Obama May Have to Cancel Indonesia Trip Due to Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Not just a greenhouse gas emission, but a really bug, uncontrolled one. From ABC News via memeorandum: Exclusive: Officials Worried President Obama May Have to Cancel Indonesia Trip Due to Indonesian Volcano

ABC News has learned that because of the dangerous clouds of ash spewing from an Indonesian volcano, 48 hours before Air Force One is due to touch down in the capital Jakarta White House officials are concerned President Obama may not be able to make the trip.

Some commercial flights into Jakarta have been cancelled.

Flights of government equipment and personnel to preposition in Indonesia are no longer flying during nighttime hours as a safety precaution, sources tell ABC News. That equipment and personnel are necessary for the president to be able to make his visit.

This would be the first time in memory a President could be forced to cancel a stop while he is overseas, and it remains unclear when a White House decision will come and how it will affect the remainder of his Asian trip.

President Obama has already twice cancelled announced plans to go to Indonesia where he lived as a boy. ...

Does Obama know how much greenhouse gas is spewed from a single eruption?  How about capping and trading that?

In related news: R.I.P.: Al Gore’s Chicago Climate Exchange Has Died. That's a shame...

Pic of the Day: Poland completes giant Jesus statue standing 108 feet tall

The iconic Jesus statue in Brazil’s Rio is 125 feet tall. By comparison, the one erected in Poland stands 108 feet tall, or 33 meters - 1 meter for every year of Jesus life. The statue in Poland is called "Christ the King:" Here's what the finished statue in Swiebodzinlooks like:

Some construction shots:

Even though Poland is majority Roman Catholic, they have secular progressives just like we do that don't like the statue one bit. From the AP via The Oakland Press: Giant Jesus statue completed in Poland

It has divided Poles and underlined the deep cultural divide between a deeply Catholic population and an increasingly confident secular society — with many mocking the statue project as tacky.

Nice. Just like here in the US. How long before they start equating Jesus with the flying spaghetti monster. History repeats itself:

⁶³ The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. ⁶⁴ They blindfolded him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” ⁶⁵ And they said many other insulting things to him.- Luke 22 (NIV)

Texas Considers Seceding... from Medicaid

As part of the unconstitutional ObamaCare boondoggle, Medicaid is being forcefully expanded leaving the states to hold the bag as far as paying for it. That additional cost wasn't factored into the economics of the bill (along with the doctor fix, double counting, 6 years of benefits for 10 years of taxes, and other gimmicks) letting Democrats lie through their teeth that it will actually reduce the deficit. Michigan is already in perpetual deficit every year and this will make things worse. But Texas has come out with a novel idea that will negate the ill effect of that part of ObamaCare - drop out of the program entirely. From the New York Times via memeorandum: Texas Considers Medicaid Withdrawal

Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday’s statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program.

And what's a NYT piece without painting conservatives as not just to the right of the political divide, but FAR right (never does the term 'far-left' appear in the liberal rag mag):

Far-right conservatives are offering that possibility in impassioned news conferences. Moderate Republicans are studying it behind closed doors. And the party’s advisers on health care policy say it is being discussed more seriously than ever, though they admit it may be as much a huge in-your-face to Washington as anything else.

Hey - Washington deserves it!

“With Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a situation where we cannot reduce benefits or change eligibility” to cut costs, said State Representative Warren Chisum, Republican of Pampa, the veteran conservative lawmaker who recently entered the race for speaker of the House. “This system is bankrupting our state,” he said. “We need to get out of it. And with the budget shortfall we’re anticipating, we may have to act this year.”

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization, estimates Texas could save $60 billion from 2013 to 2019 by opting out of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, dropping coverage for acute care but continuing to finance long-term care services. ...

...“I want to know whether our current Medicaid enrollees, and there certainly could be millions more by 2014, could be served more cost efficiently and see better outcomes in a state run program” ...

Don't mess with Texas! Anyone in the Michigan legislature want to get either the House or Senate fiscal agency to see what such a move could save for Michigan if we ran our own system?

Video: Fed Contractor Caught On Tape Encouraging Employees to Vote Murkowski To Bring The Pork

So how many of these guys are part of the sign-in cabal? Via BreitbartTV:

More importantly, how many spelled 'Murkowski' correctly?

Macomb County Letting Murderers Out Early To Protect Union Pensions

Oakland County which neighbors Macomb County, just adopted the country's first triennial budget. There are no pending layoffs. No tax increases. No dinosaur pensions that swallow up huge swaths of taxpayer money. Macomb County? They have pending layoffs, are in deficit already after passing the first property tax hike in more than 2 generations, and feed an antiquated pension system where employees can retire at age 50 with full pension benefits. The chickens, as Jeremiah Wright would say, have come home to roost. Why the vast difference between the counties? Oakland has been run by Republicans, while Macomb is basically under a Democrat hegemonic domination. I've written about this dichotomy many times on this blog, but this snippet kind of sums things up:

"Macomb County Commissioners are laying off county employees and preparing to raise citizens’ property taxes to close a $20 million budget deficit. Meanwhile, Oakland County has a balanced budget, no pending layoffs, and no tax hike planned. Why the difference? Leadership." Why such disparity between two neighboring counties? Here's the key phrase from the article: "For more than a decade, Oakland County leaders have stood up to government employee unions..."

The first rule in a Democrat hegemony is to threaten public safety to either 1) raise taxes, or 2) continue to fund overgenerous benefits to unions and thus avoid making necessary cuts. This is what I termed the "human shield" strategy, and Macomb County has trotted it out many times. How many more examples does the electorate need that Democrats simply have priorities backwards? The first role of government is the protection of its citizens. First role! Numero Uno. The prime directive. Yet, when faced with budget crises of their own doing, the Democrat modus operindi is to cut public safety, but also to wrap golden union benefits in an impenetrable shield of bureaucratic red tape. Just recently, Granholm, when faced with a budget mess of her own doing, cut state troopers, closed prisons, and let felons out early. How's that for priorities! So more of the same today via The Detroit News: Early release of Macomb Co. violent offenders increasing

Tanika Lynch was 16 when she shot Jocelyn Payne in the head, stabbed her and slit her throat over an alleged debt of $600.

In 1984, Michelle Elias took aim at her female lover's husband, shooting him in the chest as he walked up the sidewalk to his home and then in the face at point-blank range in front of his wife and 4-year-old daughter.

...This year, the state Parole Board agreed to release them both, despite their history of misconduct in prison.

...More than half of the felons imprisoned in 2009 were parole and probation violators who were released into the community and committed new crimes, the figures show.

The release of Michigan prisoners convicted in violent crimes has increased in recent years as the state looks to shrink its corrections budget. ...

No mention in the entire article of what is running up the corrections budget in the first place - unsustainable union healthcare and pension benefits. Funny that their solution is to let murderers out of prison rather than reform benefits, no?

The Dems have been running Macomb County into the ground with union giveaways that would make any west-coast liberal smile ear-to-ear. In fact, as I have reported many times before in this blog, the county unions still receive pension benefits rather than defined contributions that most other counties in Michigan have switched over to some time ago. Worse yet, county employees can still retire at age 50 or earlier with full pension and health care benefits, thus putting taxpayers on the hook for employees who don't serve the taxpayer any longer and enjoy a longer retirement cost in years than the time these workers spent in the employment of the county. The unions own the Democrats on the board, as some have received a full third of their campaign contributions from said unions. (Macomb Daily: Are pro-labor commissioners and unions in cahoots?)

Last year, the Democrats that dominate the board voted overwhelmingly to raise the property tax millage rate by 9%, an increase that was the first in 2 generations, to fill the budget gap that they themselves have created with bad decision making (Macomb County Goes Ahead And Raises Property Tax Millage 9%, Already In A Deficit For Next Year). Yet, as I predicted, not only was the budget hole not filled, but it is now looking even worse for this year. Thus, they kicked the can down the road and left the Macomb taxpayer on the hook. It is now time to pay the piper. Of course, the MSM is on the side of the liberals. The Detroit Free Press, long a crusader for higher taxes under any and all cirmcumstances, had this to say about Macomb's situation in general, and the public safety portion of the budget in particular: No place for sacred cows in Macomb's budget showdown. Of course, the freep is wrong. There are sacred cows - public employee unions. And just as the freep suggested, the Democrats that overwhelm the County Board of Commissioners threw public safety under the bus and didn't touch union bennies (Liberal priorities: Macomb County erases deficit with public safety cuts while union bennies remain untouched).

And what do you think they will go after next year to balance another budget hole? And the year after that? How about going after union bennies for once? Like no retirement healthcare for one. That's what medicare is for. Not at age 50 of course, but at real retirement age in your 60s. Then, pensions need to be ditched ASAP. No public employee should be sucking off the taxpayer teet after they retire. Thus, defined contributions will suffice. But instead of those 2 things, the liberals cut public safety necessitating prisoner release upon the population. The best solution for Macomb at this point is just one - STOP VOTING DEMOCRATS INTO OFFICE!

Previously:
After raising taxes, Macomb county stares at a $25 million budget hole this year, $42 million next. Will Democrats finally stop protecting unsustainable union benefits?
Liberal priorities: Macomb County erases deficit with public safety cuts while union bennies remain untouched
Macomb County trying to balance the budget by letting inmates out early, while protecting union benefits, pensions
A tale of two counties: Oakland County adopts first triennial budget in U.S., neighboring Macomb County raised taxes, still in a hole
Macomb Democrats Just Raised Property Taxes, Now In A Budget Hole. Time To Keep Union Benefits But Release Prisoners!
Free Press On Macomb County Budget Woes: Cut Spending, But Then Raise Taxes!
Shock - $10 million deficit in Macomb County balloons to $41 million overnight! Democrats employ human shields, threaten public safety!
Non-Surprise: Macomb County deficit looms despite tax hike
Detroit News: Macomb commissioners tackle budget shortfall at ***TAXPAYERS' EXPENSE***
Macomb County Goes Ahead And Raises Property Tax Millage 9%, Already In A Deficit For Next Year
Macomb County Proposed Tax Increase Meeting And Protest Update
Macomb Daily Gives Two Thumbs Up To Tax Increase
Protest In Macomb County Thursday Against Property Tax Hike
Metro Detroit Property Values Fall; Human Shields Deployed
Macomb County Presses Ahead with Tax Increase
Macomb Daily Gives Thumbs Up to Tax Increase
The Taxhikers Cometh in Macomb County
Playing Identity Politics in Macomb County
Macomb Daily: Detroit's downfall could drag Macomb down
Neighborhood Stabilization Program coming to Macomb County
Macomb County's *TEMPORARY* Union Concessions!!!
DetNews: Macomb County may raise taxes
Macomb Daily: Are pro-labor commissioners and unions in cahoots?
Shenanigans in Macomb UAW Union Vote?
Macomb County: Thumbs up to unions, thumbs down to home owners
Macomb County Spends More on Bilingual Ed than English as a 2nd Language!
Macomb County cuts, and human shields

Video: a report on how bad the bloodbath was for Democrats in Michigan

The difference between 2008 and 2010 couldn't be more stark (the fun really picks up at the 1:30 mark):

THIS is what a mandate looks like

And this is what happened to Democrats:

Video: MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Saves Democrat Party Boss From Embarrassing ‘Buying Votes’ Gaffe

With sycophantic suck-up establishment media types like these, why do Democrats have advisers at all? Note that after this guy lets the cat out of the bag, Mitchell ends the segment by bailing him out, almost as if someone gave her a note while she was off-screen:

Via Big Journalism. This is remarkably similar to George Stephanopolis bailing out Obama from his Muclim faith gaffe:

Larry O'Connor ends his piece with this:

Does anybody believe Ms. Mitchell or any of her colleagues at MSNBC would have force-fed a clarification like this from a Republican Party official who just announced that they plan on getting out the vote with lots of “walking around money”?

Another banner day for journalism at the official network of the Democratic Party.  Lean forward, indeed.

Hey - we didn't call it the Clinton News Network back in the 90s for nothing!

Video: Bill Whittle on why we need the 2nd amendment

Part 5 of a great series:

Previously:
Video: What makes some laws worth obeying, while others demand to be overturned? The difference between Natural Law and Political Law
Video: How wealth is created from thin air

MI SoS loser Jocelyn Benson (D-Soros): I'm a Democrat because the party defended slavery or something

A parting gift in the form of red meat to the GOP from the George Soros puppet Jocelyn Benson who thankfully lost out to Ruth Johnson. In what is likely an unintentional admission of the racism of the Democrat Party, Jocelyn Benson revealed to the whole world why she is a Democrat. Via Dan Calabrese at The Michigan View: Will Jocelyn Benson be the new face of Michigan Democrats? The relevant snippet:

When you talk to her about the issues that matter to her, she keeps coming back to voting rights and election practices - which is not to say she's one-dimensional, but she doesn't give you the standard Democratic rhetoric and class warfare stuff, although she does talk about things like limiting the influence of corporations in elections.

Democrat justice

"I'm a Democrat because we're the part of the Voting Rights Act," Benson said. "We're the party that made courageous decisions to protect democracy for everyone, and this is still true today."

Apparently, Mrs. Benson isn't a student of history. Democrats for their 'part' FILIBUSTERED THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT! Democrats instituted Jim Crow laws throughout the South that ribbed the black community of their vote. Before they were the slave owners and started the Civil War to protect slavery. Indeed, I have said many, many times in this blog that black slave ancestors are turning over in their graves at about 10 RPM right now knowing that the Democrat Party that foisted and fought for enslaving black people in the 19th century, did the same thing in the 20th and into the 21st centuries - shackling to black population to hopelessness and dependency on the Democrat Party. Back then, it was through physical force. Today, it is through political force as any black person not towing the liberal line is branded an Uncle Tom or a porch money of the white man. Democrats are the ones that run failed minority urban schools, failed minority urban cities (read: Detroit), have replaced the father with the government via welfare, etc. The list is endless, but there is only one result - the lifelong dependency of the black community on the Democrat apparatus via social programs specifically designed to shackle them. The Democrats have institutionalized black people to where they cannot be free. Democrat social programs are methods of control. The victim mentality was installed in black communities by Democrats. Affirmative action separates people by their race. Us against them. Black versus white. The party of identity politics divides people and judges them by the color of their skin, not by the content of their character. Democrats have kept blacks down in the plantations of failed urban environments with failed public schools that only teach hopelessness, doomed to continue voting for Democrats to get handouts that they have been convinced they are entitled to. And Democrats continue to to reap many votes from people's misery that they themselves have created. It's time that the black community wakes up and starts to vote for freedom, including their own, and their inalienable right to self determination that those centuries ago fought for.

And guess who started the KKK? Democrats:

Benson might want to rethink why she is a Democrat after all. I'm surprised that Dan Calabrese didn't catch that one aspect of his interview with Benson. It's a huge gaffe. Calibrese seemed more interested in painting the carpetbagger as the future of eth Democrat Party in Michigan. Yo Dan - she's a Soros creation! I say good riddance to her!

UPDATE: The Democrats installed welfare in the 1960s to replace dad with Big Government. How's that going? Predictably: Blacks struggle with 72 percent unwed mothers rate. Be proud Benson. Be very proud.

Video: Another Democrat Congressman caught on tape assaulting videographer, but too late to make a difference in midterms

The video was actually released the day before the election, far too late to make a difference. From LaCross Watchdog via memeorandum: Congressman Ron Kind Shoves LaCrosseWatchDog Blogger For Asking About ObamaCare

Gateway Pundit, Big Journalism and Liberty Pundits Blog all picked up on the thug tactics of Kind, but again too late to make a difference. Maybe next time. Not too late was the same thing by Bob Etheridge which did make the difference: Elitist thug Bob Etheridge dumped in NC

And how about Martha Coakley’s muscle knocking a Weekly Standard reporter to the ground:

Timing is everything I guess.

Detroit area health insurance to jump 8.9% in 2011 due to ObamaCare

Since well before ObamaCare passed either chamber, many saw the illogic in the foundational arguments behind it. You cannot add some 30 million to the pool and claim to reduce cost. You cannot define children as being up to 26 years old, keep them on mom and dads insurance policy, and reduce cost. You cannot force insurance companies to cover people with preexisting conditions and reduce cost. And the list goes on and on. Obama, Pelosi, Reid and the minions told us it would indeed save cost. In fact, Obama chastised Republicans on national TV for saying that costs would rise as a result:

Just months after ObamaCare was rammed through bypassing normal procedure via reconciliation. insurance rates are set to dramatically increase, years before full implementation of the boondoggle. From the Detroit News: Workers: Brace for health care cost hikes in 2011

Workers should pay close attention to the fine print in their health insurance options this fall as open enrollment begins for many employer-sponsored plans.

Experts warn that workers should not be surprised to see higher deductibles, higher co-insurance and higher co-pays in the new year, with companies grappling with rising insurance costs and the impact of federal health care reform.

"Employers are asking for higher employee contributions and out-of-pocket share for health care benefits, requiring the employee to pay more than they have in the past," said Wendy Nice Barnes, vice president of human resources for eHealthInsurance Services Inc., a California-based firm that markets and sells health insurance in the United States.

In the Detroit area, the average cost of health insurance per employee is expected to jump 8.9 percent to $9,751 in 2011; that figure includes employer and employee costs, according to Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm.

...Higher claim costs, an aging population and coverage changes due to health care reform are driving the increases, the company and other experts say.

Remember when Nancy Pelosi - simultaneous holder of the dual titles of Speaker of the House (for 2 more months and no more) as well as Dimmest Bulb of the House  - said that "we need to pass the bill so you can find out what's in it"?

It continues to be all bad. The faster this monstrosity is repealed, the better. It is a net negative. We continue to keep finding out about ObamaCare and it's all bad. Insurance premiums are increasing even faster than they would have if ObamaCare hadn't passed (Connecticut is seeing a 47% increase this year, Boeing is paring back healthcare benefits for its employees, while even the White House admits that seniors will see higher costs and less benefits. Hospitals in Indiana are laying off staff citing ObamaCare. Also, there was this: CNN: Cost of your health plan to rise 14%, the opposite of what Obama promised in runup to ObamaCare), and Obama's minions are threatening insurance companies with bankruptcy for even hinting that ObamaCare is the cause (it is). That's in spite of the fact that Democrats have abandoned the claim that ObamaCare will reduce cost and deficit.  The Obama regime via the FDA is deep-sixing miracle cancer drugs that extend life because they cost too much (ObamaCare begins early: FDA may pull Avastin approval OVER COST CONCERNS). Insurance companies are being forced to cut coverage plans, the law is creating a huge doctor shortage and to boot even the CBO admits that it discourages work. Every time socialized medicine has been tried, it's been a proven failure. ObamaCare is no different except that it can still be repealed before it's too late.

Video: Obama is thinking of you on his India trip loaded with pomp paid for by the US taxpayer

Not since the days of the Pharaohs or the more ludicrous Roman Emperors has a head of state traveled in such pomp and expensive grandeur. - UK Telegraph

It's loaded with pomp. They have literally spared no expense. There is question on whether it truly costs $200 million per day, but they really are building Obama a kilometer-long bomb-proof air-conditioned tunnel so he can go check out the Ghandi museum without being touched by the little people. And they are culling all coconuts in Mumbai so that they don't hit the anointed one on his big head. And the trip does have the carbon footprint of Memphis, TN. And the moonbat messiah will use a teleprompter - pathetically - in the Indian parliament for the first time in its history. No matter the true costs of the trip, something that is apparently classified above top secret, it's more than what the US can afford (we're broke you know). It's good to be the king:

HT: moonbattery

Terrorist enabling CAIR sues Oklahoma over ban on Sharia Law being used by judges

CAIR is a terrorist enabling organization. As Red State pointed out back in March: FBI Reaffirms CAIR’s Terrorist Ties. Said organization was tagged as an unindicted co-conspirator in raising money to fund Hamas terrorism. The day after the November 2nd election, I posted this: Oklahoma Voters Ban Judges From Using Islamic Law, International Law. The margin of passage was 70-30. CAIR apparently wants judges to consider Sharia Law in direct contravention of the US Constitution. From  TPMMuckraker via memeorandum: CAIR Member Sues Oklahoma Over Sharia Ban

Days after Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to prohibit its courts from considering Sharia or international law, CAIR's Oklahoma director filed a lawsuit asking for an injunction against the law.

...In the suit, he alleges the law both violates the First Amendment and harms his family's ability to carry out his will after he dies. 

WHAT?!?

The proposition, which will go into effect once votes are certified on Nov. 9, amends the Oklahoma constitution and "forbids courts from considering or using international law [and] forbids courts from using or considering Sharia Law."

...A judge has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 8, the day before the amendment would go into effect.

The state legislator who proposed the ban, Rep. Rex Duncan (R), has called the ban a "preemptive strike" against Sharia law in Oklahoma. People like Duncan, who believe American Muslims are conducting a "stealth jihad" in order to impose Sharia on the United States, have been increasingly vocal this year.

International and Sharia Law are not part of that oath, so what Oklahoma voters approved is essentially redundant but is unfortunately necessary in this day and age. Why necessary? Because of this:

In Britain, it is now a hate crime to even WATCH the Koran getting burned. And Muslim police officers don't have to protect Jews. Other examples in the US: Muslims in MI declare that burning Koran is not protected under 1st amendment, idiot SCOTUS justice agrees! And Koran burner Derek Fenton was fired from his union job at NJ Transit. A New Jersey Judge ruled that a Muslim man's right to rape is a religious freedom. And how about that idiot pastor in Florida that threatened to burn Korans? He's being forced into bankruptcy: City of Gainesville FL plans to bill idiot pastor $180,000+ for talking about burning Koran.

Angry Seniors Cutting Up Their AARP Cards

As I pointed out in my post 2 days ago (Irony: AARP pushed ObamaCare, now cite law as cause in hiking employee healthcare costs), the AARP supported ObamaCare so they could stuff their coffers with money from seniors purchasing supplemental insurance that AARP sells. In lockstep with Obama and Pelosi poodles, AARP claimed that ObamaCare would actually reduce costs and gave their unholy blessing that gave Obama propaganda points:

They are now raising the healthcare costs of their own employees and citing ObamaCare as the cause of it. Which is leading to this revolt by seniors:

Here's another segment with Neil Cavuto breaking down how senior citizens will be impacted by ObamaCare:

For good measure, here's a FBN segment with Dr. Marc Siegel who breaks down the most detrimental parts of ObamaCare:

ACLU to sue NJ Transit for firing employee who burned Koran on 9/11 anniversary

God help us if the only way to keep Sharia Law out of the US is to depend on the communist-founded ACLU! Derek Fenton was a NJ Transit worker who was fired for exercising his 1st amendment rights and burned the Koran to protest the victory mosque in NYC. He was fired in short order and without due process. The union didn't even back him up. The ACLU is now suing to get his job back: From New Jersey Online via memeorandum: N.J. ACLU to sue NJ Transit for firing employee who burned Quran on 9/11 anniversary

On the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, Derek Fenton stole headlines by burning pages from the Quran in Lower Manhattan to protest a planned Islamic community center there. Two days later, he lost his job at New Jersey Transit for breaching the agency’s code of ethics.

Sharia-loving terrorist enablers at CAIR have their opinion on this: Muslims in MI declare that burning Koran is not protected under 1st amenmdent, idiot SCOTUS justice agrees!

Now the American Civil Liberties Union says Fenton should get his job back. The group will file a lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court saying Fenton was unconstitutionally fired for exercising his free speech rights.

"If you allow governments to censor one kind of speech, you open the door to censorship of all kinds of speech," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the ACLU in New Jersey. "Our individual right to free speech depends on everybody having it."

...When Fenton was fired, the agency released a statement saying it had "concluded that Mr. Fenton violated his trust as a state employee and therefore was dismissed."

...Fenton, wearing a khaki baseball cap and navy blue polo shirt, pulled pages from the Islamic holy book and set them on fire with a lighter. Surrounded by news cameras and a restless crowd, he was escorted away by New York police, but wasn’t arrested. Fenton was not working that day, nor did he identify himself as an NJ Transit employee, the lawsuit said.

Ironically, a legislator supporting Fenton is a union Democrat - literally:

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) has opposed the firing, saying Fenton should have been assigned diversity training rather than losing his job.

Diversity training? Uh - doesn't that go something like this?:

Death Camp of Tolerance
Tags: SOUTH
PARKmore...

Just look on the bright side - here in the US you lose your job for violating Sharia Law. In Britain, you get arrested even WATCHING the Koran getting burned! How's that for tolerance?

Video: CNN's Anderson Cooper "Reports" Palin's Tweet For 10 Minutes Then "Moves On" With Another Palin Story

Possibly the most absurd Palin "scandal" to this point:

Note that Cooper said that they tried to contact Sarah Palin's "office." Uh - what office? She's a private citizen, no longer an elected official. Recently, Keith Olbermann was suspended without pay for giving money to the Democrat party. But yet, Anderson Cooper and many like him continue to give in-kind contributions to the Dems and all is OK. Relatedly, I had this not long ago: CNN’s Primetime Viewership Hits 10 Year Low. What could have possibly gone wrong?

I blame global warming: Forecasters predict winter will be colder than normal

This piece appeared in both the Oakland Press and the Macomb Daily with different headlines:

• Forecasters predict winter will be colder than normal 
• Tune up the snowblower — cold, snowy winter predicted

The texts are identical:

National and local weather experts predict this winter will be unusually cold and snowy in Oakland County and the Great Lakes region.

“I’m looking for temperatures to average about 2 degrees below normal,” said Bill Deedler, the weather historian at the National Weather Service in White Lake Township.

...Deedler said La Nina should be “one of the strongest that we have seen,” he said.

A La Nina is when waters off of the Pacific coast of South America are colder than normal and cause the jet stream to drop southerly from the Arctic into the western, Great Lakes and northeastern states, “giving us an active storm track,” said Deedler.

The average temperature during a winter’s day in December, January and February in the Detroit metro region is 27.1 degrees, he added.

Two degrees doesn’t sound like much but less sunshine, significant melting of the polar and Greenland ice sheets and an average global temperature drop of about 5 to 7 degrees could plunge the planet into another ice age, said earth system scientist Henry Mullins of Syracuse University in a recent article in LiveScience.

The earth’s current relatively mild climate is something of an anomaly, scientist say, since there have been at least seven major ice ages during the past 700,000 years.

Uh - what happened to global warming? If it's true that man causes global warming (it's not), then shouldn't we burn more fossil fuels to prevent another ice age? I have pointed this out ad infinitum on this blog that global climate has always changed and that whatever changes we have experienced this last century is absolutely infinitesimal to what has come to pass. This is from a great piece over at WattsUpWithThat which illustrates why the current global warming alarmists are out of their gourd. First, a graph of temperature as reconstructed from NOAA ice cores clearly showing a hockey stick shape:

So time to panic, right? Well, not so fast! If you include time before 1400, you see this:

That gigantic peak at around 1000 AD is what is known as the medieval warming period (MWP) which the alarmists have done their darnedest to hide. I mean - there were no SUVs, or airplanes, or coal power plants, etc. It's quite inconvenient and that is why they hid the MWP and their 'hockey stick' data is fraudulent as I have pointed out many times in this blog:

Note the missing MWP in the infamous fraudulent "hockey stick" graph. But there's even more. If we go back in time even more, the ice core has this to show:

What we know as the MWP is nothing! Back in Christ's day, it was significantly warmer than either today, or during the MWP. If we go back some more before that, it is even more revealing that the Earth right now is pretty cool compared to what it was for thousands of years:

Note the huge increase at the beginning of the graph. That's the planet coming out of the ice age. If we go back in time even earlier, we see that we should be absolutely happy with where we are at right now:

Yikes! Just look at all the above graphs again, and keep your eye on the current "hockey stick" that is supposedly caused by man. And then look at that last graph. The climate has always changed. Always will. As I have said before on this blog, if all human activity were to cease tomorrow, the atmosphere wouldn't notice it. And the Coup de grâce that the Syracuse scientist mentioned:

Where's the human influence again?

UPDATE: From RWN: UN Links Wealth And Happiness To Man-caused Global Warming

Good News: Labor Force Participation Rate Drops To 25 Year Low, At 64.5%

The unemployment picture is far worse than advertised. It's bad enough that the economy has shed almost 4 million jobs since the annointed one took the reigns and promised to create 3.5 million NEW jobs if we gave him a $trillion to play with. Instead, more than 3 million have been lost since the stimulus boondoggle passed Congress, leaving Obama with almost a 7 million jobs deficit in addition to the fiscal deficit that he created. What's less reported is that even if no net jobs were lost, the economy would still be effectively losing jobs since it is not keeping up with the population growth. That is, the economy needs to grow by about 100,000 jobs per month just to keep up with kids becoming working age adults that want a job. The effect of this can be seen in the labor force participation rate. From Zero Hedge via drudge:

The inverse silver lining to today's jobs report that will be lost in the shuffle of what is perceived as a good NFP (despite consistent initial jobless claims of around 450K, which means that either there is a massive data error, or the rate of job creation has somehow surged) is that labor force participation has now dropped to the lowest rate it has been since 1984, at 64.5%. Assuming a reversion to the long-term average participation rate of 66%, means that the civilian labor force is in reality 157.4 million as opposed to the disclosed 153.9 million, a delta of 3.5 million currently unaccounted for. Maybe someone can ask the president during his imminent press conference what happened to the unemployed population, which would have been 18.3 if this labor force delta was incorporated, resulting in an unemployment rate of 11.6%.

The relevant graphic:

In addition to the jobs being lost because of population growth, there are those that have lost their jobs and have either given up looking for work or run out of unemployment benefits. In both cases, they are no longer counted as being unemployed, a tactic that even Enron accountants would scoff at. Even 60 minutes admitted that the true unemployment rate is at 17% nationally:

Including those that age into the work force but can't find a job, try 19%.

UPDATE: Related: New data suggests unemployment, earnings picture is worse than we thought

Video: Obama's terrorist buddy Mrs. Bill Ayers calls conservatives the real terrorists

Two of Obama's best friends are unrepentant terrorists: Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn - aka Mrs Bill Ayers. Both were part of the radical Weather Undergound group that built and set off bombs including at the Capitol. From Verum Serum via memeorandum: Video: Bernardine Dohrn on the Real Terrorists

Does anyone realize how ironic it is for an unrepentant terrorist that built and set off bombs to point their fingers at the peaceful tea party and conservatives as somehow being dangerous? Keep in mind that Obama's political career began in the living room of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.

Irony: Tax Hiker John Kerry Still Dodging Taxes In MA

Taxes are for the little people. John Kerry never met a tax increase he didn't like. On you, that is. For himself, he's content on skirting tax laws in his own state by by docking his $7 million yacht in Rhode Island, which doesn't have a yacht luxury excise tax like Massachusetts does.

That was from this last summer. Turns out, he had to pay an excise tax of about $500,000. But he didn't pay it. From The Boston Herald via Instapundit: John Kerry’s bucks stop where?

It’s been more than three months since we first told you about Capt. John Kerry’s high-seas tax dodge on his new $7 million yacht, Isabel, and the town of Nantucket still doesn’t have a check from the senior senator!

You may recall that Kerry lowered the flag and surrendered in July, agreeing to pony up more than $400,000 to cover state taxes on the toney tub. Mr. Teresa Heinz broke out the checkbook four days after the Track set off a furious tempest with our report that he had purchased the 76-foot floating palace and ported her in Rhode Island, thus depriving the commonwealth of its pound of flesh.

A spokesman for the state Department of Revenue confirmed that “a sales tax return was filed” by Kerry last summer to cover state taxes that would have been owed, had he kept the Isabel in his home state’s waters. But according to the Nantucket tax collector, he never paid any excise taxes to the town on the Isabel.

...Kerry’s flack Jodi Seth told us the senator hasn’t paid because he hasn’t received a bill. Which is very different from what Kerry said last summer. Back then the story was that the senator would pay all the taxes as if the boat were berthed in Massachusetts.

“Whether owed or not, we intend to pay the equivalent taxes as if the boat’s home port were currently in Massachusetts,” Kerry said at the time. “That payment is being made promptly.”

Apparently not.

Exit question: can even Massachusetts stand to re-elect such an insufferable mega-millionaire elitist aristocrat boob like Kerry?

John Kerry leaving the liberal cocoon with his encounter suit to protect him from getting touched by the little people

Video: Hitler Finds Out The GOP Has Retaken The House

Hitler spoof videos have been getting taken down by YouTube left and right. Don't expect this one to last long:

Under fair use laws, satire is a legitimate use of copyrighted material. Let the satire stay! On an email tip.

Stimulus: MI to import prisoners from CA to later vote for Democrats

Looks like Granholm has found a stimulus for Michigan. Import prisoners from other states, keep them in our high-cost prisons, then let them out to vote for Democrats here in the state the rest of their lives. From the AP via The Detroit Free Press: California to send inmates to Michigan private prison

Unregistered Democrats lining up to vote

California prison officials have signed a $60-million-a-year contract with GEO Group Inc. to house the inmates for the next three years. The former Michigan Youth Correctional Facility 65 miles north of Grand Rapids was closed in 2005.

The state ended its use of the prison, run for six years by GEO Group, after state officials decided they could save $18 million by sending the young inmates housed at the Lake County facility to other prisons.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm welcomed the news today, saying on her Facebook page that it would mean more than 450 jobs.

Ergo the obvious question: where will these prisoners go once they serve their time or are paroled? Will they voluntarily go back to California? Not likely. The felon vote is becoming a prime constituency of the Democrat Party. Keep them here and it's like a thumb on the scale of a few districts tipping the balance to Democrats. They already have pimps and whores, cartoon characters, underage children, illegal immigrants and dead people. Felons is the next logical frontier of voter potential.

Video of Dem pollster: What Obama needs is for someone to blow up a building like in Oklahoma

This video pretty much explains itself (via Ed Morrissey via memeorandum):

President Clinton reconnected with Oklahoma. And the President right now he seems removed. And it wasn’t until that speech that he really clicked with the American people. Obama needs a similar kind of, yeah.

What Obama needs:

Keep in mind that this guy was a Hillary beta male.

Flashback Video: Olbermann (10-7-2010): Shouldn't Congress Punish Fox Shilling For Republicans?

A follow-up on yesterday's post: MSNBC's Keith Olbermann suspended without pay for Democrat campaign contributions. This video is just... precious:

Plus, from HotAir: Glenn Beck: Remember when Olbermann said that he doesn’t vote lest he appear partial? And via Instapundit: KEITH OLBERMANN: In Memoriam.

Bad headline: School worker accused of sex with student in court

I recall there was a Seinfeld episode on sentence structure whereas a sentence can mean two totally different things based on what you emphasize (I can't recall the name of the episode off hand). It's basically the trap that the AP fell into with this headline via The Detroit News: School worker accused of sex with student in court

So as per Seinfeld, was the school worker accused of having sex with a student in a court? Or did the school teacher have sex with a student and ended up in court because of it? Obviously, it is the latter. But my first read of the headline garnered a chuckle.

UPDATE: Another bad headline: Brutal Beating Victim Speaks Out. Is the victim a brutal person that was beaten? Or was the victim brutally beaten?

What we need right now - the "Entitlement Sustainability and Constitutionality Act"

Let's face it - entitlements are unsustainable. The US continues to spend more than it takes in because of entitlements. On the right side of the isle this has been known for a very long time. In fact, it was talked about prominently years before I was even born:

Paul Ryan came out with a roadmap to sustainability for part of the entitlement boondoggle - Medicare and Medicaid. The plan offers long-term sustainability of those to programs:

It was panned by liberals. Ryan was attacked as the destroyer of Medicare and the boot that will kick grandma down the stair. The Democrats solution to the sustainability problem? This:

I face the reality that Democrats will prevent any significant changes to entitlements other than increasing taxes to make the problems far worse down the road. They are bent on demonizing anyone who even looks at entitlements in the wrong way. Recently, right after the bloodbath for Democrats that was November 2, 2010, the press went into full-throttle demonize Republican mode with questions on entitlement spending:

When asked whether she would support cuts to Social Security and Medicare, Representative Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota fresh off a victory in her closely watched re-election bid, slammed the White House for the "massive overspending" for Obama's maiden visit to India.

She however refused to identify specific cuts to the federal budget when asked by CNN.

And Dan Calibrese interviewed newly elected GOP Rep from MI-7 Tim Walberg. The topic? Social security:

Walberg on Social Security: 'Maybe this has given us the high road'. Of course, that's just talk. As soon as he is bombarded with images of grandma falling down the stairs, tones change. Entitlements really are the third rail of politics. Touch the third rail and die.

What we need right now is the "Entitlement Sustainability and Constitutionality Act." The premise of this act is quite simple - kick the can down to the states and don't make the tough decisions. The ruling class hates tough decisions, and they love being seen as heroes. So the only tough decision they have to make is in admitting that Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution does not give Congress the power to enact national entitlement programs. This would be a good excuse for the ruling class to pretend to want to enforce the US Constitution that they all took an oath to uphold. So the act would essentially do this:

1. Break up social security into 50 pieces. The states would collect the tax for it and be responsible for its long-term viability.
2. Break up Medicare into 50 pieces. The states would collect the tax for it and be responsible for its long-term viability.
3. Stop federal Medicare reimbursements. The states will have to run the program 100% by themselves.
4. Stop federal welfare reimbursements. The states will have to run welfare 100% by themselves.

How people moving from state to another is handled is and should be left to the states to arrange. None of the above programs are unconstitutional. They are just unconstitutional for the federal government. The states are where such programs should exist. Given back their 10th amendment rights, states will deal with the ballooning costs. Some will increase taxes. Others will put forth a means test. Yet others will curtain benefits. And taxpayers will vote with their feet as to where to live and raise a family. The cause of our government being broken, of course, is that it has far exceeded its constitutional limit. Those constitutional limits were specifically in that document to sell it to the states and get it ratified. As enumerated in Federalist #45 by James Madison:

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State."

That was the intent of the US Constitution, and it lasted for the better part of 2 centuries. Until about the 1930s when the federal government went about exceeding its boundaries. The monster needs to be stuffed back in its box. Going with the "Entitlement Sustainability and Constitutionality Act" won't change any of the entitlements in the short term, but seems the only way to to alter a fail trajectory in the long term. Congress has no backbone to do what needs doing. States do. There's just one problem: it will take most of the graft out of federal politics. That's something the ruling class would hate to part with.

UPDATE: From TPM via memeorandum: Rick Perry: Let States Secede From Social Security (VIDEO)

Get the unconstitutional entitlement programs back to the states where it belongs!

Someone tell Rick Snyder: NJ Governor Christie to cut 1,200 public sector jobs, saving $millions

THIS is what a mandate looks like

Earth to Rick Snyder: you have been given a mandate by Michigan voters with an overwhelming majority in the Senate, a big majority in the House, and that mandate is to right the ship. Michigan voters expect swift action, not an 8-year plan. Michigan needs leadership, something utterly lacking these last 8 years. For starters, I'll repeat my list for starters and add one item:

• All new teachers hired will be on defined contribution plans. No more pension promises that cannot be met. Eliminating MESSA and putting all public employees under one big healthcare pool will save a ton of money as well.
• Pass the “Public Sector Pension Sustainability Act”
• Get rid of all business and income taxes and adopt a fair tax (this can be done without a constitutional amendment. Simply make the flat income tax rate 0, the MBT 0 and the surcharge 0 and increase sales tax to whatever it needs to be to compensate)
• Privatize prisons (prison costs are 3 times higher in MI than in surrounding states)
• Repeal prevailing wage laws that make public works projects enormously expensive (this is the new one)
• RIGHT TO WORK! (there is no justification for a public or private sector employee to be forced to join a union)

My biggest concern with Snyder is his backbone, as in will he stand up to unions that have dominated this state for many years? In essence, Snyder needs to make tough decisions and thus channel Chris Christie in New Jersey. From Cubachi via memeorandum: Governor Christie to cut 1,200 public sector jobs, saving NJ millions

When Governor Christie set his sights on reducing the size of government and the debt in the Garden State, he is keeping that promise.

The governor announced that beginning January, he’ll cut 1,200 state jobs saving New Jersey taxpayers $8.8 million. The job cuts will include layoffs and attrition.

So why January you may ask?

Previous liberal tax and spend governor, Jon Corzine created a deal with his buddies in the state’s unions to prevent Christie from cutting these jobs before leaving office. The deal prevented these lay offs until January 2011.

Christie said the layoffs are needed to balance the state’s $29.4 billion budget. This is the type of fiscal conservatism that has made Governor Christie a rock star in the republican party.

More from Star-Ledger:

“Whether it will grow beyond that, I don’t know,” he said at a Statehouse press conference. “That’s very much going to be dependent on what the revenue outlook looks like for the state.”

It's darned refreshing to have a Governor that tells the truth and stands up to the special interests. You up for the task, Rick?

UPDATE: More on Chris Christie's awesomeness from Liberty Pundits Blog, Beltway Confidential and GayPatriot