What happens when the lights go out?

Two things took me way back in time this week.  The first was seeing a press release and, down at the bottom, was this:

-30-

As a journalist, that was how we were taught to end our copy with  -30-  centered at the bottom, which was shorthand for "the end."  I wondered how many journalists working for the Times or the Post Tribune have had classic journalism school training in which they were taught to put the news on the front page and the opinions on the editorial page?  Not many, apparently, from the content of the stories I have read recently. 

The second thing was a sudden power outage.  It was windy outside on Thursday evening but not enough to expect the power to die!  Suddenly the only light was the glow of my laptop.  I foraged for my small flashlight, with which I found a large flashlight, with which we could search for battery-operated lights and candles.  We quickly gathered up seven or eight candles and four or five battery lights plus at least three flashlights.  Primitive?  Nope.  In my father's youth there were no battery-powered lights, so they would have lit candles and oil lamps.  At least they had matches.   When my great-grandfather was a boy he had not seen matches.

Suppose the power grid went out and stayed out?  Our gas stove uses electrostatic starting mechanisms to light.  We have no fireplace nor brick chimney.  We have no oil or kerosene or propane lamps. All of our automobiles have computerized ignition systems. Then I thought about one of the greatest plagues of the last 100 years or so - Barack Hussein Obama.

You see, we have innovation because of free enterprise.  Back in the middle ages few men could read, all books were hand-written, fires were hard to kindle so people allowed them to burn down to embers and then restarted them with kindling.  Most people walked but the more well-off had horses.  Most people lived a relatively primitive life.  Only the rich could afford very simple plumbing we would consider hilariously incomplete.

But the printing press was invented and the common man could have a Bible and because of the Bible men learned to read.  The more who could read, the more that could also be innovative by learning from others.  Science advanced rapidly and so did technology.  We went from candles to whale oil lamps to gas lamps to big old electric bulbs to modern incandescent lighting.   We went from walking to riding in carriages to riding on horseless carriages to sophisticated and computerized automobiles.  We went from kites to hot air balloons and flimsy airships to jet airplanes and rockets that could propel vehicles to the Moon and back. 

The government did not invent these things (other than some aspects of the space program) but rather people did.  People like Henry Ford would get an idea, build a horseless carriage, figure out how to do it better and faster and soon giant factories were cranking out hundreds of thousands of Fords.  Imagine if Abraham Lincoln had demanded that a fraction of the Federal budget would be spent helping inventors build bird-suits that would allow men to fly, or work on a cannon that would shoot a man to the Moon?  

Preposterous?  So what are all these so-called stimulus packages?  What is the push for "green energy" other than yet another way for Obama to funnel your tax dollars to his cronies?  It is an attempt for government to shut down private enterprise (note that the Obama Administration fights to stop oil and gas drilling and coal harvesting and etc.) while putting massive amounts of taxpayer dollars into things free enterprise will accomplish on its own.  See, whatever new energy source that can actually work and make people money will succeed.  Any old "green" idea Obama likes is not necessarily going to be worthwhile and so far it is pretty sure that if he likes it, it doesn't work!!!

The government didn't invent airplanes or automobiles or bicycles or gas lamps or the electric light bulb or jet planes or toasters or microwave ovens or typewriters or personal computers.   The government didn't learn that the black stuff underground could be used to fuel all sorts of things and the government didn't discover nuclear fission or general relativity or bacterial languages such as "quorum sensing."

I am a Christian now, converted as an adult.  I went outside and looked up and saw a few stars appear now and again while the clouds whirled past overhead.  I asked God if He remembered the days when I didn't know Him and used to look up at the stars and pick out a couple and pretend they were His eyes and I would talk to Him not being entirely sure He was there?   I laughed and I think He did, too.  I sang some old songs from my youth.  I prayed and I listened to the trees singing in the wind.  It was a good night.  Then suddenly the power came on and fish tank bubblers and a television came on and lights suddenly popped into brilliance and my dark quiet night was gone.   I hoped that an EMP blast would not take away our technology and leave us scrambling to shoot rabbits and gather firewood.  I hoped that the Obama Administration would quit spending hundreds of millions on garbage ideas and quit blocking energy harvesting and only give us one more number.  It looks like this:

- 30 -

Who would you choose as Hypocrite of the Month?

HOM for September...Hypocrite of the Month!

Let's just give you three candidates and let you choose, shall we?   Vote in the comments thread if you please?

CANDIDATE NUMBER ONE: Richard Lugar, current Senator and claiming the Republican Party as his brand, although he has been dubbed "Obama's Favorite Republican" even before helping prepare the then-candidate for the Democratic Party to debate John McCain before the 2008 election.

photo credit

But this time it isn't about Lugar's confusion about which party he belongs with, but rather what country he wants to help out.   You see, right now Americans need jobs.   Lugar's opponent, Richard Mourdock, has campaign shirts and they are naturally made right here in the good old USA.   But how about Lugar's shirts?  A little birdie pointed me to a post on Politico:

Lugar's T-shirts: Made in El Salvador - David Catanese.   Linked post below:

"September 22, 2011

Lugar's T-shirts: Made in El Salvador

A Republican in Indiana passes along this shot of Dick Lugar's 2012 campaign t-shirts — made in El Salvador.

The GOPer who picked it up at the state fair and is no Lugar fan emails, "I guess when Senator Lugar discusses the need to create jobs and increase foreign trade, he is talking about trading American jobs off to a South American country so they can make his campaign shirts at a cheaper price."

A spokesman for State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who is contesting Lugar for the GOP nomination, said its campaign shirts are made in the USA."

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CANDIDATE NUMBER TWO: Barack Obama.  Now for our second of three worthy candidates for HOM,  Barack Obama, the President of the United States who has spent more than any President in history, thrown more "stimulus money" at cronies than you can count and whose administration has done as much as possible to cripple energy production in the United States and make life hard for businesses.   He wants to take over the health care system and even wants the government to tell you what light bulbs to buy?   The guy who is choking the economy with both hands was quoted in AP like this:

"ATHERTON, Calif. (AP) — President Barack Obama charged Sunday that the GOP vision of government would "fundamentally cripple America," as he tried out his newly combative message on the liberal West Coast.

Aiming to renew the ardor of Democratic loyalists who have grown increasingly disenchanted with him, the president mixed frontal attacks on Republicans with words of encouragement intended to buck up the faithful as the 2012 campaign revs up.

"From the moment I took office what we've seen is a constant ideological pushback against any kind of sensible reforms that would make our economy work better and give people more opportunity," the president said at an intimate brunch fundraiser at the Medina, Wash., home of former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley, where about 65 guests were paying $35,800 per couple to listen to Obama..."

You know anyone who could affored to pay $38,500 a couple to listen to some guy whining about the milk he himself has spilled? This blogger deals with businesses around North America, many of them with headquarters in a foreign country.   I know for a fact that businesses are afraid to invest in America because of Obama's energy-and-business hindering policies as enforced by agencies like the FDA and the EPA and by executive orders.    Look at what the deficit and unemployment rate was when BO was elected and compare those numbers to now.  You might be astounded at how much damage he has done so fast.   You cannot accuse Republicans of "crippling America", Mr. President, when you are absolutely expert at it yourself.  No matter how hard the Associated Propaganda, er, I mean Press spins stories to make you look better!

But we have to give him one more part to today's entry because of his possibly illegal connections and actions associated with:  "Obama changes law so his donors, CA Dems get Solyndra $ before taxpayers

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Donald Ferguson.

President Barack Obama raised eyebrows when he exempted the now-bankrupt and FBI-raided Solyndra solar experiment from a federal law requiring taxpayers be placed ahead of private creditors when a federally-funded corporation goes bankrupt.

Now we may be finding out why.

“Out of the hundreds of out-of-work employees, vendors, investors and other creditors in the bankruptcy of government-backed solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC, one name stands out: the California Democratic Party…One investor, Argonaut Private Equity, is tied to George Kaiser, Oklahoma billionaire and fundraiser for Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign,” The Washington Times reports this morning.

Solyndra will not reveal how much cash the California Democrat Party may be receiving. The Party claims to know nothing about the deal.

Solyndra received over a half-billion dollars of taxpayer money from the Obama administration after the Bush administration refused to give the cash.

“Just two years ago, the company received federal loan guarantees of more than $500 million, money it burned through but hasn’t repaid. Because of a subsequent loan restructuring, taxpayers won’t be repaid before the private investors who poured $75 million into the company earlier this year as it tried to stay afloat,” the Times reports.

Obama made Solyndra the centerpiece of his failed “green jobs” political campaign, and the partnership may have paid off handsomely. “This announcement today is part of the unprecedented investment this administration is making in renewable energy and exactly what the Recovery Act is all about,” the Obama administration announced when making the handout.

While taxpayers are stuck with a half-billion dollars in lost cash while Obama donors and California Democrats are first in line for repayment, federally-funded Solyndra donated $7,500.00 to the California Democrat Party and $1,000.00 to three California Assembly Democrat candidates.

“Solyndra employees have donated more than $20,000 to federal lawmakers over the years, most of it going to Democrats. A breakdown of donations by the Center for Responsive Politics shows 72 percent went to Democrats, 27 percent to Republicans and 1 percent to Libertarian candidates,” the Times reports.

When questioned how the Obama-connected firm managed to get a half-billion dollars in taxpayer money the company’s predicted bankruptcy prevented it from getting most private loans, Solyndra executives exercised their right to avoid implicating themselves in a crime.

“In the wake of the company’s collapse and subsequent raid by the FBI this month, Solyndra’s top two executives, citing their Fifth Amendment rights [against implicating themselves in a criminal matter,] refused to testify last week before the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee, which has been looking at the Solyndra loan deal for months,” the Times reports."

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When you hear Barack Obama say "reforms", he means socialism, blocking energy sources, ruining businesses and handing off taxpayer's money to supporters and contributors to his campaign.   He did bring Change, but Hope?   Not so much...

Anyway, could there possibly be any candidate worthy of being mentioned with these two incredible hypocrites?   Yes, actually: 

CANDIDATE NUMBER THREE: The Lake County Democratic Party aka I am shocked, shocked, that there is corruption in the Democrat party!

"Time to Change the Culture of Corruption

by Kim Dugger Krull on Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 8:09pm

On the very day that Lake County Democratic Coroner, Thomas Philpot, was indicted on charges of public corruption, Lake County Democratic leaders are wondering why Governor Daniels said Lake County is known for governmental corruption. This reminds me of the Hans Christian Anderson story about the Emperor who ran around naked thinking he had on beautiful clothes just because some scam artist weavers told him he had on finely woven clothes that you could not see if you were unfit to hold office or a simpleton. So everyone pretended he had on these beautiful clothes because they didn’t want to believe they were unfit.

Lake County has seen at least fifty democratic public officials convicted of some form of public corruption since 2000. For those of you who don’t remember the names, here are a few: George Pabey, Bob Cantrell, Frankie Kollintzas, Robert Pastrick, James Fife, Jewell Harris Sr., Katie Hall, Will Smith Jr., Dozier Allen, Jojuanna Meeks, Peter Manous, and Kevin Pastrick. Now we have our current Coroner, Thomas Philpot, charged with theft for the time he was County Clerk!

How much longer are we going to stand by and let these people fool us? The Democratic Chairman said last year, "I'm two decades younger than these guys. We're all embarrassed by the reputation Lake County has. But I'm not part of it. I just happen to live here.” Really? You aren’t part of the problem? Isn’t it your party that keeps sending a message out to “Punch 10” no matter who is on the ballot to try to ensure that democrats, even if they are charged with a crime like Carol Ann Seaton last year, still get elected? Aren’t you the one that went downstate and hired lobbyists to stop the funding of Operations and Maintenance of the Little Calumet River Commission so your pal democratic surveyor George Van Til and you could cook up a new scheme for your friends and family plan? You Mr. Chairman are good friends with Mr. Woerpel who is the Hammond Democratic Chairman and was caught growing pot in his home. You are also good friends of Mr. Philpot who was just indicted! Excuse me sir, but you are part of the problem. You are the reason why the rest of the state doesn’t respect us. This culture of corruption must stop!

Indiana is ranked 5th in the Top States for Doing Business Survey. However, out of the top 50 public corporations in Indiana only one is located in Lake County. The democratic chairman had this to say concerning that one, NIPSCO, “Somebody has to stand up to this company…. NIPSCO’s done nothing to help me.” Do you mean NIPSCO hasn’t lined your pockets?

As the Republican Chairman in Lake County, I have given voters of Lake County a choice this Election Day. We have attracted many good, honest people to run for mayor and council positions this fall. You can “Punch 10” like you are told by the weavers and continue to pretend the emperor is wearing beautiful clothes or you can vote for honest people who want to be public servants and turn this culture of corruption into a culture of respect and prosperity."


Well, there you go!   Which candidate makes the Hypocrite of the Month?

Local News Underscores Gun Rights

In today's "Times" there were two separate stories that made me reflect for a moment about gun rights in general.

The first has to do with the highly publicized story of the murder of Amanda Bach. At this time they have a suspect, they have determined that she was shot, and that she did not suffer; there is at least that, I suppose. Now, what I like to do is be a "facebook troll". Yes, I surf around and see what people are saying about one issue or another. It's not only entertaining, it's very informative. For example, I'll see a comment about one issues or another, and I'll check "info" on that person and see what they have to say about themselves. It's kind of like conducting miniature polls for my own amusement; people who say A are more likely liberal, people who say B are more likely conservative, etc., etc.

Not too surprisingly, there were a handful of those that listed "liberal" or "very liberal" in their info who decided that this was an example of why guns should be outlawed. Now, I don't want to automatically pigeon hole ALL liberals; after all, there were many who said nothing of the sort. But the few that there were really made me think to myself, "My God I hope this person never holds any position of power." Rather, I ask the opposite question: What would be different is SHE was packing heat?

Certainly it can't be said with 100% certainty that either A)she wasn't or B)it would have changed the situation any, but it does make one wonder, none the less.

The second story in the paper is one about a man who was open carrying his weapon at the zoo.From what I understand, he was asked by security to conceal his weapon and he made quite the fuss about it; to the point where he was escorted out because other patrons were becoming frightened.

I don't open carry very often; I prefer people to not know that I have my gun on me, because if it's out in the open I'm the first person a "bad guy" is going to shoot, because he knows I have a gun. BUT it is important to open carry every so often, as my buddy Greg at work says, "because if you don't use your rights you lose them". In this situation, first of all, even the security says that it wasn't that he had the gun on him; rather, there were people (and kids) there who were uncomfortable with the gun being out in the open. What the man SHOULD have done was to calmly conceal the gun and go about his day, simply because the fact that it was a public place where children were made it a little understandable that security would be concerned. But it is still his right to carry it that way, and so what security should have done was quietly pull him over to the side, check his permit, and ask him politely if he would conceal the weapon. When the man said no, they should have told him "fair enough" and then told the patrons that were complaining that it was his right, but if they felt nervous they would keep a close eye on him (which is THEIR right, as well). All in all, there is no reason that as a gun owner and carrier that one has to be a jerk about it. There are a lot better places to open carry than the zoo.

Perspectives one week after 9/11, or, Mr. Chicago goes to Washington.

The man who I consider my Spiritual Father writes an internet newsletter that I truly appreciate.   He is willing to learn and has therefore accumulated a great deal of wisdom.   Back thirty years ago he was loosely aligned with Fundamentalist Independent Baptists and now he deplores much of what some of the leaders of that movement actually did.   Focusing on outward appearances begets legalism begets hypocrisy.   This is why Jesus came to Jerusalem and found the vast majority of the Priests and Scribes actively seeking to discredit Him and eventually managing to maneuver the Roman Pontius Pilate into having Christ crucified.   We of course know that Jesus knew He would be crucified and absolutely understood it was the only way that God could restore a relationship with mankind.  If you don't understand this I will gladly make a blog post explaining it in detail on my worldview blog...again.

Dr. Charles Wood does from time to time reminisce about positions he has changed and often focuses on issues that relate particularly to Christians.   On this occasion he had some observations that apply across the board to Americans and the observations are right on point.  The anniversary of 9/11 inspired him to write a column.   So I will let him just tell you about it:

ABOUT THE MEMORIES:

Although I had left the area long before the World Trade Center was built, the New York Metropolitan area was my childhood home. As a result, 9/11 hit rather hard, and I followed the story closely with an almost morbid dedication to knowing all the facts I could glean. Thus the tenth anniversary brought back many memories. I lost no one in the calamity, and I don’t really know anyone who did. The daughter of a gal with whom I grew up and went to church as a kid was late for work that morning. Had her alarm clock gone off on time, I would have known someone who perished. The weekend left me with some impressions:
 

Although I thought he lost his focus in the last two years of his Presidency, I have always admired George Bush (and I probably always will). I watched his speech at the dedication of the memorial in PA, and my admiration for him grew even more as I did. How grateful I am to God that we had a real man at the helm of our country, a man who was a genuine leader (and did so with amazing skill and patience). Thank you, Mr President!
 

Joe Biden is hardly my most admired “person in high places,” but I did find myself impressed with his gracious remarks in introducing the former President at the memorial dedication. Joe, you showed that whatever else you may or not be, you are a genuine human being, capable of compassion and grace.
 

This must have been a miserable weekend for “Progressives” and other Liberals. Not only was there a great outpouring of national pride and patriotism, but there were frequent mentions of God and declarations that we were the victims and not the perpetrators of the cowardly act. Paul Krugman, supposedly one of the smartest men in America and an even an occasional advisor to the President, will live forever in infamy for the vile editorial he wrote for the equally vile New York Times. Mr. Krugman, if we were the cause of the original calamity, why were we on high alert for further terrorist attacks after almost three years of a smiling, bowing, apologetic President?

DON’T SHOOT! IT’S JUST A SUGGESTION OF A DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT.

Let’s get this established: Our country is in a mess, and I don’t have to write a single paragraph as you already have several written in your head. There is no denying the mess, and I would be the last one to do so. I do think, however, that there is another side to the story to which we need to give at least a little thought.
 

If your only source of news is the networks and the newspapers, you are getting a very distorted view of what is going on in our country. You are being assured that liberalism is the position of the population in general and that evangelicals have no impact or influence whatever on our national culture. Being told repeatedly that you are insignificant and unworthy of any respect or even consideration can have a tendency to wear one down. Finding one’s news on the Internet and through one or two “cable channel” sources can provide a very different viewpoint.
 

Evangelical believers have no impact on today’s society? Then why are there two openly evangelical individuals, Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman, in the Republican primary? And why does Sarah Palin still get so much attention (and people even listen to Mike Huckabee)? Although they didn’t show it the way we thought they should, both Ronald Reagan and George Bush professed belief in Christ as their hope of eternal life (Michael Reagan is a much better source on this than his half-brother, Ronnie-Boy).
 

Public opinion has shifted - and continues to do so - to the point where well over half the population now either questions or rejects abortion-on-demand. No, evangelicals probably played a much smaller part in this than pre-natal technology, but it has been evangelicals who have kept the right-to-life before the public, continued to point out the murderous nature of abortion and provided help and assistance rather than just condemning those facing the brutal choice between life and murder.
 

Evangelicals have consistently stood behind Israel, and appear to have been at least one influence that has driven our Islamic-leaning President to soften his apparently innate hatred of the Jews. A tiny minority of our country (probably not much more than one or two percent) has stridently promoted the homosexual agenda. We haven’t always done so with a great deal of grace or graciousness, but evangelicals have - generally speaking - opposed same-sex marriage and other pernicious aspects of this powerful agenda while still seeking to extend grace to its practitioners by pointing out a better, Biblical way..
 

Atheism is more militant and aggressive than ever. The hollow ideology of emptiness has been trumpeted from what were once the halls of learning and faithfully proclaimed by the media. Science (some of it so incredibly falsified and distorted as to warrant nothing but casual observation and immediate, repugnant rejection) has been set up by the intelligentsia as the new national God.

As I listen and observe, I am left with some critical questions that I think are crucial. If we evangelicals have no national impact, then why is so much time and effort being expended on discrediting us and promoting our opposite? Usually, people who are actually as smart as these people claim to be, don’t waste their time on combating shadow images or non-existent threats. Another big question: if evangelicals have no impact, then why are the “Progressives” and other Liberals so frustrated with the American people in general because they so stubbornly cling to the values the anti-evangelicals have sought to ridicule to death?
 

Michael Laden is a specialist in foreign relations, but I know nothing of his spiritual state (I would sincerely doubt if he is a believer), who recently wrote an article that included this amazing paragraph:
 

“Religious revival inspires social and political movements that change America. And not just America. We are in the midst of a global religious expansion that goes hand in hand with a widespread political uprising against oppression and corruption. It is commonly assumed that the most dynamic faith in the global revival is militant Islam, but it isn’t. The blue ribbon goes to American-style evangelical Christianity. You might not know, for example, that a leading Chinese government economist recently wrote a famous study of market economies, in which he concluded that successful capitalist countries have successful churches, and thus that China should embrace religious organizations. As two sharp-eyed British journalists note in their recent book, God is Back, (Evangelical) Christianity is booming in the People’s Republic (and most everywhere else Christians are free to practice their faith), and the Chinese Constitution has actually been amended to make room for it.”
 

Again, I am not discounting the mess we are in, but I do believe there is another side to the story. If the only place you are getting your information from is the traditional media or if you are totally committed to some interpretation of Scripture that involves signs of His coming or even the United States as the present replacement for old Testament Israel, what I have written will likely irritate you. But there is another side, and we need to see it.

I talked to my friend, Jimmy, today. He is the Chinese-born believer who owns the restaurant where we sometimes eat. We talked about the growth of Christianity in China. He is convinced that Christianity is growing so rapidly in China (whether or not under restraints that vary in different parts of the country) that it is entirely possible that it will topple the Communist government or force it to change in dramatic ways.
 

It isn’t necessarily all over. There is an election in 2012, there are good things happening virtually every day, some mega-churches are spiritually questionable while many others are growing exponentially while remaining essentially Biblical, and last but not least, there are other places on earth than just the good old U S.A. where God is working. Isn’t it interesting that evangelical Episcopal churches (and there are some) are linking up with an Anglican Episcopate that is located where? Africa. Persecution? Lots of it, but that only proves that evangelical Christianity is a growing threat to dominant religions in other places in the world.
 

Just some thoughts designed to give you something to think about.

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It is an amazing thought, but apparently there are more Christians in China than there are in the USA now!  Yet in truth it is not a big surprise, as missionaries all over the world have been working hard, sharing the Gospel of Christ and eventually men and women of God who seek to do God's Will do get results.   So often churches will be formed in areas where being a Christian can get you killed and yet the persecution doesn't stop people from seeking the Truth.   Now in China they are slowly changing from killing Christians to jailing them to beginning to accept them as actually a boon to society.

Christians are a plus in society, as we are far less likely to rob you or kill you or break your heart.  Christians are more likely to work, work hard and work diligently and do less goofing off.  Christians give more money to charity than non-Christians.   That we exist is quite annoying to the current President and he and his party would like to end tax deductions for charitable giving.    I suspect most Christians give a lot more money than the tax form will let you deduct anyway, so why does Barack Obama want to take charitable deductions away?  Does he hate the faith-based organizations that do great work in inner cities because he wants the inner-city poor to be dependent upon The State?    How can the Democrats spend like money is trash to be thrown away and then decide they want to end the very small deductions we can take for giving to others?   How evil can you get?

It may be that the Obama Administration would like to ruin the economy in order to take over more and more of it for the State.   Consider the idiotic course of actions taken to spend tens or  hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to develop one "green job"  while clobbering every energy-getting attempt by business possible by using the economy-destroying clubs we call regulatory agencies.   Here is just one example:

Solyndra Scandal Ends Green Jobs Myth

• Posted by Asst Natl Dir Mellie B on September 16, 2011 at 1:50pm

Email from The Morning Bell @ The Heritage Foundation:

Solyndra Scandal Ends Green Jobs Myth

President Barack Obama's solution for America's unemployment woes has been a stubborn campaign to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on economic "stimulus"--much of it on so-called "green jobs." Report after report has shown the approach to be a total failure. And now, a new scandal involving Solyndra, a bankrupt solar panel company in California, should be the final nail in the coffin for the government’s meddling in the free market.

"[W]e can see the positive impacts [of the stimulus] right here at Solyndra," Obama claimed when he spoke at the company's newly unveiled factory in May of last year. He was correct that the results of his stimulus would be on display at that factory. But he was wrong that those results would be positive. Little more than a year later, the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to lay off more than 1,000 employees.

The Solyndra factory where Obama spoke was built after the company received a $535 million loan guarantee from the Energy Department as part of the stimulus's green jobs push. "Through the Recovery Act, this company received a loan to expand its operations," Obama noted. "This new factory is the result of those loans."

But "everyone knew that the plant wouldn’t work," according to a former Solyndra employee. So why was the President so sure of the plant’s success when he spoke there? What's more, the company was built on "a model that says, well, I can build something for six dollars and sell it for three dollars," according to an industry analyst. That would normally be a red flag for investors. So why did the President claim that "the true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra"?

The answer to both of those questions: The government's decisions are driven by politics and ideology and are divorced from economic reality. Want proof? Take a look at a January 31 e-mail between Office of Management and Budget staff regarding "Solyndra optics" -- that is, how the issue looks in the public's eyes. "If Solyndra defaults down the road, the optics will arguably be worse later than they would be today," they wrote, adding:

In addition, the timing will likely coincide with the 2012 campaign season heating up, whereas a default today could be put in the context of (and perhaps even get some credit for) fiscal discipline / good government because the Administration would be limiting further taxpayer exposure letting bad projects go, and could make public steps it is taking to learn lessons and improve / limit future lending.

In other words, in January the Administration was essentially letting the 2012 campaign dictate decisions on the federal government's financial involvement with Solyndra. They were not responding to normal profit-and-loss signals, as they should. Had Energy Department bureaucrats been investing their own money, they might have been more careful. But it was others' money -- taxpayers' money -- at stake. Self-interested investors, who naturally weed out bad investments, were wholly absent. The result: Taxpayers are likely to lose up to $535 million, while the people who made the decision to throw money at Solyndra have, so far, been completely insulated from reprisal.

Much attention has been paid to accusations of cronyism in the Energy Department, given that a major Solyndra investor is also a big Obama donor. But the fundamental lesson of the Solyndra scandal is not that money buys political favors. That now goes without saying. The real takeaway is that government intervention in the economy is a fool’s errand, as Heritage’s Nicolas Loris notes:

Solyndra exemplifies the government’s abysmal track record of picking winners and losers in the marketplace, and the solar company is not the only example of energy stimulus struggles. With a number of targeted energy tax credits set to expire at the end of this year or next, industry groups are lobbying hard for extensions. Especially given the U.S. fiscal situation, this is a time to end all energy subsidies—not to extend wasteful, market-distorting policies. When the government decides to favor a technology with subsidies, it’s a good bet that subsidy 'winner' is a loser in the marketplace.

Indeed, at least four other companies to receive money from Obama's stimulus package have gone bankrupt, Fox News reports.

Even where companies do create jobs, they do so at such exorbitant cost that the effort cannot reasonably be considered a success. To date, The Washington Post reports, the Energy Department loan guarantee program from which Solyndra benefitted has created one new permanent job for every $5.5 million spent. Lend that kind of money to a private business in an industry that doesn’t rely on taxpayer support, and it will put hundreds if not thousands to work.

Government subsidies are invitations for political favoritism, of course. But more importantly, as engines of job creation, they simply don't work (just ask Spain). Sure, the Administration's "green jobs" program has led to allegations of corruption. But it has also failed even in its foremost task of creating jobs for an economy with a chronic unemployment problem. Columnist Jim Pethokoukis writes, "Solyndra is the logical endpoint of Obamanomics." Unfortunately, the American people are paying the price for getting us there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barack Obama complains about the Republicans blocking his legislation.   Republicans should be standing on rooftops agreeing at the tops of their lungs!!!   This Administration's policies have been wrecking America, so the guys who turn off the big crane with the massive wrecking ball deserve praise, not blame.   

The election of 2008 was a brilliant coup by some remarkably clever political animals who got an unknown and nondescript Senator following in the footsteps of Carol Mosely Braun very quickly in the lead in a Presidential Primary race the Clinton folks thought they had locked up.   America was inundated with Hope and Change and the same press that would go without sleep digging up dirt on President Bush and even fake it?   They ignored all the questionable aspects of Barack Obama's past.   Somehow the man was magically able to pass off connections to organized crime, the Communist Party, a terrorist, a blatant anti-American racist and a record of schooling that still seems to be primarily smoke and mirrors.   We still have not seen a birth certificate that was not forged and have to wonder why so many people just ran to vote for Obama?   I think I know.    I believe that much of the white population felt as if we elected a (half-black, half white) man with dark skin into the Presidency, it would be the beginning of the post-racial America.   Yeah, right!   Obama's cronies beat the racist drum daily.

In 2010 the public's vote was a rejection of Obama's policies and the two recent special elections both went Republican.   If Americans are smart, they'll see that Obamacare is the barnfull of straw that would break the US camel's back and only by tossing the entire bunch out of office will we put a stop to it!   Only by changing leadership will we be jobs-friendly and energy-friendly again.   

9/11 was a reminder that this is a dangerous world and we need a President who is aware of and respects the history of our nation.  We need a President who loves and wants to protect and defend the Constitution, not erode it.   We need one who will actually protect the borders and enforce Federal Laws.   We need a President who will not appoint completely unqualified  loonbats like Kagan to the Supreme Court.  

We also need legislators with backbone who will not just sound like they mean business when campaigning, but will also follow through with action once they get to Washington.  We need to toss out old Beltway Boys even if they carry the "R" around.   Dick Lugar is part of the problem, not the solution.   Indiana should have a genuine conservative Senator like Richard Mourdock.    We would be out of our minds with joy if the reprehensible Pete Visclosky could  be defeated.   He gets all the automatic votes from Gary districts where they sometimes vote 100% Democrat even if no one is there as well as the mostly liberal Porter County rubber stamp.   He has kept himself out of court, wish we could get him out of office.

Sadly typical Gary building by Thomas Semesky Photography

9/11 was terrible and tragic.   The Statist takeover of America is also both terrible and tragic.   Fortunately you can vote and put an end to it.   "Let's Roll" now means lets get our butts out of our chairs and into the voting booth in the primaries and in the 2012 elections.  No excuses!!!  VOTE!


BARACK OBAMA, STILL A PRODUCT OF THE CHICAGO MACHINE:



Even the Chicago News media can see what is going on.   Barack Obama has been tossing hundreds of millions of dollars at supporters who contributed to his campaign.   He is single-handedly remaking the definition of "stimulus" into "the process of screwing the American taxpayer and enriching a few cronies while making a pretense of helping the economy and actually accomplishing the exact reverse."  If we have any more "stimulus" bills this depression could begin to rival the one we experienced in the 1930's.  




Obama's Solyndra scandal reeks of the Chicago Way

Those of us from Chicago know exactly what the Solyndra scandal smells like. And It doesn't smell fresh and green.

John Kass

September 18, 2011

The Solyndra scandal cost at least a half-billion public dollars. It is plaguing President Barack Obama. And it's being billed as a Washington story.

But back in Obama's political hometown, those of us familiar with the Chicago Way can see something else in Solyndra — something that the Washington crowd calls "optics." In fact, it's not just a Washington saga — it has all the elements of a Chicago City Hall story, except with more zeros.


The FBI is investigating what happened with Solyndra, a solar panel company that got a $535 million government-backed loan with the help of the Obama White House over the objections of federal budget analysts.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden got a nice photo op. They got to make speeches about being "green." But then Solyndra went bankrupt. Americans lost jobs. Taxpayers got stuck with the bill. And members of Congress are now in high dudgeon and making speeches.

Federal investigators want to know what role political fundraising played in the guarantee of the questionable loan. Washington bureaucrats warned the deal was lousy. And White House spokesmen flail desperately, like weakened victims in a cheesy vampire movie.

So forget optics. What about smell? It smells bad, and it's going to smell worse.

Or, did you really believe it when the White House mouthpieces — who are also Chicago City Hall mouthpieces — promised they were bringing a new kind of politics to Washington?

This is not a new kind of politics. It's the old kind. The Chicago kind.

And now the Tribune Washington Bureau has reported that the U.S. Department of Energy employee who helped monitor the Solyndra loan guarantee was one of Obama's top fundraisers.

Fundraising? Contracts? Imagine that.

Steve Spinner was the Obama administration official in charge of handing out billions and billions of tax dollars to "green" energy deals. According to the Tribune story, Spinner the other day invited Obama's national political finance committee to a meeting in Chicago.

The name of the Obama fundraising initiative?

"Technology for Obama."

The idea of the Obama fundraisers getting together, talking "green," and perhaps offering taxpayer loan guarantees to insider businesses in the interest of helping the environment — it all seems rather fresh.

Like a mountain meadow.

Until you realize it's the same old politics, the same kind practiced in Washington and Chicago and anywhere else where appetites are satisfied by politicians. When the government picks winners and losers, who's the loser? Just look in the mirror, hold that thought, and tell me later.

Republicans are hoping to hang this around Obama's political neck, and they're doing a good job of it now because his approval ratings are low and the jobless numbers are abysmal and the Democrats are in full killer-rabbit panic. But there have been Republican national scandals, too, and they're always ridiculously and depressingly similar.

At least in Illinois our scandals are quite ecumenical, with Republicans eager to help Democrats steal whatever they can grab.

In Solyndra, like any proper City Hall political scandal, there are similar archetypes.

There are the guys who count. The guys who bring the cash. They count because they do the counting. They have leverage. They're always there at the fundraisers. And so they're the ones who are allowed to gorge at the public trough.

The bureaucrats are the fulcrum so the guys with the leverage can lift great weight without too much effort. And while they might whine privately among themselves, they don't hold news conferences to blow the whistle.

They keep their mouths shut until the deal is done. If anyone gets caught and the problem becomes public, at least they've got email to cover their behinds. And they're doing a good job covering.

But there's one group that doesn't get their behinds covered.

Instead, their behinds are right out there, suspended foolishly, and waiting to get kicked.

We're the taxpayers — in Illinois we call ourselves chumbolones because we're the ones who stupidly end up covering all the losses. As in the Solyndra mess.

It's the Chicago Way, but instead of a paving or trucking contract, it's a "green" solar panel contract. The company received a $535 million loan.

"The optics of a Solyndra default will be bad," according to a Jan. 31 email from an Office of Management and Budget staffer printed in the Washington Post. "If Solyndra defaults down the road, the optics will arguably be worse later than they would be today. … In addition, the timing will likely coincide with the 2012 campaign season heating up."

I love the use of "optics." It's one of those bloodless words finding favor these days.

"Optics" suggests bureaucrats might think in terms of symbolism, political hieroglyphs, in grand vistas, rather than in hard numbers, like the $535,000,000 that went poof.

But it's not their money, is it? It's ours.

So this is not about Washington optics after all. The Solyndra scandal is about the Washington smell of things.

Those of us from Chicago know exactly what it smells like. And It doesn't smell fresh and green.

jskass@tribune.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lake and Porter Counties are not so far from Chicago either geographically or politically.  Democratic Machines rule and ruin in East Chicago and Gary.   How is it that we the people have not seen through the hoax being continually perpetrated upon us by uncaring politicians who live as ticks on the public animal, sucking it dry and seemingly incapable of being removed.  Gary will fall completely apart and become a wilderness ruled by stray dogs and gangs before the voting public will do anything but push the automatic "D" button.  It defies explanation.  Can anyone tell me why?

Gary neighborhood picture.

We Will Never Forget

A decade.

A decade is how long it has been since America was viciously attacked by terrorists. It doesn't seem like it has been that long, to me at least, until I think about where I was at on 9/11 (I think most people will always remember where they were that day). I was a Sophomore in High School, taking the ISTEP tests that morning. Now, I'm going to admit something here: I had no freaking idea what the Twin Towers were at that point. I remember Mrs. Waywood (who worked at the school and is now, coincidentally, Hebron's Town Clerk) coming over the intercom and announcing the attack (I wonder, sometimes, also, what those scores would have been if the school had waited until we were done to announce it to us all. Though then a lot of people would have been pretty ticked that they had waited, I suppose).

The next class, after we were done testing, we were finally able to SEE the destruction; it was unreal. I remember all of us standing there, watching people run away from the cloud of dust and debris. People were crying and screaming in the street. It was absolutely horrid, and that day will probably easily be the worst day in America within my lifetime.

There was a lot that happened when I was a Sophomore in High School...and right now I couldn't tell you a damn thing. That's what happens with big, major events like 9/11; it burns into our memories. "We will never forget" is more than just an inspirational, or patriotic saying: it's a simple fact. Nobody will forget that day. It would be like asking me to forget the day either of my children were born, or the day I got married...it's not only that I wouldn't want to, it's that I would be physically unable to.

Today is about remembering. And recognizing that America was changed that day. It isn't about R's and D's after ones name, we can continue to argue and fret and fight tomorrow. For one day, just one day, we are all bound together in commonality...in remembrance. There were all kinds of ceremonies in different areas today throughout NW Indiana, and throughout the country, and running for Town Council it probably wasn't politically smart of me to not go to any. But I chose to remember today in my own way; I spent the day with my family, played with my children, and waited for the Cowboys to play. Because that is the biggest slap in the face to those that wanted to tear our country down. A decade later, and though our innocence as a country has been lost, we can still live here without fear.

So today, spend some time with your family, and say a little prayer for those that lost their lives. And remember.

A Salute to the American Spirit on 9/11

credit

From wikipedia, a rare source for me but this descibes what happened well:

September 17, 2001

One of Jack Buck's final public appearances was on September 17, 2001 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. It was the first night that Major League Baseball resumed after the terrorist attacks of September 11. Although looking rather frail (Buck at the time was sick with lung cancer) and struggling to maintain his composure (Buck was obviously showing the signs of Parkinson's disease as well), Buck stirred emotions^[6] by reading a patriotic-themed poem during the pregame ceremonies. He concluded by silencing critics who thought baseball had come back too soon: "I don't know about you, but as for me, the question has already been answered: Should we be here? Yes!"

For America

Buck shown delivering a speech on the scoreboard at Busch Stadium.

Buck wrote a poem named For America that he read at the first Cardinals game after the 9/11 attacks to describe his opinion and the general opinion, regarding defeating terrorism, of Americans after September 11. The poem went:

Since this nation was founded under

God, more than 200 years ago,

We've been the bastion of

Freedom...

The light which keeps the free world

Aglow.

We do not covet the possessions of

Others, we are blessed with the

Bounty we share.

We have rushed to help other

Nations...anything...anytime...

Anywhere.

War is just not our nature...we

Won't start, but we will end the fight.

If we are involved we shall be

Resolved to protect what we know is

Right.

We've been challenged by a

Cowardly foe, who strikes and then

Hides from our view.

With one voice we say there's no

Choice today, there is only one

Thing to do.

Everyone is saying the same thing

And praying that we end these

Senseless moments we are living.

As our fathers did before, we shall

Win this unwanted war.

And our children will enjoy the

Future, we'll be giving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even so, Jack, I believe we can recapture the greatness America once had.




My son Rob, Sergeant Binder (In Afghanistan at the time), like his father and grandfathers and great-grandfather before him an Army guy, below:

I was at the concert along with my wife and my daughter and son-in-law plus a couple of random couples who just kind of decided they wanted to sit with us during the concert.   My daughter Sara loves country music and I am trying to get into it but I had no trouble relating to Toby Keith.   This You Tube video includes footage of Toby Keith singing live at that particular concert in Tinley Park and much of the other footage was playing on big screens over his head during the song.   Didn't know until today they were filming for a video at that concert but it is a great venue.   I can tell you the crowd was cheering and crying and jumping and singing along with Toby, he is a great showman and a terrific entertainer but you do believe he means what he says.  He is one of the many patriotic musicians who go overseas and spend time with the people who go to the sandbox and go across/over that wire to face the enemy and protect the innocent.   People like Toby Keith and Ted Nugent will go far from the safer zones and go up near the front to be with the men who may well be risking their lives later that day.




Some of us have forgotten that there is still a war on.   The Islamofascists are still blowing things and people to bits.   They still want to force Sharia Law on society  or sneak it in by by regulations passed by Dhimmis who kowtow to them.   Islam will not quit trying to destroy the USA and Israel because should America quit caring and should Israel quit fighting the Islamists would rule the entire Middle East!

The socialists and communists have Red China and North Korea and they still want to take the USA over, they want to reacquire and rule the old Soviet Union, they are seeking to consolidate power in South America and they continue to own Cuba right under our Florida feet.    They won't quit.   They must be beaten.

Finally, let us not forget the victims and the heroes of that day.   The thousands who perished in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and on Flight 93 and the words, "Let's Roll" will live on in our memories.  Todd Beamer recited the Lord's Prayer over the phone with a GTE representative and then he and his team went to attack and stop the hijackers, his last words ringing in Lisa Jefferson's ears; "Let's Roll."    Thus passengers made sure that plane would NOT hit the White House...at the expense of their own lives, but they understood the situation and they would NOT be part of the cowardly Islamic plot.

Fireman near ground zero

The retired Canadian police officer James Symington and his dog, Trakr, who worked hard to save lives on 9/11 and immediately thereafter.

credit

May God watch over our friends who are still in military service:
Johnny
Cecil
Chuck
Adam
Andy
Tom
And their families!

When you pray for the soldiers and sailors and air force and marines and coast guard, remember your border guards and port security and marshals.  Remember the firemen and policemen and emergency personnel, too.  They all risk their lives for your sake. All the men and women providing security, all the first responders who race to danger.   God bless them, every one!!!

Kim Krull asks an uncomfortable question. Shall we actually bother to VOTE for every office?

Unedited, the words of Lake County Republican Chairman Kim Krull.   She kindly allowed me to quote her so that you could understand clearly the situation and what appears to be, both to Kim and this blogger, a Constitutional issue that must be addressed,

Kim Krull

Email to IN GOP County Chairs on Changed Election Law

by Kim Dugger Krull on Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 11:55am

Dear Chairmen and Vice Chairmen,

Thank you to all Chairmen or Vice Chairmen who responded to my email on the changed law that states if a candidate is unopposed in a municipal election their name will not be on the ballot in the General Election this year. I have more clarity on the issue because of your responses.

On the surface, it appears like a fiscally responsible law that will save taxpayers money. I had many emails stating what could be wrong with saving money. After all, we are the party of fiscal conservatism.

Others of you stated it was a good law because it wouldn’t print the names of some of the democratic candidates on the ballot. I would imagine you feel this way because you do not want to give them more name recognition. I say shame on me if I cannot field a Republican to challenge our democratic elected officials. Believe me we have a majority of democratic elected officials in Lake County. There are however, just a few uncontested democratic races in East Chicago, Whiting and Hobart where we couldn’t find a Republican to challenge, and in East Chicago there is a Republican Mayor on the ballot so even though there aren’t any Republican Councilmen running, an election would have to be held city wide for mayor. So how much money would really be saved ends up being a drop in the bucket in my opinion compared to what we give up. I have 72 candidates this election cycle (out of about 100) and we have 65 total Republican elected officials in all of Lake County with well over 500 precincts just to give you an idea of what our budget is for elections.

The last and what I believe is the most important email I received came in the form of a question. It asked very simply, “How can anyone be elected if they don’t get any votes?” I think this is why I questioned this change in law in the first place, but just couldn’t put my finger on it. Wayne County Republicans and Democrats have together filed a lawsuit against their Clerk, the SEC, and the SOS to allow all candidates to have their name printed on the ballot this fall. I had one chairman get extremely mad at my email and told me I would put a “black eye” on the Republican party if I didn’t follow this law by placing all candidates on the ballot.

But do we, as a Party, not have an obligation to uphold the most important right of every citizen of this great nation and that is our right to cast a ballot and vote for our elected officials? Many Americans have fought and died for this right. Are we not taking that right away if we allow this change in law to remain unchallenged?

I was also sent information by our Republican attorney for the Board of Elections that this change in law is in direct conflict to the Indiana State Constitution. So I took the liberty to actually read the State Constitution for myself (I'm a nurse not a lawyer) and this is what I found:


ARTICLE 2.
Section 13. All elections by the People shall be by ballot; and all elections by the General Assembly, or by either branch thereof, shall be viva voce.


Section 22. The General Assembly shall not pass local or special laws: Providing for the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors;
Regulating the practice in courts of justice;
Providing for changing the venue in civil and criminal cases;
Granting divorces;
Changing the names of persons;
Providing for laying out, opening, and working on, highways, and for the election or appointment of supervisors;
Vacating roads, town plats, streets, alleys, and public squares;
Summoning and empaneling grand and petit juries, and providing for their compensation;
Regulating county and township business;
Regulating the election of county and township officers and their compensation;
Providing for the assessment and collection of taxes for State, county, township, or road purposes;
Providing for the support of common schools, or the preservation of school funds;
Relating to fees or salaries, except that the laws may be so made as to grade the compensation of officers in proportion to the population and the necessary services required;
Relating to interest on money;
Providing for opening and conducting elections of State, county, or township officers, and designating the places of voting;

As the Constitution states that elections shall be by ballot, how can we not place all candidates on the ballot? It doesn’t say all elections shall be by ballot unless someone is unopposed. And in Article 2 section 22 it states clearly that the GA shall not pass special laws governing the conducting of local elections.

So here lies the dilemma that we are facing. Do we uphold the change in law and not place all candidates on the ballot or do we uphold the Constitution which states elections shall be by ballot? Hopefully the Wayne County lawsuit will clear up this problem.

As we all complain that it is good to keep democrats off the ballot, I complain that it is also keeping republicans off the ballot. In Lake County we have 4 Republicans in Crown Point who are unopposed. We also have a democratic mayor in Crown Point running against a Republican. If the people find out their councilman will not be on the ballot they may decide to stay home on November 8th. This would be a great disadvantage to Republicans who are trying to take back the mayor’s seat in this city.

I apologize to those of you who are also in the GA who emailed me the question as to why was this brought up now and not before the vote. If I had known about it before it appeared in our local paper in the middle of July, I would have questioned it then. I also apologize for the length of the email, but I believe it is an important issue facing us in the next week as we prepare to print our ballots.

Thank you for your thoughts and for reading this missive. If anyone has any further thoughts on this issue, I would be happy to read them.

Have a great rest of the holiday weekend.
Kim Krull
Lake County GOP Chair

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoy your Labor Day Holiday!

"Big flaming ball of fire in the sky to blame for climate change? Who knew?"

Watching A Green Fiction Unravel

Posted 08/30/2011 06:16 PM ET

Science: Experiments performed by a European nuclear research group indicate that the sun, not man, determines Earth's temperature. Somewhere, Al Gore just shuddered as an unseasonably cool breeze blows by.

The results from an experiment to mimic Earth's atmosphere by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, tell researchers that the sun has a significant effect on our planet's temperature. Its magnetic field acts as a gateway for cosmic rays, which play a large role in cloud formation.

Consequently, when the sun's magnetic field allows cosmic rays to seed cloud cover, temperatures are cooler. When it restricts cloud formation by deflecting cosmic rays away from Earth, temperatures go up.

Or, as the London Telegraph's James Delingpole delicately put it:

"It's the sun, stupid."

This new finding of 63 scientists from 17 European and U.S. institutes from an experiment that's been ongoing since 2009 is, if we may paraphrase Vice President Joe Biden, a big deal. Which is exactly why the mainstream media, with so much invested in global warming hysteria, is letting last week's announcement from CERN pass like a brief summer shower, ignoring it.

Even CERN's own director general, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, is trying to avoid the meaning of the findings.
He told Germany's Die Welt Online that he's "asked the colleagues to present the results clearly, but not to interpret them. That would go immediately into the highly political arena of the climate change debate."

But, as British science writer Nigel Calder points out, Heuer would have no reservations about entering "'the highly political arena of the climate change debate' provided" his results endorsed man-made warming.

How long the Al Gores, James Hansens, Rolf-Dieter Heuers and other defenders of the indefensible can hang on to their fable isn't altogether clear.

With the help of an eager media, they have spun a nearly believable tale of fright and insulated themselves well from the skeptics.

But their days are few. Truth keeps getting in the way of their indoctrination effort.

And it's not just the CERN research creating a problem for them. They also need to explain why sea levels, like presidential approval numbers and consumer confidence, have fallen. According to NASA, the oceans are down a quarter of an inch this year compared to 2010.

Under the rules of climate change, sea levels, due to melting ice and water that expands as it warms, should be increasing in a way that we're all supposed to believe is a threat. But NASA scientists say that El Nino and La Nina, weather cycles in the Pacific Ocean, have caused sea levels to fall.

Apparently these natural warming and cooling cycles are stronger than the persuasion powers of even Barack Obama. It was the Illinois senator who so humbly proclaimed during the 2008 presidential campaign that his nomination as the Democratic candidate signaled the "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow."

Gore never promised he would drain the oceans. But during his propaganda movie "An Inconvenient Truth," he did make the claim that human carbon dioxide output is forcing warming that will push sea levels 20 feet higher "in the near future."

While United Nations estimates are much more conservative, the certainty of rising sea levels is still an article of faith among global warming believers.

credit

So the news out of NASA, coupled with the CERN experiment, has got to be discouraging for the global warming believers.

That is as it should be.

The promoters of the faith had a long run. They've been feted and joined by the media, and conned a good piece of the public into believing their claims of inevitable disaster. They've made wild amounts of money and increased their realm of influence.

But now it's time for reality to intervene. For sound thinking to overcome shallow thought and trendy pursuit. To rely on observable facts. To move beyond the oppressive reign of junk science.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Previously credited pictures and graphs:

Liberal Democrat Andre Carson must be losing his mind! Assuming you think racism is crazy?

If one party continually plays the race card and the class card, wouldn't you begin to think of them as racist bigots?   The Democrats are trying to play on racial fears and hatreds 24-7 because they cannot debate on issues of substance without looking bad.  Their policies established Jim Crow laws in the first place. The Democrats invented the welfare state that has turned inner-city poor people into a new group of serfs. The Republicans led the fight for racial equality.   

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was a Republican!  Would Carson have lynched Martin?!  Shame on this blatant racist Andre Carson and his cohorts!!!

Rep. Andre Carson, Democrat, Stands by Hate-Filled Anti-Tea Party RemarksRep. Andre Carson (D-IN) recently told an audience that the Tea Party is out to lynch black people.

“This is the effort that we’re seeing of Jim Crow,” said Carson, the caucus’ whip, or chief vote counter.

“Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens,” he said. “Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me … hanging on a tree.”

His off-the-charts hate speech follows other recent remarks by fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus, such as Rep. Maxine Waters saying that the Tea Party can “go straight to hell.”
Today, Carson is standing by his remarks.

Carson’s spokesman, Jason Tomcsi, confirmed the congressman’s comments to USA TODAY.
His “comments respond to the frustration voiced by those in Miami,” Tomcsi said. “People are frustrated by the inability of Congress to do something about the economy and get people back to work.”

Tomcsi said Carson believes “Tea Party members in Congress know when they vote against programs, they know who they’re impacting. They have different priorities — their priorities are to protect millionaires, oil companies and tax cuts for the wealthy. Those people aren’t impacted by programs like child nutrition, Head Start, job training and job creation.”

That’s bull; Carson’s remarks were an incitement to violence against the Tea Party, a couple of whose leaders are currently running for the presidency. Carson should resign his seat. He won’t, but he should, because he is intentionally inciting a race war and promoting violence against other Americnans and presidential candidates. Either that, or he knows that no matter how much hate he hands out, his own constituents don’t really believe him but it comforts them to hear him spin these myths anyway. Put another way, if you really believed that a group of people actually wanted to take you and your family and hang them from the nearest tree, and that group was about to take power, you would do a great deal more than sit there nodding and applauding. The logical consequences of what Carson said are dire indeed.

As the video above shows, the CBC is engaged in a coordinated hate-based attack on the Tea Party. It’s not about policy, it’s about hate and it’s based entirely on generating irrational fear. That coordinated campaign began with the racist smear on the day ObamaCare passed. It shows absolutely no sign of abating, despite the fact that the election of Barack Obama was, were told, going to get us past all this disharmony and strife.

Posted at 11:38 am on August 31st, 2011 by Bryan Preston of PJ Tatler

Racist Hall of Fame inductees August of 2011

Andre Carson

Cedric Richmond

Maxine Waters

Alcee Hastings

Fredrica Wilson

Al Green

The Congressional Black Congress receives a special institutional award.

It is hard to think of anything Barack Obama publicly promising having come through.  He has taken the hope from Hope, the Change has been all bad, the economy is tanking because of Obama's policies and unemployment and underemployment have all risen.  Meanwhile the National Debt has jumped over 14 Trillion dollars and yet Barack Obama cannot see any agencies to trim or programs to cut in his budget.  

Watch this youtube and you will understand much of what Barack Obama and his party stand for.  They believe the public is stupid, like cattle, and will blindly follow the dictates of their party rulers.   They have no respect for the voter or for the truth or for the American way of life.  Naturally, if a conservative were to go on a rant like this all the major news media would be screeching for him to resign.  

Forget skin color.   Everybody is human, the amount of melanin in your skin is meaningless.   Doctor King himself wished for a day when men would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.   It is the Democrats who fear that day.   Hate and fear are their primary motivators.  Patriots do not fear that day, we believe that day is at hand and that the haters and fearmongers need to be thrown out on their butts.  The Congressional Black Congress is apparently full of men and women that Martin Luther King would be ashamed to know.   He would have a long and hard effort trying to get these racists to understand that either side of the racist point of view is equally wrong. 

First one out the door should be Carson, who has shown himself to be a racist blowhard who has no business making any decisions concerning our government.   His lack of judgment and reason are astounding, I only wish he was the only one..but as you saw there are many of them.  Ask yourself how many of them are poor?  How many of them live in the ghetto?  How many of them are unemployed?  Ask yourself how many of these hypocritical blowhards are taking lobbyist monies and getting nice dinners and vacations from the special interests who hope to gain during the Obama Administration?   Not one of these racist blowhards are actually crusaders for the poor, otherwise they would join the Tea Party in seeking to shrink government and grow opportunities for the common man.   The Tea Party is about returning America to Constitutional government.   It is about ending the massive burden of government expenditures on the shoulders of companies and workers so that more work will be available.

Ask yourself this?  Do you want a tiny stipend from the government to exist, or do you want a job so you can be a success?   Do you want to chose the school for your children or do you want the government to choose it for you?  Do you like paying extra money for gas and utilities and light bulbs?  Are you happy to see jobs leaving the country to go overseas?   Does it fill you with joy to know that all sorts of stimulus and bail-out money bailed out failing companies but no one is willing to bail you out of a home loan you cannot afford to pay?   That big bank and auto company executives get to keep their companies and jobs but if your little factory down the street closes you are SOL?

If the Democrats are so afraid of the Tea Party, which is just normal Americans who are tired of big, intrusive, corrupt and statist government, then perhaps it goes to show you that we can still end big, intrusive, corrupt and statist government policies and elect people who believe in For the People, By the People?