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Monday, November 30, 2009
$3,000 on flowers
Of taxpayer money:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spent $2,993 in taxpayer money on flowers between June and October. House Majority Whip James Clyburn has a thing for Chantilly Donuts, spending about $500 at the Virginia shop in the past quarter. And Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), a fiscal conservative, decided to give about $2,000 in unused office funds back to the government to help reduce the deficit.These expenditures – culled from thousands of line items released Monday by the Chief Administrative Officer of the House – are just a fraction of the $300 million spent last quarter by House offices. But while the bulk of congressional office spending goes to salaries and routine office expenses, some of the line items offer a window into the personalities and priorities of each congressional office.
More global warming hypocrisy
So the head of the IPCC goes around today saying nothing has changed about global warming even though emails have been exposed that reveal climate "adjustments" and the original data upon which global warming is based has been destroyed. Who is this fellow? Check out Mark Steyn at NRO:
In order to save the planet from global roasting, it seems entirely reasonable to ask Mr. and Mrs. Joe Peasant to subordinate their freedom of movement to an annual "carbon allowance" preventing them flying hither and yon and devastating the environment. As Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,explains:Hotel guests should have their electricity monitored; hefty aviation taxes should be introduced to deter people from flying; and iced water in restaurants should be curtailed, the world’s leading climate scientist has told the Observer.
Rajendra Pachauri? Hey, if you're manning the VIP lounge at Heathrow, that name may ring a bell:
Dr Rajendra Pachauri flew at least 443,243 miles on IPCC business in this 19 month period. This business included honorary degree ceremonies, a book launch and a Brookings Institute dinner, the latter involving a flight of 3500 miles.
DOJ refuses to investigate ACORN
And has ruled that ACORN may receive federal funding. From Powerline:
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Mammograms and rationing
1 out of 1900 women under the age of 50 are diagnosed with breast cancer.
The question at the center of the debate is “Who should control the personal and complex process of medical decision making? You and your physician? Or Washington?” Will patients remain free to choose whether or not to have screening mammograms? Or will the government secure the right to determine what life-saving tests Americans should or should not have?
It is significant the US Preventive Services Task Force is referenced four times as a primary source of medical information in the latest Senate healthcare bill. Washington is consumed with politics and power, not patient care.
NASA guy wants to tax EVERYTHING
No, seriously. Then get rid of fossil fuels. Then give everyone a carbon card and once they exceed their allotment, they have to pay. Of course, those who live in Detroit will get exemptions. As will those who live in Los Angeles. And New York. And John Kerry's home town. This is James Hansen, the NASA nut who helped start the global warming fiasco. Follow this link over to the Guardian and read the article. Then look down at the bottom and notice how many comments have been removed by the moderator. Looks like they are applying the same philosophy with comments as the global warmers do to the raw data.
Is it feasible to phase out coal and avoid use of unconventional fossil fuels? Yes, but only if governments face up to the truth: as long as fossil fuels are the cheapest energy, their use will continue and even increase on a global basis.Governments must place a uniform rising price on carbon, collected at the fossil fuel source – the mine or port of entry. The fee should be given to the public in toto, as a uniform dividend, payroll tax deduction or both. Such a tax is progressive – the dividend exceeds added energy costs for 60% of the public.
Democrats channel Rhett Butler
They aren't listening and they are going to do whatever they want. Read over at The Anchoress:
It becomes increasingly clear the Democrats have become the party that does not give a crap about what mainstream America thinks or wants. They have decided that owning both houses of congress and the White House means they do not have any particular responsibility toward fundamental ethics-in-governance, honesty, accountability or transparency. This goes beyond simply tsking, “imagine how they’d be screaming if Bush (or anyone with an R after their name) were doing this…”
The Democrat congress that promised to “drain the swamp” and usher in a new era of everything good and open and uncorrupted has proved that it does not actually give a crap about any of that.
Do you see an abuse of power in the President of the United States firing an Inspector General (and attempting to slander his mental capacities) in order to cover up a misuse of funds involving a sex scandal, and do you wonder why Congress is not investigating same?
More climategate blowback
Hot Air has an interesting perspective on the ramifications of the "loss" of the raw data regarding AGW (anthropogenic global warming theory). This is a HUGE story, only going to grow as Obama moves toward giving American sovereignty over to the UN at the Copenhagen treaty in December in a treaty that would supercede the U.S. Constitution. Hard to say what the 60 majority with Al Franken would do in the Senate regarding such a treaty.
And after the release of the e-mails that show UEA-CRU deliberately kneecapping other scientists who dared venture from the heterodoxy and discuss methods of hiding contradictory data and findings, it’s hard to believe that this wasn’t by design rather than carelessness. After all, without that raw data, the world would have to just take UEA-CRU’s word for it — and until those e-mails got released, it seems that most people would have done so.
Raw data from global warming scheme DUMPED
Create a wild theory suggesting the world will become chaos in a few years if your theory isn't heeded. Then imagine throwing out the raw data that proves your theory. Imagine making unavailable facts on which your basic theories are based. Then imagine creating global industries and treaties based around the theory you created and supposedly based on the raw data that you threw out. These treaties will forever alter the balance of economies around the world, taking from countries like the US and giving to third world countries. You, of course, will have created your own industries and heavily invested in so-called "green" companies which will thrive in this new economy which is, of course, all based on computer models based on raw data you threw out.
SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.
Media hobnobs with "better than average" people at State dinner
Yes, you read that right. Brian Williams looks around the dinner and calls the other media personnel and Democrats surrounding him "better than average people." Hm. One wonders how objective these media personnel are when it comes to reporting on the glitterati surrounding them. Will they dig for the truth? Will they cover ClimateGate? Will they play the heart strings for the Navy Seals who are undergoing courts martial for allegedly giving a fat lip to a terrorist? Read at News Busters.
Needless to say, Williams doesn't always feel this dazzled in front of presidents. He pushed George W. Bush around with the charge he mishandled Hurricane Katrina because of his "clueless patrician" upbringing.
In addition to Williams and Couric, the other TV journalists on the official White House invitation list were Robin Roberts of ABC, as well as Sanjay Gupta and Fareed Zakaria of CNN. (Although it was implied on air, ABC's Claire Shipman was not on the list.) General Electric (and thus NBC) CEO Jeff Immelt was also on the list.
There were also print journalists who made the White House list: Thomas Friedman of the New York Times and Raju Narisetti and Rajiv Chandasekaran of The Washington Post.
Obamas adulation continues
Heh. Mrs. Obama resembles no one else. No one else wearing a large rubber military belt just below her bosoms.
The Elle style jury, led by Nathalie Rykiel, of the Sonia Rykiel house, said that the emphasis this year was on strong personalities who shone with a distinctive style. “Mrs Obama resembles no one else — her style is unique,” said Elle. “She encourages young designers and has succeeded in imposing the waisted cardigan as official dress.
Peer review scam
More from Mark Steyn on the peer review scam encouraged by the global warm-mongers, as Steyn describes them:
So much for Climate Research. When Geophysical Research Letters also showed signs of wandering off the “consensus” reservation, Dr. Tom Wigley (“one of the world’s foremost experts on climate change”) suggested they get the goods on its editor, Jim Saiers, and go to his bosses at the American Geophysical Union to “get him ousted.” When another pair of troublesome dissenters emerge, Dr. Jones assured Dr. Mann, “I can’t see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin and I will keep them out somehow — even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!”
Which in essence is what they did. The more frantically they talked up “peer review” as the only legitimate basis for criticism, the more assiduously they turned the process into what James Lewis calls the Chicago machine politics of international science. The headline in the Wall Street Journal Europe is unimproveable: “How To Forge A Consensus.” Pressuring publishers, firing editors, blacklisting scientists: That’s “peer review,” climate-style.
The real cost of the health care program-$6.25 TRILLION
Apparently there are TWO gimmicks being used in the health care scheme. Read about it here:
Here’s where things get really ugly. TPMDC’s Brian Beutler calls “the” $2.5-trillion cost estimate a “doozy” of a “hysterical Republican whopper.” Not only is he incorrect, he doesn’t seem to realize that Gregg and I are correcting for different budget gimmicks; it’s just a coincidence that we happened to reach the same number.
$500,000 mortgage given free
Okay, so you have this doll business and you decide to refinance your home because, on paper, your home is worth more than you owe on it. Then you run into some financial problems. So you try to refinance but the bank does want to go along with what you want to do. You go to court. At court, the judge calls the bank "repulsive" and gives you the house free. That sounds fair, huh? I mean, nobody has to actually PAY for that loan, right? It's not like others will have to absorb the cost of that mortgage, right? Oh, did I mention the loan is for $500,000?
Mrs Horoski, an English professor, bought the 3,400 sq ft (315 sq m) bungalow 15 years ago for less than $200,000. In 2004, after the value of the home soared, she refinanced with a mortgage for $292,500 from Deutsche Bank at an initial interest rate of 10.375 per cent that rose as high as 12.5 per cent.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Drive on to privatize public hospitals
Just as we are moving in one direction with our 300 million population, the Brits may be moving in another with their 50 million population:
One of Labour's great triumphs with the National Health Service is that people now go into hospital to die rather than to be cured. It seems to render the whole debate about assisted suicide utterly pointless. Who needs a Dignitas clinic when you can check into a hospital in Basildon and be relatively certain to be taken out in a box?
US soldiers may be tried in world court
An ominous development from the Wall Street Journal:
"You are suggesting that we are a court only for the Third World. That's what the Arab world said about Bashir, that we are using double standards," he explained. "I said no, I prosecute whoever is in my jurisdiction. I cannot allow that we are a court just for the Third World. If the First World commits crimes, they have to investigate, if they don't, I shall investigate. That's the rule and we have one rule for everyone."
Let's print more stimulus money!
Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit has the details. Pelosi (is she the dumbest person in Congress?) says we didn't get anything for our stimulus money so we should print more. I guess too much of the money went to ACORN, which Eric Holder just said the federal government should continue paying even though they are proven to be a crooked organization. ARGH!
Nancy Pelosi told leftist supporters today that the the reason Americans are mad about their record spending is that “they’re not getting anything for it.”
And, that’s why she wants a new Stimulus Bill!
FOX News reported, via Ace:Building the case for a brand new jobs-creation bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says most Americans would not mind inflating the already-gaping deficit in exchange for more jobs.
The California Democrat said on a conference call Tuesday that Americans could “absorb” the hit to the federal budget, and she argued that their biggest complaint is not that the deficit is big — it’s that they’re not seeing any benefit in return for increasing the U.S. debt load.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Robin of Berkeley has a personal testimony, having been so recently one of the left. This is a must-read:
I finally beheld what my eyes had refused to see: that leftists are Mr. and Ms. Misogyny. Neither the males nor the females care a whit about women.Then along came Sarah, and the attacks became particularly heinous. And I realized something even more chilling about the Left. Leftists not only sacrifice and disrespect women, but it's far worse: many are perpetuators.
The moral imperative of buying insurance for everyone
Powerline has a perspective:
I don't believe that Democrats in Congress actually disagree with the majority of voters who expect a government takeover of medicine to result in worse health care at a higher cost. Rather, the Democrats believe that degraded health care is an acceptable price to pay for what they are really after--government domination over the life of every citizen. Whether the American people understand how profound is the Democrats' assault on their liberties, and will be willing to do what it takes to throw the greedy rascals out of power, remains to be seen.
The stimulus funding calculation
Michigan's Department of Transportation offers up yet another reason to doubt the accuracy of the reported number of stimulus grants. From the Clare County Review in Michigan:
Statewide the Michigan Department of Transportation is the recipient of $566.9 million in stimulus funds. Clare County is receiving $3.35 million of that total for two projects, the new 44,000 square foot Clare County Transit facility and the recently completed 5.5 mile portion of the Peré Marquette Rail trail through Farwell.
Janet Foran of MDOT’s Office of Communications said “The stimulus funding calculation for jobs created is one job for each $92,000 invested, making, if the calculation is accurate, three hundred sixty-four jobs created or saved by the investment."
If you define stimulus money in advance as creating a certain number of jobs per dollar, then obviously you will achieve the results the Obama administration has been looking for. How many other reported stimulus jobs have been "created or saved" through this kind of circular logic?
Even Peggy Noonan having doubts
There is a certain brand of so-called conservative who has fallen for the debonair performances of the current occupant of the White House. These conservatives are part of Washington's elites. Though they tend to fall under the -R- category, they are still invited to all the right parties, which is part of Washington's appeal. They went to the right schools (unlike Sarah Palin), they are from *good* families (unlike Sarah Palin), and they speak without dropping their g's (unlike Sarah Palin) and they have held positions of authority in consequential administrations. Even though they might be casually determined to be -R-s, they are still part of the new ruling class.
Peggy Noonan has fallen into that category of recent years, along with Frum and Brooks. That's why this article in the WSJ is somewhat telling. She's monitoring The One's constant bowing and its effect on the electorate:
It is true that Mr. Obama often seems not to have a firm grasp of—or respect for—protocol, of what has been done before and why, and of what divergence from the traditional might imply. And it is true that his political timing was unfortunate. When a great nation is feeling confident and strong, a surprising presidential bow might seem gracious. When it is feeling anxious, a bow will seem obsequious.
71 dead due to filth in govt health care
This is a hospital in England. There are several stories around the web today about the appalling conditions of several government health care institutions in England:
FILTHY conditions at a major hospital may have led to up to 71 deaths, it was claimed yesterday.
Government investigators had rated the Basildon University Hospital as "good" in October.
It received 13 out of 14 for cleanliness and five out of five for keeping the public healthy.
Global warming is the cause of
(Jonah Goldberg has the goods...)
Re: Re: This Just In [Jonah Goldberg]And of course, global warming also causes:
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Scientific red flags
A great observation by a reader over at NRO:
Here are some red flags in the behavior of mainstream scientists that
could be used as prompts for examining more carefully the consensus
position.
(1) Consistent use of ad hominem attacks toward those challenging their
positions.
(2) Refusal to make data public. This has been going on in this area for
some time.
(3) Refusal to engage in discussions of the actual science, on the
assumption that it is too complicated for others to understand.
(4) Challenging the credentials of those challenging the consensus position.
(5) Refusal to make computer code being used to analyze the data public.
This has been particularly egregious here, and clear statements of the
mathematics and statistics being employed would have allowed the
conclusions to be challenged at a much earlier stage.
Tuition hike in California
Perhaps you've heard of the 32% tuition hike for California public colleges. Sounds horrendous. Given the condition of the state's finances, perhaps it's not so unreasonable, considering that California colleges are subsidized by the state. How subsidized, you say? Ah, I'm glad you asked. Look at this. Tuition is actually up to, gasp, ten thousand dollars a year.
The controversial fee hike will be applied in two steps over the next two years. Students will pay more than 10-thousand dollars in tuition next year, far less than than the cost of private colleges but three times the price of the California system just a decade ago.
Peer reviewed global warming articles
In case you caught the Ed Begley meltdown on Cavuto with Stuart Varney the other day (video of it is all over the web), you heard him repeatedly saying, "Don't get your information from me or Rush Limbaugh! Just read the peer reviewed articles! That's where you'll get the truth! Read the peer reviews!" This is an obvious meme being repeated to stave off criticism of the abominable behavior of the exposed scientists. Well, here's some commentary about those wonderful peer reviewed articles:
But what stood out most for me was extensive evidence of the hijacking of the "peer review" process to enforce global warming dogma. Peer review is the practice of subjecting scientific papers to review by other scientists with relevant expertise before they can be published in professional journals. The idea is to weed out research with obvious flaws or weak arguments, but there is a clear danger that such a process will simply reinforce groupthink. If it is corrupted, peer review can be a mechanism for an entrenched establishment to exclude legitimate challenges by simply refusing to give critics a hearing
.And that is precisely what we find.
Global warming scammers retool
As the scandal (Climategate) grows from the revelation of the hacked CRU emails, you'll notice a new meme among global warming alarmists. Since the whole global warming thing isn't working after the last 10 years have been excessively cool, they are changing their tactics. Now it's everyone's health. Read it here:
And, supporters of emission reductions say, there would be clear long-term health and environmental benefits from shifting the a clean-energy economy.