Happy New Year!

2010 was the year that San Fran Nan and her leftist ilk were deposed by Normal America.  2011 will be the year that B.O. will get jack squat passed via legislation, which also means that 2011 will be the year that the House will be overruling overzealous regulatory agencies who attempt to bypass the constitutional legislative process and impose their leftist will via fiat.

Either way, 2011 ought to be a hoot.  Happy New Year! 🙂

Global “warming” freezes Europe and America

Awesome analysis from IBD:

A cautionary tale? You bet. Prognosticators who wrote the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, global warming report in 2007 predicted an inevitable, century-long rise in global temperatures of two degrees or more. Only higher temperatures were foreseen. Moderate or even lower temperatures, as we’re experiencing now, weren’t even listed as a possibility.

Since at least 1998, however, no significant warming trend has been noticeable. Unfortunately, none of the 24 models used by the IPCC views that as possible. They are at odds with reality.

The indictment:

Karl Popper, the late, great philosopher of science, noted that for something to be called scientific, it must be, as he put it, “falsifiable.” That is, for something to be scientifically true, you must be able to test it to see if it’s false. That’s what scientific experimentation and observation do. That’s the essence of the scientific method.

Unfortunately, the prophets of climate doom violate this idea. No matter what happens, it always confirms their basic premise that the world is getting hotter. The weather turns cold and wet? It’s global warming, they say. Weather turns hot? Global warming. No change? Global warming. More hurricanes? Global warming. No hurricanes? You guessed it.

Nothing can disprove their thesis. Not even the extraordinarily frigid weather now creating havoc across most of the Northern Hemisphere. …

I seem to recall having made this argument before, too:

This isn’t science; it’s a kind of faith. Scientists go along and even stifle dissent because, frankly, hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants are at stake. But for the believers, global warming is the god that failed.

Why do we continue to listen to warmists when they’re so wrong? Maybe it’s because their real agenda has nothing to do with climate change at all. Earlier this month, attendees of a global warming summit in Cancun, Mexico, concluded, with virtually no economic or real scientific support, that by 2020 rich nations need to transfer $100 billion a year to poor nations to help them “mitigate” the adverse impacts of warming.

This is what global warming is really about — wealth redistribution by people whose beliefs are basically socialist. It has little or nothing to do with climate. …

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some global “warming” to go scrape off of my windshield.

Merry Christmas!

Road trip to TN for the holidays.  I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and remember the reason for the season!  🙂

Quote of the day, “Napolitano not very reassuring” edition

Ho. Ly. Shiite.  And this buffoon is charged with keeping our country safe from terrorist attacks?

“What I say to the American people is that… thousands of people are working 24/7, 364 days a year to keep the American people safe.”

Video clip at the link.  Mark Joyella has the same thoughts that I do:

Napolitano didn’t specify which day was the Homeland Security “off day,” which of course helps to keep our terrorist enemies off guard. After all, if they don’t know the magic day when all are defenses are down, how can they plan an attack? Is it New Year’s Eve? (Perhaps too obvious) Flag Day? Is it that National Cupcake Day? Can we agree to make it a day when I’m out of town?

Quips Allah:

In fact, now that I think of it, didn’t the Flight 253 plot go down last year on Christmas Day? Well, then, there’s your answer to why DHS missed so many red flags at the time: They had Christmas off.

I guess maybe DHS is just too friggin’ busy using the Coast Guard to combat global warming “climate change” to worry about terrorist attacks.

I keep telling myself: “Just two more years.  Just two more years…“

NPR’s Nina Totenberg: “I was at…forgive the expression…a Christmas party”

When she’s not busy wishing AIDS-related deaths on Jesse Helms and his offspring, National Pinko Propaganda Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg likes to spend the time apologizing for offending people by uttering the vulgar phrase often used this time of year: Christmas!  Oh, the horror!

From Newsbusters:

“I was at – forgive the expression – a Christmas party,” NPR reporter Nina Totenberg interjected on Inside Washington in the weekend’s oddest cautionary separation from a common description for a common event, seemingly embarrassed to invoke any religious terminology for Christmas. She didn’t say what she’d prefer for parties this time of the year to be named. “Winter solstice party”? Just plain old “holiday party”? Or a “seasonal gathering”?

Totenberg’s bashfulness came as she explained how the failure of Congress to pass an annual budget has left federal workers in limbo:

Well, these agencies, including the Defense Department, don’t know how much money they’ve got and for what. And I was at – forgive the expression – a Christmas party at the Department of Justice and people actually were really worried about this.

Video clip at the link.

To recap: wishing AIDS on political ideological opponents’ children and grandchildren is A-OK, but don’t utter the word “Christmas”, because then you have really crossed the boundary of acceptable discourse!

But hey, where would you get this crazy idea that the left has a war on Christmas or anything, right?

Night and Day, “Europe and snow”

In 2000, winter snowfalls were on the way out:

Britain’s winter ends tomorrow with further indications of a striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives.

Sledges, snowmen, snowballs and the excitement of waking to find that the stuff has settled outside are all a rapidly diminishing part of Britain’s culture, as warmer winters – which scientists are attributing to global climate change – produce not only fewer white Christmases, but fewer white Januaries and Februaries.

A decade later…

Heathrow airport has closed its runway due to snow … Gatwick Airport has closed its runway until at least 3pm because of heavy snow

Huh.  Go figure.

Kudos to Ed Driscoll for the chronicle.

Nightmare averted: Dream Act dies in the Senate!

Lawbreakers, freeloaders, and RINO Senators from IN hardest hit.  Details:

Senate Republicans have blocked a bill to grant hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children a chance to gain legal status if they enroll in college or join the military.

Sponsors of what they call the Dream Act needed 60 Senate votes for it, but fell five short. The House passed the bill last week. It was a last-ditch effort to enact it before it Republicans take control of the House from Democrats in January.

Senate Republicans have blocked a bill to grant hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children a chance to gain legal status if they enroll in college or join the military.

Sponsors of what they call the Dream Act needed 60 Senate votes for it, but fell five short. The House passed the bill last week. It was a last-ditch effort to enact it before it Republicans take control of the House from Democrats in January.
…
Dozens of immigrants wearing graduation mortarboards watched from the Senate’s visitors gallery, disappointment on their faces, as the 55-41 vote was announced.

So who were the crossovers?

Three Republicans — Robert Bennett of Utah (flipping the bird at the majority of UT voters who junked him in the GOP primary – CL), Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (flipping the bird at the Alaska GOP – CL) and Richard Lugar of Indiana — joined 50 Democrats and the Senate’s two independents in voting for the bill.

Five Democrats — Max Baucus of Montana, Jon Tester of Wyoming, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas — joined 36 Republicans in blocking it. Not voting were Republican Sens. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

What the h3ll is Lugar thinking?  He’s already persona non grata in coservative circles, and all indications are that he will draw a Tea Party opponent in the IN GOP primary in 2012.  What in the Sam Hill was he thinking by casting a “Yes” vote in a lame duck session when Reid didn’t even have the votes on his own side to pass the thing?  Is Lugar just trying to tweak the Tea Partiers, and if so, has he secretly decided on retirement already?  I don’t get it.

Anywho, the Dream Act was an attempt at backdoor amnesty, and it failed.

Oh, speaking of backdoors, the Senate voted to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”.

House passes Bush tax code bill, and this was a big win for…Obama?

Listening to Politico, you would think that the “Hostage Negotiator-in-Chief” was validated with the House vote.  Just to make sure I’m understanding this correctly…

The passed bill extended the current tax code for the middle income group.  Obama wanted this.  Pass.

The passed bill extended the current tax code for, and did not raise taxes on, the upper income group.  Obama opposed this.  Fail.

The passed bill extended the current tax code for, and did not raise taxes on, capital gains.  Obama opposed this.  Fail.

The passed bill extended the current tax code for, and did not raise taxes on, estates (i.e. the death tax).  Obama opposed this.  Fail.

So naturally, a 25% success rate constitutes a win for Obama.  Man, that must be one helluva curve that liberals grade on, huh?

Look at the bigger picture, though.  Oba-Mao argued for all of 2008 (and before) that the Bush tax structure was bad for the economy.  It was so bad for the economy that…um…he had to keep it going, so as not to harm the economy.  Got it.  Thanks for the clarification.

The Economic Illiterate-in-Chief says he’ll be happy to fight on this issue again in two years.  That makes two of us.  He’ll have to argue, with a straight face, that he believes raising taxes on a group of people (business owners, the evil rich, people who die and have estates, and investors) will improve the economy.  I look forward to having that argument in an election year.

Additionally, by Obama signing off on Bush’s signature achievement (the tax code), he won’t be able to blame Bush (or, at least, he won’t be able to do so and have it stick) if the economy fails to improve…and it will be brought to America’s attention that Bush was right and Obama was wrong if the economy does improve after extending these current tax rates.

Kerry: Reading 2000 pages in this bill is a waste of time, when we could be doing more productive things like PASSING this 2000-page bill

And to think this jack#ss was Ohio away from the presidency.

“Lets just chew up the time of the United States Senate keeping everybody up all night reading a bill rather than working on it,” Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said sarcastically of the idea of reading the entire omnibus bill before passing it.

Video clip here.

So he wants to pass the bill in order to find out what’s in the bill.  Pelosi just called to say “See?  That’s what I’m saying!”

Fortunately, the omnipork bill is dead.

CNN host: That felon who shouldn’t have had a gun in the FL school board shooting would have been stopped if we had stronger gun control laws

Let that bit of idiocy sink in as you watch the video clip with former john governor Eliot Spitzer advocating stronger gun control laws.

Aaron Worthing makes the logical conclusion that is lost (perhaps willfully so) on the left:

The fact is this guy was not supposed to have a gun in the first place.  He was a convicted felon.  The synopsis of that previous crime was this:

In October 1999, Duke threatened to kill a Florida woman, and when she attempted to flee, he used a handgun to “shoot out the victim’s rear tire of the vehicle that she was operating.”

Duke, wearing a bulletproof vest, told the woman he had “been watching her for the past six months and was planning to kill her, several other people, then himself,” according to probation officers.

And like in most states, Florida tells felons they may not possess firearms.  But still, he had one.  Because that is what criminals do: they don’t obey the law.  Indeed, the notion that a man would decide to commit a murder-suicide would then be deterred by a law telling him he isn’t supposed to own a gun is self-evidently silly.

Duh.

Only a liberal would conclude that a man intent on breaking the law when it comes to shooting people would somehow be dissuaded from obtaining a gun if only it were illegal…which it already is…so I guess it should be “more illegal“?

Washington comPost commissions poll on ObamaCare, finds lowest level of support ever, then refuses to publish their own poll’s results

Newsbusters has the report.  Excerpt:

A new ABC-Washington Post poll found ObamaCare sunk to its lowest popularity yet: 52 percent opposed, and only 43 percent in favor. ABC mentioned the poll without fanfare at the end of a Jake Tapper report on Monday’s World News, and Tapper added this was the health law’s “lowest level of popularity ever.” But Tuesday’s Washington Post reported not one sentence on the poll in the paper – even as they reported in the paper that the same survey found Obama’s tax-and-unemployment-compensation deal has “broad bipartisan support.”

This is the same Post that highlighted the news on Page One on October 20, 2009, when they found a “clear majority” in favor of a socialist “public option” — amid charges they oversampled Democrats.

The numbers weren’t excluded because they arrived late. The Post poll numbers went up on the website yesterday at about 1 pm, under the headline “Health care opponents divided on repeal.” That obscured the numbers a bit, as Cohen found a “slim majority” (not a “clear majority”?) currently oppose ObamaCare:

Overall, 52 percent of those polled oppose the overhaul to the health care system, 43 percent are supportive of it. Fully 86 percent of Republicans are against the legislation; 67 percent of Democrats support it. Independents divide down the middle, with 47 percent in favor and the same number opposed.

Cohen made no mention of that phrase “lowest level of popularity ever.” …

So, to recap…

The comPost polls a bunch of people about ObamaCare.  The results of the poll show the lowest level of support for ObamaCare ever.  The comPost decides not to report on the results of their own poll, presumably because they didn’t get the results for which they were searching.  Nope…no liberal media bias!

As gas prices soar, MSM conspicuously quiet

Big Journalism has the story, and it’s well written.  In short, the MSM squawked in 2006 and in 2008 with frequent stories about the “pain at the pump”.  And they should have reported on it, as you guys were as tired of the ridiculously high gas prices as I was.

But man, what a difference a president’s party makes, huh?  As Big Journalism notes, President Kick#ss seems to avoid the MSM criticism that was mercilessly leveled against his predecessor.  When he took over in January of 2009, gas was $1.81.  Now, it’s $3.00 and climbing.  Yet the MSM is quieter than Charlie Rangel at an IRS audit.

But hey, I’m sure the MSM silence is just a big ol’ coinkidink.  Nope…no liberal media bias!

FNC’s Cavuto rips Tingles over his “Chris Christie is fat” remark

References to leg tingles and hair dye?  Oh yes, my friends!

Well played, Neil.  Well played, indeed.

Federal judge in VA rules ObamaCare’s individual mandate unconstitutional

It is but one win in the war against socialism and nanny statism.  But it is a big win nonetheless, especially for the Constitution!

Cuba could go belly up in two or three years?

Leftists, MSM (but I repeat myself), college academia hardest hit.  Excerpt:

A newly released confidential U.S. diplomatic cable predicted Cuba’s economic situation could become “fatal” within two to three years, and detailed concerns from other countries’ diplomats — including China — that the communist-run country has been slow to adopt reforms.

The cable was written in February, months before Cuban President Raul Castro announced a major revamp of the island’s economy, laying out plans to fire a half-million state workers and open up the island to expanded forms of private enterprise. (Ouch! That’s gotta sting, huh leftists? – CL)
…
It is no secret that Cuba’s financial situation is increasingly dire. Raul Castro has warned that the state can no longer afford to subsidize nearly all forms of Cuban life. The government provides free health care and education, and nearly free transportation, housing and utilities. All Cubans also receive a ration book that provides them with some basic food, though not enough to live on.

Most islanders work for just $20 a month in a state-dominated economic system riddled with inefficiency. (Government control of the economy is inefficient? Who knew? – CL)

Communism fails yet again?  The heck you say!

If only Cuba could model its economic policy after the more successful communist economies of our generation, such as the Soviet Union.  Oh, wait…they went belly up about 20 years ago, didn’t they?  OK, like North Korea.  Oh, wait, they face chronic food shortages, don’t they?  OK, like…well…I’m all out of ammo on this one.

They country’s economy is in the crapper, but hey, at least they have “free” health care, right?

Obama: Congrats on the new Nobel winner. Now, let’s get back to me!

This man’s narcissism is unrivaled.  Details:

There was an extraordinary scene at the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Friday morning. The prize went to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was barred by the Chinese government from attending the ceremony. It was the first time since 1935 — when the prize went to a winner imprisoned in one of Adolf Hitler’s concentration camps — that the Peace Prize winner or his repesentative did not appear personally to accept the award.* Liu’s absence was symbolized by an empty chair on stage.

So on this notable occasion, the White House released a statement from President Obama on the awarding of the prize to Liu in absentia. And this is how Obama’s statement began:

One year ago, I was humbled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize — an award that speaks to our highest aspirations, and that has been claimed by giants of history and courageous advocates who have sacrificed for freedom and justice.

Critics have often said of Obama that “it’s all about him,” that he has a tendency to reference himself no matter what subject he is discussing. Could he do any more to prove them right?

Well, there was one statement with which I agree:

Mr. Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was.

No arguments here, pal.  But back to everyone’s favorite topic…

I regret that Mr. Liu and his wife were denied the opportunity to attend the ceremony that Michelle and I attended last year.

Shameful.

“Great Moments in Unintended Consequences” by Reason TV

When Big Government tackles a big problem, it makes it…a bigger problem.

Democrats already targeting newly elected (but yet to be seated) Republican House members

Not that I have a problem with that, mind you.  After all, it was two years ago when that jackwagon Alan Grayson fluked out a win in FL-8, and his jackassery made him an immediate target.  Several other low-hanging fruit were high on our hit list, too.

Here’s what I find funny, though:

It’s a similar story in Florida, where Democrats say GOP Rep.-elect Allen West (a black retired Marine – CL), an outspoken tea party favorite who defeated Democratic Rep. Ron Klein, presents an enticing target. The Florida Republican stumbled earlier last month when he named a local conservative radio host who had been supportive of his campaign to serve as chief of staff — a move West later backtracked on after he came under criticism.

“As it stands now, he’s certainly a focus,” said Brian Smoot, a former DCCC political director who ran Klein’s 2006 race for the Democratic-leaning South Beach-area seat. “Even if the district is drawn differently, I think West will have a difficult time.”

Two thoughts:

1.  Considering that Republicans control both chambers of the FL legislature, plus they own the governorship, it’s clear they will redraw districts in such a way as to favor West (despite the two new redistricting amendments that passed last month).

2.  Why do Democrats hate black people?  (Two can play that game, huh? 😆 )

Media Matters: Fox News is equating “public option” with “government-run”! Can you believe that?

I don’t know how to break it to you morons at MM, but Merriam-Webster just called to say that “public” and “government-run” are one and the same.  Sorry ’bout that.

Anywho…

Rumor has it that the Media Morons crowd will now protest equating “horse” with “equine” and “cow” with “bovine”.  Then again, anything these imbeciles report is no more than “bovine feces”.

Well, at least the MSM doesn’t play rhetorical favorites.  Oh, wait…

Laugher of the day, courtesy of Tingles Matthews

BEVERAGE WARNING!  Put down your drink before reading this, courtesy of Newsbusters:

Patrick Gavin at Politico captured revelations from a Thursday interview Chris Matthews granted at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in DC. On his show: “Obviously, I think I’m the best. But each one of the other people think they’re the best, too….I think I’m the best, generally….There’s no doubt about it, in fact, but other people have different views….‘Hardball’ is absolutely nonpartisan.“

Someone hand me a spatula so I can scrape my jaw off the ground.

Republican Senator to Andrea Mitchell: You don’t “pay for tax cuts”, because “it’s not the government’s money”, it’s YOUR money!

Retiring Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) gives a brief but illustrating basic economics lesson to Andrea Mitchell (hat tip to Radio Vice Online):

Considering she’s married to Alan Greenspan, she should be ashamed of herself for being such an economic illiterate.  Gregg took her to school.

That’s one leftist talking point that is more worn out than Monica Lewinsky’s kneepads.

It is beyond maddening to hear these dolts utter the phrase “pay for tax cuts”.  Gregg is correct that these imbeciles feel that America is this big pot of money sitting around, waiting for the government to distribute it.  When you get a paycheck from your job or earn money from your business, the money belongs to you.  Government then comes along and confiscates a portion of it in the form of taxes.  In a rather perverse thought process, the left believes that whatever is left over in your check after the government has seized its portion is money that the government “paid” you, rather than money that your boss or your customers paid you.

Here’s an analogy: Let’s say you’re walking along and a mugger jumps you.  He takes your wallet/purse (which has $100), removes $20 from it, and leaves $80.  Now let me ask you: Did the mugger just “pay for” the $80 in your wallet/purse?

If you’re a liberal, then the answer to my question is “Yes, the mugger paid for the $80 in your wallet/purse.”  You earned $100, the mugger took $20, and you now have $80.

What if the mugger said “I can’t afford to pay you $80, but I can afford to pay you $20”, and instead kept $80 of your $100?  According to the left’s line of thinking, the mugger “paid for” your $20.

Do you see how absolutely insane this thought process is?  Only in Liberalville can a person earn money, and the government considers an act of NOT mugging you for your money as “paying for” your money!

Oh, and another thing…

I don’t see keeping the current tax rates in place as it being a “tax cut”.  I see it as, well, keeping the current tax rates in place.  If the current tax rates expired, then the higher tax rates from 2001 will return, which by definition constitutes a tax increase.  For everyone.

When it comes to economics, “libruls iz dum!”

ObamaCare needed to be passed so badly that…the feds exempt 222+ companies from complying

Pelosi: We need to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.

Over 200 companies: We found out. We’re dropping coverage for our workers.

Obama: OK, you’re exempt.  But as for everyone else…

The Obama Administration has quietly granted even more waivers to one provision of the new federal health reform law, doubling the number in just the last three weeks to a new total of 222.

One of the more recognizable business names included on the newly-expanded list of waivers issued by the feds is that of Waffle House, which received a waiver on November 23 for health coverage that covers 3,947 enrollees.

Another familiar name was that of Universal Orlando, which runs a variety of very popular resorts in the Orlando, Florida area.  Universal was given a waiver for plans that cover 668 workers.

These waivers deal with limited health benefit plans, sometimes referred to as “mini-med” policies, which companies as large as McDonald’s use for some its employees.

The plan have limits on how much can be paid out in coverage, limits which would be phased out under the new health reform law.

The feds though have granted waivers from that law, amid concern that certain groups would drop their health insurance programs entirely.  Those waivers are good for one year, and can be considered for renewal.

A spokeswoman for Waffle House refused to explain the need for the waiver, saying “because Waffle House is a private company, we are going to decline to comment.”

As for Universal Orlando, a spokesman defended the waiver in an email on Monday evening.

“The new legislation would have left our part-time workers without their medical coverage,” said Tom Schroder of Universal Orlando Public Relations.   

“We sought the waiver so that we could continue to provide them with the coverage they need and deserve,” Schroder added.

Only a fool (or a liberal, same diff) would think this number won’t skyrocket even further over the coming weeks and months.

UPDATE: Elizabeth Edwards stops cancer treatments, prepares for final days

Cancer transcends politics, and it doesn’t care if you are liberal, conservative, or other. Prayers for the Edwards family as they deal with this dark chapter in their lives.

UPDATE (12/7/2010 – 08:25 PM EST): Mrs. Edwards has passed away.  May God keep the Edwards family close.

Global “warming” has stopped

Trolls, commies hardest hit. Excerpt:

A year ago tomorrow, just before the opening of the UN Copenhagen world climate summit, the British Meteorological Office issued a confident prediction. The mean world temperature for 2010, it announced, ‘is expected to be 14.58C, the warmest on record’ – a deeply worrying 0.58C above the 1961 – 1990 average.

World temperatures, it went on, were locked inexorably into an everrising trend: ‘Our experimental decadal forecast confirms previous indications that about half the years 2010-2019 will be warmer than the warmest year observed so far – 1998.’
…
But buried amid the details of those two Met Office statements 12 months apart lies a remarkable climbdown that has huge implications – not just for the Met Office, but for debate over climate change as a whole.

Read carefully with other official data, they conceal a truth that for some, to paraphrase former US VicePresident Al Gore, is really inconvenient: for the past 15 years, global warming has stopped.
…
Actually, with the exception of 1998 – a ‘blip’ year when temperatures spiked because of a strong ‘El Nino’ effect (the cyclical warming of the southern Pacific that affects weather around the world) – the data on the Met Office’s and CRU’s own websites show that global temperatures have been flat, not for ten, but for the past 15 years.

They go up a bit, then down a bit, but those small rises and falls amount to less than their measuring system’s acknowledged margin of error. They have no statistical significance and reveal no evidence of any trend at all.

And those “rising” sea levels?  Yeah, not so much.

You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear this whole global “warming” (aka “climate change” when it’s too friggin’ cold to say “global warming” with a straight face) is s junk science fad meant to steal money from producing nations in a big socialist redistribution plot.

Chavez: All this rain is because of capitalism, or something

Looks like someone’s gotten into Grandpa Joe’s liquor cabinet and found the secret bottle of Crazy!  Excerpt:

President Hugo Chavez blamed “criminal” capitalism on Sunday for global climate phenomena including incessant rains that have brought chaos to Venezuela, killing 32 people and leaving 70,000 homeless.
…
“The developed nations irresponsibly shatter the environmental order, in their desire to maintain a criminal development model, while the immense majority of the earth’s people suffer the most terrible consequences,” Chavez added.

The irony of hearing this pap from a gi-normous exporter of oil is rich indeed.

Michelle Obama: Salad bars for thee, but not for me

Glad to see the First Nanny taking such an initiative:

The discussion about what constitutes “healthy food” in the United States is always up for debate. According to the USDA, french fries are a “healthy” food. So Mrs. Obama has a heavy road to tread with attempting to place 5000 salad bars in public schools across the United States.

When reached for comment, Shelly O couldn’t be understood, on account of her mouth being full:

Dem Senator: Negotiating with Republican Senators like negotiating with terrorists. Or something.

Color me surprised that Democrats actually (a) used the word “terrorist” and (b) find terrorists to be evil.  Here’s Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on discussing tax policy with the other side:

“Do you allow yourself to be held hostage and get something done for the sake of getting something done, when in fact it might be perverse in its ultimate results? It’s almost like the question of do you negotiate with terrorists,” Menendez said when asked whether he and other Democrats would accept a compromise with Republicans.

“The majority has a responsibility to get something done, but [also] to get something done that is good for the country,” he added.

A Democrat who purports to be concerned about what is “good for the country”?  First time for everything, I suppose.

Look, I don’t have a problem with Menendez being averse to discuss things with the other side.  After all, once the grown-ups get the gavel in January from Speaker Botox, I have zero interest in discussing things with what handful of leftist jackwagons still exist in the House.  But good grief, Godwin, ease up off the hyperbole, huh?

Pelosi uses dirty trick to ram through bill that raises taxes on Americans

From CNN:

Congressional Democrats rammed a bill through the House of Representatives Thursday permanently extending the Bush-era tax cuts only for families making $250,000 a year or less.

It would maintain the current Alternative Minimum Tax limit for two years.

The measure, which passed on a sharply polarized 234-188 vote, would allow the Bush tax cuts to expire after December 31 for the wealthiest Americans. Most Democrats backed the bill, while most Republicans opposed it.

When the left and the MSM (pardon the redundancy) say “the wealthiest Americans”, they are referring to small business owners.  Small business owners provide about 3/4 of the jobs in America today, and the overwhelming majority of small business owners are LLC’s or Sub-Chapter S corporations that report business income on their personal tax returns.  Whenever Democrats demean and demonize the “evil rich”, it is the small business owner that they attack.

Naturally, the small business owner will not expend capital or hire anyone when they know that they are about to get “shellacked” (to use President Kick#ss’ term) in their pocketbooks.  They will lay off employees to keep their expenses low and minimize the impending tax hike as much as possible.  “Sorry, Jane, I need to let you go so I can send your salary to Uncle Sam.  He thinks I’m rich, so the government having your salary is more important than you having your salary.  Sucks for you.  But hey, San Fran Nan says that the unemployment check and food stamps you receive will stimulate the economy.  Now don’t you just feel totally stimulated, Jane?”

John Boehner called the move “chicken crap“, and he’s right when you consider that the House’s tax hike bill is DOA in the Senate (all 42 Republicans have promised to filibuster it).  In other words, Pe-loser is telling the American people “Screw you!” on her way out the door.  You stay classy, Speaker Botox.

Senate’s ignorance of the Constitution imperils food safety bill passed in lame duck session

Imagine the shock, shock, I experienced in discovering that Democrats in the Senate (and the idiot Republicans who voted for this bill) have no real knowledge of the Constitution they were sworn to uphold.  Details:

A food safety bill that has burned up precious days of the Senate’s lame-duck session appears headed back to the chamber because Democrats violated a constitutional provision requiring that tax provisions originate in the House.

By pre-empting the House’s tax-writing authority, Senate Democrats appear to have touched off a power struggle with members of their own party in the House. The Senate passed the bill Tuesday, sending it to the House, but House Democrats are expected to use a procedure known as “blue slipping” to block the bill, according to House and Senate GOP aides.

The debacle could prove to be a major embarrassment for Senate Democrats, who sought Tuesday to make the relatively unknown bill a major political issue by sending out numerous news releases trumpeting its passage.

Section 107 of the bill includes a set of fees that are classified as revenue raisers, which are technically taxes under the Constitution. According to a House GOP leadership aide, that section has ruffled the feathers of Ways and Means Committee Democrats, who are expected to use the blue slip process to block completion of the bill.

As Ed notes…

Now what?  The House will either block the bill entirely or pass its own version of it.  The latter option will mean that Reid will have to hold a vote to reopen debate on the bill, and will need unanimous consent to limit that debate.  Otherwise, it could take the rest of the legislative calendar in the Senate to move the bill before the session ends and the bill has to be reintroduced.  Even if the House cooperated, the bill could later be challenged in court as being procedurally deficient.

D’oh!

Considering that the national abortion known as ObamaCare is clearly unconstitutional and yet passed the Senate (and House) anyway, this latest public display of constitutional ignorance shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.  But hey, it’s nice to know that Democrats are screwing up so badly in their last throes of power that they can inflict little additional damage to the country beyond that which they have already inflicted.  How unsurprising that in their final days of power, their main preoccupation isn’t jobs or the economy, but in expanding government power and regulations.