A Tribute to Senator Boxer

Apparently David Zucker has had enough and is apologizing for a past sin.

Call Me Senator from RightChange on Vimeo.

Washington Post Flying Pig Moment re: Sarah Palin

When I saw this in the Leftist™ Washington Post I couldn't believe my eyes. Their senior editors must have been gone last week. The rest of the Fifth Column Fourth Estate must be aghast.

Five myths about Sarah Palin
Here's one:

4. Palin is extreme.

On many of the most important issues of the day, Palin holds positions that are squarely in the center-right of American political discourse. And many of those positions, not incidentally, are held by a large segment or even a majority of the public. For instance, neither the public nor Palin believes the stimulus worked. And while most Americans may not share Palin's views regarding "death panels," many join her in opposing Obama's health-care overhaul.

Over the past two years, Pew and Gallup surveys have tracked the public as it has moved to the right -- not on just one or two issues but on a whole constellation of them. Even on the controversial topics of abortion, guns and same-sex marriage, Palin is not as far away from the center as some suppose. A May 2009 Gallup poll, for example, found that a majority of Americans identified as "pro-life" rather than "pro-choice." In October 2009, Gallup measured record-low support for gun control. The public is divided on same-sex marriage, with about half the country joining Palin's (and Obama's) opposition.

As always, go and read the whole thing. It is refreshing to see the occasional ray of truth escape from the darkness of the establishment "press".

An Interesting Solution

The Soviet Socialist Republic of Illinois has found a solution to that pesky problem of conservative overseas military absentee ballots. Just don't send them. Problem solved!

Military ballots may not count in Illinois

CHICAGO (WLS) - The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the state of Illinois missed the deadline for mailing absentee ballots to members of the military and other overseas American voters as part of a new federal overseas voting law.

Cris Cray, Director of Legislation at the Illinois State Board of Elections, says not all of Illinois' 110 jurisdictions were compliant with the 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE).

The law requires every state to mail their absentee ballots 45 days prior to Election Day to overseas troops, government employees and other Americans who want to vote from abroad.
Cray says she is currently compiling data from each of Illinois' jurisdictions to determine which were compliant and which were delinquent.

Cray said it's possible the ballots may not be counted because the state was tardy in sending them out.

This is what happens when you do not vote as you are told. Next time they should try to get it right.

Y'all in Illinois, just keep voting for Leftist™ Dems.

(Anyone who thinks that this was an accident is very naive.)

Call It Global Climate Redistribution

"Dr." John Holdren is having a little trouble with the term "global warming" what with the globe not warming and all. Yes, a certain location will report the "hottest June ever". This has always happened. We call it "weather". Holdren knows this, so a new term must be invented.

Global warming is dead. Long live, er, 'Global climate disruption'!

President Obama’s Science Czar John Holdren is worried about global warming. Having noticed that there hasn’t actually been any global warming since 1998, he feels it ought to be called “global climate disruption” instead. That way whether it gets warmer or colder, wetter or drier, less climatically eventful or more climatically eventful, the result will be the same: it can all be put down to “global climate disruption.”

And that will be good, because it will give Holdren the excuse to introduce all the draconian measures he has long believed necessary if “global climate disruption” is to be averted: viz, state-enforced population control; a rewriting of the legal code so that trees are able to sue people; and the wholesale destruction of the US economy (“de-development” as he put it in the 1973 eco-fascist textbook he co-wrote Paul and Anne Ehrlich Human Ecology: Global Problems And Solutions).

To say nothing of the taxing schemes that are planned to redistribute wealth - this by those Liberals™ who are more interested in that vice the reduction of mankind.

Smear and insult conservatives and the Tea Party if you will, we are FOR America and FOR the well-being of humankind. The people who are pushing "global climate whatever" ARE NOT.

Piers Morgan Did it Wrong

Not So Fast

CNN is asking Larry King to postpone his final show -- slated for fall -- and stick around until the end of the year, The Post has learned.

British journalist and "America's Got Talent" judge Piers Morgan, who is widely thought to be King's replacement, is apparently having trouble obtaining a work visa, according to several sources.

He should have sneaked across the southern border and then announced himself as being an illegal alien. Then the ICE would leave him alone and let him work, since he would obviously be "in the shadows", TV talk show notwithstanding.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/not_so_fast_R0BtuZEiXx73oopbjn8y9O#ixzz0xD3nDpoI

Birds in My Yard

Stellar's Jay

I just saw one of these in my backyard only a few minutes ago.

What Teacher's Unions Do For Our Kids

The education debacle of the decade

Dr. Patrick Wolf spoke to a packed audience in the Capitol Visitors Center last Monday.

The seats were full and people stood all along the edges of the room, even spilling out into the hallway. We all came to hear him explain his latest research on the tiny education program that has caused a national uproar—arousing so much passion that African-American leaders from around the country recently gathered downtown to engage in an act of civil disobedience.

The Department of Education commissioned Wolf to conduct a series of detailed studies on the results of the Washington DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). Established in 2004 as a five-year pilot program, OSP is among the most heavily researched federal education programs in history.

OSP targeted about 2,000 of the poorest kids in DC who were stuck in some of the worst schools in the country. It gave their parents a $7,500 scholarship to attend a private school of their choice.

The response was immediate. Four applications were filled out for every slot available. Parents loved the program, considering it a lifeline for their children, a way to escape failing schools and enter safe, functional schools.

Everyone knew OSP would be a bargain. DC has among the highest spending per pupil in the nation. At a conservative estimate of $17,542, the public schools spend over $10,000 more per child than the $7,500 spent through the scholarship program.

But would OSP achieve measureable results?

The answer is a resounding yes. Previous studies by Wolf showed an improvement in academic performance, to the point that a student participating in OSP from kindergarten through high school would likely be 2 ½ years ahead in reading. The key finding in this final round of research, Wolf told us, was the graduation rates. OSP dramatically increases prospects of high-school graduation.

Wolf pointed to research showing that high-school diplomas significantly improve the chance of getting a job. And dropouts that do find employment earn about $8,500 less per year than their counterpoints with diplomas. Further, each graduate reduces the cost of crime by a stunning $112,000. Cecelia Rouse, an economic advisor to President Obama, found that each additional high school graduate saves the country $260,000.

Simply put, OSP has a profoundly positive effect not just on students, but on the city and the country as a whole.

So when it came time for Congress to reauthorize OSP, it would seem to be a no-brainer: Expand the program.

Instead, they killed it.

Why?

It’s clear, though, from how the destruction of the [OSP] program is being orchestrated, that issues such as parents’ needs, student performance and program effectiveness don’t matter next to the political demands of teachers’ unions.

The Post board also wrote that “the debate unfolding on Capitol Hill isn’t about facts. It’s about politics and the stranglehold the teachers unions have on the Democratic Party.”

As it turns out, the teachers unions are the single largest contributor to federally elected politicians, with the vast majority of their funds going to Democrats. The teachers unions don’t like programs like OSP because when parents have the freedom to choose, they may choose schools that don’t have unionized teachers.

DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton was one of the principal opponents of OSP and was instrumental in ending the program. Guess who her largest donor is? Answer here.

So, the next time that teachers unions tell you that more money is required in order for them to educate your children, remember this. In Washington State the WEA is no better.

For details, read the entire piece.

Variations on the Pachelbel Canon in D

Yeah, it's gay, but it's funny.



(h/t to my friend Mary-Cathern)

Underway Again on USS George Washington

The warfighting exercises that are about to begin in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea are showing the Dear Monster Freak Kim Jong Il and his syncophantic government a thing or two about power. He is not happy.

US Aircraft Carrier Ups Pressure On N. Korea

A massive nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier readied Saturday for maneuvers with ally South Korea in a potent show of force that North Korea has threatened could lead to "sacred war."

The military drills, code-named "Invincible Spirit," are to run Sunday through Wednesday with about 8,000 U.S. and South Korean troops, 20 ships and submarines and 200 aircraft. The Nimitz-class USS George Washington, with several thousand sailors and dozens of fighters aboard, was deployed from Japan.

The North routinely threatens attacks whenever South Korea and the U.S. hold joint military drills, which Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for an invasion. The U.S. keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea and another 50,000 in Japan, but says it has no intention of invading the North.

Still, the North's latest rhetoric threatening "nuclear deterrence" and "sacred war" carries extra weight following the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors. Seoul and Washington say a North Korean torpedo was responsible for the March sinking of the Cheonan, considered the worst military attack on the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The American and South Korean defense chiefs announced earlier in the week they would stage the military drills to send a clear message to North Korea to stop its "aggressive" behavior.

I am writing this post from onboard USS George Washington and will be present at those exercises. The Wandering Gaijin will have the tourist version on his blog in a few weeks when he returns to his home.

UPDATE: See also;
North Korea Warns of Nuclear Response to Naval Exercises

USS George Washington

The U.S. said this week it will intensify sanctions against North Korea and conduct military exercises with South Korea in waters surrounding the peninsula. The USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered carrier, and three destroyers called into South Korean ports this week in a show of force.

“North Korea may very well go ahead with missile launches or even a third nuclear test to show it won’t bend to U.S. pressure,” said Yang Moo Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. “North Korea must have sensed that the U.S. and South Korea are after its regime’s collapse.”

Ri said the George Washington’s presence threatened security on the peninsula, which has been divided for more than half a century. Pak maintained the need for a peace treaty to replace a cease-fire, signed in 1953, to guarantee the peninsula’s security, Ri said.

“It’s no longer the 19th century with gunboat diplomacy,” Ri said. “It is a new century and the Asian countries are in need of peace and development.”

What Happens When You Don't Control The Borders

Any idiot should be able to understand that if you make it clear that you will not enforce a law people will take advantage of that. America is full of very stupid and incompetent people of both parties who happen to be running our government. We need to wake up and vote for people who love America and believe in enforcing good laws, including the borders.

This is not a surprise, we have seen it coming for a long time.

Congresswoman Raises Red Flag on Hezbollah-Cartel Nexus on U.S. Border

Iran-tied terror group Hezbollah may be colluding with drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexico border, a Republican congresswoman warned, calling on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to establish a special task force to figure out how to "clamp down" on this "national security" threat.

The Lebanon-based group has long-standing and documented ties to South America and its drug gangs, but reports have recently surfaced that it may be expanding its influence to Mexico and the U.S. border.

and...

Myrick outlined a complex set of potential threats and evidence of their existence. She said "Iranian agents and members of Hezbollah" are thought to be learning Spanish in Hugo Chavez-run Venezuela before trying to obtain false documents to enter the United States as purported Mexicans. She said Hezbollah, known for its tunnel-digging skill, could be receiving drug money from cartel operations in exchange for help forging better tunnels across the U.S. border for trafficking.

She said gang members in prisons in the American southwest are starting to show up with tattoos in Farsi, implying a "Persian influence that can likely be traced back to Iran and its proxy army, Hezbollah."

This has actually been occurring for some time already.

A 2006 House Homeland Security Committee report further noted that Hezbollah members have already been caught entering the United States via Mexico, suggesting expanded activity. The report cited as one example the case of Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, the brother of a Hezbollah chief, who in 2005 pleaded guilty to providing material support to Hezbollah after being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border and settling in Dearborn, Mich.

The report raised red flags about the "dangerous intersection between traditional transnational criminal activities ... and more ominous threats to national security."

About Hezbollah.

Timeline of Hezbollah Attacks.

Maritime Martyrs - Lies Exposed

Posted on Vimeo by the Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors (CJHS)

Maritime Martyrs

Maritime Martyrs from CJHS on Vimeo.

YouTube Cons the World

Lawrence Solomon says it:

Lawrence Solomon: YouTube Cons The World

YouTube’s reason for shutting down the video sensation?: “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Warner/Chappell Music, Inc,“ YouTube tells those who try to access the parody.

This claim by YouTube is itself a con. As YouTube well knows, parodies are not subject to a copyright claim. To add to the absurdity of YouTube’s claim, YouTube carries numerous other parodies of “We are the world,” – a search on the YouTube site of “We are the world spoof” turns up 5,100 results.

YouTube’s real problem with this viral hit is the virus of anti-Semitism.

LiveLeak still has it. Here is the embed.



Thanks to the folks at Israelly Cool for finding this for us.


Update: The folks at YouTube apparently did not like getting called out on their anti-Semitism and have reposted the video. I still believe them to be anti-Semites.

Birds in My Yard

I am not a bird watcher, but I have started noticing some of the birds that live in my neighborhood. Here is one.

The Pileated Woodpecker

I did not take this picture myself as I usually do not have a camera handy when I see these birds. This is a picture that I got via an internet search.

Our Incompetent Government - ICE

This speaks for itself.

Deporting 'Son of Hamas'

Mosab Hassan Yousef is a best-selling author who wrote "Son of Hamas" about his life as a Palestinian who became an informant for Israeli intelligence. He's probably near the top of every Islamist terror hit list, yet, incredibly enough, the U.S. may soon deport him as a terror threat.

In 2007, Mr. Yousef came to the United States, where he converted to Christianity from Islam and applied for political asylum. The request was denied in February 2009, Mr. Yousef says, on grounds that he was potentially "a danger to the security of the United States" and had "engaged in terrorist activity." His case has automatically proceeded to the deportation stage, and on June 30 at 8 a.m. he will appear before Judge Rico Bartolomei in Homeland Security Immigration Court in San Diego.

Homeland Security is well aware of the author's history, and in fact is using it against him. According to Mr. Yousef, a letter from Homeland Security attorney Kerri Calcador cites passages in "Son of Hamas" as evidence of his connection to terrorist leaders and suggests that the work he did for Hamas while spying for Israel provided aid to terrorists. "At a bare minimum, evidence of the respondent's transport of Hamas members to safe houses . . . indicates that the respondent provided material support to a [Tier I] terrorist organization," the U.S. lawyer wrote.

But unless Ms. Calcador knows more than she's saying, this is bizarre. As a spy for Israel, Mr. Yousef had to make his colleagues believe he was a loyal member of Hamas. He used that trust to gain information that he provided to Israeli intelligence, which used it to prevent terror attacks and save lives. One of Mr. Yousef's handlers at Shin Bet confirmed his book's account to the Israeli daily Haaretz, and his father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, has disowned him from the Israeli prison he has occupied since 2005.

I honestly think that Mr. Obama and many members of his administration are actually on the side of Hamas.

Gaza Flotilla Participants Explain: We Con the World

The full text:

There comes a time
When we need to make a show
For the world, the Web and CNN
There's no people dying,
so the best that we can do
Is create the greatest bluff of all

We must go on pretending day by day
That in Gaza, there's crisis, hunger and plague
Coz the billion bucks in aid won't buy their basic needs
Like some cheese and missiles for the kids

We'll make the world
Abandon reason
We'll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
With guns and our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV

Ooooh, we'll stab them at heart
They are soldiers, no one cares
We are small, and we took some pictures with doves
As Allah showed us, for facts there's no demand
So we will always gain the upper hand

We'll make the world
Abandon reason
We'll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
we're waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV

If Islam and terror brighten up your mood
But you worry that it may not look so good
Well well well well don't you realize
You just gotta call yourself
An activist for peace and human aid

We'll make the world
Abandon reason
We'll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
We're waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV

We con the world
We con the people
We'll make them all believe the IDF is Jack the Ripper
We are peaceful travelers
We're waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
We con the world (Bruce: we con the world...)
We con the people (Bruce: we con the people...)
We'll make them all believe the IDF is Jack the Ripper
We are peaceful travelers
We're waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
The truth will never find its way to your TV

Courtesy of LatmaTV

Helen Thomas, Anti-Semite

Yes, I mean it. Is she unaware of the treatment that Jews received at the hands of the Germans and the Poles? How can any honest person explain this away?



It speaks for itself. Liberalism indeed.

UPDATE: The anti-semite has since apologized.

"I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians," she wrote. "They do not reflect my heartfelt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon."

A standard non-apology apology. Since her beginnings 600 60 years ago she has apologized for terrorists and against the defense of Israel. I bet that she would be outraged if someone would say that she should return to Lebanon (I wish she would).

For Jews it is 1930 again.

One Reason Why I Left the Presbyterian Church

Actually one of many reasons.

Presby Peacemakers Attack Jewish Groups in the U.S.

My experience in the PC(USA) was in a community that was very concerned about social and political issues and unconcerned about theological ones. Had you walked into my (Presbyterian) Church when I was there, and said that Jesus the Christ is God and the Son of God, fully God and Fully Man, and asked if anyone there agreed with that, you would have gotten several reactions. The most prominent would have been outrage and loud argument. A very few would have understood the real concept of the Holy Trinity, and even fewer would know what the dual nature of Christ is even though both doctrines are officially at the core of the Presbyterian doctrine.

Rather than educating its members about the teachings of Christ and the early Apostles, the Presbyterian Church would rather play in politics and social issues. And with a very leftist view at that. Pro-abortion, pro-gay, pro-feminist, and pro-huge government while being anti-military were the essential characteristics of the Church when I left it.

The very fact that the IPMN even exists and succeeds as an anti-semitic organization says it all.

A gay clergy is coming to the PC(USA) soon.

My New Blog

Both of my faithful readers know, after long experience with me, that I travel a great deal. While I no longer live in a steel pipe under 800 feet of water, it is still hard to keep up on events in America. I know that there is no excuse as the Internet is universal, but my time became ever more limited. While in Japan I tried to immerse myself in Japanese life. In this I had some success. I read the issues, but being concerned with living in Japan, I did not post.

In fact, I started another (non-issued oriented) blog called "A Wandering Gaijin". In this blog I describe some of my travels in Japan. All photos on this blog are taken by yours truly, or a member of my staff (wife or nearby friend actually).

I will post the occasional post here still, but will be spreading my time between the two blogs.

Thank you for your continued patience.

No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

Jeez...I finally beat Matt Drudge to a post and then leave in in my Edit queue to post later. It just goes to show you that you should never hold back. Here is the post.

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

Of course the global warming believers will say that these scientists are disreputable or kooks or something, but ...

From Science Daily an article based on research published in Geophysical Research Letters, provided by the American Geophysical Union. See also here.

No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Fraction in Past 160 Years, New Research Finds.

To assess whether the airborne fraction is indeed increasing, Wolfgang Knorr of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol reanalyzed available atmospheric carbon dioxide and emissions data since 1850 and considers the uncertainties in the data.

In contradiction to some recent studies, he finds that the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades.

Granted the AGU says that the Earth is warming due to human activity, but shouldn't Dr. Knorr's result at least be considered before we (meaning our Government) set about destroying our economy?

BTW: Dr. Knorr (not a kook) is also interested in how human carbon dioxide emissions affect the carbon cycle and affect global warming. Let's continue to think about this before we do something drastic.

North Korea Starts the Cycle Again

If you believe this, and many apparently do, I have a bridge to sell you.

NKorea Calls for End of Hostile Relations With US

North Korea called for an end of hostile relations with the United States in a New Year's message Friday and said it was committed to making the Korean peninsula nuclear-free through negotiations.

Communist North Korea has long demanded that Washington end hostility toward its government, and said it developed nuclear weapons to deter a U.S. attack. Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading the country.

The New Year statement brightened prospects for North Korea to rejoin stalled international talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for aid and other concessions. Washington has sought to coax it to return to the talks, which also include South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.

It seems that those who should know better do not recognize the Dear Monster Kim's dangerous cycle (more on that below)

Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the private Sejong Institute security think tank, said North Korea is likely to maintain its conciliatory approach toward the U.S.

"The North extended an olive branch to the U.S.," Cheong said, adding that he expects the two sides will agree to set up a liaison office as a symbolic move to end their hostilities.

Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, also said prospects are not bad for relations between North Korea and the U.S., noting the absence of the usual diatribes against the U.S. in the New Year message.

The statement said North Korea remains committed to improving relations with South Korea, and urged the South to refrain from actions that might aggravate tensions.

Will our Department of State fall for this? Maybe not (we hope)

The United States responded by suggesting that North Korea return to "six-party talks" -- negotiations over its nuclear program involving the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. "Actions speak louder than words," a State Department official said.

We have two enemy countries playing the US and the UN for fools and succeeding;

Dangerous Cycle

Both North Korea and Iran’s nuclear diplomacy are testaments to how Western diplomats reward intransigence. Take North Korea: During a June 30, 2006, American Enterprise Institute panel, Danielle Pletka pointed out the pattern: On August 31, 1998, Pyongyang fired the Taepodong-1 missile over Japan. Three months later, U.S. officials held the first round of high-level talks in Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il demanded to be rewarded for ceasing his provocations. He was. The following year, U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry visited North Korea to offer normalized relations and a lifting of economic sanctions if Pyongyang froze and eventually dismantled its long-range-missile program and stopped its missile exports. On September 17, 1999, President Clinton eased sanctions against the north. Two months later, a U.S.-led consortium signed a $4.6 billion contract for two Western light-water nuclear reactors for the Stalinist police state. The Clinton administration began shipping food aid to the famine-ridden north, which Pyongyang used to grease its war machine even as ordinary citizens starved.

Having been given everything it had asked for, Kim Jong Il decided he wanted more. On July 1, 2000, he threatened to restart the nuclear program if Washington did not compensate it for electricity lost by delays in plant construction. Pyongyang then threatened to reverse course on its missile test moratorium. It did. On July 2001, it conducted a Taepodong-1 engine test.

All the while, Kim Jong Il cheated. The Bush administration did not initially agree to accept North Korean smoke-and-mirrors. In October 2002, the Bush administration announced that Pyongyang had operated a covert nuclear-weapons program in violation of its 1994 agreement. Diplomats may celebrate treaties. Many who helped negotiate the 1994 Agreed Framework have meritorious service certificates framed on their wall. But agreements are meaningless if not adhered to, and seldom do autocracies stick to agreements if they gain more through noncompliance.

How long before Kim wants more and initiates another crisis?