Brandon

Friday, February 28, 2014

Dogs on the Menu in Indonesia: Does Obama Feel Homesick?

When kids in America were eating hot dogs, young Barack was eating dogs hot!

The Daily Mail has the story of dogs in Indonesia, abused, killed and roasted. It reminded me of Obama's admission he ate dog meat in Indonesia. Has anyone seen White House First Dog Bo lately?
'
Abuse, savage killing then roasted (warning, the link is graphic). What lovely customs they have in Obama's chidhood home country! Do Obama's Hollywood supporters know about this? Where's Darryl Hannah?

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

40 Students Dead in Niger Attack and We're Running Out of Excuses for Islamic Terrorism

You can't blame Israel or U.S. foreign policy for this one!

USA Today has the story. In the African nation of Niger Islamic militants went to a co-ed hostel where students in northeast Nigerian college were staying and locked the doors before setting fire to the building. Students who tried to escape through the windows had their throats cut as they tried to escape. Dozens were murdered or burned to death.

The usual suspects in this country, including many in the Obama Administration delude themselves into thinking that terrorism is the result of a reaction to U.S. foreign or military policy or a reaction to Israel. Or perhaps terrorism is fueled by poverty (despite the fact that the top dogs in Al Queda were rich or well off). The thinking is that if we could only find some way to appease terrorists they would behave.

The problem with these excuses is that they ignore the dozens of attacks just like the one in Niger (300 more victims in Niger just this month) where the victims are in no way connected with U.S. foreign policy. About the closest excuse is to blame the West because students want an education. But this unmasks the terrorists true aim. Either we all agree to submit to their demands and be ruled by strict Islamic law or they feel compelled, as a duty, to kill us.

There's no way to use weasel words to escape from that reality though many still refuse to accept it.

Obama claims that terrorists are on the run. He's right. They're running right for us every chance they get. And Obama isn't doing anything to counter the real motivation behind these attacks. Like many on the left he can't bring himself to admit the truth about this enemy!

Sen. Marco Rubio Blasts the Left's Lies, Delusions and Willful Ignorance Regarding Cuba and Venezuela

For some reason the left can never see the dark red side of communism. But they'll trumpet every flaw about America!


Yesterday I posted in pictures the story of student protests in Venezuela and asked why the left was either silent in support or on the side of the oppressive government thugocracy? A day earlier, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), an arch liberal reported on a recent trip to Cuba where he swallowed every bit of left wing propaganda that was served up to him by the Cuban government.

Senator Rubio (R-FL) followed Harkin to the floor with the real story about Cuba, and it's role in the world including the oppression in Venezuela. It's the story Harkin didn't want to see during his visit. Rubio's response was mostly off the cuff (no teleprompter needed) and thoroughly debunked the propaganda that Harkin so eagerly lapped up. Despite the nearly 15 minute length, it's worth viewing. Try just a sample and see. Text follows the jump:



RUBIO: "If this nation [U.S.] is not firmly on the side of human rights and freedom and the dignity of all people, what nation on the Earth will? And if we’re prepared to walk away from that, then I submit to you that this century is going to be a dangerous and dark one."
...
"Why have close to one and a half million people left Cuba to come here? But the only people that leave here to move there, are fugitives from the law and people that steal money from Medicare that go there to hide? Why? How come no American baseball players defect to Cuba? Why don’t any American doctors defect to Cuba if it’s such a paradise?"
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio
Senate Floor Speech
February 24, 2014

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The People of Venezuela Demand FREEDOM!

Where is the American left?

Latest news has the death toll in the Venezuela freedom protests at 13. Initially, the protest involved students who protested a rape attempt on a college campus and were abused by the police. The protests spread and violence by enforcers of the Maduro regime followed. Protests now include others opposed to the left wing fascist regime but the movement is largely centered on youths disillusioned with the failures of socialism. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan government, and some in the American left deny the organic nature of the uprising and rather lamely insist the protest is the result of paramilitary activity and right wing "elites." As usual, it's the exact opposite.

Does this look like a gang of paramilitary elites to you?




If the above were Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli troops leftists in the U.S. would be marching alongside. But these students dare to protest against the failure of socialism. That can't be allowed!



22 year old Genesis Carmona, a local beauty pageant winner, shot in the head and killed by government supporters is carried away by motorcycle.


Protesters place flowers outside a government ammunition factory. A morbid joke on the street is that In Venezuela, the only thing not in short supply is ammunition for government guns!

It's  a war on women but you won't hear a peep about it from the American left!


 Hundreds of thousands take to the streets last Saturday in the capital city of Caracas. A gathering a tad too big to be simply "elites" wouldn't you say?

American left in knots over socialist repression

The far left is in fits over the Venezuela protests. To many on the left Venezuela under Chavez and now Maduro was a people's paradise. A paradise where the staples of daily life like milk and toilet paper were in short supply and bands of red shirted thugs enforced "social justice" on the people but never mind all that. Hollywood leftists especially have been the biggest backers of Venezuela's fascist regime.

For the left Occupy Wall Street, that pathetic band of unwashed malcontents, was a real people's movement. The same folks deny that the student's movement in Venezuela is a genuine political protest. Left wingers are twisting themselves into knots trying to justify oppression, even violence, against students, including women, who dare to defy the dictates of social justice. Is rape somehow justified if the perpetrators are socialists?

Some hard left media appears hopeful for a crackdown on freedom activists. Ron Radash points to that strain of leftism that insists it is a duty to repress the right. We already see that attitude in American universities where the predominant left tries to shut down or shout down voices they disagree with. So, if the government in Venezuela does ramp up the violence, including rape and torture, don't expect to hear anything but approval coming from the left in this country!

I stand with the students of Venezuela. Do you?

Saturday, February 22, 2014

With IRS, FCC, Attacks on Free Speech, Ukraine, Venezuela Unrest COULD Happen Here

Any effort to criminalize legitimate opposition ultimately leads to tyranny and violence!

In Ukraine, a bloody government crackdown on protesters created scenes that look like they are right out of some Hollywood horror story.













Things are a tad less bloody in Venezuela where despite the nation's oil wealth the average citizen faces shortages of essentials like toilet paper and milk.

Governments in both Ukraine and Venezuela share other common traits.
  •  Both are socialist countries aligned with communist boss states. Venezuela is an ally of Cuba and leaders in Ukraine are attempting to take the country back under Russian control. 
  • Both have rewritten constitutions to maintain and expand power. 
  • Both have criminalized opposition and arrested opposition leaders.
  • Both have limited free speech and sought to control the news media. 
  • Both are using violence to protect corrupt regimes that squander the wealth of the people.
It could never happen here right?

Or could it? Obama has:
  • Ignored the U.S. Constitution and rewritten or ignored laws unilaterally.
  • Given billions in taxpayer funds to corrupt union and green energy cronies
  • Sought to use the IRS to punish members of the opposition Tea Party and Romney backers.
  • Waged a campaign to delegitimize Fox News and other critical media. Using the Federal Communications Commission to monitor newscasts.
  • Used the Department of Justice to target opponents (Dinesh D'Souza comes to mind) and overturn state election laws.
  • Used the Department of Justice to spy on reporters and obtain phone records.
That's just a short list. I invite readers to add to it.

Add to this the fact that long before Obama arrived on the scene academics were using their privileged positions to brainwash students and shut out or shout down alternate points of view.

So far, Obama's thugocracy hasn't engaged in violent attacks on opposition. But one wonders why the Department of Homeland Security needs to order more than 700 million rounds of ammunition.

UPDATE: Good news in Ukraine: Former communists have abandoned the fight and fled from office. Americans will have to wait three more years to begin restoring our freedom!

UPDATE: North Korean Concentration Camps: Something Obama can aspire to replicate? A report in the Daily Mail describing the horror of being on the wrong side of the government in a worker's paradise.

UPDATE: Daily Mail has Ukraine Revolution in pictures.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Like Other Climate Forecasts/Predictions, Winter Forecast Terribly Wrong. Plus: Climate Scientists Explain Why Global Warming Theory is False

Both forecasts and warming theory predictions don't match reality!

Living on the coast I pay a lot of attention to hurricanes. And every year since Hurricane Katrina, the forecasters predict a bad year with many large storms. Except that the exact opposite is what has been happening since Katrina.

This year the Climate Prediction Center, an agency of the U.S. government gave this as their winter temperature forecast:
Instead, this was the actual observations:


On the forecasters own scale from 100 (very right) to -50 ("monkeys throwing darts would have done better") the score for this prediction is -22.

In this same area of discussion, a graph from the Washington Post showing snow totals for various cities:


Of course a colder winter with more snow is "just weather" and not related to global warming. Except for the fact that those who advanced global warming arguments during milder winters said just the opposite.

Global Warmers the Real Flat Earth Deniers

As I pointed out earlier this week Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have ramping up the global warming noise machine. Both insist that the "science is settled." Kerry went so far as to toss insults at anyone who disagreed saying those who disagreed were part of the "Flat Earth Society." He went on to say "we should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists" and "extreme ideologues to compete with scientific facts." But if you look at the facts objectively it's Kerry and Obama who are relying on shoddy science and behaving like extreme ideologues.

A great op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by Richard McNider and John Christy is one of the best refutations of globaloney to come out in a while. McNider and Christy are professors of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama. Christy was part of the United Nations Panel on Climate Change. If you read only one article on this subject, read this one.

It includes the following chart comparing temperature forecasts which are based on CO2 increases to the actual temperature observations for the past 35 years. Plenty of time to determine whether the models based on global warming theory are correct:


Here's an excerpt:
What is not a known fact is by how much the Earth's atmosphere will warm in response to this added carbon dioxide. The warming numbers most commonly advanced are created by climate computer models built almost entirely by scientists who believe in catastrophic global warming. The rate of warming forecast by these models depends on many assumptions and engineering to replicate a complex world in tractable terms, such as how water vapor and clouds will react to the direct heat added by carbon dioxide or the rate of heat uptake, or absorption, by the oceans.

We might forgive these modelers if their forecasts had not been so consistently and spectacularly wrong. From the beginning of climate modeling in the 1980s, these forecasts have, on average, always overstated the degree to which the Earth is warming compared with what we see in the real climate.
...
The modelers insist that they are unlucky because natural temperature variability is masking the real warming. They might be right, but when a batter goes 0 for 10, he's better off questioning his swing than blaming the umpire.
...
"Consensus" science that ignores reality can have tragic consequences if cures are ignored or promising research is abandoned. The climate-change consensus is not endangering lives, but the way it imperils economic growth and warps government policy making has made the future considerably bleaker. The recent Obama administration announcement that it would not provide aid for fossil-fuel energy in developing countries, thereby consigning millions of people to energy poverty, is all too reminiscent of the Sick and Health Board denying fresh fruit to dying British sailors.

We should not have a climate-science research program that searches only for ways to confirm prevailing theories, and we should not honor government leaders, such as Secretary Kerry, who attack others for their inconvenient, fact-based views.
Meanwhile, there is a forecast of another big freeze on the way. Sadly, they may have gotten this forecast right!

UPDATE: Prominent Scientist Describes the Corruption of Science by Warming Activists

I came across this little gem. It's written by Prof. Fred Singer. Who's he?
S. Fred Singer is professor emeritus at the University of Virginia and director of the Science & Environmental Policy Project. His specialty is atmospheric and space physics. An expert in remote sensing and satellites, he served as the founding director of the US Weather Satellite Service and, more recently, as vice chair of the US National Advisory Committee on Oceans & Atmosphere.
The article makes a great companion piece with the one above. If you were to read only TWO articles on this topic, Singer's would be on the list! Singer describes how the process of science has become corrupted by the politics of global warming activists. Taking on the problem of global warming models he suggests that activists believe "95% of climate models agree; therefore the observations must be wrong!" Singer concludes:
In the words of physicist Prof Howard "Cork" Hayden:

"If the science were as certain as climate activists pretend, then there would be precisely one climate model, and it would be in agreement with measured data. As it happens, climate modelers have constructed literally dozens of climate models. What they all have in common is a failure to represent reality, and a failure to agree with the other models. As the models have increasingly diverged from the data, the climate clique have nevertheless grown increasingly confident -- from cocky in 2001 (66% certainty in IPCC's Third Assessment Report) to downright arrogant in 2013 (95% certainty in the Fifth Assessment Report)." Climate activists seem to embrace faith and ideology -- and are no longer interested in facts.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Good News for Solar Power?

If the free market makes it economical to go green, then you won't need a government program!

I'll take this article with a grain of salt considering how it's from a pro-green site: Cost Of Solar PV Continues To Plummet. The bottom line is that the cost of manufacturing solar panels is dropping dramatically. While the day has not yet arrived that solar power can compete with conventional energy sources it is possible if the technology and manufacturing efficiency continues to improve.

The best way to improve solar's chances is NOT to shackle the emerging industry to government subsidies. That concept has failed in Europe where electric rates are more than double what they are in the United States. Solar's best long term solution is to stand on it's own.

What happens when government forces solar on homeowners is not always pretty. Last week the U.K. Daily Mail had a story describing homeowners forced to install solar panels who then saw their energy costs rise by over 200% because the technology was flawed.

Get government out of the way and allow the free market to make solar affordable. But  don't make solar affordable by making oil and gas too expensive. That only raises energy costs for the poor and Middle Class.




Monday, February 17, 2014

Obama Pushes Global Warming Lies And Requests Billion Dollar Slush Fund. Plus: Climate Expert Says No Link Between Bad Winter and Global Warming

Obama says something that is demonstrably false yet it is reported as if it were true!

Readers are probably getting tired of reading about global warming here. By now, most of those with any objective sense realize that the gloom and doom scenario put forward by environmental scaremongers beginning in the late 1970's is not going to happen. For the desperate few who cling to the failed global warming theory with religious fervor, there's no hope.

Still, as long as Dems continue to push the big lie, it's up to us to push back....

Barack left Michelle behind on Valentines Day for a visit to his first love, rabid environmentalists in California. He visited a farm in Los Banos, California that has been impacted by severe drought. He didn't mention the opposition of Democrats and environmentalists to bringing water down from wetter areas of the state or how Dems put the interests of a small fish before that of farmers.

In Obama's best "never let a crisis go to waste" manner Obama blamed the drought on global warming:
OBAMA: A changing climate means that weather-related disasters like droughts, wildfires, storms, floods are potentially going to be costlier and they’re going to be harsher.
Yet year after year since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005 extreme weather events including tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes and floods have been decreasing or staying about the same. Here's a chart from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency relating to drought:


You might think that Obama's speech writers would check their facts before sending the President out to scare people over a drought. But then, these are the same speech writers who put the lie "if you like your health care plan you can keep it" on Obama's teleprompter over and over again.

Obama's newest answer to global warming? Let him distribute $1 billion to his green friends. Like the dozens of green projects that enriched his green friends but went bankrupt and lost billions in taxpayer supported loans Obama is always looking for a way to spread the green around. He ought to save it for St. Patrick's Day!

Expert: Storms Not Related to Climate Change

From the Daily Mail (U.K.):
Mat Collins, a Professor in climate systems at Exeter University:

Professor Collins told The Mail on Sunday: ‘There is no evidence that global warming can cause the jet stream to get stuck in the way it has this winter. If this is due to climate change, it is outside our knowledge.’

His statement carries particular significance because he is an internationally acknowledged expert on climate computer models and forecasts, and his university post is jointly funded by the Met Office.

Prof Collins is also a senior adviser – a ‘co-ordinating lead author’ – for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
There may be scientists of equal stature who disagree with Collins. But all this proves is that the science is NOT "settled" and the debate is NOT "over" as Obama and the Democrats would have you believe. The scientific method assumes that a theory will be tested by observation. Thirty years of observations have proven the theory wrong.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry took his jet and entourage to Indonesia where he is mocking those who have a different view on climate change.
“The science is unequivocal, and those who refuse to believe it are simply burying their heads in the sand,” Kerry said. “We don’t have time for a meeting anywhere of the Flat Earth Society,”
Kerry insisted that climate change is one of the world's biggest problems. He said global warming is worse than “terrorism, epidemics, poverty." He did so in Indonesia a country gripped with poverty, hunger, illiteracy,disease and terrorism. Do you think Indonesia's poor share Kerry's focus on a phony problem?

The Global Warming lies will continue as long as there's a buck to be made by pushing them. And with Obama offering to shower activists with billions in greenbacks, the lies will continue!

UPDATE: NY Times: "Science Linking Drought to Global Warming Remains Matter of Dispute." Hmmm... If you can't even get the NY Times to agree with your scaremongering I guess the science is NOT settled! Obama and Kerry are the ones holding meetings of the flat earth society!

Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Liberal War on Women

It's appalling that the left gets away with this while insisting the GOP hates women!

Imagine a conservative defending a fellow conservative convicted of raping an underage girl downplaying the incident by saying: "I know it wasn’t rape-rape. I think it was something else, but I don’t believe it was rape-rape." The left would go absolutely bonkers. Obama would hold a women's day of outrage at the White House. There would be protests across the country. If the person who said it were Rush Limbaugh he'd be off the air. If a GOP politician said it he would be forced to resign, by members of his own party.

But in this case, it was actress Whoppi Goldberg, commenting at The View on the case of Roman Polanski, a famous Hollywood director forced to flee the country after being convicted of drugging, raping and sodomizing a 13 year old girl. Whoppi still has her job and Polanski is hailed by many on the left as wrongfully convicted.

The essence of this example is that you can say anything you want that is demeaning to women, engage in any conduct attacking women as long as you are a member in good standing with the left. Another case in point, accusations against Bill Clinton. All dismissed by left. Even Hillary did her part to silence or intimidate the accusers. But god help anyone on the right who attacks Hillary Clinton for anything. You'll be accused of hating women just as any criticism of Obama means you're a racist!

At TownHall, John Hawkins writes "5 Ways Liberals Make War on Women." He gives many more examples. From the 28 million female babies aborted since Roe v. Wade to Ted Kennedy's abandonment of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick, the threats and verbal assault directed at conservative women and stay at home moms or the effort to take guns away from vulnerable women in need of self defense. These and other examples document a pattern of abuse of women and their rights but with little to no blowback because those behind it belong to the left.

Sadly, this perspective matters little since the news media is all too quick to act on behalf of Democrats and attack Republicans while keeping silent when Dems do worse. Thus, the Dem's phony charge that the GOP is engaged in a "war on women" will continue. Those who understand this issue and possess a greater degree of common sense are already voting Republican!

Friday, February 14, 2014

It's COLD. Blame Global Warming

The globaloney never stops!

From Watts Up With That. 49 of the 50 states have recorded snow. Many records at all time high.


And right on cue, the global warming crowd says it's it's all because of Climate Change (1,2) A few years back the sky is falling crowd was saying snow was a thing of the past. Take this short walk down memory lane:




No snow, blame global warming. Too much snow, blame global warming. There's just too much money at stake for the globaloney crowd to admit they are WRONG!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Opportunity for Tradeoff in Debt Ceiling Increase Squandered by Tea Party Inflexibility on Vote

If you follow an all or nothing strategy you usually end up with nothing!

I was very disappointed that both Speaker Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell(R-KY) both caved on efforts to exact a compromise from Obama for a debt ceiling increase. I had hoped that attaching approval of the Keystone pipeline would force Obama to accept this worthy and environmentally safe project and help create tens of thousands of new good paying jobs for Americans.

But Tea Party Republicans in the House refused to vote for ANY increase in the debt ceiling. Had Speaker Boehner brought up a debt ceiling increase that included Keystone House Democrats and Tea Party Republicans would have voted it down thus weakening political support for the pipeline. Without majority GOP support for any alternative to a clean bill (debt increase only) Boehner was left with no option than to allow a clean bill to come to a vote where it got majority Dem support and only a handful of GOP votes.

It's doubly disappointing because the debt ceiling increase was supposed to be the fight worth fighting. Only a few months ago when Ted Cruz waged his battle against ObamaCare GOP leaders were instructing members to keep their powder dry and save it for a fight over the debt increase. But without flexibility on the part of GOP members, and lacking the unity necessary for an alternative there was no choice. It is unthinkable that the Speaker would have simply refused any vote on a debt increase. Such a path is not one that is winnable in any sense of the word.

The same goes for Sen. Mitch McConnell who put his own political future on the line and cast the magic vote in the Senate for approval. Quin Hilyer writing at National Review concludes:
To conservatives, McConnell’s vote felt like another in a series of punches to the kidney. But it wasn’t a cowardly vote; it was a courageous one. Sometimes courage can be misguided or even foolhardy, but that doesn’t make it any less courageous. Conservatives might think he is the wrong leader for Senate Republicans. We must, however, acknowledge that he did show leadership, and in doing so, afford him at least a grumbling form of respect.
Another government shutdown, with the GOP forced to give in after being pummeled for days would risk efforts to retake the Senate in November.

I'm reminded of Tea Party candidates who represented something of a conservative ideal but whose other qualities meant that they could not win a general election. Christine O'Donnell in Delaware leaps to mind. Instead of the almost sure election of RINO Republican Mike Castle, the primary victory of O'Donnell paved the way for the very liberal Democrat Chris Coons who is now enshrined in that seat. Had the Tea Party been willing to compromise and accept Castle we would be one seat closer to taking control of the Senate where we would have more flexibility to counter Obama.

Had the House Tea Party Republicans been more flexible with the debt ceiling we might have had the leverage to win approval for Keystone. In the end, the debt ceiling was increased anyway and we have nothing to show for it!

Until the happy day arrives when we have a conservative governing majority in both houses of Congress we have to keep our tactics and strategy flexible to make the most of the limited power we do have. That's not something some on the right want to hear but it's better to get something rather than nothing!

UPDATE: Writing at National Review Charles C.W. Cooke goes into the problem of GOP opposition in detail. His conclusion is that we would lose both a fight over the debt ceiling and the Senate if we persisted. It's a bitter pill to swallow but true. Cooke reminds us how difficult it is to " play offense from a position of weakness. " Gaining the Senate is the best way to strengthen our hand and anything that puts that at risk is not worth it.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Obama Parties While the Katrina of Winter Storms Causes Panic, Power Outages Across the South

And yes, the global warming nuts are still insisting that this proves global warming!

Massive winter storm grips the southern United States. Full size image here.
Storm causes food panic; fights over food in Atlanta:


Hundreds of thousands without power. Thousands stuck in traffic on icy roads.  What's Obama doing? Here's the menu from Tuesday night's State Dinner with the President of France:


Interesting to note that this dinner was held in a massive heated tent on the White House lawn in the grip of winter cold. Is it any wonder that the cost of Obama's dinners are much higher than Bush's?

And while Obama talks about income inequality, liberal reporters gushed over Michelle Obama's $12,000 dress. Remember the grief they gave Ann Romney for a $900 shirt?

Speaking of income inequality, Obama's answer to climate change would raise the cost of energy that the poor and middle class rely on to keep from freezing in this record cold winter. And that tax wouldn't do a thing to effect climate change. The rich would still be richer and the poor would be poorer. Obama and his rich friends will still party at our expense while the real people fight for food!

P.S. Lake Superior at 20 year record freeze. The largest fresh water lake in the world may freeze over entirely for the first time in decades. Yet the same enviroloons who insist that mild winters and melting ice are proof of global warming are still pushing their malarkey!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Picture of the Real Hillary Clinton Rises Again but Will it Matter? Plus, My Personal Moment with Bill and Hill

The media won't take this any more seriously than they did the expose of the real Obama in 2008!

Diane Blair, whom Hillary Clinton called her "closest friend" an insider's insider in the Clinton's saga died in 2000. She left behind an archive of papers, documents, memos and recollections that were closed to the public for many years. The Washington Free Beacon recently gained access to this treasure trove and found that Hillary Clinton is a ruthless, manipulative, vindictive shrew who will say one thing in public and another in private.

You won't likely hear much about this in the usual media. After all, this is the same media that covered up Obama's past in 2008 yet in 2012 insisted that stories about Mitt Romney in high school were somehow newsworthy. The same media that put the novelty of a black man (more accurately a black Democrat) ahead of every other consideration will do the same if Hillary Clinton (a Democrat woman) is the nominee for president in 2016. Low information voters who were told to look the other way when the few questions about Obama's competence, experience and character were raised will be asked to do so again for Hillary.

Of course none of this about Hillary is really news. Most of us have known about who she is for a very long time. In 2007 I retraced Hillary and Bill's footsteps in a Little Rock  "scandal tour" I took of the sites of famous spots like the Rose Law Firm where all that work on Whitewater went missing and the hotel where bill "entertained" Paula Jones. And let's not forget to "say it with flowers." Jennifer Flowers that is. I even visited the Chinese Restaurant that was the source of Bill and Hillary's White House funny money and Bill's favorite McDonald's.

My Personal Moment with  Bill And Hill

Everything I learned about the Clintons was confirmed in a very personal way in a chance I encounter I had with the unhappy couple in 1992. It was a story I first told at Mike's America in 2005. I was walking down the side street in Washington DC on which the Democrat National Committee is located on my way to lunch in July shortly before the Dem convention in which Bill would be nominated to run for president. It's a quiet street and as I approached I saw a limo double parked and two people standing behind it. I recognized Bill Clinton right away. There was only one other person in the street and it was a woman with blond hair facing him with her back to me. I thought it was odd that Bill was outside the Dem HQ and no one was in the street to cheer him on. Odder still, I noticed a woman was wagging a finger in Bill's face. My first reaction was wondering what kind of staff person would dare do such a thing, especially in public, in full view from every window of the DNC.

As I walked past them I noticed it was Hillary. Giving Bill the business. That was the real Hillary and I almost felt sorry for Bill. Almost. That window on the Clinton's confirmed every story I had heard about Hillary before or since!

Sunday, February 09, 2014

Will There be a March to Protest Photo ID Requirement for NAACP March to Protest Photo ID Law in NC?

The irony is that Dems demand you have a photo ID for everything BUT voting. I wonder why?

From the Daily Caller:
North Carolinians marching to protest voter-ID laws must present a valid photo ID to participate in an NAACP-hosted protest against voter-ID laws in Raleigh on Saturday.

The central claim among the protesters is that the voter-ID laws disenfranchise certain segments of the voting population, particularly minority voters and poor voters.

According to official NAACP flyers passed out at the rally, protesters must carry the precise kind of ID that they would be expected to present at the voting booth.

Well, at least these instructions ask that protesters not bring weapons or liter the grounds. That will be an improvement over the typical lefty march or the Obama inauguration.

Maybe the Obama Department of Justice, which is suing states requiring a photo ID to vote yet refuses to prosecute cases of blacks charged with voter intimidation, might want to investigate the NAACP and their disenfranchising protesters without photo ID? No wait.... 

Saturday, February 08, 2014

Russia Takes Deliberate Slap at Obama By Selecting Woman who Posted Racist Photo of Obama to Light Olympic Torch

I thought Obama said he was going to restore respect for America around the world?

Obama has repeatedly said one goal of his foreign policy was to restore respect for America around the world. (1,2,3,4,5). He's said that nearly as many times as he promised "if you like your health care plan you can keep it." And while he claims to be "proud" of his accomplishment in this area, global surveys show that Obama's weak leadership on foreign policy issues generates distrust among friends and contempt from adversaries.

So, it shouldn't surprise anyone when the Russians picked a woman who tweeted the racist image at right of Obama last year to light the Olympic flame opening the Winter Games in Sochi. Showing a banana to a black person in Russia is a particular racist insult.

I don't understand why Irina Rodnina would have to go so far to tweet something racist when there are so many legitimate ways to point out Obama's weakness and incompetence. Take the following from The People's Cube for example:


Photo: Frozen Great Lakes Document Coldest Winter in Many Years

Is this what global warming is supposed to look like?

More photos here.

Yes, I know that it's "just weather" when it's cold. But you can bet if the winter was mild, the global warming alarmists would be sounding the doom and gloom trumpet. Not too long ago, the warmists were saying that an unusually mild winter proved their case. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) in 2005 said: "Having no snow is consistent with what the models predict will become a significant problem for us in the future."

Well now it is the future and the "significant problem" we have is that it's too cold.

Sadly, none of this will stop the warmists who insist that the only solution is to tax carbon making your heating bill even more expensive. Not that a tax would do one thing to stop any warming if it were occurring.
Comparing ten years of temperature data which shows a slight cooling trend
with CO2 which continues to increase. No correlation between the two.

And those models and proof of the global warming theory and link to CO2? The future has shown that the climate is not so simple and there is little direct link between CO2 and temperature. The real link to warming is something that apparently few global warming fanatics have taken into consideration. It's called THE SUN! How long before Democrats want to tax sunshine?

UPDATE: Most Snow in U.S. in ten years. NY Times predicts "the end of snow"

Friday satellite image of snow cover in the continental U.S. shows two thirds of the country covered with snow and ice:

The same day, the NY Times prints a story suggesting snow is a thing of the past!

Thursday, February 06, 2014

Former Obama Interior Sec: Fracking is Safe, Keystone Pipeline Should Be Built

So, why does the Obama Administration continue to stand in the way of American energy independence, lower energy prices and JOBS?

At an energy conference in Houston this week former Obama Interior Secretary (also former Democrat Senator from Colorado) said this:
“From my opinion and from what I’ve seen … I believe hydraulic fracking is, in fact, safe,” Salazar said.

Salazar said the oil and gas industry must work to educate the public of the technology and “make sure people are not scared.”

State of the Union: Environmentalists cringe as Obama touts oil and gas

“We know that, from everything we’ve seen, there’s not a single case where hydraulic fracking has created an environmental problem for anyone,” Salazar said. “We need to make sure that story is told.”

Salazar says he came to his conclusion after speaking wither others in the federal government, including scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize-winning former U.S. Energy Secretary who also says fracking is safe
Salazar says we need to "make sure people are not scared" about fracking. Just who is scaring them? Hard core left wing environmentalists who are known to fake evidence of fracking pollution and scare the public. Last fall, former Energy Secretary Steve Chu declared that the famous Cornell Report which claimed fracking was a risk to the environment was "not credible."

Salazar also said that the Keystone XL pipeline should be built: “At the end of the day, we are going to be consuming that oil,” Salazar said. “So is it better for us to get the oil from our good neighbor from the north, or to be bringing it from some place in the Middle East?”

So, with two top former Administration officials openly declaring that fracking is safe why does the Obama Administration still use every bit of red tape to block or stall development of fracking and other energy projects? At a hearing this week in the House of Representatives Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) said:
“It is no secret that American energy production is increasing – on state and private land. Production continues to decrease on federal land as the Administration’s regulations continue to increase. And with the BLM continuing to slow walk drilling permit approvals and lease fewer and fewer acres for development, this trend does not appear to be reversing itself anytime in the near future.”
In January, the House passed a bill to expedite energy production on federal lands. Like 40 current House jobs bills, Democrats in the Senate have refused to bring it up for consideration. Also, Obama has threatened to veto it. Time and time again, the Obama Administration has waged a war on energy. In his State of the Union Address Obama once again touted his “all-of-the-above energy strategy” yet like so many of his other promises this one also comes with an asterisk. What he really means is "all of the above" from his green profiteer friends and no new energy from below the ground. Meanwhile, Americans pay more for energy (the poor are hardest hit) and the jobs that could be generated by expanded energy production are left unfilled.

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

A. CBO: ObamaCare to Cost Jobs. B. Web Site Still Not Functioning C. Gave Belarus Cyber Crooks Access D.Will Reduce Americans Income

So much bad news and only post to put it in!

In an interview broadcast before the Super Bowl, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly asked Obama about all the problems with the ObamaCare web site. Obama responded:
"The good news is that right away, we decided how are we going to fix it, it got fixed within a month and a half, it was up and running and now it's working the way it's supposed to."
Really? That same day the Washington Post came out with a story describing how 22,000 people who need corrections to their ObamaCare signups but can't get help because there is no system set up to handle the process. The Post personalizes the problem with this story:
“It is definitely frustrating and not fair,” said Addie Wilson, 27, who lives in Fairmont, W.Va., and earns $22,000 a year working with at-risk families. She said that she is paying $100 a month more than she should for her insurance and that her deductible is $4,000 too high.

When Wilson logged on to HealthCare.gov in late December, she needed coverage right away. Her old insurance was ending, and she was to have gallbladder surgery in January. But the Web site would not calculate the federal subsidy to which she knew she was entitled. Terrified to go without coverage, Wilson phoned a federal call center and took the advice she was given: Pay the full price now and appeal later.

Now she is stuck.
The poor woman only earns $22,000 a year and is in need of urgent medical care but her ObamaCare insurance is overcharging her and no way to get the situation resolved. Does that sound like the system is fixed? Thanks Obama!

And if the web sites problems weren't bad enough already here's a shocker:
U.S. intelligence agencies last week urged the Obama administration to check its new healthcare network for malicious software after learning that developers linked to the Belarus government helped produce the website, raising fresh concerns that private data posted by millions of Americans will be compromised.

The intelligence agencies notified the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency in charge of the Healthcare.gov network, about their concerns last week. Specifically, officials warned that programmers in Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, were suspected of inserting malicious code that could be used for cyber attacks, according to U.S. officials familiar with the concerns.

The software links the millions of Americans who signed up for Obamacare to the federal government and more than 300 medical institutions and healthcare providers.

“The U.S. Affordable Care Act software was written in part in Belarus by software developers under state control, and that makes the software a potential target for cyber attacks,” one official said.
ObamaCare's negative impact extends far beyond 22,000 caught in bureaucratic hell. Aside from the millions who have lost insurance they liked, the Congressonal Budget Office estimates that ObamaCare will kill 2.3 million jobs and force more people into part time work.

Next, the Brookings Institution, a left of center think tank, comes out with a report showing:
Obamacare will increase the income of Americans in the lowest 20 percent of the income scale, and especially in the lowest ten percent. But all other income groups -- even people who make very modest incomes in the $25,000 to $30,000 range, as well as all income brackets above that -- will experience a decline in income because of Obamacare.

In other words, Obamacare is going to cost some of the very people it was designed to help.
Obama thinks that if he gives another speech or interview that all the problems with ObamaCare will be solved. But reality doesn't work that way. Writing at the Washington Post columnist Ed Rogers concludes: "Engaging in denial and deceit isn’t a plan, and they won’t be able to maintain multiple cover-ups for the next nine months. The Democrats can run, but they can’t hide."

Monday, February 03, 2014

Emilie's True Story: ObamaCare is a War on This Woman

This isn't an actor. Emilie is one of millions who are worse off because of ObamaCare.

Emilie Lamb tells her story in the New York Post and in the video below:

Emilie: "ObamaCare was supposed to help me." It made things worse.
I suffer from a difficult chronic illness called lupus, an autoimmune disease with devastating symptoms that strike when you least expect them. At age 40, my life is filled with visits to doctors, specialists and the emergency room. While paying for this care is expensive, I have no other choice.

Prior to ObamaCare, I bought my health insurance through CoverTN, a program run by the state of Tennessee. The coverage was perfectly suited to my unique medical condition. It offered me low premiums, a low deductible and low co-pays for my regular trips to doctors and specialists. This plan was perfect for someone with my unique medical condition and limited financial means.

My plan was canceled last fall. According to the regulators behind ObamaCare, it was a subpar plan that should no longer be sold to consumers. Another 16,000 Tennesseans on the same plan were similarly dumped. Many, like me, liked their plans and wanted to keep them.

This wasn’t my insurer’s fault at all. CoverTN actually fought for me to keep my health care. After I received my cancellation notice, the folks at CoverTN requested that the federal government give them a waiver, which would let them grandfather my plan into ObamaCare. Their request was rejected.
Emilie went from a plan she liked, a plan she could afford and a plan that met her special needs. Now, she has to work extra jobs to pay the bill for ObamaCare:
I’ve had to take a second job in order to pay for my ObamaCare plan. Given my health problems, the physical and emotional drain that this puts on me is difficult to bear. It’s also made it much more difficult for me to care for my ailing mother, who depends on me for help.
For me, the impact of ObamaCare is a health plan that is both unaffordable and uncaring. For a law named “The Affordable Care Act,” this is both backward and perverse.

It’s also not what you promised me when I voted for you, Mr. President. When you were on the campaign trail, you promised that ObamaCare would help me with my medical problems. You promised that people like me with pre-existing conditions would be better off. And you promised that if I liked my health-care plan, I could keep it.

Mr. President, you’ve now broken all of these promises — and not just to me.

Saturday, February 01, 2014

No More Excuses. Time to Approve Keystone Pipeline!

With the stroke of Obama's favorite pen he can create new jobs, assure a cleaner environment and step closer to energy independence. What is he waiting for?

Well, we know the answer to the question. The Keystone XL pipeline has taken more than twice as long for approval because environmentalists have been exhausting every tool to stop it in what amounts to a war on oil. One global warming activist went so far as to say that approval of Keystone would mean "game over for the planet." But yet another environmental review (PDF) issued on Friday says that there is little danger to the environment. The irrational protests against the pipeline are mostly symbolic and more inclined to scaremongering than sound environmental policy.

News that this final review was favorable to Keystone was welcomed in Canada where the oil originates:
"This is the fifth federal study on the environmental impact of the Keystone XL pipeline. Each previous one has stated that building Keystone XL would not adversely affect the environment. Today's report confirms once again this result, including no appreciable impact on greenhouse gases," Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said in a statement. "The benefits to the U.S. and Canada are clear. We await a timely decision on this project."
Jack Gerard, CEO and President of the American Petroleum Institute added:
“Five years, five federal reviews, dozens of public meetings, over a million comments and one conclusion ─ the Keystone XL pipeline is safe for the environment,” said Gerard. “This final review puts to rest any credible concerns about the pipeline’s potential negative impact on the environment. This long awaited project should now be swiftly approved. It’s time to put thousands of Americans to work.
No Guarantee Obama Will Act

A statement quietly issued by the White House and not available on the White House web site is very curious:
Obama has said the Keystone project “will be in the national interest only if it does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution,” White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said in a statement last night. “Careful consideration” will be given to “other pertinent information, comments from the public, and views of other agency heads,” he said.
The first part sounds good. The State Department has come to the common sense realization that the oil will be burned one way or another and a pipeline assures the lowest carbon footprint for it's safe transportation. But the second part: “Careful consideration” will be given to “other pertinent information, comments from the public, and views of other agency heads,” is an open invitation to yet more senseless delay.

Failure to approve Keystone means that Democrats stand in the way of good jobs and greater energy security for the American people!

Will House GOP Pull Back on Immigration Suicide?

Or will big money interests prevail over the GOP base thus ensuring election losses to come?

For years now big business special interests have been pushing for amnesty for illegal aliens and open borders. They want cheap labor and are prepared to back their greedy desire with big buck for ads to promote amnesty. These special interests support an establishment GOP plan in the U.S. House of Representatives that would create a legal status for illegal immigrants. Once granted that status, it could never be undone.

Throughout all of the immigration debates over many years there has been a constant principle coming from conservatives: SECURE THE BORDER FIRST! Considering the history of earlier amnesty legislation which granted amnesty first and never delivered border security many reject yet another round of amnesty to those who violated our laws to come here.

Vague promises that legal status doesn't mean citizenship are not enough. It's a safe bet that the moment this legal status were to be granted the Democrats would use the desire of full citizenship as a battle cry for 2016. And considering how quick Obama is to rewrite or ignore laws he disagrees with, who has any confidence that this law would be implemented as written?

Republicans are in a key position to win big in the 2014 midterm election. Forcing through an amnesty bill that is opposed by a vast majority of the GOP base would only assure that a significant percent of GOP voters won't bother in 2013. Talk about a gift to Democrats!

Sean Trende writing at Real Clear Politics is a flummoxed as I am:
The GOP has announced that it will pursue an immigration reform bill later this year. This surprised most observers, including, initially, this author. Reform had stalled, and largely faded from the public’s consciousness amid the Obamacare debacle. After a year where very little went right for the Democratic Party, the GOP seems to be positioning itself to hand the president a major policy victory, potentially inflaming the Republican base.

This is puzzling. My initial reaction was that the GOP leadership is playing some sort of three-dimensional chess, or else it is completely clueless. Most other commentators seem similarly baffled. Talking Points Memo summed it up as follows: “Civil War Cometh: GOP Prepares for Explosive Immigration Debate.”

Why would the party entertain a civil war when everything seems to be going well for it? After giving this quite a lot of thought, and hearing some good ideas on Twitter, I think I have a decent handle on the various theories for House Republicans’ strategy. Some are more persuasive than others.
Sean goes on to give five reasons why the GOP might be doing this. I'd say it's a combination of pressure from big business mixed with a fear of winning big. Trende also thinks that GOP campaign consultants think amnesty would help the GOP win elections. Even if Romney had won the Hispanic vote by historic proportions he still would have lost.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) encapsulates my concerns:
[W]hy on earth would the House dive into immigration right now? It makes no sense, unless you're Harry Reid. Republicans are poised for an historic election this fall--a conservative tidal wave much like 2010. The biggest thing we could do to mess that up would be if the House passed an amnesty bill--or any bill perceived as an amnesty bill--that demoralized voters going into November. Rather than responding to the big-money lobbying on K Street, we need to make sure working-class Americans show up by the millions to reject Obamacare and vote out the Democrats. Amnesty will ensure they stay home.
House GOP Tells Boehner NO!

Good news coming from the House GOP members retreat in Maryland suggests that sanity may be restored soon. A report suggests that the push back by rank and file members to any form of amnesty was overwhelming with 80% against.

The key to solving the immigration problem is, as always has been, on securing the border FIRST! If Republicans take control of the Senate this year they can work together with the House on an EFFECTIVE border security measure. Once that has been proven to work, we can talk about next steps but NOT BEFORE!
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