The Web Discloses Inconvenient Climate Truths

◼ Climate change data dumped

SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.

It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.

The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation....

◼ Climate change: this is the worst scientific scandal of our generation - Our hopelessly compromised scientific establishment cannot be allowed to get away with the Climategate whitewash
◼ The world cannot trust scientists who abuse their power.

For anyone who doubts the power of the Internet to shine light on darkness, the news of the month is how digital technology helped uncover a secretive group of scientists who suppressed data, froze others out of the debate, and flouted freedom-of-information laws. Their behavior was brought to light when more than 1,000 emails,and some 3,500 additional files were published online, many of which boasted about how they suppressed hard questions about their data.

The emails, released by an apparent whistle-blower who used the name "FOI," were written by scientists at the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in England. Its scientists are high-profile campaigners for the theory of global warming....

"I tried hard to balance the needs of the science and the IPCC, which were not always the same," and in which Mr. Jones said he had employed Mr. Mann's "trick" to "hide the decline" in temperatures. A May 2008 email from Mr. Jones with the subject line "IPCC & FOI" asked recipients to "delete any emails you may have had" about data submitted for an IPCC report. The British Freedom of Information Act makes it a crime to delete material subject to an FOI request; such a request had been made earlier that month....

◼ Climate Change and Melting Glaciers BJØRN LOMBORG
◼ Climategate: it’s worse than you thought
◼ Scientists Are Not Software Engineers

The real shocking revelation in the Climategate incident isn’t the emails that show influential scientists possibly engaging in the disruption of the scientific process and possibly even committing legal fraud. Those emails might be explained away.

No, the real shocking revelation lies in the computer code and data that were dumped along with the emails. Arguably, these are the most important computer programs in the world. These programs generate the data that is used to create the climate models which purport to show an inevitable catastrophic warming caused by human activity. It is on the basis of these programs that we are supposed to massively reengineer the entire planetary economy and technology base.

The dumped files revealed that those critical programs are complete and utter train wrecks.

◼ Stephanopoulos: ClimateGate Complicates Copenhagen for Obama (photo source)

ABC's George Stephanopoulos actually brought up the ClimateGate scandal as a topic for discussion during the Roundtable segment on Sunday's "This Week."

As NewsBusters has been reporting since this story broke more than a week ago, television news outlets have been quite disinterested in the controversy now growing with each passing day.

Breaking this trend, Stephanopoulos aggressively waded into this seemingly verboten subject by mentioning how it complicates President Obama's trip to "Copenhagen to deal with climate change."

George Will of course agreed saying that the release of these e-mail messages raises a serious question about why America should "wager trillions of dollars and substantially curtail freedom on climate models that are imperfect and unproven."

Complicates? Complicates? It should torpedo it. And Cap and Tax.

More to the party crasher story than we've yet heard

◼ White House Party Crashers Linked to Obama’s Radical Pal Rashid Khalidi Gateway Pundit has the details...

...Tareq Salahi, the polo-playing intruder, is a Palestinian nationalist with ties to the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) , a pro-Palestine lobby demanding the “right of return” for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants. The “right of return” has long been considered the backdoor to Israel’s destruction. But not only that: ATFP President Ziad Asali is an America-basher who blamed 9/11 on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Asali was a lead U.S. official to PLO terrorist Yassir Arafat’s funeral in 2004. And in a position paper in 2007, the ATFP called for a power-sharing agreement at the Palestinian Authority, which would have included the State Department’s designated-terrorist group, Hamas....

...As you may recall. The LA Times hid the tape of Barack Obama attending a 2003 Jew-bash where he praised and toasted the former PLO operative Rashid Khalidi.

With Barack Obama, it’s always about the radicalism. Always.

It looks like the Salahi security breach is much more than just an “embarassment” for the Secret Service....

◼ Confirmed: MSM Holds Video Of Barack Obama Attending Jew-Bash & Toasting a Former PLO Operative… Refuse to Release the Video! (Oct. 24, 2008)

...Khalidi and the Obamas were great friends in Chicago and often shared meals together.
By the way, Khalidi was also best friends with Bill Ayers....

And now, the link resurfaces. How many other guests have been 'snuck in' to all these parties, and for what purpose?

And does the LA Times reporter still have the tape? Will he finally release it? Why didn't he do it before the election? Why have the reporters so consistently refused to report on all things suspicious about Obama? How do they sleep at night? And do they not realize that it is going to bite them in the end? Obama is what he is. He isn't going to change. And his radical associations matter.

'He talks too much..."

'He talks too much," a Saudi academic in Jeddah, who had once been smitten with Barack Obama, recently observed to me of America's 44th president. He has wearied of Mr. Obama and now does not bother with the Obama oratory.

He is hardly alone, this academic. In the endless chatter of this region, and in the commentaries offered by the press, the theme is one of disappointment. In the Arab-Islamic world, Barack Obama has come down to earth.

He has not made the world anew, history did not bend to his will, the Indians and Pakistanis have been told that the matter of Kashmir is theirs to resolve, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the same intractable clash of two irreconcilable nationalisms, and the theocrats in Iran have not "unclenched their fist," nor have they abandoned their nuclear quest....

◼ The Arabs Have Stopped Applauding Obama - A foreign policy of penance has won America no friends. wsj h/t lucianne

Unbelievable Cat-friendly House Design from Japan

◼ Unbelievable Cat-friendly House Design from Japan h/t: Unbelieveable Cat Friendly House

Feast and Give Thanks.

-15

◼ Obama Approval Rating Drops to NEW LOW Yid With Lid
◼ Rasmussen: Republicans Extend Lead to Seven Points on Generic Ballot; Independents Favor Republicans 44-20 Ace of Spades

We don't call 'em "Death Panels"? It's the "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research"

◼ There is NO Death Panel in the Obamacare Bill: It Was In Stimulus Bill

just days after the state attorney general announced an inquiry

◼ ACORN Dumped Sensitive Documents as Probe Began, Private Investigator Says stopacorn.org
A private investigator says he found tens of thousands of sensitive documents dumped outside a California ACORN office just days after the state attorney general announced an inquiry into the community organizing group....
"We're talking people's driver's license numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, tax returns, credit reports" — all tossed in public view in the Dumpster, he said.

In one document shared with FoxNews.com, an ACORN employee's name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and driver's license number were revealed, and photocopies of the employee's license and Social Security card were also included. Another document showed bank account information for a woman paying an ACORN membership fee by check....

Roach told FoxNews.com he has been going over the trove of ACORN files and has found connections to the California Teachers Association and to Citibank.

"ACORN was acting as an agent" for Citibank, Roach charged. "They had mortgage information for homeowners ... who were in foreclosure, who were in default."

Roach says that the documents suggest that ACORN staffers would go out on "assignments" to take pictures of some residences or even to "go out and actually make contact" with people living in homes financed by Citibank loans.

He said he believes Citibank will have to report to its customers that their information may have been at risk when ACORN threw it away. "They took information and they just dumped it in the garbage," he said.

Citibank ran an outreach program through ACORN that utilized the group's local staff to encourage homeowners at risk of defaulting on their mortgages to contact the bank and work on avoiding defaults. That relationship has since been severed, a spokesman for Citigroup told FoxNews.com in an e-mail.

Roach also charged that the California Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers' union, was "funneling information to ACORN for political activity" — a relationship that he said would not be illegal but would require ACORN and the CTA to disclose fully.

"I've done some checking into the reports that have been filed for the CTA, for ACORN, and I'm not finding any of this information being disclosed," he said. He did not provide any documents illustrating the relationship to FoxNews.com.....

REMEMBER:
◼ ACORN OKLAHOMA Document Dump: The Oklahoma Power Plan
ACORN’s San Diego office isn’t the only place its been careless with sensitive documents. Late last year, ACORN abandoned an office in Oklahoma. In its haste to vacate the office–and skip out on the landlord’s claim of back-rent–ACORN abandoned piles of documents, as well as a computer.... ACORN’s “Oklahoma Power Plan,” a long-term political plan to reshape politics in the Sooner State.

UPDATE!:
◼ ACORN Document Dump: California Voters, Prepare to Be ACORNed
Dumping 20k sensitive documents in a public dumpster isn’t anyone’s idea of smart. Even though the Attorney’s General office was about to visit the ACORN San Diego office, ACORN employees should have taken some steps to protect the information they were dumping. There are extensive federal and state laws in play here, with very serious civil and criminal penalties.

But, one shouldn’t take this to mean that ACORN is always and everywhere incompetent. You don’t build an international organization with offices in hundreds of US cities through incompetence. Part of ACORN’s secret is that it is really shrewd politically. ... is a plan for a 2-year ACORN campaign to repeal California’s Prop 13. That initiative, passed in 1979, restricts government’s power to increase taxes. One of its toughest provisions requires a 2/3rds vote of the legislature to raise taxes. ACORN, naturally, wants to scrap that....

ACORN wants you to believe that the documents they dumped last month are old fliers, leaflets and other out-dated garbage. They aren’t. The documents ...are current working documents. And, ACORN made a point of dumping them.
Stay tuned…

Nuthin to see here, pleez move along....

It isn't going away. Manipulating data, skewing charts, threatening critics, disregarding inconvenient data...
◼ CRU Hacked Emails: AGW a Hoax, Not Science DBKP

...I was hesitant to subscribe to the “hacker” theory from the onset. The emails were simply too voluminous in extant and seem to be organized in a loose fashion. The sources were multiple, and topically centered which made an arbitrary grab unlikely....

◼ Climate Fraud Smoking Guns: Highlights of the CRU's HARRY_READ_ME file Doug Ross @ Journal

Maybe the AP can reassign those 12 reporters it has digging through Sarah Palin's trash - and finally start getting at the REAL inconvenient truth.

Inconvenient Data: “This is not a smoking gun; this is a mushroom cloud”

Image: Al Gore's Inconveniently Photoshopped Book Cover
This is a fast moving story that is getting virtually no coverage in the MSM. First, the word was a hacker had broken in and stolen emails revealing Climate Data had been manipulated in favor of Global Warming. People suspected it was an inside job. Now it appears they know it is, and they are trying to find out who has the password, and have ordered a check...

Powerline has done some of the heavy lifting:
◼ GLOBAL WARMING BOMBSHELL
The biggest news story of the day is one that has barely begun to break and will continue to reverberate for months or years to come. Someone hacked into a computer at the University of East Anglia's Hadley Climatic Research Centre, one of the main centers of anthropogenic global warming research. The hacker downloaded over 200 megabytes of data from the server, consisting of around 1,000 emails and a variety of other documents. He uploaded them to an FTP server, where they were available to the public, apparently, for only a few hours. The event is described here.

Before the documents disappeared from that location, several people had downloaded them and posted them in other locations. I downloaded all of the material earlier today and have begun to review it. The emails are stunning.
◼ WHEN IN DOUBT, DELETE

One of the hacked East Anglia emails that has gotten considerable play on the web indicates that several alarmist scientists deleted emails that were subject to a Freedom of Information Act request rather than produce them. That's true...

◼ THE ALARMISTS DO "SCIENCE": A CASE STUDY

A fascinating, hot-off-the-presses story emerges from the emails that were hacked yesterday from the University of East Anglia's Hadley Climatic Research Centre. It is one of many exchanges that shed light on the priority that the global warming alarmists give to politics and career advancement over science.

The story began when Steve McIntyre, the same researcher who was largely responsible for destroying Michael Mann's "hockey stick" graph purporting to show unprecedented warming in the 20th century, turned his attention to a famous article published by Keith Briffa of East Anglia's CRU in 2000. This article analyzed the diameters of tree rings, including rings from an area called Yamal in Siberia, and conveniently generated another hockey-stick shaped graph. You can read an account of the ensuing controversy here. McIntyre's work appeared to show that Briffa had cherry-picked trees in order to get the result he was looking for. One fact that this story highlights is that global warming alarmists publish their results in scientific journals, but refuse to make the underlying data publicly available so that the validity of their analyses can be checked.

McIntyre's revelations caused a firestorm of controversy, in response to which the alarmist community circled its wagons to fend off the threat from an outsider. This process can be clearly seen in the East Anglia emails....

Others are on it as well:
◼ Who leaked the Hadley CRU files and why Examiner

The anonymous tipster, whom many people initially assumed had "hacked" into the computers at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia (repeatedly called the "Hadley CRU," by mistake), might in fact be a CRU insider who released the files for his own reasons.

◼ Global Warming Emails May Have Come From Insider Flopping Aces
pielke has been on it from the beginning:
◼ CRU-Gate: Climate Conspiracy or Much Ado About Nothing? pielkeclimatesci h/t: Mataharley via Flopping Aces
◼ Comment On The Post “Enemies Caught In Action!” On The Blackboard pielkeclimatesci h/t: Mataharley via flopping aces
◼ Comment On The Hacking Of The CRU Website pielkeclimatesci
◼ The Sound Of All Hell Breaking Loose: Now Searchable! Small Dead Animals

◼ Alleged CRU Emails - Searchable YOU WANT THIS

Watts Up With That has been on it from the beginning:
◼ Breaking News Story: CRU has apparently been hacked – hundreds of files released
◼ Mike’s Nature Trick
◼ Release of CRU files forges a new hockey stick reconstruction
◼ CRU Emails – search engine now online
◼ Mirror Site for Climate Audit Setup
◼ Spencer on elitism in the IPCC climate machine
◼ Bishop Hill’s compendium of CRU email issues
◼ Video: Dr. Tim Ball on the CRU emails
◼ CRU Emails “may” be open to interpretation, but commented code by the programmer tells the real story

People are talking about the emails being smoking guns but I find the remarks in the code and the code more of a smoking gun. The code is so hacked around to give predetermined results that it shows the bias of the coder. In other words make the code ignore inconvenient data to show what I want it to show. The code after a quick scan is quite a mess. Anyone with any pride would be to ashamed of to let it out public viewing. As examples [of] bias take a look at the following remarks from the MANN code files:

◼ The gig is up, the lid has been ripped off, but the NYT has decided to hide it under the rug... NYTimes: We Won't Publish "Statements that Were Never Intended for the Public Eye."

But apparently the paper's environmental blog, Dot Earth, is taking a pass on publishing any of the documents and emails that are now circulating. Andrew Revkin, the author of that blog, writes,
The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won’t be posted here.
This is the position of the New York Times when given the chance to publish sensitive information that might hinder the liberal agenda. Of course, when the choice is between publishing classified information that might endanger the lives of U.S. troops in the field or intelligence programs vital to national security, that information is published without hesitation by the nation's paper of record. But in this case -- the documents were "never intended for the public eye," so the New York Times will take a pass.

h/t: skep
But they cannot cover this up.
◼ Hacked E-Mail Is New Fodder for Climate Dispute NYT (check the derogatory wording in this one)

Some skeptics asserted Friday that the correspondence revealed an effort to withhold scientific information. “This is not a smoking gun; this is a mushroom cloud,” said Patrick J. Michaels, a climatologist who has long faulted evidence pointing to human-driven warming and is criticized in the documents.

Got links, send 'em in I'll keep adding to this.

◼ The CRUtape Letters®, an Alternate Explanation. Watts Up With That

...A few people inside CRU possessed the archive of documents being held in reserve in case the FOI appeal decision was made in favor of Steve McIntyre. They shared it with others by putting it in an FTP directory which was on the same CPU as the external webserver, or even worse, was an on a shared drive somewhere to which the webserver had permissions to access. In other words, if you knew where to look, it was publicly available. Then, along comes our “hackers” who happened to find it, download it, and the rest is history unfolding before our eyes. So much for the cries of sophisticated hacking and victimization noted above....

◼ Interview: Sen. James Inhofe will call for hearings into IPCC, UN, East Anglia CRU e-mails Hot Air
◼ The Day Global Warming Stood Still

As scientists confirm the earth has not warmed at all in the past decade, others wonder how this could be and what it means for Copenhagen. Maybe Al Gore can Photoshop something before December.

It will be a very cold winter of discontent for the warm-mongers....

◼ CNN Treats WWF Alarmism As Real News
◼ WORLD WILDLIFE FUND (WWF)
WWF's public relations are handled by David Fenton (of Fenton Communications). That tells you all you need to know.

Live From New York

If there's $300 Million extra to throw around, why does she have to sell her soul to get it, Harry? w/UPDATE

If your Health Care Proposal has any merit it ought to stand on its own - it should not require payoffs.
$300 Million to buy Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-La.) vote. Her State didn't get any stimulus money?
Landrieu and Lincoln got the attention because they were the last to decide, but the Senate really has 100 Blanche DuBoises, a full house of characters inclined toward the narcissistic. The health-care debate was worse than most. With all 40 Republicans in lockstep opposition, all 60 members of the Democratic caucus had to vote yes -- and that gave each one an opportunity to extract concessions from Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid....

By the time this thing is done, the millions for Louisiana will look like a bargain.

Despicable, craven politicians. Willingly bankrupting this nation for personal gain. Mary Landrieu's name will be cursed by future generations who will be burdened by crushing debt as a result of her actions.

BTW - from her own site: She got plenty of plenty of "Stimulus" money, she didn't need to do this.
◼ $17.4M
◼ $10.3M
◼ $450,000
◼ $388M + $718.1M + $324M... plus, plus, plus, plus...

billions of dollars for Louisiana projects and programs, including $718.1 million to the State of Louisiana through the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
Today's funding is made accessible per Louisiana's application approval for Part 1 of the State Stabilization Funds. Louisiana will be eligible to apply for an additional $191 million of the State Stabilization Funds this fall.
To date, Louisiana has received more than $324 million in education stimulus funds—representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants, Independent Living Grants, Impact Aid and Government Services funds. On April 1st, Louisiana received $88.6 million in Title I funding and nearly $101 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50 percent of the Title I and IDEA funding Louisiana is eligible for in total. On April 1, Louisiana also received nearly $5 million in Vocational Rehab funds and more than $726,000 in Independent Living funds. On April 10, Louisiana received more than $173,000 in Impact Aid funding.

◼ Mary Landrieu Should Make Edwin Edwards Proud
UPDATE:
◼ Dem Landrieu Will Hold Fundraiser For Harry Reid After Receiving $300 Million For Obamacare Vote

This week Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) was paid $300 million for her vote for Obamacare by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
To show her gratitude Senator Landrieu will hold a fundraiser for Harry Reid next month.

◼ Landrieu To Hold Fundraiser for Reid
From the comments: She's found a high-paying john and wants to keep him. He's found a highly pleasing prostitute he wants to keep using.
Liberal politics as usual.
◼ She may be a blue dawg but she’s my Senator and it’s STILL sexist The Confluence

And the circle it goes round and round

Dianne Feinstein's offices are CLOSED

CLOSED. Phone "mailboxes" are FULL. It is impossible to her.

If you are going to vote on this on a "Rare" Saturday session - you should have your offices OPEN and you should be taking calls.

I am stunned at what is going on.

How about your Senator?

◼ Healthcare bill on the verge of passage, despite receiving a failing grade from healthcare experts

Flu Attack! How A Virus Invades Your Body

◼ npr

hassle index "California is far worse than any other state in the union, by a very significant margin"

◼ Businesses leaving California... Duh! r21
◼ Jobs moving out of state - Cost, complex regulations cited by firms sfgate

Discouraged by high costs and strict regulations, just under 60 percent of California business leaders interviewed for a new study said they have policies to restrict job growth in the state or move jobs to other locations in the United States.

◼ California's Suicide investors.com

California's slide into fiscal oblivion continues, with no end in sight. Despite lots of budget cuts this year, a $21 billion deficit looms. The politicians' solution? Stop selling high-definition TVs in the state.

◼ California's suicide GCP

Clueless in Chicago

Drudge links: ◼ Chicago Mayor Daley: Media Partly To Blame For Oprah's Decision to leave her show
It's ridiculous, A. He's certainly aware that he has bigger plans - Winfrey is starting her own cable network called OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network in a joint venture with Discovery Communications. OWN will replace what is now Discovery Health Network on cable systems....

But if Oprah's ratings and popularity have taken a hit it is because, while she has been all about empowering women, and encouraging women, when it came right down to it, she shit-canned all of that in favor of a racial bias. Pure and simple. She negated her entire body of life's work. She can't regain that ground. Even with an interview of Sarah Palin. Nice try though. Too late.

Ratings Draw

CABLE NEWS RACE NOV. 18, 2009

FOXNEWS HANNITY/PALIN 4,200,000
FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,868,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,512,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,383,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,235,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,980,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,041,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,036,000
MSNBC MADDOW 957,000
CNN KING 835,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 625,000
CNN COOPER 611,000

◼ Sarah Palin gives Oprah biggest audience in two years
◼ (Not So) Rogue

Despite being characterized by many as a divisive force in her party and the nation, former vice-presidential contender Sarah Palin gets a much higher positive rating than Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi -- and most think Palin has been treated unfairly by the press.

As Sarah Palin blankets the media on a whirlwind book promotion tour, the former vice-presidential contender is clearly back on America's radar screen. Despite being characterized by many as a divisive force in her party and the nation, Americans are much more likely to give Palin a positive rating (47 percent favorable) than another prominent female leader -- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (28 percent favorable). Moreover, about six in 10 Americans (61 percent) think Palin has been treated unfairly by the press, according to the latest Fox News poll.

h/t: drudge

"You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president said.

◼ White House aides: No Afghan decision before Thanksgiving

Obama’s Frozen Moose Carcass

◼ The everyday decisions we make can have monumental consequences if we make a mistake in judgment. A politician will make decisions affecting millions. Throughout history, poor judgment has allowed politicians to create the instruments of their own demise and it often happens before he realizes it is happening. Once the wheels of fate are allowed to gain momentum, there is often no option but to devise an escape....

Those who have forgotten where their food comes from will not relate - but this is a great story. And a great analogy.

The coelacanth has changed little since ancient times.

◼ Aquarium snaps world's first photos of young coelacanth
IWAKI, Fukushima Pref. (Kyodo) A team from an aquarium in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, has succeeded in capturing the world's first photographs of juvenile coelacanths, a fish regarded as a living fossil, off Indonesia's Sulawesi Island.

According to Aquamarine Fukushima, the fry were found Oct. 6 at a depth of 161 meters in Manado Bay off North Sulawesi Province, where the Indonesian coelacanth was first discovered more than a decade ago.

Couldn't find that most recent shot, but this old one shows what the big ones look like. (swiped from ◼ here)

Gotta hand it to Newsweak Newsweek

Seriously. You know what the Atlantic did to McCain. Given Newsweek's position as head Obama PR mag - it coulda been way worse.

Femisex has a different opinion... ◼ Official Statement on Newsweek’s Sarah Palin Cover

Update: ◼ Palin photographer breached contract with sale to Newsweek
...a spokeswoman for Runner's World confirms that Adams's contract contained a clause stipulating that his photos of Palin would be under embargo for a period of one year following publication -- meaning until August 2010. "Runner's World did not provide Newsweek with its cover image," the spokeswoman said. "It was provided to Newsweek by the photographer's stock agency, without Runner's World's knowledge or permission." The spokeswoman declined to say whether Runner's World intends to respond to Adams's breach of contract with legal action....

Don't use the "S" Word, substitute "Economic Democracy" they can be sold door to door, just like Fuller Brushes

What are the 10 Steps from Freedom to Socialism?
"The 10 Steps For Taking Over a City"? (The movement was a predecessor to ACORN). At the bottom of the page, it mentions the plan for Sacramento. And they implemented much of it. Darrell Steinberg was a Sacramento City Councilman and now, as you may know, the California Senate President Pro Tem... Anybody remember?

There is work being done transcribing old materials, newspaper articles and the like, so that it will become part of the online searchable data base. Things like this will unearth many a modern day politician's Van Jones moments. Rather like Pelosi's admonishments never to sign a bill you haven't read. These way-back machine moments haven't gone down the Memory Hole just yet.

Gotta have one!

◼ Wood-burning custom-sculpted bowl pits
Stumbled on it here: ◼ 47 World Leaders- 46 Handshakes- 1 Bow

Wanna-be murderers back in the spotlight

◼ Klein: Ayers, Dohrn accuse Hillary of ‘white supremacy’. Unrepentant radicals charge 2008 elections had ‘racist’ undertones
...In a co-authored article in the socialist Monthly Review magazine, the two radicals argued last year’s national elections had “racist” undertones and that President Obama’s ascent to power can be used to “build a new society.”

“[Hillary] Clinton flagrantly appealed to white voters’ identity as ‘workers’ or ‘women’ – offering white people any reason to vote against Obama without saying he’s black – and followed the ancient and dismal road of racial discourse that appeals to white supremacy, fear and anxiety,” wrote Ayers and Dohrn....

...They said Obama’s presidency “calls for us to have to agitate for democracy...

See, that's what they don't get - they don't even understand that they HAVE been living with democracy. "Democracy" is not what they are after.

No. They get it. They just like to use the words to keep the lies flowing. What a sick and twisted pair.

The worst idea in a long time

I'm sorry. But putting Carrie Prejean up as some kind of iconic role model/victim makes a mockery of women who have worked and fought and suffered. It cheapens the experience of people who really have suffered egregious attacks from the political attack machine, much better and more deserving women than she.

Yes. What happened to her is an example of what happens to conservative women in the political arena. But it is nothing compared to what the suffragettes endured, and it is nothing comparable to the guns that have been lowered at Sarah Palin, or Hillary Clinton for that matter. And it sure doesn't even come close to the women of Iran, like Neda.

It's bad enough that we have a generation who takes advice from ignorant Hollywood glitterati, and that we have a President who wrote two autobiographies (supposedly) before he himself had lived a full life, or earned any reason to do so.

◼ Video: The obligatory “Carrie Prejean melts down on Larry King” clip HotAir

Some advice for Carrie: Yes, you got sandbagged by a disgusting poseur. It was ugly. The point was made. Stop trying to capitalize on it. Stop this self-serving and unattractive charade. You're only digging the hole deeper with every fitful appearance. Go back to a real life. Live it fully and well. Earn the respect of the nation. And it will be given. But not yet.

His day in the sun...

◼ Propagandist extraordinaire
Al Gore's Current Media cuts 80 jobs
Current Media, a cable television company co-founded by former US vice president Al Gore, announced Wednesday that it is cutting 80 jobs as part of a reorganization.

The layoffs, which will leave Current with some 300 employees worldwide, come seven months after the San Francisco-based startup shelved plans for a 100-million-dollar initial public offering, citing market conditions...

Market conditions... like ◼ The average October temperature of 50.8°F was 4.0°F below the 20th Century average and ranked as the 3rd coolest based on preliminary data.
For the nation as a whole, it was the third coolest October on record.... NOAA
◼ Storm dumps snow on Rockies, plains, more forecast Oct 28 Breitbart
◼ Front Range braces for snow as forecast calls for big storm Denver Post
◼ Mid-October Snow Shocks Tri-Staters wcbsTV
◼ Heavy snow expected in PA... NOAA
◼ Record cold hits region; snow on the way wenatcheeworld
Long-standing records were shattered as temperatures plummeted around North Central Washington on Sunday and into today.
Snow in Wyoming and Colorado: 'Fall was cancelled and we've gone straight to winter'... ^
..... From the September 21, 2009 21:37:31 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

Labor Day snow falls on Oregon's Mt. Bachelor... ^
..... From the September 08, 2009 21:25:02 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

Spring makes debut with snow in NYC... ^
..... From the March 20, 2009 13:02:18 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

Obama cancels press conference with Gordon Brown 'because of snow'... ^
..... From the March 03, 2009 13:11:23 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

SNOW BLAST HITS EAST ^
..... From the March 02, 2009 13:17:19 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

SNOW BLAST HITS EAST ^
..... From the March 01, 2009 19:36:22 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

SNOW BLAST HITS EAST; MORE THAN FOOT EXPECTED ^
..... From the March 01, 2009 15:56:30 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

Oslo looks more like 'Ice Age'; City resorts to 'dumping truckloads of snow in sea'... ^
..... From the February 24, 2009 16:01:57 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

18 Inches Of Snow May Clobber Parts Of Indiana... Developing... ^
..... From the February 03, 2009 14:07:13 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

Britain buried: Heaviest snow in 20 years... ^
..... From the February 03, 2009 00:06:12 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

Britain buried: Heaviest snow in 20 years... ^
..... From the February 02, 2009 14:15:26 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

Britain buried in heaviest snow for 20 years... ^
..... From the February 02, 2009 14:03:08 GMT edition of the Drudge Report.

Something special -

See the rest: ◼ The Late Movies: Dogs Welcoming Home Soldiers
Get out the box of hankies, though.
thx: Iam

Honor.

◼ Veterans Day Parade New York City 2009 URBAN INFIDEL
◼ Happy Veterans Day From TCU Palestra

Well, well, well...

◼ h/t: Holger

The slippery slope

◼ Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists

I'm not a fan of Indymedia per se, certainly not a fan of their agenda, but my first reaction here is, even if the end result is desirable, everyone should be alarmed by this action. And their rights should be protected, just as Talk Radio's rights should be protected. They are flip sides of the same coin.

In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.

The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization....

The subpoena (PDF) from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded "all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" on June 25, 2008. It instructed Clair to "include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information," including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia readers' Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on....

Still unclear is what criminal investigation U.S. Attorney Morrison was pursuing. Last Friday, a spokeswoman initially promised a response, but Morrison sent e-mail on Monday evening saying: "We have no comment." The Justice Department in Washington, D.C. also declined to respond.

Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, replied to the Justice Department on behalf of his client in a February 2009 letter (PDF) outlining what he described as a series of problems with the subpoena, including that it was not personally served, that a judge-issued court order would be required for the full logs, and that Indymedia did not store logs in the first place.

Morrison replied in a one-sentence letter saying the subpoena had been withdrawn. Around the same time, according to the EFF, the group had a series of discussions with assistant U.S. attorneys in Morrison's office who threatened Clair with possible prosecution for obstruction of justice if she disclosed the existence of the already-withdrawn subpoena -- claiming it "may endanger someone's health" and would have a "human cost."

Lucy Dalglish, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of The Press, said a gag order to a news organization wouldn't stand up in court: "If you get a subpoena and you're a journalist, they can't gag you."

Dalglish said that a subpoena being issued and withdrawn is not unprecedented. "I have seen any number of these things withdrawn when counsel for someone who is claiming a reporter's privilege says, 'Can you tell me the date you got approval from the attorney general's office'... I'm willing to chalk this up to bad lawyering on the part of the DOJ, or just not thinking."

Making this investigation more mysterious is that Indymedia.us is an aggregation site, meaning articles that appear on it were published somewhere else first, and there's no hint about what sparked the criminal probe. Clair, the system administrator, says that no IP (Internet Protocol) addresses are recorded for Indymedia.us, and non-IP address logs are kept for a few weeks and then discarded. ...

Obama sold women out at Ted Kennedy's funeral

◼ According to {Jonathan} Alter, {Newsweek} minutes after the Bishop finished eulogizing Teddy Manslaughter Kennedy, he jumped off the pulpit and pulled Obama aside to hatch this anti-choice deal!

Obama agreed! Femisex

Fascinating

Your Legislators just created a new criminal class

And they cheered about it.

The bitch has done it

House Passes Health Care Bill
Final vote: 220-215.
219 Democrats voted 'yea'
39 Democrats voted 'ney'

◼ • Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) says that when you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. Illegal immigrants are exempt from this requirement. WSJ - What the Pelosi Health-Care Bill Really Says

• Sec. 224 (p. 118) provides that 18 months after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will decide what a "qualified plan" covers and how much you'll be legally required to pay for it. That's like a banker telling you to sign the loan agreement now, then filling in the interest rate and repayment terms 18 months later.

• Sec. 303 (pp. 167-168) makes it clear that, although the "qualified plan" is not yet designed, it will be of the "one size fits all" variety. The bill claims to offer choice—basic, enhanced and premium levels—but the benefits are the same. Only the co-pays and deductibles differ. You will have to enroll in the same plan, whether the government is paying for it or you and your employer are footing the bill.

• Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) says that when you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. Illegal immigrants are exempt from this requirement.

• Sec. 412 (p. 272) says that employers must provide a "qualified plan" for their employees and pay 72.5% of the cost, and a smaller share of family coverage, or incur an 8% payroll tax. Small businesses, with payrolls from $500,000 to $750,000, are fined less.

• Sec. 1302 (pp. 672-692) moves Medicare from a fee-for-service payment system, in which patients choose which doctors to see and doctors are paid for each service they provide, toward what's called a "medical home."

• Sec. 1114 (pp. 391-393) replaces physicians with physician assistants in overseeing care for hospice patients.

• Secs. 1158-1160 (pp. 499-520) initiates programs to reduce payments for patient care to what it costs in the lowest cost regions of the country. This will reduce payments for care (and by implication the standard of care) for hospital patients in higher cost areas such as New York and Florida.

• Sec. 1161 (pp. 520-545) cuts payments to Medicare Advantage plans (used by 20% of seniors). Advantage plans have warned this will result in reductions in optional benefits such as vision and dental care.

• Sec. 1402 (p. 756) says that the results of comparative effectiveness research conducted by the government will be delivered to doctors electronically to guide their use of "medical items and services."

• Sec. 399V (p. 1422) provides for grants to community "entities" with no required qualifications except having "documented community activity and experience with community healthcare workers" to "educate, guide, and provide experiential learning opportunities" aimed at drug abuse, poor nutrition, smoking and obesity. "Each community health worker program receiving funds under the grant will provide services in the cultural context most appropriate for the individual served by the program."

These programs will "enhance the capacity of individuals to utilize health services and health related social services under Federal, State and local programs by assisting individuals in establishing eligibility . . . and in receiving services and other benefits" including transportation and translation services.

• Sec. 222 (p. 617) provides reimbursement for culturally and linguistically appropriate services. This program will train health-care workers to inform Medicare beneficiaries of their "right" to have an interpreter at all times and with no co-pays for language services.

• Secs. 2521 and 2533 (pp. 1379 and 1437) establishes racial and ethnic preferences in awarding grants for training nurses and creating secondary-school health science programs. For example, grants for nursing schools should "give preference to programs that provide for improving the diversity of new nurse graduates to reflect changes in the demographics of the patient population." And secondary-school grants should go to schools "graduating students from disadvantaged backgrounds including racial and ethnic minorities."

• Sec. 305 (p. 189) Provides for automatic Medicaid enrollment of newborns who do not otherwise have insurance.

◼ OBAMACARE ENDORSEMENTS: WHAT THE BRIBE WAS Dick Morris
◼ Health Care Reform Bill Open Thread, Part II The Confluence
◼ House Dems Outraged That Stupak Amendment Would Ban Abortion That Obama Said Was Not Covered In Health Care Bill Gateway Pundit

Obama told America that his nationalized health care bill would not cover abortion.
He lied.

Now the House Democrats are outraged that the Stupak Amendment will ban abortion funding from the health care bill… If it is not snuck back into the bill later.

The House is voting on the Stupak Amendment tonight.

◼ Passed Black & Right
◼ Dems PASS Nationalized Health Care Bill Gateway Pundit
◼ ObamaCare: If It's Private, Kill It! Director Blue

Incredible.

ASK YOUR CONGRESSMAN

ARE YOU VOTING FOR THIS??!!?? Failure to Comply, 5 Years in Prison...

“Criminal penalties
Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:

• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]

◼ PELOSI: Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail; republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”

◼ Liveblogging: The new Imperial Congress votes on Pelosicare; Update: Female Democrats turn House resolution process into circus; GOP responds; Obama rallies weakened Dems Michelle Malkin
◼ Buy What Democrats Say to Buy or GO TO JAIL Stop The ACLU
◼ On the health care vote RS McCain
◼ Health care “reform” goes to vote in the House Sister Toldjah
◼ Pages, Costs, and Agencies Added To The Obama/Pelosi Health Care Behemoth Flopping Aces

Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee today commented on the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) more detailed cost estimate of the manager’s amendment to the House health reform bill.
Senator Gregg stated, “The CBO estimate released last night finally sheds light on the smoke and mirrors game the majority has been playing with the cost of their health care reform proposal. Over the first 10 years, this legislation builds in gross new spending of $1.7 trillion – and most of the new spending doesn’t even start until 2014. Once that spending is fully phased in, the House Democratic bill rings up at more than $3 trillion over ten years.
“Additionally, this bill cuts critical Medicare and Medicaid funding by $628 billion, accounts for nearly $1.2 trillion in tax and fee increases and will explode the scope of government by putting the nation’s health care system in the hands of Washington bureaucrats. The $3 trillion price tag defies common sense – we simply cannot add all this new spending to the government rolls and claim to control the deficit.
“If we continue to pile more and more debt on the next generation, they will never be able to get out from under it. The health care system needs reform, but this massive expansion of government, financed by our children and grandchildren, is the wrong way to proceed.”

◼ How to Go From 1,200 to 2,000 Pages …. in one secretive statist health care bill bizzyblog.com
◼ The Undecideds -- Where the fate of the bill rests Politico

Melissa Bean
Dennis Cardoza
Jim Cooper -- Yes at 11 a.m.
Jim Costa
Lincoln Davis
Betsy Markey
Michael Michaud
Scott Murphy
Bart Stupak
John Barrow
Marion Berry
Rick Boucher
Ben Chandler
Joe Donnelly
Tim Holden
Mike McIntyre
Harry Mitchell
Heath Shuler
Zack Space
Allen Boyd
Gabrielle Giffords
Dan Maffei
Ron Klein
Glenn Nye
Michael Arcuri
Henry Cuellar
Chet Edwards
Brad Ellsworth
Paul Kanjorski
Ann Kirkpatrick
John Boccieri
Chris Carney
Steve Driehaus
Bob Etheridge
Marcy Kaptur
Dennis Kucinich
Ciro Rodriguez
Kurt Schrader
Adam Smith
Gary Peters
Tom Perriello

Mine is a lost cause, Mike Thompson will never buck the party machine, no matter how many calls he gets, not matter how wronghe knows it is, and no matter that he is condemning people to jail for not complying.

Ehh, what do they care? ◼ Report: 237 millionaires in Congress

Good for Paterson

Like him or not, this is a gutsy move, and the right thing to do. Party hacks from any level should not be able to tell a citizen that they cannot run for the People's Offices. Whether Paterson himself is a Party tool is irrelevant at this point.

◼ Paterson Empowered By Obama's Election Woes - Gov. Still Plans To Run Despite President's Request He Not - Brings President Clinton's Former Deputy Chief Of Staff On Board
Embattled Gov. David Paterson is pulling out all the stops to save his job. He plans to mount a major ad blitz to tell New Yorkers about all the good things he's done for the Empire State.

The election may be over, but the political ads aren't. The governor is now taking to the air waves to convince New Yorkers he deserves to stay in office.

"What it's geared to do is talk about his very good record over the last year, the things he's done for the state, including closing a $35 billion budget," said veteran political consultant Bill Lynch.

The ads are aimed at improving Paterson's low poll numbers and sending a message to other Democrats, including President Barack Obama, that he is determined to seek another term in office....

Paterson, whose popularity currently hovers in the 20 percent range, was seriously wounded when Obama let it be known he didn't want Paterson to run because Republicans like Rudy Giuliani consistently beat him in the polls. But Obama's recent lack of success in backing local candidates, including New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, has empowered Paterson.

"The President went to New Jersey five times for Corzine and wasn't able to turn that around, so I think here in New York, New Yorkers know everything is local," said Lynch.

◼ You know Obama’s in trouble when even the liberal media are taking shots at him
...instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks....◼ Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting - A bad week for Democrats compounded by an awful moment for Barack Obama.
◼ link

Why is anyone surprised? Obama does not like or care about the military. You know if this was even one of his ACORN/SEIU/Working Families Party stormtroopers, he would have reacted differently. You saw how he acted over the Gates affair (stupidly) - and the contrast between his response to the killing of the abortion doctor and another killing, that of a military recruiter.

He's uncomfortable, and incapable of CHANGE.

Barack Hussein Obama Wah. Wah. Wah.

◼ One year on, Obama cites struggle with Bush legacy reuters

"One year ago, Americans all across this country went to the polls and cast ballots for the future they wanted to see," Obama said.

But he said his administration was also confronted with a "financial crisis that threatened to plunge our economy into a Great Depression, the worst that we've seen in generations."

"We had record deficits, two wars, frayed alliances around the world," Obama added.

◼ Another Addition For Obama, The Blame Czar?
◼ Mark Steyn: Obama makes Bush his blame czar
◼ The “inherited deficits” fallacy Hot Air
◼ ...Director Orszag is correct that neither the Medicare drug benefit nor the tax cuts were offset with other spending cuts or tax increases. He fails to tell you that in 2003 Congressional Democrats wanted to spend more on Medicare drugs than the bill President Bush signed into law. (President Obama was a State Senator at the time.) He fails to tell you that President Obama did not propose means-testing the drug benefit to save money, as President Bush tried to do. He also fails to tell you that President Obama’s budget proposes to continue $3.2 trillion of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and the AMT patches that followed them. (See the first few lines of Table S-5.) He also fails to tell you that his $9 T figure includes $835 B for the stimulus and associated interest costs that President Obama clearly did not inherit.... keithhennessey.com
◼ Ohhhh… It Ain’t my fault The Truth in Black and Right

So a year almost a full year into the job and Obama is discovering that not only is the job is difficult, but it’s really Bush’s fault. His lack of leadership, the continued struggles in Afghanistan, the soured economy: all of it is Bush’s fault.

So why did he want this job? The responsibility of a president is to solve problems, not to pass the buck. Ed Morrisey at Hot Air says it better than most:

Obama wanted to be President, not to lead, but just to win. Now that he has won, he has no core set of governing principles other than what impacts Barack Obama. He has offered no leadership on any part of his agenda all year long, content to have Nancy Pelosi run it for him. His foreign policy thus far consists entirely of making himself personally popular with the world. On Afghanistan, Obama has thus far allowed Robert Gates and David Petraeus to make his decisions, only balking at the moment because the McChrystal strategy puts him at odds with his base, which could erode his popularity.

We’ve complained a number of times about the cult of personality that surrounds Obama, but as Todd implies with this answer, it’s really all Obama has.

Pretty damning

◼ Obama & Corzine on Leadership: The buck stops with someone else EXAMINER
It seems like an eternity ago that Democratic leaders were at least leaders.... Today’s Democrats (and indeed many Republicans) seem more interested in celebrity and their own snarky entitlement delusions of grandeur than any actual responsible leadership....

President Obama, the man so dedicated to his job that he’s begun skipping meals and turning into a manorexic waif, made another stop to New Jersey to try to prop up the political corpse of Corzine. Lucky us. Sure, there’s a war in Afghanistan that he is still dithering about. Nothing is more important in this moment, however, than preserving Jon Corzine’s job. Of course, 24 hours from now, when Governor Corzine calls Governor-elect Christie to concede, the Obama propagandists will be falling all over themselves to get to the nearest mic to tell you that the election was not important and that Obama was merely sight-seeing in the inner cities of New Jersey....

So, once again Barack Hussein Obama has torn himself from the golf course and the endless A-list filled house parties at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to try to, in his words, “put lipstick on a pig.”

What do you say when you are campaigning for someone like Jon Corzine? One has to imagine that you would find yourself fumbling for just the right phrase to capture the glory that is Corzine. What with record unemployment, the nation’s highest tax burden, yearly budget deficits, residents fleeing to other states, and corruption as far as the eye can see, you certainly have a lot to choose from.

Well, the first thing you would do is have your audience scripted to cheer “Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!” long enough to fill in the dead air. You probably would also stutter up a storm and litter your speech with a lot of ill-positioned dramatic pauses loosely connected by the many “uh” and “ah” sounds that smack of the eloquence that always eluded that Bush character. (If really in need of time, you could also read a portion of someone else’s speech and wait until AFTER you thank yourself before realizing it. That’s always a good ice-breaker.) If that doesn’t work, you can launch into another tiring rendition of “Are you fired up?” “Ready to go?” until the cows come home.

Once that authentic ululation dies down, however, you are going to need something to say. This weekend in New Jersey, President Obama found just the right message for our glorious leader: the buck stops with someone else. Perfecting the adolescent whine he’s so famous for, Obama launched into a woe-is-me rant worthy of Holden Caulfield:

“Listening to Jon's opponent, you'd think New Jersey was the only state going through a tough time right now. I have something to report: We had the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. By the way, that didn't start under Jon's watch. That didn't start under my watch. I wasn't -- I wasn't sworn in yet.”

Sorry, wasn’t he brought in to talk about Jon Corzine? Why is he talking about himself?

So, Obama chooses to “fire up” the crowd with more crying about George Bush. More crying about how hard it is for him. No other president has ever governed under such a harsh scenario. Governing was a cake-walk for Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and the gang. He sure must be tired. If only John McCain spent 2008 campaigning by blaming everything on Jimmy Carter, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

The great Eeyore-in-chief continued, “You know, you got a little bit of revisionist history, a little selective memory going on, a little amnesia about how we got into this mess. This crisis that we are digging ourselves out of came about because of the same theories, the same lax regulation, the same trickle-down economics that the other guy's party has been peddling for years.”

Perhaps he meant to say, “Now, for a little revisionist history...”...

It gets better

Republicans, who were prepared to give Obama the benefit of the doubt a year ago, now can’t stand him....

Independents who voted for him are deserting in droves. And Democrats don’t seem that happy either....
◼ Dem’s Spinning Away On Yesterdays Election Forgetting That Rahm Said VA & NJ Wins Were Huge In 2005 Flopping Aces
◼ The Obama magic has faded NY Post
◼ WH TODAY VS. RAHM IN '05 Msnbc
These wrap-ups and more at Flopping Aces.

thx dorian

CNN comes in 4th on election night...

PRIMETIME (8-11 PM/ET)

FOXNEWS: 4,043,000 viewers (1,130,000 in A25-54)
MSNBC: 974,000 viewers(308,000 in A25-54)
HEADLINE NEWS: 842,000 viewers(341,000 in A25-54)
CNN: 826,000 viewers (227,000 in A25-54)...

via drudge

Parting the Red Sea, & creating a whole new one

◼ Giant Crack in Africa Will Become New Ocean
A 35-mile rift in the desert of Ethiopia will eventually become a new ocean or sea, researchers now confirm.

The crack, 20 feet wide in spots, opened in 2005. Some geologists believed then that it would spawn a new ocean. But that view was controversial, and the rift had not been well studied...

The same rift activity is slowly parting the Red Sea, too.

Using newly gathered seismic data from 2005, researchers reconstructed the event to show the rift tore open along its entire 35-mile length in just days. Dabbahu, a volcano at the northern end of the rift, erupted first, then magma pushed up through the middle of the rift area and began "unzipping" the rift in both directions, the researchers explained in a statement today....

Uh O

Headline on Drudge - Uh O
◼ Republicans sweep Virginia state races
◼ NBC's "The Biggest Loser" is at the White House tonight. This is not a joke
◼ Fibbs: Obama 'not watching returns' Uh huh. He left his important office three times to perpetual campaign for this guy and he's not watching? You believe that?
Photo of the night: "John Corzine seen scraping ' Yes We Can ' bumper sticker off of NJ state SUV" (LOL OE)

A ton of good links for election day

◼ Bam's butt on the line for Corzine NY Post
◼ Dirty trick: Dems paying for third-party robocalls in New JerseyHotAir
◼ NY23: What New Media have done RS McCain
One EXPENSIVE ENDORSEMENT ◼ Corzine gave $87,000 to Jackson's church nj.com
◼ Chris Christie's Next Case: Who Stole My Election? - Absentee voter fraud may play a significant role in New Jersey's gubernatorial election. wsj online
◼ ACORN expected to protest election results tomorrow in Clinton County Examiner.com
◼ In Iowa, Second Thoughts on Obama NYT
◼ RNC Runs Ad Urges NY-23 Voters to “Fight Back! Vote Conservative” on Tuesday Flopping Aces
◼ Be Paid for Votes in Athens, Ohio Redstate
◼ Election Day primer — and pushback against preemptive Democrat-media spin Michelle Malkin
◼ Republican rebirth in New England? Neo-Neocon

◼ Mark Levin Will Join Michelle Bachmann at Capital Steps Rally- Noon Thursday Gateway Pundit

◼ NYT: Al Gore Making A Fortune Spreading Global Warming Hysteria Newsbusters
◼ Gore’s Dual Role in Spotlight: Advocate and Investor NYT
◼ Al Gore, Carbon Billionaire Wizbang

◼ pelosis health care bill creates 111 new federal obamacare bureaucracies Redstate

◼ EDITORIAL: Jesus, no, but yes to Allah - Another immoderate judge nominated by Obama Washington Times
◼ Converting the Preachers - George Soros launches a $50 million effort to purge economics of its free-market zeal. Newsweak

An Inconvenient Poll ◼ In White House Vs. Fox News War Of Words, Who Gets Your Vote? NPR
◼ Speaking truth to power Black and Right

◼ Gloves are off in Tasmanian forests asiancorrespondent
Timber workers have decided to give forest activists a dose of their own medicine by releasing photographs to Asian Correspondent that they say show the rubbish, including abandoned car bodies, that environmentalists have left behind in their forest camps in southern Tasmania.

More on the flu - odds are you don't have h1n1, or the flu

◼ CDC GUESSTIMATED H1N1 CASES and REFUSED CBS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST ! CBS News
◼ Swine Flu Government Data Scam – Government using fraud to generate flu hysteria

It really is not looking good for the CDC. Eventually after many attempts by CBS the CDC released the test results for the H1N1 cases around the USA. It turns out that the a massive percentage of test results were NOT the H1N1 swine flu. With a lot of cases it wasn't even the regular flu ! As CBS intelligently points out these exaggerated cases and statistics would have had an impact on medical treatments and hospitals resources. NOTICE how the word EPIDEMIC is used several times

Not sure I like the references to cost/benefit here - if it is a real epidemic that shouldn't be the issue - but given that it's not, by all signs and actual numbers, Obama is way out of line declaring it a national emergency.

I've posted links to CDC and WHO data in previous posts on this topic.

Like most Americans, when I'm not getting media advice from underemployed actors, i like to seek health instructions from pundits.

◼ Jake Tapper Tweet posted on Politico
Gotta love it!

Can't resist

Hearts and Minds. Whose First?

◼ link Let's just say I hope he's listening. Playing golf, and basketball, and throwing lavish White House parties and plotting your offensive against FOX News is the worst kind of obscenity, when you are leaving men to die without backup, under convoluted superimposed activists'-view-of-the-world views.

Streptococcus pneumoniae

If the majority of flu related deaths are due to secondary complications such as pneumonia, you have to wonder why we aren't hearing more about THIS vaccine:
◼ Progress Made On Group B Streptococcus Vaccine 10/30/09
◼ Pneumococcal Disease in Children - Q&A
◼ Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine
◼ Vaccine Information
◼ New Strep Pneumonia Vaccine
The only pneumococcus vaccine available before February 2000 was known as a polysaccharide vaccine. The polysaccharide is part of the cell wall of the pneumococcus. Unfortunately, there are about 80 different strains of pneumococcus, each with a different polysaccharide. Therefore, for the vaccine to be effective, it would have to have many, if not all, of these different polysaccharides, which it did not. In addition, polysaccharide vaccines are not very effective in inducing long-term immunity. In children under two years old, these vaccines do not work at all.

The new vaccine attaches ("conjugates") the seven most common pneumococcal polysaccharides to a protein that helps produce immunity. This so-called conjugate vaccine is similar to the highly effective vaccine used for Haemophilus influenzae. Since the new vaccine uses polysaccharide from only seven strains, it will not prevent all cases of invasive pneumococcal disease. In February 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine for use in infants and toddlers. As of this writing, there is no official recommendation concerning use in all children. According to the FDA, this vaccine is very safe and effective. In a very large study involving thousands of children, the vaccine prevented 100 percent of cases of invasive pneumococcal disease involving the strains represented in the vaccine. Overall, it prevented 90 percent of the cases of disease due to any strain.
◼ Strep Vaccine for Kids Cuts Pneumonia Even Among Adults
Primary source: The Lancet
Source reference: Grijalva CG et al. "Decline in pneumonia admissions after routine childhood immunisation with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in the USA: a time-series analysis." The Lancet 2007; 369: 1179-86.
BIG H/T: Pat

"Is this guy a serial killer?"

SIX bodies found in his house and you have to ask that question?

◼ Six bodies found at Anthony Sowell's house, police sources say

And this:
Neighbor Debbie Madison saw commotion at Sowell's house Thursday. She heard talk of dead bodies inside and feared Sowell might be dead, so she went to Sowell's sister's home on East 130th Street. Sowell was resting on a couch inside.

He asked for a ride home. Sowell started talking as they approached the house, Madison said.

"He said it was true," Madison said. "That's when I became scared.

"He told me, 'It's all gonna come out.' He said, 'That girl made me do it,' " Madison said.

Instead of continuing to his home, Sowell asked Madison to drive him back to his sister's. She did.

Sowell's next victim could have thanked that lovely woman, Debbie Madison. How stupid can you be. But fortunately:
◼ Anthony Sowell, suspect in murders on Cleveland's East Side, arrested walking near home
...Sowell was arrested while walking on Mount Auburn Avenue on Saturday afternoon, about one mile from his home on Imperial Avenue, where police had spent two days digging up the remains of six people. It appears to be one of the worst mass killings in Northeast Ohio history....