Joke of the Day

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DC Snow Postpones NOAA Climate Change News

NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration], part of the Department of Commerce, is going to be providing information to individuals and decision-makers through a new NOAA Climate Service office. “More and more, Americans are witnessing the impacts of climate change in their own backyards, including sea-level rise, longer growing seasons, changes in river flows, increases in heavy downpours, earlier snowmelt and extended ice-free seasons in our waters. People are searching for relevant and timely information about these changes to inform decision-making about virtually all aspects of their lives,” the release says.

Earlier snowmelt? That would be nice.

Permalink | Global Warming
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Obama Admits He is Same as Bush

The most important thing for the public to understand is we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11.

Obama evidently thinks this should count in his favor. But for anyone who believed his professed commitment to due process and the rule of law, the fact that his anti-terrorist policies are very similar to Bush's is cause for disappointment.

Change it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fall that's all
But the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war . . .
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Permalink | Obama, Barack Hussein
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What Obama should Learn from Superbowl

What's the difference between Vegas and Washington D.C.?
In Vegas the drunks gamble with their own money.

Permalink | Tea Party
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Murtha Dead at 77

• The FBI named Murtha an “unindicted co-conspirator” in its ABSCAM sting operation in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.
• Nicknamed “The King of Pork,” Murtha also faced scrutiny for earmarking federal dollars for projects in his district.
• The Congressman also faced scrutiny for campaign contributions he and other appropriators received from the now defunct PMA lobbying firm.

With Murtha gone, however, the special election will be seriously contested. Murtha's district is the only one in the country won by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004 and by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008, according to Republican sources, and that trend line coupled with the volatile national environment for Democrats ensures Republicans will heavily target the contest.

Permalink | Races of '10
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Iran Girds for War

Yet more news that Iran is beating the war drums.

Iran has opened two production lines to manufacture ‘advanced’ attack drones capable of carrying out attacks with ‘high precision’.

In the past week Iran has announced a spate of technological advances and military achievements in the run up to the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution on Feb 11.

It’s no secret that Iran has been trying to get their hands on Russia's S-300 anti-aircraft system (worried about Israeli air strikes, no doubt). They have tired of waiting and will “soon” unveil their own system:

"In the near future, a new locally-made air defence system will be unveiled by the country's experts and scientists which is as powerful as the S-300 missile defence system, or even stronger," [commander Heshmatollah Kassiri] said. . . .

The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It has a range of 150 km (90 miles) and travels at more than two km per second.

Much of this is posturing (ala Comical Ali). On the other hand, there is no doubt that Iran is gearing up to be a major power in the region. This endangers all nearby states, Jewish and Islamic alike.

Permalink | Iran
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Congressional Approval Nears Historic Lows

Approval of how Congress is performing the lowest since Democrats took over DC, mainly due to disappointing the Democrat base. From Gallup:

Gallup notes:

The all-time low Gallup reading on congressional approval is 14%, recorded in July 2008. Prior to this, 18% was the lowest in Gallup's history of asking this question, which dates to 1974. In addition to the current measure, congressional approval was at 18% for several months in 2008 as well as in March 1992. It was only slightly higher in June 1979 (19%) and October 1994 (21%).

Congress enjoyed a bump in public approval at the start of last year as the Obama administration was getting underway -- fueled mostly by enhanced approval among Democrats and independents. Nearly all of that heightened support among independents had peeled off by last fall, and now Democrats are breaking away.

This certainly does not bode well for Democrats in November.

Permalink | Government
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Snowpocolypse Comes to Memphis

Memphis awoke to a surprise snowfall this morning. Forecasters predicted warm air would come from the south turning light flurries of early snow into rain. Instead, the warm air stalled and is now predicted to get here mid-afternoon.

In the meantime, our roads are covered with snow and very slick, accidents abound, and the city’s salt trucks were still on the lot well into rush hour.

View from AlphaPatriot’s Back Porch

The Gorebot’s home is quite a ways north of here. I wonder what it looks like?

On the other hand, snow is being trucked into Vancouver for the winter Olympics as the area experiences unseasonably warm temperatures.

Trouble is, with opening ceremonies only five days away, the above-freezing temperatures in Vancouver continue to raise concerns for other sports, particularly snowboarding and freestyle skiing, two events being held on the mountain overlooking the city.

The biggest test comes today, when freestyle moguls training sessions are scheduled to begin.

So much for being able to predict global temperatures with any sort of accuracy what-so-ever.

Permalink | Global Warming
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Surprise! Aid Corruption in Haiti

Donor nations have poured tens of millions of dollars into the impoverished Caribbean nation and some Haitians have blamed corruption for the sometimes sluggish distribution of aid.

Sacks of donated rice have turned up in local street markets. Aid officials said it was inevitable that some aid would find its way to the black market in Haiti, which was ranked 10th from the bottom of Transparency International's latest corruption rating of 180 nations.

Permalink | International
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Debt-Ridden Gov. Buys Superbowl Ad

Permalink | Economics and the Economy
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Another Reason to Like the French

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who sought during the 2008 presidential campaign to associate himself with Barack Obama, has become sharply critical of the American president, often comparing Obama unfavorably to himself, according to an article published this week in the authoritative French daily Le Monde.

The article quotes Sarkozy twice recently criticizing Obama in public, and says he's twice gone on the record criticizing Obama in recent weeks. Asked last Monday in a television interview of his sweeping attempt to reform several sectors of French government simultaneously, Sarkozy pointed to Obama's made health care reform his sole focus.

"I didn't see that that made things simpler," he said.

Permalink | France
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"Change": Food Stamp Use Sets Record High

USDA estimates up to $58 billion will be spent on food stamps this fiscal year, which ends Sept 30, with average enrollment of 40.5 million people. Food stamps were renamed the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program in 2008.

Permalink | Economics and the Economy
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H1N1 "Pandemic" Close to Over

U.S. cases have been declining since October. An official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says swine flu cases are still occurring and are likely to continue a while longer at some level.

But another expert said a future large wave of cases now seems very unlikely. The expert, Vanderbilt University's Dr. William Schaffner, said the epidemic has "one foot in the grave."

Permalink | International
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Obama Wants to Hurt Children

Some once-flourishing local charities have been unable to survive. Family Services of the Mid-South, a 115-year-old nonprofit, is closing this week after transferring a few of its programs to other agencies. The Destiny Foundation of Central Florida, which ran a children's clinic, thrift store and food pantry in Orlando, has suspended its operations and may close.

A recent survey by the Human Services Council of New York City, encompassing 244 local nonprofits, found that 60 percent had seen some decrease in public funding and 73 percent reported reductions in private donations. More than half had laid off staff in the past year, and 35 percent had eliminated programs.

One of the city's oldest and largest charities - the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service - has laid off about 50 of its 550 employees. It's also eliminated a program that helped disabled people make the transition from welfare to work, and scaled down a program that's helping kids from troubled homes avoid foster care.

Permalink | Conservative Causes
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Social Security is Saved!

Permalink | Entertainment and Lifestyle
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→ Mr Eko had something to say

White House Predicts 10% Unemployment to 2010

Those predictions are in line forecasts from independent economists. The administration is predicting 8.9 percent unemployment at the end of 2011, and 7.9 unemployment percent by the end of 2012.

Permalink | Economics and the Economy
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Next Bailout: Social Security

Instead of helping to finance the rest of the government, as it has done for decades, our nation's biggest social program needs help from the Treasury to keep benefit checks from bouncing -- in other words, a taxpayer bailout.

Social Security hasn't been cash-negative since the early 1980s, when it came so close to running out of money that it was making plans to stop sending out benefit checks. That led to the famous Greenspan Commission report, which recommended trimming benefits and raising taxes, which Congress did. Those actions produced hefty cash surpluses, which until this year have helped finance the rest of the government.

But even then, it was clear the surpluses would be temporary. Now, years earlier than projected, Social Security is adding to the government's borrowing needs, even though the program still shows a surplus on paper.

Democrats will be hard pressed to raise taxes enough to pay down the deficit and save all the entitlement programs. Won't be long before the government will be sending checks to seniors just so they can send a huge chunk of it back in taxes.

So much for my dreams of a comfortable retirement. But at least this may lead to private retirement accounts for young people. Maybe my grandchildren will have a good life in their golden years.

Permalink | Obama, Barack Hussein
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Obama Speaks, Dow Crashes

Permalink | Economics and the Economy
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10 Frightening Facts on Obama's Budget

Permalink | Conservative Causes
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Tea Party Flashback

It will soon become clear that the anger behind the Tea Parties was the first sign of something bigger, something much deeper. But of what exactly? My tea leaves reveal two possible futures.  First, this new celebration of conservative values may well be focused and directed by the Republican Party, reprising the electoral destruction of the Democrats in the 1994 midterms.

But the second possibility is that it will be the Republican Party, not the Democrats, that is torn apart trying to deal with its own internal contradictions. That’s what happened in the disastrous but portentous 1964 election: The GOP stood up for principle in its platform, and fell down at the ballot box. . . .

From a Republican perspective, and taking the long view, there’s this to be said: In 1964 a sharp turn towards principle led the Republicans to wander for four years in the electoral desert. But 1964 also laid the foundation for the majorities that put Republicans in the White House, starting in 1968, for all but 12 of the next 40 years. So enjoy your tea, unsweetened.

Permalink | Tea Party
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Tea Party Should Avoid GOP

The quality that gives the Tea Party movement its legitimacy is that it is so fundamentally illegitimate: outside the establishment, bereft of representation on K Street, and without an identifiable face to speak for it on Meet the Press. This is a movement that sprang deep from within the viscera of America, not from some political poll or focus group.

It is not Republican; it is not even conservative. It has no interest in debating the merits of No Child Left Behind, abstinence-only sex education or George W. Bush's rationale for going to Iraq. Replacing a "spend and borrow" Democrat with a "spend and borrow" Republican is not the goal of the Tea Party movement.

This movement is simply saying: "We are fine without you, Washington. Now for the love of God, go attend a reception somewhere, and stop making health care and entrepreneurship more expensive than they already are."

Machiavelli once said a republic stays healthy by returning to its first principles from time to time. The Tea Party movement is trying to get our nation back to its first principles to prevent our decline.

Permalink | Club for Growth
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GOP Senate Majority? Not So Fast!

With the developments in Illinois and Indiana over the past 24 hours, the Cook Political Report now carries 10 Democratic-held seats in their most competitive categories -- meaning, theoretically, that if Republicans ran the table (and lost none of their own toss up seats in Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire and Ohio) they could get to 51 seats and the Senate majority.

Is it a longshot? Absolutely. But, remember that recent history has shown that in a national political landscape tipped in favor of one party a strong majority of toss up contests tend to fall that party's way.

The poll of 2,000 Republicans — sponsored by the liberal website but conducted by independent pollster Research2000 — paints a picture of a Republican base that’s angry, disaffected and acutely hostile to President Barack Obama. Thirty-nine percent of Republicans polled think Obama should be impeached, 36 percent say he wasn’t born in the United States and one in four say they aren’t even sure he’s a U.S. citizen. Another 63 percent labeled the president a “socialist.”

Those numbers are far higher than similar polls of Democrats and independents — polls that reveal dissatisfaction with many of Obama’s programs but not with the president personally.

“It was the first time we ever asked the impeachment question, ... but ask independents if Obama was born in the U.S., and about 85 percent say yes,” said Research2000 President Del Ali.

“This shows a huge vulnerability for Republicans,” says Jef Pollock, a veteran pollster and Democratic strategist working for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) — who was forced to bolt from the GOP after conservative Pat Toomey attacked him from the right.

“Independents, who are particularly disinclined toward any kind of partisan rhetoric, are going to be turned off when they hear Republicans say stuff like this, which is patently crazy,” Pollock said.

Permalink | Conservative Causes
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