Prejudice - who, me?

Part of what makes prejudice what it is in is the very roots of the word: 'pre' (before), and 'judice' (judging). I would never be so disingenous as to claim that I have none; every person to ever inhabit this planet has been predisposed to think ill of those different from themselves.

For all of the talk in the politically correct world of today about the evils of prejudice, more often than not Big Media (the BM for short) does more to inflame prejudice than to eliminate it. Case in point: the press coverage in the aftermath of the raid on the FLDS ranch at El Dorado, TX, last year. One got the idea that every man in that "compound" (apparently, in the strange vocabulary of the BM, any property surrounded by a fence is a compound) was engaged in forcible sexual relations with girls barely out of puberty. The girls themselves were so brainwashed that they thought this was all perfectly normal and part of God's plan.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. A handful of indictments were issued against FLDS men. No barely-pubescent "abused" girls were ever produced. 460+ kidnapped children were returned to their parents - thank God!

And yet the awful words written about the FLDS at the time of the raids live on. Mine included.

I received a very kind email from a young FLDS woman I'll call "FLDS Mom" (FM) in the interest of protecting her privacy from the likes of the assholes at Caput Penitus Culus. This young mother lives outside of Texas, so her family wasn't directly affected by the raid.

FM wrote:

I recently discovered your blog (in spite of the fact that us FLDS women supposedly don't do that kind of thing). I want you to know that I really appreciate your support even if you think that we're treated like cattle. I promise we're really not but if I can't convince you otherwise, oh well.

I guess what I'm trying to tell you is something that I heard awhile back: All Indians walk in single file....At least the one I saw did. As similar as we all may seem to someone looking at us from the outside, everyone of us is so individual and unique. I can tell you that the things I experience in my lifestyle aren't always what everyone else is experiencing or doing. It's like I tell my children about "outsiders" . "They are the same as us. They have nice people, and they have mean people. They have honest ones and liars. They have everything we have and so don't always judge them by one mean person calling you a "plig" in a very mean way. Even though the ugly can sure make an impression, I've met more nice people than not."

Even if I don't make a good impression on you, I sure appreciate your honesty in it and I appreciate your support of the Constitution and true law and order. Keep up your good work and thanks for being a little of a sounding board for me.

My first reaction on reading this email was, "Huh?" I seriously didn't remember ever having said anything as ugly or bigoted as that. Not me! I told FM as much when I emailed back. Specifically, I said this.

Do I really come across as appearing to believe that the FLDS are all "a certain way"? Because, if I do, I apologize profusely. Far be it from me, the outsider among outsiders, to EVER presuppose that anyone (except State-worshiping Leftists) ever marches in lock step with anyone else. I will admit that some of my early writings about the FLDS from last year were unduly harsh due to the relentless bombardment from Big Media (the BM for short) about the "rampant" pedophilia at El Dorado that has been categorically proven....NOT AT ALL.

Since that time, mostly due to the influence of Toes (Sore Toes and a Bleeding Heart), I've softened considerably - at least, I HOPE I have; your letter now has me a lttle concerned that maybe I am still remiss and an apology is due to you and your co-religionists. I'll be the first to admit that when I get on a roll writing, I can be a huge a**hole (just ask Mrs. Vulture!). But I'm not too proud to apologize when an apology is due, and if it is, I'm all over it.

I had to see for myself if it was true. I went back and read all of my past posts tagged "FLDS". When I read this post from May 23rd, 2008, I realized it was true!

I very much dislike the FLDS cult. I very much dislike the way that they treat their women, like cattle. I very much dislike and distrust cults in general. But in the United States of America, under the Constitution, even the most unlikeable cult has rights, and NO ONE, not the government, not the Texas Stoßtruppen, and certainly not the Texas übermommies, can abridge those rights.

Oh. My. God.

It's hard to explain how very ashamed I am that I could ever write anything so hateful about people I know little about. I can't even BEGIN to express how very sorry I am for those hateful words. It's one thing to blast the Caput Penitus Culus crowd and call them everything but a human being. They deserve it. But what did the FLDS ever do to me?

I offer my sincerest apologies to FM and all of the FLDS people for having ever written something so hateful and bigotted. I hope that you will forgive me. As I explained to FM, my feelings for the FLDS were colored by the propaganda of that time, but that's no excuse. I know better!

The Big Lie

One of the hallmarks of Nazi propaganda in the 1930's was The Big Lie. Unlike American politicians, whose lies are nearly believable because of the occasional snippet of truth inserted into their "spread" every so often, the Nazis went whole-hog to the extreme of telling whoppers so audacious that they were almost believable. Propagandists like those are a breed apart.

Guess what? They're B-A-A-A-A-A-A-C-K.

Climate change kills about 315,000 people a year through hunger, sickness and weather disasters, and the annual death toll is expected to rise to half a million by 2030, a report said on Friday.

The study, commissioned by the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF), estimates that climate change seriously affects 325 million people every year, a number that will more than double in 20 years to 10 percent of the world's population (now about 6.7 billion).

Economic losses due to global warming amount to over $125 billion annually -- more than the flow of aid from rich to poor nations -- and are expected to rise to $340 billion each year by 2030, according to the report.

"Climate change is the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time, causing suffering to hundreds of millions of people worldwide," Kofi Annan, former U.N. secretary-general and GHF president, said in a statement.

Holy crap! Where's my shovel?

This isn't just a pack of lies, or a well-packaged shipment of manure. This is 100% USDA Prime bullshit.

For starters, warming - if it were still ongoing - is a net benefit to mankind. Don't take my word for it, check out this excellent Vin Suprynowicz article. Suprynowicz (one of my favorite columnists; if you're not currently reading his blog, start!) cites several scientific studies that present evidence that warming is a net boon to mankind because it significantly decreases cold weather-related deaths (which, contrary to the official propaganda, outnumber heat-related deaths by about 7-to-1 in the US and 9-to-1 in Europe) and also makes for an extended growing season for crops.

Don't just take my word for it!

“The data from the Eurowinter Group (Lancet 1997) on mortality versus temperature can be used for a quantitative estimate of mortality benefits from warming,” DDP conclude. “This would lead to an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 fewer deaths in the U.S. per year for a 1 C temperature rise. This can be compared to 30,000 deaths per year from breast cancer, 30,000 for prostate cancer, or about 40,000 from motor vehicle accidents.”

Furthermore, “Heat deaths often represent “displacement” (i.e. weakened people die a few days or weeks before prior expectation), but deaths due to cold usually result in months to years of life lost,” the newsletter points out. “Thus the benefits in life expectancy from warming in cold periods may be much more than nine times greater than life span lost in warm periods.”

And that’s before we even look at the advantages of being able to grow food closer to the Arctic circle.

The Big Lie is alive and well. The press release I cited above is meant to excite the sheeple and to generate support for whatever kind of draconian wealth-transfer nonsense the political class chooses to foist upon us in order to "save the Earth".

We would do well to remember how things turned out the last time propaganda of this quality was in vogue.

Government: doing everything (except the things they're SUPPOSED to)

It seems like the government is involved in everything these days. And the things they're not yet involved in to their level of satisfaction are the things most in their cross hairs (like health care). But what about the things that government is SUPPOSED to do? You know: enforce the law, protect our borders, etc.

One of the duties expressly spelled out in the Constitution that the Feds are responsible for is BORDER SECURITY. In the bizzaro world in which we live, that which the Feds are required to do, they ignore.

Our oligarchs are bound and determined to turn this country into a third-world shithole by allowing unfettered masses of migrants to swarm into it. (Note that I said 'migrants', NOT 'immigrants': immigrants are people who LAWFULLY enter another country in accordance with established procedures and prerequisites. Migrants are swarms of people who spew across national borders and turn the host nation into the very same place they're fleeing). Il Duce, King Barack of Kenya, is no different than his predecessor, King George the Dim, in this regard.

President Obama voted in the Senate to provide additional funding for a program targeted for elimination by his budget that provides states a federal subsidy to offset the costs of jailing illegal immigrants.

Killing the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAPP) would save $400 million, according to Obama's budget for fiscal 2010 released Thursday. It's one of the largest non-defense discretionary cuts proposed in the president's budget.

Yeah, that $400 million is going to put a HUGE dent in the $11 TRILLION deficit. Oh wait. That money will probably just get pissed away in the coming Hillary Health II. Never mind.

Wiener of the Week

In a week in which she called everyone but herself a liar for the lies she's told about her knowledge of the torture tactics employed by the military and others, Little Nancy flits off to China, thus scoring WotW points for avoiding her crisis of credibility as well as for wasting taxpayer dollars on a BS trip.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime critic of Beijing's rule over Tibet and its rights record, arrived in China on Sunday for a trip focused on energy and climate change.

US embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson confirmed Pelosi had arrived in Shanghai but could not say who the top US official was going to meet in the country's financial hub.

Pelosi is scheduled to attend a clean energy forum in Beijing on Tuesday along with Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Other details of her itinerary were not immediately known.

Atta girl, Nancy! "Other details...were not immediately known" is code for she's gone sightseeing. On our dime. But given her history, who's surprised?

Nancy Pelosi, you're a despicable, loathsome excuse for a human being. And you're (yet again!) the Wiener of the Week.

The Axis of Stupid

We live in a time when three of the most powerful people in Washington are CFIs - Complete Idiots. Topping the list, easily I might add, is Vice President Joe Biden, the guy sitting a heartbeat away from the presidency. Coincidentally, the second person in the group is also second in the line of succession to the presidency, House Speaker Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi. The third person? The Senate Majority Leader, who demonstrates his own his reverse-Mensa qualifications.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid became the latest Democrat to stray into rhetorical trouble Tuesday, botching statements on three subjects in one news conference — including the fragile health of the chamber's most senior members.

---

Reid also mangled his party's position on the congressional news of the day, that Senate Democrats would join their House counterparts in withholding the money President Barack Obama needs to close the Guantanamo Bay prison until Obama comes up with a plan for relocating its prisoners.

But Reid went further than saying he wanted to see a plan for the money before Congress approves it. "We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States," he said.

No one, of course, was talking about releasing terrorism suspects among the American populace. Imprisoning them, perhaps, but not releasing them.

---

Did the administration put Democrats in an awkward position, asking for the money before setting out how it would be spent?

"Not at all," said Reid.

"Yes," his deputy, Sen. Dick Durbin replied to the same question.

Even the post-gaffe handling of Reid's remarks was awkward. Spokesman Jim Manley, who previously worked for Kennedy for years, swept through the press gallery to clean up after his boss. He retracted Reid's assessment of Kennedy's condition. He clarified Reid's comments about the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Manley's job was no fun at that moment, a reporter observed.

"Not so much," he said.

Open mouth, insert foot.

The popular propaganda from the Left that we are force-fed ad nauseum is the canard regarding the relative intelligence of Leftist politicians vs. Conservative politicians. The Leftist politicians are "so smart, so nuanced, so deep", and the Conservative politicians are stupid Neanderthals.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. They are Vulture's exhibits A, B, and C as rebuttals to those claims. They are: The Axis of Stupid.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

The peacenik moonbat wing of the Far Left was absolutely beside itself following the 2008 elections. Why, with a Team Donkey majority in Congress - maybe even a SUPER-majority in the Senate! - and His Royal Holiness Barack 'Il Duce' Obama seated upon the Abraham Lincoln throne, there seemed to be no doubt that there would be Peace in Our Time.

You know what I'm talking about, right? The DoublePlusGoodHopeChange!

Maybe not so much...

The Obama administration is weighing plans to detain some terror suspects on U.S. soil -- indefinitely and without trial -- as part of a plan to retool military commission trials that were conducted for prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The proposal being floated with members of Congress is another indication of President Barack Obama's struggles to establish his counter-terrorism policies, balancing security concerns against attempts to alter Bush-administration practices he has harshly criticized.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

I was among those who hammered King George the Dim for his cavalier attitude towards due process, habeas corpus, and various suspensions of person liberty (think: TSSA). But at least he was consistent! Il Duce careens from one position to another based on which way the wind is blowing. A megalomaniac is bad enough. But a megalomaniacal economic Fascist equipped with the arbitrary powers established by King George and his Neo-Conmen?

It just keeps getting better, doesn't it.

Pathogens in the News

I live a leisurely 10 minute drive from Fort Detrick. I could probably get there, in light traffic, in 5...but that might involve exceeding speed limits, and, as you know, I would NEVER exceed a speed limit. Okay, I would NEVER exceed a speed limit if I knew there were cops in the area.

Anyway, I bring up Fort Detrick because pathogens have been in the news a little bit lately. And if there's one thing Fort Detrick is known for, it would be its comprehensive collection of every chemical and biological pathogen known to mankind. It's tremendously comforting knowing it's only a 10 minute drive away. If the {stuff} is ever set free, I won't be one of the survivors lingering in agony.

First stop, good old Detrick.

Vials of a potentially harmful pathogen have gone missing at Fort Detrick, the Army’s main biodefense lab. But don’t freak out. The samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE) virus are relatively small. The Army has found “no evidence yet of criminal misconduct,” the Washington Post reports. And the virus usually causes only “a mild flulike illness” — although “brain inflammation and death” are possible, too.

Brain inflammation and death - woo hoo! I gotta get me some of that there.

Let us not forget that the anthrax used in the 2001 postal attacks came from...(wait for it)...Fort Effing Detrich! Honestly, kids! Put your toys away when you're done playing! Please!

This story is a little more disconcerting than a wee bit of VEE. Significantly more disconcerting.

A Canadian scientist has been arrested for smuggling 22 vials stolen from Canada's National Microbiology Lab, used in Ebola and HIV research, into the United States, Canadian and US officials said Wednesday.

Konan Michel Yao, 42, "was taken into custody" while crossing the border from Manitoba province into the western US state of North Dakota on May 5, said a spokeswoman for the Public Health Agency of Canada, which operates the lab.

Never mind that we're reassured later in the article that 'tests later showed "they are not hazardous"', that doesn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy, ya know?

We live in a dangerous world. Thank God for science! They're taking every conceivable step to make us more....uh....never mind.

Wiener of the Week

Back in March, when I awarded the WotW to Nancy Pelosi for what seemed like the 3rd of 4th week in a row, I jokingly threatened to rename the award in her honor. But I can see now that there is one mightier than she in the craft of asshattery. Ladies and gentlemen, our Vice President, the Honorable Joe Biden.

Vice President Joe Biden, well-known for his verbal gaffes, may have finally outdone himself, divulging potentially classified information meant to save the life of a sitting vice president.

According to a report, while recently attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an annual event where powerful politicians and media elite get a chance to cozy up to one another, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the old U.S. Naval Observatory, which is now the home of the vice president.

The bunker is believed to be the secure, undisclosed location former Vice President Dick Cheney remained under protection in secret after the 9/11 attacks.

What. A. Douche.

This clown divulges a CLASSIFIED location that is meant to...wait for it...SAVE HIS LIFE in the event of some kind of attack. Then, to show how completely dim-witted he is, he turns it into a gratuitous Chaney joke.

"The officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn't be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall."

Hoo hoo, ha ha, that's a real knee-slapper. That Chaney sure is a dummy!

Asshat.

This has got to be the stupidest human being ever to hold public office. EVER! Kinda makes you nostalgic for Dan Quayle.

I pray for the President's continuing health, and I mean that most sincerely. I mean, look at the line of succession to the president: Vice President Biden, followed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. If THAT doesn't give you nightmares, nothing will.

Joe Biden, you're the Wiener of the Week.

Little Nancy's troubles

For those of you who, like the Vulture, just LOVE schadenfreude, this is your kind of story. Little Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi is in a bit of a bind. And this wound is self-inflicted.

We'll start with a little time line. It was reported on April 23rd that Little Nancy was pushing for a 'truth' panel on torture.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stepped up Democrats' calls to form a torture "truth commission," urging President Obama not to give immunity to anyone who illegally abused terror thugs.

Pelosi on Wednesday seized on Obama's openness to prosecuting top Bush administration lawyers who formulated policies to strip, slap, shove and waterboard detainees said to be among Al Qaeda's worst in U.S. custody after 9/11.

"It gives further impetus among members to have some kind of truth commission as to what happened," Pelosi said. "I do not think immunity should be granted to everyone in a blanket way," she added.

Please pay particular attention to that last line. Oh the irony!

Because, you see, Little Nancy had a little secret: she was in on it!

Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.

In a 10-page memo outlining an almost seven-year history of classified briefings, intelligence officials said that Pelosi and then-Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) were the first two members of Congress ever briefed on the interrogation tactics. Then the ranking member and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, respectively, Pelosi and Goss were briefed Sept. 4, 2002, one week before the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Uh oh! Little Nancy told a lie! Again and again and again.

But it gets better as she shovels harder and faster in her attempts to extricate herself from the hole she dug.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi learned in early 2003 that the Bush administration was waterboarding terror detainees but didn’t protest directly out of respect for “appropriate” legislative channels, a person familiar with the situation said Monday.

The Pelosi camp’s version of events is intended to answer two key questions posed by her critics: When, precisely, did she first learn about waterboarding? And why didn’t she do more to stop it?

Pelosi has disputed a CIA document, released last week, that shows she was briefed in September 2002 on the “particular” interrogation techniques the United States had used on Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah. Pelosi has said she was told then only that the Bush administration was considering using certain techniques in the future — and that it had the legal authority to do so.

But there’s no dispute that on Feb. 4, 2003 — five months after Pelosi’s September meeting — CIA officials briefed Pelosi aide Michael Sheehy and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), then the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, on the specific techniques that had been used on Zubaydah — including waterboarding.

Okay, let's get our duck in a row here, shall we?

• Little Nancy was briefed about the "enhanced" interrogation techniques in 2002.
• Little Nancy was briefed specifically about waterboarding in 2003.
• Little Nancy wants to call hearings to punish everyone who engaged in and/or knew about the "enhanced" interrogation techniques.
• That list would include...........Little Nancy!

Schadenfreude, sweet schadenfreude.

I'll be she'd look swell in an orange prison jump suit.

Bolt shoots, bolt scores

From time to time I like to highlight the work of my favorite bloggers and columnists, particularly when they've hit upon something important or administered a particularly good beatdown on some asshat who desperately needs one.

Andrew Bolt is Australia's preeminent libertarian columnist. In this column, Andrew takes on the shrill crowd of politically correct yentas doing their damnedest to take down Miss California for the "sin" (read: thought crime) of making an anti-gay marriage statement.

While he does his usual admirable job of applying the beatdown to the appropriate parties - particularly drama QUEEN Perez Hilton - he also hit upon something that I had missed in my prior assessment of this sort of Leftist elite feeding frenzy.

You see, defending the tribe counts more than defending a principle. That is why the people tearing into Prejean refuse to say that Obama, who shares her opinion on gay marriage, is also a bitch, boob and moron who has buttock fat for brains and needs a heart transplant, the dumb bastard.

(Actually, I suspect these people excuse Obama as a liar, just saying what he must. And a liar is good, but an opponent of gay marriage evil.)

So what is this tribe that's being defended so viciously, and with such hypocrisy? It's the tribe of the Left. Of privilege, too. And patriarchy.

It's also a class - the kind of people who'd look down on a Miss USA audience, and would use the weapons of power, sex and caste to crush them in precisely the ways the Left once claimed to oppose.

We've seen this phenomenon played out before, of course, and recently.

Last year it was the turn of Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, to be monstered for being a conservative woman from small-town, Christian USA.

Palin, although a successful and popular corruption-buster and Governor of Alaska, was pilloried by the largely Left media as some thick hick, with white-trash morals and ideas above her station.

Class! Of course. The snobbery of the Left knows no bounds. But Vulture! Bill Clinton was a small-town rube, and the Left LOVED him. Ah, grasshopper, but Bill Clinton also attended Georgetown, Yale, and even Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar! That's cachet, people. And Sarah Palin? A degree from the University of Idaho? And JUST a BA at that? What a rube!

Never mind that the UI educational experience is probably every bit as good as Georgetown's (I'm talking the actual classroom instruction; you don't think Georgetown's prestigious professors actually teach, do you?). It just goes to show you how shallow and petty the Left actually is. If you're (a) from money or (b) have attended one or more "prestige" universities, and you embrace the Leftist catechism, you're a member of the club; nothing you do is worthy of criticism, except, perhaps, the occasional rebuke to placate the rubes from time to time. If you do not embrace the Leftist catechism, but satisfy requirement (a) or (b), you will be criticized, perhaps even rudely, but you will not bear the full heat that those who satisfy neither (a) nor (b) will.

Oh, and don't think for one second that top-level Republicans and their spokesmonkeys in the neocon commentariate are any different. They are every bit as shallow and petty. After all, some of the most scathing criticisms of Sarah Palin came from the likes of Peggy Noonan! The Left-Center neocon wing of the GOP (you know, the group that is killing the party) is every bit as snobby as the Left.

Great catch, Andrew. And create article, as always.

Wiener of the Week

There are government policies that can make you scratch your head. There are policies that can make you irritated. And then there are policies that can elicit just one response: WTF?!?!?!

Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.

But the program - fueled by a funding boost despite the state’s fiscal crash - allows those who end up back on welfare to keep the cars anyway.

“It’s mind-boggling. You’ve got people out there saying, ‘I just lost my job. Hey, can I get a free car, too?’ ” said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading).

Am I hallucinating here? Did I just read that financially-strapped Taxachusetts is giving away fully insured cars complete with AAA and free repairs?

The state pays for the car’s insurance, inspection, excise tax, title, registration, repairs and a AAA membership for one year at a total cost of roughly $6,000 per car.

I did read that right. But why?

Kehoe defended the program, saying the state breaks even by cutting welfare payments to the family - about $6,000 a year.

“If you look at the overall picture, this helps make sure people aren’t staying on cash assistance. It’s a relatively short payment for a long-term benefit,” Kehoe said.

But Kehoe admitted about 20 percent of those who received a car ended up back on welfare, and while they lose the insurance and other benefits, they don’t have to return the car.

“Given the state’s fiscal condition, paying for AAA and auto inspection costs is outrageous,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield). “There are so many families out there trying to deal with layoffs and pay cuts. You have to wonder what the state’s priorities are at this point.”
[emphasis mine]

Talk about fiduciary irresponsibility! Free cars. No strings attached. No responsibility. It's so typical of what passes for Progressive thought.

I'll let Representative Jones have the last word, which I'll second:

“I just don’t see this as a core function of government.”

Amen to that, brother.

Taxachusetts, you're the Wiener of the Week

Oklahoma is OK

As the economy continues to swirl around the bowl and the federal government takes over more and more control of the economy, a growing discontent is rising in "Red" America. Last month transparent phonyGovernor Rick Perry of Texas made the assertion that his state had the right to secede. Given that it was at a Tea Party and he was clearly pandering, no one took it seriously at the time - nor should they have. Rick Perry is a weasel, and he was simply saying what the audience wanted to hear.

This little shot over the bow SHOULD be taken seriously.

Although Gov. Brad Henry vetoed similar legislation 10 days earlier, House members Monday again approved a resolution claiming Oklahoma’s sovereignty.

Unlike House Joint Resolution 1003, House Concurrent Resolution 1028 does not need the governor’s approval.

The House passed the measure 73-22. It now goes to the Senate.

"We’re going to get it done one way or the other,” said the resolutions’ author, Rep. Charles Key, R-Oklahoma City.

"I think our governor is out of step.”

Ya think? 73-22 is a pretty healthy margin for ANY vote. And why exactly did the Governor veto the original bill?

Henry vetoed HJR 1003 because he said it suggested, among other things, that Oklahoma should return federal tax dollars.

What a frickin' weasel! Grow a set, man! How the deuce do you expect to get Uncle's foot off of your neck when you're still accepting his money? Sheesh!

Key said HCR 1028, which, if passed, would be sent to Democratic President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress, would not jeopardize federal funds but would tell Congress to "get back into their proper constitutional role.” The resolution states the federal government should "cease and desist” mandates that are beyond the scope of its powers.

Key said many federal laws violate the 10th Amendment, which says powers not delegated to the U.S. government "are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” The Constitution lists about 20 duties required of the U.S. government, he said.

And a chorus of angels sang.

FINALLY!!!!!! People are FINALLY waking up to the reality that the Feds have exceeded their Constitutional limits and are running amok. Considering that this federal takeover has been ongoing since the tail end of the 19th century, one has to ask:

What took you so long?!?!??!

Death Knell: Part III - Persecution of Non-believers

Global Warmist - To be defined as a global warmist, a person must have all of the following traits:

1) An absolute belief that humans are primarily or even completely responsible for causing a mass climate change which will raise the average temperature of the planet.

2) Will not entertain the idea that it is possible that natural phenomena may cause climate change, regardless of any evidence.

3) Believes it is a good thing to throw billions upon billions of dollars at an idea that may or may not work to stop climate change, "just in case."

4) Believes that natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes are an indirect result of humankind's actions to cause climate change.

5) Shouts down, puts down, and insults anyone whose beliefs run contrary to their own, rather than having intelligent discourse. A zealot for their cause.

From The Urban Dictionary.

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The four tools of propaganda employed by Global Warmists to perpetrate their fraud, as pointed out in the previous Death Knell post, are Hysterical Predictions; Persecution of Non-believers; Data Anomalies, Questionable Practices, and Bad Models (read: fraud); and the Governmental Full-court Press to force the issue.

This installment addresses the Persecution of Non-believers.

This is quite possibly the scariest aspect of the AGW worship-the-Earth crowd. How on Earth can science function in this kind of environment? What kind of environment, you ask? What follows are links and a brief explanatory blurb detailing the 4 types of intimidation employed to ensure that "the right answer" is being parroted by one and all.

1. Blackballing
This technique is employed to assure that dissenting voices are denied a platform from which to speak their heresy. This is the story of Naturalist David Bellamy, once the darling of the BBC, now a pariah.

FOR YEARS David Bellamy was one of the best known faces on TV.

A respected botanist and the author of 35 books, he had presented around 400 programmes over the years and was appreciated by audiences for his boundless enthusiasm.

Yet for more than 10 years he has been out of the limelight, shunned by bosses at the BBC where he made his name, as well as fellow scientists and environmentalists.

His crime? Bellamy says he doesn’t believe in man-made global warming.

This is how the blackball works. You simply become an un-person. You are no longer welcome, no longer a member of the club. You're out, and you won't be allowed back in.

2. Denial of funding
This tactic, the favorite of governmental agencies, is the most cynical of the persecution tactics. "Give us the answer we want, or you'll get no more money from us". Most of the "denial of funding" talk is apocryphal, but the other side of that coin - favor the warming premise and you WILL get funded - is much easier to prove.

In fact, if you want to get a study funded today on anything from suicides to butterflies, researchers are finding that they better somehow link the issue to global warming and it will increase your chances of securing funding dramatically.

Meteorologist James Spann suggests scientific objectively is being compromised by the "big cash grab" of money flowing to proponents of man-made climate fears. I previously noted that NASA's James Hansen received a $250,000 award from the Heinz Foundation.

"Billions of dollars of grant money are flowing into the pockets of those on the man-made global warming bandwagon. No man-made global warming, the money dries up. This is big money, make no mistake about it. Always follow the money trail and it tells a story," Spann wrote on January 18, 2007.

3. Peer pressure
Most of what we view as "science" is information that is published in peer-reviewed journals. By denying scientists the ability to publish their findings, and by deriding their findings in those same lofty publications, scientists who are unbelievers are shouted down and denied a platform to state their case. Here is the experience of Richard Lindzen, Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT.

And then there are the peculiar standards in place in scientific journals for articles submitted by those who raise questions about accepted climate wisdom. At Science and Nature, such papers are commonly refused without review as being without interest. However, even when such papers are published, standards shift. When I, with some colleagues at NASA, attempted to determine how clouds behave under varying temperatures, we discovered what we called an "Iris Effect," wherein upper-level cirrus clouds contracted with increased temperature, providing a very strong negative climate feedback sufficient to greatly reduce the response to increasing CO2. Normally, criticism of papers appears in the form of letters to the journal to which the original authors can respond immediately. However, in this case (and others) a flurry of hastily prepared papers appeared, claiming errors in our study, with our responses delayed months and longer. The delay permitted our paper to be commonly referred to as "discredited." Indeed, there is a strange reluctance to actually find out how climate really behaves. In 2003, when the draft of the U.S. National Climate Plan urged a high priority for improving our knowledge of climate sensitivity, the National Research Council instead urged support to look at the impacts of the warming--not whether it would actually happen.

4. Threats of Legal Action
When all else fails, sue. Or worse. The infamous James Hansen proposes the establishment of a special court to prosecute unbelievers.

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

That's it. Not for crimes like fouling the environment with oil spills, or cartel-like pricing of their products. No, for the high-crime of DENYING!

Another group wants to establish an International Court for the environment.

Stephen Hockman QC is proposing a body similar to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to be the supreme legal authority on issues regarding the environment.

The first role of the new body would be to enforce international agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions set to be agreed next year.

But the court would also fine countries or companies that fail to protect endangered species or degrade the natural environment and enforce the "right to a healthy environment".

And where the limits of its power stops......nobody knows.

Parallels with the Eugenics Movement
Finally, take a gander at this. I won't try to summarize it. Suffice it to say that the AGW crowd is employing the same tactics that were employed by the Eugenics movement of the early 20th century. Nothing bad happened as a result of that, right? Oh, that Adolph Hitler guy...yeah, I suppose maybe there WAS some harm there.

The bottom line is this: a very real campaign exists to silence critics of AGW. One ignores this at the peril of their personal freedoms.

Wiener of the Month - April

April is at an end. So, apparently, is the Supreme Court career of Justice David Souter, the albatross hung 'round the neck of America by King George the Elder way back in 1990. This Trojan Horse was pushed through by old Bush with all of the usual assurances that he would uphold the Constitution.

But did he? Hell no! Souter beat cheeks over to the Liberal end of the court. He joined with the other liberals on the court who believe that they are the seven anointed oracles appointed by...well, not God, certainly, because "you can't mix church and state"...but appointed, nonetheless, to rule according to......whatever they feel like, apparently, because it sure ain't the Constitution of the United States they're using as their guide.

King O is likely to appoint someone even further to the left of Souter as his replacement, so it's not like we can celebrate his departure as an improvement in the Court. But we can celebrate the end of the career of a sanctimonious phony who used the Constitution as toilet paper.

I have one further beef against Souter. He not only didn't understand technology, but openly avoided any contact with it, preferring to use a fountain pen to hand write his legal opinions. So what?, you say. What does that matter? It matters plenty! It shows a man lacking in intellectual curiousity (sound familiar? that was the accusation leveled at King George the Dim by the Left). It shows a man who's made up his mind, who's inflexible, who's refused to explore things he doesn't understand. It shows a man whose head is shoved firmly into the sand (or firmly somewhere else, if you prefer). It is a leading indicator of a lack of intellect.

Ah, hell. Why sugar coat it? The man is an effing idiot.

And he's the Wiener of the Month.

Wiener of the Week

This guy may prove to be a WotW regular. His shoes must have to be custom-fitted to allow for easier insertion into his mouth. His latest:

One day after saying he wouldn't travel in tight quarters because of the swine flu scare, Vice President Joe Biden rode a train Friday from Washington to Delaware.
Known for speaking freely, Biden told NBC's "Today" show on Thursday that he had urged family members to avoid airplanes and subways for fear of contracting the H1N1 flu virus.
"I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," Biden said.
The comments infuriated the travel industry and triggered several revisions from the Obama administration, whose official advice is less severe.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano commented, "If he could say that over again, he would say if they're feeling sick, they should stay off of public transit or confined spaces."
By Friday night, Biden seemed ready for his own do-over. A longtime rider of Amtrak, he took a train from Union Station to his Delaware home, his office said.

Good old Joe! He's gonna be a LOT of fun.

And he's the Wiener of the Week.

Vulture Droppings - 100 days

Vulture Droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

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Big Media (the BM for short) is celebrating the 100 day anniversary of their Lord and Savior taking office as ruler of the United States of Amerika. Naturally, the BM'ers were all atwitter at the prospect of writing glowing stories about their icon. I had the audacious idea that I would personally sample and judge each story I could find from any of the BM's main organs of propaganda.

However, some minor health issues have kept me in a somewhat loopy state, so I'm going to shoot lower. I'm going to provide you with the links and let you decide for yourself whether the BM's reportage is (a) fair, (b) biased against the Emperor, or (c) journalistic felatio.

Regarding my health issues. I do NOT have the swine flu....but I have a great swine flu joke that, coincidentally, is in keeping with the theme of this post.

It was once said that there was as much chance that a black man would be elected president as there was of pigs flying. Well, here we are: a black man has been president for 100 days, and...SWINE FLU!!!!

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Okay, here are the links I was able to accumulate opining on Obama's 100 days.

From ABCNews.com:

• The first 100 days (general)
• Did Obama keep his campaign promises?
• Obama rolls back Bush policies
• The first 100 days by the numbers

From MSNBCN.com

• Obama touts a new foundation for growth
• Obama to be spectacular success — or failure?
• Obama has miles to go, promises to keep
• The Obama doctrine: Listening, not just talking

From CBSNews.com

• Obama: Proud, But Not Content
• 100 Days In, A Presidency Still Undefined
• What Has Obama Meant For Black America?
• New President To Be Tested By Old Enemies

From CNN.com

• National Report Card: First 100 Days
• Amanpour: Obama's 100 days of foreign affairs
• Is Obama a Clinton or a Carter?
• Obama: Candidate vs. President
  

From Newsweek:

• The Secret Of His Success
• Scoring Obama’s First 100 Days
• The Halo Holds
• Pleasing Generation O

From The New York Times:

• Analyzing Obama’s 100th-Day Briefing
• 100-Day Diary
• John Harwood Interviews Rahm Emanuel
• President Obama’s First 100 Days
  

And, finally: What the media are saying (a compilation by CBSNews.com)

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Something I find particularly amusing is the way the BM fawns all over Michelle Obama. A sampling from each of the BM heavyweights from the previous section yields these Michelle-themed stories:

ABC
MSNBC
CBS
Newsweek: None related to the first 100 days
CNN
NY Times

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So...Vulture...what do YOU think. What is your evalution of King O?

What can I say? I disagree with his policies, his goals, and most of his methods. He has, however, scored points for calling off the Feds from countermanding the States' drug laws. He's scored points for undoing a lot of the Bush torture policies, although flashing previous classified photographs of alleged torture victims was pretty effing stupid.

Basically, he's raw and prone to asshat rookie mistakes. He's an accomplished Fascist, and, by "Fascist", I mean one who is a proponent of the economic system characterized by private-public ownership and control of the means of production as implemented by Mussolini and Franco, NOT, as the Left would use it, as a pejorative to smear those with whom you disagree. See "Motors, General" and "Banks, Most" as examples.

He's been dangerously, dangerously close to matching other aspects of Fascism; he's one to watch in terms of personal liberties.

Overall, his first 100 days grade is about a D. He could sink fast if given enough rope. He probably will.

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Next question, Mr. Vulture: would we have been better off with John McCommie? Absolutely NOT! Imagine hothead McCommie trying to deal with the Somali pirates. Horrible! Or trying to work with a hostile Donkey congress to accomplish anything? Not. Happening.

No. As "D" grade as King O has been, he's STILL better than McCommie.

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What will the next hundred days bring? Probably more crazy spending, more ridiculous attempts to take over industry, probably an attempt to implement the "Fairness" doctrine. In other words, more drama, more drama, more drama.

Just how I like it.

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