European Union Slaps Greece Around: They’re Going to Strip Greece of Their Voting Rights Until Greece Straightens Out Their Debt Problem

I hope Congress is paying close attention to the still-developing crisis between debt-overloaded Greece and their partners in the European Union, because there’s a warning for the United States in between the lines.

Several European newspapers are calling the EU moves against Greece a “shocking” and “crushing  loss of  Greek sovereignty.”  It’s apparently in a part of the EU treaty that member states can lose control of their own monetary policies if their national debts exceed the 3% limit of deficit to the country’s GDP.  Greece is currently at 12% and threatening to default on its debt load, which is 113% of its GDP.

The way that Europe is lording it over Greece, a lesson is there for all to see.  With the types of numbers coming out of Washington, and the depth of borrowing that the current Administration and Congress is proposing to engage in, how long can it be before China and other nations try to lord it over us?  What if China starts trying to dictate our monetary policy by threatening to reject American borrowing requests from Chinese banks?  What happens when they start to dictate our foreign policy?

The American government must live within it’s own means, without borrowing another red cent. 

No nation on earth should hold sway over our national interests; we can make our own decisions on whether we want to welcome the Dalai Lama to our country, or whether we want to sell weapons to Taiwan to deter Red Chinese aggression. 

And if we want to give our taxpayers rebates, we don’t borrow the money from China to do it.  That was the height of irresponsibility from the last Administration, and a national disgrace.

If the government can’t survive on a $2 trillion budget, they can learn to do without.   But enough of this financial irresponsibility.  There should be NO talk of a health care plan until our financial mess is straightened out.

Hunting Season on Cats? Where Do I Get a License??!

Feral cats may be the new targets for hunters in some municipalities around the country.  And I’m enjoying the picture a great deal.   Even though I know that the proposition will probably fail.

In any case, feral cats kill tens of millions of birds a year.

Where might one get a license??!

Christmas Day Bomber Belongs in Civilian Court: Military Has No Jurisdiction on Civilian Commercial Flights and the FBI Made the Arrest

The rape of the criminal justice system continues unabated.

Now that they’ve introduced legislation to bar funding for trials of Guantanamo Bay inmates in civilian courts, Constitutional shredders in Congress have targeted the Christmas Day bomber as well, saying he should be tried in a military court.

Bull honkey!

The military does not have any jurisdiction as the attempted bombing took place on a civilian airliner, in civilian airspace over an American city, not on a military flight, in military-controlled airspace or over an American military base.  Moreover, the arresting officers were FBI, who are also non-military law enforcement personnel.

The line between civilian law enforcement and military law enforcement clearly needs to be strengthened as the line separating the two, aka the Posse Comitatus Act, has been weakened via attempted acts of Congress and the previous Administration.  It was in response to Hurricane Katrina, and authorizations of Congress for President Bush to use troops in law enforcement in and around New Orleans as civil authority had broken down there.   These acts of Congress expired in 2008 and the line was tenuously re-established.

I have faith in our military, but not in our elected Constitution-shredding leaders, who don’t seem to have any issues trampling all over the Constitution that they are sworn to uphold.

The same Congress people who are yelling about the Christmas Day bomber being in civilian court should think twice before putting the military tribunals (which are considered illegal under international law) above those of the civilian criminal justice courts.

The military courts should handle military matters.  The Christmas Day bombing is a civilian matter, to be decided in civilian courts.  This man was not arrested on some distant battlefield under military control; he was arrested in Romulus, Michigan, home of Detroit Metro Airport, attempting to blow up a passenger jet.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and anything that threatens the integrity of the Constitution should be banned out of existence and forgotten.

We dare not blur the lines of distinction in order to use enhanced torture methods.   That’s a slippery slope that has been barely kept in check to this point.

Government Says It Had to Pressure Toyota into Recall: Investigation is Ongoing

Some things became a little clearer today when the U.S. government said that it had to pressure Toyota into recalling eight models for defective foot pedals.

And Toyota experienced a 16% drop in sales in sales in January.

As a former Toyota owner, I can tell you that this problem has been around for a while.  I had to get the gas pedal on my 1994 Toyota pickup fixed because it was experiencing the EXACT problem that this current recall is about.  I can remember the mechanic at the Toyota dealer telling me that it was a common problem.  That was twelve years ago.

I haven’t had any problems with gas pedals in my Dodge.

So, it now appears that Toyota had no intention of doing this recall, and government pressure forced them into it, which was the reason they didn’t have a fix ready to go.   In my mind, it turns this from a case of simple stupidity on the part of Toyota into one of denial and evasion, particularly since nineteen deaths have been linked to the defective gas pedals.  Shame on Toyota!

The Photo That Says It ALL

Where's my cookie, you flaming idiot??!

Obama Scrapped Constellation: He Should Scrap His Health Care Bill Too, Along with a Few Other Things

I couldn’t help but notice that President Obama scrapped the Constellation program over at NASA, as it was an outdated concept when they retired it forty years ago, and was even more outdated when they proposed doing an upgrade to the forty-plus year old concept to replace the retiring shuttles.

Now that he’s gotten around to cutting the budget, I have another suggestion for him on where else he can make cuts:

Scrap his health care plan.  His reasons for scrapping Constellation also apply to his health plan: it can be done cheaper and far more responsibly (AND without throwing people in jail, too, I might add).

He needs to go much deeper and make a dent in the debt.  Closing up shop in Iraq this year would save more money in one year than he’s currently proposing for his ENTIRE current ten-year plan.

The President’s $3.8 trillion budget is a BUST.  He needs to pare it down to about $2.2 trillion, and put the savings into paying down the debt owed to foreign creditors. It’s better to replenish the well and keep it in reserve, rather than draining it completely dry, which we are currently on track to do.

Congress and the President need to pass a balanced budget.

Why Didn’t Toyota Develop a Fix BEFORE Announcing Their Recall of Millions of Affected Vehicles? They’re Going About This BACKWARDS!

I’ve been watching the Toyota recall and can’t help but wonder: what is Toyota doing?

They issued the recall on eight models of Toyota vehicles and stopped selling those across the country. Then it emerged that they don’t have a solution, or permission from the federal government to proceed with a fix, which are required. If they saw a problem, why on earth didn’t they develop a fix first before announcing a recall?

I remember when Dodge issued a recall six years ago how efficient it was. They announced the problem (a recall of the upper ball joint), sent out mail to all Dodge owners with the affected vehicles (2001-2003 Dodge Durangos and Dakotas) and asked them to schedule appointments so that the right part could be shipped to the dealer ahead of the appointment.

A couple of hours after dropping my truck off at the dealer, I had it back with a clean bill of health.

After going through that, and then seeing that Toyota issued a recall in the last few days without a fix, it makes me wonder…what are they DOING? They announced a recall without a fix. They didn’t even have a fix on the drawing board so that they could discuss it with the feds.

Dodge developed a fix, and permission from the appropriate federal agency to carry out the ball joint repair prior to their huge announcement. This is how most American companies take care of their problems. Toyota didn’t do things his way, they’re doing it backwards.

The problem with the Dodge ball joints was thought to have been more widespread than the reported problem with the gas pedals in these Toyota vehicles, but more information is being released, almost on an hourly basis.

The Big 3 are gleefully watching Toyota’s market share shrink, but hopefully they’re taking notes on what NOT to do.

Watchdog Warns of Catastrophic Meltdown in U.S. Financial System: Problems Haven’t Been Dealt With, Some Are Now Worse than Before

The TARP program which was designed to prevent the collapse of the U.S. financial sector has created new and far more serious problems, according to the special inspector general of TARP.

I hope they didn’t just delay the inevitable.

Treasury needs to get its head out of its arse and put safeguards in place that will address the myriad of problems that still need to be taken care of.

These banking bigwigs need to understand that TARP was NOT universally supported, in Congress or by the public.  I preferred to let the system crash so that a rebuild could have been done, and a stronger economy would have emerged.   We would probably have 20% unemployment right now, but it would have been a temporary situation that would have improved over time.

Instead, the government and the banks reset the clock. That’s a decision that may come around and bite us even more than it already has.

TARP was for nothing if this attitude continues to prevail on Wall Street and at Treasury.  Some people warned that this was going to happen, and THEY WERE RIGHT.  Again.   And now we’re facing the real possibility of the banks doing the same thing again and counting on Uncle Sam to bail them out a second time.

The cost of a catastrophic meltdown will be much worse than if TARP hadn’t happened.   We MUST escape this vicious cycle, before it’s too late.

Leave the Groundhog in the Ground: They BITE!

I’m no PETA puffer, but I am of the opinion that the ridiculous Groundhog Day celebrations ought to involve leaving the groundhogs alone.

If they don’t, I hope they all reach out and bite someone. 

I refer to Staten Island Chuck, who bit New York Mayor Bloomberg at last year’s Groundhog Day.  The woodchuck objected to being taken out of his warm wooden house that the zoo had built for him, and having his food taken away from him.  DUH!

I hope he strikes again.  And the same for Punxsutawney Phil.  I hope they drop him after he bites someone, and he runs amok and starts biting the idiots who are standing in close proximity.  That would be poetic justice.  I would post the video here and sing his praises.

Let the creatures be.

Obama’s State of the Union Address Didn’t Change Very Many Minds: Congress is Even More Polarized Now than Before the Speech

President Obama delivered his first State of the Union address last night, and while it was a fine speech in how he performed it, the ideas contained within the speech were another matter entirely.  He tried to please everyone and the strategy didn’t work.

Instead, it was crafted to give a little bit of something to everyone.  Ending “don’t ask, don’t tell” for the liberals; cutting taxes and supporting offshore drilling for the Republicans; appeasing the environmental bloc with global warming hubris; and talking to everyone else about the economy.

This feels like the campaign all over again.  Say something to this group.  Say the opposite to that group.  Deny it.  Blame someone else.   The mantra of the last couple of elections won by the Democrats.  And that house of cards has begun to collapse.

He CAN’T please everyone.  His State of the Union suffered greatly from this strategy, and it was memorable only for the constant flip-flops and his telling us what we already knew.

I don’t think he changed any minds or did anything to open up a dialogue with his opponents.  I think all he’s done is polarize his own party and energized the conservatives. 

Can we hold the November vote now, please?

Obama’s Spending Freeze Doesn’t Go Nearly Far Enough: We Need Cuts in Spending, Not Temporary Freezes

President Obama made the news for proposing a spending freeze for a few years.  It’s expected to save $15 billion next year, then more the following years.  I saw a number of about $157 billion in the press release. 

Big fat hairy deal.

Today’s debt is over $12 trillion.  And the Obama Administration is projected to add another $9 trillion to our debt by the end of the decade.

Here’s a thought: We can make due with a $2.5 trillion budget instead of a $3.5 trillion.  Take the savings and pay down the debt.

NASA may have to take a hit; so should military projects that are billions over budget, and months behind schedule.

But under no circumstances should they weaken our Homeland Security defenses, nor cut the budgets for Iraq or Afghanistan until the troops are out of there.  The last thing we need is for the troops to be trapped there, with ammunition and fuel running out or their paychecks cut or stopped.

We CAN’T keep this up.

Under No Circumstances Should Corporate “Free Speech” Be Allowed to Hold Sway Over the Free Speech Rights of the Individual: Campaign Finance Reform is Dead

I’m not too happy about the recent Supreme Court decision which allows for unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns.

There should be limits on corporate donations, to prevent a conflict of interest as a potential political candidate may be called upon to cast a vote on an issue that directly impacts a corporation that has made a huge donation.  The corporation may be able to exercise undue influence on said candidate by threatening not to make a huge donation to the candidate’s next campaign.

But more importantly, the rights of the individual are sacrosanct.   Under no circumstances should the free speech and voting rights of the individual be lessened by the increased donation power of the corporations.  Money has a way of influencing votes of our representatives in both houses of Congress.  Corporations can now influence our Congressional leaders MUCH more than the individual.

No good can come of this.    

Political “Polar Shift” in Massachusetts: Voters Reject “Legacy” Claim to Senate Seat and Vote in Republican to Succeed Ted Kennedy

Amazing!

The GOP took the open Massachusetts Senate seat in one of the most dramatic turn of events in recent election memory.

Independents turned out to support Scott Brown. Democratic arrogance managed to turn a “cakewalk” to the Senate into a mandate on President Obama and his health care disaster.

People are angry about the health care bill, and unless Congress puts a stop to trying to criminalize pro-life people who oppose part of their premiums going to pay for abortion services, or people who are too poor to afford the premiums, or don’t want to kill the national budget, or want to have their own insurance, there will be similar results in other states across the country.

The Democratic plan has been exposed: pass the bill, then try to sweep it under the carpet. It won’t work. Lawsuits are being prepared across the country to stop the unconstitutional health care bill. I hope it’s tied up until late October.

If this thing does pass and somehow survives with abortion funding intact, I won’t spend a PENNY on supporting someone else’s murder of an unborn child. I may end up going to jail for not buying their insurance, but I’d rather be a prisoner of conscience than go to hell for paying into a system that murders the unborn.

I hope that choice doesn’t become a necessity. I’d rather throw some Democrats out of office and bury this plan and then wait for someone to come up with a much better alternative.

Looking forward to seeing what happens in November.

Pat Robertson Can’t See the Devil in the Details: Haitian Comments Are Not a Surprise

Pat Robertson started another controversy, this time with his interpretation of the Haitian rebellion against French colonial rule in the early 1800s, and the subsequent natural and man-made disasters to hit the country since its inception.

First, a little history. It started with France fighting a war against Spain, England and the Holy Roman Empire from 1688-1697 (The Nine Years War) when peace finally broke out. The island of Hispaniola was divided between France and Spain in 1697, and the French territory became a slave colony.

Wealthy Frenchmen imported slaves to work the fields, which yielded a tremendous profit for the French. As time went on, and Haiti (it was called Saint Dominigue in those days) became the richest French colony in the region, the slaves yearned for their freedom against their masters. Predictably, the French said ‘no’, and created racist “Black Codes” which kept the slaves of the colony in servitude and in the sugar, coffee and indigo fields. The Black Codes were brutal in their treatment of African slaves.

A rebellion began, and eventually slavery was banned in the colony and the restrictions against the slaves were loosened. Then the French government underwent several changes and the ban on slavery in the colonies was reversed. In 1803, Napoleon of France sent a force of 20,000 soldiers to Haiti to restore slavery and the Black Codes. The invasion failed as the French troops got sick or were defeated by the Haitians under the command of Toussaint l'Ouverture. (The French got beat by EVERYBODY)

In 1804, Haiti declared its independence.

In the time since, various emperors, warlords, Prime Ministers and Presidents have ruled over Haiti, and the country has remained in poverty ever since.

It also sits on a major fault line, which has produced major earthquakes from time to time. This same fault line extends further east and runs under Jamaica, and was responsible for the destruction and sinking of Port Royale, then the major British colony in the Caribbean, in 1620.

Fast forward to 2010: a 7.0 earthquake on the fault line devastated Haiti, destroying the capital and killing at least 20,000 people. Pat Robertson made the following observation:

A few points: the Haitians were fighting for their freedom, both from slavery and from French rule. Slavery is evil, and the French of the period were seeking to restore it. How can Pat Robertson say that the Haitians were evil for resisting evil? Is this his interpretation of historic events?

Would he be saying the same thing if he was a preacher in Haiti, where his own church had just been destroyed, and many of his followers were dead or missing? Or would he be providing aid and comfort to the survivors of his flock, as a religious leader?

Or is he going negative on Catholics again, as many Haitians (80% or more) belong to that church?

I will pray for the salvation of the Haitian people, but not because they've been lost to the devil as Robertson says; I will pray for them because they need God's saving grace (especially now), the same as all of us do.

I am not in agreement with Robertson's assessment, but I'm not surprised by them either.

Vatican Goes Both Ways on Nature: It Blasts Nations for Not Agreeing to (Flawed) Global Warming Treaty, and It Blasts “Avatar” Movie for Promoting Nature Over Religion

It sounds to me like the Pope needs to fire some of his advisers when it comes to nature and develop a more coherent stand of where nature stands in regards to religion.  Because two conflicting stands have emerged from Vatican City in the last week.

One week ago the Vatican blasted the international community for not striking a deal on a global warming, saying that it was humanity’s responsibility to care for God’s creation. 

Yesterday, it blasted the James Cameron film “Avatar” for promoting worship of nature over that of religion. 

In my opinion, man-made global warming hubris has become part of the “religion” of worshipping nature.   So I am a little concerned that the Vatican has bought into the hubris, and isn’t doing more to cast the global warming discussion into its proper place.

If Pope Benedict XVI wants to make the Vatican more energy efficient and make the environment cleaner, and encourage the faithful to do the same to be better stewards in preserving God’s magnificent works, then so be it.  I like that idea.

But man-made global warming is a political creation, and a deeply flawed one at that too.  The Vatican shouldn’t be taking a side on this politics-based “science” that is as full of hot air as Al Gore is.   I would encourage the Vatican to clarify its position and to help correct the flaws in understanding what global warming truly is, and what it isn’t.

One other thing: the  kind of thinking that put forth the idea of man-made global warming came from liberals who reject the teachings of the Church, and religion in general.  Why, then, is the Church buying into this global warming hubris put forth by THOSE people??!   Global warming hubris is a FALSE religion.  And bad politics.  And REALLY bad science.

Democratic Double Standards are on Full Display for All to See: If a Republican Said What Harry Reid Said About Obama, The Dems Would Be Screaming for Someone’s Head on a Platter, Regardless of Apologies Made

More Democratic hypocrisy is on display in Washington over the racial double standard between themselves and the GOP.

Harry Reid is in hot water over his racist comments about President Obama during the 2008 elections.  He was quick to rush out an apology, and the President, the Democratic Party and the Congressional Black Caucus just as quickly accepted it.

We all know what would happen if a Republican made the same remarks.  There would be howls for him to resign coming in from the Democratic Party, the Congressional Black Caucus and in the media.  And they wouldn’t let the story die either, until the Republican resigned.

Where is that same righteous firestorm that consumed Trent Lott when he praised Strom Thurmand at his 100th birthday party in 2002?

Where is that same righteous firestorm that has attempted to consume Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Michael Savage, and other conservative personalities over their remarks that got a lot of bad press?

Where is that same righteous firestorm that  held Conrad Burns, Tram Hudson, and George Allen to account for their comments during the 2006 midterms?

Answer:It’s nowhere in sight.  It only applies to Republicans!

Here is a partial list of Democrats who made racist comments (from the Wall Street Journal) and the result:

"I am a former Kleagle [recruiter] of the Ku Klux Klan in Raleigh County. . . . The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia. It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state in the union."
Senator Robert Byrd (former KKK recruiter, famous for white n-word interview): Forgiven

"The Confederate Memorial has had a special place in my life for many years. . . . There were many, many times that I found myself drawn to this deeply inspiring memorial, to contemplate the sacrifices of others, several of whom were my ancestors, whose enormous suffering and collective gallantry are to this day still misunderstood by most Americans."
Senator Joe Webb : Forgiven

"Everybody likes to go to Geneva. I used to do it for the Law of the Sea conferences and you'd find these potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather than eating each other, they'd just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva."—Senator Hollings, 1993: Forgiven

"I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia [Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a former Ku Klux Klan recruiter] that he would have been a great senator at any moment. . . . He would have been right during the great conflict of civil war in this nation."—Senator Dodd:  Forgiven

1. "You cannot go into a Dunkin' Donuts or a 7-Eleven unless you have a slight Indian accent."
2. "My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything [but] a Northeastern liberal state."
3. "I mean, you got the first mainstream African American [Barack Obama] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy."
4. "There's less than 1% of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than 4% or 5% that is, are minorities. What is it in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you're dealing with." 
   Vice President Joe Biden: Forgiven

The double standard has never been more clear and more undeniable.  Senator Reid SHOULD be shown the door by his own party and the SAME standards should be applied to both parties.   If the Democrats are as committed to cultural understanding as they proclaim, they’ll get off their duffs and DO IT!

I’d also like to say that the Congressional Black Caucus has done more damage to their own cause than any other special interest group in Washington DC.  Their quick acceptance of Reid’s apology while refusing to hold the Democrats to account for ANY racial statements that they make while holding the Republicans to strict standards on ALL racial statements coming from their party isn’t helping the perception that’s evident.  The CBC’s goal of cultural harmony will never happen if they keep this up.

Enough of the hypocrisy, already!

Unconstitutional Measures in Current Health Care Reform Bill: Put an End to This Madness

Congress has taken it upon itself to start shredding the Constitution that they took an oath to protect, in the name of their health care reform bill. Other things are just plain wrong.

The list as I see it:

• Making the bill irreversible. They can’t do that; the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and trumps all bills. And I don’t see Congress trying to pass a Constitutional Amendment to make this happen. This is grounds for a constitutional challenge all by itself. Nothing is irreversible, by Constitutional standards.

• Mandating that people who don’t buy insurance go to jail. This is not the federal government’s call, as insurance is under the direct control of the states. This federal power grab is illegal; insurance is a reserved power for the states to regulate. Refer to Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

• Forcing people to pay for abortion services is morally objectionable. I have no intention of paying for someone to get an abortion. For those who say senators are imposing their religious views on everyone, that’s only half the story. Those who support abortion rights are also trying to impose their views on everyone by forcing everyone to pay part of a premium to abortion services. Intolerable! They’re going to violate the rights of pro-life people to support their own.

• Congress is also preparing to exceed it’s taxation authority by imposing tax penalties on those who are not in compliance with their health care bill. The federal income tax should be dealing exclusively with taxing income. And they’re going to punish those who can least afford it too.

• The negotiations that have taken place thus far, including the Nebraska payoff, amounts to bribery for votes. The last time I checked, that’s a criminal offense. See references to “Bribery of Public Officials” for clarification.

• The numbers aren’t adding up. The Dems are double-counting savings throughout the bill, but with the type of numbers they’re trying to shovel under the carpet, it’ll add to the debt faster than it will pay it off. Add the sweetheart deals to Democratic senators that they’ve bought off (some $159 billion from the bribery), and you have a budget-wrecking proposal.

• Why are they targeting the system that pays for medical procedures, instead of limiting the amount that can be charged for medical procedures? I think they’re going about this business backwards.

• The economy is still a train wreck. We shouldn’t be going for expensive new federal programs until the economy is cleaned up and is on the move again. The current Administration needs to clean up it’s own act and quit blaming Bush. This health care bill is Obama’s baby, not Bush’s. And using Bush’s excesses is not a valid excuse for the Obama Administration to continue the trend. What Obama should have done was cut the federal budget as soon as he took office, to pay down Bush’s debt. Once that was dealt with, THEN he should have started making noise about health care reform.

More to follow. I think all the deals should be immediately rescinded to start with. And the numbers redone. And all the constitutionally objectionable stuff removed. And abortion services either banned, or made as an option that pro-life people can opt out of.

Then we’ll see how much support this health care bill actually has.

Health Care Reform Debate Needs to be on C-SPAN as Obama PROMISED: I Expect This to Be a Broken Promise

We’re seeing the broken promises of the Democrats and President Obama on full display in the health care debate.  Secret meetings, with no CSPAN cameras to get them on record.

The Democrats are terrified to have this promise fulfilled, as they may go from losing a lot of seats in November to losing a lot more.  By all means, throw the light of day onto these secret negotiations that are reminiscent of a  Soviet Politburo.

And the Attorneys General should file their lawsuit immediately to stop the unconstitutional measures found in this 2,000 page piece of crap.

More Proof of Global Warming: Record COLD in India, Britain, China, Russia, Germany, Austria, Mongolia and the Rest of the Northern Hemisphere…WHAT??!

The Northern Hemisphere is freezing it’s collective ass off.  Must be GLOBAL WARMING!!

If you still buy into the man-made global warming hubris, then I have some land in Florida that I’d like to show you.

People Need to Use Common Sense When Using GPS: Maps Are More Accurate in Larger Cities Than in Rural Areas

The Air Force denied that there was anything wrong with their GPS satellites in the story of a wayward couple that got lost when they followed their GPS unit’s instructions into the Oregon back woods.  And the Air Force is right.   The maps utilized by Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan and other GPS companies are their responsibility, not the Air Force’s.

People need to use common sense when utilizing technology that gives them directions across the country.   I would not go into a desert simply because my GPS unit told me to do so.  I also wouldn’t jump off a bridge either, if it told me to do so.    They couldn’t tell that they were on an unmaintained road?  With over a foot of snow sitting on the road?  And no sign of civilization or people in at least twenty miles?  And all to save two minutes to get home?  They should have turned around and gone back on their original course.

At this stage, I would rate GPS accuracy at around 85-90% in metro areas, and 50-60% in rural areas.  It’s continually improving, but GPS units should have a label on the box that says “use with caution.”  And people should READ the warnings, too.

I’m glad that the couple in question got out safely, but they’re probably not going to be the last ones either, especially when sunspot activity resumes and electromagnetic interference in the atmosphere throws the GPS system off here and there.  Use with caution.

Firing Guns into Air to Celebrate New Year is UTTERLY Stupid: Kid Gets Hit By Bullet in Church That Was Fired By an IDIOT and Dies

I was on a mission this year, to catch my neighbor on video firing his shotgun into the air to ring in the New Year, but it didn’t happen as they moved out of the neighborhood.   I was just as happy to not get involved, but I was going to put a stop to that.

But a kid got hit by a bullet in Georgia at a midnight service and died not long after.  He was four years old. 

The bullet came through the roof as the midnight hour hit on January 1st, and some damn fool took his firearm outside and fired.   And the person firing probably forgot that that bullet had to come down somewhere.

This practice is illegal across the country, but people do it anyways.  If they find this person who's responsible for the killing of a four year old in a church, they should throw the book at/and make an example out of the person responsible, whether they were intoxicated or not.

Firing a bullet up in the air and not caring where it comes down…sheer insanity.

2010 Will Mark the End of the NASA Space Shuttle Program: Here’s to a Good NASA Year

The space shuttle fleet is scheduled for retirement in 2010, unless they extend the program a little longer so that there isn’t as much downtime between the Discovery’s final flight and the first operational flight of the Orion space vehicle. 

Here is the published schedule for the final five flights:

February 7—Space Shuttle Endeavour will “…deliver the final connecting node, Tranquility Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a 360-degree view around the International Space Station.”

March 18—Space Shuttle Discovery will “…carry a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with science racks that will be transferred to laboratories of the International Space Station.”

May 14—Space Shuttle Atlantis will “…will carry an integrated cargo carrier to deliver maintenance and assembly hardware, including spare parts for space station systems. In addition, the second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, a Mini Research Module, will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the Zarya module.”  This mission will be the final flight of the Atlantis.

July 29—Space Shuttle Endeavour will “…deliver an EXPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 (ELC-3) and an Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space Station.”  This mission will be the last one for the Endeavour.

September 16th—Space Shuttle Discovery will “…deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4), a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MLPM) and critical spare components to the International Space Station.”  This is the final scheduled mission for the space shuttle program. 

I hope all of these missions go off without a hitch.  I think it’s safe to say that if they lose another shuttle prior to the scheduled retirement of the fleet, they’ll ground the shuttles permanently and send the hardware up to the ISS by other means.

Two of the shuttles are being offered up as museum pieces; one museum has put in a request for the Endeavour that NASA is considering.

I hope everything goes off without a hitch.

$10,000 Reward for Killers of Salvation Army Major Offered: Killers Still on the Loose

A $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the two murderers who killed a Salvation Army major in front of his three children on Christmas Eve continues to grow.

So far there have been no arrests in this horrific crime.   Hopefully the police are closing in; it sounds like they’ve gotten some tips.

Dems Should Pay Attention to What Greece is Doing: Their Reckless Spending May Put Us Into the Same Situation

Greece is making massive cuts to their budget in order to get their debt problem under control.

I hope the Democrats in Congress and in the White House are watching what the Greeks are doing and are taking some notes.  It’s what we should be doing right now too.

Murder of Salvation Army in Front of His Children on Christmas Eve is Heartbreaking: Police Need to Get The Killers and FAST

I was sickened to learn of the murder of a Salvation Army major in front of his three children on Christmas Eve.

The two killers confronted the major and demanded money, then shot him in cold blood as his kids watched in horror.

I feel sick.

Raising the Debt Limit Every Few Months is Making Our Financial Situation Even Worse: Congress & Administration Need to Cut Their Spending Immediately

Congress and the President aren’t cutting their spending the way that they should be, and are making our debt load even worse.

They can’t be talking about turning their attention to cutting the debt after they pass health legislation.  They need to postpone their debt-exploding health care reform bill and address the debt NOW, before it’s too late.

For months they’ve been saying that the debt exploded under the Bush Administration.  That’s true, but that’s no excuse for continuing this very bad practice.   They came in promising to restore financial sanity to Washington; it hasn’t happened, and I have no confidence in the current Congress or Administration to fix THE biggest threat to our nation.

We will have to look to the next Congress and Administration to get us out of the mess that no current Democrat is interested in fixing, in the least.   They’re competing to get as much bacon as they can.  Revolting!

Copenhagen Conference is a Circus: They Have No Business Agreeing to Any Protocols Until They Get the Science Mess Straightened Out

The Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change--or whatever the hell it is that they’re calling it—is the largest gathering of global warming alarmists on the planet, and they have no legs to stand on.

Their data has been criminally tampered with by global warming supporters in the scientific community, and then destroyed, leaving no evidence behind other than an e-mail trail that someone forgot to erase.

All it is is a gathering of neo-communists, environmental wackos, and malcontents who don’t want to see the world as it is; they’d rather waste time and resources trying to stop a naturally occurring process instead of adapting to the situation and moving things forward.  And spend money on their own causes too.

A little more responsibility in planning for the future would go a lot further rather than trying to stop global warming, which is going to happen regardless of what the wackos in Copenhagen decide upon.  This is like trying to stop the sun from setting.   They can spend trillions of dollars trying to stop it, but it’s trillions of dollars that they could be setting aside to relocate entire cities and communities that will be flooded out in the next hundred years.

That entire conference is doing a pretty good job of blowing a lot of hot air around. But that’s all that they’re doing, as well as arguing about a bad plan that won’t work, and is based on sketchy science.  I think this conference is premature, and ill-considered, given what they’re up against.

They ought to get with the program.

NO to Raising the National Debt Ceiling: It’s Time to Cut the Budget and Use the Savings to Pay Down the Debt

Congress is preparing to raise the debt ceiling again to avoid defaulting on the debt.  No, no, NO!  Congress and the Administration need to cut their budgets and use the savings to PAY DOWN the debt, not add to it.

Adding another $1.8 trillion to the borrowing ceiling is way out of line.  This government has no business spending more money than it has.

I have little faith that this and  future administrations will have the discipline to reign in spending the way that they need to, before we’re presented with a bill that we have no way of paying, without adding more debt.

We also need to be able to tell China off without fear of China saying “no” to our borrowing requests.  This is a symbiotic relationship that must be changed.  The current Administration seems to want to avoid talking to China about it’s human rights record because we owe the Chinese SO much money.

Better start the cutting party!

Since Reid’s Compared GOP Efforts to Block Health Care Reform to Efforts to Block the Stoppage of Slavery, Here’s A Comparison for Reid in the Same Vein

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made some more outlandish statements about his GOP colleagues and others trying to slow down the runaway health care reform train recently. In the statement, he said that those efforts were comparable to the efforts to prevent emancipation of the slaves before, during and after the Civil War.

He left out a VERY important fact on his statement.

It was the DEMOCRATS of that era who blocked the emancipation of the slaves, and resisted the 13th Amendment. Radical REPUBLICANS pushed through those changes and ended slavery. Some progressive Democrats joined the Republicans in ending slavery.

I would like to point out that no Democrat who favored slavery back then is alive today; that was then. Not today.

It should also be noted that in the more recent civil rights era, when they were trying to pass additional civil rights legislation (the 1964 Civil Rights Act), the Democrats filibustered the legislation for 83 days, and included a 14-hour speech by Senator Robert Byrd.

For Senator Reid to say something like this is more proof that he’s in over his head, and his runaway health care train is heading for a major derailment. And WHY should the Republicans be the ones to change their minds? He can’t even get his OWN party on board his runaway train.

I’m actually enjoying watching Reid and President Obama squirm.

MSNBC Desperation on Global Warming Continues to Show: Now They’re Running Old Stories as if They’re Breaking News

MSNBC has a “breaking news” item on their web site today: “Rising Ocean Levels Could Threaten Maldives.”

No duh!

This is a re-run of a story that has already been gone through by all the news organizations, and is already common knowledge.  According to MSNBC, they’re running the story in advance of the Copenhagen summit on global warming.

They should be reminding the summit that the Maldives WILL be underwater and that they will need help in relocating their entire population.   But no, MSNBC is dedicated to stopping the rise of the waters.   MSNBC needs to get real and face the facts as they ARE, not as they want them to be.  And so should the politicians and the news media who support a failed theory.

Former WWE Wrestler "Umaga" Dies at Age 36: Heart Attack Suspected

Another former WWE talent, "Umaga" Edward Fatu, passed away at age 36 on Friday at a Dallas-area hospital.

He had been battling a lot of the same demons that have claimed other professional wrestlers and was suspended by World Wrestling Entertainment in June after failing a drug test.

I still don't think that these wrestling organizations are doing enough to change the culture that says that their athletes have to have huge muscular bodies in order to be considered "successful" and that drug abuse, in any form, is bad for their employees, and bad for business. WWE has moved forward with it's Wellness Policy, but it doesn't account for the damage that many of these wrestlers had done to themselves years ago.

Look at Eddie Guerrero; the former WWE great had undergone major struggles, but conquered his demons and had been drug and alcohol free for years; but the damage had already been done and he passed away at age 38.

Road Warrior Hawk is another example. He had turned his life around too, but the damage had been done years before and it caught up to him. Hawk passed away at age 45.

These wrestler deaths seem to come in clusters. I hope this isn't the start of a new one.

May he rest in peace.

Michigan Snowbirds Need to be Counted as Michigan Residents for 2010: State May Have Already Lost 11% of Population in Last 3-4 Years

The Michigan government is asking Michigan snowbirds, or residents who go south for the winter, to fill out their census forms when they get mailed out in February or March.   They need to indicate that they are residents of Michigan on the forms, and not residents of Florida or Arizona, or wherever they go during the winter months. 

The government estimates that 200,000 snowbirds were counted as residents of other states during the 2000 census; as a result Michigan lost a Congressional seat and about $2 billion over the last ten years.

If the estimates are correct, and we’ve lost 11% of our population, the results will be devastating, with the loss of billions in federal aid, and the proportionate loss of representation in Congress.

Accuracy in the census and the addition of the snowbirds will stem the heavy loss of workers in our struggling state.

If you’re a Michigan snowbird, please read the following from the State of Michigan:

LANSING - Lt. Governor John D. Cherry, Jr. reminds Michigan residents who leave the state for warmer climates during part of the year, commonly referred to as snowbirds, to make sure they are counted in Michigan for the upcoming Census in 2010.  Every resident of the United States should be counted by the Census just once and in the correct state. 
"Michigan residents who spend a smaller portion of the year at a residence in another state should be sure to fill out the Census form for Michigan," said Lt. Governor Cherry.  "There are dramatic financial impacts to Michigan, and we need to be sure that our residents are counted here and not in another state."

Unfortunately, Census forms that will be mailed in March do not have clear instructions for people with more than one place of residence.  This runs the risk of many snowbirds being counted in the wrong state.

Michigan snowbirds should follow these guidelines:

1.  Zero should be entered on the Census form received at the second residence, as the number of people residing there, and the rest of the form should remain blank.  It is also a good idea to write "usual residence elsewhere" on the form so that the Census Bureau will know the reason for entering zero.

2.  If other individuals are occupying the home in Michigan while permanent residents are away, those completing the Census form should include the permanent residents.

3.  If no one is staying at the Michigan home, residents should wait until returning to Michigan to complete the Census form.  If a form hasn't been received, Census personnel will contact residents between May and July.

For each Michigan resident who is missed by the Census or who is counted in a different state, over $1,000 in federal funds that should be allocated to Michigan each year will be spent elsewhere. 

"Just missing one person in the Census means a loss of at least $10,000 in funds to Michigan over the course of a decade," added the lieutenant governor.  "We can't afford to not be counted."

Michigan has more snowbirds than many other states, with an average of 2.1 percent of Michigan's residents identified as part-year residents.  Most of Michigan's part-year residents have their permanent homes in Michigan and spend the smaller part of the year in another state, which means they need to be counted in Michigan.

Obama’s Afghanistan Plan Will Work Only if Taliban & al-Qaeda are Degraded and Afghan Military is Upgunned to the Point That Taliban Can Never Match Their Firepower

President Obama has decided to increase U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan to 100,000 in the next six months before beginning a staged pullout starting in mid-2011.  It looks like he has a target of a U.S. troop pullout before the next U.S. presidential election.

His goals are ambitious and not without a lot of risk.  There has to be progress on many fronts, including progress in stabilizing Afghanistan’s government, guaranteeing basic human rights, reducing corruption in government, controlling the drug trade, and building up their military to the point that the Taliban and/or al-Qaeda will not be able to defeat them in sustained battle.  That’s the key.

I’m not sure if Congress will play ball, though. The left wants no troop buildup, the right wants no timetable.  I disagree with both sides.  There should be a temporary surge, and they should be talking inside the Administration about a withdrawal date.  Whether that timetable should be made public is a different story. 

They should let the surge go forward, with full funding, then start pulling back depending on what’s happening on the ground.  And the Afghan government should be given the same deal as the Iraqi government has been given: fight your own battles.  And we should be providing the tools that they need to get the job done.  The Afghan Army should be the strongest military force in the country, not the Taliban and not al-Qaeda.  And the same thing goes for the Iraqi Army in Iraq.

We owe it to the soldiers who have died there to make sure that their sacrifice wasn’t in vain.  And to make sure that we won’t be back in either country in the future, retaking the same ground AGAIN that’s already been paid for in blood.

MSNBC Declares We’re “Losing” Battle on Global Warming: No We’re Not—Global Warming is Being Redefined More Accurately Now and They Don’t Like It

After days of refusing to carry any stories that covered the contamination of all the gloom and doom research that the global warming crowd has been quoting for years, MSNBC started crying about it with a story proclaiming that the battle over global warming is being “lost.”

In other words, their version of global warming is getting trashed in favor of a more accurate and reliable accounting of what global warming actually is—a naturally occurring phenomenon that has gone on MUCH longer than humanity has been around.  And will still be going on until the day the sun consumes the planet.

But I’m happy to see that they’re now talking about the inevitable changes that will be coming, instead of trying to stop the changes.   It’s about bloody time too.  We can no more stop global warming than we can stop the sun from setting. 

Now, Senator Boxer is crying about charging someone who exposed the global warming data manipulations (that we all knew was going on) with a crime to cover up her and her compatriots’ own crimes of collusion and abuse of power with regards to falsifying global warming data and trying to sell the public a boatload of crap. 

And it’s also interesting to note that the manipulated data has mysteriously been destroyed.  Perhaps Senator Boxer and Speaker Pelosi should investigate THAT.

This Talk of Cheney Running in 2012 Should Remain Talk: I Wouldn’t Support Him

An MSNBC columnist pointed out in a recent column that the conservatives do not yet have a viable candidate to run against President Obama in 2012. He raised a few possibilities: Sarah Palin, John McCain (the not-conservative), and Dick Cheney.

John Meacham thinks that Cheney should run, so that voters will have an opportunity to cast a “final judgment” on the Bush years.

I don’t think so.

Dick Cheney should stay retired, and out of the media. He’s more of a hindrance than he is a viable choice to take on Obama. It’s not his qualifications that I’m questioning, but his judgment. Aside from the fact that he’s disregarded presidential traditions by criticizing the new Administration immediately after leaving office, I disagreed with most of his public stands as they were too far to the right, were reactionary, ill-conceived and war hawkish. And when Iran re-appeared on the radar screen, it was Cheney who was beating the war drums the loudest. That scared me. I was glad that Bush and Cheney left office before they got us into a war with Iran too.

Our side didn’t find WMDs in a bunker in the Iraqi desert like I thought they were going to. That was the entire rationale for going into Iraq in the first place. Cheney’s never admitted to the mistake, which causes issues with more than a few voters, including me.

Cheney presents the image of a man with his finger poised on the little red button, just itching for an excuse to press it. What the red button controls is of equal importance; is it a paper shredder with the Constitution loaded up and ready to shred? Or is it the control that will empty all the missile silos?

I hope Cheney is enjoying his retirement. I like the current administration even less than I like Cheney, and his influence on America’s foreign policy would be a prime target for Obama to go after. This needs to be a one-term President; he needs to be turned out on Election Day.

No thank you on Cheney. We need someone who has broader appeal.

Tiger Woods Car Crash: He Ought to Quit Avoiding the Police and Tell Them What Really Happened

The media circus surrounding the Tiger Woods car crash will only intensify the longer he avoids talking to the police about the accident.

It may be that Tiger and his wife are trying to patch things up, but he should schedule an interview with the police and get it over with. He may be trying to keep his wife out of jail for an alleged assault that preceded the crash; but he needs to fulfill his obligations and talk to the police before they are forced to get a warrant.

I hope everything works out.

Liberal Democrat Insists Current Health Care Plan is Worth Losing His Seat Over: If He Insists, But if It’s Come Down to That, Why Doesn’t He Resign Immediately and Save Us the Trouble?

This Congress is so far out of control with the electorate that they don’t take the time to read the bills that are before them before casting a vote, don’t care what their voters think and are willing to lose their seats to get what they, and only they, want.

So says Democratic Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado, who thinks that the health care bill is worth losing his seat over.

It’s worth noting that his constituents did not get to express their opinions of his choices as their representative, as he did not schedule any town hall meetings during the summer break as many of his Democratic colleagues did, though he has mentioned health care in other town hall meetings. So, he’s bound and determined to vote on this bill the way that the Democratic leadership wants it, regardless of the consequences. Sounds like someone who needs to be recalled immediately, before the bill is voted on in the Senate. I don’t think he’ll step down on his own.

I’m glad he’s not my representative.

Democrats Ought to Quit Screwing Things Up Before Insisting That The Rest of Us Shut Up About It: Thought Cop Politicians Shouldn’t Try to Mandate When We Exercise Free Speech

At first, when I saw the news about the “Complaint-Free Wednesday” bill being introduced by Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver, I thought it was a joke.

Who would dare to assault the First Amendment like this?

Then I saw follow-up news stories that it WAS a serious attempt to curtail free speech on the day before Thanksgiving. Perhaps Rep. Cleaver should convince his colleagues in Congress to quit giving the rest of us reason TO complain about them. And he’s got the gall to point out the health benefits of not complaining as much either, which I don’t dispute, but what good is it if the Democrats cause everyone to stroke out over their bad decisions?

I see that Rep. Cleaver voted for the House health care bill, so I view this as nothing more than an attempt to stifle serious opposition to his vote, as well as other Democratic screw-ups since taking control of the government. And if they manage to pass it for one day, how about on days that Congress votes for more bad legislation, too? Or every day?

No thank you, Mr. Thought Cop. If the public has something to say, they can say it WHENEVER they want.

I sure wouldn’t be complaining as much if our government was taking us in the right direction.

Global Warming Crowd Baffled By Halt in Global Warming: They’re Not as Smart as They Think They Are

The headline couldn’t have said it plainer: “Climatologists Baffled by Global Warming Time-Out.”

Well, duh!

They’ve finally taken note that lack of sunspot activity = lack of global warming, which pretty much shoots their “man-made global warming” hubris down.

So much for “proven science.” They got it wrong—AGAIN! Proven science, my afterburner! The global warming know-it-alls are tasting what humble pie is like. All they have to do is stand outside and freeze their asses off for a while to get a clue.

Now, when sunspot activity on the sun resumes, so will global warming. There will be a direct correlation between the two, which should put the conversation into the correct context. Finally!

Just so the global warming crowd gets the picture, here it is: global warming is a NATURALLY occurring phenomenon. It was going on long before humanity was here, and will go on long after humanity is gone. Climatologists need to drop their preconceived notions and start reconsidering their flawed group-think ideas. There’s already news reports that they’re trying to ignore or hide the data to suit their needs, like they’ve already done with other research that shows global cooling.

So much for their “proven science.” AGAIN!

AP Shows It’s Bias Against Sarah Palin: Eleven Reporters Assigned to Fact-Check Palin’s Book While Assigning None to Fact-Check Obama’s Book When It Came Out

The Associated Press is so biased against Sarah Palin that they’ve assigned eleven reporters to fact-check every part of Palin’s new book; contrast that to how they treated President Obama’s book when they assigned no one to fact-check it.

And how does one fact-check someone’s opinion of events?

I have not read Palin’s book, and have no intention of reading it. My opinion of her is already formed, to the point that I don’t need to read her opinion of events to know that I’ve already got the basic facts.

Even with President Clinton’s book, most of it was his opinion of political events that happened during his time in power in both Arkansas and in the White House. A politician writing a book about their life and times often try to repaint the picture that’s already taken shape. I took the time to read President Clinton’s and came away with a sense that he had tried to re-write history. And I didn’t need openly biased individuals in the liberal media to point that out, either.

What interests me more is the hypocrisy in how the media treats politicians from different parties. My interpretation is that they don’t treat everyone the same, even though they should. If they hold one politician’s feet to the fire, they should hold ALL of them to the same standard.

All the Associated Press is doing is reinforcing the belief that they don’t like Sarah Palin, and are trying to discredit her, while ignoring glaring deficiencies in the works of their favored politicians.

“Can Baseball Bring U.S. and Cuba Together?” It Certainly Can: We’ll End Up Owning Their Baseball Team as More Will Defect if Given the Chance

Playing baseball with Cuba = more Cuban baseball players defecting to the U.S.

That’s the equation that we need to keep in mind when we think about improving our relationship with Cuba via baseball.

I think that if we want to get closer to Cuba, we should start loosening the embargo in exchange for Cuban advances toward human rights and free elections. That will go a long way further than us taking over the Cuban national baseball team by way of defections.

I think we already have enough Cuban baseball players in the U.S. to field our own Cuban national team.

Ms. Not-California Should Get Out of the Press Too: She’s Killing Her Own Cause

The drama surrounding the Ms. California controversy is still in the media, and the primary antagonist, Carrie Prejean, is not helping her own cause with her actions.

She sued the pageant for breach of contract; it was over her statements that marriage is between a man and a woman (she’s right on that point alone) and her…augmented features…and then settled when news of some kind of sex tape emerged that was in the possession of the people she was suing. The pageant also sued for the surgery and the proceeds from her book. That was also settled.

Then her bizarre appearance on CNN’s Larry King Live show when she attempted to walk off the set didn’t settle matters at all. She subsequently canceled a later press engagement. Ms. Prejean really needs a publicist if she insists on staying in the news.

I think she needs to call it quits and get out of the media too. She’s only hurting her own case.

Five Terror Suspects Transferred to Federal Court: This is a Good Day

People involved in the bombing of the USS Cole and the 9/11 planning have been transferred to federal court in New York and will be tried like everyone else. This is good news, contrary to the reactions that have been coming out on TV.

The military commissions are part of the Bush Administration’s star-chamber justice policy that makes a mockery of the American justice system, and denies the writ of habeas corpus to everyone, as the United States is sworn to observe as a charter member of the United Nations. In fact, the U.S. and Britain pushed for this writ to be included in the United Nations charter when it was being written.

The Obama Administration now has two choices: go after these guys in federal court with every shred of evidence that they have, or run the risk of them getting off and being released back into the wild. In other words, put up or shut up. They’d better put up.

I’ve long spoken out against the government’s policy of keeping people locked up for years without trial, and without legal representation, and the Obama Administration’s decision to maintain the Bush policies was a very disappointing one. Then a federal judge ordered the Administration to either charge them with crimes, or release them, which precipitated this move into federal court.

And for those who are worried about them in civilian prisons, not to worry. Our prisons are good enough to hold former soliders; they can hold onto a small handful of 12th century barbarians.

Palin Needs to End Her PR War With Her Daughter’s Ex: Family Matters Should Be Settled Privately

I’m getting a little sick of hearing about Sarah Palin and Levi what’s his face (her daughter’s ex) exchanging insults and publicly posturing in the media.

They really need to take the media out of the equation and settle things privately, like most families do. All one has to do is pick up the phone and call the other, not get on Oprah or some other talk show and issue statements that are picked up by the mainstream media, which leads the other to call a press conference and respond.

We don’t care about the details; just settle it and keep it out of the media circus.

If Palin is serious about running for office, she really needs to wage her battles much more discreetly; she’s handing ammunition to the opposition.

Obama Looks Ready to Reject All Afghanistan Proposals in Favor of New Strategy: He’s Looking For an End to the War

President Obama appears to be ready to reject all of the current proposals on what to do next in the Afghan War in favor of a new strategy. It’s hard to predict which way he might go next.

He will probably reject General McChrystal’s request, and others put forth by the Defense Department. McChrystal got himself into some trouble when he went off the reservation and launched a PR campaign aimed at pressuring the Administration into accepting his battle plan, but there are other factors in play that weren’t present when McChrystal presented his proposal. General McChrystal’s decision was regrettable and probably contributed to the current state of affairs in the White House Afghanistan strategy.

Another factor is that the current government of Afghanistan is highly dubious. A run-off election was cancelled when President Karzai’s opponent dropped out of the running as he was unconvinced that the fraud that took place in the first election wouldn’t be repeated in the run-off election. International monitors reported ballot boxes being stuffed and voter intimidation happening across the country, to the point that Karzai lost votes during the supervised recount and didn’t have enough to win outright, as was originally projected.

The Taliban has been gaining ground in several provinces, and they won’t be dislodged without a major ground offensive to retake those provinces. Sustained battles with the Taliban means there will be more American casualties, something that the war-weary American public may not accept, and something that Obama will take the blame for, as Commander-in-Chief.

He wants the Afghan government to shoulder more of the responsibility so that the war can be wound down, but I wonder if the current Administration will repeat the mistakes of the 1980’s and 1990’s, when the U.S. left Afghanistan to it’s own devices following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Taliban came to power with their al-Qaeda allies.

We cannot leave the Taliban intact, but our government needs to decide what it’s going to do, and soon. The last thing we need is for al-Qaeda to rebuild in a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, because we’ll eventually be back over there dealing with them again. Given the national treasure that we’ve spent freeing Afghanistan—and I’m talking more about lives than money—would we have the national will to do so again, as well as the strength of arms?

The other question is one of anti-government factions (non-Taliban) that are currently fighting against the Afghan government and against NATO forces. Given the success of getting Iraqis to switch sides and fight alongside the American military, can something similar happen in Afghanistan?

Where is this Administration taking us?

Zero Tolerance Gone Mad: When Did It Replace Common Sense?

The recent suspension of an Eagle Scout from school for carrying a two inch pocketknife in his car onto his school grounds in New York has thrown new light onto the question of “zero tolerance” as it relates to knives and firearms.

The Eagle Scout, who is also a soldier, was suspended for 20 days for having it in his car. He didn’t have it on his person at the time. He keeps a sleeping bag, water, and the 2” knife, which was given to him by his grandfather, a local police chief.

The punishment is way out of proportion to the crime.

And because this suspension is now on his record, he may not be able to attend West Point. It’s time for legal action against the school district to reverse course on this case, and for them to put some common sense back into the process. Ruining the kid’s life over this?

Get real!

ACORN Files Lawsuit Against Government: Claim That Congress Passed a Bill of Attainder May Be Valid

I am no fan of ACORN, or the things that they’ve been accused of doing, including their roles in pressuring banks to extend loans to people who had no business getting loans, which lead to the sub-prime mortgage mess.

But when Congress de-funded the group of millions of dollars, ACORN was effectively crippled. Again, no big loss in my view.

But ACORN filed a lawsuit, claiming that the act of Congress that de-funded them was a bill of attainder, which is a law that targets one individual or group for punishment without due process or a trial, and is illegal under Article 1 of the Constitution. Individuals who are members of ACORN have been on trial, but the group as a whole has not.

They may have a point. Under the circumstances, the Congress probably should have suspended funding pending an investigation, rather than banning it outright.

How much more is this going to cost the taxpayers?

Fort Hood Shooter’s Connections to Radicals Under Investigation: What is Really Going On?

The Fort Hood killer has apparently had contact with several individuals who were under FBI surveillance in the months leading up to the shootings, so there may be a lot more going on than what was originally thought.

My questions are this: if the FBI was aware of the apparent contacts, why didn’t they put military authorities on alert that one of their own was linked to Muslim radicals in this country? And why didn’t the military take this man off active duty if there was a link?

Lot of questions, not enough answers yet. I’m not buying into the political correctness argument that Fox News has raised yet. Legal barriers exist which prevented the exchange of information between the FBI and the Army. And the First Amendment does come into play with Major Hasan’s e-mails to the people he was trying to contact.

Yet he used a U.S. military computer to send his e-mails, didn’t he? And the understanding is that all e-mails are the property of the company that owns the computer and pays the Internet bill. Most businesses have the same policy, as do schools. And doesn’t the military have regulations on appropriateness of communications with certain individuals who incite religious violence?

The powers that be need to get their act together and make the changes necessary to prevent this kind of stuff from happening again.

Obama’s Demeanor at Fort Hood Memorial Service Was Much Better Than His Initial Comments About Shootings: He Needs to Get Off the Teleprompter When Something’s Going On

President Obama’s demeanor at the Fort Hood memorial service yesterday was much more appropriate than his initial reaction at the Native American conference he was making comments at.

I had a hard time believing that a U.S. President would say the things that President Obama said, and how he said it at the time. It would have been much more appropriate for him to move his remarks about Fort Hood to just after his thanking the hosts. But instead he gave a “shout-out” to someone he misidentified as a Medal of Honor recipient, which added fuel to the fire, and brought up the shooting as an afterthought. That was how it appeared at the time. He made it look like the shooting was an inconvenience, and his statements did nothing to change any minds about that point.

Thankfully, he was the President and Commander-in-Chief at Fort Hood. Much better performance, though I didn’t think he should have mentioned the shooter as extensively as he did. It probably would have meant more as well if he had written more of the speech himself.

Still, overall, it was a mixed performance.

House Democrats Ramrod Health Bill Through: Now We Know Who to Vote Out of Office

The following Democrats (and one Republican) voted 'yes' on Pelosi's health care bill. Following the party affiliation, it shows the state and the district number that they represent.

Neil Abercrombie (D) HI-1
Gary L. Ackerman (D) NY-5
Robert E. Andrews (D) NJ-1
Michael Arcuri (D) NY-24
Xavier Becerra (D) CA-31
Howard L. Berman (D) CA-28
Marion Berry (D) AR-1
Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (D) GA-2
Earl Blumenauer (D) OR-3
Leonard L. Boswell (D) IA-3
Corrine Brown (D) FL-3
Robert A. Brady (D) PA-1
Tammy Baldwin (D) WI-2
Shelley Berkley (D) NV-1
Joe Baca (D) CA-43
Timothy H. Bishop (D) NY-1
G. K. Butterfield (D) NC-1
Melissa Bean (D) IL-8
Bruce Braley (D) IA-1
James E. Clyburn (D) SC-6
John Conyers Jr. (D) MI-14
Jim Cooper (D) TN-5
Jerry F. Costello (D) IL-12
Elijah E. Cummings (D) MD-7
Lois Capps (D) CA-23
Michael E. Capuano (D) MA-8
Joseph Crowley (D) NY-7
William Lacy Clay (D) MO-1
Dennis Cardoza (D) CA-18
Jim Costa (D) CA-20
Russ Carnahan (D) MO-3
Emanuel Cleaver II (D) MO-5
Henry Cuellar (D) TX-28
Christopher Carney (D) PA-10
Kathy Castor (D) FL-11
Yvette Clarke (D) NY-11
Steve Cohen (D) TN-9
Joe Courtney (D) CT-2
André Carson (D) IN-7
Gerald E. Connolly (D) VA-11
Anh Cao (R) LA-2
Judy Chu (D) CA-32
Danny K. Davis (D) IL-7
Peter A. DeFazio (D) OR-4
Diana DeGette (D) CO-1
Bill Delahunt (D) MA-10
Rosa DeLauro (D) CT-3
Norman D. Dicks (D) WA-6
John D. Dingell (D) MI-15
Lloyd Doggett (D) TX-25
Mike Doyle (D) PA-14
Susan A. Davis (D) CA-53
Joe Donnelly (D) IN-2
Kathy Dahlkemper (D) PA-3
Steve Driehaus (D) OH-1
Eliot L. Engel (D) NY-17
Anna G. Eshoo (D) CA-14
Bob Etheridge (D) NC-2
Keith Ellison (D) MN-5
Brad Ellsworth (D) IN-8
Donna Edwards (D) MD-4
Sam Farr (D) CA-17
Chaka Fattah (D) PA-2
Bob Filner (D) CA-51
Barney Frank (D) MA-4
Bill Foster (D) IL-14
Marcia L. Fudge (D) OH-11
Gene Green (D) TX-29
Luis V. Gutierrez (D) IL-4
Charlie Gonzalez (D) TX-20
Raúl M. Grijalva (D) AZ-7
Al Green (D) TX-9
Gabrielle Giffords (D) AZ-8
Alan Grayson (D) FL-8
John Garamendi (D) CA-10
Jane Harman (D) CA-36
Alcee L. Hastings (D) FL-23
Maurice D. Hinchey (D) NY-22
Rubén Hinojosa (D) TX-15
Steny H. Hoyer (D) MD-5
Baron P. Hill (D) IN-9
Rush Holt (D) NJ-12
Michael M. Honda (D) CA-15
Brian Higgins (D) NY-27
John Hall (D) NY-19
Phil Hare (D) IL-17
Mazie K. Hirono (D) HI-2
Paul W. Hodes (D) NH-2
Debbie Halvorson (D) IL-11
Martin Heinrich (D) NM-1
Jim Himes (D) CT-4
Jay Inslee (D) WA-1
Steve Israel (D) NY-2
Sheila Jackson-Lee (D) TX-18
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D) TX-30
Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D) IL-2
Hank Johnson (D) GA-4
Paul E. Kanjorski (D) PA-11
Marcy Kaptur (D) OH-9
Patrick J. Kennedy (D) RI-1
Dale E. Kildee (D) MI-5
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D) MI-13
Ron Kind (D) WI-3
Steve Kagen (D) WI-8
Ron Klein (D) FL-22
Ann Kirkpatrick (D) AZ-1
Mary Jo Kilroy (D) OH-15
Sander M. Levin (D) MI-12
John Lewis (D) GA-5
Zoe Lofgren (D) CA-16
Nita M. Lowey (D) NY-18
Barbara Lee (D) CA-9
John B. Larson (D) CT-1
Jim Langevin (D) RI-2
Rick Larsen (D) WA-2
Stephen F. Lynch (D) MA-9
Daniel Lipinski (D) IL-3
Dave Loebsack (D) IA-2
Ben Ray Lujan (D) NM-3
Carolyn B. Maloney (D) NY-14
Edward J. Markey (D) MA-7
Carolyn McCarthy (D) NY-4
Jim McGovern (D) MA-3
Jim McDermott (D) WA-7
George Miller (D) CA-7
Alan B. Mollohan (D) WV-1
James P. Moran (D) VA-8
John P. Murtha (D) PA-12
Gregory W. Meeks (D) NY-6
Dennis Moore (D) KS-3
Betty McCollum (D) MN-4
Kendrick B. Meek (D) FL-17
Michael H. Michaud (D) ME-2
Brad Miller (D) NC-13
Gwen Moore (D) WI-4
Doris Matsui (D) CA-5
Jerry McNerney (D) CA-11
Harry E. Mitchell (D) AZ-5
Patrick J. Murphy (D) PA-8
Christopher S. Murphy (D) CT-5
Dan Maffei (D) NY-25
Jerrold Nadler (D) NY-8
Richard E. Neal (D) MA-2
Grace F. Napolitano (D) CA-38
James L. Oberstar (D) MN-8
David R. Obey (D) WI-7
John W. Olver (D) MA-1
Solomon P. Ortiz (D) TX-27
Bill Owens (D) NY-23
Frank Pallone (D) NJ-6
Bill Pascrell Jr. (D) NJ-8
Ed Pastor (D) AZ-4
Donald M. Payne (D) NJ-10
Nancy Pelosi (D) CA-8
Earl Pomeroy (D) ND-1
David E. Price (D) NC-4
Ed Perlmutter (D) CO-7
Gary Peters (D) MI-9
Chellie Pingree (D) ME-1
Jared Polis (D) CO-2
Tom Perriello (D) VA-5
Mike Quigley (D) IL-5
Nick J. Rahall II (D) WV-3
Charles B. Rangel (D) NY-15
Silvestre Reyes (D) TX-16
Steven R. Rothman (D) NJ-9
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D) CA-34
Bobby L. Rush (D) IL-1
Ciro D. Rodriguez (D) TX-23
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D) MD-2
Tim Ryan (D) OH-17
Laura Richardson (D) CA-37
Loretta Sanchez (D) CA-47
Robert C. Scott (D) VA-3
José E. Serrano (D) NY-16
Brad Sherman (D) CA-27
Louise M. Slaughter (D) NY-28
Adam Smith (D) WA-9
Vic Snyder (D) AR-2
John M. Spratt Jr. (D) SC-5
Pete Stark (D) CA-13
Bart Stupak (D) MI-1
Jan Schakowsky (D) IL-9
Adam B. Schiff (D) CA-29
Linda T. Sanchez (D) CA-39
David Scott (D) GA-13
John Salazar (D) CO-3
Allyson Y. Schwartz (D) PA-13
Albio Sires (D) NJ-13
John Sarbanes (D) MD-3
Joe Sestak (D) PA-7
Carol Shea-Porter (D) NH-1
Zack Space (D) OH-18
Betty Sutton (D) OH-13
Jackie Speier (D) CA-12
Mark Schauer (D) MI-7
Kurt Schrader (D) OR-5
Bennie Thompson (D) MS-2
John F. Tierney (D) MA-6
Edolphus Towns (D) NY-10
Mike Thompson (D) CA-1
Niki Tsongas (D) MA-5
Dina Titus (D) NV-3
Paul Tonko (D) NY-21
Nydia M. Velázquez (D) NY-12
Peter J. Visclosky (D) IN-1
Chris Van Hollen (D) MD-8
Maxine Waters (D) CA-35
Melvin Watt (D) NC-12
Henry A. Waxman (D) CA-30
Robert Wexler (D) FL-19
Lynn Woolsey (D) CA-6
Anthony Weiner (D) NY-9
David Wu (D) OR-1
Diane Watson (D) CA-33
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) FL-20
Tim Walz (D) MN-1
Peter Welch (D) VT-1
Charlie Wilson (D) OH-6
John Yarmuth (D) KY-3

I do think that Rep. Stupak did the right thing in sponsoring an amendment that got rid of the abortion clause. But he still voted for the rest of it; I would have preferred him to become Democrat #36 who didn't vote for it because of the unresolved Constitutional violations that this bill is full of.

I do favor health care reform, but not in this form. They could have done MUCH better than they did.

I have no confidence in the above list of politicians to do their duty and follow the Constitution. They seem to have forgotten that the Constitution trumps political rubbish that politicians sometimes come up with. And this bill, in it's current form, is rubbish. And the people above voted for it.

Mark Schauer from the Michigan 7th Congressional District voted 'yes' on this rubbish; he's not up for election until 2012. Plenty of time to build up the opposition base here. Tim Walberg, whom Schauer defeated in 2008, is on-track for a rematch and has already declared his intentions to run again in 2012.

Time to show the Democrats the door. And I hope the GOP has eaten enough humble pie to return to the concept of small government; otherwise, it'll be the time of the 3rd party to shine.

One-party rule is for the birds; having one party running the House and Senate and the White House hasn't worked for the Republicans or for the Democrats. I'm hoping the elections bring balance back to Washington with the Democrats holding one house and the Republicans holding the other. It seems like the country ran better under that model.

It would prevent rubbish like the current health care bill from making it as far as it has. Something to think about.

Fort Hood Shooting Was Not an Act of Terrorism: It Was an Act of a Lunatic Who Snapped

Like most Americans, I was shocked at the loss of life at Fort Hood, and inspired by the acts of heroism of the first responders and the common soldier who rushed to aid the wounded.

And the more I hear about the shooter, the more I'm convinced that it WAS an isolated incident. I think the fact that he was about to be sent overseas had more of an impact on him than his religion. He was an Army psychiatrist, and they're subject to the same stresses as those who are not.

I hope that people don't target American Muslims for retaliation. This situation is bad enough without people getting it into their minds to carry out private revenge acts against people who had nothing to do with the actions of one man.

Pelosi's Health Bill is UNCONSTITUTIONAL: Let Her Try and Put Someone in Jail for Refusing to Purchase Her Health Plan

The health care bill being ramrodded through Congress is UNCONSTITUTIONAL and is an assault on the Constitution itself and state's rights.

Powers not expressly given to the federal government are reserved for the states. And according to this article from the Wall Street Journal, "...Congress, in other words, cannot regulate simply because it sees a problem to be fixed. Federal law must be grounded in one of the specific grants of authority found in the Constitution." Those grants are found in Article 1, Section 8.

The Democrats won't be throwing ANYONE in jail for refusing to buy their insurance. The people who should go to jail are the ones who exceed their constitutional authority and vote to pass this monster of a bill.

The fact that the Congressional Democrats are even thinking about passing this health care bill in it's current form, and is clearly a violation of the Constitution speaks volumes about the direction they want to take the country. And they aren't listening to their constituents either.

This will be going straight to court. Tea Party lawyers have promised to mount a constitutional challenge of the bill within hours of it being signed into law. Pelosi and other supporters have claimed that this is part of the Congressional right to tax and spend, but even in their own arguments there is a significant flaw. What does Constitutional law say about passing a mandatory law on part of the population, but not on the rest of it? It's ILLEGAL.

Even more fundamental, many of the governed are not giving their consent on this entire fiasco. Congress is knowingly choosing to ignore "We the People." They ought to hold some town meetings NOW. It'll make the summer town meetings look like a picnic.

It's time for a rollback of Congress's tendancy to overreach its authority. The Founders were clear on this point: they considered "confiscatory taxation" and deficit spending for the "common welfare" business that Congress likes so much as a return to the darkest form of tyranny. And that's what the current Congress and President is engaged in.

Welcome to liberal America. And if that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, GOOD. People ought to think about that the next time they consider electing a liberal or moderate.

Democrats Haven't Got the Message on Health Care Yet: They Will Pay a Heavy Voter Price if They Pass This Bill on Saturday

Congressional Democrats are so far out of touch with what the electorate wants in regards to health care reform that it isn't funny. Tuesday's election was as much about health care reform as it was a rebuke of President Obama's policies.

And if they pass Queen Nancy's health care bill on Saturday, they will pay a heavy price in terms of election developments. Recall drums are sounding already, and a lot of them will lose their seats in the 2010 elections. And just try to make conservatives pay monthly health care premiums for abortion services. Please.

Make your choice, Democrats. Those who vote 'no' on Queen Nancy's 1,990 page bill will probably save themselves a great deal of trouble in the coming months.

1,990 Page Health Care "Plan" Should Be Trimmed to 200 Pages: Current Bill is Too Big, Too Broad and is Chocked Full of CRAP Too

Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats rolled out a 1,990-page health care proposal that makes severe changes to things like Medicaid, which the Democrats had previously said that they wouldn't change. And all Americans will have to subscribe to it too, which is opposite of what the Democrats said that they wanted. Opt out, my afterburner. There's no opting out with this bill.

The REPUBLICANS sure didn't put that crap in there.

They should take this bill, eliminate the fluff and condense it down to 200 pages. If they can't do that, then the entire thing should be scrapped. Entire federal budgets have been less than this pork-packed bill. Congress built the Social Security Administration in 1935 with a whopping 64-page bill. Compare that with Pelosi's 1,990-page monstrosity that a select few can even begin to understand.

Here's a part of the bill that CBS News web site quoted: "(a) Outpatient Hospitals – (1) In General – Section 1833(t)(3)(C)(iv) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395(t)(3)(C)(iv)) is amended – (A) in the first sentence – (i) by inserting "(which is subject to the productivity adjustment described in subclause (II) of such section)" after "1886(b)(3)(B)(iii); and (ii) by inserting "(but not below 0)" after "reduced"; and (B) in the second sentence, by inserting "and which is subject, beginning with 2010 to the productivity adjustment described in section 1886(b)(3)(B)(iii)(II)".)

1,990 pages of that horse crap??!

They should pass a bill that says the following: Congress shall pass no bill that cannot be understood by someone reading at an Eighth Grade (up to Tenth Grade) reading level. That's what most publications and newspapers do: they write to that level so that they have a large enough audience that can understand what they're saying. Congress needs to do the same thing.

In the meantime, they need to re-do this entire bill, starting with the title of it and working their way down. And if they can't say what needs to be said in plain English, and within 200 pages, then they shouldn't even consider passing this bill. There's no excuse for passing stealth legislation, which is what this bill is.

Congress should also pass no bill which they don't completely understand themselves!

MSNBC is Living in a Glass House: Their Criticisms of Fox News Over Impartiality Applies to MSNBC as Well

MSNBC has engaged in stone throwing while ignoring the glass house that they're living in; they've said through Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann that Fox News should be disqualified from being a news organization because of their activism.

If that's the standard, then MSNBC should be disqualified first as they engage in the character assassination of Fox News personalities on a daily basis. Count the number of times Olbermann deliberately doesn't call "Fox News" "Fox News." He's been reduced to name-calling. And MSNBC was considering keeping this guy as an anchor after he SCREWED up? Here's one of his recent rants (watch as long as you can stomach it).

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Both organizations have their news reporting divisions, and both have their op-ed divisions. Fox has Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Greta Van Sustran, Chris Wallace and the Fox & Friends crowd. MSNBC has Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Andrea Michell, Ed Schultz, Joe Scarborough, Keith Olbermann, and co-hosts on several of the above shows.

MSNBC ought to tone down their own political rhetoric before criticizing the opposition; they have no credibility with personalities like Olbermann throwing political and personal grenades at people he doesn't like.

I do think both networks do need to do a better job of separating their news gathering divisions from their opinion-editorial side, which does get considerably more attention than their news divisions do. And yes, both liberals and conservatives manipulate stuff to their own ends. There's no denying that.

The main difference between MSNBC and Fox News is that Fox is more open to admitting that it has an opinion. Even their web site reflects it. Look up at the top of their web page and you'll see an "Opinions" selection. MSNBC simply calls their op-ed site "MSNBC TV" and leaves it at that on their web site.

The pot needs to stop calling the kettle black, until it comes clean on it's own views, which are hard-core liberal.

GOP Is Knuckling Under on Their Beliefs in the Name of Winning the Next Election: Stand Firm and FIGHT!

"The Party of No" is a label that has been used to describe both the Republicans and the Democrats, with one major difference.

The Democrats did not compromise on their stands; the Republicans appear ready to throw their values out the window to avoid being seen as the "Party of No" and having the label used against them in the days and weeks prior to Election Day. Yet the "PoN" strategy is one that they used against the Democrats, and were given a pretty good thumping at the polls.

The Republicans need to solidify their conservative base, and they won't do that by trying to out-Democrat the Democrats. This is a theme that I keep returning to because the GOP clearly isn't receiving the message yet. It's a failed strategy on the part of the Republicans. Their ideas should stand or fall on their own merits, without concern about whether they'll win or lose an election.

I want my elected officials to stand their ground, not adjust their positions so that they're going with the flow.

UK Prime Minister Brown Turns Into Magical Environmental Prophet: "50 Days to Save the Planet" Claim is Utter Rubbish

More global warming hubris from the government of the United Kingdom is circulating it's way through the world press this morning.

UK Prime Minster Gordan Brown is claiming that world leaders have 50 days to avoid utter disaster and climate change and "save the planet." What NONSENSE!

The Prime Minister's date is an arbitrarily chosen political date to pressure world leaders to come on board the "Save the Planet" bandwagon and agree to their point of view. And the trends that the Prime Minster is quoting is based on long-disputed research that generates enough hot air to heat the planet too.

And through all this, they're STILL ignoring the sun and sunspot activity that actually controls the extent of global warming, as the last couple of summers have clearly demonstrated.

Will the earth get warmer? You betcha! And then it'll cool off again. But this heating and cooling process has been going on for LONG before humans were around. Waters have risen, waters have fallen, then risen again. That's accepted science.

I think world leaders need to decide on what to do when the waters do rise again, as far as people who are living in areas that will be underwater in the next hundred years. The Maldives is a point in particular. Their entire nation, which is a cluster of atolls, is three feet above the ocean level and will likely be reclaimed by the ocean. What will the world do to help the people of the Maldives?

I don't have a problem with them trying to find cleaner ways of doing things; that will impact positively on our quality of life. But the man-made global warming hubris is pure rubbish; they need to look at the entire picture, not just one piece of it.

Would They PLEASE Keep the Balloon Kid Off TV?

I wish that the media circus surrounding the "balloon boy" would just die down, and that the parents would keep the kid at home, instead of dragging him onto TV. He threw up twice on live TV today, according to media reports.

This is ridiculous! Let the investigators investigate, and leave the kid out of it!

White House Behavior With Fox News is Childish: They Really Need to Grow Up

The White House is in a tit-for-tat exchange with Fox News over what they perceive as slights on the part of Fox over Obama's questionable health care and political views, and it's the most childish thing I've ever seen coming out of an Administration.

All it's done is drawn more attention to Fox to the point that they're totally dominating their competition even more so than usual.

Obama should focus on more important issues than a single media network that doesn't bow and scrape to him like the others do. No other President that has taken this kind of approach has been successful in waging a media campaign against a network.

Move on, Mr. President.

Granholm Administration Moves to Re-Combine DNR and DEQ to Save Money: That's Exactly Why They Were Split Apart

Michigan's Governor Granholm has proposed recombining the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) back into a united DNR.

The reason? To save money.

The reason the DNR was broken into the DNR and the DEQ, with their own budgets and responsibilities in the 90s? To save money.

Someone needs to explain this. Why will going back to the old system save money over the solution that a prior Administration, which was much more business savvy, came up with to save money in the first place?

I eagerly await a REAL GOOD explanation from the talking heads over this contradiction.

More Political Nonsense From the "Non-Political" Nobel Committee

I'm amused by the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to President Obama for eleven day's work as President (Obama took office January 20th, the deadline for nominations for the prior year was February 1st), but what's done is done. He's been awarded it, and has humbly accepted it in the spirit that it was offered.

So be it.

I'm also amused by the Republicans telling their members to tone it down, out of fear that they will be seen as a bunch of whiners. This is probably a smart move on their part.

And what does his press secretary have to say?

"We think that this gives us a sense of momentum when the United States has accolades tossed its way rather than shoes," he said this morning.

Accolades, eh? This was a one-fingered salute to President Bush from the Nobel Peace Prize committee, which also awarded Al Gore the prize for his global warming hubris, nothing more. So given their own political activism, I'm not surprised they gave Obama the prize for eleven days of no results.

And Mr. Press Secretary is sounding more like a propaganda minister every day, instead of a Press Secretary.

Even Obama's allies on MSNBC were not overly generous:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Whatever.

Letterman's Situation Highlights Problems With Employer/Employee Relationships: Where is the Line?

One of the questions being asked in light of the David Letterman situation is where the line is drawn between an employer and an employee (or manager/subordinate) having a relationship.

The line is fairly easy to see, yet employers get themselves into trouble by crossing that line without regard for the consequences. I've seen this first-hand, with a manager and a subordinate at a supermarket having a relationship that went badly. The effect that the break-up and charges of sexual harassment was devastating to not only the two involved, but also to all their co-workers. I thought they both acted stupidly.

Relationships at work are a bad idea. The best thing that two co-workers can do is keep their clothes on--that goes double for the manager who has the hots for a subordinate.

This Letterman situation is going to get far worse before it gets better. And yes, Letterman is an idiot for getting himself into this situation.

Dog Fighting Videos Protected By First Amendment?

When I first saw this on the news, I couldn't believe it.

There's a court case going on that will determine if dog fighting videos are protected speech. Whoever thinks that they are needs a good boot in the ass.

If the law that is being challenged is too broad, and will include a ban on hunting shows that show wild animals being shot by hunters, then they need to re-do the law which bans specific types of videos, such as dog fighting.

But leave the First Amendment out of this. This is a vile abuse of the court system to use the First Amendment to allow this contemptible blood sport to continue.

FTC Orders Bloggers to Disclose Payments For Reviews of Products

The Federal Trade Commission recently passed a rule that says that bloggers have to disclose whether they are paid for their reviews via money, freebies or equivalent of whatever product they are reviewing.

Per this order, I would like to make the following statement:

I generally refrain from reviewing products that are on the market. And those that I do review, I do so without any type of reimbursement whatsoever from the companies whose product it is. It would be nice, but I choose to review those products that I have a stake in, such as my Toshiba HD-DVD player that is essentially worthless, but still very useful. See my prior posts on the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD format war for details on that topic.

No free trips to Disney for me.

I will post what I want, when I want, about anything I want without worrying about the FTC order.

Next!

General McChrystal Goes Off the Reservation: His Afghanistan Speech Was Unfortunate

I've been watching and waiting for the axe to fall on the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and it looks like it's started.

General McChrystal sent his troop request to the Pentagon, then took his plan and his views to the media, which I didn't think was a very good idea. And sure enough, instead of motivating the Obama Administration to send more troops, all it's done is infuriate the Commander-in-Chief.

It's very unfortunate that General McChrystal didn't bide his time and speak privately with his boss.

I'm no fan of the Obama Administration, but there are written and unwritten rules between the military brass and the President, and it appears that a few lines were crossed. This is very unfortunate, and I hope that he and President Obama are able to get through this and move on to addressing what needs to be done to destroy the enemy.