THE LAST LIBERAL STANDING

Til the Thames Freezes Over, Part Three

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000-06:00

There is a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy out there determined to PROVE ME RIGHT about everything I've written over the last three days. I don't like writing about any topic for three days. Hell, I'd love not to visit this topic ever again. If only the Church of the Holy Global Warming would let it be.

If any of you didn't read my two previous blog entries, here are direct links:
Til the Thames Freezes Over
Til the Thames Freezes Over, Part Two

For those of you who just want to cut to the chase, my point these last two days is that the Global Warming Zealots (who may or may not be correct in their science and beliefs) will tolerate NO DISAGREEMENT with their orthodoxy. Just like the early Christian Church, the Afgan Taliban and other tight religious orthodoxies, they persecute, hound and attempt to destroy anyone who dares to disagree with their version of the facts.

Their next victims will be any local television weathermen who might not follow the Global Warming Script to the letter. Firing will be the minimum punsihment, stoning is not out of the question.

Here's today's latest example, courtesy of Doug Powers over at Michelle Malkin:

Global Warmists Seek to Flush Out ‘Denier’ Meteorologists

The ultimate goal is to clone Al Gore to serve as a weatherman at every local television station so he can offer the patented Hypocrite-Cast® nightly, but that can’t happen if there are still global warming deniers allowed on the air:

The Forecast the Facts campaign — led by 350.org, the League of Conservation Voters and the Citizen Engagement Lab — is pushing for more of a focus on global warming in weather forecasts, and is highlighting the many meteorologists who do not share their beliefs.
“Our goal is nothing short of changing how the entire profession of meteorology tackles the issue of climate change,” the group explains on their website. “We’ll empower everyday people to make sure meteorologists understand that their viewers are counting on them to get this story right, and that those who continue to shirk their professional responsibility will be held accountable.”
According to the Washington Post, the reason for the campaign can be found in a 2010 George Mason University surveys, which found that 63% of television weathermen think that global warming is a product of natural causes, while 31% believe it is from human activity.
So far, the campaign has identified 55 “deniers” in the meteorologist community and are looking for more. They define “deniers” as “anyone who expressly refutes the overwhelming scientific consensus about climate change: that it is real, largely caused by humans, and already having profound impacts on our world.”

This seems incredibly counter-productive, because the more successful they are in adding names to the ever-growing meteorologist denier list, the faster the notion of “scientific consensus” goes out the window.

An additional version of this story is also available on The Daily Caller: Global warming activists seek to purge ‘deniers’ among local weathermen

Til the Thames Freezes Over, Part Two

2012-01-30T09:21:00.001-06:00

This will come as a horrible shock to the Global Warming Zealots

and others throughout time who sought to stifle scientific inquiry,

but the earth is spherical, revolves around the sun

and is not the center of the universe.

Global Warming may be occurring. After all, it would hardly be the first time in earth's long history that warming has occurred. Cooling cycled have occurred, too. What is interesting is that man has almost always coped better with these cycles in the past than we are today. We've moved north, moved south, planted different crops, hunted different game, stored fuel, changed lifestyles. And we did it slowly and in perfect rhythm with our wonderful planet.

But not today. Today, we have turned climate change into a powerful religious orthodoxy, with priests, bishops and even false gods. And God help you if you cross these powerful servants of the holy writ.

No sooner than yesterday's controversy reared it's ugly head (see my original blog post, yesterday) than we get news of a mini-revolt with the scientific community over the exact same issues. It's magnificently documented in The Wall Street Journal article quoted below:

No Need to Panic About Global Warming

There's no compelling scientific argument for drastic action

Editor's Note: The following has been signed by the 16 scientists listed at the end of the article:

In September, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ivar Giaever, a supporter of President Obama in the last election, publicly resigned from the American Physical Society (APS) with a letter that begins: "I did not renew [my membership] because I cannot live with the [APS policy] statement: 'The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring. If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth's physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.' In the APS it is OK to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible?"

In spite of a multidecade international campaign to enforce the message that increasing amounts of the "pollutant" carbon dioxide will destroy civilization, large numbers of scientists, many very prominent, share the opinions of Dr. Giaever. And the number of scientific "heretics" is growing with each passing year. The reason is a collection of stubborn scientific facts.

----- Significant additional data follows ------- Read the entire article for complete information ------

SIGNED: Claude Allegre, former director of the Institute for the Study of the Earth, University of Paris; J. Scott Armstrong, cofounder of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting; Jan Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism, Rockefeller University; Roger Cohen, fellow, American Physical Society; Edward David, member, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences; William Happer, professor of physics, Princeton; Michael Kelly, professor of technology, University of Cambridge, U.K.; William Kininmonth, former head of climate research at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences, MIT; James McGrath, professor of chemistry, Virginia Technical University; Rodney Nichols, former president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences; Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, designer of Voyager and SpaceShipOne; Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. senator; Nir Shaviv, professor of astrophysics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Henk Tennekes, former director, Royal Dutch Meteorological Service; Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists, Geneva.

Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE in The Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The problem is politicization of the scientific community has made discussion and even investigation into climate change nearly impossible. Anyone who disagrees with the orthodoxy loses their job, is unable to get funding for research and become a pariah in both the scientific and political community.

There is so much we need to do to protect the earth and improve the environment, much of it in perfect harmony with the goals of the Global Warming zealots. Third world destruction of the vast forests needs to slow or stop. Pollution in Bejing is fatal for many of its residents. I could go on and on.

What we should NOT do is stifle scientific investigation or lock away adversaries as the religious zealots did with Galileo so many years ago.

Til The Thames Freezes Over

2012-01-29T16:58:00.000-06:00

Years from now the politicization of the Global Warming Debate will be the topic of great books. Not that anybody will read them or pay attention to their lessons. But this last ten years of Global Warming Hysteria will be compared to the religious persecution of Galileo and Copericus.

The problem is that science once again took the back set to power, profit and politics. Former Vice President Al Gore will likely become the major villain in this low point in advancement of science, as he should well be. By making science the pawn of politics he has made it impossible for legitimate scientific debate to even happen. Opponents to the Sacred Scripture of Global Warming lost their jobs, were hounded into silence and had the careers destroyed.

As evidence mounts that Global Warming IS NOT occurring and, in fact, we are already in a major cooling cycle, climate priests are changing their scripture to read "climate change," perhaps the most stupid acknowledgement of a truth as old as the earth itself. If one thing has happened over the last 8 million years, the climate has changed..... over and often.

There is much we can, should do, and even must do to improve life on earth for all its peoples and its environment. False hysteria for political power accomplishes nothing except destroy science itself.

From today's U.K. Daily Mail:

Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about (and if NASA scientists are right the Thames will be freezing over again)

Met Office releases new figures which show no warming in 15 years

The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.

The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.

A painting, dated 1684, by Abraham Hondius depicts one of many
frost fairs on the River Thames during the mini ice age

Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

Be SURE to read the entire article (it's quite long and detailed) here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming--Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html#ixzz1ktGrC8WD

Bait a Hook

2012-01-27T09:00:00.001-06:00

Nothin' like a little fishin' to rest and relax.

Every now and then I need to jump over to my Radio Station hobby and play a little music or put up a music video for you all to enjoy. I certianly hope every one of you listens to WIZARD RADIO. There's a widget over on the upper right side of this blog for easy access.

My only "political" thought for today is that I read virtually all the blogs written by folks who comment here. And I follow over three hundred fine politically orientated folks on Twitter, both Left and Right. All too often too many of us jump to quick and occasionally stupid conclusions about our (supposed) opposition. On Twitter people can get especially mean spirited.

This video might be a good lesson for us about jumping to conclusions about other people. I love that old saying... When you ASSUME... you just make an ASS out of U and ME.

Have fun and have a great day!

Blackout

2012-01-18T11:24:00.000-06:00

Tragically, SOPA and PIPA are not characters from Grimm's Fairly Tales, although their potential to harm rivals the most evil characters the Grimm Brothers ever imagined.

In reality SOPA and PIPA are the acronyms for the two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate designed in Machiavellian fashion by panicked Hollywood moguls to protect their stranglehold on the creative arts. Their highly paid minions in Congress will claim that SOPA (short for the "Stop Online Piracy Act") and PIPA (short for "Protect Intellectual Property Act") are merely modest efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites. However, it's not about protecting copyrights at all, it's actually about control, protecting profits and, ultimately, censorship.

SOPA and PIPA are designed in a way that infringes free expression while harming the Internet. Both acts criminalize the act of providing links, the very backbone of the Internet. Hence, if I link, however innocently, to a site that host stolen copyrighted content (like YouTube, for example), my blog site might be closed down.

Detailed information about these bills can be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act articles on Wikipedia.

GovTrack lets you follow both bills through the legislative process: SOPA on this page, and PIPA on this one.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for the public interest in the digital realm, has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.

Am I Kidding? ....errr, No

2011-12-19T18:21:00.000-06:00

The Silly Super Committee Blame Game

2011-11-22T13:23:00.001-06:00

Thank God Joe Scarborough gets it, because I swear not one other commentator, left or right, sees the truth of the Super Committee's failure. For today's politicians, it's all the blame game.

Joe Scarborough said, in part:

“Blaming Grover Norquist for this collapse is the lamest Democratic fiction since the Tonkin Gulf incident [used to justify American intervention in Vietnam]. Like LBJ said a couple of years later, they were shooting at ghosts or whales, and yet that was his excuse to go into Vietnam.

"Grover Norquist, for anybody that works in Washington, D.C., understands that, like a lot of people in Washington, he’s got his own point of view. But Grover holds no magical power over anybody. … He’s not really a powerful guy. His idea may be powerful to conservatives, but he in of himself is not a powerful guy.”

“Democrats have the president of the United States, right? They’ve got the United States Senate — the world’s most deliberative body, the upper chamber. What else do they call them? America’s most exclusive club. They haven’t produced a budget in over 900 days."

"The president of the United States, a Democrat, appoints a commission to take care of the debt. And then he ignores everything that commission says."

"Anybody today trying to blame Grover Norquist or to suggest that Grover Norquist is somehow more powerful than the president of the United States and the United States Senate, which everybody in Washington knows runs Washington. It’s not the House. It is the upper chamber. And the Democrats own it. They are close to a monopoly of Washington, D.C., but to blame this on Grover Norquist is laughable.”

"This is a straw man to end all straw men. Grover Norquist has been a straw man. Republicans haven’t even been in charge of the House of Representatives for a year. It’s as if 2009 and 2010 and the massive deficits that were accumulated then didn’t even exist. But, again, I’m blaming both sides today. Both sides have their feet in ideological cement. But Grover Norquist is a straw man."

"These same Democrats that said that George W. Bush abused the powers of office and, ‘Oh, the executive branch had become too powerful,’ are now suggesting Barack Obama, who, by the way, has been completely AWOL on this issue, is powerless? A man who put a debt commission in — he put Simpson/Bowles together and then completely threw them under the bus."

"Mika, you and I, if I ever come back, then I’ll shut up, we have to get Senate Democrats on this program and start asking them exactly why, in the midst of America’s greatest budgetary crisis in 235 years, they have refused, stubbornly, to produce a budget for over 900 days.”

“The president of the United States is still president of the United States. Democrats still control the United States Senate. Grover Norquist’s idea may be a strong one. Grover Norquist has absolutely no power in Washington, D.C. other than the idea he carries. And I am so surprised that Democrats really believe that the presidency is as weak as they believe it is now. That this president couldn’t step forward and show at least a little bit of leadership. He has been AWOL since he and [House Speaker John] Boehner failed on the debt ceiling. He better engage quickly or else we’re going the way of Europe.”

The above is an abridged transcript of Scarborough's comments taken from Jeff Poor's excellent article in The Daily Caller. Read it all here: Scarborough scolds MSNBC colleagues: Stop blaming Grover Norquist

Why Mitt Can't Win

2011-11-18T14:40:00.001-06:00

This is a really short post prompted by the new POLL showing the Newt Gringrich is about to pass Mitt Romney even n the "firewall" state of New Hampshire. Here is the link: Poll: Gingrich, Romney in Dead Heat in N.H.

Here's Mitt's problem in a nutshell. The Mitt Romney who was the excellent governor of Massachusetts could have won easily. I would certainly have chosen him over Barack Obama and so would many others. He was the perfect Republican, intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate and honest. He could have easily overcome the few issues where he didn't match the far right wing of the Republican Party.

But that Mitt isn't running. Instead he reinvented himself into the far right wing Romney. His problem is that nobody believes him. Those who appreciated the bravery of the original Romney feel betrayed he has so easily abandoned his principles. And far right conservatives just think he's full of shit.

His only support comes because the liberal media keeps telling Republicans, desperate for a victory, that Mitt's the only candidate who can beat Obama. But there is no passion there. Hell, there's no there, there. Mitt would go down to defeat in a pattern similar to John McCain.

Republican's have no enthusiasm for Romney. There will be no grass roots effort. The election will be boring with everyone from both sides staying at home.

Now, I'm on record saying nobody currently running can beat Obama, so it hardly matters. Newt, Mitt, Herman, Rick... they'll all go down to defeat.

I've often said that a candidates ability to hold to his principles matter more to me that party or even political positions. With that standard it's not possible for me to vote for Mitt.

Political Correctness is Soooo Much Sweeter Than Actual Freedom

2011-11-03T13:30:00.001-05:00

This blog started almost 20 years ago principally to defend freedom of speech and to be certain that the cherished freedoms we have in the real world extends into the internet. Twenty years later those freedom are still under assault, both in the real world and on the Internet.

But my source of outrage today.... well, not outrage as much as disappointment is an article that appears in Time Magazine's Opinion Section on-line written by Bruce Crumley. In my constant war to protect free speech I have always counted on virtually all journalists and major publishers as trustworthy allies. Time Magazine and Mr. Crumley have defected to the other side.

The headline of Mr. Crumley's Op-Ed is Firebombed French Paper Is No Free Speech Martyr You can click on the headline to read the entire article, I'm only going to reprint a small portion below.

.... The Wednesday morning arson attack destroyed the Paris editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo after the paper published an issue certain to enrage hard-core Islamists ....

.... the coarse and heavy-handed Islamist theme of the current edition of Charlie Hebdo. As part of its gag, the paper had re-named itself “Sharia Hebdo”. It also claimed to have invited Mohammed as its guest editor to “celebrate the victory” of the Islamist Ennahda party in Tunisia's first free elections last week. In addition to satirical articles on Islam-themed topics, the paper contains drawings of Mohammed in cartoons featuring Charlie Hebdo's trademark over-the-top (and frequently not “ha-ha funny”) humor. The cover, for example, features a crudely-drawn cartoon of the Prophet saying “100 Whip Lashes If You Don't Die Of Laughter.” Maybe you had to be there when it was first sketched.

.... free societies have to exercise a minimum of intelligence, calculation, civility and decency in practicing their rights and liberties—and that isn't happening when a newspaper decides to mock an entire faith on the logic that it can claim to make a politically noble statement by gratuitously pissing people off.Defending freedom of expression in the face of oppression is one thing; insisting on the right to be obnoxious and offensive just because you can is infantile. Baiting extremists isn't bravely defiant when your manner of doing so is more significant in offending millions of moderate people as well. And within a climate where violent response—however illegitimate—is a real risk ....

Aside from the all too obvious "let's blame the girl for getting raped because she wore a short dress" theme of his diatribe, the conclusion of Mr. Crumley's essay is that we shouldn't needlessly offend a large portion of the population, especially if you're not very funny.

Mr. Crumley wants to place two limitations on free speech. First you must not needlessly offend a large segment of the population. This begs the question of how we might determine the need to offend. If I campaign here in Mississippi against the certain to pass "Right to Life" Amendment 26 I am certain to offend a majority of the population who believes abortion should be banned. My efforts will be futile, but are they "needless?"

Secondly, Mr Crumley wants the standard to be that the offending speech be really funny, or perhaps of sufficiently high literary quality. Certainly my writing is of inferior quality and not funny at all. So my campaign for a woman's right to choose fails on both points.

Obviously, in the gospel according to Crumley, I must just shut up.

Fortunately for Bruce Crumley, I strongly disagree with everything he wrote. Therefore I am able to staunchly defend his right to write an insanely stupid, poorly written, terribly unfunny, horribly offensive article in Time Magazine. And I will condemn anyone who chooses to firebomb his office or otherwise attack his free speech rights.

Inexcusible

2011-10-29T13:53:00.001-05:00

I've often discussed the primary difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans distrust the Government and Democrats distrust Corporations. Obviously this has little to do with Liberal versus Conservative philosophies, although there is a small overlap. Liberals often need the Government to achieve their goals.

So here I am stuck with strong Liberals values, but with a deep understanding of that Government bureaucracy almost always fails and fails miserably at absolutely everything it does. There are some tasks only government can fulfill like the military, but even then expect waste, corruption and incompetence.

I HATE Democrats (even though I am one) because they often apologize or even deny these failures in an effort to defend their selfish use of government for almost everything. It's all about power, power for the party in power, instead about doing what's best for the people.

We have a situation on California that clearly illustrates government's continuous and absolute failure to do any job right. And when government fouls up people are hurt or die. In this case we simply threw thousands of children to the wolves.

In spites of warnings, instructions, cries for help and pleading, the Child Welfare Services never took the time to check if registered sex offenders were caring for Foster Children! They gave vulnerable children to over 1,000 Sex Offenders!! That's right, Child Services, charged with the responsibility of removing children from potentially dangerous home situations, were turning around and placing them in even more danger!!

No government employee checked. Not once, not ever! And it would have been simple because California has a computerized list of sex offenders.

Of course excuses will now flow like water. Not enough money will be the leading excuse. The legislature never passed a law making it illegal for sex offenders to care for foster children will be another. But, in reality, it's not enough accountability. If a few hundred people instantly lost their jobs (and that should, but will not, happen) this situation could and would change. But mostly we'll get hand wringing and excuses.

We Seriously Need A Better Quality of Protester

2011-10-08T14:21:00.000-05:00

File under Tea Party Protester Envy.

Ann Coulter wrote a devastating column in which she was 100% correct. Colter wrote (in part):

"I am not the first to note the vast differences between the Wall Street protesters and the tea partiers. To name three: The tea partiers have jobs, showers and a point."

"Tea partiers didn't block traffic, sleep on sidewalks, wear ski masks, fight with the police or urinate in public. They read the Constitution, made serious policy arguments, and petitioned the government against Obama's unconstitutional big government policies, especially the stimulus bill and Obamacare."

"Then they picked up their own trash and quietly went home. Apparently, a lot of them had to be at work in the morning."

Damn but Coulter is right. The Tea Party folks had literally hundreds of individual protests and involved hundreds of thousands of protesters with virtually no arrests, no destruction of property and organization and cleanliness that was stunning. Most parks, streets and protest venues were left cleaner than before the protests began.

The Occupy Wall Street protests are now limping across America, but have no logic, no intelligent commentary and virtually no point. But there are plenty of arrests and tons of garbage and filth.

Videos abound showing the tragically uninformed protesting the banks and bankers, the wealthy and super rich and the high price of broccoli. Demands include, but are not limited to forgiveness of all debt, especially student loans and all mortgages, guaranteed jobs for everyone at high wages, and that all retirees can vacation in Cancun (no joke).

Some rally around President Obama, others call him a traitor. Many call for the overthrow of the government and the abolition of capitalism.

What's even more frightening is how many Democrat politicians and pundits have endorsed their cause, what ever-the-hell that might or might not be. Even President Obama and Vice President Biden have added their voice of support. Nancy Pelosi, who we must remember was terrified of the law abiding Tea Partiers, Has heartily endorsed the Occupy Wall Street Crowd and many other Dems have given them moral support.

Keith Olbermann is their biggest and most visible supporter. I guess he's praying he can become to the Occupy Wall Street crowd what Glenn Beck was to the Tea Partiers and ride the movement to giant protests and a television special on the capital mall. The problem is Olbermann has to carefully chose his interviews and generally supply meaning and message when none is actually there. If only the entire rest of the national media had stayed away and hadn't reported the truth about the protests. Alas, Olbermann look more like an idiot with each passing day.

The final insult is that, in order to move the protests nationwide, politicians and union members have had to print up signs and then pay illegal immigrants and out of work union members to carry the signs. Many of the pseudo-protesters do not speak English and have no idea what the signs even say.

The Struggle Between Consumption and Conservation

2011-10-07T13:58:00.001-05:00

One of the most riviting, most compelling, best written filmed and produced commercials I've ever seen. Showing in Great Britain only. The voice over is done by Jeremy Clarkson, who I genuinely believe means every single word he says.....

Want to Know What Republicans REALLY THINK? Ask one.

2011-10-05T13:51:00.000-05:00

Here is a novel idea, one I'm certain my fellow Liberals will ignore. If you really want to know what motivates Republicans, or conservatives or (gasp!) tea party followers, just ask one. And then seriously listen to their answers.

Don't interrupt them. Don't insult them. Don't demonize them. Ask intelligent follow up questions. Make a genuine effort to understand positions and solutions that are different from your own.

I'm certainly not suggesting you agree with them. Just that you actually listen and attempt to understand.

You have to do this yourself, because the television networks we know and love seem incapable of doing it for us.

I am appalled and distressed at the nonsense, hyperbole, falsehoods, half truths and outright lies being foisted upon us Liberals every night by the hosts and guests on MSNBC and Current TV's Keith Olbermann show. Rachel Maddow will tell you what conservatives think. Al Sharpton will tell you how evil and duplicitous conservatives are. Then Ed Schultz will tell you that the Tea Party is plotting the overthrow of mankind.

They will occasionally parade supposed conservative guests before us, people who are either not conservatives at all or who are foolish caricatures of what we Liberals WANT to believe conservatives really are. I have genuinely NEVER seen a real, credible or articulate conservative on MSNBC. To see those folks (and there are plenty of them) you need to turn to Fox News.

No, what we get on MSNBC are guests who are the Washington Generals to the Maddow, O'Donnell and Schultz version of The Harlem Globetrotters. This way Maddow et al can tell us that "Tea Party Leaders" are idiots and them produce a living example to prove her point.

There was a time when Rachel Maddow was an excellent and articulate spokesperson for the left back when she was a guest of the ill fated Tucker Carlson Show. Carlson was no match for Maddow, she is brighter, more articulate and more likeable that Tucker Carlson. But he kept her honest! Now, she is guilty nightly of spewing propoganda, generally telling only half of any story.

Health Insurance Now Cost MORE Than a New Car - Every Year!!

2011-09-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

"Health Insurance Costs More Than a New Car" is certainly a Drudge worthy headline. He has a eye for the grabber headline that yields massive click-thrus. And this one sure caught my eye.

But in this case the click through from Drudge leads you to an honest to goodness news story in POLITCO (not even an op-ed piece). But it's still a scary story. Family Health Insurance for the average family in America now exceeds $15,000.00 a year. That's more than the cost of a new Ford Fiesta. Every single year!

You could have a Jay Leno sized garage full of cars in just a few short years if you simply stopped buying Health Insurance!!

How can this possibly happen? The key is that the average American doesn't realize how much he is being charged. His or her costs are partially paid by the employer and the balance is split up by paycheck, between 24 and 52 payments a year, so they seem smaller than they actually are.

The POLITICO article goes out of its way to make certain readers know that OBAMACARE (or the Affordable Care Act) is NOT the reason for these huge premiums, it's mostly actual increases in healthcare costs. In fact the POLITICO article points out that Obamacare may hold back future cost increases.

But this is reality and the article makes clear that these costs are increasing much faster than the rate of inflation. I believe the so-called Affordable Care Act is not part of any solution. I'm sorry the bill became so politically charged that real compromise was never even considered. Republicans and Democrats share the blame equally. Although I feel Nancy Pelosi was primary the architect of this fiasco.

Market forces could reduce these costs, but only once the actual payer, the patient or the employee, understands how much he is really paying. Our system of employer paid health insurance hides the real costs from the insured, while forcing the uninsured into certain bankruptcy.

George Washington Wrote the Tea Party Agenda

2011-09-19T18:33:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the wonderful Garrison Keillor and The Writer's Almanac on National Public Radio I learned that President George Washington published his famous Farewell Address 215 years ago today, on September 19, 1796. This address was never spoken or delivered to an audience, it was published in newspapers around the country.

After listening to Keillor, I decided to read the original address myself. Here is a link ot a PDF of the address in it's entirety: Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States. It's a difficult read as English isn't the same language it was 215 years ago. And Washington was verbose. No 140 character tweets here.

According to historical accounts, Washington took over four years to write this address. He had significant help from James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. He had things he wanted to say, things he felt were important.

As many of you already know I have frequent breakfasts and lunches with a group of conservative Tea Party types who hold the majority here in rural central Mississippi. These folks are most assuredly clinging to their guns and bibles. We engage in lively, but good spirited debates.

As I read Washington's Farewell Address (for the first time ever, I'm embarrassed to admit), I was struck that I read virtually EXACTLY what my breakfast Tea Party companions have been saying. Not just sort of saying, but damned near word for word. I don't know if ANY of these folks ever read Washington's Farewell Address. They certainly don't ever claim to be quoting Washington, but they sure share his beliefs.

Washington had five major points of advice to his countrymen in his address. To say Washington was passionate would be an understatement.

Washington believed strongly in the importance of a balanced budget. He felt our good credit was critical to the very survival of the nation.
Washington believed in the importance of Religion and national morality. Folks I'm not making this up, read it for yourself. Let me quote Washington: "And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
Washington believed in the importance of avoiding permanent foreign alliances. To paraphrase he certainly wouldn't believe in Nation Building, nor would he ever want the United States become subservient to any foreign body.
Washington feared Constitutional Amendments might weaken the Federal Government. OK. he certainly called that one wrong, but he believed in a strong federal government.
Washington Feared and Warned Against Political Parties. My Tea Party breakfast companions and I don't often agree, but we're certainly together on this one. Nothing hurts our society today more than the political parties that work only for power and rarely for the good of the people.

Although it's common to believe the Tea Party is an offshoot of the Republican Party, nothing could be further from the truth. Tea Parties turn on Republicans quickly and field primary opponents to oust those who don't agree with their principles.

This is all food for thought. Washington's words have wisdom, but they are 215 years old. We occasionally accuse Tea Party conservatives of living in the past. Some things have changed. Some things haven't.

Tears in Tragedy: Remembering Sue Kim Hanson

2011-09-11T10:20:00.005-05:00

Several years ago a diverse and eclectic group of bloggers created the 2,996 Project. In this project, one blogger was assigned to prepare a remembrance for each of the victims who died during the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001

It's hard to believe ten years has passed since this horrific tragedy. As I watch television today we seem to remember the event, but the individuals, the quiet lives of the victims are fading into the mist of time. That is the greatest tragedy of all.

Please take time to remember just how frail and how fleeting life really is. Read and remember Sue Kim Hanson.

Sue Kim Hanson
September 11, 2006

A short note appears on the Boston University Medical Campus Calendar Website noting that Jonathan W. Yewdell, M.D., Ph.D., Chief, Cellular Biology Section of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases will be speaking tomorrow, September 11, 2006, on the topic of "Gained in Translation: Generating Viral and Cellular Peptide Antigens from DRiPs."

He is speaking at 4:00 pm in Keefer Auditorium and a Reception in the Wilkins Board Room will follow.

What might be missed by a casual observer is perhaps the most important fact of all. Dr. Yewdell is the guest speaker for the 5th Annual Sue Kim Hanson Lecture In Immunology.

If you noticed this, you might simply assume that Sue Kim Hanson is (or was) some generous benefactor to the University. A lecture named for her to repay her gift.

Or perhaps you would guess that she is (or was) a notable scientist who, at one time or another, taught or studied at Boston University. Someone who should be honored for the advancements she made in Immunology.

And, indeed, all of the above is true. Just not in the way you might expect.

Susan Kim Hanson was one of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack that took the lives of 2,996 souls in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the fields of Pennsylvania.

Sue, her husband Peter, and her two year old daughter Christine were on United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Her daughter Christine was the youngest victim of the September 11th attack.

But the Boston University Lecture Series is not named after Sue Kim Hanson because of the way she died, but because of the way she lived.

Sue was a great scientist in the making. She was a doctoral candidate in micro-biology immunology at Boston University and working on her final thesis. Her work promised to reveal the workings of a chemical believed to regulate immune responses. She had isolated in lab mice a gene suspected of being involved in asthma sufferers and AIDS patients. Her work had the potential to help millions of people.

Susan Kim was one of those wonderful American success stories. A Korean-American, Sue had lived with her grandmother in Korea until she was 6. Her mother died when she was 15 and she was raised by her strict Korean father. Through hard work and discipline, sacrifice, dedication and sheer will power she neared the goal her mother and father and grandmother had hoped she would achieve, her doctorate degree.

Dr. Hardy Kornfeld, Hanson's thesis adviser, said "She was sort of fearless. Sue just took on tasks that were incredibly challenging, and more often than not she was able to make a go at them."

That she would be attracted to the wild and undisciplined Peter Hanson was a great surprise. Three years younger than Sue Kim, Peter gained his education by following The Grateful Dead. Peter believed that the group and its music would become classics, up there with Beethoven, Bach and company, and he tried to sway the opinion of anyone who would listen. Many of our listeners to Wizard Radio would certainly agree with Peter.

But even if Sue wasn't quite convinced about the Dead, she believed in Peter. And her faith was well placed. Peter was, by all accounts, a brilliant software engineer, a great salesman and a wonderful person.

He was passionate about Sue and Sue fell head over heals in love with Peter. She obviously had a great effect on him. Legacy.com has a reprint of a New York Times article about Sue that tells the story:

"The relationship spurred Peter Hanson to clip his tangle of brownish-red dreadlocks, trade in tie-dyed T- shirts for suits, go to business school and become one of the best software salesmen his friends and family had ever met. He was vice president of marketing at TimeTrade in Waltham, Mass."

"Her bond with the Hansons was so strong that they accompanied her to California when she went to inform her father about her engagement. She worried that her father would protest because Peter Hanson was not Korean. But her family embraced the Hansons."

Sue and Peter were married and had a beautiful daughter. Sue continued to pursue her doctoral degree. She was scheduled to defend her thesis in November, 2001.

Taking a last break before finalizing her research and thesis, Sue, Peter and Christine were on their way to visit the Sue's father and grandmother in California, and take Christine to Disneyland, when they boarded United Airlines Flight 175. Peter was one of those who made a final cell phone call to his parents moments before the plane crashed into the south tower.

Sue's friend Mona Pengree writes, "Sue was awarded her PhD posthumously, as her professor finished her work on her behalf. This is a wonderful picture of her, and she shone every bit as brightly in person. Probably more. Her loss was a loss to all mankind."

Sue gave a great deal to Boston University and she gave a great deal to all of us. Her work in immunology inspired her fellow students, faculty and the University to continue her research and finish her thesis. They awarded her a doctorate degree. And they established the Annual Sue Kim Hanson Lecture In Immunology, not just to honor her memory, but to give full credit to her work and the inspiration, the strength and the courage Sue provides to us all.

God bless you Sue... and Peter and Christine and all those who died so tragically five years ago.

God bless.

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ADDENDUM: Inserted September 11, 2011:

Michelle Malkin wrote this in her syndincated column back in December, 2001, but I had never seen it until today. Christine Hanson SHOULD HAVE BEEN 13 years old this year. In her Christmas column in 2001 Malkin wrote:

"Eight children were murdered on hijacked airliners that crashed on Sept. 11. Christine Hanson, 3, was on United Airlines Flight 175 with her parents. She was on her first trip to Disneyland. Christine was brown-eyed and rosy-cheeked and button-nosed. At family meals, she made everyone stand and hold hands while singing the theme song from Barney. During Christine's funeral, mourners re-enacted the scene, singing:

"I love you, you love me . . ." "

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As I mentioned in an earlier entry, there is a wealth of information, tribute and love scattered throughout the Internet in remembrance of Sue Kim Hanson. I owe every contributor who came before me a deep debt of gratitude. Through each of you I have come to know Sue, Peter and Christine. You have touched my heart.

If my Tribute to Susan Kim Hanson here today fell short in any way, I deeply apologize and would love to hear from any of you.

I suggest these following resources from which I have borrowed freely in preparing this tribute:

Remember September 11, 2001

A mother to her son: How could I forget your curiosity and energy? By Eunice Hanson, for The Associated Press

Peter, Sue Kim, and Christine Hanson Memorial Web Site

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Back in 2006, the 2,996 Project asked bloggers to prepare tributes to all who died in the tragic events of September 11th. Many of those blog entries remain on line and many will be reprinted today.

Unintended Consequences

2011-08-18T21:14:00.005-05:00

In spite of what I hear frequently from Conservatives, and often from Liberals, it is extremely rare for anyone in government to set out to do bad things. Neither the "opposition" nor the President is out to "destroy the country." Tweeting it in all CAPS doesn't make it true.

In fact most politicians genuinely want to make things better, at least for the folks who elected them.

So why do we keep hearing the name calling and, often, outright hatred of the so-called "opposition?" To put it simply the philosophical differences between Liberals and Conservatives are sometimes so vast they prohibit common understanding.

Most disputes arise from Liberals belief that business, especially corporations, cannot be trusted, must be regulated, and must be prevented from exploiting both the consumer and the laborer.

Conservatives believe, on the other hand, that Government, especially the Federal Government, cannot be trusted, must be minimized, and must be prevented from exploiting both the consumer and the laborer.

In short Liberals trust the government, conservatives trust the free market.

One of the most obvious laws that has arisen from Liberal's fear of corporations is the demand for competitive bidding on most government projects. These are good laws and good practice. Conservatives agree because corporations themselves engage in competitive bidding. This is exactly as it should be as it saves the taxpayers money and insures fair and open competition.

But here's where Conservatives and Liberals part. While Liberals DEMAND competitive bidding for contracts, the Liberal fear of corporate exploitation actually creates another unbreakable monopoly, fixes prices, stifles competition and insures gross overpayment in another area of commerce: Labor or workers wages. Today thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have "prevailing wage" laws, backed by the depression era Federal Law known as the Davis-Bacon Act. Curiously these laws do not insure workers are paid the actual prevailing wage, but that they are paid significantly more. Instead of looking to the private sector, "prevailing wage "rates are dictated by unelected government boards of bureaucrats, often stacked with union members. These laws only affect wages paid for government contracts and government projects.

Davis-Bacon is a sacred cow among Liberals and especially unions. Every election every effort is made to protect "prevailing wage" laws and Davis-Bacon itself. How else can we Liberals protect the lowly laborers from the evil corporations?

A little history of Davis-Bacon is in order here. Although the law is a child of The Great Depression, it wasn't written or enacted by President Roosevelt and The New Deal Democrats. Instead it was authored by Republican Senator James Bacon of Pennsylvania and Republican Representative Robert Davis of New York and it was signed into law by Republican President Herbert Hoover. Worse yet it was one of the most blatantly racist laws passed by Congress since the end of the Civil War. It's primary purpose was to prevent blacks from working on government projects and to insure skilled trade unions would remain mostly white. Bacon, Davis and others feared an influx of black laborers from the south would stream into the north, willing to work for much less than the white natives. [Does any of this sound vaguely familiar to the current illegal immigration fears being debated in Congress today?]

The law was so distasteful that Congress defeated it for fourteen straight years. But Davis and Bacon reintroduced it in each new session of Congress. The Depression gave Davis-Bacon new life. Hoover believed that the depression might end if we could just raise workers wages. He agreed to lend his support the bill. As The Great Depression deepened, Congress was willing to try anything and finally passed the bill. It certainly didn't save Hoover's job as he was defeated later that year.

As often is the case, the law now has the exact reverse effect from what was originally intended. This morning on National Public Radio's Morning Edition we had this stunning example of the law's failure in Washington State:

A state law that's been on the books for more than a half-century requires Washington companies to pay their workers a prevailing wage — or an hourly rate set by the government — on state-funded projects.

But as Precision's Leighton explains, companies in states like Idaho and Utah, which don't have prevailing wage laws, can pay their workers less.

"It puts us at such a disadvantage," he says. "There could be a project right out on our backdoor out here that I can't get because a company in Utah gets such a competitive advantage by not having to pay these rates."

Prevailing wage rules were put in place so workers would get a living wage, but on a job like this one, Leighton says the difference could be $10 an hour per worker.

State Sen. Steve Conway, a Democrat, agrees that the rules can make it difficult to compete against out-of-state firms.

"It does have unintended consequences," he says. "We need to figure out a solution to this."

For now, at least, Precision is likely to bid on fewer state-funded projects, and that means fewer choices and chances to win large contracts close to home. The company is now looking for projects in places like Alaska and Guam.

A law originally intended to protect local workers instead costs local workers their jobs. And the law also causes the government to overpay for their projects, when compared with similar projects completed in the private sector.

Why is The Drudge Report the Single Most Important News Site?

2011-08-11T11:58:00.001-05:00

This morning The Drudge Report is trumpeting a study that has determined that the Drudge website DRIVES MORE TRAFFIC than Twitter and Facebook combined!!

The same study by The Outbrain Publisher Network also confirms that Drudge drives more traffic than CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times or The Huffington Post. In fact only the three major search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing! drive more traffic.

And Drudge is getting more powerful. The report indicates that both his traffic and his referrals are growing. Because of that Drudge, with just two employees aiding the eccentric Matt Drudge, is also increasingly influential. By his simple choice of stories and his paraphrasing of headlines, he becomes an opinion maker!

Because I work in the Internet Industry I am surrounded by "experts," including some of my own employees, who dismiss, criticize and even ridicule the outdated, simplistic, format of the website. To listen to these "experts" it's even a mortal sin to actually use Time New Roman as a font.

"Where's the flash? Where's the javascript? Where's the big pictures, maps, head shots, video, or audio? Where is the comment's section to "engage the loyal readers?" Where is the sacred "Like" button for Facebook? Or even a little "ReTweet" link? The site is circa 1990. It's an embarrassment to the profession of Web Design!!"

So why IS Drudge the premier News site? Actually it's because of all the reasons listed in the two paragraphs of criticism listed above. By eliminating all the add-ons and busy distractions, Drudge presents, in a quick glance, every single important news story of the day.

To be certain, Drudge has a keen instinct for the news that matters. And his super-quick updates often mean he has the important news first (at least before the other aggregation sires).

Most importantly you never need to dig to find a story. It's all on one page. By concentrating on political news, world news and business news, he covers the core of the news. Everyone is content to move on over to Entertainment Weekly or The Sporting News to get the non-essential stories of the day.

Finally, Drudge has enough tabloid flair to amuse the reader and keep the site compelling. If I'm honest the MSNBC, FOX and CNN websites are just as boring as hell. The news isn't there, it's on page whatever. And the home page puts you to sleep, even on a big news day.

So, even as a liberal, I turn to Drudge first, at least 6 or 7 times every day. It literally takes one minute to get up to date on important events.

The Drudge Report ain't broke. Thank god he hasn't tried to fix it.

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Here's another short analysis from several months ago that draws the same conclusions: The Incredible Drudge Report You'll note I borrowed their artwork for my blog entry today.

Not One Ounce of Moral Courage

2011-08-01T16:46:00.006-05:00

The bashing of the Tea Party by angry and frustrated Democrats continued this afternoon as the House prepared to vote on raising the nation’s debt limit combined with a smidgen of possible future spending cutbacks. It's all theater for a gullible audience. And it's all pure bullshit.

I am an unabashed liberal and Democrat, but I have no sympathy for the Congresspersons or Vice President Biden who remain incapable of telling the truth. As I stated in my last entry, any 2nd grader who has learned to add and subtract can quickly figure out that 375 is greater than 60.

Today's classroom Dunce Award must be shared by Representative Mike Doyle and Vice President Joe Biden who can't figure out this simple math. Both are screaming at the top of their lungs to any passing television or radio reporter that "The Tea Partiers are Terrorists".

If there even are 60 of the so-called Tea Party Terrorists, it would only take about 40 Democrats with a single ounce of moral courage to walk across the aisle and negate their power. The small, yet courageous, Tea Party Caucus has only the power to provide cover for the very large, yet very cowardly, Democrat Party.

You see the Democrats blame the Tea Party for being unwilling to do EXACTLY what the entire Democrat Party was unwilling to do: bend their principles to negotiate in good faith an end to this crisis. What Vice President Biden and Mike Doyle wanted was for the Republicans to pass a balanced and moderate bill, all by themselves, without a single Democrat vote. The bill was always there, within Democrats grasp, if they came to the table and compromised. Dems could have frozen the tea party out. But they didn't.

Now, to be certain, the Tea Party did win emerge victorious. At least a little. But it was always a David versus Goliath battle. The Dems were Goliath, afraid to ever use their size and strength. The Tea Party never even had to unholster their slingshot. Goliath was hiding under the table and never entered the field of battle.

Maybe next year, in the few districts we still control, we Democrats can vote with people with the same level of courage as the Tea Partiers.

The Myth of the Tea Party

2011-07-31T08:23:00.003-05:00

I like and I admire Thomas Friedman. And I certainly like and greatly admire former President George H.W. Bush. But Friedman's Op-Ed in today's New York Times, "Bring Back Poppy," may be the most stunningly stupid article I've ever read.

Friedman's error certainly wasn't his praise for former President H.W. Bush. His comments about Bush were spot on correct. Instead his fatal lapse into stupefying moronic idiocy was to somehow give total credit to about 60 neophyte Congresspersons for blocking common sense Tax and Spending reform. Somehow, amazingly, Friedman forgot there are 200 Democrat Congresspersons, not to mention 150 or so mainstream Republican Congresspersons, that could have stopped this madness at any time.

It's convenient and maybe even fun to blame the 60ish Tea Party Republicans for events they had absolutely ZERO control over. But you have to pretend that the entire Democrat caucus and their leader, Nancy Pelosi, don't exist or have forgotten how to vote. In reality it is the Democrats and the huge majority of Republicans that Speaker John Boehner DOES CONTROL, that have forgotten how to compromise. One tiny drop of real bipartisanship by the supposedly reasonable 365 members of the House and this all ends.

If Boehner and Pelosi were actually willing to do their jobs the Tea Party would be the irrelevant minority caucus that they really are.

What's happening here is that the Democrats have cleverly used the Tea Party as cover for their own failure. And Thomas Friedman and most of the mainstream media have fallen for the ruse.

Cost of Livin'

2011-07-28T14:42:00.004-05:00

The battling political armies in Washington D.C.seem to have no idea what is really going on all across America. To the Republicans and Democrats it's just who gets the political advantage..... who scores the most points with voters..... who can garner the higher poll numbers.

Washington is fiddling while America burns.

Ronnie Dunn's powerful new song, "Cost of Livin'" strikes a chord with many Americans.

Here's an interesting anecdote sent to me by "Evan" in response to a Tweet I'd written:

"I heard an interesting interview with Ronnie Dunn about that song."

"When Dunn bought that song in 2008, he really liked it and wanted to put it on his record, but the producers told him that by the time they could get it recorded and released, the recession would be over and the song wouldn't have much meaning."

"Here it is 2011 and it's as relevant as ever."

"The only difference... When the song was originally written, the line was "two dollars and change at the pump . . ."

"And he has also recorded a "four dollars and change at the pump . . ." version that he hopes won't be released."

A Cloud of Doom

2011-07-22T18:03:00.002-05:00

No Deal: Debt Ceiling Talks Between Obama, Boehner Break Down

"Boehner sent a letter to his Republican colleagues explaining his decision to pull out of talks for a "grand bargain." Here are some highlights:

"It has become evident that the White House is not serious about ending the spending binge that is destroying jobs and endangering our children's future," he wrote, adding, "A deal was never reached, and was never really close."

"The president is emphatic that taxes have to be raised. ... The president is emphatic that we cannot make fundamental changes to our entitlement programs," Boehner wrote."

"For these reasons, I have decided to end discussions with the White House and begin conversations with the leaders in the Senate in an effort to find a path forward.""

President Obama lacks the intellectual capacity to deal with this disaster. He has no vision, no plan, no ideas and a massive ego. Is ego an impeachable defect?

Peggy Noonan, long one of the President's biggest supporters and cheerleaders has had enough. She write for all America today when she says "Out of the Way, Please, Mr. President." You can read her entire essay here: The Wall Street Journal

A Glimmer of Hope

2011-07-21T13:15:00.004-05:00

Perhaps I was wrong. Representative John Boehner might just turn out to be President Obama's Tip O'Neil. If so, we are fortunate, indeed. Compromise and strong leadership are needed right now from both President Obama and Speaker Boehner.

Here's the Glimmer: The New York Times: Obama and Boehner Close to Major Deal, Leaders Told

"The Obama administration has informed Democratic Congressional leaders that President Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner were starting to close in on a major budget deal that would enact substantial spending cuts and seek future revenues through a tax overhaul, Congressional officials said Thursday."

Read the entire article and say a little prayer of thanks that Nancy Pelosi is no longer Speaker.

Sloganeering While America Burns

2011-07-19T17:37:00.007-05:00

"The Republicans and Democrats should get in a room until they fix it. Instead, they seem to be sloganeering at each other.... And it's not helpful. And it's really, I think, starting to wear on the American people. It's time for them to stand up, and go in, and be adults and fix the problem."

"[President Obama], you're elected executive to lead. And I think it's incumbent on the president to put the plan out there. You cannot wait for members of a legislative body to lead. The executive has an obligation to lead."

---- New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

Political Parties Are Our Biggest Enemy

2011-07-16T13:28:00.010-05:00

I'll admit that Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) is an idiot, but that is quite beside the point. Still, by making one of the most absurd speeches on record, she illustrates just how totally dysfunctional our two party system has become.

Jackson Lee said: "I am particularly sensitive to the fact that only this president — only this one, only this one — has received the kind of attacks and disagreement and inability to work, only this one."

Then Jackson Lee decided to jump completely off the cliff: "Read between the lines. What is different about this president that should put him in a position that he should not receive the same kind of respectful treatment of when it is necessary to raise the debt limit in order to pay our bills, something required by both statute and the 14th amendment?"

Here is EXACTLY WHY Jackson Lee is wrong. During the last (ultimately successful) attempt to raise the dept ceiling during the tenure of President George W. Bush, NOT ONE SINGLE DEMOCRAT SENATOR VOTED TO INCREASE THE DEBT CEILING. EVERY DEMOCRAT VOTED AGAINST THE BILL TO, as Sheila Jackson Lee so eloquently put it, "raise the debt limit in order to pay our bills, something required by both statute and the 14th amendment."

So, in spite of Jackson Lee's faulty memory, Barack Obama is, in fact, being treated exactly the same way President Bush was treated. It could be argued Obama is being treated with more respect.

This entire Washington debate is just bullshit! If you are against raising the debt limit, you should hold fast to that position. If you believe it is necessary, you should support it. Period. False rhetoric,, race baiting (as Jackson Lee just engaged in), and political posturing should be stopped.

If the political parties would get out of the way we might actually get something done in this country.

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No doubt I'll get replies stating "Well, the Republicans did it, too." YES! THAT IS, OF COURSE, EXACTLY MY POINT!

Alas, All For Nothing

2011-07-14T17:33:00.008-05:00

I'll make a safe prediction this evening (5:30 pm CDT, July 14, 2011). Republicans will emerge from the debt ceiling increase/budget cut debates with absolutely nothing. The nation's Debt Ceiling will be raised significantly and there will be no budget cuts of any importance made.

In other words, America loses.

The reality is that the Republicans always had a losing hand. And they played it horribly with arrogance and stupidity. Anyone hoping to save our nation had to sit back in absolute horror as Representative Eric Cantor displayed ignorance and arrogance simultaneously.

The Republican position was untenable. Tax increases, or as the Democrats misleadingly describe them, "Revenue Enhancements" are inevitable. Had the Republicans not overplayed their weak hand, they might have engineered a significant budget cut in exchange for modest "revenue enhancements."

Instead we Americans get placed on the bus, with no brakes and no driver, down a slippery slope and a deep cliff. Look out below.

In the end, the Debt Ceiling WILL BE RAISED. There was never any doubt. How Eric Cantor or any Republican thought they could hold the government and American People captive is beyond imagination.

I don't look for anything to improve. President Obama is unbeatable (at this time, at least). And, while he's gotten pretty good at his job at his day job, he lacks any vision of the future and lacks any political power to push needed changes through Congress.

All we've accomplished is insuring that true and full government default will happen around 2016. Kiss your nation goodbye.

Bill Maher versus Mark Halperin, Heroes versus Villains

2011-07-01T04:13:00.004-05:00

There are times when the media's double standard concerning liberals (or, more correctly, progressives) versus conservatives is simply stunning. And there has perhaps never been a better example than yesterday's instantanious suspension of pundit Mark Halperin from the MSNBC lineup for his inartful act of calling President Obama a "dick."

Within a few hours of Halperin's remark on the Morning Joe program, Halperin was gone, suspended indefinitely. MSNBC quickly issued an apology to their audience and President Obama. Halperin quickly followed suiit, falling on his sword, even going so far as to say MSNBC did the right thing in suspending him.

My purpose in writing this isn't to defend Halperin. Nor is it to condemn MSNBC. MSNBC has made several moves recently to raise the level of discourse on their network including a recent one week suspension of Ed Schultz for calling Luara Ingram a "slut."

None-the-less a gigantic double standard exists in the treatment of conservatives, especially at MSNBC. It was only six weeks ago that HBO's political superstar Bill Maher created a small firestorm by calling conservative Vice Presidential candidate and former Governor Sarah Palin a "dumb twat." Maher went on to double down with his blatant misogyny by calling Palin a "cunt."

Far from being condemned, Maher was defended by virtually all mainstream and leftwing pundits, because he is "only a comedian, not a news commentator or journalist.". Only that's simply not true. The REAL REASON Maher was defended is the mainstream powers that they all actually agreed with him.

Far from condemning Maher for his vile and blatant misogyny, Maher was "rewarded" with a full 30 minute guest spot on Chris Matthew's Hardball just two days after his sick remarks. For a half hour Matthews fawned over Maher as they discussed and "analyzed" the political events of the week. Matthews certainly never asked a single "hardball" question and simply looked to Maher for support and agreement as he dismantled each Republican candidate for President. Neither the "T" nor "C" words were ever used or discussed.

Maher is a regular visitor and guest on all MSNBC programs because he is in lockstep agreement with their generally progressive views.

But here is the bottom line. Use a mildly profane term to define a liberal, get suspended indefinitely. Use two significantly worse (but similar) term to define a conservative, get a full and featured 30 minutes on a major MSNBC program.

Will We Destroy Our Country AND Our Health Care System?

2011-06-16T12:42:00.003-05:00

A cornerstone of most Liberal Philosophies is the individuals right to good quality healthcare at affordable prices. I've no doubt that was one of the guiding principles Democrats hoped to follow in redesigning our Health Care Insurance System.

Sadly, every tiny bit of that goal was lost in the highly charged partisan process used in crafting the Rube Goldberg monstrosity that even I have come to call ObamaCare. Like Dr. Frankenstein, President Obama may have hoped to prolong life and improve its quality, but instead he did build a monster, one that will quickly destroy our entire nation.

What's worse is that the Congress continues to operate in the highly charged partisan atmosphere that birthed Obama's monster and therefore seem unlikely to fix the problem before it destroys us all.

To understand the depth and nature of the ObamaCare Mosnter problem you MUST DROP YOUR PARTISAN ATTITUDE and read Karl Rove's Op-Ed in today's WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Here is a small sampling of the key points Mr. Rove makes:

A kerfuffle was stirred up last week by a devastating McKinsey & Company study that concluded up to 78 million Americans would lose their current health coverage as employers stopped offering insurance because of President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Simple economics is the reason. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation's Employer Health Benefits 2010 Annual Survey, the annual premium for an average policy last year was $5,049 for a single worker, with the company picking up roughly $4,150 and the employee the rest. For a family of four, the total cost was $13,770, with the company picking up $9,773.

Yet under ObamaCare, businesses can stop providing health-care coverage, paying a $2,000 per-worker fine instead. For small businesses, the trade-off is even more attractive: They are given a pass on the first 50 workers.

President Obama's plan estimated only 11 million people would ever be in the exchange. If the number tops 100 million, as seems likely, the entire system and the entire nation will collapse.

All real Liberals will demand Congress provide a major overhaul of this plan to create a workable alternative.

Happy New Year!!

2010-12-31T12:47:00.000-06:00

The Littlest Victims of Obamacare

2010-12-01T13:11:00.004-06:00

I had hoped, and lobbied hard, to defeat every member of Congress who had voted to pass The Federal Health Care Reform Act, now often referred to as ObamaCare. Sadly while many were defeated, many gained re-election in spite of their complete betrayal of the American public, our health care system and, especially, senior citizens. We can only hope that the revised Congress can repeal parts of this horrendous act and repair other parts.

As Nancy Pelosi had promised, once we passed the bill we are now actually finding out what is in it. And, we are discovering, everything Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama promised about the bill was a lie.

But Michelle Malkin has discovered the ultimate irony. The massive labor union, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has lost the very benefit they touted as the major reason for passage, insurance coverage for children. The SEIU paid millions of dollars in hard earned union dues lobbying for this bill. Today, that very same union cancelled all health insurance benefits for children BECAUSE they can no longer afford the price of that insurance under the ObamaCare mandatory guidelines.

READ THE FULL and very tragic STORY AT MICHELLE MALKIN'S BLOG:

Here's a tiny excerpt:

Late last month, the Service Employees International Union informed dues-paying members of its behemoth 1199 affiliate in New York that it was dropping its health care coverage for children. That’s right. A radical leftist union, not an evil Republican corporation, is abandoning the young ‘uns to cut costs.

More than 30,000 low-wage families will be affected, according to The Wall Street Journal. Who’s to blame? SEIU 1199 benefits manager Mitra Behroozi singled out oppressive new state and federal regulations, including the much-ballyhooed Obamacare rule forcing insurers to cover dependents well into their 20s:

“…(N)ew federal health-care reform legislation requires plans with dependent coverage to expand that coverage up to age 26,” Behroozi explained in an Oct. 22 letter to members. “Our limited resources are already stretched as far as possible, and meeting this new requirement would be financially impossible.”

Blogger Kareem Amer is Free!!!

2010-11-18T15:15:00.004-06:00

Great News from the Free Kareem Website and confirmed by Reuters!

Kareem Amer, whose real name was Abdel Kareem Nabil was set free Monday 15th of November 2010, after spending 1470 days in prison.

The Egyptian blogger who was held in prison for his writings has finally been released after serving over four years in prison, held longer than his original sentence. Kareem's crime was insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. There is virtually no freedom of speech in Egypt and almost anything can be construed as a violation of their restrictive laws.

Reports coming out of Egypt from friends said that Kareem was in bad health and had been badly beaten by security officers immediately before his release on Tuesday.

A student at the state-run religious al-Azhar University, Amer was arrested in 2006 on charges of insulting Islam and the Egyptian President in his blog posts. He was immediately expelled from the university and then was sentenced to four years in prison.

"Kareem was released on Tuesday morning and his health is bad but he is safe now," Gamal Eid, head of ANHRI, a middle eastern human rights group.

"He was detained for 11 days beyond his court sentence and beaten by officers who did not give any reasons," Eid added.

The first blogger to face trial in Egypt for online content, Kareem's arrest and conviction were thought to be done as a warning to other Egyptian students and bloggers to keep silent about the abuse of women in Egypt.

A large number of bloggers throughout the world, including The Metaverse, had united to protest Amer's arrest and lobby for his release. For the last for years protests and demonstrations have taken place in front of various Egyptian embassies.

Actions Speak Much Louder Than Words

2010-11-17T12:58:00.005-06:00

I realize that my fellow Liberals and Progressives just can't see it, but the major media, the blogosphere and the Twitterverse are dominated by progressive and liberal voices. Those voices tend to be very articulate, passionate and, at times, overwhelming.

Skeptics are often shouted down in comments sections at the Daily Kos or The Huffington Post. Nay-sayers are ridiculed, called cruel or hateful or racist. Of course such skeptics usually sulk away and watch a few hours of Fox News to repair their egos. The result is the remaining progressive voices reinforce themselves, rising to a tidal wave of liberal thinkspeak.

What is lost is any real understanding of opposing thought. If you never listen to opposing views, never try to understand other ideas, concepts or solutions, you remain stuck in a quagmire of groupthink viewpoints.

Such groupthink cacophony insulates and isolates many government officials, too. As a result they find themselves both unable and unwilling to "think outside the box" to solve economic issues. The result is the fascinating migration of people from union dominated, taxation heavy, goverment controlled states to the freedom, low taxes and robust economies of conservative states.

From today's Washington Examiner: Low-tax states will gain seats, high-tax states will lose them

"Migration from high-tax states to states with lower taxes and less government spending will dramatically alter the composition of future Congresses, according to a study by Americans for Tax Reform."

"Eight states are projected to gain at least one congressional seat under reapportionment following the 2010 Census: Texas (four seats), Florida (two seats), Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington (one seat each). Their average top state personal income tax rate: 2.8 percent."

"By contrast, New York and Ohio are likely to lose two seats each, while Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania will be down one apiece. The average top state personal income tax rate in these loser states: 6.05 percent."

"The state and local tax burden is nearly a third lower in states with growing populations, ATR found. As a result, per capita government spending is also lower: $4,008 for states gaining congressional seats, $5,117 for states losing them."

"And, as ATR notes, “in eight of ten losers, workers can be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. In 7 of the 8 gainers, workers are given a choice whether to join or contribute financially to a union.”

"Imagine that: Americans are fleeing high tax, union-dominated states and settling in states with lower taxes, right-to-work laws and lower government spending. Nothing sends a message like voting with your feet."

MSNBC Suspends Keith Olbermann Indefinitely

2010-11-05T14:41:00.004-05:00

In what has to be the most stunning move in recent media history, MSNBC has suddenly suspended its only major star, Keith Olbermann for making financial contributions to three Democratic Party campaigns.

Phil Griffin, president of the MSNBC, said he “became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.”

Whoa!!!

What is ironic is that Olbermann isn't financially capable of making a monetary contribution even remotely worth the value of his on-air shilling every night for progressive candidates. An endorsement from Keith was worth a fortune in motivating the Democratic base.

What's even more ironic is that MSNBC had no problem allowing the completely biased, partisan and fact-challenged Olbermann anchor their election night coverage. Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell and Ed Schultz turned the election night coverage into a joke, a pathetic frat boy party of snickering, mockery and revelry. There was literally not 30 seconds of journalism all Tuesday night from the crew who ran the coverage like it was an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 rather than a news event of historic proportions.

Phil Griffin himself should have been suspended without pay for allowing the once proud Peacock Network to fall to these lows.

It really makes me wonder why they would even bother to have a no financial political contribution policy.

The Delaware Witch Trials

2010-10-16T10:05:00.005-05:00

I must tell you I have really come to detest politics. Our "Party Trumps Principles" method of campaigning and promoting candidates is disheartening and distasteful. And now that the main stream media has abandoned even the appearance of objectivity, elections simply make me sad.

Therefore, even though I was simultaneously amused and outraged by the Delaware Debate between Democrat Chris Coons and the Wiccan, errr... i mean Republican Christine O'Donnell, I wasn't going to waste my time writing a blog post expressing my disappointment in the debate.

As I watched the debate (available below), I was following the comments by fellow observers on Twitter. The always brilliant Hunter Campbell captured the essence of the debate in well under the 140 character limit with this synopsis of the calibre of the questioning:

Wolf Blitzer: Ms. O'Donnell. Name all the elements
of the periodic table in reverse atomic number order.
Mr. Coons. Spell "cat".

Jim Geraghty, writing over at The National Review Online also captured the essence of the debate succinctly:

"The moderators were pretty awful. Both Blitzer and the local reporter seemed hell bent on… well, the metaphor burning a witch comes to mind."

Geraghty elaborated and, I think, understood the reality of the debate:

"Yes, Christine O’Donnell has a lot of quirks, a lot of questionable decisions in her past and a lot of evasive answers about those bad decisions. But it was pretty clear that neither moderator was all that interested in holding Coons’ feet to the fire or interested in what he had to say at all. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, the better of the two, was hell-bent on pinning down O’Donnell’s view on evolution. And he was the better of the two."

"This was the moderators’ chance to play hardball with their designated Villain Du Jour, and the fact that CNN aired much of this debate live illustrates that the MSM doesn’t just want to see O’Donnell beaten; they want to see her… well, metaphorically burned at the stake in the town square for her audacity."

My opinion of the debate was that O'Donnell is not well prepared for the rigors of the Senate, but that Coons is a weak, too far left leaning candidate that couldn't possibly win a contest against a better qualified opponent. But the looser? The looser was Wolf Blitzer who surrendered has journalist credentials and dispensed with even a modicum of impartiality.

The ultimate tragedy of Blitzer's journalistic betrayal is that if he had played it straight, O'Donnell would have clearly lost the debate, the goal Blitzer obviously wanted to achieve.

Instead, O'Donnell is surging in the polls. She's picked up ten full points since the debate. Blitzer muddied the water. Americans (and Delawareans it seems) don't like an unfair fight with dirty refs. The ganging up on O'Donnell has gone way, way too far. The crowd is now clearly on her side. That made this a blog point worth making!

Things that really matter..... Are the things that gold can't buy

2010-09-30T16:39:00.003-05:00

Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee
Words and music by Irving Belin
1932

Why worry when skies are gray
Why should we complain
Let's laugh at the cloudy day
Let's sing in the rain
Songwriters say the storm quickly passes
That's their philosophy
They see the world through rose-colored glasses
Why shouldn't we?

[Refrain:]
Just around the corner
There's a rainbow in the sky
So let's have another cup o' coffee
And let's have another piece o' pie!

Trouble's just a bubble
And the clouds will soon roll by
So let's have another cup o' coffee
And let's have another piece o' pie

Let a smile be your umbrella
For it's just an April show'r
Even John D. Rockefeller
Is looking for the silver lining

Mister Herbert Hoover
Says that now's the time to buy
So let's have another cup o' coffee
And let's have another piece o' pie!

Things that really matter
Are the things that gold can't buy
So let's have another cup o' coffee
And let's have another piece o' pie!

Here are a baker's dozen versions of this Irving Berlin hit from the first Great Depression, all available for download in the universal mp3 format: Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee

Congress & President Obama Destroy Medicare for Millions

2010-09-28T16:01:00.007-05:00

My mother received her notification in the mail yesterday. Secure Horizons Insurance is ending its Medicare Advantage Program in our area and, as it turns out, there is no replacement plan, even from another insurer, available. Mother, as you might guess, is furious. Her President, the man she idolized, the man she voted for, has betrayed her.
Ask my Mom. She has voted a straight Democratic Party ticket for the last 40 years. Not one single Democrat will get her vote this fall.

The Democratic Party has betrayed every single senior citizen. The party that is supposed to protect seniors has hung them out to dry.

Mom will need to buy a Medicare Supplimental Policy that will cost her thousands of dollars. But she absolutely cannot afford to go into Medicare barefoot.

UPDATE: 9/30/2010 - It appears a new Medicare GAP policy will cost MOM about $4,000.00 a year. Virtualy every senior who was on a Medicare Advantage program will pay at least $2,000.00 more when their current insurance is cancelled PLUS higher co-pays. Thank you again President Obama for destroying the American Health Care System on the backs of Senior CItizens. Several additional posts will follow in the next few days.

She is not alone. It's happening all across the nation. Only a few favored districts, mostly in Florida, were carved out and exempt from the insanely stupid changes in Medicare law that effectively destroy the Advantage program. So a few Florida Congress Persons have bought themselves an election or two. Even that is a traitorous act.

In case you would like to understand what is happening, there is an excellent article in today's Boston Globe about how 22,000 Massachusetts residents are losing their Advantage Plan: Harvard Pilgrim cancels Medicare Advantage plan

Nightmare on Main Street

2010-09-23T10:10:00.003-05:00

If you toggle between CNBC and the Fox Business News Channel you quickly learn that business, investors and economists all really despise the Health Care Reform Bill, enacted six months ago today.

If you read virtually any of the polls you already know the public really hates the same health care reform, generally called ObamaCare. I believe that this single bill is the primary cause of the growth of the Tea Party movement and the unexpected Republican resurgence.

It is possible that Republicans will take control of the House, although I fear that is unlikely. But it is a moot point regardless, as without either controlling the Presidency or having a filibuster proof majority in the Senate (60 whopping votes), overturning the bill is virtually impossible.

It sure as hell needs to happen as the bill is quickly becoming the Freddie Kruger of legislation and it haunts our every dream, turning any hope of an economic recovery into a nightmare of recession and possibly depression.

Here, thanks to the editorial page writers of the Washington Examiner are a few bullet points of the current and impending disaster:

» Obamacare won't decrease health care costs for the government. According to Medicare's actuary, it will increase costs. The same is likely to happen for privately funded health care.

» Obamacare won't allow employees or most small businesses to keep the coverage they have and like. By Obama's estimates, as many as 69 percent of employees, 80 percent of small businesses, and 64 percent of large businesses will be forced to change coverage, probably to more expensive plans.

» Obamacare will increase insurance premiums -- in some places, it already has. Insurers, suddenly forced to cover clients' children until age 26, have little choice but to raise premiums, and they attribute to Obamacare's mandates a 1 to 9 percent increase. Obama's only method of preventing massive rate increases so far has been to threaten insurers.

» Obamacare will force seasonal employers -- especially the ski and amusement park industries -- to pay huge fines, cut hours, or lay off employees.

» Obamacare forces states to guarantee not only payment but also treatment for indigent Medicaid patients. With many doctors now refusing to take Medicaid (because they lose money doing so), cash-strapped states could be sued and ordered to increase reimbursement rates beyond their means.

» Obamacare imposes a huge nonmedical tax compliance burden on small business. It will require them to mail IRS 1099 tax forms to every vendor from whom they make purchases of more than $600 in a year, with duplicate forms going to the Internal Revenue Service. Like so much else in the 2,500-page bill, our senators and representatives were apparently unaware of this when they passed the measure.

» Obamacare allows the IRS to confiscate part or all of your tax refund if you do not purchase a qualified insurance plan. The bill funds 16,000 new IRS agents to make sure Americans stay in line.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: Examiner Editorial: Obamacare is even worse than critics thought

Reflections on the Life of Kim Sue Hanson

2010-09-11T09:27:00.005-05:00

Here is a reprint of the article I wrote four years ago as part of the 2,996 Project. In this project, one blogger was assigned to prepare a remembrance for each of the victims who died during the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001

Tragically, this year 9/11 has taken on a new meaning. Instead of somber reflection and quiet remembrance, it has become the centerpiece of a political firestorm. Hatred is being ginned up again and tragedy may well follow in its footsteps. God forbid anyone should have to endure this type of tragedy again. Hatred brought down the World Trade Towers. It seems we have a tough time learning this lesson.

Please take time to remember just how frail and how fleeting life really is. Read and remember Sue Kim Hanson.

Sue Kim Hanson
September 11, 2006

A short note appears on the Boston University Medical Campus Calendar Website noting that Jonathan W. Yewdell, M.D., Ph.D., Chief, Cellular Biology Section of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases will be speaking tomorrow, September 11, 2006, on the topic of "Gained in Translation: Generating Viral and Cellular Peptide Antigens from DRiPs."

He is speaking at 4:00 pm in Keefer Auditorium and a Reception in the Wilkins Board Room will follow.

What might be missed by a casual observer is perhaps the most important fact of all. Dr. Yewdell is the guest speaker for the 5th Annual Sue Kim Hanson Lecture In Immunology.

If you noticed this, you might simply assume that Sue Kim Hanson is (or was) some generous benefactor to the University. A lecture named for her to repay her gift.

Or perhaps you would guess that she is (or was) a notable scientist who, at one time or another, taught or studied at Boston University. Someone who should be honored for the advancements she made in Immunology.

And, indeed, all of the above is true. Just not in the way you might expect.

Susan Kim Hanson was one of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack that took the lives of 2,996 souls in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the fields of Pennsylvania.

Sue, her husband Peter, and her two year old daughter Christine were on United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Her daughter Christine was the youngest victim of the September 11th attack.

But the Boston University Lecture Series is not named after Sue Kim Hanson because of the way she died, but because of the way she lived.

Sue was a great scientist in the making. She was a doctoral candidate in micro-biology immunology at Boston University and working on her final thesis. Her work promised to reveal the workings of a chemical believed to regulate immune responses. She had isolated in lab mice a gene suspected of being involved in asthma sufferers and AIDS patients. Her work had the potential to help millions of people.

Susan Kim was one of those wonderful American success stories. A Korean-American, Sue had lived with her grandmother in Korea until she was 6. Her mother died when she was 15 and she was raised by her strict Korean father. Through hard work and discipline, sacrifice, dedication and sheer will power she neared the goal her mother and father and grandmother had hoped she would achieve, her doctorate degree.

Dr. Hardy Kornfeld, Hanson's thesis adviser, said "She was sort of fearless. Sue just took on tasks that were incredibly challenging, and more often than not she was able to make a go at them."

That she would be attracted to the wild and undisciplined Peter Hanson was a great surprise. Three years younger than Sue Kim, Peter gained his education by following The Grateful Dead. Peter believed that the group and its music would become classics, up there with Beethoven, Bach and company, and he tried to sway the opinion of anyone who would listen. Many of our listeners to Wizard Radio would certainly agree with Peter.

But even if Sue wasn't quite convinced about the Dead, she believed in Peter. And her faith was well placed. Peter was, by all accounts, a brilliant software engineer, a great salesman and a wonderful person.

He was passionate about Sue and Sue fell head over heals in love with Peter. She obviously had a great effect on him. Legacy.com has a reprint of a New York Times article about Sue that tells the story:

Sue and Peter were married and had a beautiful daughter. Sue continued to pursue her doctoral degree. She was scheduled to defend her thesis in November, 2001.

Taking a last break before finalizing her research and thesis, Sue, Peter and Christine were on their way to visit the Sue's father and grandmother in California, and take Christine to Disneyland, when they boarded United Airlines Flight 175. Peter was one of those who made a final cell phone call to his parents moments before the plane crashed into the south tower.

Sue's friend Mona Pengree writes, "Sue was awarded her PhD posthumously, as her professor finished her work on her behalf. This is a wonderful picture of her, and she shone every bit as brightly in person. Probably more. Her loss was a loss to all mankind."

Sue gave a great deal to Boston University and she gave a great deal to all of us. Her work in immunology inspired her fellow students, faculty and the University to continue her research and finish her thesis. They awarded her a doctorate degree. And they established the Annual Sue Kim Hanson Lecture In Immunology, not just to honor her memory, but to give full credit to her work and the inspiration, the strength and the courage Sue provides to us all.

God bless you Sue... and Peter and Christine and all those who died so tragically five years ago.

God bless.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, there is a wealth of information, tribute and love scattered throughout the Internet in remembrance of Sue Kim Hanson. I owe every contributor who came before me a deep debt of gratitude. Through each of you I have come to know Sue, Peter and Christine. You have touched my heart.

If my Tribute to Susan Kim Hanson here today fell short in any way, I deeply apologize and would love to hear from any of you.

I suggest these following resources from which I have borrowed freely in preparing this tribute:

Remember September 11, 2001

A mother to her son: How could I forget your curiosity and energy? By Eunice Hanson, for The Associated Press

Peter, Sue Kim, and Christine Hanson Memorial Web Site

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Back in 2006, the 2,996 Project asked bloggers to prepare tributes to all who died in the tragic events of September 11th. Many of those blog entries remain on line and many will be reprinted today.

Keep an Eye on Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) as Health Care Evolves

2010-09-04T09:56:00.006-05:00

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon is deservedly making very big news this September with his very public break with the infamous ObamaCare bill. He is making all the right moves to insure his state and his constituents will not be taking part in the least popular parts of this Federal Government boondoggle.

Last Spring, when we all discovered that the President and the "powers-that-be" were not going to listen to the near brilliant common sense approach to health care reform being championed by Senator Wyden, he very quietly snuck an "state opt-out" provision into the 2,000 plus page bill. Of course nobody read the damned bill anyway, but that only made Wyden's move easier.

Now Wyden is helping Oregon use the very opt-out he provided to escape the most unpopular provision of the bill and to replace it with a sate bill that might actually work.

You can learn all about Senator Wyden's approach to health care and his recent efforts to opt-out Oregon in these articles:

Sen Ron Wyden writing in The Huffington Post: Missing The Point

The Hill: Wyden Makes His Case for Health Care Waiver

Wall Street Journal: Wyden Defects on ObamaCare

Wyden is in a tough re-election battle. I hope the (much needed and much deserved) Republican Sweep this November doesn't rob the Senate of one of it's brightest members.

Young Mattie Fein

2010-08-27T13:55:00.002-05:00

Who says campaign ads can't be fun (and funny and brilliant). Republican newcomer Mattie Fein in running against popular long term Democrat Congresswoman Jane Harman in California. Conventional wisdon is Mattie doesn't have a chance.

But I like this ad! And I like Mattie.

George Bush's Solicitor General Ted Olson is Leading the Fight to Legalize Gay Marriage

2010-08-09T17:48:00.007-05:00

Ted Olsen is one of the finest attorneys practicing law today. He has argued many cases before the Supreme Court and has never lost a single case!!

In particular he won what is arguably the most important Supreme Court case of this century when his arguments put George Bush in the White House in the landmark Bush v Gore 2000 election court battle. Beloved by conservatives and Republicans, hated by liberals and Democrats, no one doubts his legal prowess.

Olsen was rewarded for his legal efforts by President Bush when Bush named him Solicitor General. And Olsen still never lost a case before the Supreme Court.

Most recently his legal arguments carried the day in the lawsuit challenging California's Proposition 8, the Constitutional Amendment that mandated marriage only be between a man and a women. That case is almost certain to end up before the United States Supreme Court. Remember that Olsen has never lost.

Watch this video in its entirety. It's that important.

P!nk - Glitter In The Air (GRAMMYs on CBS)

2010-08-06T19:25:00.001-05:00

Let's take a deep breath............

Let Them Eat Cake

2010-08-06T18:13:00.006-05:00

Michelle Obama now leads my list of the most piggish, disgusting people on earth. There is no excuse for this lecturing, holier than thou, out-of-touch aristocrat.

The UK Daily Mail is reporting today:

Spanish police close public beach for Michelle Obama's £250,000 Spanish holiday

Michelle Obama today faced a fresh wave of attacks over her lavish break in Spain with 40 friends, which could easily cost U.S. taxpayers a staggering £50,000 a day.

The First Lady has been lambasted for her extravagance at a time when the economy is still struggling. One blogger went so far as to brand her a modern-day Marie Antoinette.
And her critics will be further annoyed when they learn that the president's wife had a Spanish beach closed off today so that she, her daughter and their entourage could go for a swim.

Spanish police cleared off a stretch of beach at the Villa Padierna Hotel in Marbella after the Obamas had finished a busy day of sightseeing.

Police used palm trees and police tape to mark off the boundaries of a 100-yard expanse for the American delegation. On either side, onlookers gawked - and police occasionally stopped and searched sun lovers if they strayed too close to the private party.

The per diems for the secret service team runs at around £172 each, which amounts to nearly £60,000 for the length of the summer break.

Use of Air Force Two, the Air Force version of a 757, comes in at £91,900 for the round trip. This does not include time on the ground.

Mrs Obama's personal staff, of which there are an unknown amount and who might cost considerably more per day, also have to be taken into account.

The American public will also cover the cost of the only official part of the holiday, a visit to the Spanish royal family on the island of Majorca.

This will involve transport there and back for the entourage - as well as travel, accommodation, food and expenses for all while on the island.

Barack Obama is my President. Michelle Obama is My First Lady. I respect the offices and everything those esteemed positions stand for both historically and today. We elected Barack Obama and we certainly knew that Michelle Obama was the most important member of the Barack Obama team.

We knew, and I wrote often, that Barack Obama had "imperial tendencies." I certainly feared his political and management experience. There are dozens of essays I wrote leading up to the election that highlighted these risks.

Today virtually every worst fear has been realized. The country is in shambles and headed down a path that will likely lead to the worst economic depression in written history. It is had to imagine a worse President or a worse Congress. The Health Care Bill alone may destroy our country.

But, let's be honest, President Obama genuinely doesn't know this and certainly doesn't agree.

But he sure a hell does know the the real economic facts facing the nation today. And so does our very own Marie Antoinette, the First Lady of our very Imperial President.

It's time for our government, our President and our Senators and our Congress members to share in our pain. If 41 million people have to go on Food Stamps, if we lost 131,000 jobs in July alone, if unemployment continues to hover at 9.5%, if teachers are loosing their jobs and our children are suffering with larger class sizes and fewer supplies, if small businesses are being crushed under an insane burden of paperwork, no available credit and taxes being raised to astronomical levels, then the First Lady can get her *#@ home and go on one hell of a diet.

Our nation can no longer afford an Imperial President with Marie Antoinette as our First Lady. If the bloated Executive Office of pollsters and advisers and consultants can't figure this out themselves, then the American Public needs to make this extremely clear with the November Election.

It is time for our First Lady to stand in line and get her Food Stamps.

-------------------------------------

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:

1.) At least President George Bush had the common sense to go cut wood and clear brush in Crawford, Texas when he went on a summer vacation.

2.) Michelle Malkin addresses my same points but with more restraint and more attention to the economic realities: Unemployment at 9.5%; another Obama econ adviser bails; Mrs. Obama hits the beach

3.) We've seen this coming. Here is my essay from April, 2009 on The French Revolution and comparisons to today's events: The French Revolution

An (almost, sort-of) Great Victory for Gay Marriage

2010-08-04T17:37:00.007-05:00

In a breathtaking ruling moments ago U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that California's infamous Proposition 8 is unconstitutional under due process and equal protection. The judge issued an astonishing 138 page ruling that invalidates the clause stating that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Judge Walker stated, "Having considered the trial evidence and the arguments of counsel, the court pursuant to FRCP 52(a) finds that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional and that its enforcement must be enjoined."

I certainly applaud this great victory for gays and lesbians. I personally have fought long and hard on this blog and in real life to see this become the norm nationwide. As a Unitarian-Universalist I have participated in many gay marriage ceremonies and have many friends who have the benefit of that religious ceremony, but suffer with none of the legal benefits this ruling will now allow.

But, to be certain, this battle is far from over and that the court decided to overturn thousands of years of historical precedent and overrule the overwhelming will of the majority of the people is troubling.

A better victory, in my opinion, would have been a popular vote overturning Proposition 8 and I believe that was coming. Now the case will go to the Supreme Court and I think the outcome there is far from certain.

I am not a lawyer and I've not yet read the entire 138 page opinion, but I believe the judge was on shaky legal ground. I want the ruling to stand; I fear it will not.

On the plus side of the upcoming legal battle, fighting for the rights of gays and lesbians is former United States Solicitor General (under Prersident George W. Bush) Ted Olson, and famous Democratic attorney David Boies, one of the greatest attorneys to ever practice law.

Do you recognise the names? Olson and Boies both gained great fame when they were the lead attorneys on OPPOSITE SIDES of the landmark Bush v. Gore lawsuit which resolved the Florida electoral dispute in the 2000 election. Olsen may have won that battle, but now they are fighting as a team.

Back here in the non-legal real world we still have all the real work, all the heavy lifting yet to do. Our jobs will be done only when society at large accepts gay marriage. Only then will it truly become a reality.

The JournoList Assault on Journalism... in Perspective

2010-07-28T12:59:00.006-05:00

Roger Simon, writing today for POLITICO has the best short and readable synopsis of the JournoList scandal. In part he writes in Journalism Veers Out of Bounds:

"This may be the most embarrassing thing I have ever written — and looking back on my writing, there is a lot of competition for that dubious distinction — but when I became a reporter, it was almost a holy calling."

"We really believed we were doing good. We informed the public and helped make democracy work. We exposed wrongdoing wherever we found it. We reported without fear or favor. As a columnist, I tried to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

"Somewhere along the way, things have gone terribly wrong."

Read the complete article at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40308.html#ixzz0v0GvBRQh

The Death of Journalism

2010-07-23T17:37:00.003-05:00

Being a journalist was once a proud and noble profession, filled with high ideals and strong ethics. In several great movies of the early to mid 20th Century reporter were real heroes battling against corrupt government and powerful corporations.

We were inspired, even in awe as we watched Orsen Welles' Citizen Kane, spellbound by Humphrey Bogart in Deadline, USA, and mesmerized by Cary Grant and Rosiland Russell in His Girl Friday.

Get the story and get it right!

Those days are now very officially dead.

We were genuinely betrayed by FOX's gross negligence in handling the explosive Shirley Sherrod video. There are many, especially in the left who proclaim we "should have known" FOX would repeat such gross falsehoods without so much as asking for a simple verification of the tape. Regardless, FOX failed to follow the most basic of journalistic standards.

But what is much, much worse in the now revealed cabal of liberal reporters who conspired, successfully, to throw an election. Barack Obama might just have won fair and square, but now we'll never know.

In an EDITORIAL today Investors Business Daily assesses the terrible damage the JournoList cabal did to America. They are dead on-correct in virtually every word they print:

There are so many things wrong with this, we hardly know where to start. Nominally competitors, these supposedly impartial media mavens colluded in a way that would put airline or insurance officials in the dock for anti-competitive practices. They engaged in activism instead of fact-finding and mixed incestuously with activists whom they also should have been covering impartially.

Worst of all, they deprived millions of Americans of the information they needed to size up this new face on the political scene and determine if she really was a candidate who represented their interests.

That still remains to be done — and the country is poorer for it.

I'll leave you with Anderson Cooper's on air discussion of Journalism. While he himself has often failed to live up to the standards, it's till good to hear him recite then to remind us of what we've lost.

The 2,000 Page Nightmare

2010-07-21T14:32:00.004-05:00

Only now are accountants, government officials and government agencies like the IRS unraveling the massive Health Care Reform Law. And only now are we beginning to understand the consequences of taxation and regulation included in the bill.

In three short words: It's a Nightmare.

I genuinely believe that we must never allow Congress to enact to two thousand page bill again. And I believe that every single member of Congress who voted for this monstrosity should be removed from office.

We will spend months, if not years, undoing the damage this bill has done. But that's if, and only if, our country survives the interim damage.

Small business had feared the actual Health Care requirements would damage business and profits. As it turns out the most severe damage is coming from a new, massive ($$$$ 17 BILLION DOLLARS $$$$$) that will devastate all Americans earning LESS THAN $250,000.00 a year. And small business as we have long known it will likely cease to exist.

The small hidden regulations sound simple enough. Families and business have long been requires to report on an IRS Form 1099 any monies paid to workers or independent contractors. Money paid to nannies or yard workers for example had to be reported to the government. Many a politician has been tripped up by his or her failure to properly document such payments.
But, under new regulations in the Health Care Reform Act, all people and businesses must also file an IRS Form 1099 for and purchase of goods or material from a single individual that totals a mere six hundred dollars ($600.00) per year or more. For many businesses this could be tens of thousands of such forms (and taxes). Imagine a small restaurant who buys lettuce, tomatoes, fruits and vegetables from a variety of local farmers. Or a grocery store.

But similar situations apply to virtually all small businesses. The loudest complaints are streaming from Gold bullion and coin dealers who buy and sell from the public all day long.

In an article today on the ABC NEWS Website they report that "...every time a member of the public sells more than $600 worth of gold to a dealer the transaction will have to be reported to the government by the buyer (in this case the small business)."

Pat Heller, who owns Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Mich., deals with around 1,000 customers every week. Many are individuals looking to protect wealth in an uncertain economy, he said, while others are dealers like him.

With spot market prices for gold at nearly $1,200 an ounce, Heller estimates that he'll be filling out between 10,000 and 20,000 tax forms per year after the new law takes effect."
Rep. Daniel Lungren, R-CA, has introduced legislation to repeal the section of the health care bill that would trigger the new tax reporting requirement because he says it's a burden on small businesses.

"Large corporations have whole divisions to handle such transaction paperwork but for a small business, which doesn't have the manpower, this is yet another brick on their back," Lungren said in a statement e-mailed to ABCNews.com. "Everyone agrees that small businesses are job creators and the engine which drives the American economy. I am dumfounded that this Administration is doing all it can to make it more difficult for businesses to succeed rather than doing all it can to help them grow."

That's an understatement, Mr. Lungren.

If You Already Know ALL the Answers...

2010-06-24T11:44:00.005-05:00

If you already know all the answers, there is really no point in asking any questions.

And there is one thing we know for certain, Michael Hastings, writing for Rolling Stone Magazine, already knows all the answers. And if you don't believe me, just ask him. He'll quickly set you straight.

It's really just a damned shame that Mr Hastings isn't President of the United States of America. He knows exactly what needs to happen in Afghanistan. He knows what the military needs to do and what our strategy ought to be.

But Michael Hastings isn't President. So he used his many talents and his position at Rolling Stone Magazine to skillfully write a hatchet piece to bring down General Stanley McChrystal, the Commander of the allied forces in Afghanistan. It was a tough and dirty job, but Michael Hastings was up to the task. And today Hastings is the victor and a brilliant General is gone.

Hastings knows all too well his job isn't done. In his follow-up article today he makes it clear that McChrystal's successor, General David Petraeus won't fall as easily as McCrystal did. But Hastings also makes it clear in his ego driven Rolling Stone follow-up, that he is up to the job and his work won't be finished until his personal vision for Afghanistan is in place.

Hastings writes today, "Changing generals isn't likely to resolve the real trouble in Afghanistan: the fundamental flaws in the U.S. strategy of counterinsurgency."

Now we all know that it was General McChrystal's own off the cuff, unwise and sarcastic comments actually caused his demise. Michael Hastings was just the all too willing messenger. Hastings just asked all the questions. And he complied the answers he wanted.

Frankly I believe Hastings knew the most important answer before he started his interviews. That answer is the subtitle of his Rolling Stone essay:

Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House

I'm willing to wager any amount of money Hastings knew his article would manipulate those "wimps in the White House" to fire McChrystal.

I genuinely believe President Obama had to accept General McChrystal's resignation. And Obama did the right thing in promoting Petraeus.

But it is Michael Hastings that knows all the answers. It's a shame we can't make him a general.

BP Spills Coffee

2010-06-12T10:42:00.009-05:00

This video has gone viral so I'm betting you've already seen it somewhere else. Still it's funnier than having to discuss the real events and issues. So here goes:

Someone mentioned the only thing curiously missing from the video is the government.

Errr..... No. What you see here is pretty much correct. The Federal Government has been essentially missing in action on this one, as anyone actually down here on the coast can tell you. And the absence of any intelligent Federal response has allowed Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to become a folk hero.

It is tragic that this event has developed in slow motion. Even today President Obama and the folks in Washington do not understand the magnitude of the destruction that has taken place, both to the environment and to the gulf coast economy.

We're All About to Die Down Here

2010-05-27T10:13:00.003-05:00

"The President of the United States could've come down here, he could've been involved with the families of these 11 people" who died on the rig after an explosion, Carville said on ABC's Good Morning America. "He could be commandeering tankers and making BP bring tankers in and clean this up. They could be deploying people to the coast right now. He could be with the Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard...doing something about these regulations. These people are crying, they're begging for something down here, and it just looks like he's not involved in this."

"Man, you got to get down here and take control of this! Put somebody in charge of this thing and get this moving! We're about to die down here!"

Brownie, Your Doin' A Heck of A Job!

2010-05-24T14:19:00.007-05:00

If we even needed an example of just how bad government bureaucracies are at handling a complex crisis, one need look no further than the oil spill disaster now befalling the marshes and wetlands on Louisiana. The inaction, waffling, internal debate and inaction on the part of the Federal Government, fully in charge of the clean-up and protection of our coasts, makes Michael Brown, Bush's oft vilified FEMA head, look like an administrative genius.

Our Federal Government couldn't possibly do any worse, because they are generally doing nothing but actually stopping the efforts of state and local governments. This is a disaster of inaction and incompetence.

The Army Corps of Engineers is unwilling to make a decision on how and where to deploy oil skimming beams or how and where to build sand berms to stop the oil flow. Each hour of indecision is killing the fragile gulf coast.

This situation of so bizarrely stupid that local parishes are actually commandeering and deploying hundreds of Federally chartered boats and putting them to work in fighting the spill. No one is Washington is willing to make a decision.

Perhaps the greatest irony is the failure of the major news networks or the cable news networks to even give anything more than marginal coverage to the spill itself. While they are covering the infighting in the House and Senate and the daily battles between BP and the Obama Administration, what is missing is the very real human drama unfolding on the coast. No shows or anchors have been deployed to the coast.

The best coverage I've found is on National Public Radio. Be sure to listen to these reports and tune into NPR each day until the networks wake up from their politically induced coma:

Officials Scrutinize BP's Ability To Close Oil Leak

BP Hard To Pin Down On Oil Spill Claims

Frustration Grows Over Gulf Oil Spill

I do also want to compliment The Huffington Post for their excellent coverage of the environmental disaster.

CNBC Rick Santelli, The Last American Hero

2010-05-11T18:46:00.007-05:00

I can't quite figure out why 90% of the reporters and analysts on television can't or won't ask the really tough questions.

Thank god Rick Santelli doesn't suffer from this disease. Santelli teed off on Rep. Paul Kanjorski’s (D-PA) claim that Democrats’ couldn’t reform Fannie & Freddie in their financial regulation bill because it was “too complicated.”

SANTELLI: “It’s too complicated? You think taxpayers that go to work to pay the money you are subsidizing, it will end up a half a trillion, do you think they think complicated is an excuse?”

Our Members of Congress and our President SERIOUSLY DON'T GET IT. Just read my next post immediately below (or click this link, if you as reading this as a single entry in my blog) to see the real consequences of their inaction.

The "D" Word

2010-05-11T18:18:00.003-05:00

"Actions speak louder than words."

People may not be saying the "D" word, but they sure are acting like "Depression" was on the horizon. All over the world people are buying gold at a pace never before seen in history. Gold prices hit an all-time high and demand is simply exploding. Bullion dealers cannot meet the demand. Gold coins are scarce to non-existent in dealer's showrooms. The raw price of gold surged to the highest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 amid volatile financial markets in Europe.

Spot gold in London has jumped to above $1,230 a troy ounce, surpassing the previous record set in December last year.

As an investment Gold has been, well, golden. Gold prices are up almost 26 per cent since the beginning of the year.

The London Financial Times reported today, "In Frankfurt, gold sellers said that demand late last week was three to four times normal levels. The spike appears to reflect concerns in Germany about the potential inflationary impact of the European Central Bank’s decision to buy up eurozone government bonds in the wake of the Greek debt crisis."

Almost since the dawn of mankind, gold has been considered a safe haven in times of economic or political turmoil. It can always be traded in any country or region of the world. It is easy to transport and easy to hide.

The Financial Times goes on to report, "Global investors, led by the US, last year bought a record 228.5 tonnes of gold in the form of bullion coins, up from 77.4 tonnes in 2000, according to GFMS, the London-based precious metals consultancy."

In the United States, as states, cities and school districts continue to slash budgets and lay off workers, the economic downturn is likely to continue. If Europe collapse, all bets are off. World wide "Depression" is an absolute certainty.

Progressives Know HOW to Protest, Just NOT How to Recognize Protest

2010-04-27T13:55:00.006-05:00

The fact that I am blogging less doesn't mean for one minute that I haven't been thoroughly embarrassed and even humiliated by the bizarre hyperbole and over reaching excess of my fellow liberals and the so-called progressives in their completely unwarranted attacks on the Tea Party Protesters. What a sorry display of INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY.

The Tea Party Rallies were never much of a threat to anyone, including the protesters themselves. Nobody got arrested. Everyone was painfully polite. There never was any so-called "astro-turfing" in spite of efforts by some organizations who wanted to capitalize on the disorganized protesters. Basking in the spotlight of the Rachel Maddow Show doesn't make you responsible for anything other than grandstanding.

Organizing the Tea Partiers would be even tougher than hearding cats. Actually the protests themselves, even in the big one in Washington D.C. resembled a country music concert or the infield at a NASCAR Race. Folks brought their own lawn chairs and coolers.

Instead of the smell of marijuana wafting through the air, there was a smell of barbecue. Tea Partiers even picked up their own trash.

An intelligent progressive pundit could have certainly made a case that the Tea Party Protests were misguided. And it is true that Tea Party protesters were guilty of poor spelling, bad grammer and an overuse of the nazi analogies, a characteristic they share with progressive protesters.

Conservatives are just too..... well, they're too conservative. Their beef was they want less government and lower taxes for everyone (not just low income earners). They really disliked George Bush, as his poll numbers proved, but the lurch further to the left by President Obama pushed them into their conservative slow motion version of action.

Now, what really was astro-turfed was the completely manufactured outrage on the left. Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Frank Rich spent literally HUNDREDS of hours attacking the "tea baggers" and trying, very lamely, to paint them as a violent, radical, tool of a super secret right wing gestapo bent on the destruction of life as we know it.

It was, and is, a whole crock of shit.

Now we have real left wing Protesters in Phoenix and throughout the Southwest and we know how to throw a protest! And many more protests are to come as we approach May Day (may 1st). Look for serious protests of large, very angry crowds. Expect arrests. We've already seen vandalism and rocks thrown at police.

The Associated Press reported yesterday, "The furor over Arizona's new law cracking down on illegal immigrants grew Monday as opponents used refried beans to smear swastikas on the state Capitol and civil rights leaders demanded a boycott of the state."

The silence of the left about these protests is deafening. Instead of condemning real violence, protesters are being placed on a pedestal, heroes in the war against oppression.

Conservative pundit Roger Kimball said it best when he wrote, tongue in cheek, that he fully expected....

"The New York Times, MSNBC, CNN, and kindred media outlets to repudiate these new outbreaks of hate and racist incitements to violence, narrow-mindedness, bigotry, etc., etc. Look for it tomorrow on the Daily KOS and other web sites dedicated to rooting out irrational prejudice and exposing the sore losers who don’t understand that elections have consequences and who won’t give a new law a chance but who divisively call for the repeal of the will of the people."

Now that's funny.

World Autism Awareness Day

2010-04-02T11:30:00.006-05:00

Very, very sadly, the graphic above is correct. The CDC has reported that 1 out of every 110 children born today will be affected by Autism, many of them very severely. In many ways it is the greatest and most serious epidemic our country has ever faced.

Even more tragic is the general lack of understanding, lack of research, lack of support and the lack of funding for research or support that plagues Autism and the families that are affected by this disease. Parents are most often on their own to develop treatments and gather the help and support they need.

In this environment rumors about causes, cures and treatments run rampant. Parents and care givers trade information about what has worked for them. An informal network of support has grown, but it is no substitute for real research and real support.

Autism research and support needs your help and IF you will contribute TODAY the family-run MOSI Foundation will match your contribution to advance our research into the causes, prevention and treatment of autism. Act now, this generous offer is only available for a limited time. Please give whatever you can.

Democrat's Super Bowl Sunday

2010-03-20T10:27:00.004-05:00

Like most Americans, I'm glued to the television and the Internet this weekend watching the Super Bowl of Politics, Congresses wrestling with Obama's Health Care Restructuring Bill. But I'm in the very strange position of rooting from the wrong teams and for the wrong reasons for most of the game.

Here's the key factor: the Health Care Restructuring Bill MUST FAIL. This is the most disastrous bill in the history of our nation, It is a bill so bad it will literally bring our country to it's knees with an unbearable burden of new, unfair and regressive taxes, drastically reduced health care and a bureaucratic morass that we will likely never untangle. It is simply impossible to predict just how very bad this bill will become.

So this morning I'm sitting on the wrong side of the field, rooting for my normal adversaries, Representative Bart Stupak and the other pro-life Democrats, to create a division among Democrats that will deny them the votes needed to pass the bill.

Normally I'm a strong pro-choice advocate. But today I need the Stupak group to somehow save the entire nation from the Health Care Destruction bill.

It does continue to appear that Nancy Pelosi will get the votes she needs to pass the bill. All I can hope for is a "Hail Mary Pass" into the end zone in the final minutes to save the hone team from defeat.

"Go, Bart, Go!"

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics!

2010-03-19T13:32:00.004-05:00

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

The very famous quote above is popularly attributed to Mark Twain. But Twain himself attributed the quote to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881). Historians, however, can find no reasonable explanation for Twain to have attributed the quote to the equally famous Disraeli. Its real origins will probably never be known.

It is ironic and somewhat appropriate that many people today know the quote from the popular political television series, The West Wing. In today's hyperventilating political environment, it is certainly reasonable to think the quote applies to politicians.

Numbers are easy to misuse, misquote and misrepresent. Hide money here, move money there and you can get any result you desire. Sadly, that is exactly what Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are doing with the Health Care Restructuring costs.

Frankly, I think it's just a damned lie.

You can't cut Medicare by $500,000,000.00 and then say there will be no change in the program and no reduction in benefits. It is a lie. And if you're a senior on the excellent Medicare Advantage Program, it's a damned lie. It is mostly the very poorest seniors on Advantage and it saves them, literally, hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Medicare IS NOT the wonderful medical insurance some might claim it to be, There is much Medicare doesn't cover and much more with often huge deductibles. Advantage almost eliminates all these deductibles and covers many procedures at a much lower cost.

Seniors can be forced into bankruptcy just covering Medicare deductibles or paying fro procedures Medicare doesn't cover. Thanks to Nancy Pelosi's damned lie, this is going to happen 500 million dollars more often than it did before.

What really pisses me off, as a Democrat, is that if some Republican President proposed gutting $500,000,000.00 from Medicare every Democrat would have stood in lock step to prevent it. Now Nancy Pelosi just pretends it isn't happening. And most Democrats will vote Sunday to kill the enormously popular Advantage progam.

By the way, Health Care Restructuring won't reduce he deficit one penny once Congress permits cost of living increases for Doctors as they have every single year since Medicare first began. The bill being voted on Sunday has doctor's reimbursements going down every year for the next 20 years. That is just another damned lie.

Lawrence O'Donnell and James Cramer Tag Team Against the Horrific Health Care Bill

2010-03-16T12:19:00.006-05:00

When James Cramer, Ultra-Capitalist of Mad Money on CNBC agrees with Euro-Socialist Lawrence O'Donnell you know the Health Care Restructuring Bill being crafted by Congress is a complete disaster.

This is the most IMPORTANT 9 MINUTES you can possibly spend today. Watch it all.

Call Your Congress Person TODAY and demand they stop the current Health Care Legislation.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Disaster at 23.1%

2010-03-11T13:22:00.014-06:00

The local radio station, WLIN, is just about the only source of news in Durant, Mississippi. Durant is located in Holmes County. Today the radio station had this somber news to report:

"Holmes County had a whopping 23.1 percent unemployed in January, according to figures released Wednesday. Meanwhile Attala County is well above the state average in jobless numbers, at 17 percent. Mississippi's unemployment rate stood at 12 percent in January, up from 10.3 percent in December and higher than the national rate of 10.6 percent. The state Department of Employment Security released figures Wednesday. Unemployment ranged from a high of 23.1 percent in Noxubee and Holmes counties to 8 percent in Rankin. MDES says 22 of Mississippi's 82 counties posted unemployment rates less than or equal to the state's rate of 12 percent and 74 counties reported double-digit rates for the month."

This isn't news to the folks who live in Durant. The Piggly Wiggly Supermarket closed as has every name brand gas station in the city. Only a few retailers are hanging on and a respected furniture store in a neighboring town is going out of business after 106 years.

The current recession is merely another nail in the coffin of this north central Mississippi county. NAFTA drove out the many, many small and medium size factories in this county that included some of the nations leading electrical companies. Those factories and jobs are now down in Mexico.

This heavily Democrat and heavily Black county has received surprisingly little Federal help in the last ten years. And, curiously enough, the Stimulus Package passed them over, too, in spite of the fact that one of the nations leading and most powerful Democrats in Congress, Rep. Bennie Thompson, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, represents this county.

It seems to me that the gerrymandering that has carved out politically safe districts in every state has done much more harm than good. This district is safe. Representative Thompson will never face a challenge. Not even if unemployment reaches 50%.

So political plums, gifts and favors are going to the Blue Dog Democrats who's swing votes are critical to reaching the President agenda. Senator Ben Nelson and Nebraska can demand and receive huge bonuses. Joe Lieberman can extract what ever he wants to gain his vote.

A Democrat who faces a tough re-election can make sure extra construction, more police officers or a new highway goes through a town whose votes he needs. There is really nothing wrong with that system.

It's the safe towns, the politically safe counties that suffer. Why pay for the cow when the politicians can get the milk for free.

Health Care Reform, anyone?

The Red Sox Fans Won

2010-01-20T13:46:00.009-06:00

What Happened in Massachusetts? How did Scott Brown win?

I can't believe that all the PROGRESSIVE bloggers, Tweeters, Pundits, Television Guru's and Washington Insiders can't see what every Boston Red Sox fan saw so very clearly.

The Red Sox Fans saw it clearly all the way back in August. They even held impromptu protest rallies. Real rallies with hand written signs and everything.

The Red Sox fans and the Oakland Fans and the Texas Ranger's fans and the Royals fans. And the Cleveland fans. The Baseball fans. The football fans. The hunters and the fishermen. All the people who live ordinary, non-political, lives. The workers. The housewives. The little people.

They did their level best to tell the President they adored what was going on. They held their rallies, small ones at first, and called 'em Tea Parties. These protesters called their Congress Persons. They wrote their newspapers. They appeared on FOX NEWS (sadly the only network that actually figured out what was going on).

But the President they loved, the President they voted for, wasn't listening. And Nancy Pelosi wasn't listening. Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews weren't listening. They actually made fun of these "little people." They belittled their efforts. Made fun of their misspellings and their homemade signs.

They accused these people of being dupes for big corporations, paid protesters or some such thing. This wasn't the least bit true.

Then Nancy Pelosi actually accused them of being traitors, enemies of Democracy. They same Nancy Pelosi who embraced and praised the Iraq war protesters, said these protesters were enemies of Democracy.

It started to get much worse as the Progressive bloggers led by the MSNBC trio of Olbermann, Maddow and Matthews began using a thinly veiled sexual slur, "Teabaggers" to characterise the efforts of these protesters to alert the President of the problems they so clearly saw. All Obama had to do was listen.

But, after several hundred thousand of them arrived in Washington to protest, Barack Obama claimed he knew absolutely nothing about them or their protest. He actually blamed FOX News for covering the event. And Obama banned FOX from Administration interviews.

It became obvious that the Democrats in Congress were not going to listen to them. The "peoples party" was ignoring the people.

Isn't it obvious what happened in Massachusetts? The Red Sox fans showed the Democrats who really was the boss.

Here's a fact we all need to remember: It is the Red Sox Fans who decide every election. They decided this one. They are the fabled INDEPENDENTS Scott Brown spoke of last night.

But it was EXACTLY those same INDEPENDENTS, those same Red Sox Fans who decided the Obama election. It was not the Progressives. And Coakley DID NOT LOSE because Progressives stayed home. Nope. Give credit where credit is due. It was the Red Sox Fans whose Scott Brown so deftly courted at Fenway Park in the icey cold of a Boston night.

Those Red Sox Fans were also the Tea Party protesters. They were the little people. They were everyman.

In the end the Independents were disappointed by Obama's biggest failure: TO CHANGE THE CLIMATE IN WASHINGTON and TO END BUSINESS AS USUAL. Obama PROMISED to usher in a new era of BIPARTISANSHIP. And he could have done that. Instead he turned his legislative agenda over to Nancy Pelosi, the most partisan (and the absolute WORST) House Majority Leader in History.

If Obama had done exactly as he promised and let every faction have a seat at the Health Care Reform table and then televised the negotiations, we wouldn't be here today.

If Obama had done as he promised and eliminated pork barrel spending and gone through the appropriations bill line by line, we wouldn't be here today.

Let's hope President Obama hears them now. And let's hope Obama stops taking advice from the far left Progressives and the bloggers and (heaven help us all) the IDIOT TRIO (Olbermann, Maddow and Matthews) over at MSNBC. These are the Pied Pipers who will lead our President over the cliff.

If President Obama decides to really play ball with Senator-elect Scott Brown, trust me, all the Red Sox Fans will cheer them both.

Please Help Haiti....

2010-01-13T12:56:00.005-06:00

The following was written by Gwendolyn H. Barry and posted originally on MadMikesAmerica, one of my favorite political blogs. Mike is a passionate commentator here. But we all agree the tragedy in Haiti is perhaps the worst to occur in our lifetime. Please help however you can......

Please Help Haiti

Pray for Haiti. Send whatever you can afford. Keep a good thought.... pray. Remember how close to us they actually are. We must demonstrate compassion for our island neighbors. This is a near total devastation.

It is the worst earthquake to hit the Caribbean in 200 years. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the Haitian Capital of Port-au-Prince, where it has devastated the tiny nation, causing an unknown number of deaths and widespread destruction and health concerns. Despite being the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti's Internet connected devices were key tools in telling the rest of the world about the emerging crisis.

We live in an era of instant access... we must make it an era of instant compassion. On Twitter and Facebook, eyewitness accounts and pictures are pouring out. The depletion of Hope begins a struggle to recover. Still; there are bight tweets... Carel Pedre, most visible Haitian tv / radio personality has been tweeting the story of Haiti as it picks itself up and realizes the destruction.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Richard Morse used Twitter to convey a sense of how the people were reacting to the devastation: "I'm hearing singing and praying from the carrefour feuilles area. My prayers go out to the folks there."

A Wordpress-powered blog called Haitifeed is also delivering a steady stream of first-hand accounts as well as mainstream media reports from across the globe.

On Facebook, a group called Earthquake Haiti already has over 14,000 members. The group is largely being used for people to show support and trade news reports; however, there are some users who seem to be posting critical information including pleas for assistance to injured Haitians. [PC World]

The blogging community can take a lead and pass the news around while making the plea for compassion and help.

[From] Bay County, Florida:

American Red Cross is moving quickly to provide assistance to victims of yesterday’s tragic earthquake in Haiti. Red Cross estimates as many as three million people are homeless as a result of the devastating earthquake. The American Red Cross has pledged $1,000,000 to the relief effort and is preparing to move relief supplies to the affected areas as soon as transportation becomes possible. Sources on the ground in Haiti are now reporting that the American Red Cross office in Haiti has been totally destroyed and the fate of employees is unknown at this time.

The local Red Cross Chapter has begun receiving calls from local residents attempting to locate friends or relatives who live in or were visiting Haiti. All calls for this assistance are being referred to the State Department at 1-888-407-4747.

The local chapter is also receiving calls from local residents who want to volunteer to assist is Haiti. The Red Cross deploys experienced, highly trained volunteers to work in disaster relief operations. Spontaneous volunteers will not be deployed. Local citizens interested in becoming a trained Red Cross volunteer can find out how by contacting the local chapter. Local residents who would like to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti can make a donation to the Red Cross disaster relief effort.

Donations can be made at the local chapter by calling 850- 763-6587, by going on line to www.redcross.org, or by...

Texting “HAITI” to “90999” (each text will result in a $10.00 donation to the Red Cross International Relief Fund).

Please help.

posted by Gwendolyn H. Barry on MadMikesAmerica

Please FOLLOW The Red Cross on Twitter

Massachusetts Senate Race is Proxy War over Health Care

2010-01-12T13:27:00.004-06:00

As public support for President Obama's Health Care Reform Bill craters (as it rightfully should), the race to fill the late Ted Kennedy's Senate Seat has become a proxy battle over the bill itself. Forces nationwide, both for and against the bill, are aligning themselves with the Democrat or Republican candidate in hopes of confirming or defeating the legislation.

The vast majority of the population oppose the bill as it has formed in Congress. I don't believe there is a single state where supporters outnumber opponents. And this includes the great state of Massachusetts.

The nation has determined, quite correctly, that this bill is a disaster that will likely destroy the budget, the struggling economy and, most assuredly, health care as we have known it in the United States. Liberal states have determined the bill harms Union contracts and threatens traditional Medicare, especially Medicare Advantage, which the bill virtually eliminates. Medicare Advantage is especially popular in Massachusetts.

So poor Democrat Martha Coakley, who ought to have been a shoo-in for Ted Kennedy's seat is facing the battle of a lifetime against ruggedly handsome and articulate Scott Brown, a Republican who only weeks ago had no chance of winning.

Coakley has fallen into line and supports Obama's Health Care Plan. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind she would win in a landslide if she only had the courage to oppose the bill. But, alas, she is stuck with supporting a bill no one with an ounce of integrity would ever endorse.

I don't care how good you are, you cannot do anything but look like a sock puppet when you support this bureaucratic nightmare of a bill.

Last night Scott Brown easily raised 1.3 million dollars on the Internet in just a few hours after his brilliant performance in a debate against Coakley. And national Republicans who wouldn't have bothered the answer his phone calls just two weeks ago and scrambling over each other to endorse him and campaign with him on the stump.

It helps that Brown is a moderate and not a reactionary conservative, but he still agrees with most Republican positions.

I still don't think he can win in Massachusetts but it helps that he is on the right side of the Health Care Debate.

The Bill Absolutely No One Likes

2010-01-11T13:06:00.003-06:00

I've poured over the blogs this past weekend, reading literally hundreds of posts. And I watched every Network News show on Sunday from Meet the Press to Fox News Sunday. And I've searched and read analysis and editorials from dozens of newspapers.

And I've been nearly continuously on Twitter and followed the arguments from some of Twitter's finest 140 character pundits.

After all this reading of all the passionate posts I've made a startling discovery. ABSOLUTELY NO ONE LIKES THE HEALTH CARE INSURANCE RESTRUCTURING BILL EMERGING FROM CONGRESS THIS WEEK.

Really, NO ONE. Its Democrat supporters least of all.

You can read dozens of well written, well researched, well documented articles about just how really terrible this bill has become. The damage this bill will do to Health Care and to our economy is well documented. Opponents, both conservatives and Wall Street analysts, can give you extremely specific arguments detailing the problems with this bill. No generalities, no hyperbole. Just the facts.

You can also read political posts from Republican leaders and famous pundits giving passionate, but rather generalized arguments against the bill. From "Death Panels" to Medicare's demise, the hyperbole never ends. These folks are possessed.

I swear I've read a hundred posts titled something like "Ten Reasons to Defeat Health Care Reform'."

But you know what you can't find? Not one single similar post titled "Ten Reasons To Pass Health Care Reform."

Instead all the so-called supporters are really just apologists. They wax poetic about what might have been or what should have been or what, someday, might emerge from the fatally flawed bill that may or may not pass.

And the Democrats virtually NEVER MENTION A SINGLE FEATURE OF THE BILL! Their arguments generally revolve around just how mean spirited and evil the Republicans are. The number one argument on the blogs and on Twitter is "Republicans just want Grandma to Die!!!"

This debate alone quickly illustrates just how very bad this bill has become.

The question is will a single Democrat in Congress have the courage to stand up and tell President Obama, "Sir, this bill is bad for America."

You Vote Obamacare, We're Gonna Vote You Outta There...

2010-01-08T17:53:00.005-06:00

This video has gone viral becuase the vast majority of the people identify with it. And agree with it. Why can't my fellow Democrats see the handwriting on the wall?

And, yes, we are playing this catchy little number on Wizard Radio.

C-SPAN Fights Dem's Secret Health Care Resturcturing

2010-01-05T13:13:00.004-06:00

There really shouldn't be any debate. The Health Care Restructuring Plan being secretly negotiated by top Democrats can, should and must be defeated. Not one single ethical, honest, principled Democrat should support this betrayal. And the Republicans already won't support it. The damned vote should be a unanimous and resounding "NO!"

But, alas, President Obama has decreed that any bill, no matter how flawed, is better than no bill at all. And Nancy Pelosi never had any principles. She is a pure partisan who only cares about victory. Therefore, Pelosi, Harry Reid and members of the President's team are negotiating in secret to develop the final albatross to be hung around America's neck.

However, as more and more Democrats and all Americans realize the Barack Obama has consistently broken every campaign promise, there are the seeds of rebellion in the ranks. Today's domino falling is C-SPAN, the broadcaster of record for the United States Congress.

C-SPAN Challenges Congress to Open Health Care Talks to TV Coverage: "The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves."

"C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open "all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings," to televised coverage on his network."

""The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety," he wrote."

President Obama had specifically promised these negotiations would appear on C-SPAN as he campaigned for the Presidency. His silence is deafening now.

Why is this happening? Any daylight will most assuredly kill this bill. It stinks to high heaven. If the public were to get even a whiff of this putrid and poisonous concoction, they would demand its defeat.

So Obama and Pelosi and Reid will keep it top secret until mere hours (or even minutes) before forcing a vote, probably in the middle of the night, on a weekend.

The American Public has been lied to, and now betrayed.

Even C-SPAN has noticed.

Every Liberal SHOULD Oppose The Health Care Restructuring Bill

2009-12-30T12:41:00.005-06:00

It is simply stunning to me that a single Democrat would vote for the convoluted, wasteful, bloated, complex and pork laden Health Care Restructuring Bill that is now in the early stages of reconciliation.

It is stunning to me that a President as bright and seemingly idealistic as President Obama would ever consider signing it.

This bill is a hopeless mess of bureaucracy that institutionalizes into law Sarah Palin's notorious death panels, fails to live up to President Obama's promise of being able to keep your current insurance, raises taxes through the roof and insures drastically higher insurance costs.

Worst, it will destroy the one part of Medicare that works so exceedingly well, the Advantage Program, that is a lifeline to many senior citizens.

It is literally a damned mess.

If we, as liberals, have any principles left, we cannot endorse a program that pays off the drug companies, actually prohibits or completely eliminates competition, rewards the insurance companies, taxes current health care programs, hides new taxes under every rock (most of which will hit low wage earners hardest), and fails to cover many Americans.

What the hell are the Democrats in Washington drinking. Virtually every American KNOWS this bill is a disaster that will completely destroy our current health care system, hurt the economy, hurt Medicare, raise prices, and ultimately ration health care. How is it that there are almost no Democrats in Washington that are as aware of the facts as the voters?

I am reminded of all this as I watch Senator Ben Nelson fight for his political life. Things are so bad in Nebraska that Nelson is going to be forced to air a political ad during the Nebraska-Arizona Holiday Bowl Game and, literally, beg his constituents for forgiveness.

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you Senator, but it ain't gonna work. When you sell out your principles for this load of crap, you will be punished by the voters who used to look up to you and used to respect you.

Nelson is just the first. You cannot vote for a bill so horrifically bad that every voter on earth knows is a failure and not pay the ultimate price.

Can The People Stop Health Care Restructuring?

2009-12-19T09:51:00.003-06:00

With the last holdout, Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, announcing he will finally support the massive Health Care Restructuring Bill now before the Senate, nothing stands in the way of this bill passing.

The American public have made it increasingly clear for many months they want nothing to do with the tax grab and benefits cutting monstrosity. But, under massive pressure from President Obama and his staff, Democrats have caved and are willing to defy the public wishes and pass the bill that could have and should have been the crown jewel of the Obama Presidency.

However, after months of buying off Senator after Senator, the bill is no longer a jewel, but just a pork filled bag of bacon larded up for the drug industry, the insurance industry and, rather curiously, the A.A.R.P., whose Medicare supplement insurance program (run by insurance industry giant, United Health Care) stands to make millions off Medicare cuts.

Certainly the worst feature of this bill is the disastrous cuts in Medicare which will result in denied benefits through the establishment of a health care panel to provide guidelines to Doctors on approved treatments Medicare will cover. This absolutely is Sarah Palin's famous "Death Panel." It will become a reality.

While Republicans make every effort to delay the passage of this bill, they have done a poor job of making every American aware of the massive tax increases we will face once the bill passes. Five Hundred Billion Dollars in tax increases will touch every American, even those who will supposedly receive aid in purchasing insurance.

Unions hard won insurance policies will be devastated by the proposed taxes on "Cadillac Plans" which are, in fact, not owned by the wealthy, but mostly by union workers won through years of hard negotiations. Benefits in these plans will be stripped.

But the fix is in, the backroom deals are done. Harry Reed will push the whale through the keyhole on Christmas Eve. Nothing can stop this from happening, except.......

Well, except the people. If all the Tea Party people, a disorganized lot if there ever was one, can somehow break out of their Christmas routine and mount a massive campaign to call their Senators, especially the Democrat Senators, they might just derail this process.

Here's the number: 202-224-3121. You need to call today! Saturday! Today!

Michelle Malkin is alerting her readers:

Now, make sure to take time out of your busy Saturday before Christmas and burn up the Capitol switchboard (202-224-3121) with a clarion message for your Senators:

No. Hell no.

Say it louder and often. Spread the word. Sound the alarm. They are pretending not to hear you yet.

A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!

Religion Versus Science

2009-12-01T13:13:00.006-06:00

Throughout history the conflicts between religion and the scientific community have been explosive, emotional, violent and, occasionally, deadly.

When we think of science versus religion we often think of Galileo Galilei, whose on-going battle with the Catholic Church resulted in his imprisonment and, ultimately, in his death in 1642.

Galileo is best known for is his studies of astronomy, free fall, and his several inventions. His inventions include the telescope, microscope, compass and thermometer. Galileo studied medicine, philosophy and mathematics and taught mathematics at the University of Pisa and at the University of Padua.

While teaching his theories, Galileo gained a following of students that recognized his genius. In 1616 however, he came into disfavor with the church. Galileo, as a man of science, expressed his support of the Copernican theories that stated the earth and other celestial bodies rotated around the sun.

Unfortunately his teaching directly contradicted the teachings of the church and he was summoned to Rome and reprimanded for his "heresy". In 1633 he was sentenced to life in confinement. Even though his health was declining and became completely blind by 1638, he continued developing his theories and communicated, often in secret with his followers.

Over 300 years after his death, a statement by the Pope before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1992 is interpreted as the official rehabilitation of Galileo by the Catholic Church.

Any time an idea or philosophy becomes a religion it tends to lose all flexibility. True believers defend the orthodoxy at all costs and make every effort to silence, or even imprison or kill opponents.

Ultimately, it tends to all be about power. The church in Galileo's time had enormous power and wealth. It felt terribly threatened by Galileo's ideas. If people no longer believed the earth was the center of the universe, they might not continue to support the church with tithes, taxes and lavish gifts.

Today we have a rather strange twist on the old science versus religion battle. But, in this case, the "religion" is the orthodoxy of "global warming" or, as it is now more properly called, "climate change." The great religious leaders of climate change are still hounding, censuring and trying to silence the scientists who dare to question the established religion.

And, just as in the time of Galileo, it is still about money and power. There is the opportunity for great power and immense wealth in climate control. One Prophet of the new religion, former Vice President Al Gore, has already made millions of dollars, won a Nobel Prize and is poised to make billions. But the issue certainly isn't Al Gore. Governments and corporates stand to gain immense profits and power from the enforcement of climate control regulations.

For some time a rapidly growing number of scientists have realized that climate change models just don't work. We've had global cooling for eleven straight years and it now appears this cycle of cooling will continue for at least twenty more years. In addition, some models point to entirely different, and occasionally more dangerous scenarios going forward. And the solutions being proposed by the established global warming religion might make matters a whole lot worse.

The very unscientific efforts to hide conflicting facts, destroy historical data and marginalize those who dared to question global warming all came to light when a huge series of emails were hacked and then released to the public. And, as is often the case, the cover-up quickly became worse than the original crimes.

The more the established global warming community attempted to explain the email, the obvious it became that the cover-up was long running and unacceptably extensive. The most recent "disclosure" that historical data was destroyed to "save space" is so laughable that all remaining integrity of the climate change community has been lost.

Science will ultimately prevail, as it always does. Those who forecast global may ultimately be proved correct. Or, it may be determined that the global warming heretic's ideas were censured or imprisoned under false pretenses.

But certainly the warnings about the dangers of turning scientific research into a political or religious cult should be learned and heeded.

Excellent articles that should all be read:

Financial Times: Secrecy in science is a corrosive force By Michael Schrage

The Telegraph UK: Climate change: this is the worst scientific scandal of our generation

Associated Press: UK climate scientist to temporarily step down

US News and World Report: Penn State Will Investigate 'Climategate'

Finally, a real and genuine tip o' the Wizard's Pointy Cap to Lee over at Lee's Tid Bits who has been at the leading edge of this controversy for over a year. Like the scientists who dared to question the global warming orthodoxy, Lee has been subject to great harassment and persecution. Lee has constantly held his own. His blog is a must read in my book (for this and for many other reasons, including that he is just a great guy).

Thoughts on a $1,118.00 Day

2009-11-11T17:51:00.005-06:00

If it is always darkest before the dawn, daybreak must just be moments away. Because, on both the social and economic scales, it is a very dark time in America. Gold today hit a record high of over $1,118.00 an ounce as investors and governments around the world abandoned the US Dollar and other paper currencies in favor of the precious metal. Publicly and privately many say the see the collapse of the US Dollar and possible the collapse of the United States.

Misled and misguided by a President wholly unqualified and unready to lead this nation during an economic crisis, the United States is floundering. And the deaf, dumb and blind US Congress is leading the nation off the edge of the cliff as surely as the Pied Piper led the rats and then the children in the fairly tale to their potential doom. I'm not at all certain we can have a happy ending.

Clearly investors and foreign governments don't think a happy ending is in our future as they abandon on currency as if it were infected with Swine Flu (or, more likely, the Ebola virus). Death be to those holding US currency when the end times arrive.

President Obama's biggest mistake today is that he is ignoring the economy as he pursues a Health Care Restructuring Plan that is horrifically bad in its own right. He should be working on the economy and the deficit, but if, god forbid, he succeeds in forcing this Health Care Bill down the throats of a public that neither wants it nor needs it, it will bring on the collapse all by itself.

Poor President Obama has done virtually nothing right. Being naive in both the ways of Congress and in basic economics, he turned the Economic Stimulus Act over to Nancy Pelosi and give little or no guidance. Pelosi hadn't the slightest idea how to build a stimulus package, so she did what she does best, packaged up 780 billion dollars of pork and special favors for friends and supporters and called it stimulus.

Now some folks are surprised (or, at least, act surprised) to find the stimulus package isn't doing any good and the very slow economic recovery is exactly what would have been expected without a package.

The problem is the stimulus package is actually a time bomb and is ready to explode the deficit. Gold, therefore, is the safe haven for investors and other nations that are handling their economy correctly.

Three things need to happen. First, and perhaps most important, the Health Care Restructuring Bill must be stopped.

Second, the President needs a new economic team, a strike force if you will. He should ask Mitt Romney to head up this effort to, literally, save the United States.

Finally, Nancy Pelosi should step down as Speaker of the House and usher in a new spirit of true bipartisanship. Now is not this time to build walls and foster hatred. Pelosi isn't capable of anything else and she must go.

Let's Just Fall in Love Again

2009-11-06T18:23:00.000-06:00

Relax.

Take a deep breath.

And Relax.

The Worst Bill Ever

2009-11-05T18:13:00.002-06:00

The Worst Bill Ever.

That's how The Wall Street Journal characterized the House version of Health Care Restructuring introduced yesterday to a waiting world by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Last night on Bill O'Reilly's cable opinion show comedian Dennis Miller referred to Pelosi as "sub-reptilian." I couldn't agree with both characteristics more.

I've said before that Nancy Pelosi is the "worst Speaker of the House in United States history." I repeat that here again today. The woman, left unchecked, will destroy our country and never, ever realize what she has done.

I know I'm offending many folks and I usually don't get this emphatic, but the woman is a menace and this bill..... well, this bill is the worst bill ever.

Here are just a few of the key points from the journal article:

In a rational political world, this 1,990-page runaway train would have been derailed months ago. With spending and debt already at record peacetime levels, the bill creates a new and probably unrepealable middle-class entitlement that is designed to expand over time. Taxes will need to rise precipitously, even as ObamaCare so dramatically expands government control of health care that eventually all medicine will be rationed via politics.

All this is particularly reckless given the unfunded liabilities of Medicare—now north of $37 trillion over 75 years. Mrs. Pelosi wants to steal $426 billion from future Medicare spending to "pay for" universal coverage. While Medicare's price controls on doctors and hospitals are certain to be tightened, the only cut that is a sure thing in practice is gutting Medicare Advantage to the tune of $170 billion. Democrats loathe this program because it gives one of out five seniors private insurance options.

As for Medicaid, the House will expand eligibility to everyone below 150% of the poverty level, meaning that some 15 million new people will be added to the rolls as private insurance gets crowded out at a cost of $425 billion. A decade from now more than a quarter of the population will be on a program originally intended for poor women, children and the disabled.

All told, the House favors $572 billion in new taxes, mostly by imposing a 5.4-percentage-point "surcharge" on joint filers earning over $1 million, $500,000 for singles. This tax will raise the top marginal rate to 45% in 2011 from 39.6% when the Bush tax cuts expire—not counting state income taxes and the phase-out of certain deductions and exemptions. The burden will mostly fall on the small businesses that have organized as Subchapter S or limited liability corporations, since the truly wealthy won't have any difficulty sheltering their incomes.

This surtax could hit ever more earners because, like the alternative minimum tax, it isn't indexed for inflation. Yet it still won't be nearly enough. Even if Congress had confiscated 100% of the taxable income of people earning over $500,000 in the boom year of 2006, it would have only raised $1.3 trillion. When Democrats end up soaking the middle class, perhaps via the European-style value-added tax that Mrs. Pelosi has endorsed, they'll claim the deficits that they created made them do it.

Read the entire article.

An American Tragedy

2009-10-23T18:11:00.006-05:00

I've often pondered and occasionally stated in this blog that Barack Obama was not ready to be President. He lacked the experience, especially the Washington experience to handle the complexities and the political maneuvering of the job.

Sadly, I have once again been proved right. But much, much worse, he lacks the temperament and intelligence to handle the job. What we are watching this past few weeks is simply heartbreaking.

Now I must stop this essay for a moment and say that we all must support President Obama to the very best of our abilities. He is OUR PRESIDENT. And we all need him to succeed. Our success as a country is tied directly to his success as a President.

But that doesn't mean for even a millisecond that we should not criticize his mistakes, and point out his failings. We also should compliment his successes and, most important, we should give him our advice and council.

But now Barack Obama has made a potentially tragic error. Although he has already broken almost every single campaign promise he made in 2008, he is now breaking his most important promise and violating his trust with the American people. He has decided he will not be President of all the people, but only of the people who agree wholeheartedly with his every mood and policy swing.

So Barack Obama has decided to make enemies of FOX News, The Chamber of Commerce, and various media pundits. More importantly, he has made enemies of everyone who watches FOX, runs a small business or occasionally even rarely agrees with a Limbaugh, Hannity or Beck.

Why is this happening?

Timothy P. Carney writes today in The Washington Examiner, "Chamber lobbyist Bruce Josten told me that White House is picking a high-profile fight with his group because, given Democratic supermajorities, Obama "needs an enemy" to blame for the difficulty he's having in getting his policies approved."

"But there's another reason Obama is running low on enemies: He's already bought off many of the most powerful industries and businesses."

"Look at health care, where Obama has brought the name-brand drug makers on board to his reform with promises of subsidies and pledges not to attack the industry's special favors. Look at cigarettes, where Obama signed a tobacco regulation bill with the firm backing of Philip Morris."

"And of course, look at climate-change legislation, where Obama has on his side coal giants like American Electric Power, manufacturing giants like Nike, agribusiness giant Monsanto, and lobbying giant General Electric, to name a few. The Democrats have bought off these special interests by rigging the legislation so that taxpayer and ratepayer money is funneled into corporate coffers."

Indeed, much of what is happening here is done to distract Obama's critics and especially his supporters. And it's working. The Press is eating this up. Virtually every newscast is covering Obama's fight with FOX News and The Chamber.

But, We the People are the losers. In creating a class warfare between Americans, Obama is dividing the country as it has never been divided before.

Wesley Pruden writes today in his essay Obama's Third World Press Rant. "Mr. Obama and his White House can't seem to get their brains around the fact that the election of '08 is over, and he won. A candidate feeds on red meat, but a president is the president of everyone, and must set a different table."

"Mr. Obama campaigned with promises of a post-racial, post-partisan, post-rancor administration, and millions of Americans responded with enthusiasm. The candidate who said he took inspiration from Abraham Lincoln of Illinois now acts as if he takes inspiration from the distinguished statesmen of the Third World, where press opposition to the leader is usually a bloody no-no. The remarkable White House attempt to define which news organization is legitimate and which is not began in August, as Mr. Obama's poll numbers began a dramatic slide."

The press from the other networks are beginning to see the light and many are questioning the Presidents actions and motives.

And the public is appalled. Obama's poll numbers are sinking at an alarming rate. Frankly they should be sinking faster because this level of betrayal of the American people is tragic.

The British newspaper The Telegraph writes, "The decline in Barack Obama's popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years."

Peggy Noonan, a liberal leaning Republican in name only, who has generally been supportive of the President writes in The Wall Street Journal, "At a New York fund-raiser this week, Obama said to the Democratic audience, are "an opinionated bunch." They always have a lot of thoughts and views. Republicans, on the other hand—"the other side"—aren't really big on independent thinking. "They just kinda sometimes do what they're told. Democrats, y'all thinkin' for yourselves."

"It is never a good sign when the president gets folksy, dropping his g's, because he is by nature not a folksy g-dropper but a coolly calibrating intellectual who is always trying to guess, as most politicians do, what normal people think. When Mr. Obama gets folksy he isn't narrowing his distance from his audience but underlining it. He shouldn't do this."

"But the statement that Republicans just do what they're told was like his famous description of unhappy voters as people who "cling to guns or religion." (What comes over him at fund-raisers?) Both statements speak of a political misjudgment of his opponents and his situation.They show a misdiagnosis of the opposition that is politically tin-eared. Politicians looking to win don't patronize those they're trying to win over."

Sadly, Peggy Noonan has misread the President's intent. He has absolutely no desire to win over the other side. He really wants to simply destroy them. Failing that, he wants to ignore them or bully them into compliance. He is a Blue State Only President. We can support the President best by simply turning a majority of states back to red.

Fractured Fairy Tales

2009-10-16T18:16:00.005-05:00

I have long been an admirer of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. But no more.

She remains bright, articulate and extremely well informed. Rachel is obviously a hard worker and tireless in her research and documentation. She prepares for each show and each interview with a thoroughness I can only wish every television and radio host would emulate.

She then completely wastes her talent and all her effort with fractured fairy tales. Instead of real discussion and real information, we get partisan political grandstanding, puff pieces of self aggrandizement, false guests that are either lightweight pseudo opposition fall guys or embedded supporters of Maddow's preordained positions. At least 90% of each show is personal attacks. It's a rare night the 10% is about issues or ideas.

It would be generous of me to assume that no real, articulate opponents of her progressive/liberal positions are willing to appear against the bright and aggressive Maddow. Perhaps that is true. Perhaps every real conservative quakes in their collective boots at the mere thought of a confrontation with Maddow. But I doubt it.

More likely is the Rachel and the powers at MSNBC program each night like bloodsport in the Roman coliseum with sacrificial lambs to be slaughtered by the powerful and very hungry lioness that is Rachel Maddow.

Blood flows and the crowd cheers.

Meanwhile we the viewer learn nothing. If we really want to understand the actual and true position of conservatives we must change the channel and watch Sean Hannity, who hosts the right wing mirror image of the Maddow Show.

At least Sean Hannity had the courage and honor to engage in a long and thorough interview with Michael Moore and actually let Moore make his positions clear and complete.

What we Americans really need is to see Maddow in a format where she really interviews real guests and has genuine discussion about the issues and not just the name calling and demonizing of Republicans we see each night.

Rachel, you are a lot better than this. You deserve a better format. And you're capable of holding your own in a real, honest and fair debate of facts and policy.

I dare you to try. The viewers will flock to your door and your rating will go through the roof. More importantly, your viewers will be well served.

Don Imus Triumphant Return to Morning Television

2009-10-14T16:36:00.005-05:00

OK, OK, I know Imus was actually on the RFD cable television channel for at least a year. And I'm certain he found an audience there, but their reach was limited and it was simply the wrong forum for the metropolitan and edgy Imus. But put him back where he belongs on a major news/business network and Imus immediately staged a major comeback.

Now simulcasting his WABC (770 AM, New York) radio show on the FOX BUSINESS CHANNEL, Imus catapulted FOX to it's first ever rating victory over rival CNBC in Imus first week on FOX. Trust me, this is only the beginning.

The reason is simple. Imus is easily the very best interviewer on all of radio or television. His show is instant must see-TV. In his 15 to 20 minute segments with each guest, Imus really cuts to the core of each issue and each individual. And he does it without interrupting or badgering the guest. He asks sharp and often unexpected questions and then he actually listens to the answer. He NEVER tries to ambush or set up a guest. His interviews are the real deal.

Imus is so powerful, he has actually improved the FOX BUSINESS NEWS ratings for the entire morning, long after he leaves the air, viewers remained on FOX. You can't ask for better results.

But the real winners are we viewers who have recently had to put up with completely bogus partisans like Hannity or Olbermann or strident egotists like O'Reilly or the unbelievably obnoxious Dylan Ratigan, who may actually be the nastiest person on all of television. Keep in mind that Ratigan is usually right, he is still an unbelievable jerk. The only thing you will ever learn from a Ratigan interview is what Ratigan thinks.

Kudos to FOX BUSINESS NEWS on the brilliant move.

Who Will Protect Us from Washington?

2009-10-02T18:05:00.008-05:00

A POX on both their houses.

Universal Health Care was within easy reach. This was a "no brainer," a goal that should have been the crown jewel of President Obama's first term as President. Everybody wanted it, no one opposed.

And reduced health care costs were even easier. The formula for dropping health care costs was so simple that even our Congress could have figured it out.

Alas, the Health Care Restructuring we are about to get served is the absolute worst of all possible worlds. We will like not have any public option (not that I wanted one). And we will not have universal choice. We will be stuck with our current policies with lower benefits, less choice, more governmental controls (Sarah Palin's Death Panels, but with a kinder, gentler name) and costs that will quickly spiral out of control.

Thinking Democrats and liberals like MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan are protesting mightily, but it's falling on deaf ears.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Now go ahead and read Matt Miller's complete article in the Wall Street Journal: A Real Employee Free Choice Act Although Miller didn't know this when he wrote the article, Sen. Ron Wyden's (D., Ore.) Free Choice Act was permanently shelved at 1 am last night by the Senate Finance Committee without a vote.

As Ratigan and others have said, Congress is being boxed in by the odd couple combination of Labor Unions, who don't want their members to be able to chose a different plan, and businesses who are too stupid to realize that they should be begging to get out of the Health Care Business, not lobbying to stay in control of a system that will surely bankrupt them.

So we will get higher health care costs, a massive tax increase and government controlled care. And, because no one is willing to consider tort reform, we will get fewer doctors, fewer hospitals and higher premiums to cover malpractice insurance.

Finally, we are not really getting universal coverage, instead most people will face stiff fines if they somehow fail to purchase insurance they might not be able to afford.

Who is Lying to Seniors?

2009-09-23T18:12:00.004-05:00

I'm certain that you've heard that the Medicare Advantage Program is very controversial. If you are young and you are not caring for an elderly relative, the Medicare Advantage Program may mean nothing to you. But if you or a loved one is enrolled in one of the programs, you are likely very concerned about the debate raging in Congress today.

What is Medicare Advantage? Under today's Advantage programs private insurers like United Health Care or Humana take over the administration of Medicare including the interface with the United States Government. They standardize all fees and greatly reduce the paperwork and eliminate virtually all complications for seniors. They often pay more than Medicare for many services, saving seniors substantial amounts of money.

But, they do cost the government about 14% more per senior than standard Medicare enrollment. Many claim this just goes to fatten the bankroll of evil and greedy insurance company executives. And anecdotal horror stories, generally totally unsubstantiated, are flowing through the blogosphere about seniors being denied care. These are almost certainly false because the companies are highly regulated and must, by law, cover any expense Medicare itself would cover.

My mother is enrolled in an Advantage Program through United Health Care. It is stunningly excellent and has saved her a great deal of money and countless headaches. I cannot praise the program enough. So I am biased.

On the other hand, I have several close friends who are doctors and also get to hear their side of the story. While the bookkeepers like the amazing simplicity of Advantage Programs, the doctors and hospitals actually are paid less than they would receive under straight Medicare. You see, Insurance Companies actually negotiate lower prices from health care providers. And, doctors tell me, the payments are often much more logical under Advantage programs, fees are more in line with real world costs. Medicare vastly overpays for certain services.

It is important to note, before I continue, that Advantage programs are primarily used by the very poor who cannot afford traditional Medicare Supplemental Insurance programs. Advantage covers some expenses much more fully than traditional Medicare. And, as I've already mentioned, it's a lot easier to use.

Today's debate revolves around what Insurance Companies are allowed to communicate with their customers. The Obama Administration has DEMANDED that all insurance companies cease and desist all communication with customers about the impending elimination of the Advantage Program. Today, on a nearly straight party line vote, the Senate backed the Administration.

The claim by the Obama Administration was that some communication lied or attempted to frighten seniors. However, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf seemed to back the insurance companies Tuesday testifying under oath that seniors in the private Medicare Advantage plans would likely see substantially reduced benefits under the Senate Finance Committee legislation now under debate.

President Obama and virtually all Congressional Democrats have all PROMISED that despite the massive reductions and other planned cuts to the Medicare program, seniors would not see their benefits reduced under the Obama Health Care Restructuring. That claim is the centerpiece of every Obama speech and his address to the joint session of Congress last week. The only thing is, as Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf testified, that simply isn't true!

In his attack on the insurance companies yesterday, Senator Max Baucus, Finance Committee Chairman, boldly declared, "It is wholly unacceptable to mislead seniors regarding any subject — particularly on a subject as important to them, and to the nation, as health care reform."

I agree completely. It's damned time Senator Baucus and his fellow Democrats STOPPED LYING TO SENIORS AS THEY ATTEMPT TO SECRETLY GUT A SUCCESSFUL AND IMPORTANT PROGRAM.

Is the Left's Demonization of Glenn Beck Good for America?

2009-09-19T10:18:00.009-05:00

Time Magazine has an excellent analysis of the Glenn Beck phenomena as this week's cover story. Lead writer David Von Drehle and the Time reporters are remarkably "fair and balanced" in their coverage of Glenn Beck and his appeal to a large and largely disaffected portion of America.

The article is hardly a "puff piece" as some on the left have claimed. The magazine cover photo alone portrays Beck as a clown or even a mad man, not a business or political leader or a intellectual icon.

Still, Joseph A. Palermo, writing over at The Huffington Post is outraged. He calls David Von Drehle's article "a clinic for journalism students who wish to learn about faux balance, false equivalencies, straw men, and omissions of important facts."

While I'm not going to get in between Palermo and Von Drehle, I feel the real story here is the lefts virtually insane obsession over Beck and his fellow conservative talk show and television personalities. This preoccupation that verges on fixation is unhealthy for the critics, the left wing progressives and maybe for all America.

This obsession is so wrong and so misplaced on so many different levels. First, by concentrating their fire on personalities like Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity and (curiously) Bill O'Reilly, they miss huge opportunities every day to focus on issues and ideas and the real personalities that shape today's policies. Some blogs and even television shows devote nearly 100% of their space (or airtime) to demonizing these personalities.

By writing and blogging and talking all day every day about Beck and Limbaugh, progressives actually give them immense power. Beck's popularity and importance and audience size are all fueled by the constant and generally misplaced (and often completely false) attacks by Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and the bevy of Hollywood Glitterati writing over on Huffington.

Indeed the efforts by progressives to get advertisers to stop advertising on the Beck Telecast on Fox have only increased Beck's popularity and viewership. While similar boycotts have, in the past, actually cost personalities their jobs, it has increased Becks popularity and strengthened his position at Fox.

As a side note, President Barack Obama's boneheaded move to exclude Chris Wallace and Fox New Sunday from his Sunday barrage of appearances to promote his Health Care Restructuring is the absolute worst public relations decision ever made. He has done more real damage to his agenda by this lame and schoolyard childish insult than he can possibly gain by his appearance on the other five programs. President Obama seriously needs new advisers!

Back to the topic. By concentrating their fire on Beck, opportunities are missed to actually promote the progressive agenda. While Beck spends his time and ammunition on issues, programs, ideas and philosophies, the (not very) credible personalities on the left spend their time whining about Beck and O'Reilly.

Even the Democrat Party has fallen into this tragic trap.

As Beck observes at the end of this clip, doesn't the DNC realize he's not running for office?

Such attacks only increase Beck's power and popularity. Worse yet, the ad above displays the DNC's complete ignorance of Beck and his stand on the issues. Beck was and is extremely critical of President Bush and especially Bush's use of CZARS. The ad itself ends up promoting Beck and his position!

Worst of all, when progressives demonize a personality, they blind themselves to both his appeal and his position on important issues. If you put on colored glasses, you blind yourself to what's actually happening. Once you've put a Glenn Beck in a corner, you feel safe in ignoring everything he says. This ignorance is always at your own peril!

Rather than simply ridicule Beck, progressives ought to try to understand why his ideas resonate with millions of people. They aren't all nut cases or whack jobs. They have genuine concerns, good ideas, real problems and valid and important points of view. Turning Beck into the enemy won't ever change any one's mind. Posing good, valid and well thought out counter positions on the issues might.

Battles You Cannot Win

2009-09-17T12:36:00.005-05:00

I've been reading quite a lot of different blogs over the last week. I've started with the blogs I normally frequent, then followed the links to other blogs many folks provide on their sidebars. I've also read the comments made on blog posts and followed the poster to his or her "home" blog.

To say our nation is divided is an understatement. I've read charges, accusations, attacks, slurs and hate speech. It's really quite ugly in almost all of the politically oriented blogs.

Lots of people are shouting. Nobody is listening.

Generally people do not venture outside of their own political spectrum. So they are free to feed upon one another. Readers seek out blogs with which they already agree. Then each comment plays one-upsmanship on the previous remark. "My hate speech is more hateful that your hate speech."

Often it's a race to see who can mention Hitler first. Charges of racism as sure to follow. Socialist! Communist! Fascist!

Don't get me wrong. These aren't any arguments. There is no opposing point of view.

No conservatives dare visit the progressive dens of hate. Why would they? Why should they? No one is going to listen. And no real issues are being discussed. It's not like there is a discussion of the merits of the public option of health care. Nope, the only discussion is how stupid.... or mean..... or cruel.... or evil.... or racist the opposition really is.

Many right wing blogs traffic is the same vacuous diatribes.

These bloggers are preaching to the choir. They are tilting at windmills, fighting battles they cannot possibly win. They are poisoning themselves in their homemade cesspools of hate.

There is one last unifying factor. Not one of them realize what they are doing. They will read what I've written and never realize I'm talking about them. That's why it's called blind hatred.

Remembering the Reality: 9-11-2001: Sue Kim Hanson

2009-09-11T13:24:00.002-05:00

Here is a reprint of the article I wrote three years ago as part of the 2,996 Project. In this project, one blogger was assigned to prepare a remembrance for each of the victims who died during the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001

Today 9/11 seems like a lifetime away. And, for many people it is. There will be a complete moratorium on politicking and all other posts on the WIZARD site for 24 hours.

Please take time to remember just how frail and how fleeting life really is. Read and remember Sue Kim Hanson.

Sue Kim Hanson
September 11, 2006

A short note appears on the Boston University Medical Campus Calendar Website noting that Jonathan W. Yewdell, M.D., Ph.D., Chief, Cellular Biology Section of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases will be speaking tomorrow, September 11, 2006, on the topic of "Gained in Translation: Generating Viral and Cellular Peptide Antigens from DRiPs."

He is speaking at 4:00 pm in Keefer Auditorium and a Reception in the Wilkins Board Room will follow.

What might be missed by a casual observer is perhaps the most important fact of all. Dr. Yewdell is the guest speaker for the 5th Annual Sue Kim Hanson Lecture In Immunology.

If you noticed this, you might simply assume that Sue Kim Hanson is (or was) some generous benefactor to the University. A lecture named for her to repay her gift.

Or perhaps you would guess that she is (or was) a notable scientist who, at one time or another, taught or studied at Boston University. Someone who should be honored for the advancements she made in Immunology.

And, indeed, all of the above is true. Just not in the way you might expect.

Susan Kim Hanson was one of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack that took the lives of 2,996 souls in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the fields of Pennsylvania.

Sue, her husband Peter, and her two year old daughter Christine were on United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Her daughter Christine was the youngest victim of the September 11th attack.

But the Boston University Lecture Series is not named after Sue Kim Hanson because of the way she died, but because of the way she lived.

Sue was a great scientist in the making. She was a doctoral candidate in micro-biology immunology at Boston University and working on her final thesis. Her work promised to reveal the workings of a chemical believed to regulate immune responses. She had isolated in lab mice a gene suspected of being involved in asthma sufferers and AIDS patients. Her work had the potential to help millions of people.

Susan Kim was one of those wonderful American success stories. A Korean-American, Sue had lived with her grandmother in Korea until she was 6. Her mother died when she was 15 and she was raised by her strict Korean father. Through hard work and discipline, sacrifice, dedication and sheer will power she neared the goal her mother and father and grandmother had hoped she would achieve, her doctorate degree.

Dr. Hardy Kornfeld, Hanson's thesis adviser, said "She was sort of fearless. Sue just took on tasks that were incredibly challenging, and more often than not she was able to make a go at them."

That she would be attracted to the wild and undisciplined Peter Hanson was a great surprise. Three years younger than Sue Kim, Peter gained his education by following The Grateful Dead. Peter believed that the group and its music would become classics, up there with Beethoven, Bach and company, and he tried to sway the opinion of anyone who would listen. Many of our listeners to Wizard Radio would certainly agree with Peter.

But even if Sue wasn't quite convinced about the Dead, she believed in Peter. And her faith was well placed. Peter was, by all accounts, a brilliant software engineer, a great salesman and a wonderful person.

He was passionate about Sue and Sue fell head over heals in love with Peter. She obviously had a great effect on him. Legacy.com has a reprint of a New York Times article about Sue that tells the story:

Sue and Peter were married and had a beautiful daughter. Sue continued to pursue her doctoral degree. She was scheduled to defend her thesis in November, 2001.

Taking a last break before finalizing her research and thesis, Sue, Peter and Christine were on their way to visit the Sue's father and grandmother in California, and take Christine to Disneyland, when they boarded United Airlines Flight 175. Peter was one of those who made a final cell phone call to his parents moments before the plane crashed into the south tower.

Sue's friend Mona Pengree writes, "Sue was awarded her PhD posthumously, as her professor finished her work on her behalf. This is a wonderful picture of her, and she shone every bit as brightly in person. Probably more. Her loss was a loss to all mankind."

Sue gave a great deal to Boston University and she gave a great deal to all of us. Her work in immunology inspired her fellow students, faculty and the University to continue her research and finish her thesis. They awarded her a doctorate degree. And they established the Annual Sue Kim Hanson Lecture In Immunology, not just to honor her memory, but to give full credit to her work and the inspiration, the strength and the courage Sue provides to us all.

God bless you Sue... and Peter and Christine and all those who died so tragically five years ago.

God bless.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, there is a wealth of information, tribute and love scattered throughout the Internet in remembrance of Sue Kim Hanson. I owe every contributor who came before me a deep debt of gratitude. Through each of you I have come to know Sue, Peter and Christine. You have touched my heart.

If my Tribute to Susan Kim Hanson here today fell short in any way, I deeply apologize and would love to hear from any of you.

I suggest these following resources from which I have borrowed freely in preparing this tribute:

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 VICTIMS: Sue Kim Hanson

Remember September 11, 2001

A mother to her son: How could I forget your curiosity and energy? By Eunice Hanson, for The Associated Press

Peter, Sue Kim, and Christine Hanson Memorial Web Site

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Back in 2006, the 2,996 Project asked bloggers to prepare tributes to all who died in the tragic events of September 11th. Many of those blog entries remain on line and many will be reprinted today.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

2009-09-10T17:27:00.008-05:00

I thought President Obama gave a bitterly partisan speech last night on "Health Care System Restructuring," using the very hyperbole and scare tactics he had been accusing the Republicans of using.

I can't call it "Health Care Reform" because the word reform implies fixing a problem or improving a system and the Obama Plan, as it can finally be called, will do neither. At this point I'm simply saddened that a bill will eventually pass based on counterproductive ideas and mythology.

But that's not the point of today's entry. Today's subject is one man's self destructive insanity. If we look back a year from now at the exact moment President Obama won the battle for his Health Care System Restructuring it will be the moment that Congressman Joe Wilson lost control of his emotions (or his intellect) and shouted "you lie" at President Obama. At that magical moment the entire nation completely and permanently forgot everything the President was saying. At that magical moment the entire nation was on President Obama's side.

I was on Twitter as the President spoke. To paraphrase Obi Won Kenobi in Star Wars, it was as if millions of voices cried out all at once. Twitter exploded in shock, horror and anger. Tweets from the 400 or so folks I follow erupted so quickly, my service could not keep up. At that was just a microcosm of what happened nationwide.

Never mind that President Bush was treated much worse by Democrats when he tried to get Medicare and Social Security Reform in a Joint Session of Congress. Bush was wildly unpopular. Nobody cared, although they should have.

No, Congressman Joe Wilson galvanized a nation. Hell, his opponent, Robert Miller, enjoyed a windfall of over $400,000.00 in donations in minutes after Wilson shot off his mouth. Wilson cannot possibly win re-election.

But the real beneficiary was President Obama and his Health Care Restructuring that is about to be inflicted upon our weary nation. Totally unnecessary, hugely expensive and structurally damaging, our new system will prove to be outrageously expensive and will rather quickly dismantle the greatest Health Care System on earth. Got to give Joe Wilson credit. The man is a political powerhouse. President Obama couldn't have done it without him.

Wizard Prediction: Barack Obama Will Blow It! Big Time!!!

2009-09-09T13:00:00.001-05:00

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON 9/3/2009 - MOVED TO TOP OF LISTINGS SO WE CAN EASILY COMPARE IT TO PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH TONIGHT. ALL I HAVE HEARD AND READ TODAY LEAVES ME CONVINCED THAT MY PREDICTIONS BELOW WILL BE TRAGICALLY ACCURATE.

I watch Morning Joe on MSNBC every morning after my full dose of National Public Radio. I enjoy Joe and Mika and his entire rotating crew. They make sharp observations, provide reasonable balance of opinions and they are entertaining. While MSNBC lacks any real conservative voices (Joe Scarborough is a weak kneed Libertarian and Pat Buchanan is a radical isolationist), they still try to present all sides of most issues.

This morning the panel was lamenting the disastrous drop in the polling of both Congress (lowest approval ratings in the 50 years of polling) and President Obama (lowest approval rating of his short Presidency). They discussed that Republicans had solid leads in the races for the governorships of both New Jersey and Virginia

One of the panel observed that Barack Obama WON THE ELECTION because he promised a new kind of Presidency. He promised he would embrace bipartisanship and end the gridlock.

The Morning Joe Crew all agreed. It was Obama's absolute FAILURE to even attempt bipartisanship along with Nancy Pelosi's refusal to work with Republicans that had so infuriated the American public.

I couldn't agree more. As I've written several times in this space, had President Obama merely picked up the telephone and TOLD NANCY PELOSI to sit down and genuinely listen to Republicans and to make an effort to forge a bipartisan bill, he could have already had a new Health Care Plan. He would have made his summer goal and basked in a major victory.

Instead he allow Pelosi and her team of reactionary progressives to build plans that were weird, complicated, convoluted and generally unworkable. A thousand pages of nonsense. I've read them.

Pelosi insured every single Republican amendment was handily defeated. She even went so far as to write into the bill provisions that directly contradicted promises the President was publicly making on funding of abortion, taxation, and deficit spending.

Barack Obama then had a chance to take a second bite at the apple and convene a bipartisan panel on health care during the summer recess. He failed to do that, instead going out and campaigning on a group of bills he hadn't even read.

Now for my prediction. President Obama has now given himself one more chance to embrace bipartisanship and build a great health care plan. All Republicans and all insurance companies are on board for universal health care. Victory is in his grasp. He can still emerge a winner! But he won't!

Instead Obama will engage in the absolute worst kind on partisanship. He will absolutely FAIL to acknowledge the concerns of the American Public. He WILL NOT call for bipartisan action. He WILL NOT convene a new panel to develop a real health care solution. He WILL absolutely enrage the American Public. He won't listen. He WILL lecture.

President Obama's speech to the Joint Session of Congress will go down as the death of his Presidency.

Let's all hope I'm wrong.

They Shouldn't Call Them Parties, Because Nobody's Having Any Fun

2009-09-08T12:57:00.007-05:00

Rather than principles, we Americans have mostly put all our thought, faith and loyalties into political parties, or often worse, cults of personalities.

That's why it's so damned easy to be accused of hypocrisy or to accuse others of hypocrisy. When we abdicate our principles, leave them on the sidelines, we have nothing to actually stand upon. We cast out random accusations at our supposed opponents that have little or no merit or worse, actually betray our stated goals.

We hit an all time low this weekend on two fronts: 1.) President Obama's address to school children today and 2.) Van Jones belated resignation as President Obama's Green Jobs CZAR, a position he should have never held.

President Obama is a superb role model. Here is a man our children should emulate. He is a model of intelligence, hard work, honor and success. You don't need to agree with his politics to admire and respect the man. None-the-less people who have long held that we should always respect and support the President of the United States, decided he shouldn't ever be allowed to actually talk to school children.

The position of certain right wing zealots is simple incomprehensible. Fortunately most credible Republican leaders from Laura Bush to Newt Gingrich have lambasted these folks and supported the President's address to our children.

Does the speech have political overtones? Yes, of course. It is unavoidable. And yet President Obama's speech hits the perfect notes and sets the ideal tone.

But wait, the nut jobs don't just sit on the right side of the table. When George H.W. Bush made virtually the same speech in 1991, the attackers were all Democrats. And they went way overboard, even going so far as to hold hearings "investigating" the President's gross misuse of funds to make a speech indoctrinating our students.

This was one scary attack led by none other than Speaker of the House Dick Gephardt: "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students. And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.'"

Here is, of course, the obvious problem for Democrats. If was actually wrong for the first President Bush to make such a speech, then today's Speaker of the House ought to be investigating and condemning President Obama. Nope! Bush was investigated only because he was a Republican and Obama is defended only because he is a Democrat.

Now on to problem #2. Over on the left some real zealots are trying to defend the indefensible Van Jones, just because a much hated right wing television commentator, Glenn Beck, made the discoveries into Van Jones' past that Obama's own people should have found.

It is absurd to "blame" Glenn Beck for Van Jone's own mistakes and misjudgements. Beck got lucky on this one. Don't worry, it will probably never happen again.

As a liberal or progressive would you tolerate for one second having David Duke in the White House, advising the President? Of course not. Well Van Jones is nothing less that a left wing David Duke. If you stand on principles, Van Jones cannot be defended.

Principled liberals are asking the important question: How did President Obama's team let this happen?