Bloomberg's Ground Zero Museum: For The Rich Only

At this rate, the only folks that will be able to get into the Ground Zero museum are the monied liberal elite, who will cluck their tongues at how horrible this "tragedy" was, and speak loudly of how it all could have been averted if we had only been nicer to the Islamic world. Or had just given them that pesky little Jewish state.

This memorial will be for rich folks only. And apparently, that's the way Mike Bloomberg wants it:

Mayor Bloomberg didn't waste any time endorsing a hefty admission fee for the over-designed 9/11 museum at Ground Zero.

"Well, the money's got to come from someplace," the mayor shrugged on his weekly radio interview.

Joe Daniels, president of the museum's operating foundation, told the City Council he needs to charge up to $25 per person as a "suggested donation," or a flat $20 mandatory admission fee, to "generate revenue in line with other world-class museums."

Well, the "world-class" part remains to be seen.

And, even so, it's a grotesque fee for a facility meant to note the thousands of lives lost in the 9/11 sneak attack.

To Bloomberg, on the other hand, the museum is little more than just another New York tourist attraction.

"Given people pay 12, 15 bucks to go to the movies," he argued, "if you have a nominal charge that helps pay the bills, I certainly have no objections to that."

And proving that Bloomberg's first instinct is to think like a billionaire philanthropist, he suggested that "people that gave all that money" -- $400 million that's been raised privately -- "I think you can certainly say maybe they should be able to get in for nothing."

"Maybe [you] can make the case for [9/11 victim] family members," he added.


So $25- a head, or $100- for a family of four, is a "nominal" fee to Mike Bloomberg. Wonder how nominal it is to his constituents?

Don't worry, though - if you've already spent a million or two on this museum, Bloomie will let you in for free. And if you had a family member killed in the 9/11 attacks? "Maybe" the Mayor will give you a discount pass...you know, half-off for your loss, or something....

"Weiner Yanks Himself..."

One of many headlines and stories in the New York Post bashing disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who did no help to his cause yesterday with his self-serving, high-handed resignation.  A few choice morsels...

From an editorial:

Graceless to the end

....no one who has watched Weiner over the years should have been surprised.

From the start, Anthony Weiner was self-obsessed, arrogant and self-righteous; his frequent public temper tantrums, including on the floor of Congress, were the stuff of YouTube legend.

True enough, the notoriety helped him get girls (online, anyway). But it takes a special kind of weird for him to have thought he could get away with it all.

Now Weiner says he'll be "looking for other ways to contribute my talents."

Spare us....

Michael Goodwin:

Now we know why he found it so easy to lie to the cameras and his wife for most of the last three weeks. He's still lying to himself about the depths of his depravity...

It's easy to see why nobody in Congress would rise to his defense. He is the kind of man about whom it is said that even his friends don't like him.
He is dishonorable by every definition, yet refuses to accept that truth in his own head. Weiner is a weasel even to himself.

...A strident, arrogant partisan, he was all about scoring political points to advance his career. His is the kind of ruthless ambition that gives ambition a bad name.

Did he ever believe in anything other than his own career?

Finally, John Podhoretz, who points out a final, revolting dodge by Dick Weiner:

Having spent days insulting those who sought only the truth, having lied in the most blatant manner and having instructed others to lie for him, Weiner then had the astonishing lack of grace to stand before the world and thank his parents for "instilling in me the values that got me to this point."

That choice of words -- which seems nice at first glance but which, in effect, unconsciously puts the blame for his behavior on his own mother and father -- may represent the most disgusting thing he's done so far....

Maybe.  But - based on the fact that he's still placing blame, taking responsibility verbally while denying it with his smirks and sneers - I think Weiner has yet to hit rock bottom.

Unfortunately, I expect to see his unsightly bulge once again on a Twitter feed near you...

Chris Christie Defunds New Jersey's Version of NPR

...out here, it's called "NJN", but government media by any other name...

New Jersey governors have been talking for nearly two decades about severing ties with New Jersey Network, the state's public-TV and -radio system.

But Chris Christie has gone ahead and done it, saving Garden State taxpayers some $13 million a year -- forcing the question of whether government should even be in the broadcasting business.

"I wasn't elected to be programmer-in-chief," said Christie this week as he announced that Channel 13, New York's PBS station, will assume operation of NJN's TV channel. New York Public Radio will acquire four of the radio stations, Philadelphia's WHYY, the other five.

"That should have ended with the Soviet Union," he said of Trenton's dubious role in owning a news operation.

And this is the best push-back the Left can offer:

Predictably, Democrats and union leaders are raising hell, mostly because jobs will be lost in the merger.

One, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg of Bergen County, wants to know "how do we keep New Jersey residents informed about what's going on in their government" if the state doesn't operate NJN.

Well, it's mostly because the Democrats will lose a taxpayer-funded propaganda outlet. For certainly, Loretta can't really be wondering how New Jersey residents will "stay informed" about what chicanery their leadership is up to without NJN, can she? Certainly she's heard of this newfangled thing called "the Internet", right? Right?

I'm scared. But at least I know that I have Chris Christie to protect me from this type of mean-spirited idiocy. His determination to get out of the public-TV business - and save a boatload of cash in the doing - is a lesson that should not be lost upon the 2012 Republican wannabes...

Ghoulish Dems Plot Gabrielle Giffords' Future While She Struggles To Recover...

Thanks to the miracle of (pre-ObamaCare) medicine, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords finally returned home yesterday, after months of surgeries and therapies to help her recover from a deranged assassin's bullet.  Meanwhile, it seems as if the Democratic party's concern for her health is less about her future and more about theirs:

Let's get an update on Gabrielle via MSNBC:

Giffords' doctors said she has made remarkable progress, but cautioned that she faces many challenges and months of intensive outpatient care.

Her chief of staff told the Arizona Republic last week that Giffords can speak, but struggles to express complex thoughts and sentences.

"Her words are back more and more now, but she's still using facial expressions as a way to express. Pointing. Gesturing," Pia Carusone told the newspaper.

"Add it all together, and she's able to express the basics of what she wants or needs," Carusone said. "But when it comes to a bigger and more complex thought that requires words, that's where she's had the trouble."

No wonder the Democratic party is so confused right now about her unwillingness to commit to campaigning for the open Arizona Senate seat in 2012.  What differentiates her from any other Democrat currently on the stump, including Barack Obama?

OK, so before you tell me what a horrible thing that was to say, and that I will have a special table reserved in hell for me, let's get something straight.  It is not poor Gabrielle I am railing against, it's her party and their incredible selfishness (not to mention their complete inability to offer a logical, well thought-out position on just about any issue of national concern).

And so her party frets:

Giffords would be the unquestionable favorite to represent the Democrats if she were able to run. As she undergoes therapy to recover from the January shooting, an alternative candidate has yet to emerge - in part, because of the uncertainty surrounding her political future. "All of our hopes and faith were geared towards her," said Andrei Cherny, chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party.

Oh, Gabrielle!  How dare you let Andrei down, what with your slow recovery from a gunshot wound to the freaking brain?

"We're stumbling around with names nobody knows," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. "We're left with second tiers...Grijalva said he believes that time is drawing near for the Giffords camp to say whether she will run for the Senate.

That's right, Grijalva.  Put pressure on a women who just finished a five-month hospital stay to make huge career choices when she's still struggling to speak.  Your a real decent human being, pal.

But there are still those who hope:

Jim Pederson, the former chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, said Giffords has plenty of time to decide and could win the Senate race even if she waited until 2012 before entering.

"It can certainly wait until next year. If she were perceived in terms of her recovery to be a viable candidate, I think she could raise significant money overnight. She could conceivably wait another nine or 10 months, I think," Pederson said. 

  If the Democratic party had any soul whatsoever, they would be encouraging Gabrielle to give up her congressional seat in 2012, put her political career on hold,and focus her limited energy on returning to full health.
 
But since the first bullet entered Gabrielle Giffords' skull, she became less of a human being to the Democratic party and more of a political football.  First, she was used as an unwilling accomplice to the ongoing rape of Sarah Palin, and now, as she struggles to recover, her party plots to use her as a figurehead to maintain what minimal power they have, and count on people to vote for her out of sympathy, despite the fact she is unlikely to be able to adequately represent either her district, let alone the entire state, in 2012.
 
They're a party of barbarians, and they should be ashamed of themselves.  But alas, one must first have a heart, and a soul, to even feel that emotion in the first place...

John Edwards Mug Shots: Still Smug, Smirking, and Self-Satisfied

Via CNN:

Former U.S. Senator John Edwards, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and campaign law violations in early June. His mug shot was released by the U.S. Marshals Service Wednesday.

The plea came after a federal grand jury indicted him on six counts, including conspiracy, issuing false statements and violating campaign contribution laws.

 

No threat intended, of course, but have you ever seen a face you wanted to punch more than this one? Cheating on his dying wife, while simultaneously using her as a prop to further his quest for power.  The guy makes Anthony Weiner look like a paragon of virtue...
 
Maybe it's just me.  Still, I am reminded of the words of one Momar "Moe" Szyslak to  Principal Seymour Skinner:

Moe: You know, you really irritate me, Skinner, what with your store-bought haircut and excellent posture.
Pimply-faced teen: Mister, I can't stand the sound of your voice!
Moe: Oh, really?
Hibbert: Oh, now, now: there's no need to resort to violence.
Moe: Oh, sure there is! [throws punch]
 

Oh, Moe, I know how you feel....

Copper Wire: California Living Through Atlas Shrugged

From a cliff-notes version by Free Republic of the philosophical novel (and maybe I should start using that phrase a lot more lightly, or switch to "precognitive essay"):

In California a copper wire breaks on a Taggart phone line. The last replacement wire has been sold to black marketeers with government connections, and no one will report anything because of possible repercussions from those with pull. An employee calls Dagny in New York to report the break, and Dagny asks Eddie to have their Montana people ship copper wire to California...

...In Montana a copper wire breaks, idling a copper mine adjoining a Taggart spur. The station agent strips out the station wiring and puts the mine back to work. Dagny tells Eddie to send Minnesota’s wire to Montana. Jim has procured every piece of government paperwork to get wire rationed to the railroad, but he hasn’t been able to get the actual wire.

...In the bowels of the Taggart Terminal a copper wire breaks, choking traffic. Dagny receives a call about the wire and leaves the meeting in relief...She sends out a crew to recover whatever copper is available on the Hudson Line despite not having the permission of the Unification Board to abandon it...And today, from (real-life) California:

ANTIOCH (KCBS) – Copper wire continues to be snatched from the East Bay city of Antioch this year, and that’s translating into a big problem for Pacific Gas and Electric – considering how much the utility relies on the material.

Since the first of the year, 300 power poles have been knocked down in Antioch. The wiring contained on and within the poles was subsequently ripped off.

Stealing copper wire is nothing new, but Antioch police describe the recent spate of incidents unusual.

PG&E, meanwhile, maintains it takes $500 to repair a pole containing just dollars worth of copper.

Copper went for $1.25/lb in 2009, though the market price has since climbed to an estimated $4/lb.

Police have not identified any suspects....

New Jersey's Legislature is the "smartest" in the nation. So why are we 49th out of 50 in the "Freedom Rankings"?

Maybe the first statement answers the second question. NJ.com :

It is the state that brought you The Sopranos and The Situation, Einstein, insufferable property taxes and Snookie.

And now, to this calvacade{sic!} of distinction, add one more.

We have the smartest Legislature.

The Legislature that has endured more than its share of indictments, jokes and scandal has also carved a niche as the one with the highest percentage of lawmakers with graduate degrees in the nation, according to a study of all 50 state Legislatures published by Chronicle of Higher Education.

Go figure.

Almost 60 percent of members of the state Senate and Assembly in New Jersey have an advanced degree, whether it’s a master’s, law degree or doctorate, the study says.

That’s a higher proportion than any other state, and far higher than the general population, where only 13 percent of the state’s residents have more than a bachelor’s degree.

So where has our enlightened New Jersey leadership taken us? Mercatus provides the answer:

Freedom Rankings
•#49 Overall
•#47 Economic

•#45 Personal

Change in overall freedom, 2007–2009:

–0.098

Change in overall freedom ranking since 2007:

–1

Net domestic migration, 2000–2009 (% of 2000 population):

–5.5%

New Jersey is a highly regulated state all around, near the bottom in both personal and economic freedom, and it deteriorated further in 2007–2008. ...Property taxes are among the highest in the country, and individual income taxes are also high. Gun control is extensive and worsening.  New Jersey has primary seatbelt enforcement, motorcycle- and bicycle-helmet laws, a cell-phone driving ban, an open-container law, sobriety checkpoints, and mandatory underinsured-motorist and personal-injury coverage for drivers. Fireworks are prohibited. Asset forfeiture is largely unreformed. Cigarette taxes are stratospheric, and smoking bans are as draconian as any in the country.... On economic regulation, labor laws are predictably costly (the minimum wage was allowed to lapse, but paid family leave was legislated), statewide land-use planning (“smart growth”) is in force, occupational licensing is severe, and there is extensive community rating for private health insurance.

So why would a state run by so many of the intellectual elite be a place where people are fleeing from, rather than running to (as opposed to, say, hidebound Texas)?  How could it be one of the very least "free" places in the United States of America, and be known derisively as "The People's State of New Jersey"?  Why would it be in such economic disarray? Why would there be so much political corruption?

Why not ask...Ayn Rand?

Socialism is not a movement of the people. It is a movement of the intellectuals, originated, led and controlled by the intellectuals, carried by them out of their stuffy ivory towers into those bloody fields of practice where they unite with their allies and executors: the thugs.

We don't want socialism. Our over-educated and otherwise socially useless leaders want to force it upon us for the gains it brings to them, both egotistically and monetarily.

Time to go back to original principles, and make state legislatures a community service (like in Texas, where they meet for six months every other year) as opposed to a lifetime profession. Otherwise, before we know it, our state flag will be the hammer and sickle...

Michelle Obama as Pinocchio: The more she lies, the fatter her ass gets?

....let's hope her taxpayer-financed jet has got some double-wide seating, because....

Michelle Marie Antoinette Obama, at a $1K/plate fundraiser in lovely Pasadena:

First lady Michelle Obama on Monday told a fundraiser in Southern California of the toll the presidency has taken on her husband Barack Obama.

"I see the sadness and worry that's creasing his face," she said to a crowd of about 500 at the Pasadena luncheon organized by the Southern California Women For Obama. She described his worth ethic as “tireless,” according to pool reports.

"He reads every word, every memo, so he is better prepared than the people briefing him," she said. "This man doesn't take a day off."

Really? It seems to me the only thing Obama is worried about is picking up his game on the back nine. Dateline June 12th:

I know this will be surprising to everyone, but the president has gone golfing.

Having obviously had enough of the solitude of Camp David, where he and the family were making a rare weekend sojourn, the president choppered early this morning directly to Andrews and headed straight to the Air Force base golf course. Not clear whether Michelle in the girls are still at Camp David or if they’ve returned to the White House.

Today makes 11 weekends in a row that Obama has gone golfing. It’s his 14th outing this year and the 72nd of his presidency.

Doesn't seem too worried here either, as he jokes about wasting $1 trillion dollars worth of stimulus money:



Oh, that Michelle is one lying beeyotch, that's for sure.  And if you think her ass is big here, wait until six months on the campaign trail have passed -  days filled with lies, and nights filled with champagne and lobster:

Newt Gingrich: Epilogue

From Jonah Goldberg's (email-only) newsletter:

...it is hard to remember a better example of a brilliant leader so misreading the political climate and his place in it than Newt in these last months.

The truth, of course, is that such mistakes aren't made in a day. They involve years of careful delusion. Still, I think it's sad.

Jennifer Rubin:

Newt Gingrich, true to his stubborn tone deafness, went back to the well on Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan. He insisted that if the American people don’t support it, then the GOP “should slow down.” Once again, he could not resist undermining the entire Republican House caucus that led on a tough issue

KJL over at The Corner, reviewing the deabte:

Newt … I can’t pretend to know what he’s thinking.


Try harder, KJL.  Think...ego gratification and speaking fees...

The Ferris Bueller Curse: Was Charlie Sheen's Demise Pre-Ordained?

What Ferris Bueller curse, you ask?  Well, obsessed principal Mr. Rooney (Jeffery Jones) turns out to be a real-life pedophile , Jennifer Grey destroyed her looks and her career with a botched nose job , and Matthew Broderick got married to Sarah Jessica Parker.  enough for you?

And yet, that's not the worst of it.  Who can forget Charlie Sheen's small but significant role as "the drug addict" who sets Jennifer Grey straight in the station house?

Sheen: Drugs?
Grey:  Thank you, no, I'm straight.
Sheen:  I meant, are you in here for drugs?
Grey: Why are you here?
Sheen: Drugs

Sheen:  You wear too much eye makeup.  My sister wears too much.  People thinks she's a whore...





Who would have thought that Charlie Sheen would in fact become the character he played all those years ago, known simply as "the drug addict at the police station"?

On this, the 25th anniversary of the theatrical release of Ferris Bueller, one might be wise to listen to the Word as given by Ferris:

-Anything is peaceful from one thousand, three hundred and fifty-three feet.
-I do have a test today, that wasn't bullshit. It's on European socialism. I mean, really, what's the point? I'm not European. I don't plan on being European. So who gives a crap if they're socialists? They could be fascist anarchists, it still doesn't change the fact that I don't own a car.
-Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it
 
And while you are contemplating that wisdom, let's meditate a moment on the Ferris Bueller curse.  Could it have been caused by, perhaps, certain things left out of the movie?

FERRIS: My uncle went to Canada to protest the war, right? On the Fourth of July he was down with my aunt and he got drunk and told my Dad he felt guilty he didn’t fight in VietNam. So I said, “What’s the deal, Uncle Jeff? In wartime you want to be a pacifist and in peacetime you want to be a soldier. It took you twenty years to find out you don’t believe in anything?” [snaps his fingers] Grounded. Just like that. Two weeks. [pause] Be careful when you deal with old hippies. They can be real touchy.

Barack Obama IS LeBron James, after all !

Jim Geraghty reminds us of this notable quotable:

“I’m LeBron, baby. I can play on this level. I got some game.”

Those words were uttered by then-state senator Barack Obama, shortly before he gave his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

I suppose he was good enough to speak at a convention, but when he got to the top of the shining hill in Washington DC, was he able to back up his talk?

As well as Lebron James, I suppose:

"Any time you feel like you get to the top of the mountain and you fall off, there’s definitely a personal failure," James said, taking it like a man.

"It was a failure in ’07 when we lost to the Spurs when I was in Cleveland.

"It’s a failure now for myself losing to the Mavericks. Absolutely."

Well, unlike King Obama, King James recognizes his failures as such.  But much like our petulant man-child in the White House, James could not help taking a dig at the "commoners":

“At the end of the day, all the people rooting for me to fail, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life they had before they woke up today,” James said. “They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live. . . . They can get a few days or a few months on being happy about not only myself but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal, but they have to get back to the real world at some point.”

A different version of Obama's "bitter clingers" speech, to be sure, but similar in that both these wanna be iconic figures project their own petty nastiness onto ordinary people that they feel don't give then the love and adulation they so richly deserve.

Two men who would be giants, but instead chose to remain small when the moment called.  Sad, actually...

RS McCain has another take, reminding us that Obama picked the Heat to win it all, thus ensuring a different type of losing streak....

Libertarianism, New York Style: Meet "Topless Bowery Woman" !

Libertarianism, as a political philosophy, does has its benefits:

Topless woman walks through the Bowery

A blond mystery woman strolled the Bowery and other Manhattan streets free of the burden of bra or shirt, taking advantage of New York's leniency toward such exposure.

The woman wore nothing more than a modest, knee-length black skirt, flip flops, sunglasses and a brown purse Monday while ogling pedestrians snapped pictures.

...She was stopped by police, but cops said she wasn't issued a summons because it is not illegal for a woman to expose her chest. The woman was later spotted near Central Park.

More:

Speaking to The Village Voice, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Paul Browne said: 'The state's highest court established long ago that women have the same right as men to appear topless in public.

'Absent a link to some commercial enterprise or promotion, the woman's lack of certain attire in this instance does not appear to be a police matter.'

God bless the NYPD (pound for pound, the best police force in the world, hands down).  And a warning to Republicans:  If you guys can't get your sh*t together, there is another political movement out there, gaining steam, that offers freedom, low taxation, deficit reduction, and topless chicks...

The Mainstream Media: Modern-Day Barbarians?

Posted, a few days ago:

....This is perennially the work of the barbarian, to undermine rational standards of judgment, to corrupt the inherited intuitive wisdom by which the people have always lived and to do this not by spreading new beliefs but by creating a climate of doubt and bewilderment in which clarity about the larger aims of life is dimmed and the self-confidence of the people is destroyed so that finally what you have is an impotent nihilism.

I buy into the above statement 100%.

So when I see headlines like these (why does the marketplace need the AOL-Huffington Post merger when it already has Yahoo! News?), I get a pretty good idea exactly who those barbarians are:

Are Republicans Intentionally Sabotaging Economy For Political Gain?

And when the 2012 election - shaping up to be one of the ugliest in modern history - is over, and the dust clears, I fully expect the MSM to be found lying in a drainage ditch on the side of the information superhighway, barely breathing, and yet barely noticed.

They'll be missed as much as the Romans missed the Huns...

Russell Crowe: Anti-Semite of the Week!

Open Jew-bashing is still not condoned in most of the West (whilst in the Middle East, anti-Semitic rhetoric is standard boilerplate for any politician hoping to gain even the office of local rat-catcher), so the age-old hatred must be hidden behind a facade of a greater good.  For a while now, it's been anti-Zionism - "I don't hate Jews.  I hate Zionists, Israel, Jews that stands up for Israel, Jews that refuse to vote Democratic ("neo-cons"), and any Jew who won't volunteer themselves, their people, and their ancestral homeland for self-immolation.  But don't you dare call me anti-Semitic!"

It's starting to get a bit convoluted, but thankfully for the anti-Semitic Left there is a new loophole: anti-circumcision.  It's all the rage, with numerous folks in California (where else?) fighting for ballot initiatives to end the practice entirely.  It's even got it's own propaganda outlet, with anti-circumcision brown-shirt Michael Hess putting out his own comic book entitled Foreskin Man, with imagery that would maker Herr Goebbels blush:

And here come the anti-Semi -sorry, the anti-circumcisers!  Starting with Hollywood's own Russell Crowe:

The stream of tweets began Thursday night, in response to a query from an Australian follower. Though the tweets in question have since been deleted, news outlets reported that the actor wrote, “Circumcision is barbaric and stupid. Who are you to correct nature? Is it real that GOD requires a donation of foreskin? Babies are perfect.” Crowe then went on to address Jews directly.

“Many Jewish friends, I love my Jewish friends, I love the apples and the honey and the funny little hats but stop cutting yr babies,” Crowe tweeted.

On Friday morning, after newspapers and celebrity news sites around the world reported on his posts, Crowe apologized over Twitter.

Don't apologize, Russell.  You're just a man ahead of his time.  By mid-summer this new form of anti-Semitism will be all the rage, and Barack Obama will likely be campaigning against it and perhaps pushing federal laws to make the ancient practice illegal - not that he's an anti-Semite, Lord no. 

In the next act of Hollywood "bravery", we'll have leading ladies declaring they won't sleep with men who are circumcised - a nice way of saying "Juden raus!" under the cover of morality. But it does beg the question of how many of them will get their next roles...

So "let it all hang out", Russell.  You've just put the full authority of your celebrity behind a blatantly anti-Semitic campaign.  But don't hide from it, revel in it!  Maybe you can organize a "peace flotilla", to, you know, storm some synagogues on the coast in the name of anti-Semit...oops, there I go again.  In the name of anti-Zionism, or anti-circumcision-ism, or whatever fig leaf the Left uses to cover their lustful urge for the destruction of the Jewish people...


Update: Nothing disappears anymore...via Yid With Lid:

Rick Santorum: Global Warming Is Government-Sponsored "Junk Science"

Rick Santorum may not win the 2012 Republican nomination - make that definitely will not win the 2012 Republican nomination - but he's taking the conversation into the right places.  While Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, and even Chris Christie cannot get past the wall of political correctness and gets their mouths to say "climate change is crap", we at least have one Republican who has the brass balls to say what the American people know in their heart:  That "climate change" is sheer and utter bullshit.

I believe the earth gets warmer, and I also believe the earth gets cooler, and I think history points out that it does that and that the idea that man through the production of CO2 which is a trace gas in the atmosphere and the manmade part of that trace gas is itself a trace gas is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd when you consider all of the other factors, El Nino, La Nina, sunspots, you know, moisture in the air.  There’s a variety of factors that contribute to the earth warming and cooling, and to me this is an opportunity for the left to create — it’s a beautifully concocted scheme because they know that the earth is gonna cool and warm.  It’s been on a warming trend so they said, “Oh, let’s take advantage of that and say that we need the government to come in and regulate your life some more because it’s getting warmer,” just like they did in the seventies when it was getting cool, they needed the government to come in and regulate your life because it’s getting cooler.  It’s just an excuse for more government control of your life, and I’ve never been for any scheme or even accepted the junk science behind the whole narrative.

His statements will put Romney et al on the defensive, because they now will have to refute the root of Santorum's argument: Climate change exists only to empower the government to take away more of your freedom and money and spend it in ways that benefit their ideological causes, and their political allies. Santorum has put his adversaries in a box: If they disagree and claim global warming is in fact man-made and real, how can they combat it without growing the size and scope of the government? And how can you profess the necessity of growing the size and scope of the government and still expect to get the Republican nomination?

Check - f*cking - mate. Good job, Rick. Let's see the RHINOs dance now...


Related - why would liberals pervert science so deeply just to force some societal change that might in fact be achieved in some other way?  For one, "some other way" may not empower them and enrich them with your money. Another reason might be that they are simply barbarians, rooting for the collapse of Western Civilization in the hopes that they - your self-professed superiors - might profit by your demise by partaking in the spoils:

....This is perennially the work of the barbarian, to undermine rational standards of judgment, to corrupt the inherited intuitive wisdom by which the people have always lived and to do this not by spreading new beliefs but by creating a climate of doubt and bewilderment in which clarity about the larger aims of life is dimmed and the self-confidence of the people is destroyed so that finally what you have is an impotent nihilism.

Which is why they tell you after the coldest winter and the coolest spring in recent memory that the planet is getting warmer, why they tells you terrorists are good and Americans are evil, and why they use expressions like "spending reductions in the tax codes" (that's Barack!) instead of "raising your taxes through the roof"...

"Cash For Clunkers" Comes Back To Haunt The Poor (And Middle Class)

Written in August 2009:

....no one is looking at the toll this program takes on poorer and younger drivers. "Clunkers", whose main liability is fuel consumption as opposed to inability to operate, are being taken off the road, depriving the poor of lower-cost used vehicles, and making older vehicles harder and more expensive to maintain as parts literally disappear off the marketplace (these "clunkers" are being liquidated, literally). Does every new immigrant and post-college student have the credit to buy a new $20,000- (at least) car? Do they have the financial wherewithall to even make the payments ? How will they get around, unless the government now spends even more money on "public" transportation, assuming these folks have access to it?

Alas, the prophecy has come to pass - MSNBC, yesterday:

Prices soar on the used car lot

When Debra Neel went to check out used Jeeps recently in Indianapolis, she left with a bad case of sticker shock.

"We were looking around $4,000 or $5,000 for a good used car for a teenager," but "you can't find them anymore," Neel said. That was readily confirmed by Bob Falcone, president of Falcone Volkswagen, Subaru & Saab in downtown Indianapolis.

Falcone said that a couple of years ago, Neel might have been able to get the 12-year-old Jeep she was considering at her $4,000 to $5,000 price point. The 2000 model on the lot, after all, has almost 90,000 miles on it and gets only 16 miles to the gallon.

Its price tag today: $13,900.

"It's unbelievable," Falcone acknowledged. He said the used car market is the strongest it has ever been in his 34 years in business.

....Dealers and automotive analysts say it's the same across the country. A variety of factors, including the nation's weak economic recovery, high gasoline prices and the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, have converged in recent weeks to send demand for used vehicles skyrocketing and supply plummeting, said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of Edmunds.com, which tracks new and used car prices.

Well, those are certainly good reasons.  But remember, when Obama instituted Cash for Clunkers, he deemed that every "gas guzzler" turned in be destroyed, regardless of usablility (has any nation every intentionally destroyed that much capital?).  Imagine if there were an extra 750,000 cars on the market right now.  Regardless of earthquakes, floods, and whatever other excuses MSNBC is making, that much extra inventory on the lot would certainly have a very real downward effect on prices.

Instead, we have folks who want to buy cars that cannot afford to, because the Obama administration wantonly engaged in massive destruction of usable, resellable, American capital.  How's that affecting the economy?

...what Barack Obama has done to the ecoomy.  Literally.

Economic illiteracy, or ideologically-driven centrally planned economics with the intent of reshaping society?  Either way, Barack Obama and the Democrats would up hurting the very people they piously claim to care about the most.

And if I was able to figure this out two years ago, there is no excuse for the "smart economists" of the Obama administration for missing it.  Unless, of course, it was by design - a society without freedom of movement can be much better controlled, after all....


Related:  More fantastic results of the Cash for Clunkers initiative:

A study published after the program by researchers at the University of Delaware concluded that for each vehicle trade, the program had a net cost of approximately $2,000, with total costs outweighing all benefits by $1.4 billion.  Another study by researchers at the University of Michigan found that the program improved the average fuel economy of all vehicles purchased by 0.6 mpg in July 2009 and by 0.7 mpg in August 2009...

If you've lost Matt Bai at the New York Times...

...well, safe to assume then that you are lost. Or have lost. Either way, liberal political analyst Matt Bai seems a tad incredulous at the Obama re-election strategy, such as it is:

“With their hopes dashed of substantial improvement in unemployment anytime soon, aides indicated that the theme was likely to be less ‘morning in America’ and more ‘don’t change horses in midstream.’”

I’m certainly no political strategist, let alone one who’s gotten a president elected. But that said, am I the only one who wonders if this might be kind of a boneheaded construct?

I mean, we all get why the Reaganesque theme of “morning in America” doesn’t apply here. Morning only looks this dark in Alaska, and only at certain times of year....

Bai goes on to mock the "don't change horses" theory of campaigning, but it is his momentary honesty in relating the current state of the nation that is most revealing. If even the more liberal-minded realize we are facing a bleak and unforgiving future under Barack Obama and the policies of the Left, what will the majority of this center-right nation think when they approach the ballot box in 2012, regardless of what billions are spent by the president's cronies?

Reminds me of nothing more than the recent New Jersey gubernatorial race, where incumbent liberal Jon Corzine outspent Chris Christie 3-1. How did Christie pull out a 3-point win in a three man field, in a state almost as blue as New York?

Simple. When the voters went into the booth, and looked down at Corzine's name, their stomachs turned, as they knew exactly what they would be getting: Four more years of higher taxes, union payoffs, lowered standards of living, and more entrenched corruption.

Corzine's promises didn't matter; folks knew it would just be more of the same, and when it came time to pull the lever, just enough of them veered right and decided to give a different guy a chance to clean up the mess.

Look for the same in 2012. Obama will be seen as either in a dead heat or with a small lead up until election day, when the pollsters and pundits wills catch their heads and wonder how they could have gotten it all so very wrong...

Huma Abedin is pregnant. Is Anthony Weiner still a liberal hero?

It's hard to be a hypocrite when you believe in nothing.  Hysterical liberal and radical feminist blogger Amanda Marcotte argues that very case:

Prior to this scandal, the media and political operatives had to at least pretend that a politician's sex life had some bearing on the public interest before they picked up the pitchforks. Being an adulterer wasn't, in and of itself, a matter of public interest. There had to be a hook. If you were a social conservative who advocated for using the government to control the sexual behavior of consenting adults, for instance, then you were held to your own standard and your adulteries were considered public business. . . .

But with this Weiner scandal, there's not even the veneer of an excuse in play. Weiner has an outstanding record supporting sexual rights of others, with 100% ratings from NARAL and Planned Parenthood,and has a strong record of support for gay rights.

...The entire rationale for the scandal is that Weiner isn’t living in accordance with strict social mores regarding monogamy, and that’s it. Even the whining about how he lied when initially confronted is hollow. In the past, lying when someone asks nosy questions that are none of their business was considered a socially acceptable white lie.

To Marcotte, sending naked pictures of oneself to barely legal college girls and Vegas blackjack dealers doesn't dent his appeal. Nor does lying about it, repeatedly and vehemently. Why? Because apparently she doesn't accept contemporary mores as a valid guideline for behavior.

Which is problem #1. Most Americans view Weiner's behavior as abhorrent. If the Left views it as acceptable and defensible, how can they expect to receive anything save the pervert vote (and yes, the unions and Jews) in any upcoming election?

And what about the feminist aspect? Debbie Wasserman Schultz claims the Republican party is the anti-women standard-bearer (but who really is the party of rape?); can she continue that lie with a straight face while defending Weiner's wanking off with young girls while his wife is with child?

Ah, yes, that.  Does Wasserman and Marcotte's disdain of American culture go so deep that they deny the dishonor Weiner has committed while is wife is in a delicate state?  Does Weinerism triumph over feminism?  Or are they both secretly praying that a convenient abortion by Huma Abedin will help make things right?  A worthy sacrifice, in their eyes, to the greater good of the Democratic party...

And what of Weiner's ex-girlfriend, columnist Kristen Parker, who took his lies as truth and publicly defended him, thus publicly humiliating herself?  She points out what Marcotte refuses to see:

What has emerged is a picture of a predator trolling the Internet for women—some half his age—with which to engage in cybersex. We know only about the women who were responsive to his overtures. The odds are very high that he struck out with many, and other women were victim to his unsolicited sex talk. Women should be able to “friend” a married—or unmarried—congressman on Facebook or follow him on Twitter without fear of being the recipient of lewd talk or behavior. Just because a woman “likes” your video on Facebook doesn’t mean you can send her a picture of your penis.

Marcotte, if she really held the values she espouses - feminism and anti-male-ism (she previously declared that people who defended the wrongly accused Duke students were "rape-loving scum"), would reject Weiner, for all the hurt he has done to his wife, his female friends, and to God knows how many other honestly innocent girls out there.

That she - and much of the Left - still defends him reveals two things. The American Left is completely valueless and immoral, with no principle too sacred to sacrifice to their one overwhelming, overpowering, uncontrollable desire:

The desire for power.

Huma Abedin Loves Hillary Clinton. But Just How Much?

Well, it's obvious that Huma loves Hillary.  She's been with her since the harridan's failed attempt to overtake The One in the quest for the 2008 Democratic nomination.

But what is the relationship between the powerful Hillary Clinton, and Huma Abedin, who has been described as Hillary's beautiful, enigmatic "body person"?  And what does it have to do with Huma's silence about her husband's (the revolting Anthony Weiner) habit of sending lewd photos of himself to barely-legal coeds and blackjack dealers?

Theory #1:  Huma Abedin is a Saudi agent and needs to remain as "enigmatic" as possible.

Theory #2: Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton are secret lovers

Lukeford links to this piece from a few years back:

 We're still a bit incredulous on this one, but a top level U.S. Department of Justice official is telling Big Head DC that Michael Musto's rumor about Hillary Clinton fooling around with one of her top female aides Huma Abedin is based in reality!

"I am close enough to Hillary and Huma to tell you that this ‘rumor' is true," the official says. "It is well known inside her campaign that Hillary and Huma are an item.

"If you call Hillary's residence in DC first thing in the morning, Huma answers the phone," the official continues. "Same thing late at night and on the road. It's a closely guarded secret that Hillary's inner circle guards at all costs."

And links to this piece from NoHillary:

It is common knowledge that Hillary is bi-sexual. According to Bill's long-time ex-girlfriend Gennifer Flowers, Hillary enjoyed performing oral sex on other women. On p.41 of Flowers' autobiography "Gennifer Flowers: Passion and Betrayal", Gennifer asked Bill if there was any truth to the rumor that Hillary was having an affair with another woman. Bill laughed and said (referring to Hillary): "Honey - she's probably eaten more p--y than I have."

And finally, to this piece from the New York Observer, where they seem to feel Hillary's relationship with Huma might be part of a ploy to gain white votes in the primaries as well as send a message to Muslim nations:

As I see it, this can only help her with the very demographic she is most in need of help with: white men.

White men love lesbian stories. And because we believe that butch dykes are meaner and tougher than any five sissyfied liberal democratic men put together, we imagine that a bull like Hillary who has managed to turn a hot young Muslima (Luke - PICTURES, please!) into her body slave is just the sort of woman who can drive the Muslim world insane to the point of impotence. So the bottom line is that true or not, this rumor helps her, because it helps her with regular joes like us who wear pants and grumble about Mexicans.

Hmmm.  Interesting.  Hillary, has Huma around to console her when Bill strays, to show the Muslim world who really controls women, and to titillate the white boys into voting for her.  Could Gennifer Flowers have been right all along?

And of course, it explains why Huma has kept so quiet.  She's got a lot to lose, Saudi double-agent or not. Face, for one, in the Muslim community she claims to bridge, where such a relationship would get a fatwa put on her head post-haste.  Could also explain why she put up with Weiner's shenanigans....

Important fact:  Almost all the links Lukeford has are dead, leading nowhere.  I don't know the veracity of this blog very well, although the usually reliable MoreMonmouthMusings calls it a "controversial" blog.  Maybe they're all old links, and the content has long been archived away.

Or maybe there's a more sinister reason....

The Weiner Files: Hot Love, Liberal-Style !

Radar Online has transcripts of Facebook chats between disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner and his online paramour, Las Vegas blackjack dealer Lisa Weiss.  From a purely anthropological point of view, it's interesting to see what turns liberal on.  Dated September 17th, 2010:

Lisa: i  like this cute new pics of you! when r you coming to vegas to help me beat up the right wing crazies?

Weiner: this is my "pull my finger" shot. glad you like. i'm ready for a vegas trip. truth telling

during the day. got a night plan for us?

Lisa:  haha..that was a very loaded questions! i've got all kinds of night plans for us! when are you
coming?

Weiner: dunno. make me an offer i can't refuse.

Lisa:  to get us in the mood. first we watch back to back episodes of the daily show and colbert report…then, to really spice things up we go deface all of my neighbor's sharon angle yard signs…then when we are really hot we go to the bookstore and cover all of the glen beck
books with copies of "the audacity of hope!"…i do this about once a week (you can tell i am a very exciting girl!)…or if this i not your thing, we can just get drunk and have mad, passionate sex!

Weiner:  why choose? with me behind you can't we both watch daily show?

Lisa: Hhaha! see…you are always thinking! you are so right…aahhh the perfect liberal evening!

Weiner: i hear liberal girls are very, uh, accommodating of others

Lisa: of course! it is all about taking care of the little guy!

Weiner: little?! ouch. you'd be surprised how big'


Does this little conversation shed light on the violent tendencies of the Left? Is all their hateful rhetoric, vandalism, and extremism just a desperate ploy to impress girls like Lisa Weiss, in the hopes of getting laid?

And while Lisa Weiss has done nothing improper here (although Huma Abedin, wife of Anthony Weiner, might disagree), I cringe at the reinforced stereotyping of Jewish women.  With Jewish men having to chose between the likes of Weiss and the despicable Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the next generation of Jews will either comprise the most extreme left-wing fringe of  American politics, or simply won't exist at all.

After all, given these types of choices, they'll either take a vow of celibacy, or marry out of the faith faster than Bernie Madoff can steal your money....