Amy Bishop: Clinging to Guns Out of Bitterness over Lost Jobs

"Apparently an Obama fan, living in a small town, who was bitter and angry at losing her job, who felt the proper folks weren't paying attention to all her wonderful work, took the words of her idol to heart and skillfully -- and tragically -- once gain using a gun, shot and killed three colleagues at the University of Alabama..."Amy Bishop a 'Bitter Clinger' to Obama, Ethel C. Fenig, American Thinker, 2/17/2010

Ethel Fenig probably won't chair the upcoming Presidential Commission on Fairness.

Amy Bishop the new poster girl for NYC Mayor Bloomberg's anti-gun crusade? Tough one. As evidenced by Fenig's remarkable discovery of Shepherds and Black Sheep's long, documented blog entry about Ms. Bishop's academic pursuits, the Alabama faculty shooter would be a good fit with some of the wackier groups, liars, bandits, and thugs involved with Climategate. That makes her one of the good guys in RINO Bloomberg's own environmental fervor. She's also a woman, a feminist, who could probably say it was a bunch of male "peers" who turned down some of her more interesting research projects and, ultimately, tenure.

Do we see a new idol for the martyrdom-in-academia set?

Stay tuned, Batperson.

Quote of the Day

"I'm sorry to tell you that Lindsey Vonn has been stripped of her Olympic gold medal because it has been revealed that President Obama is going downhill a lot faster than Lindsey did yesterday." Mitt Romney, 2/18/10

What fun Wonker has been having! The Copenhagen bust, the Scott Brown election, the "health care" fiasco, the ongoing CRU/NASA Climategate blowout, not to mention 40 inches of snow in Washington, DC, almost as big a snow job as the President's State of the Union address. What screenwriter could come up with stuff like this?

But, fast as he may be going downhill, El Presidente Grande just keeps charging. Next week's "Bipartisan" discussion of "health care" (Chicago style) is turning into a "Democrat + 1 Retired RINO Conference". On the latter participant, for those who don't have long memories, ex-Senator Simpson was regarded by many in Wyoming as the stupidest man to ever hold elective office. But they could be prejudiced; Wyoming citizens only live in the state. The federales, who own almost 90% of the land in Wyoming (and refuse to allow shale oil development for fear of spoiling their private views), obviously have a more objective case in selecting this retired clown to chair the "Bipartisan" commission.

Note: "Commission" is a familiar word to gangland afficionados. It's not necessarily a bunch of smart guys sitting around calmly discussing a rational approach to looting the average American's bank account.

And speaking of commissions, what a thrill about the fiscal responsibility commission! Let me guess. The White House and Democrats will have a majority of members of this commission. You know their main interest is in getting funding, not cutting costs. What might they suggest? Value-added tax (VAT)? This increases the price of European products by 25-100%. The "rich" in the US aren't wealthy enough to pick up the tab that Democrats won't reduce. The real question: why would any self-respecting Republican or Democrat participate in this farce? If it's used as a "mandate" to force Congress to go along, it's an unconstitutional usurpation of Congressional authority. (This may be why the White House has so carefully skirted giving the President personal authority in the commission).

The debt clock is ticking. The President's team is racing faster and faster downhill. At the end of the run, if they don't get off the slope, is the abyss of national bankruptcy. Stop them.

When Lake Erie Freezes Over

Lake Erie Frozen Shore to Shore. Is Hell Next? More On Global Warming.

This just in from AccuWeather:

Following a cold snap in the Northeast, Lake Erie's surface is virtually frozen over for the first time in about 14 years.

The ice ranges in thickness between paper thin along the northern shore and several inches along the southern shore, where many people are ice skating.

GoErie.com reports that the lake hasn't completely frozen since the winter of 1995-1996.

 Will Hell be the next thing to freeze over. Is this Little Ice Age II? Don't miss the next thrilling episode.

Speaking of Hell freezing over, Chief British Climate Fraudster Phil Jones has effectively thrown in the towel on his part in the giant "global warming" "climate change" hoax. Read the whole recap here.

I continue to push this issue. It's ongoing Exhibit 1 in my case against the never-ending Marxist-Gramscian worldwide effort to impose some flavor of socialism/state control on as many countries as possible.

Iran's February 11 Surprise

This just in. Iran's Fraud- President-for-Life and former U.S. Embassy Hostage Terrorist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a few of his close pals view a purloined copy of Avatar in 3-D while daring the U.S. to do anything about it.

...And Speaking of the Goracle: The Universal Theory of Everything

In Which We Beat "Global Warming" to Death Yet Again

An amusing, moderately clueless story just appeared in the online version of "The American Interest." It praises a half-assed AP assessment of ClimateGate as a "breakthrough" for the MSM, apparently unaware that the AP reporter who wrote it, Seth Borenstein, has been a shameless "global warming" apologist for God knows how long. Although we love to harp on it, ClimateGate is, in fact, really old news at this point, having come to a head last fall. So Borenstein, et.al., should actually be skewered for coming so late to the party and doing it so grudgingly.

Walter Russell Mead, author of the "American Interest" piece and usually a perspicacious fellow, sort of falls down on this one by treating Borenstein a bit too graciously whilst underestimating the intelligence of the average American as in the following opener:

It had to happen and today the Associated Press has given the American public at large its first good look at a story that has been old news for weeks in countries where the media is more alert.

First good look??? Hell, Walter, I've had a "good look" at this story for many months already via the ever-alert and amazingly accurate blogosphere, not to mention the British press online. Where were you? Anyone relying on the MSM for timely and accurate reporting these days has got his or her head lodged in a place where the sun never shines. In what circles do you travel, dude?

At least Walt pops a good question for the Nobel Prize winning Al Gore who's apparently been in hiding pretty much since the Copenhagen blizzard debacle.

Al Gore, so far as I can tell, is meanwhile remaining silent; I guess when truth is really, really inconvenient it’s better that way.

Indeed. Nonetheless and notwithstanding, both Mead and Gore are soundly battered by quite a few commentators whose piquant views are worthier of note than the piece itself. Here are a few of those comments, a couple of which duly note our current massive twin blizzards here in DC:

Hard to believe that Seth Borenstein is providing decent coverage on an environmental story. Maybe the IPCC skimped on his Christmas tip.

MR Mead writes: “Even Borenstein’s story doesn’t quite get the full measure of the problems: while the number of ‘proven’ errors in the IPCC report remains small, their impact is disproportionately large because the predictions were so high profile…” Not the full ‘measure’ of a scandal on the global warming front from Borenstein? If Mead knew about the Society of Environmental Journalism’s conspiracy against truth in science, he would not be so surprised or even dismayed. Borenstein is reknown as one of its High Priests – a dissimulator par excellence....Thus, we arrive at the real reason for the prolonged and egregious journalistic malpractice, amounting to a conspiracy of silence among the US media: money. The US federal government funds 95% of the worlds global warming science research. Vested interests do not kill the geese that lay their Golden Eggs.

A belief based on saving the planet requiring reallotment and restructuring of assets and industry worldwide becomes a religion/ideology when evidence and facts disproving doom and gloom scenarios is so resisted, denied and demonized. Good news becoming bad news requires a serious reality check.

I was going to joke about an Amber alert for Al Gore — he’s been rather silent of late — but Google informed me that the Rodeo Clown beat me to it. From the video at the link it appears that NBC News is touting the east coast blizzards as yet another symptom of global warming too. Is there anything it’s not responsible for? 

As it happens, no-one over 3 – 5+ years, neither phony IPCC researchers nor sophisticated skeptics like McIntyre, Moncton, Pielke, apparently ever scrutinized ridiculously alarmist UN reports in scholarly detail. Now of a sudden we find footnotes and references to sources appropriate to Captain Planet comic books, “peer reviewed” by Clown College Warmists who can’t even proofread idiotic data transpositions. No wonder peculating proselytizers like Gore, Pachauri, Climate Cultists’ Green Gang of Briffa, Hansen, Jones, Mann, Trenberth et al. got so much mileage under cover of their prima facie fraud. What’s next, “ocean acidification” that threatens mass extinctions due to heavy breathing? The asininity, feckless stupidity, of these death-eating Luddite sociopaths would be beyond belief if (for example) 75% of Britain’s unworthy heirs did not mindlessly subscribe to just such drivel.

This story is much deeper and much more troubling than you yet realize. To call it the biggest fraud in the history of science is no hyperbole. You still don’t understand what is going on, and you still seem unwilling to go where your own research is leading you.
You are far to generous with the MSM. They intentially withheld information from the American people because it did not jive with the Democratic Party agenda.

Currently here in the nation’s cesspool — sorry, Capital — it’s wind chill 2 degrees and snow up to my arse. Just as all politics are ultimately local, so is the whole global warming charade. Just another Convenient Lie from the EverHating Left. When I wake up tomorrow morning with ubersore arms and an aching back, I will renew my resolution to fight these wackos ’til the end.

And the final word:

If there’s a heat wave, it’s due to climate change. If there’s a blizzard, it’s climate change. Flood? Climate change. Sunny, seasonable weather? Climate change. Climate Change is the Universal Theory of Everything. And the only answer for it is a “wrenching transformation” (Gore’s exact words) in our standard of living in the developed world. Jeebus, you people are slow.

DC's Blizzard of the Century: A Break for Taxpayers

In Which I Pick Up a Snowshovel (Again) and Count My Blessings

As I prepare to spend yet another day here in Reston, Virginia--roughly 25 miles from Washington, DC--shoveling snow and straining ligaments, here's an amusing bit of "reportage" for you from the always en pointe ABC News Site:

...experts say this month's storms, with their "historic'" proportions, are ultimately a net negative for taxpayers, who foot the bill for snow cleanup and the lost productivity of more than 230,000 idle federal employees. Official Washington was shut down for a third straight snow day -- unprecedented in recent times.

Office of Personnel Management chief John Berry, who decides when to close the federal government, has said each snow day costs taxpayers an estimated $100 million in work government employees don't do. 

Yes indeedy, the Federal government is out on snow leave yet again tomorrow, their fourth day in a row--something I don't remember happening since I returned to the DC area from South Carolina over 30 years ago. But this ABC report has it exactly wrong. The snow daze is not a cost to the taxpayers at all. It's a SAVINGS for the taxpayers.

Let me explain. We've had, at this point, almost an entire week where Congress hasn't been in full session. An entire week where they haven't been dispensing pork to public employee unions, leftists, and other barnacles and leeches who live off the flesh of actual working people. And an entire week where DC's Federal work force has not been abusing taxpayers by not responding to their urgent requests on this and that because it's not convenient.

Let's do the math. Assuming the ABC report's budget estimate is correct, if we gave the entire DC contingent of the Federal government the entire year off, that would be 100 million smackers X 365. My calculator gives me a total of $36.5 billion dollars. Now just this fiscal year, Congress and all our area worker bees in your government have colluded to get us about $3 TRILLION dollars in hock. So if it costs us $36.5 B to give 'em the year off, we would actually end up SAVING a ton of money and reducing the deficit to boot, ya think? Not to mention the political mischief that simply won't happen.

Plus, the snows have provided us with an added bonus. After this winter, it will be really hard for any Congressman, except the most hardened leftist, to argue that we need "crap and trade" legislation because we have to stop "global warming," er, "climate change." The only one still stupid enough to argue in favor of "global warming," er, "climate change," is the Goracle himself.

How Federal Stimulus Plans Really Work

More Bottoms Up Wisdom from the Hinterlands

If you surf the web, you have a computer. And if you have a computer, you almost certainly have an email account. And if you get email, you sometimes get scurrilous, allegedly funny stuff sent to you all the time. Although it usually serves to clog up your email box, it's occasionally funny. And so it is with one I just got via my esteemed spouse. I have no idea of its origins, but it seems to have the current economic situation sized up just about right. Lightly edited by yours truly. Enjoy:

Sometime this year, we taxpayers will again receive another "Economic Stimulus" payment. This is indeed a very exciting program, and I'll explain it by using a Q&A format:

Q.  What is an "Economic Stimulus" payment?
A.  It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q.  Where will the government get this money?
A.  From the taxpayers.

Q.  So the government is giving me back my own money?
A.  Only a smidgen of it.

Q.  What is the purpose of this?
A.  The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q.  But isn't that stimulating the economy of  China?
A.  Shut up…

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the  U.S. economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:

• If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China or  Sri Lanka.
  
• If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.
  
• If you purchase a computer, it will go to India, Taiwan, or China.
  
• If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to  Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. (Editor's note: I'd emend this bullet item to include Chile and the People's Republic of Cal-ee-for-ni-yah.)
  
• If you buy an efficient car, it will go to Japan or Korea.
  
• If  you purchase useless stuff, it will go to  Taiwan.
  
• If you pay your credit cards off, or buy stock, it will go to management bonuses and they will hide it offshore. 

Instead,  keep the money in America by:

• Spending it at yard sales, or    
  
• Going to ball games, or  
  
• Spending it on prostitutes, or
  
• American Beer, or
  
• Tattoos. 

(These are the only American businesses still operating in the U.S.) 

Conclusion: Go to a ball game with a tattooed prostitute that you met at a yard sale and drink American beer all day!

No need to thank me, I'm just glad I could be of help.

RIP John Murtha (1932-2010)

Porkmaster General Buys the Ranch--for the Last Time

I generally regard it as inappropriate and in horrendously bad taste to badmouth someone on the day he dies. But I'm making an exception for this clown, a guy who singlehandedly seemed dedicated to giving Congress a bad name. (Not that he didn't have an awful lot of help.)

Yep, Congressman John Murtha is dead at the age of 77, due to complications from gall bladder surgery. The AP obit is here. It's a largely congratulatory pocket bio of a very bad man, and only glosses over his career of graft and theft in the last couple of grafs. And never gives even a mention of his outrageous  statements about our US Marines serving in Iraq. Among other things, Murtha was perhaps, until today, the best living example of why we damn well need term limits on members of Congress

This vicious, irascible, highly partisan leftist Democrat and Kleptocrat kept his Johnstown Pennsylvania Congressional district wallowing in pork for a good 36 years, wasting bucketloads of taxpayer dollars on boondoggles to nowhere, like a huge, mostly unused airport that would be impressive even if it were built outside of New York City. It's named after Uncle John Murtha, too. Surprised? It's always interesting the way that public building projects get named not for someone who's done something important for society but for someone who's stolen money from the taxpayers to pay for a monument to himself and buy his re-election.

On one level you could argue that Murtha was "just doin' his job." His district, by and large, has been mired in poverty for decades and one supposes he was just trying to "help." But if you probe a little deeper, an awful lot of the tens of millions of dollars Murtha extorted from the taxpayers went to defense contractors and subcontractors who ultimately added to the Congressman's own bottom line. Given the Democrat control of the current Congress, there was no way they were going to investigate this powerful and intimidating senior member for his alleged kickback schemes, one of which came to a head just last month. So it looks like the Almighty (or Fate if you will) finally had to step in and do the job.

Had enough? Making matters worse, irony of ironies, this miserable excuse for a human being was not only a veteran U.S. Marine, but collected a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts for bravery in the process. Where's the shame in that, you ask? He obviously served our nation honorably, once, way back when he was in the Corps.

Well, here's the kicker: why it was so easy for a decorated, battle scarred Marine vet to instantly "convict" some US Marines of "murdering" Iraqi civilians in cold blood even before the military had had a chance to investigate these allegations? I can imagine what kind of choice words Murtha would have had if some idiot Congressman had popped off half-cocked at his own service in Vietnam.

Here's the original accusation by Murtha:

Early in the investigations, based upon unknown evidence, Democratic Rep. John Murtha (PA) stated that “there was no firefight, there was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”

There's patriotism for you. How easy it is to forget.

Of the eight Marines ultimately charged in this case, seven have been acquitted or have had the charges dropped as of this date. The remaining case has dragged on in spite of urgings that it, too, be dismissed. The Congressman, of course, was unapologetic for his asinine, inappropriate outburst. Makes me wonder whatever happened to "Semper Fi?" (Or due process for that matter, something the current Administration really cares about--when it comes to terrorists.) Apparently Congress will do that to you.

In any event, this miserable miscreant has been removed from Congress the only way, it seems, that Congressmen from certain districts can be removed. He's passed on to his Final Judgment. I hope there are a few ex-Marines on that Pearly Gate panel along with God and St. Peter.

Who knows what machine Democrat Murtha's district will arrange to get elected now? But whether you live in Johnstown PA or anywhere else, it's time to pause and think before you re-elect the same guy you've been pulling the lever for during much of your adult life. He (or she) is always telling you about the swell projects he's bringing into your district every year. But he (or she) never tells you how it's done--by stealing taxpayer money from some other state and "redistributing" it to yours.

Now, for better or ill, Johnstown will have its turn seeing what this feels like. Whomever replaces Murtha, whether Democrat or Republican, will have to start all over again on the bottom rung of Congress' corrupt seniority system. So the massive pork barrel money Johnstown grew to depend on will start disappearing as of the next fiscal year. It'll be tough for Murtha's cronies and minions to get used to this. But I guarantee you, it will also be some other district's gain.

Until we actually get angry enough to impose term limits on the dozens of Murthas in Congress and start paying attention to whom it is that we're voting in every two or six years, the pork barrel, always a moveable feast, will lurch on to the next Congressional district on deck in the seniority sweepstakes. The same sweepstakes that cursed this nation with John Murtha for over 30 years.

Tea Party, anyone?

Ultimate DC Snow Job

Mother Nature Trashes DC, Benefits Nation by Keeping Congress From Meeting

It's been tough to blog for the last two days as the DC area where I live has been getting whacked yet again by another major snowstorm--sort of an elegant postscript to the recent "global warming" hoax.
Power is in and out, the snow continues to come down, and it's COLD down here.

A big plus, though. The government is essentially shut down for a couple of days, and it's going to be tough for Congress to get back in session, which will rob the Democrats of at least two or three days' worth of chances to screw the country up further. Thank heavens for small favors.

As my power (and computer) are periodically out of commission, I'll put up entries as I can.

Patrick Kennedy Unfit to Serve in Congress

Rich RI Rep Inserts Foot in Mouth, Chews Vigorously

Scott Brown was finally sworn in as the late Senator Ted Kennedy's replacement this week, prompting the following typical response from his lowlife son, RI Representative Patrick Kennedy, according to an article in The Hill:

Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) election has been shown to be "a joke," the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Thursday.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) castigated Brown for having pushed to be sworn in ahead of schedule to permanently fill the Senate seat left vacant by the congressman's father's death in August.

"Brown's whole candidacy was shown to be a joke today when he was sworn in early in order to cast his first vote as an objection to Obama's appointment to the NLRB," Kennedy said Thursday.

Gosh, Patrick, ya think? You'd'a never done the same for the Democrats, would you?

In point of fact, Brown, who was initially prepared to be patient, had targeted February 11 as his swearing-in date. He was persuaded to move it up on the urging of Republican leadership.

Both Massachusetts law and Senate rules dictated, in this case, that Kennedy's temporary replacement in the Senate, Paul Kirk--appointed with dubious legality in the first place by Massachusetts' corrupt governor Deval Patrick--immediately lost his power to vote in the Senate upon Brown's surprise victory. That didn't keep the Democrat Senate leadership from ignoring this fact, however, and allowing Kirk to vote anyway. His votes from that point on were clearly illegal. But details like that never stopped the Democrats from doing anything they wanted to before, so why start now?

At any rate, Repubs had had enough of the stalling (including predictable stalling in certifying the election results by Massachusetts' Secretary of State, a Democrat). So they pushed Senate leadership via another longstanding rule that allowed the swearing-in of a new senator prior to official certification if it were clear that no recount would possibly reverse the outcome of the election. And in this case, it wouldn't have. So, given the national political mood, the Dems had to swear Brown in or lose another bucket of political points.

Which brings us back to the ever-gracious Rep. Kennedy, who thundered:

"Brown's whole candidacy was shown to be a joke today when he was sworn in early in order to cast his first vote as an objection to Obama's appointment to the NLRB," Kennedy said Thursday.... 

"Seven out of ten of Brown's voters were labor households and he stressed that he was independent and while he was originally scheduled to be sworn in next week, they moved it up to today so he could cast his first vote, the most anti-labor, the most anti-what his constituents thought they were voting for when they voted for him," Kennedy said.

We've already stated the truth of the matter. Note Kennedy's condescension toward union members, typical of a machine Democrat. Massachusetts union voters who crossed the aisle knew damn well what they were doing, and today's rank-and-file union brother (or sister) knows that Democrats are totally out of tune with them, even as they cut corrupt deals with union leadership. The average union worker, and plenty of others, have simply had enough--something Kennedy simply doesn't get.

Brown's vote on behalf of his fellow Republicans, while not the main reason for his swearing-in, was simply a bonus here. Kennedy's bitter, asinine remarks, seizing on this feeble pretext, were typical of a defeated Democrat, all of whom, it appears, think they're entitled to remain in office forever. They may also hearken back to ancient history, according to The Bostonist blog:

The ironic thing with a Kennedy calling Brown's campaign "a joke" is that Ted Kennedy's initial bid for Senate in 1962 was derided as a joke by primary opponent Edward J. McCormack, Jr. who famously said "Teddy, if your name was Edward Moore instead of Edward Moore Kennedy, your candidacy would be a joke."

Bostonist wouldn't be surprised if Ted Kennedy's younger son was not aware of this ironic fact.

Patrick Kennedy's sense of entitlement is somewhat puzzling, given that he's continued the Kennedy family traditions of booze, women, and drugs, particularly the latter. This doesn't give him much standing to bad mouth anyone, a point not lost on commentators responding to the article in The Hill that we cited above, aside from the usual illiterate lefty plants. Here's a few samples:

Time to start looking for a real job Patrick. Boozing, Blonds, and Blow is right up your alley…

Patrick is just angry that the dynasty is finally over. No one reveres the Kennedy clan anymore. Go away Patrick with all of your drugs. Take the rest of the Kennedys with you.

Kennedy Klansman Patrick is drunk or high — again. The Kennedy Klan poured in tens of thousands of dollars so Patrick could unseat a 10-year incumbent Democrat to become a state representative in Rhode Island while he was a junior at Providence College. Talk about a joke.

And the coup de grace:

Hey! Rep. Kennedy! Your whole pathetic life and its "coat-tail success" is the real joke! Now who is [it] that has developed a peculiar habit of driving his Mustang in reverse down city streets or into bridge piers and abutments?… YOU are the last person on earth to call someone else or their REAL sucesses, a joke. The "Kennedy" show is over! The Baby Boomers are the last generation to care about the Kennedy Family Circus Side Show, and they're all entering their "golden years" and will be "shuffling off their mortal coils" - not nearly soon enough. And nobody gives a rat a$$ about you anyway, you pathetic jerk!

BTW, as an aging Boomer myself, I take partial exception to the Boomer reference in this comment. But it's understandable. The only Boomers who've ever gotten positive MSM PR since the 1960s are the Marxists and fellow travelers who've spent their lifetimes smashing this country down. Their "leadership," characterized by the likes of Patrick Kennedy, actually have a lot in common with Al Qaeda's leadership: rich, spoiled, entitled brats who, with nothing better to do, spend a lifetime trashing the system that gave them swell lives simply because they're bored, like to hold onto the microphone, and think that pretty much everyone else is trash in need of enlightenment, or, better yet, an early death.

Barack Obama is one of these Boomers--something few seem to actually realize. And believe me, I do hope he's a one-term president. Two terms will finish us off as a nation that matters.

Boomers like me who've opposed these clowns for our entire lives have been dissed and ignored by all but are still trying to at least halt this nation's decline so maybe the Xers can have half a chance of fixing it before it's too late. Believe me, I feel their pain.

"Global Warming" vs. Apple

 

Well, I thought it was funny. (Click on the image if you have presbyopia.)