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Heavy-Handed Politics

"€œGod willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world
without the United States and Zionism."€ -- Iran President Ahmadi-Nejad

Friday, December 21, 2007

No wonder he's Time magazine's "person of the year"

Charades translation: I'm making money 'hand over fist.'

Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune
The Guardian

Moscow- "An unprecedented battle is taking place inside the Kremlin in advance of Vladimir Putin's departure from office, the Guardian has learned, with claims that the president presides over a secret multibillion-dollar fortune." More.

Not only has he brought 'stability' to Russia in the opinion of Time magazine, but he has amassed quite a fortune while doing it.


He may have learned the art of wealth accumulation from fellow commie Fidel Castro. Although it would appear that Putin is a quick learner, because Fidel's riches pale in comparison to what Putin is speculated to have been able to garner.

(By the way, what happens to Fidel's booty when he assumes room temperature?)

Having learned all he could from Castro, it's time to learn how to parlay all his fortune into a much bigger sum. And, who better to seek advice from than the Saudis'.


If Putin really has been able to stuff $40 billion in his mattress, that would put him in 4th place on the world's wealthiest person list as tabulated by Forbes from their February 2007 rankings.

The next commie that we can expect to make the wealthiest list in the next few years is Castro's "bud," Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, now that he has begun to nationalize all the important industries there.
Here, Chavez is thanking Putin for sharing wealth enhancement tips.


A disinterested Putin pretending to take financial advice from President Bush. What Putin is really thinking is that President is a pauper. "I have more dough than you have enemies, Mr. Bush."

Rice Rejects Huckabee Criticism

WASHINGTON -- In a brief foray into politics, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday denounced comments by a leading Republican presidential candidate that the Bush administration's foreign policy is arrogant and unilateral.

"The idea that somehow this is a go-it-alone policy is just simply ludicrous," she said at a State Department news conference. "One would only have to be not observing the facts, let me say that, to say that this is now a go-it-alone foreign policy."

Her remarks came in response to a question about criticism from former .....

Read on.

It's that time of year again; so here goes:

To All My Liberal Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To My Conservative Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

7 Medical Myths Even Doctors Believe

Popular culture is loaded with myths and half-truths. Most are harmless. But when doctors start believing medical myths, perhaps it's time to worry.

Read more at Yahoo News.

Has the U.S. Navy Become the Forgotten Service?

Much more thought must be given to the future size, shape, and equiping of the U.S. Armed Forces. The Congress and the public are so preoccupied with getting out of Iraq that a healthy debate on the structure and cost of the nest-generation forces is found only fleetingly in professional publications. The Navy, in particular, is getting short shrift -- although it is the very foundation of America's ability to project power and defend herself in an increasingly dangerous world. Read more...

Third Strategic Economic Dialogue with China a Dangerous Failure

The series of Strategic Economic Dialogues that the United States is conducting with China is designed by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to dissipate efforts here at home to take strong action against Beijing's mercantilist practices -- rather than to change those practices. Paulson is a man of limited vision (limited to Wall Street and the financial services sector), whose concerns do not encompass the survival of domestic American manufacturing or the geopolitical threat to the United States posed by a rising China. Read more....

"The crowd of fools who know nothing is infinite."

-- Galileo

Year of Global Cooling

Al Gore says global warming is a planetary emergency. It is difficult to see how this can be so when record low temperatures are being set all over the world. In 2007, hundreds of people died, not from global warming, but from cold weather hazards.

Since the mid-19th century, the mean global temperature has increased by 0.7 degrees Celsius. This slight warming is not unusual, and lies well within the range of natural variation. Carbon dioxide continues to build in the atmosphere, but the mean planetary temperature hasn't increased significantly for nearly nine years. Antarctica is getting colder. Neither the intensity nor the frequency of hurricanes has increased. The 2007 season was the third-quietest since 1966. In 2006 not a single hurricane made landfall in the U.S.

South America this year experienced one of its coldest winters in decades. In Buenos Aires, snow fell for the first time since the year 1918. Dozens of homeless people died from exposure. In Peru, 200 people died from the cold and thousands more became infected with respiratory diseases. Crops failed, livestock perished, and the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency.

Unexpected bitter cold swept the entire Southern Hemisphere in 2007. Johannesburg, South Africa, had the first significant snowfall in 26 years. Australia experienced the coldest June ever. In northeastern Australia, the city of Townsville underwent the longest period of continuously cold weather since 1941. In New Zealand, the weather turned so cold that vineyards were endangered.

Last January, $1.42 billion worth of California produce was lost to a devastating five-day freeze. Thousands of agricultural employees were thrown out of work. At the supermarket, citrus prices soared. In the wake of the freeze, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked President Bush to issue a disaster declaration for affected counties. A few months earlier, Mr. Schwarzenegger had enthusiastically signed the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a law designed to cool the climate. California Sen. Barbara Boxer continues to push for similar legislation in the U.S. Senate.

In April, a killing freeze destroyed 95 percent of South Carolina's peach crop, and 90 percent of North Carolina's apple harvest. At Charlotte, N.C., a record low temperature of 21 degrees Fahrenheit on April 8 was the coldest ever recorded for April, breaking a record set in 1923. On June 8, Denver recorded a new low of 31 degrees Fahrenheit. Denver's temperature records extend back to 1872.

Recent weeks have seen the return of unusually cold conditions to the Northern Hemisphere. On Dec. 7, St. Cloud, Minn., set a new record low of minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit. On the same date, record low temperatures were also recorded in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Extreme cold weather is occurring worldwide. On Dec. 4, in Seoul, Korea, the temperature was a record minus 5 degrees Celsius. Nov. 24, in Meacham, Ore., the minimum temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit colder than the previous record low set in 1952. The Canadian government warns that this winter is likely to be the coldest in 15 years.

Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri are just emerging from a destructive ice storm that left at least 36 people dead and a million without electric power. People worldwide are being reminded of what used to be common sense: Cold temperatures are inimical to human welfare and warm weather is beneficial. Left in the dark and cold, Oklahomans rushed out to buy electric generators powered by gasoline, not solar cells. No one seemed particularly concerned about the welfare of polar bears, penguins or walruses. Fossil fuels don't seem so awful when you're in the cold and dark.

If you think any of the preceding facts can falsify global warming, you're hopelessly naive. Nothing creates cognitive dissonance in the mind of a true believer. In 2005, a Canadian Greenpeace representative explained "global warming can mean colder, it can mean drier, it can mean wetter." In other words, all weather variations are evidence for global warming. I can't make this stuff up.

Global warming has long since passed from scientific hypothesis to the realm of pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo.

By David Deming.

Inconvenient truths
By David Deming

Huckabee, Romney Battle Looms

By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann

The Jan. 15 Michigan primary is now looking like the big "elimination round" in the '08 GOP contest — the contest that could bring us down to the final two contenders.

In the semi-finals, to be held in Iowa and New Hampshire, Mitt Romney will face Mike Huckabee to see who's tops among the party's right, while Rudy Giuliani battles John McCain for the more moderate slot.

Huckabee and Romney are likely headed for a split decision, with the former winning Iowa (where he now leads 34 percent to 23 percent) and the later winning New Hampshire (where he now leads, 32-11). Read on.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Los Angeles Times:
More flee California than move in

Global Warming Doesn't Register Among Iowa GOP
A new poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus voters indicates that climate change is not a concern...

Illegal Immigration Trumps War for Iowa Republicans
“Immigration/illegal immigration” is the top issue among likely Iowa Republican caucus voters, according to a new Washington Post/ABC poll. Almost twice as many Republican voters picked immigration as their single-most-important issue, compared with those who picked “terrorism/national security,” “Iraq/the war in Iraq,” and “abortion.”

Scaling Back Border Fence ‘Unacceptable,’ Brownback Says
Congress passed a $555 billion omnibus spending bill Monday that would make the planned two-tier border fence only a single tier barricade. Cybercast News Service went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to ask senators if they supported the single-tier fence. Many seemed unaware of the change...

Amanda Carpenter: Bush Bans Light Bulbs, Gas Guzzling Cars

President Bush signed an energy bill on Wednesday that bans traditional incandescent light bulbs and requires automakers to produce more energy-efficient vehicles.

Larry Elder: How To Make an Un-Level Playing Field More Un-Level

Move over, Martin Luther King Jr., and your desire for a colorblind society. The University of California system prefers a color-coordinated one.

Victor Davis Hanson: The Clinton Albatross

If polls are accurate, Sen. Hillary Clinton?s once-sure bid for the Democratic presidential nomination is now not so sure. Her wide lead vanished without warning in Iowa and New Hampshire ? and maybe elsewhere as well.

Mitt Romney: America's President Deserves Thanks And Respect

As Americans prepare for the holidays with their families and loved ones, we have many challenges to face but also many reasons to be thankful.

"Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own."

-- James Madison --

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Boy, Look at Me .. I'm Smart ...........

According to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, this brainiac says we should tax ‘cheap’ corn to fight obesity.

When does the push begin to tax the air we breathe?

Tax and Wane: Bali CO2 Tax Goes Unnoticed

By Investor’s Business Daily

House Energy Bill Promises Higher Prices, More Deaths, and Big Subsidies for Unproven Technologies

By The Heritage Foundation

Non- citizens are moving electoral, congressional power to border states

The framers of U.S. Constitution intended equal voting rights, and we all know the words “One man, one vote.” The 435 House seats are divided based on total number of people living in each state.

That number includes non-citizens and illegal immigrants, something most Americans don’t realize. Illegal immigration has channeled political clout to California and other border states from the Northeast and Midwest. A University of Connecticut demographics report this fall predicted that California's legal and illegal alien population will account for two of its 53 seats in Congress after the 2010 census. About 30 percent of illegal aliens in the U.S. live in California.

California’s congressional delegation increased by six members in 2002, the result of immigration. Florida, New York and Texas also gained one extra seat each because of their large non-citizen populations.

States that lost representation were Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wisconsin. Each of these states is now shy a seat in the House because of illegal immigrants residing elsewhere.

If this continues, 10 to 12 states could eventually control presidential elections, due to the Electoral College, and would literally dominate the House of Representatives. The remaining 40 states, including all of the Upper Midwest, will have little national policy influence.

Source: usbc.org

Sex offenders arrested in New York

Twenty-two illegal alien sex offenders were arrested in New York City in early December in Immigration and Customs Enforcement's continuing Operation Predator. A typical offender, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, had been convicted of the rape of his 13-year-old neighbor. He had been sentenced to 10 years probation after being convicted of rape, sexual misconduct and endangering the welfare of a minor.

ICE and the New York City Department of Probation arrested the child predators and criminal alien sex offenders in four boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. All of those arrested were on probation in New York City for prior felony or misdemeanor convictions for sex crimes including rape, sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, endangering the welfare of a child, sodomy and promoting prostitution. The youngest victim was a six-year-old girl. One of the victims was a 15-year-old boy.

The arrests also included natives of the Dominican Republic, Guyana and Jamaica in the Caribbean. They are now in detention pending removal proceedings. The initiative is a part of the ongoing Operation Predator initiative and a national priority for ICE.

Source: usbc.org

JUST A MATTER OF TIME

“This is the time of year, as Hillary Clinton once put it, when Christians celebrate ‘the birth of a homeless child’ —or, in Al Gore’s words, ‘a homeless woman gave birth to a homeless child.’ Just for the record, Jesus wasn’t ‘homeless.’ He had a perfectly nice home back in Nazareth. But he happened to be born in Bethlehem. It was census time and Joseph was obliged to schlep halfway across the country to register in the town of his birth. Which is such an absurdly bureaucratic over-regulatory cockamamie Big Government nightmare it’s surely only a matter of time before Massachusetts or California reintroduce it.”

—Mark Steyn

“The leftist argument against religious Americans’ ‘injection of religion into politics’ is merely its way of trying to keep only the secular and religious left in the political arena—and the religious right, primarily evangelical Christians, out.”

—Dennis Prager

“It’s two centuries since the passage of the First Amendment, and our presidential candidates still cannot distinguish establishment from free exercise.”

—Charles Krauthammer

“Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness.”

—Samuel Adams

ON A POSITIVE NOTE

On a positive note, I've learned that, no matter what happens, how
bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way
he/she handles four things: a rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage, and
tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that, regardless of your relationship with your
parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's
mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.

I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you.
But if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others,
your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I
usually make the right decision.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.

I've learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone.

People love that human touch -- holding hands, a warm hug, or just a
friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn!

-- AUTHOR UNKNOWN

OUT OF TIME

Time magazine has named their 'Person of the Year' for 2007. One should not be surprised if they had named 'Algore' as their "man", errr... person of the year.

However, Algore finished second ... yes second in their voting.

Their top pick for 'Person of the year is Vladimir Putin. Can someone tell me why? What has Putin done this year? What has he done so significant that he could relegate Algore to merely an also-ran?

Poor, Al. Second again. And I thought "one was the loneliest number."

Huckabee - A little cross

NewsBusters reports that Huckabee appeared today on The Today Show and did not come across real well; he was a little testy.

View video here.

The Constitution Doesn't Need an Extreme Makeover

For the second year in a row, a new book by a constitutional scholar seeks to redo our nation's founding document. Professor Larry Sabato's "A More Perfect Constitution" proposes an extreme makeover, calling on a new Constitutional Convention to make 23 specific revisions to revitalize the document and make it fairer.

But his idea of updating the Constitution is really an assault on the founders. America is not, after all, a national democracy, but a republic, with institutions such as the U.S. Senate and the Electoral College, designed to recognize the role of states. Strengthening the federal government, at the expense of state and local rule, clearly violates limits established by the founders.

The Constitution has worked pretty well for over 200 years. It hardly needs an extreme makeover by a professor.


By David Davenport

"Strangers are welcome because there is room enough for them all, and therefore the old Inhabitants are not jealous of them; the Laws protect them sufficiently so that they have no need of the Patronage of great Men; and every one will enjoy securely the Profits of his Industry. But if he does not bring a Fortune with him, he must work and be industrious to live."

-- Benjamin Franklin --

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

An outrageous story of eminent-domain abuse.
BY JONATHAN V. LAST

Why Teddy Roosevelt claimed the seas.
BY BRET STEPHENS

McCain's surge: Why he's making a primary comeback.
Opinion Journal

Russia: Kosovo and the Asymmetry of Perceptions

By George Friedman
Stratfor's
GEOPOLITICAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT

"Kosovo appears to be an archaic topic. The Yugoslavian question was a 1990s issue, while the Kosovo issue has appeared to be one of those conflicts that never quite goes away but isn't regarded very seriously by the international community. You hear about it but you don't care about it. However, Kosovo is getting very serious again." Read on.

Washington Post:
Castro Hints He May Relinquish Power

Fox News:
Iran Is Making a Greater Push Into Nicaragua

Well, that is unless some judge steps in and stops it under some made-up legal precept

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Gay marriage ban headed for statewide vote in Florida

Bring on the 'hanging chads' and butterfly ballots

Rocky Mountain News:
Electronic Voting Machines Vetoed in Colorado
Dubbed 'inaccurate and insecure'

Fox News/AP:
Border Patrol Agents Fire Tear Gas Over Border at Mexican Attackers

WHICH IS IT?

A curious pair of headlines:

Independent Voters May Lift McCain, Not Obama, in NH (Boston Globe)

In N.H., the Swing Voter Is Vanishing (Washington Post)
More Partisanship Seen Among 'Independents'

An interesting juxtaposition, no? I mean, if the swing voter / independent voter is 'vanishing', how can they 'lift' McCain? Does that mean New Hampshire is turning more Republican?

One more 'End of the World' Story

Fox News reports that for the first time wheat prices have topped $10 a bushel. But hold on a minute, it's even worse than that.

The Boston Globe is reporting that the UN is warning us that the world's food supply is dwindling.

They say the reason is because of rising grain costs, and yes, just as you might expect, because of global warming.

Not buying it.

Unintended Consequences: Course 101

With the big push now for corn based ethanol fuels for our automobiles, the surge in demand for corn has:
1. increased corn prices
2. increased other food products that contain corn
3. increased livestock feed prices, thereby increasing the cost of meat and dairy products

and now in an article from the Boston Globe they write that US corn boom threatens sea life because of fertilizer runoff which they claim is polluting the Gulf. Boy, aren't we the brainy ones?

USA Today:
Approval of Congress at new low

Washington Times:
Spending bill shrinks border fence

COMMENTARY

Saying No When Everyone Else Is Saying Yes
By Alan Caruba

I have been witness to the complete subversion of science in the service of an utterly corrupt new religion called environmentalism. In the Middle Ages the Church determined what “truth” was. Today the Green Church seeks the same power. The challenge is to say “no” when everyone else is saying “yes” to global warming…

COMMENTARY

Spying the Truth
By Ed Feulner

It’s sad but true that our intelligence community is more talented at leaking information than at identifying upcoming threats. So let’s consider the latest National Intelligence Estimate, which says Iran halted its nuclear weapons back in 2003. What price have CIA bureaucrats ever paid for their misjudgments?

Mexico City Policy Left Intact in Budget Bill
In a victory for the Bush administration, Democrats have scrapped their fight to reverse the president's ban on aid to family planning groups overseas that provide abortions. The Mexico City policy was kept intact in the 2008 foreign aid budget that is now part of the $515-billion omnibus government spending bill...

Republicans Blast ‘Misguided’ Omnibus Spending Bill
What can you say about a 3,500-page appropriations bill that stands more than a foot tall? Nothing good, according to Republicans. But Democrats are spinning the spending bill as a step in their much-talked-about “New Direction.”

Ron Paul’s Base Could Give Him Post-Primary Influence, Experts Say
After Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul raked in more than $6 million in campaign contributions on Sunday alone, experts are predicting that his influence could extend well beyond a presidential primary campaign that he is likely to lose...

Thomas Sowell:
Academic Intimidation

There is an article in the current issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education -- the trade publication of the academic world -- about professors being physically intimidated by their students.

David Limbaugh: Huck:
Huck: Playing to Our Inner Jimmy Carter

At the risk of incurring a roundhouse kick from the great Chuck Norris, I must confess that I'm even more troubled by Mike Huckabee's direction than I was last week.

Mike S. Adams:
The Fair Tax: America's Last Best Hope

Shortly after 911 one of my conservative friends said that the country was going to hell in a hand basket. He declared that the conservative movement had officially lost its way in America and that the fall of the republic was near.

Dennis Prager:
Secular Europe or Religious America?

Last week, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen wrote a column titled "Secular Europe's Merits," in which he explained why he prefers the secularism of Europe to the religiosity of America.

Monday, December 17, 2007

The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights.

--George Washington--

“Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man’s nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God.” —John Adams

Washington Times:
Iraqis Back in Charges of Basra

Washington Post:
Troop Increase Urged for Afghanistan

Russia ships nuclear fuel to Iran

Russia has delivered its first shipment of nuclear fuel to a reactor it is helping to build at Bushehr in Iran. -BBC

Court Hearing Monday in Quest for Hillary Clinton’s White House Diaries
A government watchdog group is going to federal court in Washington on Monday as part of its effort to obtain Hillary Clinton’s records from her time as first lady. The Clinton Presidential Library has so far refused to release the records...

Environmentalists Cheer as Senate Passes Energy Bill
The Senate passed the energy bill late Thursday to cheers from environmental groups, though critics argue the bill could have done more to boost energy production. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) noted that the House will take up the legislation this week...

White House Has 'Serious Concerns' About Climate Negotiations
Two weeks of tough negotiations at the U.N. climate conference in Bali ended at the weekend with an agreement that few seem genuinely happy about...

Sen. Clinton Brushes Off Latest Polls
Sen. Hillary Clinton appeared on Fox & Friends for the first time ever on Monday morning, saying she doesn’t pay a lot of attention to the polls and feels “really, really good about where my campaign is.” She brushed aside the latest poll from Iowa showing Sen. Barack Obama with a nine-point lead. “I believe that I will get the nomination and that I will be the next president,” Clinton said...

Obama Edges Ahead of Clinton in NH Poll

Bork Endorses Romney

Poll: Obama Leads Clinton 2-To-1 in Ill.

Lieberman to Endorse McCain

Sen. John McCain, trying to build momentum toward a reprise of his 2000 New Hampshire primary victory, is piling up high-profile endorsements, including one from another political maverick, Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

The Connecticut senator, an independent who was the Democrats' 2000 vice presidential nominee, was scheduled to announce his support for McCain at a town hall meeting Monday morning in Hillsborough.

A Lieberman adviser said the senator decided to back McCain despite being a Republican because he believes his colleague from Arizona "has the best chance of uniting the country in its fight against Islamic terrorism." More....

McCain Calls For a Stop to Push Polling

White House hopeful John McCain on Saturday called on Republican rival Mike Huckabee to end push polling in New Hampshire tied to his presidential campaign's supporters, but Huckabee denied any involvement.

McCain said he learned Saturday afternoon of calls made Friday on Huckabee's behalf in New Hampshire. More....

Obama Surges Past Hillary in Latest Iowa Poll

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has surged to a 9-point lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York in the race for the Iowa presidential caucuses, according to a poll released Saturday by the Davenport, Iowa, Quad City Times.

The poll shows Clinton tied for second place with former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, with Edwards rising and Clinton declining.

This is a dramatic shift from the results of last month's edition of the same poll, in which Clinton led Obama by 2 points and Edwards ran in third place. More....

Clinton Hits Back at Obama

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton fiercely attacked Monday her surging rival Barack Obama, hoping to turn around her misfiring campaign just 17 days before the first White House nominating contest.

Democrat Clinton, on an intense helicopter tour of first-voting state Iowa, blitzed six morning television talk shows, brandishing her credentials as a reformer, as her campaign tried to portray Obama as a risky 2008 choice. More....