream science, economics, and history-as well as many undeniable policy facts (e.g., there were no “death panels” in the health care bill).

* Explains that the political parties reflect personality traits and psychological needs-with Republicans more wedded to certainty, Democrats to novelty-and this is the root of our divide over reality.

* Written by the author of The Republican War on Science, which was the first and still the most influential book to look at conservative rejection of scientific evidence. But the rejection of science is just the beginning.

Certain to spark discussion and debate, The Republican Brain also promises to add to the lengthy list of persuasive scientific findings that Republicans reject and deny.

I know very well that this invites controversy, so let me say (even though I expect many conservatives will ignore it!) that the book also fully documents the handicaps and drawbacks of liberal/Democratic psychology. It’s a yin-and-yang kind of thing; you can’t make one argument without the other.

There’s a reason Winston Churchill was a better wartime leader than Neville Chamberlain. There’s a reason why the Tea Party got itself elected in under two years, while Occupy Wall Street is kinda all over the place. There’s a reason why we have scores of environmental groups that often can’t see eye to eye. There’s a reason, as George Lakoff and others have noted, why Democrats (and scientists!) focus too much on policy facts and details rather than winning over people’s hearts (and winning elections).

But when it comes to determining what’s true about complex, technical subjects-issues full of ambiguity and uncertainty, where you can’t just jump to conclusions and have to stay open-minded and tentative in your beliefs-I’ll take the scientific-liberal approach any day. And after reading the book, I think so will you.

More HERE

It’s laughable how he can’t see his own faults and instead attributes them to others. He praises “staying open-minded and tentative in your beliefs”. Yet is a member of the terminally dogmatic Global Warming crowd with their desperately asserted “consensus”. If only Warmists WOULD “stay open-minded and tentative in their beliefs” — but there’s no sign of it. Jim Hansen compares coal trains with Nazi death trains: Very subtle.

On one level what Mooney says is right. There is no doubt that Leftists and Rightists have differing brains. The repeated findings about the strong genetic determination of political orientation leave no doubt of that. But how those differences work is as yet unknown. It’s all speculation and theory. I point to the fact that levels of happiness are dispositional and suggest that conservatives are born happy and Leftists are born whiners. But I have no more evidence for that speculation than Mooney does for his theories. It is certainly true that conservatives repeatedly show up in surveys as happier than those on the Left but whether that is a direct outcome of brain anatomy remains to be seen.

It is true that there are various psychological studies supporting his characterization of conservatives. I spent 20 years ripping metaphorical holes in the journal articles concerned. The studies are universally poorly done. Leftists are generally too lazy (for instance) to do doorknock research. They just hand out a bunch of questionnaires to their students and their students happily give the “researchers” back what they want. And that is supposed to tell us about all humanity.

And when we add to their lack of sampling their psychometric naivety, what we have is mere progaganda — something more reminiscent of Dr. Goebbels than of science. To take just one instance of such naivety: They have lists of questions that they use to separate out people who are conservative from those on the Left. But when it comes to actual elections, we find that their alleged indices of conservatism give zero prediction of actual vote! Alleged conservatives are just as likely to vote Democrat as Republican! So the Leftist psychologists don’t even know what conservatism is, let alone being able to research it.

But let us assume that despite their methodological negligence, the Leftist psychologists have somehow guessed right. Even then there still are deep holes in their reasoning. A classic accusation — hinted at by Mooney above — is that conservatives are “intolerant of ambiguity”. But is that a vice? Might it not be a sign of mental laziness? Surely its opposite is the search for order — and what a true scientist does is search for order in the phenomena he studies. So Leftists must make poor scientists — and the global warming nonsense certainly confirms that. A majority of physical scientists seem to believe it — despite it being nothing more than a poorly-founded prophecy. They are certainly accepting a lot of ambiguity there, a quite stultifying level of ambiguity.

The other type of study the moon-man refers to is activity studies in the brain. And it seems true that in the same situation, different areas of the brain “light up” among Leftists and Rightists. That is perfectly to be expected from the genetic studies. But the moon-man tries to infer things from such patterns of lighting up. But such research only scratches the surface of brain function so all such inferences are just speculation. More on that here

On the question of whether religion makes conservatives anti-science, I have what I think is an amusing commentary here

The moon-man will give comfort to Warmists but it is comfort that is as poorly founded as Warmism itself

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November 12, 2011

Newt Schools Folks on Terrorist “Rule of Law”

There was a debate tonight. Yeah, I was surprised too and missed it, but I heard this was the highlight of the evening. Check it out, it’s pretty bad a$$.

Thanks to Hot Air for the video.

Smack down!! Basically this is coming down to a three person race. You’ve got Romney. Not much support from the Tea Party (conservative) element of the party. He has a ceiling. Between 25 and 30% and no further. He isn’t putting forth enough effort to get past that. He’s hiding. He isn’t doing interviews, etc. He is the Establishment, low profile contender. We know a lot about him. We know the conservative element isn’t comfortable with him. We know he is a flip-flopper and an opportunistic type. We know he can govern and compromise and work with what he has. We know he is an apt manager.

We have Cain. The man with a plan. The oustider, successful business type that could have a solution to boost the economy nicely. Nice charm, but major controversial attacks being used to smear him. Clear, trying to stay on message, and a Tea Party favorite. He retained a lot of support and stuck it through a smear job.

And you’ve got Newt now. Intelligent, elegant, and statesman-like. A long record. People know him. A friendly personality, warming and polite. He has a mixed record. He’s got the Contract with America for him, and he has the commercial sitting cozy with Princess Nancy and supporting the myth of global warming. He also has baggage mostly involving divorce and his love-life. We all have mistakes and baggage in the personal areas. He has a lot of experience and knowledge, but…he is defintely “establishment”. And…there are several other issues where he has strayed from the strictly conservative viewpoint. Too drastically sometimes for the Tea Party types.

The good news is that the rhetoric and the vibe of all the debates are revolved around conservative issues like tax reform, getting rid of excess government agencies, making government smaller in general, repealing Obamacare, and cutting spending. Everyone is promising these things. Mitt Romney is promising the least from the status government quo. It might eventually come down to a Romney and a non-Romney…if the more conservative element of the Republican Party can organize and unify enough to get behind one non-Romney before Iowa happens…but even if they don’t it will be down the wire. My prediction unless/when some crazy stuff alters things between now and then.

I can totally see a Cain/Gingrich ticket…or vice versa. Especially now that we know Cain wouldn’t want to be VP for Romney.

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Bummer: Drying Your Hands Like a Rational Human Now Bad For Globull Warming

Did you use paper towels or a hot air dryer? Then man induced global warming (cooling, snow, no snow, etc) is all your fault (via Tom Nelson)

Paper towels least green way of drying hands, study finds

That’s funny, because the more CO2 there is, the more plantlife thrives. Sounds kinda “green” to me

Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have completed what is believed to be the first major study to assess the greenest way of drying your hands.

Seriously? This is what the smart people are doing? Studies on drying your hands?

The research paper compared the seven most common drying methods in public toilets and concludes that paper towels and warm air hand dryers have the highest environmental toll – generating 70% more carbon emissions than the newest technology on the market, the cold air-driven hand dryer from UK manufacturer Dyson, which also commissioned the paper.

Drying your hands with cold air? With all due respect, Dyson, we can put that in the category of “things that suck”.

The study could also help consumers in comparing the environmental impact of products by distinguishing greenwash and making it easier to interpret the growing number of environmental claims. Last year Dyson and US paper towel corporation Kimberly Clark were involved in a row over research, which suggested “significant hygiene risks associated with jet air dryers and warm air dryers”, which Dyson dismissed as false claims.

I know you are super excited to take the time to consider your carbon footprint when you want to dry your hands. According to the studies, even using “cotton roll towels”, which appear to be one of those dispensers with fabric that you pull down, are bad for Globull Warming.

I guess you are pretty much left with drying your hands by wiping them on your clothes, but, hey, if you do a different spot each time, you can clean them, because using a washing machine is also bad for AGW.

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Portland PD Worried Occupiers Are Arming Themselves

Take this report with a grain of salt, because there is no hard proof provided in any of the multiple articles I perused

(Reuters) Portland police warned on Friday that anti-Wall Street protesters in the city were fashioning makeshift weapons with wood and nails, in advance of a planned move by authorities to clear their two encampments over the weekend.

The statement from Portland police came a day after Portland Mayor Sam Adams, citing sanitation and safety concerns, gave demonstrators until 12:01 a.m. on Sunday to clear out their tents.

Details on possible plans for violence within the camps come from people inside the encampments who are concerned, Portland police Sergeant Pete Simpson said.

There are reports weapons are being made with wood and nails, that a hole is being dug in one of the parks and that pallets are being turned into shields, said police.

The Portland Occupiers put out their own statement saying that the Portland PD was full of it, and that they were peaceful. We’ll see, once the police start evicting the unwashed heathens. If the city has the guts to stick to their stated timeline.

The police also stated that people are streaming in from places like Seattle, San Francisco, and Oakland, along with lots of anarchists. The anarchists are anarchists in name only, since they are really only far left progressives who wear dark colors and cover their faces. They want Big Government.

Oh, then there’s this

Police spokesman Lt. Robert King said officers took out enough stone and foundation rocks to fill a pickup truck after an Occupy Portland protester tipped off police.

King said one of the Occupy Portland protesters approached him and showed him one of the rocks that some of the campers appeared to be stockpiling.

And while the time of 20 officers was wasted, thanks to the Occupiers, removing rocks, they were fortunately there to perform CPR on the third person to have an overdose in Camp Stinky.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Please sign the drill now petition.

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November 11, 2011

Could a SCOTUS Ruling in Favor of The Individual Mandate Sink The Tea Party?

Elizabeth Wydra engages in a bit of fantasy over at The Politico, hoping against hope that the voices on the right will be shut down

Of all the possible outcomes being tossed around as the Affordable Care Act litigation heads for Supreme Court consideration, one is usually overlooked: If the court upholds the act’s constitutionality and its “individual mandate,” it could sound the death knell for the tea party.

Well, if pooping on cop cars, rampant drug use, violence, murder, sexual assault, and rape hasn’t shut down the Occupiers, a loss at SCOTUS wouldn’t eliminate the Tea Party. For one thing, the TP is not a single subject movement, unless you consider the over-arching idea of a limited federal government as the starting point.

The challenges to the mandate are perhaps the most concrete manifestation of the tea party’s vision of the Constitution and the role of government. The tea party has made its name by promoting a constitutional vision of a weak central government, incapable of addressing national issues — like the health care crisis, environmental protection and financial system reform — and this theory is at the heart of the lawsuits challenging the mandate. Progressives have long argued that the tea party’s vision has more to do with the failed Articles of Confederation than our enduring Constitution.

Liz was on the right track right up to the word “incapable.” That is incorrect. We understand that the federal government has a role, and what that role should be, as established by the pesky Constitution thing.

That argument by the progressives is a new one to me, though. Perhaps that’s how she thinks about it, without any real facts and knowledge.

But what if this message were delivered by the conservative Roberts Court in a high-profile defeat for the tea party in the health care litigation?

There is a distinct possibility that the high court could uphold the health care law’s constitutionality, not just with a 5-4 ruling — in which swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy sides with the court’s more liberal members — but with the support of conservative heroes, like Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Got that? A distinct possibility. Why?

After all, Scalia concurred in the 2005 decision, Gonzales v. Raich, in which the court upheld a federal ban on possession of marijuana grown in accordance with local law for personal, medicinal use — because the ban was part of a broader regulation of interstate commerce.

Except, marijuana, rightly or wrongly, is a Schedule I drug, banned and illegal, under federal law. Unlike the individual mandate, no one is being forced to purchase cannabis simply because they are a citizen of the United States under the Commerce clause, because they might possibly cross state lines at some point. Heck, the federal ban on drugs itself may be overbearing, if the drugs never cross a state line or US border.

The health care law might also pick up conservative support in the Supreme Court beyond the Commerce Clause argument. Another constitutional basis for the law’s individual mandate is that it is a “necessary and proper” means of carrying out Congress’s constitutional power to regulate commerce.

I love when Liberals cite the Constitution without context. The last line of Article I, Section 8, states

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

The powers of Congress are laid out in Section 8 prior to that line. Necessary and proper points to what Congress is tasked with doing, not that I really have to point that out to people who can read. Section 9 lays out what Congress cannot do. How about this one in 9?

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

The Obama administration has, at times, proclaimed that the mandate is a “tax.” So, the Constitution defeats their, and Elizabeth’s, argument.

Even if the Mandate was upheld by SCOTUS, it would only make the Tea Party work harder, and would not erase the primary purpose, which is to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.

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Man Shot, Killed Near Occupy Oakland

Just like during the Tea Party rallies….no? Funny, the media tended to call the Tea Party violent because people were bringing guns, in complete obeyence of the law, to the rallies. Yet, no one was shot during the rallies. We also didn’t have people pooping on cop cars, either

(SF Chronicle) A young man was fatally shot Thursday evening just yards from the Occupy Oakland encampment outside City Hall. And before the ambulance had even pulled away, people were debating whether the killing was somehow linked to the month-old gathering.

The man, whom several Occupy campers said they did not recognize, was shot in the head at about 5 p.m. outside a BART station exit in Frank Ogawa Plaza, at 14th Street and Broadway. He was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead, said interim Police Chief Howard Jordan.

Was he part of the Occupy movement? Well

The shooting happened in a busy section of downtown Oakland adjacent to the Occupy an encampment where drug use is prevalent, and where devoted protesters have increasingly struggled to control fights and robberies and deal with mentally ill homeless people.

Like minded people come together

But in the plaza amphitheatre, dozens of people gathered after the shooting out of concern that it would be cited as another reason to tear down the camp. One speaker, whose words were then repeated and amplified by the group, said, “I live in Oakland, and this is a daily occurrence.”

Perhaps it’s a “daily occurrence” because Liberal World doesn’t go for getting tough on criminals and criminality. Ever notice that the places with the worst crime tend to be Liberal run areas?

Critics of the encampment soon said the question of whether the dead man or the killers were protesters was irrelevant.

“This camp is attracting an element that’s adding to the problem that already exists,” said City Council President Larry Reid, one of five council members who held a news conference Wednesday calling for the camp’s removal.

This was not the first death, and, unfortunately, will not be the last, all for a nebulous protest against something or other that misses the mark. If they really wanted to make a difference, they’d protest the elected officials, both Democrat and Republican, who enable the conditions, and do it in Washington and at the politicians hometown offices. Alas, they don’t. They have this big problem with banks, corporations, and Wall Street, yet, they will surely all vote Obama 2012, despite him being a huge recipient of money from those same banks, big corporations, and Wall Street.

If they ever realized who and what are the real problems, they’d have a truly bipartisan protest, as, I bet, lots of Conservatives would join in. But, they want more spending (on themselves), bigger government, more intrusive government, and more taxation (on That Guy). If it happens, they’d bitch because government is all up in their business.

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November 10, 2011

In Which I Defend Rick Perry After He Stumbles Hard in Debate

It’s no secret that I do not like Rick Perry as a candidate and politician. I do not trust him. He isn’t that likeable to me. Looking at his record, he appears to be another in a long line of Big Government Republicans. I did not like how nasty the primaries became the minute he joined in. And, he doesn’t seem to really have answers, just platitudes. But, I am tending to avoid the bickering over the candidates, the “there’s no way in HELL I’m supporting this guy!” Obama must be defeated, this country cannot afford 4 more years of hopeNdope. And don’t forget, we must retake the Senate and keep the House. We could end up with Ronald Reagan’s recently decanted clone in the WH, and it would mean nothing if we do not control all of Congress. There are too many Democrat/Obama initiatives that must be fixed and repealed immediately.

That said, here’s what happened with Perry

(Business Insider) At today’s CNBC debate Texas Gov. Rick Perry was asked a question about his tax and spending plan — but completely blew an otherwise strong answer by looking like a complete fool.

Perry was listing the three Cabinet agencies he wants to abolish — and forgot the third one.

From the transcript:

Perry: And I will tell you, it is three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. Commerce, Education, and the — what’s the third one there? Let’s see…Okay. Commerce, Education, and the —”

Ron Paul: EPA?

Perry: EPA, there you go.

Moderator: Seriously — is epa one you are talking about?

Perry: No, sir, no, sir. we are talking about the — agencies of government — EPA needs to be rebuilt. >>

Moderator: you can’t — you can’t name the third one?

Perry: The third agency of government I would — I would do away with Education, the — >> Commerce…Commerce and, let’s see. I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.

About 15 minutes later, he finally remembered it was the Department of Energy. Let’s watch

Pundits all over the place are saying that this is the end of Perry’s campaign. His Intrade stock dropped heavily. The headline for the BI story cited in this post is “PERRY DEBATE DISASTER: This Is The Moment That Officially Killed His Campaign — For Good.” First of all, I don’t think so. This “gaffe” will soon be forgotten. If race baiting didn’t stop Joe Biden from being picked to be VP, if saying he’d been to 57 states with one more to go didn’t stop Obama, if demeaning people who believe in God and guns didn’t stop Obama, if (insert your favorite Obama craziness here), then this won’t damage Perry.

Second, and here is where I truly defend Perry, candidates are constantly having their heads stuffed with material, everything from foreign affairs, economic policies, etc, to who was a big donor they need to greet by name. All that material floating around in one’s head can interfere with the ability to remember even basic things. I’m sure this has happened to you (though, of course, you and I are not running for president).

Everyone can have a time where they forget something basic that they might have said a thousand times. Now, put yourself up on a stage in front of tons of people, with tons more tuning in on radio and TV.

So, let’s not over-react. Rick Perry will find some other real way to flame out. The video is still rather painful, though.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Please sign the drill now petition.

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NYPD Moves Higher Ranked Officers to Cover OWS

One would have thought the “enlightened” liberals, who always preach on about tolerance, women’s lib, respect for others, and treating others with kindness, would have been able to have a protest movement that highlights their self promoted values. Alas, no

(NY Post) Send in the cavalry!

The NYPD has moved three elite Manhattan homicide detectives and a deputy chief to the raucous Occupy Wall Street protest in response to a rash of sex attacks, thefts and vandalism — including graffiti scrawled on the nearby 9/11 Memorial, The Post has learned.

Hey, remember how there were sex attacks, thefts, and vandalism, at the Tea Parties? No? In fact, there are serious concerns in police departments around the country over the reported, and unreported, sex attacks, violence, and vandalism that have occurred and are sure to continue.

And NYPD brass assigned the Number 2 official in charge of the Organized Crime Control Bureau — Deputy Chief Kevin Ward — to work the troublesome 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift at the park, sources said.

OWS is dealing with crime from both outside and inside. And the more wackos that show up, the more chance for something even more serious to happen.

Nearby merchants — who have complained of vandalism, theft and threats from the squatters — welcomed the increased police presence.

“It’s good for all of us,” said Stacey Tzortzatos, owner of Panini & Co. She says she has been threatened more than once, and had to shell out $3,000 to fix a restroom vandalized by protesters.

Glad to see that these Leftist Occupiers are standing up for the middle class small business owners. Of course, in Liberal World, anything that stands in the way of ….. whateverthehell they are trying to do….. will be broken.

Anyhow, what do these police think about this?

But some cops called the move a waste of manpower.

“Sending homicide detectives to investigate vandalism and lost-property cases is a little much,” chuckled one police official.

Another called it an overreaction, adding, “If you have graffiti on your mailbox, call up and see how long it’ll take to get a criminal-mischief report filed.”

Is it overkill and a waste? You betcha. It’s been a waste of manpower since the get-go, with the NYPD having to watch the Occupiers, both to stop trouble from coming to them and from them creating trouble. I suspect, though, that the NYPD wants the high end officers because of not only their experience, but, because of their reputations, when the Occupiers will surely blame them of something.

The Occupiers are costing the cities large amounts of money that, in this depressed Obama economy, they can ill afford to spend, money which could be better used for real issues. The cities are having to task assets to the occupations that would be best used elsewhere. The Occupiers do not care. Liberalism is all about oneself, with nary a thought that what they espouse, progressivism, a version of fascism, would take away their ability to fulfill their “if it feels good, do it” lives.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Please sign the drill now petition.

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» Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Anti-Capitalism, Crime, Fox News, Government incompetence, Hypocrisy/Situational Ethics, Law Enforcement, Liberal World, Mobocracy, News, Occupy Wall Street, Rent-A-Mob, Socialism, State Government, Taxes, government waste, liberalism, progressivism, social parasites

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November 9, 2011

Rick Perry: Oops…Can’t Remember What Agency I’ll Cut

Perry stole the show at the Republican debate last night. This has to be the biggest gaffe I’ve ever seen in a Presidential debate. Top Perry fundraiser says, “campaign is over”. Hat tip: Hot Air

Other highlights of the debate was the huge ovation Herman Cain recieved when responding to sexual harassment charges and a solid performance from Newt Gingrich, whom many are giving another look.

Also see Michelle Malkin, the Right Scoop, Strata-Sphere, and The Other McCain

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» Filed Under Debate, Elections, Herman Cain, News, Republicans, Video

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Who’s Up For a Christmas Tree Tax?

Admin Update: Christmas Tree Tax: WH ‘Grinch’ Move Put on Hold

11/09/11 8:51PM
_____________________

Yes, you can thank the Obama administration for this one

(Heritage) President Obama’s Agriculture Department today announced that it will impose a new 15-cent charge on all fresh Christmas trees—the Christmas Tree Tax—to support a new Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees.

OK, it’s not much, and it only applies to those who sell more than 500 Christmas trees…..are we still allowed to say that? Isn’t it now “Holiday Tree”?……., but, why would they do this?

In the Federal Register of November 8, 2011, Acting Administrator of Agricultural Marketing David R. Shipman announced that the Secretary of Agriculture will appoint a Christmas Tree Promotion Board. The purpose of the Board is to run a “program of promotion, research, evaluation, and information designed to strengthen the Christmas tree industry’s position in the marketplace; maintain and expend existing markets for Christmas trees; and to carry out programs, plans, and projects designed to provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry” (7 CFR 1214.46(n)). And the program of “information” is to include efforts to “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States” (7 CFR 1214.10).

Here is government at its best: putting a tax, albeit a tiny one, on something that everyone, including the aliens who plan on destroying humanity over globull warming, knows about. There is absolutely no need for Big Government to help with marketing, research, evaluation, and information that strengthens the Christmas tree industry. Said program will probably cost more than any taxes taken in, just in administration.

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» Filed Under Agriculture/Farming, Barack Obama, Christmas, Democrats, Holidays, News, Taxes, liberalism, taxation without representation

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Hypocrisy Alert: OccupyOakland Puts $20K in Wells Fargo Account

The “we’re not sure what we’re really protesting but we sure don’t like Wall Street and Big Banks (who tend to hold a huge chunk of the money for union pensions)” movement in #ViolentOccupyOakland does what every liberal does: by hypocrites

(SF Examiner) Last week, one or more Occupy Oakland protesters smashed the windows of a Wells Fargo branch.

This week, the group’s general assembly agreed — in a near-unanimous vote Monday — to temporarily place $20,000 of the group’s money in an account at the country’s fourth-largest bank holding company, Wells Fargo Bank.

Whether the decision was an abandonment of the movement’s opposition to big banks or an ominous affirmation of the hold that big banks have on Americans, Twitter was ablaze with outrage last night, as news spread about the 162-8 vote, from which 16 people abstained.

“I am so disgusted right now. the hypocrisy of it all is just amazing,” wrote @GiveMeThatJuice.

I wonder why they did this

According to meeting minutes posted on a Facebook page for the “Oakland General Assembly,” the group’s lawyer, Tim Fong, will temporarily keep a $20,000 donation from Occupy Wall Street in a Wells Fargo account, until he can finalize paperwork needed to open a credit union account for the group. The move is necessary to expedite the money’s availability for bailing out jailed protesters, the minutes said.

Occupy Wall Street donated the money to Occupy Oakland with stipulation that it be put toward medical and legal needs.

So, it’s easier to put the money in Big Banks, and they need access to use the money in a way the #OWS did not intend? Does that sound rather familiar for the way Democrats in government tend to use the People’s money?

BTW, who’s going to pay the state and federal taxes on that “gift” from OWS? I hope the IRS is watching. They shouldn’t have to, though, because these far left hooligans believe in everyone paying their fair share.

Elsewhere, via OWS Exposed, we find out from Gawker that OccupyDenver has elected Shelby their leader. Shelby is a ….. border collie!

And from Jammie Wearing Fools, the Portland PD suspects Occupy Portland in Molotov cocktail attacks.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Please sign the drill now petition.

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November 8, 2011

Herman Cain Says He Will Take Lie Detector Test on Claims

Update 2: His fundraising ain’t hurtin’. He rakes in 1 million on his Iowa fund a day earlier than the goal.

Update: One of the accuser’s mom works for Politico! Surprise!
Pretty bold and confident!

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Tuesday that he would be willing to take a lie detector test to rebut multiple claims that he engaged in sexual harassment in the 1990s, though he seemed to stop short of promising to do so.

“Yes. I absolutely would,” Cain said when asked about taking a test. “But I’m not going to do that unless I have a good reason to do that. Of course I would be willing to do a lie detector test.”

I think we have a good reason, lets do it. Challenge her to do the same. Lets get it out and done with.

The Other McCain has comments on Cain’s press conference:

It is too early to analyze or evaluate the long-term impact. The immediate reaction toward Cain’s press conference has been generally positive. If he didn’t “hit a home run,” as they say, he at least got a solid stand-up double. And his vow that he will continue the campaign, without regard to his accusers or their accusations, is perhaps the most important thing he said during the press conference.

We will also see how the shift in rhetoric goes with another accuser coming out. Keep in mind, she works for Obama.
Cain’s campaign has also launched a new website: Cain Truth! Check it out. Hat tip: Tea Party Brew.