Here's how Climate Alarmists deal with dissent

As PowerLine says "When you're out of arguments, call in the heat".

And yet there are many lunatics who STILL insist that the "science is settled" about the "scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming". Fortunately, the great majority of the non indoctrinated public knows better than to believe this outrageous abuse of science.

The pertinent question concerns whether and when our political class, the ruling elites, and the media will start to understand the realities about the nonsense.

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Earthrise

Forty years on.

I remember.

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Presidents' Poker Night

"So I said to him, 'Barack, I know Abe Lincoln, and you ain't Abe Lincoln.'

Hat tip: Fred Gregory

'U.S. Patriotism vs Liberal Solidarity'

What better day than Independence day to discuss the "progressives'" essential arrogance that poisons our society.

Noteworthy:

"In liberal-land the preferred feeling of belonging, of united action in a group, is not patriotism. It is called solidarity. But it is only allowed if you are acting in an approved liberal cause. That's because solidarity gets defined as 'uniting individuals in their response to particular situations of injustice, oppression, or tyranny.'

It is a fine thing to be a member of a labor union, united in solidarity--forever--in opposition to corporate greed. It is a good thing to be a member of a black journalists' association battling against under-representation of African Americans in newsrooms and on editorial boards. It is also ethical to rise above clan, tribe, and nationality towards the notion of a global humanity, a solidarity that embraces all humans, or even all living things.

But don't you try it at home. The solidarities that conservatives experience, for family, for church, for the armed forces, for local civic pride, for the nation--these are different.

You know how it works.

Family?

Think of the dangers of the patriarchy and the bigotry of exclusive heterosexual marriage.

Church?

Think Elmer Gantry and religious wars.

Armed forces?

Think My Lai and Abu Ghraib.

Civic pride?

Think of the shallow civic booster George F. Babbitt.

Nation?

Think aggressive nationalism and crypto-fascism.

You have to hand it to our liberal friends. They have done quite a number on everything we conservatives hold dear."

....and:

"The great national task before conservatives is the moderation of a century of liberal excess. It begins, of course with reversing the insanity of the Obama convulsion that, in one huge legislative belch, aims to bring the entire health care system under government power and to smash the fossil fuel energy economy with swingeing taxes. So much for the excesses of liberal political power.

But just as urgent is the task of moderating liberal cultural power, to call out the excesses of fascist unions, fascist feminists, fascist non-white racists, fascist artists, and fascist gays.

In other words, when liberal solidarity gets beyond fighting against injustice, oppression, and tyranny, and becomes instead unjust, oppressive, and tyrannical, then attention must be paid"

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Celebrate Independence Day

....while you still can.

(hat tip: Get Liberty Dot Org)

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Alternately clued behavior from both highbrows and lowbrows

The proof of such is almost everywhere we look and it's enabled some really stupid policies and ideas, with little to no actual regard for the results.

Noteworthy:

"But legions of idiots voted for a man who was plainly unqualified, even by his own estimation, and surrounded by a bunch of malignant sociopaths like Wright and Ayers and all the rest. How could he possibly win? Well, Obama cynically appealed to the idiots -- the young, the stupid, the naive, the silly, the rock idol worshippers, and probably the drug-addled masses, all the lowbrows in the land.

That includes the idiot savants of academia. Academics have a very narrow band of intelligence, something that satirists since Aristophanes have noticed and poked fun at. The first philosopher in Western history was Thales of Elea; Thales featured in Greek folklore as a man who walked around at night gazing at the stars only to fall into a ditch. That's probably a folksy giggle at the absent-minded professor who is constantly bumping into walls. But there's a big element of truth in it. Academics can be incredibly ignorant and dumb outside of their small areas of expertise. Professors and media scribblers generally lack human smarts. They are sure suckers for all the con artists of the day.

Obama is a smooth-talking hustler who has specialized in charming academic liberals, like a smart graduate student who needs to impress his teachers with every word. They just dote on him, like a proud parent smiling on a favorite child. He's their dream, a black man who sounds so smart."

In his press conferences he hypnotizes all the ink-stained wretches of the media. It's a sight to behold. The man swats a fly and the suck-ups of the media go ga-ga with applause, and go back and write articles about it. That's not just a reflection on their (lack of) character and judgment. It's not just their childish immaturity. It's a reflection on their brains, or rather, on all that empty space between their ears.

Our media stars are just not very bright. They're idiots. That single fact explains a lot. (And yes, they are also corrupt, easily seduced, haunted by deadlines, decadent in their values, and very prone to mob thinking. But if they had any brains it might be harder to manipulate them like this. The White House just pulls their strings and they dance.)"

No one can say they haven't been warned.

Ultimately, they're too dumb,too obstinate, or too arrogant to understand the consequences.

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The coming failure of the Obama presidency

Thinks it's an over reach? A growing number of Americans think it is headed that way.

Excerpts:

"A failed presidency for Barack Obama could turn into liberalism's worst nightmare. Barely six months into his term, the 44th president has succeeded in generating the most widespread and serious discussion of secession since the Civil War. Despite what Newsweek's Evan Thomas may claim, Obama is not the 'God' who will bring us together but the autocratic sponsor of an overbearing, oppressive leviathan from which a growing number of Americans are seeking refuge.

......What most liberals fail to understand is that their leisurely dabbling in progressive politics and moral equivalency is made possible by the existence of accumulated conservative moral capital. Remove the conservative anchor and progressive societies become dangerously seasick.

I guess the lesson here is that liberals need conservatives more than conservatives need liberals (although society needs them on occasion). There is much in progressive ideology that simply seeks to undermine -- a strange method of establishing an identity.

...When Obama fails it will be because he's convinced enough Americans to tire, as he has, of what used to be known as 'America.' ".

At the rate this country and its prospects have degenerated in only five months, we'll be LUCKY if Balkanization is the worst thing that happens to us.

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Normandy: The begining of the end.....

I feel like I have a special tie to WWII in general, and to the landing at Normandy on June 6, 1945 in particular.

First, many members of my family served in both theaters of the war. My Uncle Robbie (my mother's baby brother) was at Omaha, and returned safely to die in his sleep at too early an age.

Second, this is the type of warfare the U.S. Navy trained me to conduct. I've been through some eight landings under combat conditions, albeit none where Hans and Fritz were actually trying to kill me, and I can only imagine what it must have been like on the scale that my Uncle Robbie experienced.

There are precious few of these people left now, and their ranks grow thinner daily. But the memories they shared, and the common thread of their effort and their legacy will never fade away.

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So which agenda item is Obama distracting you from with his SCOTUS nomination?

I'd say none of the below. My money's on the illegal immigration amnesty scam.

Added benefit of this distraction from the Obamanation:

"An aside, won’t Pelosi be happy to finally be off the main-stage - note how Obama was more than happy to let her sweat that out on her own. That was unexpected bonus distractions for Obama. [Troll/Moby notice: EIT's are NOT torture]"

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'So Lucky to be an American'

I am too.

The blessings have been abundant.

But not for much longer, if we don't change the "Change".

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Perspective

Shall we visit to remember, and to pay our respects?

The safeguard for politically induced suicide is supposed to be the Constitution. Unfortunately, that document is widely ignored by those in power who have a political, social, and economic agenda to forcibly install.

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Obama's policy on highway safety? MADD

This was predictable.

Obama's choice to thread the NHTSA is an unqualified MADD zealot, who is bound to cause disaster in this public policy area.

Details:

"With Hurley in charge, MADD’s goals will become NHTSA’s goals. That's troubling because at heart, MADD is an activist organization. The groups once-admirable goal of raising public awareness about drunk driving has over the last several years morphed into a zealous, evangelical teetotaling campaign. When a coalition of college presidents recently asked for nothing more than a new debate over the federal drinking age last year, for example, MADD called on parents to boycott the presidents' schools.

MADD has supported prison sentences for parents who allow alcohol consumption at chaperoned parties for underage teens, and fought efforts to allow underage veterans to have a beer on base after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Even MADD's founder, Candace Lightner, has renounced the group, calling them 'neo-prohibitionists.' "

....and:

"Hurley would take NHTSA in a much more activist direction. States could expect to see more federal mandates about how they manage their roads, and motorists could expect expensive new mandatory safety add-ons to new vehicles; more reasons for to get pulled over; and lots more red light and speed cameras.

NHTSA needs a director who will balance safety with freedom, who will look at data dispassionately, and who will consider unintended consequences before ushering in sweeping new policies."

From the Eric Peters link:

"Hurley, CEO of the public nuisance group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), may well be the most zealous enemy of individual liberty and the free-market at NHTSA since Joan Claybrook ruled during the Carter Administration.

His nomination on Tuesday sent shudders down the spines of everyone who considers motoring a special part of the joy of being American.

If his prior record is any indication, we can expect more in the way of arbitrary interference with the way the car companies do business at a moment when they can least afford the burden of bureaucratic meddling.

And drivers can expect a ratcheting up of the low-grade harassment they already endure on a daily basis — in the form of more obnoxious regulations, pullover 'safety' checks and very possibly lowered speed limits, ala Claybrook’s 55-mph national limit on federal interstates.

All of this will be imposed on states in the time-honored Washington way: Those that fail to comply will lose vitally needed highway funds."

These types of policies will only serve to enrichen the coffers of municipalities in their never ending thirst for more money, and will enable more shenanigans by those insurance companies that issue automobile insurance policies.

It won't improve our highways, nor will it improve "highway safety".

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Next up on the 'Intolerable Racism' Team agenda: 'Fair Housing'

Or, as the headline writer at WaPo for this Kathleen Parker piece puts it: "You'll Love Diversity-- Or Else".

Excerpt:

"Lately, the fine intent of eliminating discrimination seems to have morphed into diversity advocacy.

Before I proceed, let me say that I prefer a world in which not everyone is the same. I like that my neighbors include a gay couple and a single mother and that several languages are spoken on my street.

But happy diversity is an organic process that results when like-minded citizens congregate around shared values and interests. Often those interests and values have evolved from racial and ethnic identities, but not necessarily. Sometimes neighbors of diverse backgrounds share affection for old houses, or window boxes, or pet-friendliness. That not all people have access to all the same housing opportunities is called life in a free-market society.

But the fair-housing folks want life to be more fair, and the ads are warming us up for some really fun social engineering"

Read the whole thing.

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Thoughts regarding Tax Day 2009

"People are tired of wasteful government programs and welfare chiselers, and they're angry about the constant spiral of taxes and government regulations, arrogant bureaucrats, and public officials who think all of mankind's problems can be solved by throwing the taxpayers' dollars at them."

"Government can't tax things like businesses or corporations, it can only tax people. When it says it's going to 'make business pay,' it is really saying it is going to make business help it collect taxes."

"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much."

"Our tax policy is engineered by people who view tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure."

"Raising taxes will slow economic growth, reduce production, and destroy future jobs, making it more difficult for those without jobs to find them and more likely that those who now have jobs could lose them."

"My friends, history is clear: Lower tax rates mean greater freedom, and whenever we lower the tax rates, our entire nation is better off."

--Ronald Reagan

All of these thoughts are undeniably and eminently true, and all of these are studiously ignored in this current Obamanation

(from the Patriot Post US.)

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A study in academic arrogance

From Power Line:

If you haven't already seen it, this is worth a laugh: how academics look--down--at those weird people who have volunteered to serve their country. Is that scary, or what?

This video was prepared by Penn State's Counseling and Psychological Services office, as a training device. It is one of a series that depict 'worrisome student behavior.' The 'worrisome student' is a veteran...

James Taranto comments:

The video about The Veteran is similar to the others, in that all depict abnormal behavior by young people who probably are normal, but are immature or temporarily impaired. But the characters in the other videos are all completely generic, with no distinguishing characteristics other than their sex. Only The Veteran is fleshed out enough even to be a stereotype.

The obvious objection to the depiction of The Veteran is that there is no reason to think that veterans are more prone than anyone else to lash out angrily, blaming others for their own failings. If anything, one would think that the rigors of military training and deployment would leave them more mature, at least in this regard.

But The Veteran's status as a veteran is relevant to the video's story, inasmuch as he believes the instructor is treating him unfairly because he is a veteran. This lends another dimension to Maggie Kwok's speculation about the reaction if the character were depicted as a member of an ethnic or sexual minority.

What if the student in the video were black and accused the instructor of racial discrimination? Would this be depicted, as it is in this video, as if the charge was absurd on its face? Would the student's threat to have the (presumably untenured) instructor "fired" come across as an empty one, the way it does in the actual video? And if the department chairman in the opening exchange identified the student by asking, "Oh, the black guy?," would that not be seen--with some justification--as bolstering the charge of discrimination?

In the video, The Veteran behaves inappropriately--but he also accuses the instructor of inappropriately bringing her politics into the classroom at his expense. We are meant to think the accusation is preposterous. But at a university that produces such a video, is it hard to believe that such things actually go on?

Read the rest of both links.

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A day in the life of a hero

The economic doom-and-gloomers: ' Pessimism Porn'

You have read here that I believe that one of the major causes of our current economic troubles has been a crisis of confidence.

This has been fed by the constant drumbeat of over the top economic negativism for almost two years, much of which was instigated by the desire to scare the public (ultimately successful) into installing a Democrat in the White House to lead us to the hard left in matters political, social, and economic.

Led by such "luminaries" as the execrable Paul Krugman nationally, and by people like Ed "The Ace" Cone locally, they got their wish. They've now switched their wailing and moaning about the situation into extending government control over every aspect of public life, starting with the financial world, telling absurd stories to justify more and increasingly onerous government intrusion.

What (besides driving the worldview agenda) could cause these fools to continue doing this?

Simple.

Many of these fools suffer a form of pessimism porn.

Here's just one example of the malady:

"This is cruder stuff than I usually go for. Abstruse financial analysis provides a more satisfying jolt of fright, dread, and incomprehension. One god-awful prediction that dances through my head at three in the morning is the 'coming dollar debasement trade,' which will happen when the Chinese and the rest of the world give up, en masse, on our currency as a reserve. The leading nightmare peddlers see it as nothing less than the end of civilized America."

....and:

"Like real porn, the economic variety gives you the illusion of control, and similarly it only leaves you hungry for more. But econo-porn also feeds a powerful sense of intellectual vanity. You walk the streets feeling superior to all these heedless knaves who have no clue what’s coming down the pike. By making yourself miserable about the frightful hell that awaits us, you feel better. Pessimism can be bliss too."

I think people like Cone and Krugman suffer from a variation of this perversion.

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A real world view on 'carbon credit' scams

From North Dakota, via Anthony Watts:

"I have changed my mind about participating in the carbon credit program. And have resolved to give the money I received to St Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Here is why.

Recently I sat in the fire hall with a few dozen farmers. We had been invited to hear how we can get paid for carbon credits.

The speaker explained how their satellites can measure the carbon in our land individually and how much money we could get. Then asked for questions.

I asked 'what is the source of this money'?

The presenter said it comes from big companies that pollute.

I asked 'where do they get this money'? He had no answer.

So I answered for him, asking, 'won’t it come from everyone who pays their power bill'? He then agreed and said 'that could be'.

I then said isn’t this about the theory of man made global warming? he said 'we are not going to talk about that'. Here they are on the prairie soliciting land for carbon credits tempting us with free money.

I believe that agreeing to take their money means you agree with taxing cattle gas also, because methane is a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon. I believe taking this money without considering its source makes us no better than the bankers who lent money to people, knowing they could not pay it back. Collecting their fees then selling the bad loans in bundles to someone else. They did not care where the money came from either.

Let’s be clear.

Carbon is not a new commodity! No new wealth is being created here! Is this the way we want to make a living? Let me ask you, what if their satellites determine that your land has lost carbon? You will get a bill, not a check, right? If you make a tillage pass you will get a bill for emitting carbon, is this not correct?

It is also a fact that this income will, in short order, get built into your land cost. You will keep very little and be left with the burden of another bureaucratic program.

Let’s be honest, we feel compelled to take this money because of the need to be competitive, however we also need to hold true to our values and lead by example that means placing our principals ahead of money.

No good citizen is opposed to using the earth’s resources wisely, however, wisdom means a person who has both intelligence and humility. In my view many of the proponents of man made global warming have the first and lack the second. We are able to exercise our freedom in this country because we have abundant, reliable and affordable power. It is ironic that we sat in front of the flag in that fire hall and considered trading our liberty for money.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Roy Disney:

“Decision making becomes easier when your values are clear to you”

For those True Believers who are tempted to marginalize Farmer Steve's account, here's a little background information for you, from a link found in the comments.

This passage represents the real people of flyover country that Dems/Lefties/"Progressives" look down upon. They can't be bought,they detest "vitimization", they're true to their values, and they're quick to see right through sleazeball politics and agendas, as is always found from the "scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming" crowd.

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Affordable health care clinics for many

The affordable retail-based health care clinic concept looks like a good choice for people who elsewise may not go to get treated for certain things.

More, from Carpe Diem, which also provided the first link.

I'm not sure about the future of this concept, however. It's likely to pose a threat to the onset of Obamacare as an efficient way to reform health care.

Watch for pushback.

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