Monthly Archives: September 2009
Worst Dust Storm In 70 Years Blankets Australia – Fox News
Australia’s worst dust storm in 70 years blanketed the heavily populated east coast Wednesday in a cloud of red Outback grit, nearly closed the country’s largest airport and left millions of people coughing and sputtering in the streets.
No one was hurt as a result of the pall that swept in overnight, bringing an eerie orange dawn to Sydney, but ambulance services reported a spike in emergency calls from people with breathing difficulties, and police warned drivers to take it easy on the roads.
Dust clouds blowing east from Australia’s dry interior — parched even further by the worst drought on record — covered dozens of towns and cities in two states as strong winds snatched up tons of topsoil, threw it high into the sky and carried it hundreds of miles (kilometers).
International flights were diverted from Sydney to other cities — three from New Zealand were turned around altogether — and domestic schedules were thrown into chaos as operations at Sydney Airport were curtailed by unsafe visibility levels. Passenger ferries on the city’s famous harbor were also stopped for several hours for safety reasons.
Obama Science Czar Says Constitution Backs Compulsory Abortion
Obama science czar John Holdren stated in a college textbook he co-authored that in conditions of emergency, compulsory abortion would be sustainable under the U.S. Constitution, even with Supreme Court review.
WND has obtained a copy of “Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment,” published in 1977 and co-authored by Holdren with Malthusian population alarmist Paul R. Ehrlich and Ehrlich’s wife, Ann. As WND reported, the authors argued involuntary birth-control measures, including forced sterilization, may be necessary and morally acceptable under extreme conditions, such as widespread famine brought about by “climate change.”
To prevent ecological disasters, including “global warming,” Holdren argued the U.S. Constitution would permit involuntary abortions, government-imposed sterilizations and laws limiting the number of children as steps justified under the banner of “sustainable well-being.”
A worldwide scientific agenda is emerging to link global population growth with global warming, arguing that climate change is such a severe crisis that the United States must participate in a United Nations mandate to implement global birth control in order to reduce carbon emissions.
Treasury Memo: Cap And Trade Would Devastate U.S. Industrial Base, Trigger Energy Rationing – News Max
President Obama’s cap-and-trade plan could deliver several blows to the U.S. economy, according to a Treasury Department memo that one observer described as “damning.”
The country could lose 1 percent of its gross domestic product, face accelerated outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, and experience energy rationing if cap and trade became law, according to the memo, which the Competitive Enterprise Institute obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
“The memo was damning particularly… by pointing out what opponents of cap and trade have long said is the point of cap and trade, and has been proven by Europe’s experience,” said Christopher Horner, a senior fellow at the institute. “You will chase off energy intensive industries – meaning manufacturing jobs. The memo singles out steel, cement, chemical… glass, plastic, and ceramics – the same ones that have been clobbered in Europe by this.
“This is the largest outsourcing scheme in history, not just in theory, but in practice,” he said.
The memo, prepared after Obama’s Feb. 24 speech to a joint session of Congress, details Treasury’s analysis of the economic impact of cap and trade, which ties climate change to business practices.
The United States gained steel jobs from Spain because the manufacturer’s costs under the European Union’s cap-and-trade program chased the jobs to Kentucky, Horner said. However, that foreshadows how cap and trade could cost the United States jobs that move abroad, he said.
The report concludes that cap and trade could result in the loss of the U.S. market share in the global economy.
The joys of headaches
Sorry, no blogging, well, except for this post, for me tonight. My head is killing me, so, I am taking hot showers and eating Ibuprofen.
Senate Leftists And “Moderates” Reject Measure To Turn CA Farmers’ Water Back On
The Senate rejected an amendment proposed by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican, to turn water pumps back on in the struggling farming area of California’s Central Valley that were shut down earlier this year to save a three-inch fish.
At issue is an biological opinion from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service order to cut off water to the valley to protect the Delta Smelt, a small fish that resembles a large minnow.
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, who represents some of the valley, has been trying to reverse the measure but has been unable to convince Democrats to hold the floor vote neccesary to do so. For their part, many Democrats attribute the area’s farming woes to recent droughts and say giving the valley more water isn’t the right solution.
Mr Nunes’s congressional website contains a wealth of information about his efforts and is harsh towards those who have stopped him. “The radical environmental movement and their patrons in government have long blocked efforts to provide California meaningful long-term water supply certainty,” the website says. “And they can be expected to step up their propaganda campaign as we work to educate the American public.”
Fox News personality Sean Hannity took his highly-rated prime time television program there earlier this month to interview the farmers who were asking the government to turn the water back. This brought national attention to a problem that had only been covered by a few outlets, like the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Hannity called his program “The Valley that Hope Forgot” and slammed the Democrats in power who permitting the water to be turned off.
Mr. DeMint put the question to a test on Tuesday evening by proposing adding a measure to the Senate’s Interior spending bill to restrict federal funds from being used to restrict the water supply in that area.
It was voted down 61-36 Tuesday evening.
Senate Minority Leader Slams Leftists For Blatant Abuse Of Power
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday regarding free speech in the health care debate:
“I rise to call my colleagues’ attention to a disturbing development in the health care debate.
“A colleague of ours has called for an investigation into a major health care company because this company informed its customers of its concerns about health care legislation that this colleague of ours introduced.
“As a result, the federal government has now told all companies that provide Medicare Advantage to seniors to stop communicating with their clients about the effects of that legislation — even telling them what they can and cannot post on their websites. This gag order, enforced through an agency of the federal government at the request of a Senator, is wrong.
“It started when a company based in my hometown of Louisville — Humana — had the temerity, in the eyes of some of our colleagues, to explain to its customers that if Medicare Advantage is cut, as the chairman’s mark requires, it may have to reduce benefits, which, of course, is a common sense conclusion.
“Mr. President, this is America: Citizens, either as individuals or grouped together in companies, have a fundamental right to talk about legislation they favor or oppose. That is the core of the First Amendment’s protections on speech. Unfortunately, this is part of a troubling trend of efforts to dismiss the concerns raised by the American people over the past few months.
“Over the summer, we saw American citizens who raised concerns about the health care proposals before Congress dismissed as ‘un-American’ by leaders in Congress. That’s bad enough, but using the full weight of the federal government’s enforcement powers to stifle free speech should trouble all Americans — and all of us — even more.
“We cannot allow government officials to target individuals or companies because they do not like what they have to say.
“This latest effort to squelch free speech raises several serious questions:
“Is this what we have come to as a country — that an individual or company can no longer factually advocate their position on an incredibly important public policy issue?
“Shouldn’t customers have a right to know the potential impact of a Congressional action?
“Is this what we believe as a Senate — that this body should debate a trillion-dollar health care bill that affects every American while using the powerful arm of government to shut down speech?
“Is this how citizens and companies can expect to be treated if health reform passes? That any health provider that disagrees with a powerful Senator will be subject to an investigation and a gag order?
“How is this any different than what the Washington Post and New York Times have done in lobbying for a reporter shield law? Would we stand by if the Judiciary Committee asked the FBI to investigate the media for taking positions on pending legislation we don’t agree with? Of course not.
“Humana is headquartered in my hometown of Louisville, and yes, I care deeply about its 8,000 employees in Kentucky. But this gag order now applies to all Medicare Advantage providers.
“I would remind my colleagues that I have spent my career defending the First Amendment rights of people to criticize their elected officials, including me. I would make the same argument if this were a company based in San Francisco or Helena or Chicago.
“The right to free speech is at the core of our democracy. Free citizens have a First Amendment right to petition their government for a redress of grievances. This gag order on companies like Humana and those in all our states, in my view, is a clear violation of that right. It’s wrong.
“Employers that warn their customers about the effects of legislation aren’t the ones who should be getting warnings here. Senators who threaten Americans’ First Amendment rights are.”
Demand Congressional Investigation: Obama Administration/NEA Conference Call Broke Laws
By Ben Shapiro – Big Hollywood
In the aftermath of the Andrew Breitbart/James O’Keefe/Hannah Giles-broken ACORN scandal, President Obama and his allies in Congress have distanced themselves from the community organizing goliath. Congress has cut off funds, and Obama has refused to speak about the matter. End of story, right?
Wrong.
There’s only one problem: the ACORN mentality – pinpointing and mobilizing particular groups in support of a radical-left agenda – is no longer restricted to government-funded private non-profits like ACORN. The ACORN mentality now dominates the government itself. Taxpayer dollars are being used by elected officials to encourage the deification of President Obama and his agenda. And one of the chief organs of the government propaganda machine is the National Endowment for the Arts.
Let’s start from the beginning. On August 25, artist Patrick Courrielche told the story of a conference call he attended on August 10. That conference call was hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve. The goal of the conference call: “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda – health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.” The call would push “a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, taste-makers, leaders or just plain cool people to join together and work together to promote a more civically engaged America and celebrate how the arts can be used for a positive change!”
If this sounds suspicious to you, that’s because it is. Never before has the NEA explicitly urged artists to tackle particular social issues like health care. But that is how this Administration works.
The people behind the conference call, Courrielche reported, were Yosi Sargent, Director of Communications for the National Endowment for the Arts; Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement; Nell Abernathy, Director of Outreach for United We Serve; Thomas Bates, Vice President of Civic Engagement for Rock the Vote; and Michael Skolnik, Political Director for Russell Simmons. Sargent sent the actual email invitation. When The Washington Times called Sargent for confirmation, Sargent denied involvement with the email. He claimed that Skolnik had sent the invitation.
He lied.
The email came directly from Sargent – which is to say, from the NEA itself. Most astonishingly, the email contained a copy of a notice from United We Serve. That notice read: “A call has come in to our generation. A call from the top. A call from a house that is White… President Obama is asking us to come together… Now is the time for us to answer this call.” Sargent has since been “reassigned” at the NEA.
Two days after the conference call, on August 12, 21 separate arts organizations came out and endorsed Obama’s health care plan. One of the endorsing organizations, the non-profit “charitable organization” Americans for the Arts, denied any presence on the conference call.
Like Sargent, they too were lying.
Click HERE For List Of Federal Laws Broken By Obama Administration
Federal Government Threatens Insurance Company With Lawsuits For Sharing Its Opinions On Obamacare
By David Henderson – Library Of Economics And Liberty
Here are excerpts from an AP news story that just came in:
The government is investigating a major insurance company for allegedly trying to scare seniors with a mailer warning they could lose important benefits under health care legislation in Congress.
And the most chilling two paragraphs:
In a warning letter to Humana, HHS said the government is concerned that the mailer “is misleading and confusing” partly because the company’s lobbying campaign could be mistaken for an official communication about Medicare benefits.
HHS ordered the company to immediately halt any such mailings, and remove any related materials from its Web site. In the letter, the government also said it may take other action against Humana, which is based in Louisville, Ky.
One of the ways that governments try to “win” debates is to make debate by the other side illegal. This is what HHS is doing, at the behest of Senator Baucus. Asked on yesterday’s Face the Nation on CBS whether a “sort of meanness” had settled “over our political dialogue,” Obama said, “Right.” I’m not sure that the questionner, Bob Schieffer, knows the difference between meanness and anger. I have seen some of the former, but much of the latter, at the various town hall meetings. But here’s where Obama has a chance to practice what he preaches. He has the power to countermand HHS’s order. And HHS’s action would certainly qualify as mean. You can’t get much meaner than to threaten someone with guns. And that is what a warning letter from HHS is. Think about what would happen if Humana ignored the HHS letter and kept speaking out critically on health care. The next step would be to bring Humana to court. If Humana refused, the next step would be, literally, for the Feds to come in with guns.
For years, various commentators have said that Friedrich Hayek, in The Road to Serfdom, and Milton Friedman, in Capitalism and Freedom, exaggerated the dangers to freedom of speech from government control. But also for years, drug companies have feared criticizing the FDA because the FDA has so much discretionary control over their economic livelihoods. Now HHS has upped the ante.
Record Breaking Granny Had 1,400 Descendants
Rachel Krishevsky was 19 when she married her cousin Yitzik from within the ultra orthodox Haredi community in Jerusalem. The young couple then set about following the Jewish commandment to be “fruitful and multiply.” And they certainly succeeded.
By the time she passed away last Saturday in Jerusalem aged 99, Rachel had according to her family, no less than 1,400 children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and even great-great-grandchildren. She and her husband had seven boys and four daughters. Among the ultra orthodox jewish community large families are seen as a blessing. Each of their 11 children followed in Rachel’s footsteps, resulting in 150 grandchildren. In turn these descendants had 1,000 children of their own and in the last few years several hundred great-great-grandchildren started to appear.
According to one unnamed grandchild Wednesday, “grandma knew all of her descendants by name.”
60,000 Pray In Times Square. Predictably, Leftist News Media Ignores Event
You can see most anything at Times Square in Manhattan.
But 60,000 people praying? That’s an unusual sight in the heart of Broadway.
Yet, that’s just what happened there on Sunday for one hour – from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in a Christian rally called Prayer in the Square.
Event organizers from Time Square Church had expected some 15,000. But their expectations were far exceeded at the third event of its kind in the last three years.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who helped the church cut through the red tape necessary to hold such an event, addressed the crowd.
“It’s a little strange for me to be up here,” he said. “I’m a Jew. But I just celebrated Rosh Hoshana, our new year. So I guess it’s appropriate for me to wish you all a happy new year.”
Despite the magnitude of the event, no major media covered it – even in the center of the media world on a slow news day.
Former Carter Administration Hack Urges Obama To Shoot Down Israeli Jets In Defense Of Iran
The national security adviser during the administration of President Jimmy Carter says the United States should shoot down Israeli jets if that nation chooses to take military action against a nuclear project in Iran.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, in an interview with the Daily Beast website, declared, “We are not exactly impotent little babies.”
Israel long has been thought to be considering a military strike against operations in Iran that could result in a nuclear weapon for the regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Israel has stated that it is unwilling to have its future threatened by a leader who believes it should be wiped off the map, as Ahmadinejad has stated, with access to nuclear weapons.
But such an Israeli attack on Iran probably would have to fly over coalition airspace in Iraq.
“Are we just going to sit there and watch?” Brzezinski demanded.
He said the U.S. has to be “serious” about denying Israel the right to attack.
“That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not,” he said.
Energy Secretary Insults All Americans With Idiotic Global Warming Rhetoric
When it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees Americans as unruly teenagers and the Administration as the parent that will have to teach them a few lessons.
Speaking on the sidelines of a smart grid conference in Washington, Dr. Chu said he didn’t think average folks had the know-how or will to to change their behavior enough to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
“The American public… just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is.” (In that case, the Energy Department has a few renegade teens of its own.)
The administration aims to teach them – literally. The Environmental Protection Agency is focusing on real children. Partnering with the Parent Teacher Organization, the agency earlier this month launched a cross-country tour of 6,000 schools to teach students about climate change and energy efficiency.
“We’re showing people across the country how energy efficiency can be part of what they do every day,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “Confronting climate change, saving money on our utility bills, and reducing our use of heavily-polluting energy can be as easy as making a few small changes.”
Still, Secretary Chu said he didn’t think that the public would throw the same political temper tantrum over climate legislation as has happened with the healthcare debate.
Yet more Leftist thuggery
Ah, Leftist inclusion intimidation!
Glenn Reynolds links this morning to an article that hits close to home, an apparent campaign by radical campus leftists at the University of Carolina-Chapel Hill to destroy a campus group via threats of violence:
Is a major state university going to let radical groups silence a legitimate college organization and drive it off campus through a campaign of violence and intimidation?
Stand up and fight! Do not be intimidated by these thugs!
It has come to this!
Race-based punishment? Sadly, yes!
Welcome to race-based discipline in America’s schools. I do believe that we have come completely full circle.
The board is calling for a two-tiered form of student discipline. One for Black and Hispanic students; one for everyone else.
With the goal of creating a “restorative school culture and climate” that conveys a “sense of belonging to all students,” the board is insisting that its schools reduce its suspensions and/or expulsions of minority students to the point that the data reflect “no ethnic/racial disparities.”
From the section of the 52-page plan titled “Restorative School Culture and Climate,” subhead, “Discipline”:
“School data that show disparities in suspension/expulsion rates will be examined in detail for root causes. Special attention will be dedicated to data regarding African-American and Hispanic students.”
The board approved creating an “Equity Team” that will oversee the plan to ensure “a commitment to social justice for all students.”
The happy-face edu-speak notwithstanding, what the Tucson Unified School District board of governors has approved this summer is a race-based system of discipline.
Offenses by students will be judged, and penalties meted out, depending on the student’s hue.
Certainly, from the point of view of a public-school administrator, such a policy is beyond insane.
TUSD principals and disciplinarians (assuming such creatures still exist) are being asked to set two standards of behavior for their students.
The slippery slope just got baby oil pured all over it!
What is Joe Biden doing in Carol’s Closet?
Apparently, he is saying something smart for once!
I am always amazed when Vice Pres. Joe Biden shows a bit of awareness. From Political Punch: Biden on 2010: If GOP Succeeds, It’s ‘The End of the Road for What Barack and I Are Trying to Do’ Tell me, is that an admission on the part of the VP he he realizes that the country may not be buying the administration’s agenda?
Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House
seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean
doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.
“If they take them back, this the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to
do,” the vice president said at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)
today in Greenville, Delaware.
Yes, Joe, yes! 2010 will be a GREAT YEAR for liberty!
Obama looking to slash US nukes?
President Appeasement is at it again! There is no peace through weakness, never has been, never will be. It is perhaps the most basic and troubling aspect of Liberal ideology. It is madness to asume that by disarming the good guys, be it through gun control, or nuclear disarmemant, you can ensure peace.
The bad guys, will STILL be bad guys. They will not be persuaded to throw down their weapons. They will merely take advantage of superior strength!
Barack Obama has demanded the Pentagon conduct a radical review of US nuclear weapons doctrine to prepare the way for deep cuts in the country’s arsenal, the Guardian can reveal.Obama has rejected the Pentagon’s first draft of the “nuclear posture review” as being too timid, and has called for a range of more far-reaching options consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether, according to European officials.Those options include:
• Reconfiguring the US nuclear force to allow for an arsenal measured in hundreds rather than thousands of deployed strategic warheads.
• Redrafting nuclear doctrine to narrow the range of conditions under which the US would use nuclear weapons.
• Exploring ways of guaranteeing the future reliability of nuclear weapons without testing or producing a new generation of warheads.
Gatordoug
darcprynce
Dave C
