Alabama Right News: Dec 20, 2010

Monday, December 20, 2010

Don't Worry: Big Sis & Crew Are On the Job "24/7, 364 Days A Year". Wait, What?

from JammieWearingFool by Dan Cleary

Don't Worry: Big Sis & Crew Are On the Job "24/7, 364 Days A Year". Wait, What?: "And when they're working, they always give at least 99.72%!“What I say to the American people is that we are, thousands of people are working 24/7, 364 days a year to keep the American people safe.”Awesome.Still, a little 'CYA' never hurts. So J-Nap quickly points out that she can't just "hermetically seal" the United States, and James Clapper chimes in that they "aren't going to bat 1.000,"

'The Navy's Trust Was Misplaced'

from JammieWearingFool by JammieWearingFool

'The Navy's Trust Was Misplaced': "It probably wasn't simply a matter of their trust being misplaced. Never discount the fear of being called Islamophobes.A federal appeals court Monday upheld the conviction of a former Navy sailor serving a 10-year prison sentence after he leaked details about ship movements to a London-based Web site operator that supported attacking Americans.The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan"

Julian Assange Feeling the Heat? In New Interview Lashes Out at Friends And Foes

from YID With LID by Jeff Dunetz

Julian Assange Feeling the Heat? In New Interview Lashes Out at Friends And Foes: "

(if you cannot see video above click here)

While Wikileaks head Julian Assange seems cool on the outside, his rantings seems to suggest that he is beginning to feel the pressure. In an interview with the Times of London Assange lashed out at everybody, both friend and foe. Especially at the Guardian for publishing the police reports from his Swedish rape cases.

Speaking from the English mansion where he is confined on bail, the 39-year-old Australian said that the decision to publish incriminating police files about him was 'disgusting'. The Guardian had previously used him as its source for hundreds of leaked US embassy cables.

Mr Assange is understood to be particularly angry with a senior reporter at the paper and former friend for 'selectively publishing' incriminating sections of the police report, although The Guardian made clear that the WikiLeaks founder was given several days to respond.

Mr Assange claimed the newspaper received leaked documents from Swedish authorities or 'other intelligence agencies' intent on jeopardising his defence.

'The leak was clearly designed to undermine my bail application,' he said. 'Someone in authority clearly intended to keep Julian in prison.'

Julian Assange complaining about leaks. That has to win a Guinness Book of World Records award for irony.

He denied allegations of sexual assault and said that the allegations by two Swedish women he met in August 'came from nowhere'.

When asked if he was promiscuous, he replied: 'I’m not promiscuous. I just really like women.'

Actually based on the reports, he really likes himself (see New Examples of 'Sex-God' Julian Assange's Stalking and other Creepy Treatment of Women and Julian Assange Has Asian Teengirl Stalkers And Other Creepy Autobiographical Info From The King Of WikiLeaks he uses women.

Assange went on to repeat his threats that he has tons of material about a major bank to reveal.

'We don’t want the bank to suffer unless it’s called for,' Mr Assange said. 'But if its management is operating in a responsive way there will be resignations.'

The head Wikileaker also stated that he expected to be arrested by the US and predicted the US will face reprisals if it attempts to extradite him on conspiracy charges.

This guy needs to be put away for a very long time.

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Disgusting… Frank Wants Government to Block Your Children From Inheriting Your Wealth (Video)

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft

Disgusting… Frank Wants Government to Block Your Children From Inheriting Your Wealth (Video): "

Barney Frank: Double-Dip Estate Tax Not Punishment Because Heirs Didn’t do Anything to Deserve It

Frank believes your wealth belongs to him.

The Blaze reported:

(Click on Image for Outrageous Video)

What horrible people.

They will even steal the money out of the pockets of a dead man.

Napolitano: We’re Working ’364 Days a Year’ to Fight Terror (Video)

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft

Napolitano: We’re Working ’364 Days a Year’ to Fight Terror (Video): "

Just not Christmas.

Everybody needs a little R-&-R sometime.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sat down with ABC to discuss the Administration’s strategy to fight ~~terror~~ man-caused disasters.

Mediaite reported:

On ABC’s World News tonight, Diane Sawyer sat down with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to talk about the possibility of a terror attack over the holidays.

And Napolitano, doing her best to keep us all feeling cozy and warm, said it’s almost a year-round operation:

“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.”

We’re in the best of hands.

Does this mean we won’t get groped by TSA that day?

FCC Poised to Regulate the Internet

from - Big Government by Publius

FCC Poised to Regulate the Internet: "

From the Associated Press:

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski now has the three votes needed for approval, despite firm opposition from the two Republicans on the five-member commission. Genachowski’s two fellow Democrats said Monday they will vote for the rules, even though they consider them too weak.

The outcome caps a nearly-16-month push by Genachowski to pass “network neutrality” rules and marks a key turning point in a policy dispute that began more than five years ago.

“The open Internet is a crucial American marketplace, and I believe that it is appropriate for the FCC to safeguard it by adopting an order that will establish clear rules to protect consumers’ access,” Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Yet many supporters of network neutrality are disappointed.

Clyburn and the other Democrat, Michael Copps, both said the rules are not as strong as they would like, even after Genachowski made some changes to address their concerns.

That sentiment was echoed by some public interest groups on Tuesday.

“The actions by the Federal Communications Commission fall far short of what they could have been,” said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. “Instead of strong, firm rules providing clear protections, the commission, created a vague and shifting landscape open to interpretation.”

A number of big Internet companies, including Netflix Inc., Skype and Amazon.com Inc., have previously expressed reservations about the proposal as well.

Meanwhile, even the weakened rules are likely to face intense scrutiny as soon as the Republicans take over the House next year.

Read the whole thing here.

The FCC heads toward full control of the internet [Reader Post]

from Flopping Aces by DrJohn

The FCC heads toward full control of the internet [Reader Post]: "

When he took office, Barack Obama began installing whacko after whacko in important positions. One such move was to make Julius Genachowski Chairman of the FCC. Genachowski was a fundraiser for Barack Obama in the 2008 campaign. His latest actions appears to be one more effort by the Obama adminstration to bypass Congress and rule by executive fiat.

It also smells funny.

The more I read about it the more I hear in my head

“I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

The story in a nutshell is that Genachowski wants to take all the innovations and work done by a few in developing the internet and let everyone profit equally from them.

Yet I do not believe for one second that that is the only goal. Some of us believe that it is this adminstration’s goal is Federal control of the internet.

Genachowski recently unveiled a revised draft of his 2009 Net neutrality proposal that would put the Internet under a New Deal-era communications bureaucracy. Under the guise of protecting consumers from being forced to pay for varying levels of delivery access and speed, Genachowski proposes to drag the Internet under the same regulatory authority that puts the FCC in charge of radio, telephone and television broadcasting.

Genachowski see himself as a cop:

Genachowski said his proposal will make the FCC “the cop on the beat” bringing justice and fairness to the Internet on behalf of consumers. The cop is needed, he said, because too often service providers have “prevented consumers from using the applications of their choice. The framework is designed to guard against these risks while protecting the needs and interests of providers.” In other words, Genachowski is from the government and he is here to help us.

Justice and fairness. I hate it when I hear those words from anyone in this adminstration because it inevitably means taking fruits of labor from some and giving them to others.

Redistribution. (That ring a bell?)

This FCC vote would ostensibly give the FCC the power to regulate the internet except for a small detail:

In fact, Genachowski does not have the authority to regulate the Internet. Making his agency the cop on the digital beat would be like sending a Department of Agriculture meat inspector to arrest a college admissions director for charging out-of-state students more than those who live in the state.

In April, a U.S. appeals court ruled that in the absence of explicit congressional authorization, the FCC currently lacks authority to impose a Net neutrality requirement on Comcast, one of the largest service providers. Worse for Genachowski, a bill drafted by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, and designed to give that authority to the FCC never made it out of the panel this year.

One does wonder if anyone in Congress is going to take notice that.

The American Consumer Institute released a report concluding that net neutrality would discourage innovation and investment. This is akin to allowing someone to spend a fortune obtaining a patent and then forcing that person to equally share the royalties with everyone.

In a article for The Street, Anton Wahlman makes an interesting argument against net neutrality:

Indeed, why limit the net neutrality legislation to broadband networks? Shouldn’t all products and services in society benefit from the egalitarian principle of nobody being able to purchase a preferred service or product? Take an airline, for example. Let’s establish an air neutral policy of prohibiting business class and the practice of charging people based on supply and demand for seats. Each airline seat will have a fixed price and there will be no multiple classes of service. Air neutrality will prevail in the same nirvana as on the net utopia envisioned by the Federal Communications Commission.

What are the most important products in society? Food, shelter and clothing. Without them, we would die relatively soon. We can manage without broadband, air travel, and even health care in many cases over an entire lifetime. Let’s apply the net neutrality principle to food. Nobody should be able to buy “preferred” food of higher quality and better taste than anyone else. This dictates a government bureaucracy dispensing identical rations to all citizens. Think Mao’s Chinese cultural revolution and great leap, and 50 million dead.

The net neutrality principle applied to shelter? Equal apartments to all. Nobody should be able to pay for a better house than anyone else. That is, except for the political elite. Did you ever pay a visit to a Moscow suburb in the 1980s?

Robert McDowell, a Republican Commissioner on the FCC also opposes Net Neutrality regulation:

Nothing is broken and needs fixing, however. The Internet has been open and freedom-enhancing since it was spun off from a government research project in the early 1990s. Its nature as a diffuse and dynamic global network of networks defies top-down authority. Ample laws to protect consumers already exist. Furthermore, the Obama Justice Department and the European Commission both decided this year that net-neutrality regulation was unnecessary and might deter investment in next-generation Internet technology and infrastructure.

Analysts and broadband companies of all sizes have told the FCC that new rules are likely to have the perverse effect of inhibiting capital investment, deterring innovation, raising operating costs, and ultimately increasing consumer prices. Others maintain that the new rules will kill jobs. By moving forward with Internet rules anyway, the FCC is not living up to its promise of being “data driven” in its pursuit of mandates—i.e., listening to the needs of the market.

McDowell notes that in spite of being smacked down by the Courts and being opposed by Congress the FCC seems bent on continuing its goals.

And that is a gigantic red flag.

Then there’s another Copp(s) to deal with.

Michael Copps

Copps is the Democratic FCC commissioner today let it be know that he would not obstruct the new guidelines.

You need to know something about Copps:

(CNSNews.com…) – Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps says he doesn’t support bringing back the controversial Fairness Doctrine, but he does think government has a role in enforcing media “diversity.”

That role includes re-examining licensing and other regulations for radio stations — including AM stations dominated by talk radio — to make them “more reflective” of public interests.

Copps, chosen by President Barack Obama to be acting chairman until a permanent replacement is named, said that he thought the Fairness Doctrine – a policy that critics say amounts to censorship – was an old fight that “didn’t need to be rehashed.”

His denials remind one of the environmental groups. It’s not warming any more. It’s “climate change.”

It’s not the “Fairness Doctrine,” it’s “media diversity.”

The bottom line is that this is the beginning of full government regulation of the internet and it needs to be stopped ASAP. Hopefully the Republican House will take note that the FCC needs the approval of Congress to institute any of these regulations.

Regulation of the internet could come in real handy for a guy who once skirted the disclosure rules about campaign finance and who is running for re-election soon.

SNL Video: What Democrats want for Christmas

from theblogprof by The blogprof

SNL Video: What Democrats want for Christmas: "Via HotAir headlines:

Rep. Jan Schakowski (D-IL) has a fever, and the only prescription is more redistribution of wealth

from theblogprof by The blogprof

Rep. Jan Schakowski (D-IL) has a fever, and the only prescription is more redistribution of wealth: "Wealth in this country is earned. But to Marxists like Jan Schakowski - a socialist that also sits on Obama's debt commission simply as a sign of how much of a farce that commission is - that simply isn't fair. She wants the producers to pay the non-producers to continue to not produce. Via Freedom's Lighthouse on YouTube:

Schakowski has also contended in the past that free people cannot govern themselves, that there is no 10th amendment, that abortion is safer than bearing children, that we have to spend money in deficits to get us out of debt and the recession, and that ObamaCare is indeed set up to run private insurers out of business:

Just so you know who we're talking about here.

Previously on Schakowsky:
Rep. Schakowsky (D-IL) political director: Opponents of Ground Zero mosque are 'f***ing dumba**es'
Rep. Jan Schakowski (D-IL): Free people cannot govern themselves, there is no 10th amendment
Video of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL): The ‘Right’ to Abortion, Which is Safer than Birth, Creates ‘Obligation’ For Tax-Payers to Fund Them
Video: Socialist on Obama's Debt Commission: 'We have to spend money to make money,' claims if we cut deficit spending 'we will end up as a third world nation'
Video of Jan Schakowsky (D-mentally IL): we need to spend our way out of this recession!
Video of Obama Supporter: ‘What’s Wrong With A Little Bit Of Socialism?’
That was fast! Rep. Jan Schakowsky Invokes Ted Kennedy At Townhall, Gets Booed

Dems on FCC have the votes to pass...

Dems on FCC have the votes to pass...: "
Dems on FCC have the votes to pass...

(Top headline, 4th story, link)

It’s Official: Obama-Pelosi Regime Moves One Step Closer to Controlling Internet – Vote Tomorrow

from Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft

It’s Official: Obama-Pelosi Regime Moves One Step Closer to Controlling Internet – Vote Tomorrow: "

They just won’t stop…

The Democrats moved one step closer today in their push to control the internet.

Liberal FCC officials will vote tomorrow on sweeping new internet regulations.

The National Journal reported:

It’s official: the path has been cleared for Tuesday’s historic vote at the Federal Communications Commission approving sweeping new “network neutrality” rules designed to ensure that the Internet remains an open platform that doesn’t favor dominant telecommunications and cable companies.

Democratic FCC regulator Michael Copps just issued a statement in which he explains that he will “concur” on the proposed rules, meaning he supports their adoption but doesn’t agree with everything in them.

Senior officials have also confirmed that all three Democrats on the five-member commission will support the rules, providing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski with the support he needed for the plan. Copps and fellow Democratic regulator Mignon Clyburn have been fighting for stronger provisions to better protect consumers and smaller competitors.

Wireless carriers have also endorsed (albeit grudgingly) the net neutrality plan, offering Genachowski critical industry support that can help dampen congressional criticism. They insist they need maximum flexibility in operating their networks due to capacity constraints, and won’t block competitors.

Critics of the proposal dismiss it as unnecessary government intervention that seeks to correct marketplace problems that do not exist.

The WSJ added: ‘Net neutrality’ sounds nice, but the Web is working fine now. The new rules will inhibit investment, deter innovation and create a billable-hours bonanza for lawyers.

How Obamacare is Hastening the Day of Reckoning

from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. by Conn Carroll

How Obamacare is Hastening the Day of Reckoning: "

“It’s not like you can avoid it forever, ’cause it’s here now. And we all know it’s here. And the federal government doesn’t have the money to paper over it anymore, either, for the states. The day of reckoning has arrived. That’s it. And it’s gonna arrive everywhere. Timing will vary a little bit, depending upon which state you’re in, but it’s comin’.”

That’s what New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told CBS News’ Steve Kroft during his Day of Reckoning story last night on 60 Minutes.

Kroft goes on to report:

Not all of the problems that Illinois and other states are facing right now can be traced to the recession. But the precipitous drop in tax revenues did expose decades of financial irresponsibility, reckless spending, unrealistic benefit packages for public employees, and the use of political gimmicks to cover up hidden deficits. It’s forcing state governors and the public to confront some harsh realities.

…

Governors of cash-strapped states are beginning to cajole or bully public employee unions into making concessions on what are considered to be gold-plated retirement and health care packages, which are now collectively underfunded to the tune of $1 trillion.

But as bad as government union contracts and pensions are, they are not the real driver of state insolvency. Medicaid is. Already, Medicaid is the second largest item on the average state budget at 21% (education is first at 22%). But according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that is all about to change very soon thanks to Obamacare. Remember, more than half of the health care coverage expansion under Obamacare is attained by placing Americans on Medicaid. CMS projects that state and local spending on Medicaid will increase 41.4% between 2010 and 2011. 41%!!! Heritage policy analyst Brian Blaze warns:

If state Medicaid spending increases by 41 percent as projected by CMS, then by next year Medicaid could end up consuming nearly 30 percent of the average state budget. Medicaid would greatly exceed all other state priorities, including education, which tops state budgets at about 22 percent. In fact, state spending on education would experience certain cuts next year.

Presumably, the state spending increase is so high because the enhancement of the federal Medicaid match will expire at the end of 2010. CMS projects that federal spending on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program will decrease 7.1 percent between 2010 and 2011. The loss of federal funds will drive most of the increase in state Medicaid obligations.

Unfortunately, states have lost considerable flexibility to reduce Medicaid’s burden on their budgets. As a condition for receiving the additional federal dollars, both the stimulus bill and PPACA contain maintenance-of-effort (MOE) provisions that prohibit states from changing eligibility levels.

And it only gets worse after 2011:

Beyond the enormous increase in state obligations for Medicaid next year, more trouble lies ahead. The new law includes a massive Medicaid expansion. CMS estimates that by 2014, 85.2 million Americans will be enrolled in Medicaid—an increase of 23.3 million individuals from the projections under prior law.

This is the second study in a week that provides unwelcome news to states. Indiana reports that the cost of Medicaid expansion will cost its state $3.6 billion over 10 years. Texas estimated its 10-year cost at $27 billion. The situation could be even worse. State estimates are subject to great uncertainty, especially with assumptions about the take-up rate (the number of people who actually sign up) among both the newly eligible (the federal government reimburses state spending at a rate of 90 percent after 2020) and the previously eligible (the federal government reimburses at the state’s standard match rate).

FCC and Net Neutrality: What Ever Happened to Transparency?

from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. by Diane Katz

FCC and Net Neutrality: What Ever Happened to Transparency?: "

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is slated to vote Tuesday on an Internet regulation scheme hatched by Chairman Julius Genachowski. It’s bad enough that the commission is attempting yet again to supersede its statutory authority—despite a court ruling halting a previous attempt to regulate the Web. The fact that the public has been barred from reviewing the proposal argues for swift and severe congressional intervention.

Opponents, of which there are many, predict that Genachowski’s ploy would dissuade investment in broadband and much-needed network expansion. Fellow FCC commissioner Robert M. McDowell, writing in The Wall Street Journal today, characterized the chairman’s power grab as “jaw-dropping interventionist chutzpah.”

Since assuming the FCC chairmanship last year, Genachowski has been trying to impose so-called “net neutrality” regulations that would restrict the freedom of Internet service providers to manage their network transmissions. The latest incarnation of controls is reportedly based on a legislative proposal previously floated by Representative Henry Waxman of California—and soundly rejected by Congress. Moreover, the chairman’s prior claim to jurisdiction was firmly rebuffed in April by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

Although lacking regulatory details, hundreds of consumers, service providers, and other “stakeholders” have filed some 1,900 pages of comments on the FCC’s latest foray into Internet regulation. But anyone hoping to access the comments in the four days leading to Tuesday’s big vote were stymied by a “maintenance” shutdown of the agency’s Web site. Although it’s unlikely that FCC officials actually plotted to block the site, the untimely access restrictions hardly argue for FCC control over all Web transmissions.

It’s not uncommon for a regulatory agency to seek to expand its authority by stealth. Indeed, that appears to be an operating principle of the Obama Administration. Yet from his first day as commission chairman, Genachowski pledged to ensure that the FCC would be “fair, open, and transparent” while encouraging the public to visit the FCC Web site and “contribute to the process.”

That’s impossible to do when the chairman won’t release details about his plan for the most far-reaching government intrusion in Internet history. Nor can citizens participate in the process when the agency Web site is shut down in the days before the commission takes action.

It’s time for Congress to restrain Genachowski’s regulatory ambitions, either with a statutory prohibition against net neutrality regulation or by barring FCC expenditures on same. It’s a good bet such action would help to deliver on the chairman’s promise of fairness, openness, and transparency.

Do We Still Believe in American Sovereignty?

from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. by Anna Leutheuser

Do We Still Believe in American Sovereignty?: "

The current language surrounding American foreign policy (and the New START Treaty in particular) is diplomatic and courteous. It is also dangerously ambiguous about American sovereignty. As Steven Groves explains in the latest installment of the Understanding America series, “Sovereignty is a simple idea: the United States is an independent nation, governed by the American people, that controls its own affairs.” In “Why Does Sovereignty Matter to America”, Groves outlines the fundamental role of sovereignty in American history, and analyzes the current misunderstanding (some would say rejection) of this important concept.

This issue of sovereignty was the driving force behind the American Revolution. In the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers laid forth the abuses suffered by the colonies at the hands of King George III. They concluded that it had become necessary for the defense of their rights to seek independence and to “assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them”. Their argument made clear that the idea of sovereignty did not only apply to the relationship between the United States and Great Britain, but to any country that challenges Americans’ independence. For “if a foreign power can tell America ‘what we shall do, and what we shall not do,’ George Washington once wrote to Alexander Hamilton, ‘we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little.’”

As Groves illustrates, our sovereignty is still under attack today, though through less overt means: “International organizations and courts seek to reshape the international system. Nations are to give up their sovereignty and be governed by a ‘global consensus.’ Independent, sovereign nations will be replaced by ‘Transnational’ organizations that reject national sovereignty.” This trend is evident everywhere, and will not be halted without a renewed attachment to the idea of American sovereignty.

Ultimately, American foreign policy must be controlled by the American people. This is why treaties (such as the New START Treaty) require ratification by the Senate, in addition to the President’s signature. As Groves makes clear, there is no reason to agree to treaties that seek to weaken us. We are self-governing, and have no need to enter treaties desperately. Our Founding Fathers did not fight to secure sovereignty for a country that would – without protest – risk losing it through dangerous treaties and overreaching international organizations a mere two hundred years later.

GOP senators concede arms treaty will secure enough votes to pass

from TheHill.com by eniedowski@thehill.com (Alexander Bolton)

GOP senators concede arms treaty will secure enough votes to pass: "

Two more Republicans
said they are likely to support New START; ratification would be another lame-duck victory for President Obama.

Pic of the day: Welfare queen tin cup FAIL!

from theblogprof by The blogprof

Pic of the day: Welfare queen tin cup FAIL!: "What's a welfare queen to do when ~~asking~~ demanding for more taxpayer money? Hold a press conference in her living room - ostensibly the only room in her house that still has heat. She might have wanted to think ahead though and rearrange her furniture just a bit. From Macon.com via moonbattery, what seems just a little out of place here?:

But it's only a 55-inch 1080p LED LCD HDTV. She could have gone for the 62-inch instead. Austerity - we all have to sacrifice you know. Van Helsing pulled down the original caption that no longer appears on the site:

WOODY MARSHALL/THE TELEGRAPH Showing her Georgia Power bills in the one warm room of her home, Raymeica Kelly explains how her mother, sister and herself were turned away from the Energy Assistance Program on Wednesday morning after standing in line for four hours. All three complained that the system the Macon-Bibb County Economic Opportunity Council uses to give out the assistance needs improving.

Around 15 years ago when I was a graduate student, I volunteered a lot of time to Focus Hope in Detroit delivering boxes of food to the needy. Two things I learned: 1) Homes owned by old people smelled really, really bad and everything in the homes were ancient. 2) Homes owned by welfare recipients universally had top-of-the-line tvs, stereos and cable tv or dishes.

The above absurdity has happened before. From Michelle Malkin in 2007: The “Shut up, white boy!” woman is the “slum” dweller with a 60-inch TV

History continues to repeat itself exposing the farce that is our welfare system.

Census shift to hurt Obama in 2012 as people flee blue states for red. Texas to pick up 3 House seats, electoral college votes, Michigan to lose one seat

from theblogprof by The blogprof

Census shift to hurt Obama in 2012 as people flee blue states for red. Texas to pick up 3 House seats, electoral college votes, Michigan to lose one seat: "

An update to a post more than 2 months old: People fleeing forced-unionization, high-tax states and moving to right-to-work, low-tax states. This truly gives new meaning to 'voting with your feet.' And Michigan is one of the losers. Because of the population exodus from this state, we are slated to lose 1 of our 15 US Representatives. Red state Texas will gain 3. From the AP via memorandum: New population count may complicate Obama 2012 bid

The 2010 census report coming out Tuesday will include a boatload of good political news for Republicans and grim data for Democrats hoping to re-elect President Barack Obama and rebound from last month's devastating elections.

Why would the AP paint the elections as 'devastating?' For most of us, ironically, it was a sign of hope and change.

The population continues to shift from Democratic-leaning Rust Belt states to Republican-leaning Sun Belt states, a trend the Census Bureau will detail in its once-a-decade report to the president. Political clout shifts, too, because the nation must reapportion the 435 House districts to make them roughly equal in population, based on the latest census figures.

The biggest gainer will be Texas, a GOP-dominated state expected to gain up to four new House seats, for a total of 36. The chief losers — New York and Ohio, each projected by nongovernment analysts to lose two seats — were carried by Obama in 2008 and are typical of states in the Northeast and Midwest that are declining in political influence.

Plus, like here in Michigan, many other states' redistricting will be done by Republicans because of the big, red wave in November.

November's elections put Republicans in control of dozens of state legislatures and governorships, just as states prepare to redraw their congressional and legislative district maps. It's often a brutally partisan process, and Republicans' control in those states will enable them to create new districts to their liking.

The predictable result of liberal policies

A year ago, nobody even opined that Republicans here in Michigan would have carte blanch control over the process, yet that is exactly what has happened. So not only will the GOP be able to redictrict one Democrat out of the Michigan delegation to the US House, but may be able to get 2 or 3. Same with swing state Ohio and Florida among others:

Republicans now control the governor's offices and both legislative chambers in competitive presidential states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Indiana, Maine and Wisconsin. They hold the governors' chairs in other crucial states, including Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia and Iowa.

When Obama carried those states in 2008, most had Democratic governors happy to lend their political operations to his cause. Now he will run where governors can bend their powers against his administration's policies and his campaign's strategies.

Not mentioned by the AP is the fact that the population exodus came from states that are forced unionization states. Since the GOP controls all branches of government here in Michigan, it's high time that we made this state a right-to-work one. Speaking of exodus: One graphic that illustrates just how screwed Detroit is. Here is what the graphic looks like for Travis County, Texas (black is a gain, red is a loss):

What do you think it would look like for Wayne County, MI? Uh - like this:

A Junk Science Czar — Schwarzenegger Wants to Work in the Obama Administration Fighting Non-Existent Global Warming

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft

A Junk Science Czar — Schwarzenegger Wants to Work in the Obama Administration Fighting Non-Existent Global Warming: "

And, to think, we had such great hopes for him…

Arnold wants to be the Junk Science Czar.

(LA Times Blog)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told reporters today that he’d like a job possibly in ~~global warming~~ climate change junk science within the Obama Administration.

The Ticket reported:

In an interview with editors at the Los Angeles Times, the outgoing California governor said he was in “no rush” to find a new job when his term ends next month. But asked specifically whether he’d consider a post working for President Obama, “he said yes and began to riff on his credentials,” according to the Times’ David Lauter.

Schwarzenegger, who counts legislation combating global warming as one of his signature achievements in office, suggested he might be interested in a post dealing with energy or the environment.

“I’m a big believer in environmental issues,” Schwarzenegger said, who added that he wanted a post where he could use his “celebrity power … knowledge and experience” to impact public policy. “I’ve traveled the world. … I’m very familiar with the world.”

The UK is experiencing its coldest December ever this year.

At what price will oil have an impact on your economic activity at the gas pump and elsewhere? Oil Heads Toward $100: Good For Investors, Not Consumers http://bit.ly/gowkEf

from CNBC | Facebook by CNBC

At what price will oil have an impact on your economic activity at the gas pump and elsewhere? Oil Heads Toward $100: Good For Investors, Not Consumers http://bit.ly/gowkEf: "At what price will oil have an impact on your economic activity at the gas pump and elsewhere? Oil Heads Toward $100: Good For Investors, Not Consumers http://bit.ly/gowkEf

Oil Heads Toward $100: Good For Investors, Not Consumers
bit.ly
The rise in oil prices could be just getting started, posing opportunities for investors—as well as challenges for consumers and hopes for US economic growth."

Saudi Air Force Training Base to be Sited in Idaho

from New Zeal: Security Risk? More Evidence of Mary Jo Kilroy's ... by Admin

Saudi Air Force Training Base to be Sited in Idaho: "On Oct. 20, Stratfor reported that the U.S. Goverment was making a $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia,

The U.S. government formally notified Congress on Oct. 20 of a $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia. The package, which includes both combat aircraft and military helicopters, is considerable and will provide the Saudis with even more of some of the most modern fighter jets in the entire region. Militarily, however, Riyadh’s challenge is not a matter of hardware: Saudi Arabia already fields a broad spectrum of some of the highest-end and most modern military equipment in the region. Instead, its challenge is fielding that hardware. With deliveries years away, the new deal will do little to balance the resurgent Iranian regime in the near-term, and prolongs Saudi Arabia’s heavy dependence on U.S. defense support.

The new package, which will reinforce the quality and quantity of Saudi military hardware over the course of the next two decades, will include:
84 new-build and more modern variants of the F-15S combat fighter aircraft.
The upgrade of 70 existing Saudi F-15S to this new standard.
70 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
72 UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters.
36 AH-6i light attack-reconnaissance helicopters.
12 light training helicopters.
Associated armaments, including air-to-air and air-to-ground ordnance (including 1,000 “bunker-buster” bombs designed to penetrate hardened and deeply buried facilities).

Mountain Home U.S. Air Force Base, Idaho

Now an Idaho news source, Mountain Home News reports that the United States will be facilitating a training base for the Royal Saudi Air Force in Mountain Home, Idaho.

The Idaho congressional delegation received notification Friday that Mountain Home Air Force Base has been chosen as the preferred site to host a training mission for the Royal Saudi Air Force. Placing a training base in the United States is part of a $60 billion arms package the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is purchasing from the U.S., which includes 84 new F-15SA fighter jets and upgrades to the Saudi's current inventory of F-15C fighters.

Col. Pete Lee, vice commander of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base described the announcement as 'a great opportunity,' for the base, the local community and the region.

The Saudi government will apparently bear all costs for basing the squadron.The arms sale will doubtless be welcomed by the arms industry in the United States.

As however Saudi Arabia is a known sponsor of Wahabbist terrorism, is this arrangement really in the best long term interests of the U.S?

NYC Sued After Cops Drag Smoker to Psych Ward

from Moonbattery by Van Helsing

NYC Sued After Cops Drag Smoker to Psych Ward: "

Omnipresent government's unceasing attempts to protect us from ourselves have once again crossed the line into self-parody in the dystopian nanny state of Michael Bloomberg's New York:

Mark Moody said he was taking his usual nicotine break on the window ledge of his Peck Slip (Lower Manhattan) home on a hot August day with a cigarette in one hand and a cellphone in the other, a scant 12 feet off the ground.

Five patrol cars and three ambulances soon converged on the scene. The authorities had decided that Moody was about to commit suicide — whether by jumping from the second-story window or by smoking isn't clear.

Before he knew it, a beefy officer was inside his apartment, lifting him out of his own living-room window from behind, Moody said. The cop slammed him on the living-room floor while another kneeled on top of him and cuffed him, he claimed.

He was dragged off to Beth Israel Medical Center, where a psychiatrist quickly discharged him.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, Moody is a trial lawyer.

Moody, who The Post found still takes his cigarette breaks sitting in his open window, sued the city and the police officers for $400,000 in damages on Dec. 8 in Manhattan federal court.

In defense of the authorities, they must have figured someone with a name like Moody was sure to be a suicide risk. At least we know that when Big Government bursts into our homes and drags us off in chains to a loony bin, it will only be to keep us safe.

On a tip from Sean.

Flashback: When NPR Retold Christmas Story With Hybrids and ‘Wisepeople’

from The Blaze - Stories by Jonathon M. Seidl

Flashback: When NPR Retold Christmas Story With Hybrids and ‘Wisepeople’: "

In 2007, NPR aired a Christmas special that included its favorite Christmas stories told by some of its favorite authors and contributors. The special included Scott Simon telling a new version of the Christmas story, complete with FEMA and Katrina references, as well as hybrid cars and the politically correct “wise people” instead of “wise men.”

So why talk about something three years old? Well, NPR is once again featuring the special under its “Holidays 2010” and “NPR’s Holiday Favorites” categories.

Here’s the new four minute Christmas story. Notice how the narrator opens with saying that the original Christmas story occurred two centuries ago, which would have put Jesus’s birth around the early 1700s. I hope she meant “millennia” instead of centuries:

The full program can be heard here.

But that’s not all, Simon tweaked his new Katrina Christmas story two years later in 2009, this time it featured Mary and Joseph losing their unemployment benefits:

Joseph and Mary hitchhiked to an abandoned factory near Cleveland. Their unemployment compensation had run out. Joseph was a carpenter, but the only work going on in his neighborhood was boarding up storefronts. He and Mary had no place to live; and Mary was pregnant.

She told Joseph that he would be the child’s father, but he wasn’t the child’s father. The spark that began the life of their child, she said, came from—well, it was too embarrassing and ridiculous for Joseph to repeat.

Friends told him he was being taken for a fool. But Joseph loved Mary; he knew that the last few months had been hard. He decided that whatever fantastic stories Mary told him, he would love the child as his own.

That night, Mary had a baby boy. He seemed healthy, wrinkly, and had a nice, loud cry. Mary swaddled their baby in old copies of bankrupt newspapers and laid him down in the back of an abandoned car.

A stray gray dog, grimy from the road and whimpering with loneliness, kept watch over the baby and warmed him with her panting. Joseph also put his iPhone close, so their baby could be lulled to sleep with a lullaby app.

That night, a star appeared in the east. Three Wise Persons—Warren Buffett, Alexander McCall Smith, and Monica Ali—came to behold Joseph and Mary’s child.

They wanted to bring the child gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But they hadn’t been available since Lehman Brothers collapsed. So the Wise People brought gift cards to Chipotle. The infant saw them and smiled.

Mary saw the look of delight in her child’s face and said to herself, “He’s happy with us.” But she saw Joseph sitting by himself at the far end of the garage. She knew he was worried about how he was going to make a life for their child. When Joseph came back to the car, his eyes glimmered.

“I think I finally understand,” he said. “Why we’ve been given the gift of this child. It doesn’t matter who the father is, does it? Every child cries for our love and deserves our care. Every child who is hungry in Sudan, or cold in Cleveland. Every little girl who is abandoned by a roadside in China. Every little boy in Congo who‘s dragged into someone’s army. Every little boy and girl anywhere who is threatened by an epidemic, an explosion, or indifference—I must love them as a father loves his child.”

Mary and Joseph sat with their arms around each other, and their baby boy. The dog—whom they decided to adopt on the spot—hopped up on the seat beside them and put her head gently onto Joseph’s lap. The star that had found them seemed to stay above them for a moment while their child breathed softly, safely, peacefully in their arms, looking out at a world that seemed suddenly new.

Author’s note: Some may argue that this is simply satire. That may be true. But just think what kind of outrage would occur if an NPR contributor satirized Hanukkah, Kwanza, or Ramadan, or “retold” the story of Muhammed and changed key details. I’m sure the Muslim community would be up in arms.