China: Not the economic Goliath of conventional wisdom

In a report that got little or no exposure, the World Bank says the lore of China's coming economic dominance is wrong.

Key point:

"For Americans, the new numbers from the World Bank bring good news and bad. On the plus side, U.S. leadership in the global system seems more secure and more likely to endure through the next generation. On the other hand, the world we are called on to lead is poorer and more troubled than we anticipated.

Maybe the old Chinese curse says it best: We seem to be headed for interesting times."

On the positive side for the Chinese, they don't have so-called experts trying to talk their economy into a recession, like we do.

(hat tip: John in Carolina)

Bill Kristol joins the NYT

And most of the Usual Suspects babble, dribble, drool and spew all over themselves.

Captain Ed breaks it all down.

Noteworthy:

"It's good to see the progressives admit that a half of Bill Kristol outweighs the five liberal commentators at the Gray Lady. It also shows, as Rosenthal notes, the rhetorical intolerance that many progressives display on a fairly regular basis. When they cancel subscriptions to the one national newspaper most amenable to their politics simply because it allows one competing opinion to appear, that says something about their insecurity."

Here's a look at some links that typify some of the the nonsense that the Dems/Lefties/"Progressives" are putting out.



Here's one of my favorites:


"Why not hire a fresh voice, perhaps one without decades of failed and/or catastrophic policies to his name? Or just someone who isn’t a mouthpiece for a wildly unpopular administration, or who maybe has an ounce of principle in his or her body?"


God help me......I do love it so when we get a reaction like this.


UPDATE

I have a new favorite:

" That's Bill Kristol ,Fox commentator , editor of the the Murdochian agitprop factory Weekly Standard, George W. Bush's propagandist in chief, co-founder of the Project for a New American Century, relentless promoter of the war in Iraq , ideological bully and thug."

Hat tip to Exurban League, which adds this little ditty as a possible response from Kristol:

"Give a holla to my neocons in the Bay,
I'm livin' in DC still clutchin' on my AK.
Tell 'em,
'Thug for life,
High till' i die'
When 'em stupid Nation witches ask why!"

My previous comment about the reaction to Kristol just keeps gaining validation.

Krugman calls his fellow "Progressives" to arms

As you may well know, I consider Paul Krugman a partisan political hack, and an embarrassment to his former profession of economist, one which gave him some credibility many years ago.

His ego (like fellow NYT columnist Thomas Friedman) is WAY out of control, and not even the influence of the NYT public editor can keep his excessive nonsense contained.

("An Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times who makes an error 'is expected to promptly correct it in the column."That’s the established policy of Gail Collins, editor of the editorial page. Her written policy encourages “a uniform approach, with the correction made at the bottom of the piece.

Two weeks have passed since my previous post spelled out the errors made by columnist Paul Krugman in writing about news media recounts of the 2000 Florida vote for president. Mr. Krugman still hasn’t been required to comply with the policy by publishing a formal correction. Ms. Collins hasn’t offered any explanation.")

Yet here he is once again, calling on fellow "Progressives" to wage "war" on common sense solutions in favor of polarizing partisanship.

("But any attempt to change America's direction, to implement a real progressive agenda, will necessarily be highly polarizing. Proposals for universal health care, in particular, are sure to face a firestorm of partisan opposition. And fundamental change can't be accomplished by a politician who shuns partisanship.")

I hope he's successful in his quest.

It will set the "Progressive" cause back some 40 years, putting it back in the 60s where it got it's current direction.

Maybe starting all over again is just the thing they need to help them develop common sense about the real issues we face in the 21st century.

And you thought some of the N&R Letters to the Editor were pretty ridiculous?

Read this one

Yes, Virginia.......there IS a Global Warming catastrophe coming!

A Modest Proposal for all the Dem presidential candidates

"We need to raise taxes, bust up corporations, mandate living wages for workers, and cap salaries for executives. We need a one child policy to prevent overpopulation, send more money to public schools, and oversee a total dismantling of the military.

What Democrat will do that? Any?

It's time this country realized that the way to pay for all these illegal wars by an unelected president is to tax at 100% levels any rich person, that is, anyone making over $100,000 per year. Then we end the wars, tax corporations at historically high levels to erase the deficit, nationalize health care and ban all private medical practice forever.

The government is the solution and must provide basic needs to all Americans. That is FAIR! Watching retired generals and former defense contractors show up in welfare lines is FAIR because of all they stole from the poor.

Which Democrat will do that? Any?

Will any Democrat dare do what is FAIR and start taxing by race and gender? Blacks, Latinos, women, and gays should be given tax breaks and rich white men's taxes should be raised to pay for those breaks and that is FAIR!

Will any Democrat do this?"

.....posted by Charles from Ohio, in response to this column.

In response to "Which Democrat will do this?", the answer is probably "Dennis Kucinich".

The Islamist "Tet Offensive" is coming

And you can count on certain people to want to make it 1968 all over again.

Noteworthy:

" However, Tet achieved the grand political ends North Vietnam sought. Tet was a strategic psychological attack launched in a presidential election year during a primary season featuring media-savvy "peace" candidates. "Peace" in this context must be italicized with determined irony; in the historical lens it requires an insistent blindness steeled by Stalinist mendacity to confuse the results of U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam (e.g., Cambodia's genocide) with any honest interpretation of peace."

There's one big difference between the events of 40 years ago, though.

There will be plenty of us to counter the babble, dribble, drool and spew from the Usual Suspects as a result of a terrorist Tet.

And there will be no Walter Cronkite-type authority figure in the Lame Stream Media around to perpetuate the lies to a gullible public.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq.......

(hat tip: jaycee)

The Christmas Story

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.


But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'


Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'"

-- Luke 2:8-14 (NIV)

Good News=No News from our major media pals, Pt 2

More confirmation of what we already knew, this time from Pew Research Center.

Key point:

"Silence is not always golden. The use of the editorial pen seems clear and damning. As the US began to succeed, the media stopped reporting it."

Of course they did.

There's no benefit in reporting something that directly counters a cherished talking point, is there?

Quote of the Day

"Global warming has long since passed from scientific hypothesis to the realm of pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo."

-- David Demming

From "Year of Global Cooling"

Good News=No News from our major media pals

.....at the NYT and LAT.

Imagine that!

Excerpt:

"Yep, they realize that politicizing the Iraq war this time around with their usual defeatist message has the potential to be a losing issue for them, so they’ll politicize and demagogue issues they think they can gain traction with the American people on."

The nerve of George Bush for failing to act like a lame duck president!

It's all Bush's fault......

The Mitch Johnson/City of Greensboro malaise continues

Deatails at The Spagnola Report, Joe Guarino's, and in many posts at The Troublemaker.

This mess is what we get when we refuse to keep the local political movers/shakers/bagmen and women in check. We've been talking about this for several years now, but it's obvious that "Business As Usual" is still the order of the day in Greensboro.

And we're the ones who get criticized for refusing to "move forward" and "forget about it"!

It's absolutely and thoroughly disgusting.

The New York Tlimes pushs McCain hitpiece

It's to be expected. New Hampshire's primary is approaching, McCain leads and is resurgent in the Republican nominee ranks, so it's time for the Slimes to try to take him down.

Noteworthy:

"Is it an accident that McCain is running the best of all Republicans against the two Democratic frontrunners Clinton and Obama and this little Christmas present from the Times would no doubt derail McCain's comeback?

Absolutely shameless partisanship. The fact that someone at the Times may have leaked this to Drudge almost certainly means that they don't really have any hard evidence to publish the piece just a circumstantial case that can be made against McCain.

This kind of gutter journalism shows how low the Times is willing to go and how far they have fallen as a news outfit."

Actually, it sounds like something straight out of the Hillary campaign.

Photo of the Day

Here's what 9400 earmarks and$515 BILLION of your tax money looks like when it's reduced to some 3500+ sheets of paper.

And the bill was probably enacted without anyone in Congress knowing what was in it.

(hat tip: Mark Tapscott)

Algore and the pathology of Global Doom

Summed up in six words: "Heads I win; Tails you lose."

Key point:

"Global Dooming has a very simple explanation. There's nothing new about it. It is just the human desire to create a millenarian narrative that fits our political biases, whipped on by the Politically Correct elites of this world, fed by a huge infusion of money into climate modeling and other dubious science, plus unprecedented media hype, and finally, the intimidation of thousands of rational skeptics.

This 'madness of crowds' happens all the time. Charles MacKay wrote about it in 1841, in his book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. Economics bubbles and busts are just one kind. But we can see a lush diversity of other superstitions and mass delusions.

It is a shame that it is now corrupting normal science. In healthy science the burden of proof is always on the proposer of any hypothesis. But now the burden of proof on the skeptics in the case of human-caused global warming. But you can't prove a negative. As soon as the skeptics disprove one false claim, the Global Fraudsters are allowed to jump to another one, as long as they predict the same conclusion."

The "Church of the True Believers" is actually not a religion: It's a cult

......with a very nasty suicide pact at its very core.

Noteworthy:


"Global Warming fanaticism seems to lend itself to self-loathing. In 1989, David Graber, then a biologist with the National Park Service, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times observing:

'Human happiness and certainly human fecundity are not as important as a wild and healthy planet. I know social scientists who remind me that people are part of nature, but it isn't true... We have become a plague upon ourselves and upon Earth. Until such time as homo sapiens should decide to rejoin nature (by wearing natural fibers and living in trees?) some of us can only hope for the right virus to come along.'"



"In a column in Sunday's New York Times ('It's Too Late for Later') Thomas L. Friedman squawks: 'The fact that global warming is now having such an observable effect on pillars of our ecosystem -- like the frozen sea ice within the Arctic Circle, which a new study (conveniently, unnamed) says could disappear entirely during summers by 2040 -- is certainly one big factor (in the change of 'global consciousness') . But the other is the voracious power of today's global economy, which has created a situation in which the world is not just getting hot, it's getting raped.'

Look at the bright side: At least when Friedman is babbling about the environment, he's not blathering about the Middle East."



The bottom line:

"The let's-all-die-for the-planet movement may be the fringe of Global Warming. But their conclusion is the logical expression of its ethos. Why settle for the gradual extinction of humanity through below-replacement birthrates and deindustrialization when we can accomplish the same thing in a generation? (For other Global Warming-ists, their death wish is more subconscious.)

But rather than having the decency to just kill themselves, they need to make a statement -- like the poor bastards who go to a mall with a high-powered rifle to see how many innocent bystanders they can take with them.

If you see Al Gore in a shopping center with what looks like a semi-automatic -- or at a podium handing out Kool-Aid -- run."

I'm pretty lucky, I guess. I only encounter "Global Warming"-ists on blogs rather than in person.

Even so, they have no ammunition. All their shots are blanks, and their aim is WAY off.

Joe Lieberman to endorse McCain

Very interesting.

This changes several different dynamics at work for the presidential nomination of BOTH parties next year.

I disagree with Lieberman on the majority of the issues. However, on the issue I consider MOST IMPORTANT for our country, our foreign policy/national security, we are in agreement.

McCain's stance on this issue is also solid.

Previously, Fred Barnes thought McCain still had a chance. He may well be right.

Interesting times may be ahead politically. The old rules of politics, as practiced by the existing crop of Democrat candidates, may be on the way out.

Yeah, but all these guys must be "Fringe Scientists", right?

"Don't fight, adapt."

Excerpts from the letter:

"It is not possible to stop climate change, a natural phenomenon that has affected humanity through the ages. Geological, archaeological, oral and written histories all attest to the dramatic challenges posed to past societies from unanticipated changes in temperature, precipitation, winds and other climatic variables. We therefore need to equip nations to become resilient to the full range of these natural phenomena by promoting economic growth and wealth generation."

"Contrary to the impression left by the IPCC Summary reports:

z Recent observations of phenomena such as glacial retreats, sea-level rise and the migration of temperature-sensitive species are not evidence for abnormal climate change, for none of these changes has been shown to lie outside the bounds of known natural variability.

z The average rate of warming of 0.1 to 0. 2 degrees Celsius per decade recorded by satellites during the late 20th century falls within known natural rates of warming and cooling over the last 10,000 years.

z Leading scientists, including some senior IPCC representatives, acknowledge that today's computer models cannot predict climate. Consistent with this, and despite computer projections of temperature rises, there has been no net global warming since 1998. That the current temperature plateau follows a late 20th-century period of warming is consistent with the continuation today of natural multi-decadal or millennial climate cycling.

In stark contrast to the often repeated assertion that the science of climate change is "settled," significant new peer-reviewed research has cast even more doubt on the hypothesis of dangerous human-caused global warming. But because IPCC working groups were generally instructed (see http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/docs/wg1_timetable_2006-08-14.pdf) to consider work published only through May, 2005, these important findings are not included in their reports; i.e., the IPCC assessment reports are already materially outdated."

"Attempts to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile, and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better spent on humanity's real and pressing problems."


What's the chances of this getting any play in the media?

You get three chances at guessing the right answer, and the first two don't count.

So much for the "tax cuts for the rich" meme

....that Dems/Lefties/"Progressives" love to babble about.

Greg Mankiw has the details.

Key point:

"Notice that all groups are paying lower tax rates than the historical average. But in contrast to some popular perceptions, the change is not concentrated among the upper income groups. In fact, the opposite is true."

Top 10 Media Myths of 2007

Pay special attention to Number 1.

It's a special favorite of people like Ed Cone, who don't think it's possible to undermine consumer confidence into a recession with the constant drumbeat of cherry-picked negative economic stories which run contrary to the actual overall situation.

Noteworthy:

"Of 50-plus economists surveyed by research firm Blue Chip Economic Indicators, not one is predicting a recession."

This joke is attributed to Dennis Kucinich

.....over at LGF, Ed Cone's favorite blog.

A carrot got in a terrible car accident, and he was rushed to the nearest carrot hospital where the carrot doctors worked for hours on him. Finally, one of the carrot doctors went to the family and gave them the good news and the bad news. "The good news is that he will live," said the carrot doctor. "The bad news is he'll be a vegetable the rest of his life."

I can also envision Pelosi, Reid, Kerry, Teddy, Hillary, Edwards, and several other Dems telling that story, too.

Further proof there is no such thing as "separation of church and state" in this nation.

It's obviously just separation of Christianity and state.

Best laugh of the day:

Comment #8

"Look, just convert Islams to conservatives then the Democrats will hate them.

Simple."

Good point.

How many Muslim Republicans exist?

Speed Trap listings

...from across the country, as posted at the Natioanal Motorists Association's web site.

Check out the listings for Greensboro and Guilford County after clicking on the NC list on the first page.

Hillary and the Pope

The Pope and Hillary Rodham Clinton are on the same
stage in front of a huge crowd.

"Her Majesty" and His Holiness, however, have seen it
all before, so to make it a little more interesting,
the senator says to the Pope, "Did you know that with
just one little wave of my hand I
can make every Democrat in the crowd go wild?"

He doubts it, so she shows him. Sure enough, the wave
elicits rapture and cheering from every Democrat in
the crowd. Gradually, the cheering subsides.

The Pope, not wanting to be out done by such a level
of arrogance, considers what he could do. "That was
impressive. But did you know that with just one little
wave of MY hand I can make EVERY person in the crowd
go crazy with joy? This joy will not be a momentary
display like that of your subjects, but will go deep
into their hearts, and they will forever speak of this
day and rejoice."

The senator seriously doubts this, and says so. "One
little wave of your hand and all people will rejoice
forever? Show me."

So the Pope slapped her. 

There's MORE bad policy and MORE obnoxious taxation coming our way

......if we don't stop this nonsense before it gets enacted.

Key point:

"North Carolina is at a crossroads. The state could adopt policies that harm its citizens in the name of environmental extremism and special interests. In the alternative, the state could reject the 56 options. It may be late in the 'game,' but fortunately these options aren't law yet. Let's hope we take the right path."

Expanding a failed Red Light Camera program in Philadelphia

Eric at Classical Values has details.


Key point:

"God forbid that red light cameras might become a 'cash cow.'"

....like the Greensboro and High Point city governments had before the program was shut down when challenged in court.

Let's hope we're strong enough to make sure these abominations NEVER make another appearance in our state.

And, of course, the Other Surge continues to work too

Don Surber has the details.

Noteworthy:

"The economy is doing well without 'help' from Congress. My advice: Butt out, let us win in America."

And it continues to do well despite the continued drum beating by people like Cone, and others of the cassandra persuasion, who have reasons to want to promote doom, gloom, negativity, and to promote a recession in advance of the election by undermining public confidence.

Are there problems in certain sectors?

Of course there are, but not to the extent that the constant barrage of negativity would have you believe.

Another casualty of the success of the Surge

Batiste switches sides and decides that he was wrong.

Much anguish and gnashing of teeth among Dems/Lefties/"Progressives" ensues.

Whatever are they to do?

Captain Ed has some thoughts:

"Michael Goldfarb wonders whether the Left will find itself compelled to turn on Batiste. Given that they've put him forth as an expert on the subject, they will either have to do that or acknowledge that Batiste has it right, and they had it wrong since 2003. Which do you suppose they will choose?"

I wonder when these folks will start to figure out that the nasty, vicious game they've been playing on this subject for more than four years will cost them dearly?

Stop the presses! Where's the copy boy?

This is got to be the political story of the year!

Sean Penn has endorsed Dennis Kucinich!

Cartoon of the Day

USA Today Second Amendment poll

Do individual citizens have the right to bear arms?

Click on the results.


Do you think this is a message certain Dems/Lefties/"Progressives" particularly want to hear?

There's been lots of trash talking our way into a recession

......something Dems/Lefties/"Progressives" are positively giddy about happening, as such a thing puts them in a position to take political advantage.

And, as discussed at length here and at Cassandra blogs like Ed Cone's, the drum beat of negativity is legend.

Here are some of the techniques by which said recession might be pulled off.

Noteworthy:

"U.S. consumers have taken $3-a-gallon gas and a drop in our home equity in stride. Yet the media seems hell-bent on convincing us multinational banks' subprime mortgage losses and a weak dollar will torpedo the economy in a way the stock market's collapse, mass layoffs and 9/11 scarcely did in 2001.

'There is a herd mentality with prevailing outlooks on economic conditions because few of us want to be caught unprepared,' says Mitchell Marks, an organizational psychology professor at San Francisco State University. 'If people get bombarded with a grim message, that herd grows bigger and stronger.'"

"Consider this: The combination of the Nasdaq's 80% drop, a two-thirds rise in our unemployment rolls and the trauma inflicted by a puissant Arab extremist together produced just one of the shallowest recessions in U.S. history. You gotta believe it'll take more than a passing credit squeeze to cause the world's greatest economy to falter again."

Questions that never get asked about AIDS

Instead, all we hear is the usual propaganda, more grandstanding, and more BDS from the culpable parties to the lack of information.

Obviously, it's time to totally re-think our public policy approach to this issue.

Just wait for the howls of outraged protest when we do.

Quote of the Day

"Listening to liberal politicians attempt to speak about Biblical Christianity is something akin to quizzing porn stars about the finer points of acting."

-- Kevin McCullough

Pssst! Hey Libs/Dems/"Progressives".... Guess What?

Incentives work when it comes to Medicare policy decisions.

And they'll also work in the individual/group health insurance markets.

Take a poll of the various insurance companies that market Part D programs on a stand alone basis or included in a Medicare Advantage program.

Upwards of 88 percent of the clients never hit the so called "doughnut hole" coverage gap.

Yet certain ace economic policy wonkers/wankers want to cut funding to the companies who manage these programs so efficiently for Medicare.

Go figure.

So which political party has benefited the most from McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform?

Take a guess.

As a matter of fact, take three guesses.

And the first two don't count......

Noteworthy:

"Krumholz said industry and special interest groups are giving more to Democrats both in Congress and to Democratic presidential candidates. On average, such groups are giving 57 percent of their contributions to Democrats. That is a 14 percentage point shift from the 2006 and 2004 when Democrats got only 43 percent.

Biggest givers include all the usual suspects, with lawyers and law firms increasing their giving 52 percent, real estate is up 51 percent and the entertainment industry up 68 percent. Curiously, healthcare and insurance industry giving are only up 23 percent."

Yep.

Sounds like they REALLY fixed the (their) problem, didn't they?