Video: Mother and Daughter Serve Together in Iraq, Kuwait

Mother and daughter tandem Sgt. Marilyn Gonzalez and Pvt. Jessica Pedraza are both in the Army National Guard together serving this country at the same time - a rarity in the military:

Missing Person Alert: Marizela Perez

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog post for important and breaking news:

Missing: Marizela Perez

She is a University of Washington undergrad and she has been missing since Saturday afternoon, when she left the Rainier Beach neighborhood headed to the UW Seattle campus. Her parents have been trying to reach her all weekend; she apparently never made it to campus and has not been heard from by phone/Internet. They’ve filed a missing persons report with the Seattle Police Department. Hospitals have been alerted, according to family members, and bus and train routes have been checked. No sign.

Here’s more info we’re trying to spread via Facebook and Q13Fox/KCPQ in Seattle:

MISSING PERSON
Name: Marizela Perez
Date Missing: March 5, 2011, 12:00-12:30 P.M.
Last Seen: Rainier Beach area, heading to UW Seattle campus to meet friends for lunch or study in the UW libraries
Possible Routes: Sound Link Light Rail stations, downtown/Chinatown areas, UW Seattle campus, U-district
Description – Asian female, 5’5” tall, 110 lbs, skinny build, asymmetrical bob with short bangs and brown/red highlights hairstyle, tattoo on left inner arm with the words ‘lahat ay magiging maayos’, last seen wearing denim jeans, light brown suede laced boots, possibly wearing green eye contacts, possibly carrying a plaid backpack with a Macbook Pro laptop, taking medication for depression.

Seattle-area readers, can you please help get the word out — and if you or anyone you know might know anything about Marizela’s (nickname: “Em-Em”) whereabouts, please get in touch with the Seattle Police Department/UWPD or contacts listed at Facebook link above ASAP.

Prayers for Marizela's safe return and for the family at this time. More from Nice Deb, Patterico's Pontifications, Outside the Beltway, iOwnTheWorld, Verum Serum, The Jawa Report, The Lonely Conservative and Hot Air

AWOL WI Democrats want meeting at ILL/WI border to discuss terms or something. WI Gov Scott Walker calls it 'ridiculous'

It's not just ridiculous - it's absurd! These 14 AWOL WI Senate Democrats that have subverted the democratic process in Wisconsin are holding the state hostage and have a list of demands that they want to go over at some sort of neutral location outside of the state of Wisconsin where they were elected to represent their constituents. How ridiculously absurd! Go home and do your job! From CNN via memeorandum: Wisconsin gov: Democratic senator's border meeting idea ‘ridiculous’

From the accompanying article:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Monday dismissed as "ridiculous" a letter from a Democratic state Senate leader who suggested a meeting "near the Wisconsin-Illinois border" to discuss the state's budget impasse.

Sen. Mark Miller sent the letter to Walker on Monday, offering a border summit as a way to resume stalled negotiations on the state's budget.

Miller and 13 other Democratic senators left Wisconsin for Illinois on February 17 to prevent a vote on a budget plan that includes limits on public bargaining.

But Walker said top Republican lawmakers and even members of his own staff have already met repeatedly with some of senators, including one meeting over hot chocolate at a McDonald's restaurant. Walker said the talks seemed to be making progress and the Democrats' return seemed imminent

"Time and time again, the person standing in the way of making that possible is Sen. Mark Miller," Walker said.

Ironically, the Democratic minority leader insists that Walker's agenda isn't what voters want. Uh, dude - they voted you guys out of power a few months ago and put the GOP in total control for this very purpose! Get used to it! Someone once said "elections have consequences" and "I won."

More on the Democrats making a mockery of the democratic process from National Review, Ann Althouse, Gateway Pundit, Wake up America, Moe Lane, Da Techguy, RedState, Badger 14, Power Line, The Lonely Conservative, Pajamas Media, Outside the Beltway, Betsy's Page, Freedom's Lighthouse, iOwnTheWorld and Another Black Conservative

Video of Jesse Jackson Jr: Fix Unemployment by Changing Constitution So Every Ghetto Kid Gets an iPod and a Laptop

This apple didn't fall from the tree at all. It's still hanging around the daddy tree and is of identical character including hypocrisy, infidelity, corruption and the usual hatred of what the US stands for that is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution:

In Wisconsin, Democrats went fleeing the state. How come we can't get legislators like Jackson to flee?

Video: Al Sharpton Outraged Over Muslim Extremist Hearings. Does This Guy Ever Stand Up For The Christian Faith?

It's a real question too? Anyone out there spot a video or story of Al Sharpton actually standing up for Christians or Christian principles? Like - ever? As most of you may already be aware, US House hearings on the danger of Islamic extremism are on tap:

Homeland Security Committee Chairman and New York Congressman Peter King is drawing the ire of the White House ahead of upcoming hearings on Muslim radicalization in America. King's aim is to take a closer look at the role of Muslims in homegrown terrorism, but critics say the hearings unfairly target an entire religious community.

Al Sharpton takes exception to the hearings, and implies that Christians can be terrorists too:

Plus, another segment on the hearings:

And the other usual suspects are holding up their red flags, including anti-Semite Geraldo:

Why is Geraldo still on the air, by the way?

Irony: Liberals Hail NASA Scientist Claims of Alien Life on Meteorite, Won't Acknowledge Human Life In Womb

This news broke recently (via Instapundit): NASA Scientist Claims Evidence of Alien Life on Meteorite

We are not alone in the universe -- and alien life forms may have a lot more in common with life on Earth than we had previously thought.

That's the stunning conclusion one NASA scientist has come to, releasing his groundbreaking revelations in a new study in the March edition of the Journal of Cosmology.

Here's the 'evidence:'

"A photograph taken through a scanning electron microscope of a CI1 meteorite (right) is similar in size and overall structure to the giant bacterium Titanospirillum velox (left), an organism found here on planet Earth, a NASA scientist said."

Liberals of course are hailing this as evidence that they were right all along. For me, when they find something on a meteorite 'similar to what's found on Earth,' it tends to be something from Earth. Be that as it may though, there's a huge irony in the news, and it's quite earthy. These same liberals that have to squint at images from electron microscopes looking for any evidence of life, also deny that life begins at conception in the womb. You don't even need a scanning electron microscope to know the obviousness of that truth. Just sayin.'

Predictable: £25,000 eco-classroom that can't be used because solar panels don't provide enough heat

From the UK Daily Mail: Foiled by the winter: The £25,000 eco-classroom that can't be used because solar panels don't provide enough heat

Eco-campaigners who built a classroom powered by the sun believed they were paving the way for the future.

Instead they have been taught a valuable lesson - there is not enough sun in North London to sufficiently heat their building.

The much feted zero-carbon Living Ark classroom was opened three months ago to great fanfare.

It boasts laudable green credentials and is made from sustainable wood, sheep’s wool and soil. The roof is made of mud and grass and it has its own ‘rain pod’ and solar panels.

But there is snag - its solar panels only provide enough energy to power a few lightbulbs.

As a result the classroom is bitterly cold and uninhabitable for lessons.

Parents have branded it ‘useless’, an ‘expensive piece of wood’ and a ‘great idea for the Caribbean’.

The Living Ark was built at Muswell Hill Primary School, North London, at the cost of £25,000.

The moonbats should be happy. To them it was a success as their vision for the future is humanity huddled together in masses shivering in the darkness and patting each other on the back for cutting back on energy usage that did nothing about a problem that doesn't even exist.

It's not the first time something like this has happened. From a post of mine back in May 2009: Metro Detroit Solar Home Makes National News For Negative Reasons. Most Michigan areas (and those in England in a similar climate zone) experience only about 70 sunny days per year, as opposed to the 220+ days in areas of Arizona and New Mexico. Another negative is that Michigan is significantly further away from the equator, meaning that the sunlight isn't direct, but rather comes in at an acute angle. Direct is best. Worst yet, most of our sunny days are in the summer. This will create problems in the winter as energy will be needed to simply keep the occupant envelope warm.

More from  The Lonely Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Watts Up With That, Moonbattery, Right Wing News and Gateway Pundit. And from Doug Ross, related news of eco-moonbattery: The lunacy of the Eco-nuts: Oil? No. Natural gas? No. Nuclear? No. Coal? No. Clear-cutting pristine mountaintops for wind-farms: Hell, yes!

More on 'Doomsday May 21, 2011' believers that are making a sham of the Bible and Christians everywhere

An update on a post from November 2010: Video: Billboards in Detroit predict Jesus' 2nd coming May 21, 2011. I always get a laugh when I see news of date-setters out there. These people claim to know when Jesus will return. They are either ignorant of scripture that they proclaim to have studied, or willfully put it out of their minds. For instance:

³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

   ⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. - Matthew 24 (NIV)

And this:

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. - 2 Peter 3:10 (NIV)

Date setters are unbiblical. They do not know and cannot know, but here they are anyway. Again. From CNN via memeorandum: Caravans spread ‘awesome news’ world's coming to end

They're wearing sweatshirts and other clothing announcing the "Awesome News," that Judgment Day is coming on May 21. On that day, people who will be saved will be raptured up to heaven. The rest will endure exactly 153 days of death and horror before the world ends on October 21. That message is splashed across their five sleek, vinyl-wrapped RVs, bearing this promise: "The Bible guarantees it!"

The end can come at any time. Today. Tomorrow. Perhaps May 21, 2011. But it may be the case these people will be looking around May 22 and asking "what happened?" Dude - you didn't read the Bible - especially the above passages, did ya now? But the worst part is that these date setters are going to be exposed as the false prophets that they are and make honest Bible-believing Christians look bad along with them.

Video of ‘Family Ties’ Mom: ‘I Could Have Been a Republican…Thank Goodness I’m Just Gay’

Meredith Baxter apparently hasn't met many of the gay Republicans out there:

Via BreitbartTV

Irony: Extra-Sized Michael Moore: Protesters have ‘aroused a sleeping giant’

A picture of the sleeping, cheeseburger eating giant:

Via memeorandum: Moore: Protesters have ‘aroused a sleeping giant’

Protesters in Madison have "aroused a sleeping giant" in the national fight for workers' rights, filmmaker Michael Moore told thousands at the Capitol Square on Saturday, as rallies opposing Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposals wrapped up their third week.

..."America is not broke ... Wisconsin is not broke," Moore said. "The only thing that's broke is the moral compass of the rulers."

At least I agree with him on that last point. So 1 out of 3. But am I the only one that sees the irony in a giant talking about arousing a sleeping giant? On the other hand, 'arousing' and Michael Moore in the same sentence is quite gross. More from Proof Positive, PoliPundit and iOwnTheWorld

Singer Mariah Carrey: “I was naïve and unaware” that Gaddafi was a deranged murdering maniac even though the rest of the planet knew it

For years A-list stars have been performing for the murderous dictator Muammar Ghaddafi and/or his equally sadistic son. But now that he's on the run with the equal desperation of a Wisconsin Democrat, the stars are coming out of the woodwork saying they were somehow duped. From ShowBiz 411 via drudge:

Mariah Carey‘s had a slight pr problem recently. She and other acts like Beyonce and Usher have performed in St. Barts over the last few years at New Year’s Eve parties thrown by the sons of vicious, crazy dictator Muammar Ghaddafi. At the time, Libya was not in the news. The shows were booked by a name promoter who probably was not forthcoming about the true nature of the underwriters. Now it’s become an issue in hindsight, which is sort of ridiculous.

...Mariah’s official statement about the birthday event: “I was naïve and unaware of who I was booked to perform for. I feel horrible and embarrassed to have participated in this mess. ...”

She's not alone. From Ed Driscoll via Instapundit: In Through the Abattoir

At Townhall, Mark Tapson notes that pop singer Nelly Furtado recently donated one million dollars to charity — to atone for the fee she pocketed in 2007 for a private performance for Muammar Gaddafi. Of course, as Tapson notes, “It’s not as if Gaddafi became reprehensible only yesterday”:

“The mad dog of the Middle East,” as Ronald Reagan once called him, has been in power since 1969, and there has never been any doubt that Gaddafi has spent those decades funding, facilitating, instigating, and personally directing international terrorism – including, according to a recent claim from the Libyan Justice Minister, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. It’s hard to believe that any American performer who has ever accepted a check from Gaddafi or his family can plead ignorance of his monstrous evil.

In all fairness however, megastars often live in warm and fuzzy cocoons of political ignorance, tended by handlers who have a vested interest in keeping them clueless and the money flowing. Which is why Furtado, Beyoncé and Carey, claiming ignorance and subsequently donating the ill-gotten gains, have earned a measure of redemption. ...

As for Ghaddafi, moonbattery has a suggestion:

Video Report: Long Beach Police Murder A Man For Holding A Water Nozzle

Even though the above was just posted on Youtube, the event happened in December. Via Instapundit:

JERRY POURNELLE:

For fifteen minutes the Long Beach Police watched Douglas Zerby sitting on an interior courtyard stoop playing with a toy gun. They never announced their presence. There was no danger to anyone. They never announced their presence.

There were at least five police officers there. Then, after fifteen minutes, two or three of them opened fire with shotguns and pistols. There was no warning, and no command to drop the weapon. Apparently his first notification that the police were present was to be shot dead.

This, according to the LBPD, was to protect the citizens and make certain no one got hurt.

Heroic.

If they have the resources for this kind of thing, then they ought to be able to handle a 50% budget cut. More here. It was apparently a pistol-grip water hose, and police say he pointed it at them.

Remember at the end of Falling Down when Michael Douglas shot the cop with the water pistol as the cop shot him dead? Well this was nothing like it. Michael Douglas actually stood a 0.0001% chance. The poor guy above didn't even have that much.

Once again, liberals insisting in the bogus notion that women still earn much less than men even though they are better educated. NOT TRUE!

From the Detroit Free Press: Women better educated than men, but still earning much less. You won't be surprised that the so-called 'study' came from the Obama White House. The sentinels at the state-run Minneapolis Star Tribune promptly picked it up followed right by the Detroit Free Press. But even in the write-up you can see obvious flaws in the data:

Its statistics are familiar: the continuing wage gap, how women do more household chores than men. But it's the fact that women still lag in many areas despite all their strides that's raising concerns.

Debra Fitzpatrick, director of the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute's Center on Women and Public Policy, said it may be a significant signal that women's gains have plateaued. For now, she said, "we're kind of stuck."

Highlights of the report:

• Young women now are more likely than young men to have a college or a graduate degree.

• The numbers of women and men in the labor force are almost equal.

• Wages and income remain inequitable. At all levels of education, women earned about 75% of what their male counterparts earned in 2009.

I highlighted what I see as the biggest obvious logical fallacy in the list (there are plenty more in the report itself I'm sure). So what's wrong with the prepositional phrase "at all levels of education?" Simple - a Masters degree in one field isn't worth the same as a Masters degree in another. Let's just compare for instance an engineering degree to one in English. Engineering is more populated by men while English by women. In the free market, the engineering degree is going to be worth a whole lot more, and according to the above study there is a gender wage gap for the same level of education. But it's an apples to oranges comparison, and not even a good one at that. Fact is, the statistics are being gamed by liberals to show something that isn't really there. Employers want to hire the best qualified employees and those that would not hire a more qualified woman than a less qualified man are going to be out of business because those better qualified women will end up working for a competitor. I had this post almost exactly 2 years ago on this blog: Playing Identity Politics in Macomb County. There, I had this:  ..."pay equity" is a gigantic lie. Thomas Sowell, a brilliant economist, has produced many columns on the subject. He wrote an entire book on the subject: Economic Facts and Fallacies. You can look around on the web for some interesting snippets, but here are just a few:

Q: We’ve frequently heard, and will hear much more I am sure if Hillary is the Democratic nominee, that women make 76 cents for every dollar a man makes. Can you give us a basic rundown of why that discrepancy exists?

A: There are lots of reasons. Men and women do not work the same number of hours. They do not work in the same occupations. They do not work continuously the same, and so on.

You know, if it was really true that you could hire a woman for three quarters of what you could hire a man with exactly the same qualifications, then employers would be crazy not to hire all women. It would be insane to hire men. Not only would it be insane, it would probably put them out of the business because the ones that were smart enough to hire women would have such a cost advantage that it would be really hard for the others to compete.

There are lots of gross differences between men and women and other groups and some of them shocked me when I first started doing the research. For example, I found that young male doctors make considerably more than young female doctors. But, when I dug into it a little deeper, I discovered that young male doctors work an average of 500 hours a year more than young female doctors. Obviously, a doctor that works 500 extra hours is going to make more money than the other doctor.

A very reasonable explanation, no? Here's a short video of an interview with Sowell:

John Hawkins has more on his interview with Thomas Sowell back in February '08. (it's very good)

Point here being - "pay equity" is a scam designed to separate the genders. Divide and conquer. Something the Democrats have gotten exceedingly good at in especially the most recent elections.

UPDATE: A commenter on the freep article had this:

mapleleaf  2:15 AM on March 7, 2011

Of course the usual implication of articles like this are that these differences are due to some sort of systemic discrimination and that women are oppressed, hence the provocative headline. Let's ask the obvious question: Do men live 4 years less than women because of discrimination? Shouldn't we do something about that? You know, just like money: "spread the longevity around". In the liberal mind if outcomes aren't equal then that is a sign of discrimination.

Ain't that the truth though!

Failure: Number of Obamacare Waivers Now Exceeds 1,039

That's a jump from just two months ago when I had this: Failure: As of today, a total of 733 ObamaCare waivers have been granted for 2011. The ObamaCare waivers are an admission of failure by the administration, as much as it is a handout to Onamunist cronies like the unions: Corruption: Three SEIU Locals—Including Chicago Chapter—Waived From ObamaCare Requirement. It's hard to do now, but the waivers were being hidden from the public:

From The Hill via drudge: Number of healthcare reform law waivers climbs above 1,000

The number of temporary healthcare reform waivers granted by the Obama administration to organizations climbed to more than 1,000, according to new numbers disclosed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS posted 126 new waivers on Friday, bringing the total to 1,040 organizations that have been granted a one-year exemption from a new coverage requirement included in the healthcare reform law enacted almost a year ago. Waivers have become a hot-button issue for Republicans, eager to expose any vulnerabilities in the reform law.

If there is some legitimate excuse to waive businesses, how come local union chapters get one? What could possibly justify that? Crony capitalism at its worst. Or is it crony socialism now?

Video: Liberals employ human shields to garner support for unions, get smacked down hard by Newsweek's Evan Thomas

Props are a favorite ploy of the Democratic politician. From children to cancer survivors all the way down to animated characters: Good grief: Democrat Ed Markey holds press conference with cartoon aardvark to protest PBS cuts. So it's only fitting that they would find a sib story union teacher somewhere in Wisconsin who claims not to be able to afford a car. Newsweek's Evan Thomas smacks down such a tactic. Via BreitbartTV: Newsweek’s Evan Thomas Takes on Mark Shields, Nina Totenberg and the New York Times

Wasn't there ever a time when talking heads such as these argued about what was best for chidrens education rather than union bennies?

Video of US Rep Jim McDermott: GOP Is Deliberately Sabotaging Economy to Bring Down Obama, Even Though Democrats Control Senate and WH And Until Recently Controlled Everything

McDermott is following on Harry Reid's meme: After racking up more than $5 trillion in debt, Harry Reid says GOP ‘Fixated on Destroying Our Government, Our Economy’. From a prior post where Pelosi claimed deficit reduction to have been her top priority:

When the Pelosi Democrats took control of Congress on January 4, 2007, the national debt stood at $8,670,596,242,973.04. The last day of the 111th Congress and Pelosi's Speakership on December 22, 2010 the national debt was $13,858,529,371,601.09 - a roughly $5.2 trillion increase in just four years. Furthermore, the year over year federal deficit has roughly quadrupled during Pelosi's four years as speaker, from $342 billion in fiscal year 2007 to an estimated $1.6 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2010.

That's what the Democrats have done and part of eth reason why we are in such dire straits right now.  McDermottis part and parcel of the problem in Washington, but instead of taking responsibility is instead passing the buck. Via Gateway Pundit: Rep Jim McDermott: GOP Is Deliberately Sabotaging Economy to Bring Down Obama

So he did of course vote against the absurd budgets that have heaped such a debt on our children and grandchildren, right? Right???

Video of Sen Durbin: Dems Only Willing To Cut $10.5 Billion From $3,500 Billion Budget with $1,650 Billion Deficit

This is where we're at:

As I have pointed out many times in this blog, the FY 2007 federal budget - the last one put together by Republicans - was $2.7 trillion. Since Pelosi and Reid took over, the federal budget is at $3.5 trillion. The deficit is entirely comprised of new Democrat spending since 2007. Here's the absurdly high deficits of Obama’s first two years and this coming one:

Simply trimming the budget to what it was a few mere years ago is way beyond our ruling class' comprehension. Dick Durbin sits atop that class. From Gateway Pundit: Sen. Durbin Tells FOX News Sunday: Dems Will Only Cut $10.5 From Bloated Budget

Absolutely clueless! That's just a small fraction of 1%!

UPDATE: More from The Washington Times via HotAir headlines: Durbin: We can’t cut any more discretionary spending

“I’m willing to see more deficit reduction, but not out of domestic discretionary spending. I think we’ve pushed this to the limit,” Mr. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said on “Fox News Sunday” when he was asked if he would support more than the $10 billion in cuts the Democrats have offered to House Republicans…

“This is 2.5 percent, roughly, of the entire federal budget,” Mr. Hensarling, Texas Republican, said. He criticized Democrats, and President Obama specifically, for sitting on the sidelines. “We have a president who has not led,” he said.

Video: Inept AWOL WI Dem Senator Lena Taylor Get Schooled By Greta Van Susteren

The WI Senate Democrats that went AWOL more than two weeks ago are still on the lam in Illinois. Their initial excuse was that they needed to subvert the democratic process to have a chance to look at the bill. More than two weeks later, they don't have that excuse anymore. So it's pretty apparent that they are simply holding the state hoistage such that a small minority can dictate to the elected majority - an utter subversion of the democratic process by the ironically named Democratic Party. Greta Van Susteren took one AWOL Democratic Senator, Lena Taylor, to task for fleeing her responsibility:

She supposed to represent her constituents AT THE STATE CAPITAL. Good grief. Lena Taylor, by the way, is an incompetent moonbat, and has admitted to being "completely and utterly confused" on the Senate floor:

Just so you know who we're dealing with here.

Video: Lies, Damn Lies, and Government Statistics

Via Instapundit:

The Commerce Department revises last quarter's economic growth numbers -- downward. Dr. Lawrence Parks of the Foundation for the Advancement of Monetary Education talks with Front Page about government funny numbers.

Always seems to be a downward revision. Almost as if they were lying to us and making it up later behind the scenes:

Previously:
We're being lied to: GDP economic growth revised sharply lower

Video Report: Pro-Life Students Forced Out Of High School Activities

Public schools for hundreds of years used the Bible printed with federal money as the basis of education. The Founding Fathers made sure this was so and gave federal money to build churches also. Bit in the 1960s judicial activists ruled that they knew better about what the 1st amendment meant than the Founding Fathers that wrote it, and banished Christianity from the public schools, which have themselves devolved in quality ever since. Instead of teaching kids basic skills, they now teach intolerance, especially towards life:

From moonbattery: The Right Kids to Bully in School

Our rulers strongly disapprove of school bullying — if by bullying you mean snickering at gender-inappropriate behavior. Bullies are advised to turn their hostilities instead toward decent kids who object to the killing of inconvenient babies. But they'll have to wait their turn until educrats are done putting the boot in, as this 2009 story from Whitehouse, Ohio reminds us.

A related flashback video of where public education is at right now in a more global sense: Actual footage: Homosexual brainwashing in elementary school! Pt 1/2 

Irony: Obama rationing czar Donald Berwick taken off life support by political death panel comprised of faceless Democrats

Last July this happened: Of course: Obama to bypass Senate, will use recess appointment for Donald Berwick who said it's "Not Whether or Not We Will Ration Care--The Decision is Whether We Will Ration Care With Our Eyes Open". Berwick believes that only a healthcare system that redistributes wealth is 'fair:'

Berwick, the so-called "expert on patient care" is actually and expert on a patient's lack of care. As in rationing. I wrote about him back in March of this year. From that prior post:

President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs Medicare, is a strong supporter of the government-run health care system in Britain, who said in a 2009 interview about Comparative Effectiveness Research: “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care--the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

The $787-billion stimulus law signed by President Obama created a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative (Effectiveness) research in health care that some critics argue was a step toward rationing of heatlh care in the United States. 

A step towards rationing? It is the very foundation of rationing! Comparative effectiveness takes only 2 factors into account when deciding to give a thumbs up or down (just like the Caesars did centuries ago in the Colosseum): 1) your age, and 2) the cost. It is the lynch pin of the rationing that will be handed out by a group of bureaucrats given great power over all decisions medical that will essentially put them between you and your doctor. Obama's fidelity-challenged former budget director Peter Orszag spilled the beans on what are essentially death panels:

Yet, Berwick is about to meat his political end at the hands of faceless politicians. From The Politico via memeorandum: Sources: Democrats giving up on Donald Berwick

Senate Democrats have given up on confirming Don Berwick as CMS administrator in the wake of a letter from 42 Republican senators opposing the nomination, sources tell POLITICO.

Citing the GOP letter, a person familiar with the situation said Senate Democrats and the White House "can do the arithmetic" and now see that there's no way for Berwick to get the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate.

At a meeting with health care lobbyists Friday, Democratic Senate Finance Committee staffers indicated that the nomination is dead, that there will be no confirmation hearing, and that they'll soon be discussing "next steps" for CMS, sources said.

"The nomination is dead." A political death panel by any other name. How ironic. And appropriate. More from Nice Deb, National Review, RedState and Weasel Zippers 

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Sharia law enforced in Canada: State agents sentence Evangelical Christian to re-education at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood

From Blazing Cat Fur via Five Feet of Fury via Right Wing News: Free speech on life support in Canada
God must gaze down at Canada some days and scratch His head.

Two rulings involving two churches — one Canadian, one American — show how far the God-given right to free expression has fallen in our country. We delved into this on John Oakley’s morning radio show, after dishing about that champion of free speech, Charlie Sheen...

Mark Harding interviewed by Christine Williams - Harding was sentenced to re-education at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood as a condition of parole.

The interview can be seen blow by clicking on the pic:

Freedom of speech is an oxymoron of a phrase in Canada, and it's infecting American culture as well.

Video fo Bill Maher: Charlie Sheen's Childish, Needlessly Defensive, Nonsensical Behavior Like Sarah Palin on Coke

One aspect of Palin Derangement Syndrome is that there is simply nothing in the news - not one God-blessed happening of any kind political or non-political alike - that can't be linked to Sarah Palin in a negative way. And yeah - Bill Maher has a chronic infection:

From NewsBusters via memeorandum: Maher: Charlie Sheen's Childish, Needlessly Defensive, Nonsensical Behavior Like Sarah Palin on Coke. The partial transcript:

MAHER: …then Charlie Sheen started to give interviews and it never stopped. And America said forget Wisconsin, forget the Middle East. Charlie Sheen is coming off a coke high, it is funny. It is funny that he keeps waving a paper saying he passed a drug test. How is that good for his image? It just mean he's like that sober?

He said, one interviewer said, "Are you bi-polar?" He said, “I'm bi-winning. I win here and I win there.” So yes, it's childish, it’s needlessly defensive, it makes no sense. So if you ever wondered what it would be like if Sarah Palin was on coke.

And of course his audience clapped like the trained seals that they really are. I mean - honestly - did they find it funny? Sarah Palin is apparently living in Maher's head... rent free. More from Legal Insurrection

Irony: Michael Moore, Who Used NON-UNION Stage Hands To Film "Capitalism: A Love Story", Walks With Union Protesters In Wisconsin

Flashback to October 2009: More Michael Moore Hypocrisy: Used NON-UNION Stage Hands To Film "Capitalism: A Love Story"

Michael Moore, champion of the working class, used non-union stagehands to film "Capitalism: A Love Story." The porcine provocateur is promoting his anti-Wall Street jeremiad by giving free tickets to unions, but the American Federation of Teachers has turned them down because Moore didn't hire any members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

With that in tow, the irony in this: Michael Moore Marches in Madison

More at MLive: Michael Moore rallies Wisconsin pro-union protesters 

UPDATE: From the AP:

Plus: Michael Moore in Madison: ‘We Have Had It!’

Video: Tea Partiers Clean-Up Mess Left By Union Protesters in WI

And to boot the tea partiers have nothing to gain, while the unions are out for themselves. From BreitbartTV:

Tea party supporters in Wisconsin have created a Facebook group designed to organize an event called "It’s Time to Take Out the Trash!". They will be in Madison tomorrow to clean-up the disaster left by the union protesters over the past two weeks.

Video of Mike Huckabee: US Poverty Will Fall If Single Parents Just Get Married

It is a fact that the number 1 indicator of future poverty is getting pregnant out of wedlock. And don't get me wrong here. It's not the pregnancy that is the problem, but rather the out of wedlock part. Huckabee is exactly right in saying this:

From Henry Payne over at The Michigan View: Huckababy and Detroit babies

"You know, right now, 75 percent of black kids in this country are born out of wedlock. 61 percent of Hispanic kids - across the board, 41 percent of all live births in America are out-of-wedlock births. And the cost of that is simply staggering."

...illegitimacy is a fiscal issue. Indeed, broken homes are the greatest cause of poverty and a leading indicator in whether inner city boys will graduate from high school or lead a life of crime. Just look at the implosion of Detroit where 85 percent black illegitimacy rates have led to high crime and adult illiteracy rates.

Seems that if people actually followed what God laid out for us, it would be a vastly better world, no?

Figures: Professed Christian Barack Obama Would Veto Spending Bill De-Funding Planned Parenthood

Here in the States, most of us believe what our founding fathers believed, that all have unalienable rights, the most fundamental of which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our Founding Fathers were wise to put those 3 in that sequence since you can't pursue happiness without liberty, and can't have liberty without life. Thus, life is the prime unalienable right of all human being. But Obama does not believe this. Once again, for the umpteenth time, on Obama and abortion, it is indisputable that in his short time in office, the most viciously pro-abort zealot to ever sit in the Oval Office did the following:

• signed an Executive Order opening up taxpayer funding for destroying embryos for research, even though the effort is moot (more here)
• directed the Department of HHS to overturn regulations that protect medical professionals from being forced to perform or refer for abortion (more here)
• second act in office was to authorize US dollars to fund abortions oversees (more here)
• voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (more here and here), thereby outright condoning infanticide (this was before he was elected President, but something that no one should forget). Apparently, not just once but 4 times!
• signed an Executive Order authorizing taxpayer funding for the destruction of human embryos for research and overturned a prior administration EO pressing for forms of stem cell research that wouldn't require embryo destruction. Even though destroying embryos is likely already moot at this point
  
• announced $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that has been criticized for promoting abortion and working closely with Chinese population control officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations.
• defunded all abstinence-only education, instead going with contraceptive-only education that is proven not to decrease pregnancy or abortion
• Signed a new budget calling for taxpayer-funded abortions in Washington D.C.

The multiple pro-infanticide votes are the most egregious of the above egregious acts, and he did so without any pity for those babies born alive only to be left in soiled linen closets to die. Add to that sad list Obama's insistence that with a looming $1.65 trillion deficit, that Planned Parenthood - an organization that protects child sex slavery - be fully funded to continue their gruesome craft at taxpayer expense. From LifeNews via memeorandum: Obama Would Veto Spending Bill De-Funding Planned Parenthood

President Barack Obama would veto the House-approved long-term spending bill for the federal government that contains the Pence Amendment, a measure that would de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business.

Because of that provision and other pro-life riders that stop abortion funding globally and in the District of Columbia, the Washington Times indicates “Obama has issued a veto threat on that bill, saying House Republicans’ cuts are unacceptable.”

Can you believe this? We are in the worst deficit crisis in our history and Obama is worried about a relative mere pittance to fund baby butchers over the American people? Good grief! That is so sick, and shows exactly where his priorities are. More from Weasel Zippers, Nice Deb and Gateway Pundit 

Link Search: IceRocket, Google, and Ask

Video: Documentary ‘Kids Aren’t Cars’ Debuts in Ohio; Takes Critical Look at Teachers’ Unions

Via BreitbartTV:

A timely documentary to be sure!

Video: Students Protest School Removing 10 Commandments

The basis for the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence and our common law can no longer be acknowledged in public schools. Yet another reason to keep your kids safe at home teaching them what is most important. Because if not God, then what? From Creative Minority Report:

WVVA reports via The Blaze:

The Giles County School Board voted Tuesday to removed framed copies of the Ten Commandments from its schools — for the second time in as many months. Now some students are speaking out against the decision.

Some students have posted the Ten Commandments on their lockers. One group from Narrows and Giles have ordered t-shirts to express their opinions on the issue.

The commandments were first removed in December, 2010 after a complaint.

At one point, the board reversed its initial removal decision. But that changed after the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened to sue the Giles County School Board on behalf of residents who wanted the Commandments removed after they were re-posted.

The Founding Fathers, after the US Constitution was ratified, not only help prayer services, but used federal money to build churches and print Bibles specifically for the public schools. By the way, where do our unalienable rights originate from exactly? We need only look at history:

Exit question: how come the school board doesn't ban the dollar bill?:

Video: "Euthanasia's impact on vulnerable 'worth the risk' "

I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child — a direct killing of the innocent child — murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? … Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. - Mother Teresa

For those that are pro-aborts, why be surprised that if they devalue life in its infancy, that they would value it on the other end of the spectrum? Or anywhere in between for that matter? Euthanasia's impact on vulnerable 'worth the risk' 

Dr Philip Nitschke, the Australian euthanasia campaigner, speaks to the BBC and says the chance of a vulnerable person committing suicide is "a risk we're willing to take". He also claims, wrongly, that it would be possible to open a London suicide clinic.

The video:

It's not just suicide. What about a family member fast-tracking death? or a bureaucrat if ObamaCare is ultimately held up as constitutional?

Video of Hillary Clinton: Al Jazeera Is “Real News”

Al Jazeera. The Muslim Minsitry of Propaganda.Let that sink in for a moment. I dare say she wouldn't say the same about FoxNews. Via Nice Deb:

Then again, Hillary Clinton famously patted herself on the back publicly for helping create propaganda arms of teh Democratic Party on this side of the pond:

So there's that.

Predictable: Obama administration replaces controversial ‘conscience’ regulation for health-care workers

Yet another fraud committed by Obama. He promised that should ObamaCare pass that conscience regulations would remain in place allowing medical personnel to not be involved in procedures like abortion that they found morally objectionable. After passage, predictably, he is rescinding it all in totality. From the Washington Post via The Foundry: Obama administration replaces controversial ‘conscience’ regulation for health-care workers

After two years of struggling to balance the rights of patients against the beliefs of health-care workers, the Obama administration on Friday finally rescinded most of a federal regulation designed to protect those who refuse to provide care they find objectionable on moral or religious grounds.

...Friday's move was seen as an important step in countering that trend, which in recent years had led pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for the emergency contraceptive Plan B, doctors in California to reject a lesbian's request for infertility treatment, and an ambulance driver in Chicago to turn away a woman who needed transportation for an abortion.

"Without the rescission of this regulation, we would see tremendous discrimination against patients based on their behavior and based just on who they are," said Susan Berke Fogel of the National Health Law Program, an advocacy group based in the District. "We would see real people suffer, and more women could die." 

More women are already dying precisely because of abortion! So coming down the pike, you will no longer be able to be a pharmacist if you are a Christian. Or a medical doctor. Or an EMT worker. This is just a sick drive to ban Christians from all public service jobs. How dare Obama call himself a Christian when he persecutes all principles of Jesus Christ! By his actions, he is a false prophet:

¹⁵"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. - Matthew 7 (NIV)

What kind of Christian is Obama? Judge by his fruit. Obama can't bring himself to admit that our own Declaration of Independence mentions explicitly The Creator:

After the above episode there was this: Video: Obama Snubs ‘In God We Trust’ as US Motto

Our community organizer-in-chief, who claims claimed to be a Christian during the campaign, made sure to thank other people in his Thanksgiving proclamation last year, but not Almighty God. He was the first President not to directly acknowledge God in a Thanksgiving proclamation in history. But with all that in tow, Obama claims this: Pro-infanticide Obama says "I pray every night, read the Bible". He blames the internet for Americans being confused about his faith. I have no doubt that he has faith, but it's all vested in the church of liberalism. Not only is Obama's faith not Christian, it is anti-Christian. And Obama's actions betray his rhetoric. By his actions, he despises God. He's no Christian. He is a liberal and liberalism is his god. His rescinding medical conscience rules is just another data point to indicate that he lives right in the middle of the land of the lost.

UPDATE: I wrote a foretelling of this more than a year ago:  Pro-abort strategy: attack the conscience. Part 3

The pro-abort strategy is as follows:

1. Conscience seared shut by forced repetition of barbarism
2. If not #1, then don't let the providers see what they are doing with their eyes
   
3. Disqualify those with an intact conscience from working in medicine

That was from January 2010, and sure enough our ghoul-in-chief is moving right along that chosen path.

Like Father Like Son: Rory Reid's gubernatorial campaign circumvented contribution limits

Well doesn't this just figure: Rory Reid's gubernatorial campaign circumvented contribution limits, created 91 shell PACs to infuse $750,000 into campaign. That's right - 91. Not one or two or three. A chip off the 'ol block indeed. The article is from the Las Vegas Sun and check out how it starts out:

In one of the most brazen schemes in Nevada history, gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid’s campaign formed 91 shell political action committees that were used to funnel three quarters of a million dollars into his campaign, circumventing contribution limits and violating at least the spirit – and maybe the letter – of the laws governing elections.

Shocker, eh? This apple landed right at the base of the tree and hasn't budged since. (Recall:Fraud: Harry Reid's union thugs illegally paying people to vote with free meals, gift cards)

Reid, who was fully aware of what was done, essentially received more than $750,000 from one PAC – 75 times the legal limit -- after his team created dozens of smaller PACS that had no other purpose other than to serve as conduits from a larger entity that the candidate funded by asking large donors for money. Indeed, the shell PACs were formed in the fall and dissolved on Dec. 31, after they had served their short-term function, which was to help the candidate evade campaign contribution laws.

...Records show many of the PACS had names implying rural provenance –such as the Douglas County Committee for Change and Lyon County Leadership Fund – but they all had the same Las Vegas residential address before being quietly dissolved after the election. The money laundered through these PACS often resided there only for a couple of days, a transaction that was needed to, they believed, comply with contribution limits on a technicality. The Reid campaign could then quickly make use of the money in a futile attempt to salvage his faltering gubernatorial bid.

Rory Reid, the same one who campaigned without his last name, of course blames the system, not himself:

Reid told me today that he cleared what he did with his legal counsel – Paul Larsen – and the secretary of state’s office. “What we did was fully disclosed and complied with the law,” Reid said. “We did it because it was legal. If it’s a statement on anything, it’s a statement on the failure of campaign laws. This was not done in the dark of night. We disclosed everything we did.”

You won't be surprised that a chunk of the donations into these sham PACs was from... unions. Ostensibly government unions that have bilked the taxpayers out of this money in a legalized form of extortion and money laundering, in essence forcing taxpayers to fund the Democratic Party. HT: memeorandum

Video of CNN Guest Prof: "Mr. Obama Is Like Jackie Robinson"

Jackie Robinson got where he was because of hard work. Obama got elected to the Illinois House because his lawyers friends got all his opponents kicked off the ballot. He got elected to the US Senate because his lawyer friends released his opponent's private divorce records causing him to drop out of the race. No hard work was involved here on Obama's part, so the comparison is disingenuous at best:

Why police should not be unionized: "Lawyer for Ohio police threatens state legislator who voted against unions"

Lets put aside for now that government workers shouldn't be unionized at all since there is no profit motive, not working conditions issues from the past, no cap on compensation, that unions negotiate with themselves being that they sit on both sides of the 'bargaining' table and that the ultimate boss - the taxpayers - are completely locked out of the process. But there is an even darker side when the unions represent public safety, and that is that political favoritism puts your safety at risk. In essence, your safety may well depend upon your political viewpoint, a dangerous precedent if there ever was one since public safety employees are supposed to protect the public regardless of politics. From The Other McCain via Instapundit: Lawyer for Ohio police threatens state legislator who voted against unions

Ohio’s state Senate yesterday passed S.B. 5, which would limit the power of government employee unions. Among those voting for the measure was state Sen. Frank LaRose, a 31-year-old freshman Republican from Akron. After the passage of S.B. 5, LaRose’s Facebook page filled up with comments, including one from Michael Sarge Piotrowski who — as Melissa Clouthier explains at Red State — is a lawyer representing the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police.

“Funny thing about cops, they hold grudges,” Piotroski wrote on LaRose’s page.

Now what the heck do you think that's supposed to mean? If Sen LaRose has an emergency at his home, will the responding police officer lay off the gas a bit? A little slower to respond? It's a dangerous precedent where those that won't kowtow to union demands are blacklisted. And how is this different than extortion exactly?

UPDATE: From American Power: Union reps angry after the Ohio vote:

Sen. Barbara Boxer on PBS cuts: ‘Republicans have a vendetta against Elmo’

This isn't your Sesame Street, fool!

There is absolutely no justification these days to continue funding NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars. If the programming quality is there, they will survive and perhaps thrive on the open market. There are literally hundreds of programming choices out there, and there is no reason to fund one that has already been taken over by liberals. Which is exactly why liberals are defending the funding. From The Hill: Sen. Boxer on PBS cuts: ‘Republicans have a vendetta against Elmo’

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that House Republicans want to strip government funding of PBS because they have a "vendetta against Elmo."

...Boxer believes that the GOP has more than just a vendetta against Elmo. She added that Republicans hold a "vendetta against healthcare" and a "vendetta against clean energy."

House Republicans last month passed a bill that would strip government funding for both National Public Radio and PBS.

More from Michelle Malkin, The Lonely Conservative, Cubachi, Liberty Pundits Blog and Weasel Zippers. Related from the Wall Street Journal: Public Broadcasting Should Go Private 

When presidents of government-funded broadcasting are making more than the president of the United States, it's time to get the government out of public broadcasting.

While executives at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) are raking in massive salaries, the organizations are participating in an aggressive lobbying effort to prevent Congress from saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year by cutting their subsidies. The so-called commercial free public airwaves have been filled with pleas for taxpayer cash. The Association of Public Television Stations has hired lobbyists to fight the cuts. Hundreds of taxpayer-supported TV, radio and Web outlets have partnered with an advocacy campaign to facilitate emails and phone calls to Capitol Hill for the purpose of telling members of Congress, "Public broadcasting funding is too important to eliminate!"

PBS President Paula Kerger even recorded a personal television appeal that told viewers exactly how to contact members of Congress in order to "let your representative know how you feel about the elimination of funding for public broadcasting." But if PBS can pay Ms. Kerger $632,233 in annual compensation—as reported on the 990 tax forms all nonprofits are required to file—surely it can operate without tax dollars. 

So they are using taxpayer money to try and get more taxpayer money. Yet another taxpayer money laundering operation, just like government employee unions that extort taxpayer money, only to give back a tithe to the very Democratic Party politicians that gave them that money and will give them more. More from Cubachi, Hot Air, The Hill, Maggie's Notebook, NewsBusters, Liberty Pundits, Doug Ross, The Lonely Conservative and Hugh Hewitt