We The People

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

2010-08-23T14:02:00.000-04:00

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Obama the Islamic warrior

2009-11-16T11:41:00.000-05:00

For - Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE

2009-11-12T18:06:00.003-05:00

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,

It is now official you are ALL corrupt morons:

* The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.

* Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.

* Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.

* War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.

* Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.

* Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.

* The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.

You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

Folks, keep this circulating. It is very well stated. Maybe it will end up in the e-mails of some of our "duly elected officials" in Washington !!

This should be read and understood by all Americans Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!!

The letter

2009-06-17T17:31:00.002-04:00

If you love your country, if you're tired of what you see and hear from Washington D.C., then read this letter.

GLENN BECK: I got a letter from a woman in Arizona. She writes an open letter to our nation's leadership:

I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me.

Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties.

What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired.

I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you.

It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back.

You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long.

You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry.

You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when he will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us.

If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent?

Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

Will you finish strong?

2009-04-23T12:16:00.001-04:00

It's voluntary says Harry Reid

2009-03-01T16:51:00.000-05:00

The 44 Presidents

2009-01-19T12:47:00.001-05:00

Elephant & friend

2009-01-06T14:41:00.000-05:00

Watch CBS Videos Online

How Obama got elected

2008-11-19T20:54:00.001-05:00

Fidel and Obama

2008-11-03T15:14:00.000-05:00

Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis

2008-10-05T11:00:00.002-04:00

Who am I ? :

2008-09-18T14:51:00.016-04:00

Who am I ? :

I am under 45 years old,
I love the outdoors,
I hunt,
I am a Republican reformer,
I have taken on the Republican Party establishment,
I have many children,
I have a spot on the national ticket as vice-president after less than two years in the governor's office.

Do you know who I am?

I am Teddy Roosevelt in 1900

and you thought it was Sarah Palin.

IOWA-- A message

2008-09-18T14:51:00.014-04:00

Where are the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons
asking for help in restoring Iowa
and helping the folks affected by the floods?

Where is the media asking the tough questions
about why the federal government hasn't solved the problem?
Asking where the FEMA trucks (and trailers) are?

Why isn't the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to
free hotels in Chicago and Minneapolis ?

When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government
blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines ?

Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?

Where are all the looters stealing
high-end tennis shoes, beer and television sets?

When will we hear Governor Chet Culver
say that he wants to rebuild a 'vanilla' Iowa,
because that's the way God wants it?

Where is the hysterical 24/7 media coverage complete with reports of shootings at rescuers, rapes and murder?

Where are all the people declaring
that George Bush hates white, rural people?

How come you will never hear about the Iowa flooding
ever again?

There must be a big difference
between the people of Iowa
and the people of Louisiana

Feeling a little down and don't know why? Needing something other all those costly prescriptions to regain your health?

Go to http://www.mynsp.com/jeanfranceus/index.aspx and see what Jean at Nature's Sunshine might do for you. It can't hurt and it will very probably be a great help.

Have a wonderful day. T.

Dear Mr. Obama

2008-09-09T12:11:00.000-04:00

PHFORAMERICA.com

2008-09-07T20:36:00.001-04:00

Gov. Palin acceptance speech

2008-09-04T18:08:00.000-04:00

Bullseye on Sarah Palin

2008-08-31T22:28:00.002-04:00

Forget the negative comments by the CBS reporter at the beginning.

In the bag

2008-08-29T13:33:00.001-04:00

Obama and Biden don't stand a chance.

Barak H. Obama

2008-08-27T13:42:00.001-04:00

He lives

2008-07-25T16:51:00.001-04:00

Can you say: hypocrite?

2008-07-17T20:15:00.001-04:00

Dangerous lightbulbs - brought to you by the U.S. Congress

2008-07-09T22:07:00.001-04:00

T. Boone Pickens

2008-07-09T17:00:00.003-04:00

We need to kick our dependence on foreign oil in the butt and save billions of dollars doing it. This plan will work.

http://www.pickensplan.com/

It's National

2008-07-05T17:26:00.002-04:00

Newt Gingrich: 3 Ways to Lower Gas Prices

2008-06-30T09:56:00.000-04:00

George Carlin

2008-06-27T14:00:00.001-04:00

Saving the planet

Enjoying $4.00 gasoline?

2008-06-17T22:09:00.006-04:00

DRILL HERE, DRILL, PAY LESS

We're trying to get four million signatures on this online petition to encourage congress to address energy prices by opening up our vast oil reserves.

Right now (as I type this) there are over 1 million signatures. I know we can put this over 2,000,000 by the end of the day.

Here's your link, let's get on with it. http://www.americansolutions.com/

Anna Theresa Prestyly

2008-06-14T09:19:00.006-04:00

To Joanne and Robert and the grand children who have had their grandmother stolen away by Alzheimer disease. To Bob (Jess), who's loving companion of so many years, is no longer there by his side.

Honalulu '70

Can life be so beautiful, and yet so cruel?

Oakdale Long Island '72

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller

Marco Island '08

High Court ruling is wrong for Americans

2008-06-12T12:37:00.001-04:00

High Court ruling may delay war crimes trials

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.

In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."

Kennedy said federal judges could ultimately order some detainees to be released, but that such orders would depend on security concerns and other circumstances.

The White House had no immediate comment on the ruling. White House press secretary Dana Perino, traveling with President Bush in Rome, said the administration was reviewing the opinion.

It was not immediately clear whether this ruling, unlike the first two, would lead to prompt hearings for the detainees, some of whom have been held more than 6 years. Roughly 270 men remain at the island prison, classified as enemy combatants and held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

The ruling could resurrect many detainee lawsuits that federal judges in Washington put on hold pending the outcome of the high court case. The decision sent judges, law clerks and court administrators scrambling to read Kennedy's 70-page opinion and figure out how to proceed. Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth said he would call a special meeting of federal judges to address how to handle the cases.

The decision also cast doubt on the future of the military war crimes trials that 19 detainees are facing so far. The Pentagon has said it plans to try as many as 80 men held at Guantanamo.

The lawyer for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's one-time driver, said he will seek dismissal of the charges against Hamdan based on Thursday's ruling. A military judge had already delayed the trial's start to await the high court ruling.

The administration opened the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to hold enemy combatants, people suspected of ties to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

The Guantanamo prison has been harshly criticized at home and abroad for the detentions themselves and the aggressive interrogations that were conducted there.

The court said not only that the detainees have rights under the Constitution, but that the system the administration has put in place to classify them as enemy combatants and review those decisions is inadequate.

The administration had argued first that the detainees have no rights. But it also contended that the classification and review process was a sufficient substitute for the civilian court hearings that the detainees seek.

In dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts criticized his colleagues for striking down what he called "the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants."

Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also dissented.

Scalia said the nation is "at war with radical Islamists" and that the court's decision "will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed."

Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens joined Kennedy to form the majority.

Souter wrote a separate opinion in which he emphasized the length of the detentions.

"A second fact insufficiently appreciated by the dissents is the length of the disputed imprisonments, some of the prisoners represented here today having been locked up for six years," Souter said. "Hence the hollow ring when the dissenters suggest that the court is somehow precipitating the judiciary into reviewing claims that the military ... could handle within some reasonable period of time."

The court has ruled twice previously that people held at Guantanamo without charges can go into civilian courts to ask that the government justify their continued detention. Each time, the administration and Congress, then controlled by Republicans, changed the law to try to close the courthouse doors to the detainees.

The court specifically struck down a provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that denies Guantanamo detainees the right to file petition of habeas corpus.

Habeas corpus is a centuries-old legal principle, enshrined in the Constitution, that allows courts to determine whether a prisoner is being held illegally.

The head of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents dozens of prisoners at Guantanamo, welcomed the ruling.

"The Supreme Court has finally brought an end to one of our nation's most egregious injustices," said CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren. "By granting the writ of habeas corpus, the Supreme Court recognizes a rule of law established hundreds of years ago and essential to American jurisprudence since our nation's founding."

Five alleged plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks appeared in a Guantanamo courtroom last week for a hearing before their war crimes trial, which prosecutors hope will start Sept. 15.

Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said he had no immediate information whether a hearing at Guantanamo for Canadian Omar Khadr, charged with killing a U.S. Special Forces soldier in Afghanistan, would go forward next week as planned.

Bush has said he wants to close the facility once countries can be found to take the prisoners who are there.

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama also support shutting down the prison.

June 6, 1944

2008-06-06T13:44:00.002-04:00

“My Fellow Americans:
“Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.
“And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:
“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
“Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
“They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
“They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
“For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
“And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
“Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
“Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
“And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
“And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
“Thy will be done, Almighty God.
“Amen.”

A new refinery in the U.S.?

2008-06-04T21:22:00.003-04:00

Union County approves zoning ordinance for Hyperion
By Dave Dreeszen Journal business editor Sioux City Journal

ELK POINT, S.D. -- Flashing a smile, Joyce Bortscheller briefly hugged Hyperion Energy Center executive Preston Phillips as she greeted him in the backyard of her home here.

Bortscheller, president of the Elk Point City Council, had invited about 250 supporters to an outdoor barbecue Tuesday to await the returns for arguably the most important election in Union County's history. The big crowd didn't leave disappointed.

As midnight approached, they popped the champagne corks, celebrating a hard-fought victory that keeps alive the county's chances of landing the nation's first all-new oil refinery in 32 years.

By a solid 58 percent to 42 percent margin, county voters approved Hyperion's request to rezone 3,292 acres of farm land for a new classification, Energy Center Planned Development.

"What happened tonight, we were not supposed to be able to do," Phillips told a cheering audience. "Development projects like this are supposed to be outright rejected by residents and neighbors. But this project is a testament to our balancing the needs for growth and for protecting the environment."

At stake was billions of dollars in capital investment and thousands of high-paying jobs. From the beginning, Hyperion executives said they would abandon its Union County site, just north of Elk Point, if a majority of voters failed to give their blessing to the rezoning.

While conceding defeat, opponents vowed to keep fighting the controversial project on every imaginable front, pressing on with a lawsuit it filed against the county over the zoning procedures and opposing Hyperion as it applies for a bevy of state and federal permits.

"We have strategies in place to slow or delay all the permit processes," Ed Cable, chairman of the anti-Hyperion group Save Union County, said after the vote.

Tuesday's historic election culminated a months-long, emotionally charged campaign that pitted neighbor against neighbor in this extreme southeast South Dakota county.

Supporters cited the once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunities the $10 billion project would bring.

An average of 4,500 construction jobs would be required over four years. With the refinery up and running, Hyperion pledges to create 1,826 full-time jobs at hourly wages of between $20 and $30.

"I think it would be a great opportunity for young people to stay in this area instead of leaving for other states," Kelly Hoekstra, 31, of Dakota Dunes said after casting a vote in favor of the rezoning.

Opponents argued the massive development would not be worth the pollution and other troubles they claimed the refinery would bring. The health risks traditionally associated with a refinery weighed heavily on the minds of some voters.

"I live out here. I don't need the pollution," said Jim Schroeder of McCook Lake, after voting against the rezoning.

The contentious issue largely broke along urban and rural lines, with residents living the closest to the Hyperion site fighting the hardest to keep the refinery out of their backyards.

Tuesday's record turnout largely reflected that split, with early returns from the mostly rural precincts putting the "No" votes squarely in the lead. As votes were tallied in the more populated area, particularly in the southeast tier closest to Sioux City, that lead was slowly erased.

The ordinance took a slim 205-vote lead after 11 of the 13 precincts reported. Hyperion supporters declared victory after the Elk Point precinct results came in, increasing the rezoning lead by 150 votes.

Last to report was voter-rich Dakota Dunes, where an unusually large number of absentee ballots slowed the counting. In the Dunes, the ordinance easily passed, 1,017 to 236 votes.

"That's huge," Phillips told the cheering crowd.

The final tally was 3,932 votes in favor of the ordinance and 2,832 against.

Hyperion touted the so-called "green" technology in its proposed energy center, which it claims would be the world's cleanest. The refinery would process 400,000 barrels of tar sands crude a day from Alberta into low-sulfur gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Supporters argued that tapping into reserves from our neighbor to the north would reduce the nation's dependence on Mideast oil and add badly needed refining capacity in the U.S., where the last all-new refinery was built in 1976.

Both sides flooded the county's nearly 10,000 registered voters with paid ads, direct mailers and door-to-door stops, combining to raise and spend more than $100,000.

A ballot question committee formed by Dallas, Texas-based Hyperion alone poured in at least $45,000.

"It was close, and one of the reasons why was negative campaigning worked," Phillips told supporters. "We have always taken the high road, and we will continue to take the high road."

Hyperion project executive J.L. "Corky" Frank, a former Marathon Oil executive, joined Phillips for Tuesday night's celebration, where supporters enjoyed music, food and drink and regularly checked their cell phones for up-to-date election numbers.

Addressing the audience, Phillips thanked the local supporters, including Bortscheller and her husband, Gary, for hosting the party.

Last summer, after Hyperion publicly announced its interest in the Union County site, Bortscheller, who is also a local economic development leader, organized a barbecue for Hyperion CEO Albert Huddleston to introduce him to local residents.

"From the very beginning I was on board because I felt it was the right thing for our county," Bortscheller said early in the evening.

Freedom is never free.

2008-05-24T21:31:00.003-04:00

You sleep safe in your beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do you harm.
[possible source: "BBC broadcast April 4, 1942"] -George Orwell,

Spend at least one moment this weekend to remember those who preserve our freedom, our liberty, our flag.

Are we running out of oil?

2008-05-19T10:03:00.000-04:00

Yes or no for oil drilling

2008-05-16T22:20:00.003-04:00

Do you want a lower price for gasoline?
Would you like us to be energy independent?
Let's see why we don't don't have cheaper gasoline and more independence from foreign oil.

Democrats:
Exploration and drilling in a tiny portion of ANWR. No!
Exploration and drilling on the continental shelf - east and west coast. No!
Exploration and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. No!
Exploration and drilling in any sensitive areas within the boundaries of the US. No!
New nuclear power plants. No!
New oil refineries. No!
New coal generation plants. No!

So who is driving up the cost of energy in the United States? DEMOCRATS!!!!!!!

And who wants to raise the taxes on the small business owners? DEMOCRATS!!!!!!!

And who wants to punish the major US oil companies with higher taxes? DEMOCRATS!!!!!!!

Let's get real people, all the Democrats want to do is destroy this economy.

Need say more? Need I ask more? No!!!!

The Grand Old Party looks, and acts, like the Going Out Party.

2008-05-16T20:50:00.004-04:00

Different party? Differnt color? That's all?

THE FOUNDATION

“The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.”
—Alexander Hamilton

PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE Memo to Republicans: Take a cue and get a clue!

Get a clue.

To find the truth. Or as close as you'll ever come to it.

Tax surcharge on millionaires should solve it.

2008-05-13T21:26:00.003-04:00

How do you solve any problem in the world or any troubles with the economy? It's easy if you're a Democrat - just raise taxes.

Even though it has been shown, and proven, through historical data that raising taxes on individuals or corporations does not increase federal revenue, Democrats don't care - raise taxes anyway!

Democrats propose taxes to fund veterans' benefits

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 26 minutes ago

House Democrats are proposing a tax surcharge on millionaires to pay for a big increase in education benefits for veterans of the war in Iraq, lawmakers said Tuesday.

The plan, if accepted by rank-and-file Democrats, would clear the way for a vote Thursday on a long-stalled war funding bill that would pay for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next spring.

Conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats blocked a vote last week over Democratic leaders' attempts to add an additional $51.8 billion over the next decade for veterans education to the $183.8 billion war funding tab. They insisted on finding a way to pay for the new benefit without simply adding to the deficit.

"What we're talking about is a one-half percent income tax surcharge on incomes above $1 million," said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., a leader of the Blue Dog group. "So someone who earns $2 million a year would pay $5,000. ... They're not going to miss it."

The $1 million income level would apply to couples. Individuals would pay the surcharge on income exceeding $500,000.

The idea earned support from House leaders at a late afternoon meeting of top Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

The new GI Bill would essentially guarantee a full-ride scholarship to any in-state public university, along with a monthly housing stipend, for individuals who serve the military for at least three years.

It's not at all clear that the tax surcharge could survive the Senate and it would likely prompt a veto from President Bush if it were to be presented to him. Still, the development allows House Democrats to keep promises to adhere to pay-as-you-go budget rules that were a top campaign plank in 2006.

The war funding bill still faces a troubled path to enactment and Democrats appear likely to miss their goal of passing the bill by Memorial Day.

Overall, the measure provides $96.6 billion of the $100 billion Bush requested to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September. The $3.4 billion left over would be used to pay for military base and hospital construction, additional food aid and cover shortfalls identified by the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Prisons.

Another $66 billion for the Pentagon for the 2009 budget year beginning Oct. 1 would keep troops funded until the next administration can set war policy.

Democrats also plan to add a two-year, $15.6 billion plan to give 13 more weeks of unemployment checks to people whose benefits have run out and 13 weeks beyond that in states with especially high unemployment rates. That provision would not comply with the budget rules requiring deficit neutrality.

Democrats also plan to use the war funding bill to carry legislation to block new Bush administration regulations that would cut federal spending on Medicaid health care for the poor by $13 billion over the next five years. The House last month passed that measure by a veto-proof 349-62 margin.

Democrats will try — as they have unsuccessfully in the past — to force the troops home. The bill would require that troops start leaving Iraq within 30 days of its enactment and set a nonbinding goal of withdrawing combat troops by the end of December 2009. It also would require that any troops deployed into a combat zone exceed the Pentagon's peacetime standards for being fully trained and equipped.

However, both of these provisions are expected to fail in the Senate and be stripped from a final bill the House is to approve this spring.

The legislation also includes another $5.8 billion, as requested by Bush, to build flood protection levees around New Orleans.

Hey! It's good & quick

2008-05-12T13:33:00.001-04:00

Want some quick political fun in a test? Try Vote Chooser.

I'm proud to be a conservative - even with Iwo Jima and Iraq

2008-05-09T18:38:00.006-04:00

THE FOUNDATION

“Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence.”

—Thomas Jefferson

Iwo Jima, an island in the south Pacific, and island measuring 21 Square kilometers, America suffered 28,000 causalities with 6,825 killed in action in a few months of fighting.

The number of American casualties was greater than the total Allied casualties on D-Day (estimated at 10,000, compared with 125,847 American casualties during the entire Battle of Normandy). Iwo Jima was also the only U.S. Marine battle where the American casualties exceeded the Japanese.

Today, with the battles against radical Islamic terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, we read and hear the liberal left wing media spew their figures about how many of our (obviously dumb according to John Kerry and Stephen King) brave soldiers have been wounded or killed in action and how they should be brought home, out of 'harm's way'. They've been keeping this list since March 20, 2003, the day we entered Iraq - similar to the body count they kept in Vietnam.

America has lost just over 4,000 very special military lives in Iraq since 2003. Compare that with any of the losses at Normandy or in the south Pacific island invasions during WW II.

While every life is special, and no one ever desires anyone in our brave military to die at the hands of an enemy, there is a mission to complete and our volunteers in the military are there to defend freedom and liberty for both the Iraqi population and us here at home.

The Marxist and socialist liberals vying to be the democrat candidate for president both have called for a withdrawal of troops by a date certain. This kind of thinking would have made the Japanese very happy and would have assured their military success across the Pacific.

We can't allow this to occur, we can't allow these surrender artists to gain the White House in November, we can't allow defeat to become our national policy.

If we do allow it, if either one does become president, it's the beginning of the end for America. God forbid.

Senza cera, T.

Michelle (the Marxist) Obama quotes

2008-05-06T20:36:00.003-04:00

I'm believing that Michelle sat in the pews at Jeremiah Wright's black liberation church more than Barak, and she took to heart the anti-American racial words that were spoken.

I have heard some of her talks, or speeches, to crowds and I truly feel she thinks America is a bad nation and a racially divided nation.

Here's just two recent ones.

What happens in that nation is that people do become isolated, they do live in a level of division, because see when you’re that busy struggling all the time, which most people that you know and I know are, see you don’t have time to get to know your neighbors, you don’t have time to reach out and have conversations to share stories, in fact you feel very alone in your struggle because you feel somehow it must be your fault that you’re struggling that hard, everybody else must be doing ok, I must be doing something wrong, so you hide…

What happens in that kind of nation is that people are afraid. Because when your world’s not right no matter how hard you work, then you become afraid of everyone and everything, because you don’t know whose fault it is, why you can’t get a handle on life, why you can’t secure a better future for your kids.

Our fear is helping us to raise a nation of young doubters, young people who are insular and they’re timid, and they don’t try because they already heard us tell them why they can’t succeed.

From 1911

2008-05-04T18:26:00.002-04:00

Quote of the week

“There is [a] class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs—partly because they want sympathy, and partly because it pays.

Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs... There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.”

—Booker T. Washington in his 1911 book, My Larger Education

More tax

2008-05-02T10:43:00.004-04:00

'Rich Guy' O'Reilly Presses 'Rich Gal' Clinton on Taxes
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
May 01, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - "Before I vote for you, I want to know how much are you going to take out of my wallet," Fox News host Bill O'Reilly told Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) in her first appearance on his show Wednesday. (A video of O'Reilly's exclusive interview with Sen. Clinton can be seen here.)

"I'm paying 33 percent tax now. You're going to raise it to what?" O'Reilly asked.

"I'm going up to what we had in the 1990s," Clinton replied.

"Thirty-nine (percent), 39-1/2," O'Reilly interjected.

"Thirty-six (percent), 39," Clinton agreed. "It's only for the people making more than 250,000 a year," she added.

"I'm very happy that you're going to pay more," Clinton told O'Reilly, "so that we can cut middle-class taxes on people who get up every day and do hard work to keep our country going."

My question is: Does she believe that anyone who makes more than $250,000 don't get up every day and do hard work to keep our country going? Are they all just lazy crooks stealing from others? T.

Windfall taxes

2008-05-02T10:18:00.003-04:00

Hillary Clinton was on Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor last night and said what she would do about high gas prices:

In the short term, I do want a gas tax holiday but to pay for it by putting a windfall profits tax on the oil companies.... The oil companies have made out like bandits, and there is no basis for them to have these huge profits. They're not inventing anything new.... You set a baseline and, above that baseline, you begin to tax their profits.

We tried a windfall profits tax in 1980, with lousy results. This from the Tax Foundation.

During the 1980s the federal government experimented with a new tax intended to limit the "windfall profits" of domestic oil companies. In reaction to the rise of energy prices during the late 1970s and the removal of price controls on the energy industry, President Jimmy Carter signed the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act into effect on April 2, 1980.... The windfall profits tax was forecasted to raise more than $320 billion between 1980 and 1989. However, according to the Congressional Research Service, the government collected only $80 billion in gross tax revenue ($146 billion in 2004 dollars). The net amount was actually less than this—roughly $40 billion—because the tax was deductible...CRS also found the windfall profits tax had the effect of decreasing domestic production by 3 percent to 6 percent, thereby increasing American dependence on foreign oil sources by 8 percent to 16 percent.... The 1980 windfall profits tax was also found to be highly burdensome for the industry to comply with and for the Internal Revenue Service to administer, especially in years when no revenue was raised. It seems unlikely that a new tax could be designed in a less burdensome fashion. Tax Foundation economists estimate that U.S. companies currently spend nearly $150 billion annually to comply with the federal income tax alone.

In the meantime

2008-04-29T00:14:00.001-04:00

DAMNED EVIL RICH PEOPLE http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

Don't liberals just love to holler about "tax cuts for the rich?" It doesn't matter what the facts are – people just love to hear that stuff. In a country awash with achievement envy (a/k/a "wealth envy") people just love to hear that those who have accomplished more than they are going to be hammered for daring to excel.

Well ... not to burst your bubble, but a report from the National Center for Policy Analysis shows that the tax burden has been increasing on the evil rich faster than their incomes have been going up.

Here's a quickie look at the figures since 1986.

1. The share of the income tax paid by the top 1 percent of income earners went from 25.8 percent to over 37 percent.

2. The percentage their total income that the top 1 percent of income earners paid from their income to the federal government rose from 18.3 percent to 19.6 percent. The percentage paid by the bottom fifth of income earners went from 0.4 percent to zero percent.

3. The income share of the top 1 percent rose from 11.3 percent to 19 percent while their share of income taxes rose from 26 to 37 percent. That's a 7.7 percent increase in income and a 11 percent increase in income taxes.

Clearly these evil rich people are getting away with murder. We need to really raise their taxes, don't we?

Coming soon

2008-04-28T14:33:00.003-04:00

This week I plan on writing a post about the people who operate or work on our nation's famous aircraft carriers. If you missed the PBS special on the Nimitz class carriers , well, you missed a great program that was very educational.

Anyway, check back and see when I finally post this latest.

In the meantime: Chester Nimitz

Thank you, senza cera, T.

Regular climate change

2008-04-22T23:18:00.006-04:00

Let's look at the components of the atmosphere before we totally buy into Al Gore's anthropogenic global warming alarmism and ruin our future economy. Let us see if carbon dioxide is the real and overwhelming culprit in the mystery or if maybe it's just a way to put an end to our way of life.

And while we're at it let's not forget that with every breath we take; we exhale carbon dioxide.

The list follows:

Constant components (proportions remain the same over time and location)

Nitrogen (N2) 78.08%
Oxygen (O2) 20.95%
Water vapor (H20) 4%
Argon (Ar) 0.93%
Neon, Helium, Krypton 0.0001%

Variable components (amounts vary over time and location)

Carbon dioxide (CO2) 0.038%
Methane (CH4) trace
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) trace
Ozone (O3) trace
Nitrogen oxides (NO, NO2) trace

We also have to remember that any CO2 increase lags the historic global warming records by as much as 600 years. Records show that when global temperatures increase; then CO2 rises. Result: CO2 increases follow and not lead the rise in temperature. Solar activity has a much greater effect on climate change than any increase in CO2.

But, of course, Al Gore won't debate this historical fact.

Senza cera, T.

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." Karl Marx

2008-04-18T09:28:00.004-04:00

Just like Mr. Karl Marx, Obama believes in a socialist style 'level playing field' so that there's economic 'fairness'. During the last debate he showed his true colors to the world. T.

MR. GIBSON: And in each instance, when the (capital gain tax rate) dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?

SENATOR OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.

MR. GIBSON: But history shows that when you drop the capital gains tax, the revenues go up.

SENATOR OBAMA: Well, that might happen or it might not. It depends on what’s happening on Wall Street and how business is going.

And Mrs Obama isn't any different with the next quote.

"The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more." - Michelle Obama

big corporate pay packages

2008-04-11T14:32:00.003-04:00

Where, oh where, is the authority for this kind of legislation to be found in our Constitution? This is total socialism - government limits and control over private industry. Government has no right or place to be deciding how much money anyone should earn. We operate in a free market society and not under the rules and teachings of Karl Marx. T.

Obama denounces big corporate pay packages
Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:16pm EDT

By Caren Bohan

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama denounced huge pay packages for U.S. corporate chiefs on Friday in a drive to convert middle-class anger about the U.S. economy into votes.

"Some CEOs make more in one day than their workers make in one year," Obama said, jockeying for position against rival Democrat Hillary Clinton in Indiana, which votes on May 6.

Multimillion-dollar pay practices at the highest levels of corporate America have been an easy target for politicians as Americans reel from the mortgage and credit crises that have the U.S. economy teetering on the brink of an election-year recession.

Clinton and Republican presidential candidate John McCain have also criticized big payouts for chief executive officers who benefit hugely even when their companies are struggling.

"We've seen what happens when CEOs are paid for doing a job no matter how bad a job they're doing. We can't afford to postpone reform any longer," Obama said.

The first-term Illinois senator has introduced "say-on-pay" legislation that would give investors more of a voice in setting executive compensation packages.

He said the legislation needs to be approved immediately but later acknowledged to reporters that getting the bill moving quickly in the Senate could be tough.

American economy 101

2008-04-04T23:26:00.002-04:00

I almost don’t know where to begin this rant. There’s so many delicious choices that have been handed out by the two socialist democrats vying for the slot of presidential candidate. It seems that each one is making an offering to outdo the opponent with three main promises: spend more money (thanks to the involuntary generosity of the American taxpayer), tax the rich (you know who you are, you filthy wealthy gluttons), and getting us out of Iraq(the important battle ground between extreme Islamic fascists who desire to control the world and freedom seeking people everywhere).

Take for example the proposal to assist the extremely foolish mortgage borrowers who bought way more house than they could reasonably afford and now can’t make their monthly mortgage payments. The democrats answer is to punish those honest American workers (by increasing their taxes) who are making their payments on time and giving the money to those who were complete idiots to ever sign a mortgage they couldn’t afford.

Now consider the recent statement by Barak, “The playing field needs to be leveled” - which means? Raise the taxes on the filthy rich (those who don’t deserve what they have) and give it to those that refuse to even try to participate in working hard to amass enough money to actually call them selves upper income or rich. So Barak is seeking ‘economic equality’ for all Americans.

Hillary is another one who pictures the vast goodness of government. She’s proposing billions of tax dollars for job creation. Now, have you ever known the federal government to be expert on any program they try? They have hundreds of job training programs in the Agriculture Dept. alone and it would be far better to just send people a check rather than try to train them in jobs they’ll never hold. I am interested though in what kinds of jobs Hillary is envisioning to create through her federal job creation program.

Have you seen the price of a bushel of corn? (It just hit $6 a bushel) Well, thanks to the global warming scam crowd, too much corn is going to produce climate saving Ethanol. Al Gore must be ecstatic. Another thing, there’s not one politician running on the left side that has ever worked for a company that ever produced anything. They’re all either lawyers or just pure politicians. And yet, Hillary and Barak both think they know how to run the major producers of oil and gasoline and they’ve both threatened to raise the taxes on all American oil and gasoline companies. So that shows that these two (and all their crony friends) don’t care how much you have to pay for a gallon of gasoline. But, these companies are not allowed to explore or drill for oil anywhere near the borders (or within the borders) of our country. They’re forced to buy the oil from foreign countries. They’re even heavily restricted in their efforts to modernize or expand their refineries.

Between the leftist politicians, the lawyers, the environmentalists, the socialists, the liberals and the run-of-the-mill Democrats we’re doomed. Let’s look at the facts from the ‘Patriot Post’:

“The U.S. uses about 21 million barrels of oil daily—about three gallons per person—for transportation, manufacturing and energy production. We have to import 13 million barrels per day, 45 percent of that from Western nations (30 percent from Canada and Mexico), and the remaining 55 percent from Africa and the Middle East.

Political instability in Africa and the Middle East render them less than dependable providers of imported oil, which is to say that 28 percent of U.S. oil demand is less than dependable.

Oil is currently over $100 per barrel and given the giant sucking sound coming out of China and India, this time next year, $100 may seem like a bargain unless the surge in oil prices is matched with a surge in oil exploration and delivery.

Total annual consumption of oil in the U.S. is about 7.6 billion barrels. However, it is estimated that there is more than a trillion barrels of retrievable oil under the U.S., most of it in oil shale (Green River basin), and billions more in deep formations (Bakken Play) and under the Arctic’s Northern Slope.

When oil was at $35 per barrel, there was no incentive to retrieve these reserves. At $100 per barrel plus, however, there is plenty of incentive.”

Next we’ll discuss poverty and the government’s plan to eliminate it.

Senza cera, T.

Thank you so much

2008-04-03T22:14:00.005-04:00

I just wanted to spend a moment handing out a few words of thanks to all the readers of this blog. I received a wonderful comment from a fellow blogger in Brazil (http://sbtvd.blogspot.com/). Thank you all - it makes it all worth while.

Senza cera, T.

Our soldiers in Iraq

2008-03-31T19:09:00.003-04:00

We have so many young soldiers who believe that the freedom of Iraqi civilians are paramount to all else. May God love them for their dedication to liberty and democracy. Where on Earth else do you find such dedicated people? They commit themselves daily to the supreme sacrifice daily to secure the liberty of the mankind.

Economics 101

2008-03-26T18:28:00.004-04:00

But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. --- Benjamin Franklin

We’re constantly inundated with pleas and threats from the left to tax the filthy rich and give the money to the poor - those with no self-motivation, those whose lives have been spent feeding at the pubic trough. We’re told that the rich - the wealthy - don’t need the tax cuts and that they didn’t ask for them. It’s all part of a process of making everyone equal - and miserable. The poor, if given everything, will still complain that it’s not enough and the rich won’t be as rich as they once could have been. So now everyone is equally unhappy.

To be sure, somehow, someway, politicians will skillfully exclude themselves from this taxing process of equalization because they’ll say, ‘they’re doing the work of the people’.

When you install a progressive tax on income (not amassed wealth), you decreased the opportunity and the reason for those in the higher income brackets (small business owners, entrepreneurs) to expand their business (purchase new equipment, hire more people, pay better wages). It just isn’t worth it to become any larger or go after more business because the more you make, the more the government takes away.

Government has always tried to assume more and more power over the people even though the Constitution gives the federal government a very limited number of responsibilities. But when FDR began the process socialization and usurping states rights, and got away with it, the engine of federalization really got up to speed.

Today, as I stated at the beginning, the left is following in the footsteps of those who came before. As Hitler blamed everything on the Jews, the left blames all our troubles on the filthy rich and large corporations. All would be as in the Garden of Eden if only liberals were in control and the rich and large corporations were brought to their knees.

To the left, the magic words to open the gates of heaven (excuse the religious pun), are taxes, legislation and mandates.

But that’s just my word for today, senza cera, T.

Recreating the past.

2008-03-25T21:03:00.003-04:00

Maybe she was tired and delusional. Maybe she was on medication. Maybe it's all part of a vast right wing conspiracy. Maybe she just flat out lied. Maybe she not presidential material. You decide.

Even CBS news can't buy into this fantasy.

The Cactus Cuties

2008-03-25T10:14:00.000-04:00

This is awesome! Wow!

Since the dawn

2008-03-22T16:57:00.004-04:00

Time: The dawn of mankind.
Location: Somewhere on the planet Earth
Act one; scene one: In the garden
Supreme authority: “Cain, have you seen your brother Abel?”
Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Explanation: For tens of thousands of years (or 5 - 7 thousand if you’re a Bible literalist), man has denied being his brother’s keeper and has even invented methods to disassociate himself from any meaningful human relationship. Man, even in this early age, had developed; discrimination, prejudice, hatred, racism, bondage and other tools to justify the subjugation of his brother. Sometime early on in the history of mankind, one individual or group decided to better themselves by using the forced labor of others. Thus slavery was born.

According to the earliest historical records known, slavery has existed almost as long as mankind has. We know there were (and still are) slave traders on every continent and in almost every country and city on Earth. The complete subjugation of a human is a powerful drug. It was discovered and enjoyed long before there were countries and national boundaries.

Today there are a far too many in the American black community who believe that America was the inventor and main proponent of slavery. I’ve even heard blacks claim of their term of enslavement in America to go back 500 years. But, of course, if you deduct 500 from 1865 (end of the war between the states) you arrive at 1365 - and there were no black slaves working plantations in 1365 and there were no plantations to work - in short, there was no America.
Many people today refuse to understand the historical data of slavery in America; how it began and who supplied the slaves. They ignore the fact that African warlords captured other African natives and sold them mainly to Portuguese slave ship captains along the western coast of Africa. The Portuguese shipped the slaves to whatever location was the easiest and brought the most money. The American colonies were just one location of many where these slaves were landed and sold.

America did not invent nor introduce slavery to the world nor did America promote slavery across the globe. In the early southern American colonies, slavery, unfortunately, became an economic necessity. Not all of the founders were comfortable with slavery and there are many letters from the time that speak of the horrors and injustice of slavery. But, man has certain innate emotions and beliefs that are found in no other animal: hatred, greed and envy have brought on the aforementioned; discrimination, prejudice, hatred and racism which leads to a justification of human bondage.

Our founding fathers did not ‘stain’ the Constitution by their failure to eliminate slavery, as recently claimed by Sen. Barak H. Obama, nor was the Constitution incomplete at the time. Slavery was an issue that had to await its time to be brought to the front burner and eliminated as a legal enterprise. The war between the states and Abraham Lincoln did just that. The fact that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves does not automatically make them to be evil men and does not justify the horrible things said about these men.

We’ve all seen the videos of the Rev. J. Wright. and his disdain for white America. We’ve all witnessed his horrible ranting on how this nation should be damned because of its history - factual or fantasy. We’ve been shown why these issues are in the forefront of black society, and we know why they will never have the opportunity to be soothed and healed. We’re shown who’s been stirring the pot of black discontent. As long as there are men like the Rev. J. Wright preaching the fire and brimestone of a racial divide, there will never be peace and racism will always be an issue.

That’s my issue for today, senza cera, T.

Is Wright wrong?

2008-03-19T02:28:00.007-04:00

Do you believe?

I thought I’d give a little IQ test for those of you who read this silly blog. So if you’re ready, I’ll begin with a few easy to answer questions.

Do you believe the Earth is flat?

For centuries there were many people who defied scientific findings and continued to insist that the world was flat and sitting on the back of a turtle or the shoulders of Hercules.

Do you believe that the founding fathers were atheists?

Many people today insist (despite many historical records to the contrary) that our founding fathers were anything but believers in a supreme designer and did not believe in a absolute God.

Do you believe that socialism or communism or a fascist form of government is better than our capitalist free market system?

Too many people believe that a total redistribution of wealth is needed for social equality and this can only be accomplished by government having more control.

Do you believe that George W. Bush is responsible for September 11, 2001?

A few believe that the Bush administration either allowed the World Trade Center buildings to be destroyed or had a hand in the destruction.

Do you believe in anthropogenic global warming?

Far to many people have bought into Al Gore’s postulations on what is normal climate change.

If you answered no to all the above questions, You are an intelligent reader who knows how to separate the truth from falsehoods. If you answered yes to one or more of the above (God forbid that anyone answered yes to all), then you need to call me and allow us to discuss the corrections to your methods of coming to conclusions.

But, there are a few who might answer no to all the above and yet still believe that a certain Marx loving Democrat presidential candidate who sat in the pew of a radical black church, with a very outspoken radical minister, for 20 years and didn’t hear anything that was anti-American or filled with racial hatred has the proper judgment to lead this nation as President.

This candidate has said that the Constitution, as written by the founding fathers, was stained by the continuation of slavery, and thus flawed, and left the document unfinished as signed. He also said he can’t disassociate himself from his radical minister or from his black background (with a white mother & grandmother), but, though his father abandon the family when he was two years old, he later lived in Hawaii and attended a highly praised (and expensive) prep school prior to attending Ivy league colleges.

So who is this candidate; a black man from the poverty stricken dirty inner city or a privileged half black who now wants to attach himself to the black cause through a radical minister who is filled with extreme hatred for white America? His church’s web site has this at the top:

“We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism”

I say he can’t have it both ways, but, I guess, Democrats have their own rules.

Also see: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWQ1MjIzZDU4OWM2YTY0ZjYyMzA4ZjA4M2I3Y2Y5YmM=

Science 101

2008-03-17T12:37:00.004-04:00

Science 101

Ever since mankind has walked upon this planet, he has looked to the stars and, we can imagine, thought of questions that could then not be answered. After a few thousand years, and many questions later, he saw certain shapes or figures in the twinkling dust of the night sky and named them - these are the constellations we know today. He invented a thing we call time and he built holy edifices for keeping track of it - not in minutes or hours as we do today, but in terms of months and the yearly cycles of the seasons.

Though it would take thousands of years longer, man was on his way to a deeper understanding of his role in this universe. Today we have records of the few who were better able to answer a few of the unanswerable questions and bring us closer to answering more as time progressed. Aristotle, Kepler, Corpurnicus and Galileo all were drawn to looking up to the night sky and all were able to see the light of certain answers. But, of course, each had his limits of understanding and beliefs. Early on, man believed that the whole universe (he had no knowledge of a separate galaxy or planetary system) all revolved around our little blue planet; This is called the geocentric theory. But with more scientific instruments and a clearer understanding, he discovered the truth; ours was a heliocentric planetary system. And then, one man put more theories and proofs together than any other - Isaac Newton.

While all the former inquisitors and researchers showed us the path to a better knowledge, they did so while standing in the shade of premature ignorance and miscalculation. It was Isaac Newton who first brought it all out into the light. Quite a few of Newton’s ideas and theories we considered highly unconventional, and he suffered through much harsh criticism, but, most of them were also highly accurate.

Since Newton’s time we’ve had a plethora of renown scientists who have brought the bright light of a fuller sum and substance of who we are among all the tens of trillions of galaxies that we now know survive in an ever expanding universe. First among them is Albert Einstein with his frizzy hair and unkempt style of dress. Whether someone else would have stood up to move us forward, Einstein is the man who propelled the knowledge of the cosmos and without him we would still be building fires by rubbing sticks together.

Just my view and my word for today.

Senza cera, T.

Since January '07

2008-03-14T10:02:00.002-04:00

Just a coincidence? A fluke maybe?

Marines in Berkely California

2008-03-13T09:35:00.002-04:00

How Enron Worked the President!

2008-03-12T16:21:00.003-04:00

How Enron Worked the President

Are You Ready?

(This is an interesting bit of information that you don't hear much about.)

1. Enron's chairman did meet with the president and the vice president in the Oval Office.

2. Enron gave $420,000 to the president's party over three years.

3. It donated $100,000 to the president's inauguration festivities.

4. The Enron chairman stayed at the White House 11 times.

5. The corporation had access to the administration at its highest level and even enlisted the Commerce and State Departments to grease deals for it.

6. The taxpayer-supported Export-Import Bank subsidized Enron for more than $600 million in just one transaction.

Scandalous!!

BUT...the president under whom all this happened WASN'T George W. Bush.

SURPRISE!

It was President Bill Clinton!

No surprise! And do you think Hillary didn't know?

ARE WE REALLY READY FOR MRS. CLINTON?

You're fired

2008-03-11T13:57:00.005-04:00

The other day I was told a sad story about the Marco Island Hospital Auxiliary group. It has been relayed to me that two of their volunteers, (Gordon Parrish and Robert 'Jess' Prestyly) both veterans on disability, have been 'fired'. I don't know how you fire a volunteer, but, they were both told their services were no longer needed. They both were greeters at the Marco Emergency Walk in Clinic

Gordon, a Marine veteran, served multiple tours in Vietnam and is on 100% disability. He efficiently performed different duties at the clinic to the best of his abilities (while confined to his wheel chair). And get this! Gordon was well trained for his job!

The other veteran was a trained Navy corpsman who later in his Navy career flew numerous missions with the Early Airborne Hurricane Hunters as a Lt. cdr. (see Storm Chases by David Toomey) He volunteered at the clinic for near 4 years and always tried to improve the service to the public that the clinic performs.

Both men knew something about volunteering...they lived it! Both were truly engaged in dangerous missions in the past.

Both of these volunteers were quickly and quietly relieved of their duties for spurious reasons and had no recourse to save their volunteer service or their honor. If there was a breach of protocol or if they were negligent in some important duty, they should have been told and given the opportunity to correct the matter - but, they were not informed of any problem prior to their separation. This makes the actions of those in charge on Marco Island seem highly suspicious.

To truly understand the altruistic motives of a kind act it must be solely voluntary or else it has no moral significance. To some of us who understand this, no explanation is necessary, for those who don't no explanation is possible.

Both Mr. Prestyly and Mr. Parrish will be missed by those they worked with and by the citizens of Marco Island who use the clinic. Their service to the community was honorable and many wish them well in their future endeavors.

Senza cera, T.

Obama And FARC

2008-03-10T10:33:00.002-04:00

Obama And FARC

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, March 07, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Terrorism: The March 1 death strike by the Colombian army against FARC warlord Raul Reyes broke open a trove of contacts in his computer. So why did the name of Barack Obama turn up there?

Related Topics: Election 2008 | Latin America & Caribbean

Admittedly, it pales compared with other material from the dead thug's computer — such as FARC efforts to obtain uranium or Hugo Chavez's $300 million support.

But the little Obama reference within the 15 FARC letters released by the Colombian government signals a disturbing pattern of contacts with rogue actors. It's not the first time, and Obama has yet to distance himself.

In a Feb. 28 letter, FARC chieftain Raul Reyes cheerily reported to his inner circle that he met "two gringos" who assured him "the new president of their country will be Obama and that they are interested in your compatriots. Obama will not support 'Plan Colombia' nor will he sign the TLC (Free Trade Agreement)."

Aside from some interesting possibilities about who these "gringos" are — a congressional delegation did visit Ecuador and an international leftist "congress" was held in Quito around this time — the real question is why anyone secretly consorting with FARC would be able to speak for presidential candidate Obama.

Obama hasn't said a whole lot about Colombia other than to criticize President Bush's good relations with President Uribe. With this correspondence suggesting that FARC knows what he thinks, maybe the American voters have a right to know what he thinks, too. Five questions come to mind:

1. Is it true Obama would cut off Plan Colombia military aid to our ally, which would serve the terrorist group FARC's interests?

2. Does Obama still oppose a free trade agreement for Colombia, even though that puts him on the same side as FARC in the debate?

3. Does Obama know or care that one of his staffers or supporters is claiming to disclose his positions in secret meetings with FARC terrorists outside government channels?

4. Can he tell us why his supporters would pass on such information to terrorists, and what he or she could gain from it?

5. Will Obama, as president, treat FARC as the serious terrorists they are, given that they still hold three Americans hostage?

These aren't idle "gotcha" questions, by the way. Based on his campaign so far, Obama favors meeting and negotiating with rogue leaders without preconditions, passing secret messages to foreign countries at odds with his public positions and tolerating Che-flag wielding leftists among his supporters who advance a radical agenda in his name.

Now that FARC seems to have an inside line to Obama's campaign, maybe he ought to come tell voters what he really stands for.

This is part one. So beware.

2008-03-07T10:22:00.005-05:00

Thomas Jefferson 4/13/1773 - 7/4/1826

Government lesson 101

"Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide."

Who said it? Some character named John Adams, back in 1814.

With the Presidential elections coming up in 9 months, I thought it was a good time to take up the discussion of the structure and role of government (federal, state and local) and the legal authority of government (mainly federal) to dominate our lives.

We live in a constitutional republic founded in 1789, not a democracy as you hear most people wrongly name it (the title ‘democracy’ does not appear either in the Declaration of Independence or the US Constitution). We elect a body of representatives to office in place of all of us having to vote on every matter. We have a simple written constitution that is available for everyone to read.

It is not a federally guaranteed constitutional right that you be allowed to vote. Read your copy of the Constitution and see what your actual ‘rights’ are (hint: they’re in the bill of rights). They are few and far between, but, they cover the most important areas that apply to our freedom and liberty.

We have three branches of government; judicial, legislative and executive; each with its own distinctive duties and powers. Each branch operates independently and there are specific checks and balances in the Constitution to control any one branch from becoming too powerful.

Our Constitution is written with much brevity and yet filled with enough declared and defined specifics and limitations that has allowed it to last for all these years (219). But Presidents and Congress and the courts have all been found at one time or another to push the envelope and exceed their limited roles and impose power not ceded to them in the Constitution.

At this time I want to cover the very possible motives of the founding fathers when they were considering the proper wording of the Constitution. Having just fought (and won) a war with England, they knew that they had to rectify everything that the English form of government stood for. No more would the church have a leading role in the running of the nation, no longer would there be a royal hierarchy nor would they be ruled by a king. No longer would the common man be excluded or banned from government because of his paternal background or wealth. No more would there be taxation without representation - well, that one really hasn’t gone away because we’re all taxed, by our federal and state governments, and the money is spent elsewhere on others as decided by politicians.

NOTE: Both of the current Democrat candidates running for the nomination for President this year have pledged or proposed nearly $900 billion in NEW federal programs. That's money over and above the $3.1 trillion federal budget proposed this year. Democrat leaders have cried that the proposed budget (by the Bush administration) makes too many cuts in current federal entitlement programs and we'll probably see them try to increase it. Hey, it's only money. We'll just print more.

Today we see the legislative branch (Congress) constantly at odds with the executive branch (President’s administration). Congress is controlled by a different party than the administration and they are playing a political war for control of our country and therefore our freedoms. But this is not why politicians are elected to office. They are elected to serve the will of their constituents as long as it benefits the country and does not jeopardize the the foundations of our Constitution.

Socialism and communism are two (what some may call) progressive forms of government where the state (the federal state) has complete control over not only the industries of the country but also over the lives of its citizens. The call for universal (socialized) medicine (healthcare) by the Democrat party leaders is just another step in the direction of socialism. FDR began the whole socialism movement with the Social Security retirement system. There is no option for the average worker to opt out of the program. It is totally controlled by the federal government. Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, FDIC, OSHA, gun ownership, and many more federal programs exist because the federal government has usurped the rights of the states and interfered with the rights of individual citizens in order to gain control.

The Constitution of the United States of America
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

One way to not abide by the words of the Constitution is to cede our national authority to the United Nations. But, there are many politicians who see the UN as a way to control or discipline the actions of the United States internally and internationally. This seems to be done out of envy for the old ways of socialism and to bind America to an international form of government and laws.

The open border crowd believes there should be no hindrance to the flow of aliens into this country by claiming ‘we are all foreign immigrants. But, as Michele Malkin so rightly puts it: “We are not a “nation of immigrants.” This is both a factual error and a warm-and-fuzzy non sequitur. Eighty-five percent of the residents currently in the United States were born here. Sure, we are almost all descendants of immigrants. But we are not a “nation of immigrants.” Furthermore she emphatically says: “We are not a nation of immigrants. We are first and foremost a nation of laws”. And so a vast majority of American citizens want tighter border security. After all, there are Islamic terrorists who also wish to compete with the UN for control of the United States and the western world, and they could be crossing our borders every day right along with the thousands of illegal Mexican aliens.

So how does our government justify its actions (or lack of) when compared to the Constitution and the words found therein: insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense? Who are our elected representatives representing? Illegal immigrants?

· Alexander Hamilton wrote in 1802: “The safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common national sentiment; on a uniformity of principles and habits; on the exemption of the citizens from foreign bias, and prejudice; and on that love of country which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education, and family.”

So why is there Spanish on all government notices? I thought this was an English speaking nation. Then there’s the ‘press one for English’ on the phone. If these people don’t want to come here legally then surely they don’t want to learn English and become citizens. But I regress in my rant.

There are many political parties in this country. Libertarian, Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Socialist, Populist (made up mainly of Democrats) and Conservatives (a rapidly dying species). The Democrats controlled Congress for around 40 years up to the 90s when the Republicans regained control. But, then a strange thing happened - the Republicans, wanting to be bipartisan, not only reached across the isle to side with their opponents, but, they put on the uniform of the opponents and started to sing their fight song. And so they were left stranded by the voters at the next election.

No one seems to remember what the main purpose of serving the country really means. It’s not to raise taxes (on the evil rich) or give away as much money as possible (mainly to those who won’t take part in the business of America), nor is it to make promises of protection and benefits to special interest groups. It’s to serve America as the great nation it is and to serve the Constitution we were so blessed with. The founding fathers would be astonished if they were able to see America today. They’d seriously question all the federalization of so many programs and laws reserved in our Constitution for the individual states.

One of the major differences between the left and the right is over abortion. The left like to call it ‘a woman’s right to choose’ and they say a woman should have control over her body. But the left is mainly without the guiding foundations and principals of Judeo Christianity. The left is mainly a secular group that believes in the here and now without believing in the concepts and values that our founding fathers so strongly stood for.

Part 2 coming soon.

Patriot employers beware.

2008-03-06T10:04:00.002-05:00

These left wing folks are really trying to mess with American companies. See the 'incentives' at the bottom on how a company would qualify as a 'patriot employer'. Talk about government controls on private industry.

Senators Durbin, Obama, & Brown and Representative Schakowsky Introduce Legislation to Reward "Patriot Employers"
Thursday, August 2, 2007

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Sandra Abrevaya (Durbin), Ben LaBolt (Obama), Bethany Lesser (Brown), or Peter Karatofas (Schakowsky)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) Barack Obama (D-IL) Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today introduced legislation to reward companies that invest in American jobs, pay decent wages, provide good benefits, and support their employees when they are called to active duty. The Patriot Employer Act of 2007 would provide a tax credit to companies that make a commitment to American workers.

“When companies make headlines today it is often for all the wrong reasons: fraud, tax avoidance and profiteering,” Durbin said. “Americans have had enough with a corporate culture that rewards bad behavior and ignores the well being of workers. It is time for Patriot Employers to be recognized for doing right by their workers even while they do well for their customers and shareholders.”

“Instead of providing incentives for employers to outsource and move their headquarters overseas, we should encourage corporations to be patriot employers that create good jobs with good benefits for American workers,” said Senator Obama. “Patriot employers help maintain American competitiveness in the global marketplace, while keeping our workforce and our middle class strong.”

“For far too long, our government has betrayed the middle class while giving tax breaks to billionaires and multinational corporations that ship jobs overseas,” Senator Brown said. “Instead we should reward patriot companies that are loyal to workers and advance jobs.”

“The Patriot Corporation Act would reward companies that invest in our nation and its workers,” said Congresswoman Schakowsky. “Americans have had enough of businesses offshoring jobs and skirting the law to increase their bottom line. We must stop rewarding outsourcers and tax dodgers, and make corporations earn their tax incentives by investing in America and American workers. Our bill will create a new patriotic corporate ethic in America that unites workers and their employers in the mutual goal of building a stronger, more prosperous democratic business sector to compete in the twenty-first century global economy.”

The Patriot Employers legislation would provide a tax credit equal to 1% of taxable income to employers that:

* Invest in American jobs, by maintaining or increasing the number of full-time workers in America relative to the number of full-time workers outside of America AND by maintaining corporate headquarters in America if the company has ever been headquartered in America.

* Pay decent wages, by paying each worker an hourly wage that would ensure that a full-time worker would earn enough to keep a family of three out of poverty (at least $ 7.80 per hour).

* Prepare workers for retirement, by providing either a defined benefit plan OR a defined contribution plan that fully matches at least 5% of worker contributions for every employee.

* Provide health insurance, by paying at least 60% of each worker’s health care premiums.

* Support the troops, by paying the difference between regular salary and military salary for all National Guard and Reserve employees who are called for active duty AND by continuing their health insurance coverage for the Guard member and his or her family.

Canadian Health Care - Sicko

2008-03-01T16:01:00.003-05:00

The Canadian blunder.

Universal Health Care - 47 million not covered?

Uninsured in America examines the conventional wisdom that 45 million Americans cannot get health insurance and consequently do not have access to health care.

Written, Directed, Produced, Edited and Narrated By:
Stuart Browning
Design & Motion Graphics By:
Chandler Tuttle
Music By:
Blaine Greenberg

About the Video:
Uninsured in America is part of the Free Market Cure Video Series created by filmmaker Stuart Browning to inform Americans about the dangers of collectivized medicine and the benefits of free markets in health care.

The filmmaker has received no funding from the health insurance industry or the health care industry. http://www.freemarketcure.com/

Quick, call Al Gore

2008-03-01T13:26:00.004-05:00

Picture from www.thepeoplescube.com

.................Winter carnival activities canceled

But wait, was it too warm due to anthropogenic global warming? Was there a heat wave welling up from the tropics? Did an excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cause winter to be canceled?

No to all the above as you'll soon see.

Associated Press - February 28, 2008 1:25 PM ET

GILFORD, N.H. (AP) - Much of this week's winter carnival in Gilford has been canceled, due to too much winter.

Parks and Recreation Director Herb Greene notes that the cancellation of 2 events was due to poor road conditions and snow-filled parking lots.

Of the three events originally scheduled for Wednesday, the Cardboard Box Sled Derby has been rescheduled to Friday morning.

Well at least New Hampshire is safe from the oven of global warming.

Dunderheads galore

2008-02-29T15:57:00.004-05:00

Hillary: "We've Got Two Wars. We've Got To End One, We've Got To Win The Other."

Since neither Hillary C. nor Barak O. have any military training, I can kind of understand why they think there are two wars going on. Kind of but not really. During WW II we didn’t have a separate war in each country we fought in, a separate battle, but not a separate war. And the same holds true today. We are in one war against Islamic fascists all over the globe and we are engaged in battles in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Both battles must be won in order to survive.

So, if you support either Hillary or Barak, let me ask you a very serious question; do you really think either is qualified to lead us and our allies through to victory in this worldwide war on these hate filled super radical Muslims?

From NRO today:

Hillary: "We've Got Two Wars. We've Got To End One, We've Got To Win The Other." [Byron York]

Hillary Clinton put her views of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in pretty stark perspective during an appearance in Belpre, Ohio Wednesday night:

We're going to inherit so many challenges from President Bush. When you think about it, we have two wars, not one. We don't talk about Afghanistan enough. We've got two wars. We've got to end one, we've got to win the other.

Why not try to win both? There's simply no military solution in Iraq, she said. But when it came to Afghanistan, she sounded tougher than anybody:

We have a war against al Qaeda and the Taliban who attacked us. And the masterminds of that attack are still at large. And we're not winning, and I don't think we can let that situation continue. We have to put our best resources in against those who attacked the United States. No one can attack us with impunity. They have to be brought to justice, and that means wiping them out, because until we do, we will remain at risk.

On the campaign trail both Barak O. and Hillary C. have now told us about their 2,685 different federally run and taxpayer funded entitlement and health care programs they want to initiate once either gains the White House. They both promise to tax the evil rich and the large equally evil corporations (oil especially).

Yeah they figure to wave some magic wand and end all the troubles in our country in one quick fell swoop while ignoring the Islamic terrorists crawling all over the country ready to push the button and kill thousands of Americans. Of course, according to these two dunderheads, terrorists exist only because of the gross blunders made by the Bush administration and all we have to do is sit down with them and produce some friendly dialog to find peace and tranquility. Welcome to fantasyland.

Yes, promises of ‘womb to tomb’ care and nurturing, ‘cradle to grave’ feel good warmth from your friendly federal government as long as you pay your excessive taxes and turn in your guns. You’ll love it. It’s called socialism - look it up.

How to sing it.

2008-02-28T13:08:00.001-05:00

A 7 year old teaches singing lessons.

Angry white men

2008-02-21T22:36:00.000-05:00

This has gone around through Email and was read on the Rush Limbaugh show just yesterday. I think it was first printed in the Aspen Times Weekly. It says so well what the heartland of America feels.

In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man

Gary Hubbell February 9, 2008

There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.

Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.

There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.

His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.

The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.

He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives.

The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.

The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.

His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.

He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.

Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”

He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.

He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.

Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.

He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.

There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.

He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.

No forgiveness in this religion

2008-02-19T10:22:00.003-05:00

Iran: Father 'stones 14-year-old daughter to death'

Tehran, 18 Feb. (AKI) - A man known as Sharif has reportedly stoned his fourteen-year-old daughter to death in southeastern Iran because for allegedly having a relationship with a man.

Sharif's wife reported him to police after he and a friend killed the girl in Zahedan, capital of Baluchistan province.

Sharif showed no sign of remorse, telling police who interrogated him: "I suspected that my daughter had a relationship with a man and I had to stone her to death as she had besmirched my honour."

"I had no other choice," he said, telling police how he had carried out the stoning.

Two sisters, Azar and Zohreh Kabiri, 27 and 28 years-old respectively were earlier this month sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly committing adultery.

The women each have one child. They are from the suburb of Shahriar, near Karaj, north of the capital, Tehran.

The Kabiri sisters have already received 99 lashes each.

And more sweetness from Islam.

In a letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, some 215 lawmakers of Iran’s 290-seat assembly said Iran should review trade and political links with Denmark and the Netherlands to respond to “an anti-Islamic and Islamophobic current” in Holland and Denmark.

“We, representatives of the honorable Iranian nation, condemn this devil measure. We ask the president … to seriously review Iran’s political and trade ties with these countries,” the lawmakers said in the letter.

In the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, a leader of a militants’ umbrella group called on Muslim faithful to attack Danish embassies and diplomats.

“Blow up the Danish embassies and kill the ambassadors,” Abu Abir, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), said at an open-air news conference in a Gaza square, where PRC members burnt a Danish flag.

“We urge (Islamist fighters) to track down those who printed the cartoons, those who drew them and those who published them and slaughter them immediately,” he said.

Danish police arrested two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan descent last Tuesday, accusing them of planning to kill a cartoonist who drew one of the images.

Dozens of Islamist students burned the Danish flag in southern Pakistan on Thursday, while in Kuwait, several parliamentarians called for a boycott of Danish goods.

Back to the caves.

2008-02-18T13:16:00.002-05:00

February 17, 2008
A Modest Sacrifice for the Climate
By David Warren

Which 88 per cent of the economy would my reader most like to kiss goodbye?

I ask this question only as a practical matter, after reading the summary of a Japanese study on the economic implications of the "global warming" fraud. Noting the goal, "seriously" stated by the Group of Eight, to cut world CO2 emissions in half by the year 2050, a couple of techies in Japan (Norichika Kanie of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Yasuaki Hijioka at the National Institute for Environmental Studies) sat down with their calculators, and coolly worked out what emissions reductions will be required to meet this goal, on an equal per capita basis, around the planet.

The 88 per cent is the figure for North America. The Europeans get off relatively easily: they only have to shut down 83 per cent of their economy; the Japanese 85 per cent. Only 35 per cent of the Chinese economy will have to go. And good news for India, much of which is still living in the Arcadian low-carbon past. The Indians get to gun their carbon emissions by 137 per cent over the next four decades.

With the insouciance of a charming zombie, Mr. Kanie added that he did not think the goal out of reach. "I think it is a matter of changing lifestyle and not necessarily in an austere way," he said. "For example, I often ride my bike instead of driving a car." He thought the government should provide more bicycle infrastructure.

Thank you for that suggestion, Mr. Kanie. After an incident I witnessed on the street the other day, I myself wish to be rid of cars. And after another incident on the street the day after, I would also like to be rid of bicycles: so I can go Mr Kanie one better.

And let me add a brilliant suggestion, all of my own. I have often thought that the world's food consumption -- and all the extravagantly CO2-emitting factory and transport infrastructure that supports it -- could be reduced by more than half, if we would just stop eating on odd-numbered days. I say "more than half" because, as I recall in Lent, people's appetites decline with reduced food consumption, so they'll tend to eat less on the even-numbered days, too. The scheme would also eliminate over a billion people now living at subsistence levels.

There could be problems with enforcement. But there were problems with the gun-control registry, and only rightwing people opposed that.

There could be ethical problems, too, but these will hardly phase the professional ethicists in our universities and med schools today, who can justify abortion, euthanasia, and human cloning without even waking up in the morning. All they have to do is create a (quantified) "quality of life" test that everyone below a certain calorie-intake level will be sure to flunk. Think of it like an employee buy-out, from the company's point of view. At first there is a net increase in CO2 "costs" as people die and their corpses decay. But later, after they have finished decaying, there are substantial and permanent net savings on the CO2 account. "Short term pain for long term gain."

Um, perhaps in light of recent letters to the editor I should mention that I am being facetious. I am personally opposed to killing people as a way to solve problems; or at least, I'm opposed to killing them wantonly. It's a Catholic thing. On the other hand, I don't have an advanced degree in ethics, so what is my opinion worth?

And the global warming hysteria is one area of public policy entirely in the hands of experts. Only fully-qualified eco-scientists, and then, only those in the employ of the United Nations and the various national environmental bureaucracies, are consulted on the issue. ("The science is settled.") These are the sages of today, and fools of tomorrow.

There is a vast and growing literature of extremely well-qualified skeptics, who doubt the very premise behind the international hysteria -- that fluctuations in human-caused CO2 emissions have anything much to do with either global or regional temperature trends. Most have noticed that the trends coincide much better with solar cycles, beyond human control. But, by definition, these skeptics are not in the pay of the environmental bureaucracies, or at least, do not remain in their pay for long.

"Hoy-day, what a sweep of vanity comes this way!" quoth the sage, Apemantus. "We make ourselves fools to disport ourselves; and spend our flatteries to toast those men, upon whose age we void it up again, with poisonous spite and envy."
otiosus@sympatico.ca

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008
Page Printed from: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/a_modest_sacrifice_for_the_cli.html at February 18, 2008 - 12:13:29 PM CST

Did they say stimulate?

2008-02-16T22:44:00.005-05:00

Ok, here it is, straight from Washington DC. While the founding fathers spin in their graves, our deficit and debt loving federal government has signed into law a $168 billion dollar "economic stimulus" package.

But wait, we have a deficit in last year's budget, Congress hasn't even given the President all the spending bills that were due in October, we have a frightening trade deficit with China, we have a tremendous federal debt ($9,295,397,814,106.85), around the world the dollar isn't worth half of what it was twelve months ago and the President just submitted a $3.1 trillion budget for this year.

And the government is going to borrow another $168 billion from China so it can send out stimulating rebate checks so that American taxpayers will run to the nearest Wal-Mart and buy more lead poisoned Chinese products? Does that really make any sense?

That sounds more like a good economic stimulus for China than America.

Senza cera, T.

Where is Howard Dean when you need him?

2008-02-15T14:25:00.004-05:00

The Democrats are trying to decide between two contentious presidential candidates. One is the most disliked and polarizing woman in America, and the other is a young inexperienced black Marxist (I refuse to use the African-American label).

Both of these candidates are US Senators and both have done nothing of record to show or prove that they can rightfully sit in the hot seat of the oval office. Hillary changes her position on the war on Islamic radicals as often as the weather changes in Ohio. Barak will pull the troops from the Iraqi battleground and sit down with our enemies to discuss our differences and disputes. Neither seem to realize that Iraq is only one small battle in a global war.

Both have promised to raise taxes on the wealthy (commonly known as the 'filthy rich' by their party) to pay for massive social programs like nationalized health insurance. Both have threatened to steal the profits of the oil companies and also to raise corporate taxes. I guess having the highest corporate taxes in the world isn't good enough for these socialists.

At one time, not too many years ago, I thought I had seen the worst Democrat candidates that ever could come down the pike. Al Gore and John Kerry were both like fingernails on a blackboard. Al so clearly portrayed the bully on the block and John was the typical elitist snob. But, now we have Hillary with her own haut monde demeaner and Barak with his superman of Washington impression.

Hillary and Barak speak of change as if change itself is something anyone can put a finger on, and they both have used the word hope so many times I've lost count. I still can't figure out what changes Hillary and Barak want to see or initiate and I don't see the promise of hope changing anything. You can sit there and hope all you want (like those left behind in New Orleans during katrina), but, if you don't get off your butt and do something, hope is useless.

Most of the proposals of these two Democrats are so light on substance that they could qualify as balloons in the Thanksgiving Day parade. But there are some deeply disturbing clues that give us reference as to where they want this country to go in the future (should either one become president). Mr Obama has his Senate bill S-2433 which calls for the American taxpayer to help finance the UN's Millennium Project for the elimination of extreme global poverty. That should cost us around one trillion dollars with no guarantees of success.

And Ms. Clinton has her massively expensive universal health care platform (among other government womb to tomb proposals). A better name for this program is government owned and operated socialized medicine like they have in France and Canada and England - and Cuba. We know how well those countries are doing with their health care.

So Marxism loving Senator B. Hussein Obama is all for 'hope' and 'change' and extreme socialist Senator H. Clinton is all for power and control. And the Democrat voter has to decide between these two perfect and classic examples of a human Jackass.

Global Warming Related To Sun

2008-02-14T11:14:00.003-05:00

Article published Feb 13, 2008
Baliunas Says Global Warming Related To Sun

an article from www.tylerpaper.com

In her lecture series, "Warming Up to the Truth: The Real Story About Climate Change," astrophysicist Dr. Sallie Baliunas shared her findings Tuesday at the University of Texas at Tyler R. Don Cowan Fine and Performing Arts Center. Dr. Baliunas' work with fellow Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astronomer Willie Soon suggests global warming is more directly related to solar variability than to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, an alternative view to what's been widely publicized in the mainstream media.

"Some people argue solar influence is large; some argue it is small. I'm somewhere in the middle," she said during a press conference Thursday afternoon. Her research goes back to time periods when the amount of carbon emission was small enough that it wasn't a major player.

"If you go back far enough you eliminate some of your variables," she said. "I've always been interested with the changes of the sun and how they impact the earth. I decided to look at a narrower time scale this time."Baliunas asserts that increases and decreases in solar output led to historically warmer and cooler periods.Baliunas said concerns for world energy poverty should be more significant than worrying about something 100 years from now.

"I'm all for saving energy resources and eradicating energy poverty around the world," she said. "One can be concerned by the amount of carbon dioxide in the air and come to it from the philosophical idea of caution. We just don't want to take the chance; still we can take a view of precaution." She also said civilizations have always looked for the cause of climate changes.

In 16th and 17th century Europe, thousands were executed for what was called "weather cooking," where religious and political institutions blamed witches - mostly women - for poor growing periods or storms. Dr. Baliunas received her M.A. (1975) and Ph.D. (1980) degrees in Astrophysics from Harvard University. She serves as senior scientist at the George C. Marshall Institute in Washington, D.C., and chairs the Institute's Science Advisory Board.Her talk was part of the university's Distinguished Lecture Series.

If we had some global warming. (sing along)

2008-02-11T22:39:00.000-05:00

Update on the worldly news.

2008-02-11T11:55:00.000-05:00

Guess which religion is in the news more than any other.

IRAN: DEATH PENALTY PROPOSED FOR ‘APOSTATES’
But women who leave Islam would be subjected only to ‘hardship’ until they recant.

ISTANBUL, February 8 (Compass Direct News) – The Iranian parliament may mandate the death penalty for citizens who leave Islam, a human rights group announced this week. For the first time in Iranian history, a proposed penal code demands the death penalty for “apostates,” according to a February 5 statement by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy (IRPP). “Apostasy was always illegal, but the court could hand down a jail term, hard labor or the death penalty,” said IRPP President Joseph Grieboski.

“Now apostasy [would only] get the death penalty.” Iran has used the “apostasy” law to target Muslim converts to Christianity, liberal thinkers and members of Iran’s Baha’i religious minority. “This is not something new, they just want to be more harsh towards those who are leaving Islam,” an Iranian pastor told Compass. Though sections of the draft appear to indicate that both men and women can be executed for apostasy, others limit execution to males who leave Islam. The proposed law stipulates that “hardship” will be exercised on a female “apostate,” who will be immediately released if she recants. [...]

ACLU Sues To Prevent Revocation Of Driver's Licenses
State Law Doesn't Allow What BMV Is Planning, Group Says

INDIANAPOLIS -- The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the state to prevent the possible revocation of up to 56,000 driver's licenses that don't match information in a Social Security database.

Many of the mismatches were created by typographical errors or by people getting married and changing their last names, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles said last week when it announced it had sent warning letters to about 206,000 people in Indiana.

Many of the cases already have been resolved, but the ACLU of Indiana filed suit Friday in Marion Superior Court and plans to seek an injunction to make sure no licenses are revoked without hearings, the group's legal director said. [...]

A question of honour: Police say 17,000 women are victims every year

Ministers are stepping up the fight against so-called 'honour' crime and forced marriages. Detectives say official statistics are 'merely the tip of the iceberg' of this phenomenon. Brian Brady investigates

Up to 17,000 women in Britain are being subjected to "honour" related violence, including murder, every year, according to police chiefs.

And official figures on forced marriages are the tip of the iceberg, says the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

It warns that the number of girls falling victim to forced marriages, kidnappings, sexual assaults, beatings and even murder by relatives intent on upholding the "honour" of their family is up to 35 times higher than official figures suggest.

The crisis, with children as young as 11 having been sent abroad to be married, has prompted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to call on British consular staff in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan to take more action to identify and help British citizens believed to be the victims of forced marriages in recent years. [...]

Hundreds of GTA Muslim men in polygamous marriages -- some with a harem of wives

-- are receiving welfare and social benefits for each of their spouses, thanks to the city and province, Muslim leaders say.

Mumtaz Ali, president of the Canadian Society of Muslims, said wives in polygamous marriages are recognized as spouses under the Ontario Family Law Act, providing they were legally married under Muslim laws abroad.

"Polygamy is a regular part of life for many Muslims," Ali said yesterday. "Ontario recognizes religious marriages for Muslims and others."

He estimates "several hundred" GTA husbands in polygamous marriages are receiving benefits. Under Islamic law, a Muslim man is permitted to have up to four spouses.

However, city and provincial officials said legally a welfare applicant can claim only one spouse. Other adults living in the same household can apply for welfare independently. [...]

McCain is a shoe-in? Not so fast, my friend!

Hillary's new perfume - offensive to some

2008-02-08T09:58:00.000-05:00

Don't watch or listen unless you've an open mind for humor. This is from The Bob & Tom radio show.

Politicians using tragedy to advance an agenda

2008-02-06T18:02:00.000-05:00

Note: Self proclaimed war hero John Kerry, a failed Democrat presidential politician, is now purporting himself to be a knowledgeable spokesperson (dare we say, meteorologist) for global warming. It just proves that these people have no shame when it comes to promoting their hate America agenda. T.

From Business & Media Institute.org

Politicians using tragedy to advance an agenda has been a tried-and-true strategy. Paint the idea green and a natural catastrophe became political fodder for former Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).

Kerry appeared on MSNBC on February 6 to discuss storms that have killed at least 50 people throughout the Southeastern United States. So, of course, Kerry used the platform to advance global warming alarmism.

“[I] don’t want to sort of leap into the larger meaning of, you know, inappropriately, but on the other hand, the weather service has told us we are going to have more and more intense storms,” Kerry said. “And insurance companies are beginning to look at this issue and understand this is related to the intensity of storms that is related to the warming of the earth. And so it goes to global warming and larger issues that we’re not paying attention to. The fact is the hurricanes are more intensive, the storms are more intensive and the rainfall is more intense at certain places at certain times and the weather patterns have changed.”

Kerry’s assertion tornado activity is related to any type of climate change is questionable based on the writings of at least one meteorologist. Roger Edwards, a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla., has doubts about any global warming and tornado relationship.

“As of this writing, no scientific studies solidly relate climatic global temperature trends to tornadoes,” Edwards wrote on the Earth & Sky Web site in April 2007. “I don’t expect any such results in the near future either, because tornadoes are too small, short–lived, hard to measure and count, and too dependent on day to day, even minute to minute

With Friends like these

2008-02-05T09:47:00.000-05:00

The New Republic.com

It's not that we expect politicians to have squeaky-clean donor lists. You try running for office without, at one point or another, taking money from someone you probably shouldn't. Even Barack Obama, Mr. Clean, has Tony Rezko.

But the Frank Giustra-Kazakhstan-Uranium affair, blown open by The New York Times last week, serves as a reminder that the relationship between the Clintons and money has not always been lily-white. Here, a guide to the unsavory characters who have been associated with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

THE DONOR
Norman Hsu, Hong Kong "apparel executive."
The ClintonsCredit: Getty Images
View Larger Image View Larger Image
The Clintons

THE GREEN
Hsu bundled more than $850,000 for Hillary's presidential campaign and $260,000 for Clinton's Senate races.

THE SCANDAL
Hsu parlayed his charming, obsequious personality into a spot as one of the top twenty Democratic fund-raisers nationwide. Problem is, he turned out to be a convicted felon, on the lam since 1992 due to a grand theft conviction. Then, this December, Hsu was indicted for running a pyramid scheme that defrauded investors out of at least $20 million and that made $25,000 a year in fraudulent political donations.

THE SLEAZE FACTOR (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 somewhat sleazy and 10 stupendously so)
8. Hsu missed his initial (September 5) court date for the 1992 grand theft charge, only to be apprehended a day later on a train in Colorado; he was "freaked out," shirtless, shoeless, and holding a suitcase packed with Tiffany jewelry and $7,000 in cash. Now in federal custody, he confessed to running "phony" companies and leaning on investors to make political donations.

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS (on a scale of 1 to 10)
7. Extensive Hsu coverage stretched out over several news cycles during Hillary's presidential campaign, and the sordid details of the affair--the pyramid schemes, the links to Asian gangs, the eccentric professional con artist himself--stirred up memories of Clinton fund-raising scandals past. Hillary blamed the fiasco on errors in the donor-screening process.

THE DONORS
Marc Rich, fugitive American businessman; Denise Rich, songwriter and socialite.

THE GREEN
Denise Rich contributed $70,000 to Hillary's Senate campaign and $450,000 to the Clinton presidential library fund.

THE SCANDAL
Over seventeen years after Marc Rich fled to Switzerland to avoid charges of racketeering, illegal trading, and tax evasion (he owed $48 million), Bill Clinton pardoned Rich during his last moments in the White House. His ex-wife Denise's generous donations and Friend of Bill status gave the pardon a particularly rotten stench.

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
7.5. Rich has been accused of a long list of white-collar crimes. The classiest: trading with Iran while the country was still holding U.S. hostages.

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
9.5. As Hillary began her career in the Senate, a media frenzy and investigations in both houses of Congress and the Justice Department were launched to see if Denise's contributions bought her ex-husband's pardon. Though the president was never indicted for wrongdoing, the Rich affair is often mentioned as Exhibit A of Clintonian sliminess.

THE DONOR
Aaron Tonken, former Hollywood fund-raiser, current federal penitentiary inmate in California.

THE GREEN
In 2000 he hosted a fund-raiser that took in more than $1 million for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign.

THE SCANDAL
Tonken originally drew interest from the FBI for failing to report some donations from the event to the FEC. Although he was never charged for election-law violations, in 2003 he pleaded guilty to stealing from charities, including, according to an ABC News report, the Betty Ford clinic. He is currently serving a five-year sentence for mail and wire fraud.

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
9. The self-described con man got his start in Hollywood as Zsa Zsa Gabor's dog keeper. He sold stories about her to tabloids and snuck tourists into her dilapidated, dog feces-ridden mansion while she was out of town. In his memoir, King of Cons, Tonken wrote, "In a land of moral imbeciles, I knew I could be king."

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
4. A fund-raising committee for Hillary Clinton's 2000 campaign had to pay $35,000 in fines to the FEC for underreporting the costs of the gala, even though a federal inquiry failed to find any culpability on the Clintons' part. The financial burden to the Clinton campaign was insignificant--the real harm done was in the image of guilt by association.

THE DONOR
Peter F. Paul, renaissance man, jack of all trades.

THE GREEN
He co-hosted the 2000 fund-raiser with Tonken.

THE SCANDAL
How did Paul underwrite the gala? According to The Washington Post, by improperly borrowing more than $4 million from Merrill Lynch. Shortly after that was discovered, Paul hopped a plane to Brazil and spent years waging a two-front war: fighting extradition and trying to sue Hillary for underreporting the value of the event. In 2003, Paul was extradited to the U.S., and Clinton agreed to pay a $35,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission.

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
9.5. You've gotta give this guy credit for flamboyance. According to The Washington Post, Paul's laundry list of crimes includes a 1970s plot to sell $8.75 million worth of nonexistent coffee beans to Fidel Castro--the plan was to sink an empty cargo ship before it reached Cuba so he could keep the cash. In 1979, he was imprisoned for fraud and cocaine possession, then later violated parole, reportedly fleeing to Canada with a dead man's identity. After his release from prison in the '80s, he served as partner and manager to Fabio.

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
4. Hillary offered the same explanation for missing Paul's criminal background as she gave for missing Norman Hsu's: technical errors in the vetting process. It worked--by 2008, most Americans have forgotten about Peter F. Paul.

THE DONOR
Sant S. Chatwal, founder of Bombay Palace restaurants.

THE GREEN
In 2000, Chatwal hosted a half-million dollar fund-raiser for Clinton in New York. In 2007, he declared his intentions to raise $5 million for Hillary's presidential campaign.

THE SCANDAL
According to The Washington Post, as of September 2007, The IRS was pursuing him for $4 million in back taxes, the State of New York for another $5 million, and the FDIC is suing himin connection with a failed bank venture. The Post wrote, "Yet none of the legal and financial woes--occasionally touched on in American or Indian newspapers or highlighted by political opponents--raised red flags inside Hillary Clinton's fund-raising operation."

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
4. Though Chatwal's legal troubles span several suits and two continents (he's also been charged with bank fraud in India), his alleged crimes lack the color and imagination of, say, a Peter F. Paul.

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
1. So far, none. But if any of the lawsuits against him come to a head during election season, the timing would be awful for Clinton.

THE DONORS
International Profit Associates (IPA), an Illinois-based management consulting and business development company.

THE GREEN
Bill Clinton pocketed $125,000 for addressing IPA workers in December 2001. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that firm employees have forked over nearly $130,000 in contributions to Hillary's Senate campaigns since 2000.

THE SCANDAL
IPA has faced a string of scandals--most notably, a widely reported sexual harassment suit involving 113 former female employees. Two of them told their stories on a 2005 episode of "Oprah Winfrey Show."

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
8.5. The harassment suit included accusations that the CEO offered money to a female employee in exchange for sex and that a sales manager would pin female employees up against the wall and ask if they enjoyed intercourse.

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
3. Though never a large-scale national scandal, it doesn't look good that Hillary has, in effect, shrugged off what the lead attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the federal agency leading the investigation) called one of the "most egregious case of sex harassment that the Chicago district office has seen." Senator Clinton--unlike other politicians who received campaign donations from IPA employees, such as Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle--has opted not to return the contributions.

THE REELECTION FUND-RAISING FIASCO

The tangled web of scandals associated with the Clinton-Gore reelection campaign in 1996 led to hearings by a Senate committee led by Fred Thompson. Though Thompson's hearings are widely considered to have been a bust, several unsavory characters came to light.

THE DONOR
Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie, Taiwanese-Arkansan restaurateur-turned-fund-raiser.

THE GREEN
Trie funnelled more than $2.2 million, much of it from foreign corporate donors, to the DNC from 1994-1996 and helped pay $460,000 of the Clintons' legal bills between 1994-1997.

THE SCANDAL
Trie, who knew Clinton from his days as the owner of the Fu Lin restaurant in Little Rock, moved to Washington in 1994 and began donating to the Clintons and the DNC through various shady channels, including through "straw donors," typically poor legal immigrants who stand in for foreign businesspeople.

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
7. Trie was notorious for peddling access to President Clinton. Most distressingly, he set up a White House coffee klatch with a Chinese arms dealer.

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
7. Trie earned the dubious distinction of being the first Clinton donor indicted during the Justice Department's 1997 campaign finance investigation.

THE DONOR
John Huang, businessman and Commerce Department official under the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1995.

THE GREEN
He raised $3.4 million for the DNC in 1996. Most of it has since been returned.

THE SCANDAL
In 1996 Huang solicited an illegal donation of $250,000 from a company in South Korea, as well as $425,000 from donors whose U.S. citizenship was an issue of contention. He also co-organized a 1996 fund-raising event at the Hsi Lai Temple in Southern California, where monks and nuns under an oath of poverty mysteriously contributed large sums of money to the DNC. It was later revealed that they were reimbursed for their donations by the church, and the money had to be returned.

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
7.5. Thompson's committee suggested darkly that Huang may have been acting as an "agent of influence" for China, though the committee ultimately had scant evidence supporting the plot.

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
8. Considerable. Though the money he raised was primarily for the DNC, Huang had remarkable access to the president and the West Wing. The Commerce Department even gave him a top-secret security clearance--with a cursory background check far less thorough than normal procedure--when he was still a private citizen.

THE DONOR
James Riady, Indonesian banking magnate.

THE GREEN
Riady and his business associates gave more than $700,000 to the Democratic Party between 1991 and 1997. They also paid $100,000 to Clinton friend Webster L. Hubbell, who resigned from his job as associate attorney general after being charged with tax evasion and mail fraud.

THE SCANDAL
Riady, a regular visitor to the Clinton White House, was busted by the Justice Department in 2001 for funneling foreign corporate money into Clinton's 1992 election effort. (He had to pay out $8.6 million to the DOJ--the largest campaign finance settlement in history.) In 1997, the Thompson-led committee accused Riady of maintaining "a long-term relationship with a Chinese intelligence agency."

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
7. Riady was a big fund-raiser for Bill from his Arkansas days, and repeatedly pressed Clinton on sensitive foreign policy issues. Riady was also closely linked to a number of other scandals, including the improper appointment of John Huang (a former manager at Riady's company) and the Hsi Lai Temple fund-raiser (which was organized by Huang).

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
6. In 1997, pre-cigar, William Safire called the Riady affair "the low point of the Clinton Presidency." Still, his name is all but forgotten today.

THE DONOR
Johnny Chung, a Taiwan-born, California-based businessman.

THE GREEN
He gave $366,000 in personal and corporate donations between 1994 and 1996. All the money was returned by the DNC.

THE SCANDAL
Chung's contributions to the Democratic Party earned him significant access to the Clinton administration: He made at least 49 visits to the White House between 1994 and 1996. He arranged for five of his Chinese business clients to attend a taping of one of President Clinton's weekly radio addresses after making a $50,000 donation to the DNC. Furthermore, Chung claimed that part of his donated funds came from sources connected to the Chinese government. (The Chinese government emphatically denies the allegations.)

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
7. Ick! One radioactively slimy Chung quote: "The White House is like a subway: You have to put in coins to open gates."

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
7. Chung was one of the most recognizable--and damning-- figures in the campaign finance controversy; 49 White House visits will have that effect.

THE DONOR
Roger Tamraz, a Lebanese-American businessman.

THE GREEN
Tamraz and his company donated $300,000 to the Democratic Party in 1995 and 1996.

THE SCANDAL
In 1996, Tamraz apparently sought to leverage his donations into a face-to-face meeting with President Clinton over the objections of a National Security Council staff member. Members of the Democratic National Committee, the CIA, and the Clinton administration were all alleged to have gone to bat on Tamraz's behalf to allow him access to the White House. Tamraz then used the meeting to propose a $2.5-billion oil pipeline through Central Asia, a proposal that was then passed on to officials in the Energy Department. (Nothing ever came of it.) He was later a key witness at the Thompson committee hearings.

THE SLEAZE FACTOR
7. Know when your reputation could use a boost? When The New York Times writes sentences about you like this: "Indeed, in describing Mr. Tamraz in testimony on Wednesday and again today, the adjective used most often by lawmakers was 'shady.'" (It didn't help that when Joe Lieberman asked Tamraz at the Senate hearing if he thought he got his "money's worth" for his $300,000 donation, Tamraz replied "I think next time I'll give $600,000.") Also, at the time of his meeting with Clinton, Tamraz was wanted by Interpol for allegedly embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from a Beirut bank. In a separate case before that, the Times reported, a French court had ordered him to pay $56 million for his role in the collapse of a French bank.

THE DAMAGE TO THE CLINTONS
3.5. Not so bad in the context of the larger scandals. But Tamraz's name continues to surface from time to time, most recently on the best-seller list and the movie marquee. The saga of a man (modeled after Tamraz) using cash to gain access and influence in the White House appeared in former CIA agent Robert Baer's book See No Evil, which served as the inspiration for Syriana.

The New Republic

Are the Polar Bears ok?

2008-02-04T09:46:00.000-05:00

The global warming crazies would have us believe that the demise of the Polar Bear is right around the corner and that we have to do something NOW to save them. Well, just read some of the report below to know the truth.

U.S. Senate Report Debunks Polar Bear Extinction Fears
January 30, 2008

Report Released on January 30, 2008

U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee

U.S. Senate Report Debunks Polar Bear Extinction Fears

Contact: Marc Morano - Marc_Morano@EPW.Senate.GOV Matthew Dempsey Matthew_Dempsey@EPW.Senate.gov U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (Minority)

[See also the U.S. Senate Report released December 20, 2007, “Over 400 Prominent Scientists Dispu
ted Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007”

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is considering listing the polar bear a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. This report details the scientists debunking polar bear endangerment fears and features a sampling of the latest peer-reviewed science detailing the natural causes of recent Arctic ice changes.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service estimates that the polar bear population is currently at 20,000 to 25,000 bears, up from as low as 5,000-10,000 bears in the 1950s and 1960s. A 2002 U.S. Geological Survey of wildlife in the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain noted that the polar bear populations “may now be near historic highs.” The alarm about the future of polar bear decline is based on speculative computer model predictions many decades in the future. And the methodology of these computer models is being challenged by many scientists and forecasting experts.
Scientists Debunk Fears of Global Warming Related Polar Bear Endangerment:

Canadian biologist Dr. Mitchell Taylor, the director of wildlife research with the Arctic government of Nunavut: “Of the 13 populations of polar bears in Canada, 11 are stable or increasing in number. They are not going extinct, or even appear to be affected at present,” Taylor said. “It is just silly to predict the demise of polar bears in 25 years based on media-assisted hysteria.”

Evolutionary Biologist and Paleozoologist Dr. Susan Crockford of University of Victoria in Canada has published a number of papers in peer-reviewed academic journals. “Polar bears, for example, survived several episodes of much warmer climate over the last 10,000 years than exists today,” Crockford wrote. “There is no evidence to suggest that the polar bear or its food supply is in danger of disappearing entirely with increased Arctic warming, regardless of the dire fairy-tale scenarios predicted by computer models.”

Award-winning quaternary geologist Dr. Olafur Ingolfsson, a professor from the University of Iceland, has conducted extensive expeditions and field research in both the Arctic and Antarctic. “We have this specimen that confirms the polar bear was a morphologically distinct species at least 100,000 years ago, and this basically means that the polar bear has already survived one interglacial period,” Ingolfsson said. “This is telling us that despite the on-going warming in the Arctic today, maybe we don't have to be quite so worried about the polar bear.”

Internationally known forecasting pioneer Dr. Scott Armstrong of the Wharton School at the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania and his colleague, forecasting expert Dr. Kesten Green of Monash University in Australia, co-authored a January 27, 2008 paper with Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Willie Soon which found that polar bear extinction predictions violate “scientific forecasting procedures.” Excerpt: The study analyzed the methodology behind key polar bear population prediction and found that one of the two key reports in support of listing the bears had “extrapolated nearly 100 years into the future on the basis of only five years data - and data for these years were of doubtful validity.”

Biologist Dr. Matthew Cronin, a research professor at the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks: “We don’t know what the future ice conditions will be, as there is apparently considerable uncertainty in the sea ice models regarding the timing and extent of sea ice loss. Also, polar bear populations are generally healthy and have increased worldwide over the last few decades,” Cronin said.

Naturalist Nigel Marven is a trained zoologist, botanist, and a UK wildlife documentary maker who spent three months studying and filming polar bears in Canada's arctic in 2007. “I think climate change is happening, but as far as the polar bear disappearing is concerned, I have never been more convinced that this is just scaremongering. People are deliberately seeking out skinny bears and filming them to show they are dying out. That’s not right,” Marven said.

Biologist Josef Reichholf, who heads the Vertebrates Department at the National Zoological Collection in Munich: “In warmer regions it takes far less effort to ensure survival,” Reichholf said. “How did the polar bear survive the last warm period? … Look at the polar bear’s close relative, the brown bear. It is found across a broad geographic region, ranging from Europe across the Near East and North Asia, to Canada and the United States. Whether bears survive will depend on human beings, not the climate.”

Polar bear expert Dennis Compayre, formerly of the conservation group Polar Bears International, has studied the bears for almost 30 years in their natural habitat and is working on a new UK documentary about the bears. “I tell you there are as many bears here now as there were when I was a kid,” Compayre said. “Churchill [in Northern Canada] is full of these scientists going on about vanishing bears and thinner bears. They come here preaching doom, but I question whether some of them really have the bears’ best interests at heart.”

Botanist Dr. David Bellamy, a famed UK environmental campaigner, former lecturer at Durham University, and host of a popular UK TV series on wildlife: “Why scare the families of the world with tales that polar bears are heading for extinction when there is good evidence that there are now twice as many of these iconic animals, most doing well in the Arctic than there were 20 years ago?”

Scientists and Recent Studies Cast Doubt on Man-Made Melting Of Arctic:

A NASA study published in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters on October 4, 2007 found “unusual winds” in the Arctic blew "older thicker" ice to warmer southern waters. Despite the media's hyping of global warming, Ignatius Rigor, a co-author of the NASA study, explained, “While the total [Arctic] area of ice cover in recent winters has remained about the same, during the past two years an increased amount of older, thicker perennial sea ice was swept by winds out of the Arctic Ocean into the Greenland Sea. What grew in its place in the winters between 2005 and 2007 was a thin veneer of first-year sea ice, which simply has less mass to survive the summer melt.” […] “Unusual atmospheric conditions set up wind patterns that compressed the sea ice, loaded it into the Transpolar Drift Stream and then sped its flow out of the Arctic,” said Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and leader of the study.

A November 2007 peer-reviewed study in the journal Nature found natural cause for rapid Arctic warming. Excerpt: [The study] identifies a natural, cyclical flow of atmospheric energy around the Arctic Circle. A team of researchers, led by Rune Graversen of Stockholm University, conclude this energy flow may be responsible for the majority of recent Arctic warming. The study specifically rules out global warming or albedo changes from snow and ice loss as the cause, due to the “vertical structure” of the warming ... the observed warming has been much too weak near the ground, and too high in the stratosphere and upper troposphere. This study follows hot on the heels of research by NASA, which identified “unusual winds” for rapid Arctic ice retreat. The wind patterns, set up by atmospheric conditions from the Arctic Oscillation, began rapidly pushing ice into the Transpolar Drift Stream, a current which quickly sped the ice into warmer waters. A second NASA team, using data from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite, recently concluded that changes in the Arctic Oscillation were, “mostly decadal in nature,” rather than driven by global warming.

A January 2008 study in the peer-reviewed journal Science found North Atlantic warming tied to natural variability. Excerpt: A Duke University-led analysis of available records shows that while the North Atlantic Ocean’s surface waters warmed in the 50 years between 1950 and 2000, the change was not uniform. In fact, the sub-polar regions cooled at the same time that subtropical and tropical waters warmed. This striking pattern can be explained largely by the influence of a natural and cyclical wind circulation pattern called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), wrote authors of a study published Thursday, January 3 in Science Express, the online edition of the journal Science. Winds that power the NAO are driven by atmospheric pressure differences between areas around Iceland and the Azores. “The winds have a tremendous impact on the underlying ocean,” said Susan Lozier, a professor of physical oceanography at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences who is the study’s first author. […] “It is premature to conclusively attribute these regional patterns of heat gain to greenhouse warming,” they wrote.

A November 2007 peer-reviewed study conducted by a team of NASA and university experts found cyclical changes in ocean currents impacting the Arctic. Excerpt: “Our study confirms many changes seen in upper Arctic Ocean circulation in the 1990s were mostly decadal in nature, rather than trends caused by global warming,” said James Morison of the University of Washington's Polar Science Center Applied Physics Laboratory in Seattle, according to a November 13, 2007 NASA release. Morison led the team of scientists using data from an Earth-observing satellite and from deep-sea pressure gauges to monitor Arctic Ocean circulation from 2002 to 2006. Excerpt: A team of NASA and university scientists has detected an ongoing reversal in Arctic Ocean circulation triggered by atmospheric circulation changes that vary on decade-long time scales. The results suggest not all the large changes seen in Arctic climate in recent years are a result of long-term trends associated with global warming. […] The team of scientists found a 10-millibar decrease in water pressure at the bottom of the ocean at the North Pole between 2002 and 2006, equal to removing the weight of four inches of water from the ocean. The distribution and size of the decrease suggest that Arctic Ocean circulation changed from the counterclockwise pattern it exhibited in the 1990s to the clockwise pattern that was dominant prior to 1990. Reporting in Geophysical Research Letters, the authors attribute the reversal to a weakened Arctic Oscillation, a major atmospheric circulation pattern in the northern hemisphere. The weakening reduced the salinity of the upper ocean near the North Pole, decreasing its weight and changing its circulation. […] “While some 1990s climate trends, such as declines in Arctic sea ice extent, have continued, these results suggest at least for the 'wet' part of the Arctic – the Arctic Ocean – circulation reverted to conditions like those prevalent before the 1990s,” Morison added.

NASA Study Blames Natural High Pressure Leading to More Sunny Days for Arctic Ice Reduction Excerpt: But experts say it was the peculiar weather Mother Nature offered up last summer - whatever caused it - that is largely to blame for the recent unusual events. There was a high-pressure system that sat over the Arctic for much of the summer. It shooed away clouds, leaving the sun alone to beat down. That created higher ocean temperatures, which in turn accelerated the melt. Son Nghiem, who led that NASA study on sea ice released this week, also pointed to unusual winds, which compressed sea ice, pushing it into the Transpolar Drift Stream and into warmer water where melting happened more quickly.

A July 2007 analysis of peer-reviewed literature thoroughly debunks fears of Greenland and the Arctic melting and predictions of a frightening sea level rise. Excerpt: “Research in 2006 found that Greenland has been warming since the 1880s, but since 1955, temperature averages at Greenland stations have been colder than the period between 1881-1955. A 2006 study found Greenland has cooled since the 1930s and 1940s, with 1941 being the warmest year on record. Another 2006 study concluded Greenland was as warm or warmer in the 1930s and 40s and the rate of warming from 1920-1930 was about 50% higher than the warming from 1995-2005. One 2005 study found Greenland gaining ice in the interior higher elevations and thinning ice at the lower elevations. In addition, the often media promoted fears of Greenland’s ice completely melting and a subsequent catastrophic sea level rise are directly at odds with the latest scientific studies.” [See July 30, 2007 Report - Latest Scientific Studies Refute Fears of Greenland Melt –

In September 2007, it was announced that a soon to be released survey finds Polar Bear population rising in warmer part of the Arctic. Excerpt: Fears that two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will die off in the next 50 years are overblown, says [Arctic biologist] Mitchell Taylor, the Government of Nunavut’s director of wildlife research. “I think it’s naïve and presumptuous,” Taylor said. […] The Government of Nunavut is conducting a study of the [southern less ice region of the] Davis Strait bear population. Results of the study won’t be released until 2008, but Taylor says it appears there are some 3,000 bears in an area - a big jump from the current estimate of about 850 bears. “That’s not theory. That’s not based on a model. That’s observation of reality,” he says. And despite the fact that some of the most dramatic changes to sea ice are seen in seasonal ice areas such as Davis Strait, seven or eight of the bears measured and weighed for the study this summer are among the biggest on record, Taylor said. “Davis Strait is crawling with polar bears. It’s not safe to camp there. They’re fat. The mothers have cubs. The cubs are in good shape,” Taylor said, according to a September 14, 2007 article.

An August 2007 peer-reviewed study finds global warming over last century linked to natural causes: Published in Geophysical Research Letters: Excerpt: “Tsonis et al. investigate the collective behavior of known climate cycles such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, and the North Pacific Oscillation. By studying the last 100 years of these cycles' patterns, they find that the systems synchronized several times. Further, in cases where the synchronous state was followed by an increase in the coupling strength among the cycles, the synchronous state was destroyed. Then a new climate state emerged, associated with global temperature changes and El Niño/Southern Oscillation variability. The authors show that this mechanism explains all global temperature tendency changes and El Niño variability in the 20th century.” Authors: Anastasios A. Tsonis, Kyle Swanson, and Sergey Kravtsov: Atmospheric Sciences Group, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. See August 2, 2007 Science Daily – “Synchronized Chaos: Mechanisms For Major Climate Shifts”

According to a 2005 peer-reviewed study in Geophysical Research Letters by astrophysicist Dr. Willie Soon, solar irradiance appears to be the key to Arctic temperatures. The study found Arctic temperatures follow the pattern of increasing or decreasing energy received from the sun. Excerpt: Solar forcing explains well over 75% of the variance for the decadally-smoothed Arctic annual-mean or spring SATs (surface air temperatures). […] In contrast, a CO2-dominated forcing of Arctic SATs is inconsistent with both the large multidecadal warming and cooling signals and the similar amplitude of warming trends between cold (winter) and relatively warmer (spring and autumn) seasons found in the Arctic-wide SAT records.

Meteorologist Craig James Debunks Myths about Northwest Passage Excerpt: The headline in this press release from the European Space Agency reads “Satellites witness lowest Arctic ice coverage in History.” (LINK) In history! That sounds like a long time. However, when you read the article you find “history” only goes back to 28 years, to 1979. That is when satellites began monitoring Arctic Sea ice. The article also says “the Northwest Passage - a long-sought short cut between Europe and Asia that has been historically impassable.” I guess these people flunked history class. It has been open several times in history without ice breakers. (LINK) The first known successful navigation by ship was in 1905. This is all very similar to the story on the NBC Nightly News Friday, 14 September 2007 where the story on water levels in Lake Superior never mentioned that the lowest recorded water level on the lake occurred in March and April 1926, when the lake was about 5 inches lower than it is now. Instead, NBC interviewed several people who could never remember seeing it this low and blamed most of the problem on global warming. Never mind that the area has seen below normal precipitation for several years and for most of this year has been classified as being in an extreme to exceptional drought.

History of Northwest Passage - Navigated in 1905 and multiple times in 1940s (Note: 80% of man-made CO2 came after 1940) Excerpt: 2. ROALD AMUNDSEN: First Navigation by Ship 1905: In mid August, Amundsen sailed from Gjøahaven (today: Gjoa Haven, Nunavut) in the vessel Gjøa (LINK) […] On August 26 they encountered a ship bearing down on them from the west, and with that they were through the passage. From Amundsen's diary: The North West Passage was done. My boyhood dream - at that moment it was accomplished. A strange feeling welled up in my throat; I was somewhat over-strained and worn - it was weakness in me - but I felt tears in my eyes. ‘Vessel in sight’ ... Vessel in sight. 3. ST. ROCH: First West-East Crossing 1940-1942: The St. Roch was given the task of demonstrating Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. It was ordered to sail from Vancouver to Halifax by way of the Northwest Passage. The St. Roch left Vancouver in June 1940 and on October 11, 1942, it docked at Halifax - the first ship to travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic via the Northwest Passage. The journey had taken almost 28 months. 4. ST. ROCH: Northern Deep-Water Route (East-West) 1944: The St. Roch was the first ship to travel the Northwest Passage through the northern, deep-water route and the first to sail the Passage in both directions.

In a 2005 study published in the Journal of Climate, Brian Hartmann and Gerd Wendler linked the 1976 Pacific climate shift to a very significant one-time shift upward in Alaskan temperatures.

According to a 2003 study by Arctic scientist Igor Polyakov, the warmest period in the Arctic during the 20th Century was the late 1930s through early 1940s. Excerpt: Our results suggest that the decadal AO (Arctic Oscillation) and multidecadal LFO (low-frequency oscillation) drive large amplitude natural variability in the Arctic making detection of possible long-term trends induced by greenhouse gas warming most difficult.

Opening Statement: Examining Threats and Protections for the Polar Bear (January 30, 2007)

U.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007 (Released December 20, 2007)

Majority Office
410 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.Washington, DC 20510-6175
phone: 202-224-6176
Minority Office
456 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.Washington, DC 20510-6175
phone: 202-224-8832

Stimulating?????????????????????????

2008-02-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

The floor speech of GOP California Rep. John Campbell.

Note and question from me: How can our government, which has been raised on deficit spending for who knows how many years, write checks to keep us from sliding into a recession? Who will eventually pay for this $150,000,000,000 (billion) proposal? How idiotic can those politicians in Washington become?

I have no money, so I'll write a check from an account that has a negative balance, to supply me with some money? Does that make sense?

She not here.

2008-01-27T20:07:00.000-05:00

One sunny day in 2009, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Ave., where he'd been sitting on a park bench.

He spoke to the Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Hillary Clinton."

The Marine replied, "Sir, Mrs. Clinton is not President and doesn't reside here."

The old man said, "Okay," and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Hillary Clinton."

The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mrs. Clinton is not President and doesn't reside here."

The man thanked him and again walked away . . .

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same Marine, saying, "I would like to go in and meet with President Hillary Clinton."

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mrs. Clinton. I've told you already several times that Mrs. Clinton is not the President and doesn't reside here. Don't you understand?"

The old man answered, "Oh, I understand you fine, I just love hearing your answer!"

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow, Sir."

Federal earmark pushed by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)

2008-01-24T20:57:00.000-05:00

From:

CNS.com link

Top Earmark-er Clinton Grants $303,000 to Gay Lobby Group
By Fred Lucas
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
January 24, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - A group that lobbies for needle exchanges, for allowing more immigrants with HIV/AIDS to legally enter the country, and for condom distribution in prisons received a $303,000 federal earmark pushed by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

That was one of 261 earmarks Clinton personally helped usher through Congress. That's more earmarks than any other member of Congress seeking the presidency, according to an analysis by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW).

This specific appropriation is from the Department of Justice and is aimed at fighting methamphetamine use - that's what the Gay Men's Health Crisis Center is supposed to do with the taxpayer-funded money.

Clinton announced the grant in October 2007, a month after receiving a $750 donation and a $250 donation from Felix Lopez, an attorney for the Gay Men's Health Crisis and for a clinic based in New York.

A number of other non-profit organizations in New York state that received Clinton earmarks also had employees who contributed to her presidential campaign or political action committee, HillPAC.

Felix Lopez could not be reached for comment this week.

The funding for the earmarks came through the $555 billion FY 2008 omnibus bill, which included nearly 1,000 earmarks. Clinton's 261 earmarks were more than twice as many as any other member of Congress seeking the presidency, the CAGW analysis showed.

Under ethics reform legislation passed last year, 2008 is the first year that members of Congress have to put their names on earmarks.

In announcing the earmark to the homosexual group last October, Clinton said: "The Gay Men's Health Clinic is providing a critical service in working to halt the devastation that methamphetamine brings to our community. With HIV/AIDS rates among meth users more than twice as high as the general public, these funds are essential in helping the Gay Men's Health Clinic continue the fight against HIV/AIDS through treatment and prevention."

The Gay Men's Health Crisis Center, based in New York City, has a public policy agenda for the federal, state, and city level that includes a needle exchange program to curb the spread of HIV, allowing non-profit groups to distribute condoms for free throughout prisons, and opposition to abstinence-only sex education.

The group says its top legislative agenda item at the federal level involves changing immigration policy to eliminate HIV/AIDS as grounds for inadmissibility as a disease of public health significance.

In a survey of presidential candidates by the Gay Men's Health Crisis, Clinton provided a "mixed position" on the issue of repealing the HIV entry ban. Her chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, supports the repeal.

Both support needle exchange programs and the distribution of free condoms in prisons, and they oppose abstinence-only sex education.

The group scored Clinton at 92 percent and Obama at 89 percent. Only Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) beat Clinton with a 100 percent rating, the survey reported.

Krishna Stone, the Gay Men's Health Crisis assistant director of community relations, declined to comment on Clinton's earmark for the group and only said that the group does not endorse candidates and employees are free to contribute to whomever they like.

Stone also referred to a Dec. 28, 2007, news release from the organization praising the omnibus bill for its funding for the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC).

"We are deeply grateful to Senators Schumer and Clinton for their hard work to ensure this appropriations bill passed," said Dr. Marjorie J. Hill, the GMHC's chief executive officer, in the release. "Their leadership in addressing the rising rates of crystal meth use will help us prevent further HIV/AIDS infections."

But her comments were followed by Sean Cahill, managing director of public policy for the group, who said, "We're disappointed that this omnibus bill still contains millions for harmful and ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage education and still contains the restriction banning the use of federal funds for syringe exchange."

'What kind of president would you be?'

Most of the 261 earmarks with Clinton's name on them went to New York counties and municipalities, universities and colleges, and charitable organizations.

For the candidates still in the primary race, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) had 46 earmarks, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) had 10 earmarks, Kucinich had 9 earmarks and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had no earmarks, according to the CAGW. McCain has campaigned on having no earmarks during his time in Congress, and he has pledged to eliminate them if elected president.

The obvious flaw in comparing earmarks by the candidates is that former Govs. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, or other candidates who didn't serve in Congress last year, can't be ranked, said David Williams, vice president of policy at CAGW.

"This analysis is supposed to ask: What kind of president would you be if you had 261 earmarks?" Williams told Cybercast News Service. "Would you be more likely or less likely to issue an executive order eliminating earmarks?"

Earmarks and campaign cash

Most of Clinton's earmarks included organizations that did not have employees who donated to her campaign. But many cases were notable. Most organizations did not respond to requests for comment.

The Clinton campaign did not respond to questions on the earmarks. But her Senate office provided a statement in response to questions by Cybercast News Service. The response did not address questions about any individual earmarks or questions concerning potential connections to campaign contributions.

"Sen. Clinton is very proud to have helped New York-based projects that train nurses, improve our hospitals, help those suffering from 9/11-related health ailments, bolster national and homeland security, and provide our brave men and women in uniform with the resources they need to achieve the mission while keeping them safe," said Clinton's press secretary, Philippe Reines, in a written statement to Cybercast News Service.

Faculty and administrators at the New School, a university in New York - which received more than $2.9 million in earmarks with Clinton's name on them - gave a total of $5,100 to her campaign last year. New School President Bob Kerry is a vocal Clinton supporter.

Mitchell Rosenthall, listed as president of Phoenix House, a drug rehab center with an office in New York, gave Clinton's campaign $800 through donations in August and September. The omnibus bill approved by the Senate in October included a $601,000 earmark with Clinton's name on it for the Phoenix House.

In addition, Reynold Levy, president of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, contributed $3,200 to Clinton last February. Clinton's name was on two earmarks worth a total of $890,000 for the Lincoln Center.

"I spoke with Reynold Levy, and he said there was no connection between the individual campaign contributions and earmarks," Lincoln Center Vice President of Public Relations Betsy Voice told Cybercast News Service in a written statement.

Numerous other private non-profit groups with Clinton earmarks had employees that gave less than $1,000, while other organizations had a significant number of employees that gave to Clinton in previous election cycles.

The relationship between earmarks and campaign contributors is all too common throughout Congress and can't be pinned on one member, said CAGW's David Williams.

"This not only casts a perception, but there are people in jail for this," Williams said, referencing politicians who were proven to have granted earmarks in exchange for campaign contributions or bribes. "If you're a member of Congress, this is not the way you should do it. Any federal funding should go through a competitive grant process."

They're both full of it.

2008-01-23T14:25:00.000-05:00

Lawyers that is. Both the Democrat and the Republican parties are filled with lawyers running for the office of President of the United States. Excuse me, but, is it not legal for a non-lawyer to run for the White House? Lawyers are worse than peanut farmers when it comes to politics.

There are a few on the Republican side who aren't tied to the ambulance chasers national association; Mitt Romney, John McCain, and that Baptist preacher guy - what's his name? Oh yeah, Mike (I need more cash) Huckabee. I never met a preacher who didn't always need more donations for this or that.

But both Democrat leaders, Hillary (Her Royal Socialist Thighness) Rodham and Barak (yo mama) Obama are tried and true legal profession smoke and mirror shamans and Presidential wanna-bees. John (I never took a case that I couldn't make millions from) Edwards, who couldn't win an election for local newspaper boy or hairdresser, is another shingle holder.

I'm so sick of hearing Democrats give their grand socialist plans for saving the country, saving the economy, saving the sick, saving the planet and punishing the rich, punishing the oil companies, punishing the health care system. If they had half as much hatred toward Islamic terrorists, we'd be able to wipe them out in a month.

I just thank God that John (I'm a hero) Kerry and Al (we'll burn soon) Gore aren't running. I'd rather watch sludge move uphill.

Speaking of Owl Gore, a friend just informed me that global warming is causing wind shear that knocks hurricanes out of action. Another (the debate is over) proof that pretty soon we'll all die from drowning, burning, starvation or boredom. Gore also has just released a video touting equal rights for gays and lesbians to marry. He must have had a day off from his global warming scam.

Hollywood actors still insist that El President for life Chavez of oil rich Venezuela isn't a ruthless dictator. I guess the rest of us are fools for thinking so. Well, if he's not a dictator, then Islamic terrorists aren't really bad people - maybe just misguided.

I have no idea who he is, nor do I care, but, 28 year old actor Heath Ledger is making the headline news by dying - alone - under suspicious circumstances - drugs involved? I bet a sitting President dying couldn't generate as much hot press.

You know we're not being compassionate or inclusive when you read stories like this;

"Panhandling on public transportation can get you a year in jail in Medford, Ore. Telling a lie while asking for money in Macon, Ga., is against the law. In Minneapolis, begging in groups has been banned.

Think of it, no begging in groups. What's the world coming to?

Has anyone been hurt by the writer's strike? Didn't think so. I pray it continues.

The master of perfection, Tiger (I can beat you by 10 strokes or more) Woods plays Thursday. I'll watch as long as Maria (I'm a babe) Sharapova isn't playing tennis.

It's official, according to a new Zogby poll;

Most Americans believe their country's economy is in decline and that its cities are experiencing economic troubles on a variety of fronts.

Add that to the doom and gloom list as one more thing to worry about. And in a "notebook" post on the CBS News Web site Wednesday, "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric boasted of the media's ability to predict a recession. Heck they've been covertly performing midnight recession rituals and mumbled incantations for 7 years now - it's about time. Of course, it's all George Bush's fault with those tax cuts for the rich.

Enough? I'd say. See you next time and in the meantime, save you nickels and dimes.

Senza cera, T.

The Democrat Party Uncivil War (1 of 2) & (2 of 2)

2008-01-14T18:05:00.000-05:00

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

A marine in battle

2008-01-14T10:26:00.000-05:00

Profiles of valor: Marine Corps Sgt. Martinez (reprinted from "The Patriot Post)

During the initial American assault against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, a former gang member turned Marine displayed outstanding courage under fire. On 12 April 2003, then-Cpl. Martinez, serving with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, received a call for reinforcements from an ambushed platoon.

Martinez took control after his squad leader was wounded by a grenade and moved his team to assault positions against the enemy. The Marines then fully engaged their more numerous enemy. Under heavy fire, Martinez noticed an enemy grenade launcher left behind. He ran into the open under cover fire, grabbed the RPG launcher and used it to take on the enemy single-handedly, while the other Marines then tended to the wounded.

He quickly took out several jihadis, ending the firefight. In May 2004, Martinez received the Navy Cross. Through it all, he is grateful: “All I ever am, or will become, I owe to my beloved Corps.”

Semper Fi!

Birth leave sought for girls

2008-01-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

Kayla Lewis, a senior at East High School, asked school-board members last month to establish maternity leave for students who are new mothers. ( Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post )

Note from Me: With all the world's frightening problems it seems that someone in Denver felt we need to extend more compassion toward young female students who find themselves pregnant. I don't know if this is up there in importance with Islamic suicide (homicide) bombers and atomic weapons being made by rogue nations, but, there it is. How about if someone teaches these young ladies to not get pregnant in the first place. Usually young people wait till after high school to start a family. If you study the charts (here) showing illegitimate births by race you'll notice that black females lead all the years with over 68%. Now that's really sad. I wonder if Democrats have a plan for this?

Soon-to-be-moms at East High School ask for four weeks of maternity leave.
By Jeremy P. Meyer The Denver Post

Kayla Lewis, a senior at East High School, asked school-board members last month to establish maternity leave for students who are new mothers. ( Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post )

Pregnant students in a Denver high school are asking for at least four weeks of maternity leave so they can heal, bond with their newborns and not be penalized with unexcused absences.

The request is unusual in Colorado's public schools, where districts tend to deal with pregnant students or new moms with specialized programs or individualized education plans.

Denver Public Schools has no district wide policy, leaving it up to schools to work out plans for students to continue their education.

Two counselors from East High School approached the school board last month, saying the policy at their school is unfair and inconsiderate because it forces new moms to return to school the day after being discharged from the hospital or face being charged with unexcused absences.

"My initial reaction is if we are punishing girls like that, that is unacceptable," said Nicole Head, one of the counselors who brought the matter to the school board last month. "We've got to do something."

East High School administrators could not be reached for comment over the winter break, but district officials say they are reviewing the policy on absences to make it "friendlier" to new moms, said DPS spokesman Alex Sanchez.

Kayla Lewis, who is five months pregnant and a senior at East, requested that the board establish maternity leave for students at a Dec. 20 public hearing.

"After you have the baby, your body needs time to heal," the 18-year-old said.

That is true, said Dr. Sarah Grope, pediatrician at HealthOne's Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver.

"To just assume that two days after having a baby they can go back to school is ridiculous at best," Grope said. "During that time, they should be able to do their schoolwork and give time to bond with their children."

School-board member Michelle Moss was baffled that schools were giving girls unexcused absences after birth.

"It's critical that these young women have a chance to bond with their babies," Moss said. "Maybe we do need a policy. Clearly, as a district, we have to look at what is going on with our young women. We've got to look at the birth-control issues and teen pregnancy and how we best help them deal with it and still graduate."

Denver has one of the highest teen-pregnancy rates in the state. Of every 1,000 girls ages 15 to 17, 54.5 will become pregnant in the city, compared with 24.3 throughout Colorado, according to state health statistics.

The district has a school for pregnant teens and new moms, Florence Crittenton School, but it has a waiting list. Plus, many students want to remain at the school where they started, said Head, the counselor at East.

Cherry Creek, Adams 12, Jefferson County and Douglas County school districts have policies in which students work with counselors and principals to devise plans that will keep them in school.

Several districts have special schools with child-care services for new moms. Others have programs that allow students to receive high-school credit.

"When a girl tells us she is pregnant, we advise her to work one on one with her counselor and go from there to see what they can work out," said Michelle Ancell, spokeswoman for Cherry Creek Schools.

"The counselor plays middleman between the principal and the student," said Melissa Reeves of Jefferson County Schools, who added that the district has started a computer-based credit-recovery program that students can use during evening hours.

Douglas County has had a program for 19 years called WINGS, or Winning in New Growth Situations, that offers support and instruction for the girls once a week, allowing them to earn elective credits in nutrition and parenting. The program has 20 students, said coordinator Susan Anderson.

The district has a school that begins at 4:30 p.m. for new parents that is attached to Highlands Ranch High School. Students also are able to stay in their schools, but that is not easy for many new moms, she said.

"Day care is very difficult, hard to come by and expensive," Anderson said. "We just work really hard to make sure kids graduate high school. We know it's so important."

Teen mothers face a challenging future, with many dropping out. A third of teen moms receive their high-school diplomas and 1.5 percent get college degrees before they turn 30, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

"If there are young mothers asking for maternity leave, the board should listen to them," said Lori Casillas, executive director of the Colorado Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting, and Prevention. "If they think it is a barrier to graduation, the board should look at that."

Her organization advocates that schools provide child-care services for new moms. Too many girls drop out after giving birth, and schools must do something to keep them, Casillas said.

Students at one high school in southern Colorado wanted to set up a child-care center, but the principal forbade it, saying it would encourage teen pregnancy, she said.

"There is no evidence that has ever happened," Casillas said. "I don't think schools have been proactive at creating policies that encourage young mothers to remain in school. Schools need to say, 'What if you do come back, then what?'

"Schools need to say, 'This is what we do to support your learning.' That's not happening."

Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com

Logan the sky angel

2008-01-07T10:02:00.000-05:00

Take just a couple of quiet minutes to listen to this and know the truth.

Beck Surgery Goes "Horribly Awry"

2008-01-04T16:57:00.000-05:00

Headline News' Glenn Beck talks about his recent botched surgery, rails against the hospital where he was treated, launches into the Presidential campaign and a lack of compassion then talks about how he became "full fledged suicidal."

Related: The TVNewser interview with Glenn Beck...

Idiotic quotes from our idiotic media.

2008-01-01T01:11:00.000-05:00

As published by our friends at:

2007 awards for the most outrageous quotes heard broadcast over the airwaves.

HOIST BY THEIR OWN PETARD

Dynamic Duo Award for Idolizing Bill and Hillary

"When I watched [former President Bill Clinton] at Mrs. King's funeral, I just have never seen anything like it . . . There are times when he sounds like Jesus in the temple. I mean, amazing ability to transcend ethnicity - race, we call it, it's really ethnicity - in this country and, and speak to us all in this amazingly primordial way."

- Chris Matthews, MSNBC's "Hardball"

Damn Those Conservatives Award

"I'm just saying, if he did die, other people, more people, would live. That's a fact."

- Bill Maher, HBO's "Real Time," discussing complaints by left-wing bloggers that an attempt to kill Vice President Dick Cheney in Afghanistan had failed

Great Goreacle Award

"Do you mind if I -? [holds up a 'Gore 2008' pin] . . . There you go. You can hold it. . . . Here, let's see what it looks like. [holds pin to Gore's lapel] . . . All right, all right. Save that in a freeze frame."

- Harry Smith, on CBS' "Morning Show"

Good Morning Morons Award

"So I'm running in the park on Saturday, in shorts, thinking this [warm weather] is great, but are we all gonna die? You know? I can't, I can't figure this out."

- Meredith Vieira, talking about global warming on NBC's "Today"

Tin Foil Hat Award for Crazy Conspiracy Theories

"Is there such a thing as a man-made stroke? In other words, did someone do this to him? . . . I know what this [Republican] party is capable of."

- Joy Behar, on ABC's "The View," discussing Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson's illness

Perky Princess Award for Katie's Cutesy Comments

"Do you worry at all that non-believers may feel excluded and diminshed at a time when we're divided by so much?"

- Katie Couric to "Nativity Story" director Catherine Hardwicke and screenwriter Mike Rich about Hollywood films based on biblical themes

Barbra Streisand IQ Award for Celebrity Vacuity

"I just want to say something: 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists? . . . If you were in Iraq and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?"

- Rosie O'Donnell, on ABC's "The View"

Media Hero Award

"He was not what I expected. He was very dignified. He was warm, friendly. He likes the US. It's George Bush that he doesn't like. He also was very personal. He talked about how hard his life was, that he wishes he could be in love, but [that] you can't be when you're heading a country."

- Barbara Walters, on ABC's "The View," recounting her interview with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez

Blue State Brigade Award

"So much of what you say just grabs people like me, because it sounds like Bobby Kennedy. It sounds like the '60s at its absolute best."

- Chris Matthews to Sen. Barack Obama on a Democratic presidential candidates forum aired live on MSNBC

Channeling the Nut Roots Award

"It's interesting. If you go back . . . the Nuremberg trials weren't about the genocide, it was about waging an aggressive war. I love reading some of that language. It's interesting."

- MSNBC's Chris Matthews, in an exchange with left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore, on trying President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for war crimes

Not Biased Enough Award

"As we saw in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the plantation mentality that governs Washington turned the press corps into sitting ducks for the war party, for government, and for neoconservative propaganda and manipulation. . . . I can't tell you again how many reporters have told me that it just never occurred to them that high government officials would manipulate intelligence in order to go to war. Hello?"

- PBS' Bill Moyers, in a speech to a conference on "media reform"

Quote of the Year

"As violence falls in Iraq, cemetery workers feel the pinch."

- Headline over a McClatchy News Service story by Jay Price and Qasim Zein

Fred's still a threat to the establishment.

2007-12-30T20:27:00.000-05:00

Stop the ACLU

Happy New Year

2007-12-26T14:40:00.000-05:00

What's Christmas about Charlie Brown?

2007-12-25T21:56:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas 12/25/2007

2007-12-23T20:14:00.001-05:00

May you celebrate with love and friendship in your heart.

Senza cera, T.

Who pays the taxes?

2007-12-20T10:03:00.000-05:00

This is just a small part of the article found at "The Tax Foundation".

The latest release of Internal Revenue Service data on individual income taxes comes from calendar year 2005, a year in which the economy remained healthy and continued to grow ...

In 2005, the top 1 percent of tax returns paid 39.4 percent of all federal individual income taxes and earned 21.2 percent of adjusted gross income, both of which are significantly higher than 2004 when the top 1 percent earned 19 percent of AGI and paid 36.9 percent of federal individual income taxes.

The IRS data include all of the 132.6 million tax returns filed in 2005 that had a positive AGI, not just the returns from people who earn enough to owe taxes. From other IRS data, we can see that 90.6 million of the tax returns came from people who paid taxes into the Treasury. That leaves 42 million tax returns filed by people with positive AGI who used exemptions, deductions and tax credits to completely wipe out their federal income tax liability.

To break into the top 1 percent, a tax return had to have an AGI of $364,657 or more. The top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $62,068) earned 67.5 percent of the nation's income, but they paid more than four out of every five dollars collected by the federal income tax (86 percent). The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $364,657) earned approximately 21.2 percent of the nation's income (as defined by AGI), yet paid 39.4 percent of all federal income taxes. That means the top 1 percent of tax returns paid about the same amount of federal individual income taxes as the bottom 95 percent of tax returns.

See "The Tax Foundation" for more information.

Christmas surprise '07

2007-12-18T18:04:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas 2007

2007-12-18T14:07:00.000-05:00

I know why you're here. You're hoping for another insightful posting, another slap-down on the goofy liberals, well, it isn't here yet. There are so many things going on in the world that it addles my poorly functioning brain to even think about them.

But, whatever you may believe about the Christmas season, to most of our fellow citizens it is a joyful remembrance of the birth of the Savior. It is a time to gather the family and smile.

I realize that some of you have been dogged and brought low by snow and ice storms (probably caused by global warming?), and some of you are just now recovering from the winter temperatures (inside your house) brought to you by downed power lines. Let me say here that I pray the remainder of the season is milder for you than the beginning has been. Remember that winter doesn't even begin till December 21.

We here in Southwest Florida don't allow snow and ice storms. We don't even allow hurricanes to enter our region though one does break the rules and slip in every 30 years or so.

So as I stroll the beach and feel the warm sand beneath my bare feet and the warm sun on my shoulders, I'll think of you shoveling your driveway for the 5th time in a week. I really am compassionate aren't I?

So, go Buckeyes and Merry Christmas! Thanks to all of you who I know as friends; you're wanted and needed. Thanks for your thoughts, your cards, your gifts, your love. Be safe, be warm, be true.

Senza cera, T.

Obama the liberal leaning left.

2007-12-12T10:55:00.000-05:00

Liberal views could haunt Obama

From the Politico on the web.

[...]

Filling out a 12-page questionnaire from an Illinois voter group as he sought a state Senate seat in 1996

“Do you support … capital punishment?” one question asked.

“No,” the 1996 Obama campaign typed, without explaining his answer in the space provided.

“Do you support state legislation to … ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns?” asked one of the three dozen questions.

“Yes,” was Obama’s entire answer.

Obama said he would support a single-payer health plan for Illinois “in principal” [sic], “although such a program will probably have to be instituted at a federal level; the long-term objective would be a universal care system that does not differentiate between the unemployed, the disabled, and so on.” The campaign says Obama has consistently supported single payer health care in principle.

Under single-payer health care, a government system would replace private health insurance. Obama’s campaign said he has always supported the idea in concept, but thinks it is not currently practical because of the existing health care infrastructure. [...]

The politico.com

Get rid of the IRS

2007-12-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

The IRS (infernal revenue service) needs to go. It's an ugly ogre, a boil on the buttocks of the national economy. Candidate Mike Huckabee wants to get rid of it. He might be the only one with a firm grasp on the Fair Tax.

I just wish Fred Thompson would step up and say the same.

See what the Fair Tax is all about right here.

Eight good reason to ...

2007-12-05T10:37:00.000-05:00

From Heartland.org

Eight Reasons to End the (anthropogenic global warming) Scam

Concern over “global warming” is overblown and misdirected. What follows are eight reasons why we should pull the plug on this scam before it destroys billions of dollars of wealth and millions of jobs.

1. Most scientists do not believe human activities threaten to disrupt the Earth’s climate. More than 17,000 scientists have signed a petition circulated by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine saying, in part, “there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.” (Go to www.oism.org for the complete petition and names of signers.) Surveys of climatologists show similar skepticism.

2. Our most reliable sources of temperature data show no global warming trend. Satellite readings of temperatures in the lower troposphere (an area scientists predict would immediately reflect any global warming) show no warming since readings began 23 years ago. These readings are accurate to within 0.01ºC, and are consistent with data from weather balloons. Only land-based temperature stations show a warming trend, and these stations do not cover the entire globe, are often contaminated by heat generated by nearby urban development, and are subject to human error.

3. Global climate computer models are too crude to predict future climate changes. All predictions of global warming are based on computer models, not historical data. In order to get their models to produce predictions that are close to their designers’ expectations, modelers resort to “flux adjustments” that can be 25 times larger than the effect of doubling carbon dioxide concentrations, the supposed trigger for global warming. Richard A. Kerr, a writer for Science, says “climate modelers have been ‘cheating’ for so long it’s almost become respectable.”

4. The IPCC did not prove that human activities are causing global warming. Alarmists frequently quote the executive summaries of reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations organization, to support their predictions. But here is what the IPCC’s latest report, Climate Change 2001, actually says about predicting the future climate: “The Earth’s atmosphere-ocean dynamics is chaotic: its evolution is sensitive to small perturbations in initial conditions. This sensitivity limits our ability to predict the detailed evolution of weather; inevitable errors and uncertainties in the starting conditions of a weather forecast amplify through the forecast. As well as uncertainty in initial conditions, such predictions are also degraded by errors and uncertainties in our ability to represent accurately the significant climate processes.”

5. A modest amount of global warming, should it occur, would be beneficial to the natural world and to human civilization. Temperatures during the Medieval Warm Period (roughly 800 to 1200 AD), which allowed the Vikings to settle presently inhospitable Greenland, were higher than even the worst-case scenario reported by the IPCC. The period from about 5000-3000 BC, known as the “climatic optimum,” was even warmer and marked “a time when mankind began to build its first civilizations,” observe James Plummer and Frances B. Smith in a study for Consumer Alert. “There is good reason to believe that a warmer climate would have a similar effect on the health and welfare of our own far more advanced and adaptable civilization today.”

6. Efforts to quickly reduce human greenhouse gas emissions would be costly and would not stop Earth’s climate from changing. Reducing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to 7 percent below 1990’s levels by the year 2012--the target set by the Kyoto Protocol--would require higher energy taxes and regulations causing the nation to lose 2.4 million jobs and $300 billion in annual economic output. Average household income nationwide would fall by $2,700, and state tax revenues would decline by $93.1 billion due to less taxable earned income and sales, and lower property values. Full implementation of the Kyoto Protocol by all participating nations would reduce global temperature in the year 2100 by a mere 0.14 degrees Celsius.

7. Efforts by state governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are even more expensive and threaten to bust state budgets. After raising their spending with reckless abandon during the 1990s, states now face a cumulative projected deficit of more than $90 billion. Incredibly, most states nevertheless persist in backing unnecessary and expensive greenhouse gas reduction programs. New Jersey, for example, collects $358 million a year in utility taxes to fund greenhouse gas reduction programs. Such programs will have no impact on global greenhouse gas emissions. All they do is destroy jobs and waste money.

8. The best strategy to pursue is “no regrets.” The alternative to demands for immediate action to “stop global warming” is not to do nothing. The best strategy is to invest in atmospheric research now and in reducing emissions sometime in the future if the science becomes more compelling. In the meantime, investments should be made to reduce emissions only when such investments make economic sense in their own right.

This strategy is called “no regrets,” and it is roughly what the Bush administration has been doing. The U.S. spends more on global warming research each year than the entire rest of the world combined, and American businesses are leading the way in demonstrating new technologies for reducing and sequestering greenhouse gas emissions.

While you're here, view this short video and take the global warming test..

Heartland.org

No darn Christmas tree here.

2007-11-29T11:31:00.000-05:00

We can't have a fat Santa nor Ho Ho Ho (see Don Imus quote) nor Angels singing nor anything that doesn't include that social sensitivity feeling so warm and cuddly to the left.

Nope, can't do that boys and girls. Remember, if it's hurtful to one, it could be hurtful to many (and the planet). So preaches the ACLU and the almighty wisdom of the courts.

So 'Happy Holidays' and have a good CIA inspired Kwanzaa celebration, but, there ain't gonna be no tree here this year.

Taze me now bro!

MSU removes Christmas tree after complaint from Jewish professor
by The Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD --

A Missouri State University department head took down a 20-foot Christmas tree (not the one in the photo) after a diversity official reported a complaint that it was insensitive to other religions. As a result, MSU officials are meeting Friday to discuss appropriate holiday decorations.

The 20-foot artificial tree was taken down Monday. The co-chair of the president's diversity commission said a Jewish faculty member complained the tree showed "a lack of sensitivity" to those of other religions.

Another university official said courts have ruled Christmas trees are secular symbols if they do not bear religious decorations. The department head who put the tree up said she didn't use any religious symbols on it.