Democrats in Disarray

Got my usual e-mail today from Jon Vogel, DCCC Executive Director, (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) and he is (again) railing against Bush, and Palin – neither of whom to the best of my knowledge hold political office now or will in the near future.

So far as I know, the Republicans have had little power in the House and Senate for two years and in the Presidency for more than a year, but the world’s problems are Bush and Palin.

Someone should tell him about Massachusetts.

Yes, there are dead enders everywhere, and they will never trim their sails even as they sail over the edge. Those dead enders know that the President screwed up ROYALLY in granting special favors to the SEIU – not that others don’t do it but it is like Republicans who preach family values and then cheat on their wives — the President SAID he was above such actions.

He obviously isn’t. The Democrats sold him as an intellectual Harvard graduate. He is. He is an intellectual Harvard graduate, Chicago street politician.

The people see that now.

The House Democrat politicians are running for cover, because they can (and must) read Tea Leaves, raise money and run continuous elections. The Senate can be somewhat more aloof, but they too are hedging. Today, the Senate examines the President’s nominee to the National Labor Relations Board – Craig Becker – who serves as attorney for the SEIU and the AFL-CIO. But Democrat Senator Ben Nelson says he will oppose that nomination.

Think that would have happened prior to the MASSACHUSETTS miracle? Doubtful. Senators and House members alike got the word.

The dead enders can afford to whistle past the graveyard. They have nothing at stake. Those who have a dog in that political fight must be more rational. They are, and they are in the self-preservation mode, which means they are tacking away from the President as the elections draw near.

There is a single turnaround solution — play the War Card.

An anti-war President would never do that. Would he?

(Madison did.)

I Just Love the Term “Social Justice”

 The term “social justice” is a code word for “Let’s all support blind people being allowed to fly commercial airliners.”

It just jumps out to identify the left, but like “liberal” and ‘global warming” the left will find other terms that can serve as a social hand-sign.

Obfuscation doesn’t work on the alert.

Most conservatives are alert.

Truism

Senator Judd Gregg, New Hampshire, said in an argument with the administration about using the returned TARP money for a third stimulus:

“The law is very clear! ‘The monies recouped from the TARP shall be paid into the general fund of the treasury for the reduction of the public debt.’”

Politifact rates that statement as “TRUE” and remarks: “That’s what the bill says.”

Don’t Look Behind The Curtain…No! Don’t Do That…

Great poll being widely posted on some Blog sites, that showed the populace just loves the Democrats, Global Warming, etc.

“The new poll found that a majority of Americans support:

Protecting the environment, even if it reduces economic growth (63%).

Schools should teach our children about the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to global warming (70%)

Our government should establish programs to teach Americans about global warming (60%)

Our government should establish programs to help Americans reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions (65%)

Our government should establish programs to teach Americans how to save energy (75%)

Overall, protecting the environment Improves economic growth and provides new jobs (67%)

When there is a conflict between environmental protection and economic growth, protecting the environment is more important, even if it reduces economic growth (63%)”

 http://ow.ly/1o7jYq

Comment: The referenced poll was conducted by Yale University and George Mason University — two fine institutions with terrific reputations…but… Well, not really Yale and George Mason: Rather the “Climate Change departments of Yale and George Mason Universities. (Think those departments MIGHT just have a slant?)

And the poll was funded by: “This study was conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, and was funded by the Surdna Foundation, the Eleventh Hour Project, the Pacific Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

 The Surdna Foundation says of itself: “The Surdna Foundation seeks to foster just and sustainable communities in the United States—communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures.

The Pacific Foundation says its missions: “The Pacific Foundation envisions a more fair society that can leverage the power of new and innovative technology, ideas and global communication to identify and seek solutions to immutable problems facing the poor, vulnerable, and disenfranchised. Pacific Foundation was founded in 2006 to address issues of social justice, the environment, arts and technology.”

Then there is the Eleventh Hour Project for whom I could not find a Mission Statement, but their website publishes their

“Partners:” “The Regeneration Project An interfaith ministry devoted to deepening the connection between ecology and faith. Their goal is to mobilize a national religious response to global warming while promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation. People of faith have an opportunity to put their faith into action and help reduce the devastating effects of global warming.” “Climate Central Climate Central seeks to build a bridge between the scientific community and the public, in an unbiased, yet compelling way. Using both staff experts and an extended blue ribbon network of top scientists, this dynamic hybrid assesses and synthesizes the latest science, technology and policy proposals. An experienced communications team turns that information into rich media pieces for print, TV, radio and the Internet. Climate Central is dedicated to providing sound, comprehensible material about climate change: its risks and opportunities, its certainties and uncertainties”

 “Green for All

Green for All has a simple but ambitious mission: to help build a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. By advocating for a national commitment to job training, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in the emerging green economy – especially for people from disadvantaged communities — they fight both poverty and pollution at the same time. Green for All recently convened over 1,000 people in Memphis for the Dream Reborn Conference. This gathering, on the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s passing, seeded the movement to create ecological solutions to heal the earth while bringing jobs, justice, wealth and health to all communities in need.”

“Other Partners: Center for Investigative Reporting

The Alliance for Climate Protection

Energy Action Coalition

The Energy Foundation

California Academy of Sciences

Greenpeace: Project Hotseat

Centre for Social Markets, India Gulf of the Farallones

Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Energy Crossroad s

 TERI North America”

Nothing to see here folks, just keep walking…no, siree, nothing here at all.

Thank you, please just keep walking…

The Wheels Continue to Wobble

Director of Greenpeace U.K., John Sauven has called for the author of the IPCC Report on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, to step down because he did not report the flaw in the Himalayan glaciers – even though he knew about the flaw two months before the failed Copenhagen Conference.

(You know, the Global Whatever conference that Madam Pelosi et al spent more than $1 million attending, and she paid $2,200 night for her hotel room?)

It is the British, previous leaders in Global Wahtever, whose people and press are so embarrassed by the East Anglia e-mail fiasco that they are digging into the subject with some relish.

So, now ABC News quotes the Times of London about still ANOTHER “mistake” – publishing ANOTHER non-peer reviewed study – this time by the World Wildlife Fund:

“Now an article in London’s Sunday Times carries the headline “UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim”.

The article questions the IPCC’s decision to cite a WWF report to support its claim that 40 per cent of Amazonian forests could disappear as a response to declining rainfall and even be replaced by tropical savannah.

WWF Australia chief executive Greg Bourne says that is not what the WWF report said and he wants to know where the IPCC conclusion came from. “

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/01/2807122.htm?section=world

Of course none of this says that Global Whatever is not true, but it does say that “science” is not always science.

Remember it was just a few days ago that the Lancet withdrew a 10 year old study that linked vaccinations with autism.

Bad science is bad science

Democrats Like Socialism More than Do Republicans. (Duh!)

There is always some debate about Democrats and how close they are to socialists, but now the Gallup Poll has quantified the closeness.

Let’s just say they are close.

When asked the question: “Just off the top of your head, would you say you have a positive or negative image of socialism”

Democrats have a 53% positive image of socialism, compared to a 17% positive for Republicans.

I hope that settles the question as to whether Democrats lean toward socialism.

They do.

Case closed.

Unhinged!

 

Remember Rajendra Pachauri, you know the ENGINEER and ECONOMIST who chairs the IPCC Report for the UN, the report that makes all of the claims about Global Whatever, and it is Rajendra Pachauri who is under fire for accepting the Himalayan glacier melt from a non-peer reviewed source?

You know, THAT Rajendra Pachauri.

The same Rajendra Pachauri that the Indian Government is throwing under the bus because they have lost confidence in this Indian-born and Indian-educated non-scientists who presumes to chair the UN warning on Global Whatever.

Well the London Financial Times has an interesting interview with  Rajendra Pachauri, and he sounds just like some of our Bloggers – it is  the big business interests that are doing this to him (although he admits he has no proof). The deniers should rub their faces with asbestos, etc., etc., etc.

The man is clearly unhinged, in a sort of peer-reviewed way.

  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/260c9290-10d7-11df-975e-00144feab49a.html

Bad Karma

Everyone in the military gets a new Commanding Officer every two years (mas o menos). In my case, more than a dozen – and I do not recall ANY commander EVER referring to his predecessor, good or bad.

You take over what you get.

The worse it is before, the better you can shine in the eyes of your men (your real and daily audience), and your bosses (who think about you about once a month) – and neither of whom need to be reminded of the recent past.

Trashing your predecessor just makes you look small in the eyes of your men, who trash-talk your predecessor if he was bad without any help from you reacting as if they can’t remember how bad it was.

There are a sufficient number of ex-military in the population who probably reflect on this President as the Commander-in-Chief and his leadership qualities, and particularly when he mispronounces a title and category held in particularly high regard by almost everyone who serves.

Just for the uninitiated, a submarine on patrol whose Commanding Officer dies will hold a ceremony and fire his body through torpedo tune #1. (There is always another officer qualified and with the designation “Qualified for Command.”)

The patrol continues.

The ONLY person for whom a submarine will abandon a patrol, is the corpsman. (Been there, done exactly that!) There is no substitute for a corpsman. He occupies a special place, not just in submarines but in EVERY force.)

The mispronunciation is meaningless EXCEPT as it again emphasizes his inexperience, and his un-interest in learning. Even most civilians know better than what the President did, and it cuts a lot deeper than a mispronunciation.

 

Your California Government At Work

 

While the State of California is broke, broke, broke, (-$21 billion at last report) the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has managed to scare up $350,000 to measure methane gas from cows in California for a report due late this year.

You may recall that this board is the same one that is instituting a serious diesel engine upgrade requirements that are based upon the findings of a Ph.D. whose Ph.D. came from an internet site without classes.

(Where are the demands for scientific credentials from those who question the credentials of global warming skeptics?)

Actually, the “scientist” who published this report has admitted his lack of credentials, been fined one month’s pay and continues to work for CARB!

But the real fiasco is that the onerous diesel regulations that resulted from the bogus “study,” remain – and every day, more people in the industries that use diesel engines are either spending money for un-needed engines, or are closing down their businesses.

The CARB group goes blithely onward, irrespective of the damage they did or are doing while still spending money in vast amounts of projects that rate dead last in the voters’ minds.

Your government at work!

Sausage Making in LA

Los Angeles City Council is in a tizzy over cuts of city employees, according to the LA Times.

This quote gives you some concept that perhaps they are not serious about cuts: “And Councilman Bill Rosendahl vowed to protect the city’s calligraphers, the handful of artists who design ornate proclamations that elected officials hand out to constituents.

“Whatever we need to do to preserve it, I want to do,” he said.

EVERYONE has a constituency!

If you can’t lay off the calligraphers, who can you lay off.

The unions are willing to cooperate, if you call THIS cooperation: “Labor leaders said they are open to shrinking the workforce as long as each targeted employee is moved safely into another vacant position.”

Perhaps the union supporters can explain to those of us who are logically challenged, exactly how the union position will save any money?

The mind boggles.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-budget3-2010feb03,0,7778047.story