Florida Gators beat FSU Semi-noles 45-15

Five straight victories over FSU! How sweet it is!

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews walked into the interview room, said he was embarrassed and then left without taking questions.

Coach, you're not alone. Tim Tebow and No. 2 Florida have left many others feeling the same way the past two months.

Tebow threw three touchdown passes, ran for 80 yards and another score, and the Gators thumped No. 23 Florida State 45-15 in sloppy conditions Saturday. It was the most points Florida has ever scored at Doak Campbell Stadium.

"It was a good tail-whipping," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said. "I didn't think they would beat us like that here. The last time we had a beating like that was last year against them."

Florida (11-1) extended its winning streak to eight games, continued its dominance in the intrastate rivalry and set up a 1-2 showdown with Alabama in next week's Southeastern Conference title game.

The Gators have won five in a row against Bowden's team, and this one was nearly as big a laugher as last season's 45-12 victory in Gainesville.

Midweek Peek 11.26.08

Tina Fey

Off early for Thanksgiving

Sorry, y'all. I've got a lot to do to get ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow. So the blog's on hold for the next couple days, see y'all 'round here again on Friday.

I hope you all have a enjoyable holiday with friends, family and loved ones!

Americans flunk civics test

I find this extremely disturbing. No wonder Obama got elected! (h/t: Writemarsh)

US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

"It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI's civic literacy test, but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be concerned," said Josiah Bunting, chairman of the National Civic Literacy Board at ISI.

"How can political leaders make informed decisions if they don't understand the American experience?" he added.

The exam questions covered American history, the workings of the US government and economics.

The results of this test really lend creedence to the saying by Alexis de Tocqueville: "In a Democracy, the people get the government they deserve."

You can take the same civics test here to test your knowledge.

My 9th grade civics teacher would be proud of me; I scored 96.97%, getting 32 out of 33 correct. That's WAY better than I did in his class! The question that tripped me up was #30:

Which of the following fiscal policy combinations would a government most likely follow to stimulate economic activity when the economy is in a severe recession?

A. increasing both taxes and spending
B. increasing taxes and decreasing spending
C. decreasing taxes and increasing spending
D. decreasing both taxes and spending

It figures I'd miss that one!

Holy Land Foundation convicted of funding terrorism

After last year's mistrial, this is especially good news!

DALLAS – A jury convicted five former officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) on all counts in the Hamas-support case after 8 days of deliberations.

The men, Shukri Abu-Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohamed El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdelrahman Odeh, could face up to 20 years in prison for their convictions on conspiracy counts, including conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The verdicts, read Monday afternoon, ended a two-year saga in what is considered the largest terror financing case since the 9/11 attacks.

In the original trial last year, jurors acquitted El-Mezain on 31 of the 32 counts against him, but could not reach unanimous verdicts on any other counts, prompting a mistrial.

Prosecutors made a series of significant adjustments, from dropping 29 counts each against defendants Mufid Abdulqader and Abdelrahman Odeh, to adding new witnesses who could put the charity support in context. In addition, jurors in this trial saw three exhibits Israeli military officials seized from the Palestinian Authority which showed the PA also considered HLF to be a Hamas financer and that an HLF-supported charity committee was controlled by Hamas.

The result was a much more streamlined case that followed a logical narrative, said Peter Margulies, a law professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. Seeing the Palestinian Authority reach the same conclusion as the U.S. government had to have helped, he said.

In addition, prosecutors provided summary exhibits that served as "a road map" to the case and had to help jurors deliberate, Margulies said. "The jury was able to look at the evidence and get past the perceived biases of any of the witnesses and see the evidence as a whole."

That evidence made clear that the defendants knew where the money raised in the U.S. was going despite legal prohibitions against support for Hamas.

The story was very straightforward in today's Dallas Morning News:

After more than 15 years of investigation and two trials, the Holy Land Foundation and five of its former organizers were found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The verdicts by a Dallas federal jury are a significant victory for the Justice Department, which streamlined its case after a mistrial last year and worked hard to carefully educate jurors on the complex evidence presented in the massive case.

Guilty verdicts were read on 108 separate charges.

No word yet on whether CAIR will try to position these jihadi scumbags as victims.

Is Winston Smith heading Obama's transition team?

More campaign promises down the memory hole. Obama's transition is increasingly sounding like an episode of Mad TV's "Lowered Expectations." Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Obama backing off of policies that would hurt America. I just find it disingenuous that he ran on one platform and is now revising it to be closer and closer to George W. Bush's positions – the very ones he promised to "change."

Triangulation, it isn't just for breakfast anymore!

Obama Advisers To Public: Temper Expectations
President-elect Barack Obama and his inner circle fear that some voters expect him to turn around the economy, wind down the war in Iraq and, perhaps, cure cancer -- all by the Fourth of July.

They know they must manage and lower those expectations, CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports.

A top economic advisor to Obama had a glum warning for the rest of us Thursday morning: Neither the job market nor the stock market will be turning around any time soon.

"This might be a long haul," said Robert Reich, who was President Bill Clinton's secretary of labor. "2009 is going to be a very hard year. Some economists say we won't be out of this for two years, others are saying it may be three, or four, maybe five years."

Gee, I wonder where the public got their idea that Obama was going to be able to accomplish the impossible? Team Obama didn't mind the ridiculous optimism when it was all talk. Now that it's time to make good, everybody needs a dose of reality? Puh-leeze.

Obama Aides Suggest Rollback of Bush Tax Cuts Could Be Delayed
Aides to President-elect Barack Obama suggested on Sunday that he wouldn’t immediately implement a pledged rollback of tax cuts for the top tier of American income earners, because of the worsening economic outlook.

A senior adviser to Obama confirmed that New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner would be the administration’s nominee for Treasury secretary, and added that the Obama team was gratified by the late rally on Wall Street on Friday after news of the pick leaked out.

During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Obama economic adviser William Daley suggested that the incoming administration would reconsider whether to quickly increase taxes for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year.

Daly, who was commerce secretary under former President Bill Clinton and is the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daly, said it looks “more likely than not” that Obama would not seek legislation to repeal President George W. Bush’s cut in the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans before it is scheduled to expire after the 2010 tax year. Bush cut the top rate to 35% from 39.6% in 2001.

Obama had promised to restore the top tax rate to its earlier level, while cutting taxes for the middle class.

So Obama's "soak the rich" tax scheme might now be abandoned as the economy-killer that it is. Class envy might make for a snappy populist campaign, but even a socialist can see how bad it would be for the economy. Hrm, maybe Bush's tax cuts weren't such a bad idea ofter all.

We'll see about that. The Obama team seems to be trying to have it both ways, depending on where you read. Currently, Obama's site still says "Obama will ask the wealthiest 2% of families to give back a portion of the tax cuts they have received over the past eight years to ensure we are restoring fairness and returning to fiscal responsibility." That's a clever way of rephrasing "tax the pants off the evil rich."

Obama Sets Expansive Goal for Jobs
Plan Aims to Create or Save 2.5 Million Positions by 2011
The plan, which Obama announced yesterday during the weekly Democratic radio address, is more expansive -- and undoubtedly more expensive -- than anything proposed so far to revive the nation's deteriorating economy. Obama said the darkening economic outlook demands that Washington act "swiftly and boldly" to diminish the risk that the nation "could lose millions of jobs next year."
[...]
While cast as a response to a rapidly worsening crisis, the plan could enable Obama to shift massive sums to domestic priorities that Democrats say have long been neglected, such as health care and education. It also could provide seed money to reshape major U.S. industries, hastening the production of wind and solar energy and fuel-efficient cars, for example. Obama said the plan would be "a down payment on the type of reform my administration will bring to Washington."

So let me see if I have this straight. If America's employment rate stays approximately the same, the mainstream press is setting up Obama to be able to claim that he's saved those jobs somehow?

Oh well, salvation is a hallmark of the messiah.
---
UPDATE: Jules Crittenden skewers the changing change; "As heartening as it may be to see evidence of common sense, the concern going forward is that Obama has shown himself to be lacking principles as well as a spine. Not good traits in a wartime president, particularly in times of economic turmoil."

Back to the dojo

Wow, the latter half of this week has been absolutely boring to me. I haven't been able to get excited about much of anything going on in the news.

But on a personal note, I'm finally feeling more motivated to get back into the dojo and begin working out again. I've been practicing Japanese swordsmanship for about nine years and for eight of those, I hardly ever missed a class. But the past 18 months of unemployment/freelancing really took the wind out of my sails. And though I finally landed a full-time gig back in September, I've found it extremely difficult to get my ass back to training again.

Today, however, I found my former enthusiasm again. Not only will I be back in the dojo tonight, I'm redesigning our website and finding new ways to use technology to recruit new students. Our dojo is small and we'd like it to mostly remain such, as none of us are doing this for money. But a restrained amount of growth could be a good thing.

It's certainly good for me on a personal level.

Hillary accepts Secretary of State position

Let the battle of egos begin!

via The New York Times – Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to give up her Senate seat and accept the position of secretary of state, making her the public face around the world for the administration of the man who beat her for the Democratic presidential nomination, two confidants said Friday.

Mrs. Clinton came to her decision after additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about the nature of her role and his plans for foreign policy, said one of the confidants, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the situation. Mr. Obama’s office told reporters Thursday that the nomination is “on track” but Clinton associates only confirmed Friday afternoon that she has decided.

“She’s ready,” said the confidant. Mrs. Clinton was reassured after talking again with Mr. Obama because their first meeting in Chicago last week “was so general,” the confidant said. The purpose of the follow-up talk, he added, was not to extract particular concessions but “just getting comfortable” with the idea of working together.

A second Clinton associate confirmed that her camp believes they have a done deal. Senior Obama advisers said Friday morning that the offer had not been formally accepted and no announcement will be made until after Thanksgiving. But they said they were convinced that the nascent alliance was now ready to be sealed.

One step closer to SCOTUS review of Barack Obama's birth certificate

Last week, I wrote a little about the Berg case pending before the Supreme Court regarding Barack Obama's birth certificate.

It appears the case may be coming to a head:

A case that challenges President-elect Barack Obama's name on the 2008 election ballot citing questions over his citizenship has been scheduled for a "conference" at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Conferences are private meetings of the justices at which they review cases and decide which ones to accept for formal review. This case is set for a conference Dec. 5, just 10 days before the Electoral College is scheduled to meet to make formal the election of Obama as the nation's next president.
[...]
If four of the nine justices vote to hear the case in full, oral argument may be scheduled.
[...]
Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes and others filed a court petition in California asking the secretary of state to refuse to allow the state's 55 Electoral College votes to be cast in the 2008 presidential election until Obama verifies his eligibility to hold the office.

The disputes all cite "natural-born citizen" requirement set by the U.S. Constitution.
[...]
The biggest question is why Obama, if a Hawaii birth certificate exists as his campaign has stated, simply hasn't ordered it made available to settle the rumors.

The governor's office in Hawaii said there is a valid certificate but rejected requests for access and left ambiguous its origin: Does the certificate on file with the Department of Health indicate a Hawaii birth or was it generated after the Obama family registered a Kenyan birth in Hawaii?

Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro, has named two different Hawaii hospitals where Obama could have been born. There have been other allegations that Obama actually was born in Kenya during a time when his father was a British subject.
[...]
The case also raises the circumstances of Obama's time during his youth in Indonesia, where he was listed as having Indonesian citizenship. Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship, raising the possibility of Obama's mother having given up his U.S. citizenship.

Any subsequent U.S. citizenship then, the case claims, would be "naturalized," not "natural-born."

While I still find the entire situation extremely questionable, I'm not holding my breath for justice to be done.

Obama campaign may have received $63,000,000 in illegal foreign donations

For a while now, we've known that the Obama campaign deliberately disregarding address and security-code verification that would have ensured that online credit card donations were being made in compliance with election laws.

Now, a new report shows just how much "change" Obama managed to rake in through his campaign's fraudulent efforts.

When Newsmax pored over the campaign finance records, more than 65,000 Obama donations appeared to be conversions of foreign currency. According to our analysis of the Obama campaign data, foreign currency donations could range anywhere from $12.8 million to a stunning $63 million. [emphasis added - ed.]

And the thing is, it's just so obvious. For example:

Someone named Good Will from Austin, Texas, had donated to the Obama campaign hundreds of times. Most of the donations were for just $25. But in total, they amounted to more than $17,000, far exceeding the $4,600 limit for individual contributors. Moreover, Mr. Good Will listed his employer as “Loving” and his profession as “You.” Clearly, Good Will wasn’t real.

It gets worse. MUCH worse.

The fake donors could have been caught. Even rudimentary online merchant security procedures would have stopped donors from using a name or address that didn’t match the credit-card account. The Obama campaign had turned off most of those safety features on its Web site, industry analysts and a confidential informant told Newsmax.

That facilitated scenarios like the one on Oct. 14, when an individual using the name “O.J. Simpson” participated in an Obama small-donor fundraising drive, and made a $5 donation through the Web site. Giving a Los Angeles address, he listed his employer as the “State of Nevada” and his occupation as “convict.” The donor used a disposable “gift” card to make the donation. The Obama campaign sent O.J. a thank-you note confirming his contribution.

Four minutes earlier, an individual using the name “Raela Odinga” also made a $5 contribution, using the same gift card. The real Raela Odinga became prime minister of Kenya in April and has claimed to be a cousin of Obama’s through a maternal uncle. Obama donor “Raela Odinga” listed his address as “2007 Stolen Election Passage” in “Nairobi, KY.” This donation raised no alarm bells in Obama’s campaign.

A few minutes earlier, “Daffy Duck” gave $5 to the Obama matching campaign, listing his address as “124 Wacky Way, Beverly Hills, Calif.”

But just as with Odinga’s address, the “Wacky Way” address failed to raise any alarm bells or security traps on the Obama campaign Web site. Daffy Duck also used the same card as “O.J. Simpson” and “Raela Odinga.” Within the hour, three other new donors gave $5 to the Obama campaign:

• Bart Simpson of 333 Heavens Gate, Beverly Hills, Calif.
• Family Guy of 128 KilltheJews Alley, Gaza, Ga.
• King Kong of 549 Quinn Street, Capitol Heights, Md.

These Democrat assclowns weren't even trying to be sneaky about their blatant fraud. I think this case sets new a new standard for the Cassandra phenomenon.

Newsmax asked whether Chase Paymentech had any security feature that would allow it to identify individuals making contributions using gift cards, but Wester declined to comment.

But other industry analysts, who asked not to be identified, told Newsmax that processors could track gift cards and debit cards “only by the numbers on the cards.”

“There are no names associated with these cards, so as a processor, you have no way of knowing who made the transaction,” one industry analyst said.

Anyone can go into a supermarket or a drugstore and buy a batch of these cards with cash, so there is no trace of the transaction, he added.

“It’s like walk-around money. They could be handing these things out as perks” to newly registered voters or others, “and there’s no way of tracing who is using them.”

Boehm tells Newsmax that contributions such as these clearly are illegal. “Making a contribution in the name of another person is the only part of federal election law that actually carries a criminal penalty,” says Boehm.

But why aren't we hearing these facts in the mainstream media? Will the FEC investigate these fundraising irregularities? Probably not.

Mary Brandenberger, an FEC spokeswoman, declined to comment on the likelihood of an Obama audit...Even if Obama’s campaign reached the audit recommendation trigger point, it’d be tough to muster the majority commission vote necessary to initiate the audit. That’s because the FEC is comprised of three Democratic commissioners and three Republicans and, as such, is prone to deadlock on partisan issues.

Obama, like his criminal friend William Ayers, will remain "Guilty as sin, free as a bird."

Obama's change = politics as usual

Those of you who were deceived into voting for "change", I hope you realize by now that you've been duped. You merely succeeded in electing an avowed socialist who is surrounding himself with the same lobbyists and political insiders he spent his entire campaign demonizing.

When Obama said he'd "bring people together", he must have been referring to re-assembling the old Clinton team. Because that's what he's doing.

John Podesta, who is heading the president-elect's transition team, was President Clinton's chief of staff. In fact, many others being considered for top positions in an Obama administration are straight from the Clinton administration.

Attorney General – Eric Holder, the Clinton administration’s last deputy attorney general.

Much has been made, and appropriately so, of Holder’s untoward performance in the final corrupt act of the Clinton administration: the pardons issued in the departing president’s final hours. Of these, most notorious is the case of Marc Rich, an unrepentant fugitive wanted on extensive fraud, racketeering, and trading-with-the-enemy charges — but granted a pardon nonetheless thanks to the intercession of his ex-wife, a generous donor to Clinton’s library and legal-defense fund.

White House counsel – Gregory Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who handled President Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense.

Besides defending Clinton through the impeachment process, an effort that Craig lost, who else had the benefit of Craig’s counsel?

• Elian Gonzalez’s father - Craig represented the father who demanded the return of his son after his estranged wife died trying to take Elian to freedom. Most people saw this as a thinly-veiled publicity stunt from Fidel Castro, attempting to embarrass the US. The dispute got resolved when Janet Reno ordered an armed assault on the house where Elian’s family in the US provided him a home.
• John Hinckley, Jr - Craig presented and won the insanity defense that allows Ronald Reagan’s would-be assassin to spend weekends with his family now.
• Kofi Annan - The former Secretary-General of the UN hired Craig to defend his interests in the Volcker Commission probe of the Oil-for-Food scandal, which put billions of dollars into Saddam Hussein’s pockets while providing cash for Annan’s son, his deputies, and some allege Annan himself.
• Pedro Gonzalez Pinzon - A Panamanian legislator wanted for murdering an American soldier in 1992. The Dallas Morning News demanded that Obama force Craig to drop the case during the campaign, but no report of whether he did is easily available.

White House chief of staff – Rahm Emanuel, senior Clinton White House veteran and hyperpartisan attack dog.

Emanuel is a brawler. He's legendarily tough and effective and ruthless. Hes the type of guy who makes enemies, then makes lists of his enemies, then makes lists of his enemies' friends, then makes lists of how they'll pay. If you thought the Obama administration would be all about bringing people together and would simply make sad faces when stubborn congressmen refused to come to the table, this is a clear sign otherwise. If good feelings don't suffice, bareknuckle politics will happily be employed.

There's even talk that Obama is considering offering the position of Secretary of State to Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Obama isn't bringing change nor will he be "changing the way politics works" in America. He's positioning himself to be Bill Clinton's third term, with a heavy dash of Leon Trotsky thrown in for good measure.

Will Obama's inauguration be a big lie?

On January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama will recite the following oath, in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution:

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

How can Obama take the presidential oath of office with a straight face when he's already expressed a desire for the Supreme Court to "break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution"?

Was he lying when he said he wants to change it to allow redistribution of wealth? Or will he be lying when he says that he'll defend the it?

Midweek Peek 11.19.08

Zoe Saldana will play Uhura in the upcoming Star Trek movie.

How Obama got elected

Back in October, Howard Stern demonstrated how voters in Harlem didn't know the difference between Sen. Obama's views and Sen. McCain's.

Now, HowObamaGotElected.com provides further evidence (shown in the clip above) of how the media's blatant bias is enabling stupidity and damaging our country.

Because interviewing a relative handful of Obama voters is hardly scientific proof of anything, filmmaker John Ziegler also commissioned a Zogby telephone poll which asked the same questions (as well as a few others) with similar results.

512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points
97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)

82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)

88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)

56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).

And yet.....

Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes

Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter

And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.

Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)

Looks like more people really should have had to take this "current events IQ" test before being allowed into the voting booth: Should You Be Allowed To Vote?

Top NASA scientist caught fudging global warming data

This Investor's Business Daily article gets right to the heart of what I've been saying all along regarding the anthropogenic "global warming/climate change" hysteria: the debate ISN'T over...even among top scientists. Unless, of course, they're cooking the books for Al Gore.

James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and global warming alarmist, is Al Gore’s favorite scientist, part of that mythical global warming “consensus” that says we are doomed and man is the culprit. On Nov. 10 he announced that last month was the hottest October on record and we were still doomed.

Dr. Hansen has not only become global warming’s Robin to Al Gore’s Batman, he has also been a critic of the “deniers,” those who dare to insist that the debate is far from over, and that the computer models used can’t even predict the past, much less the future.

Hansen has said in the past that “heads of major fossil-fuel companies who spread disinformation about global warming should be ‘tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.’ ” They pay for self-serving studies, and any scientist who disagrees with Gore is obviously on the take.

Christopher Booker, writing in the U.K. Telegraph, reports that Hansen apparently has been spreading disinformation all his own to come up with a conclusion that flies in the face of empirical evidence we can see with our own eyes.

Hansen’s claim of the hottest October ever came after reports of unseasonal snow and record low temperatures.

China’s official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its “worst snowstorm ever.”

The Swiss lowlands last month got the most snow for any October since records began.

Zurich received 20 centimeters, breaking the record of 14 cm set in 1939. Ocala, Fla., experienced the second-lowest temperature recorded for October since 1850.

Elsewhere in the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th warmest October in 114 years. So how did Hansen claim it was the warmest?

Booker writes: “The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running.”

As Booker reports, the glaring error was picked up by two intrepid climate bloggers — U.S. meteorologist Anthony Watts of Watts Up With That and Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit.

McIntyre is the Canadian computer analyst who won fame for his expert debunking of the infamous “hockey stick” graph that purported to show Earth’s temperature as stable until man started building SUVs, causing a sharp upward spike.

Caught with its pants down, the Goddard Institute started juggling its books. To compensate for the carrying over of the bogus temperature readings, it claimed to have discovered a new “hotspot” in the Arctic — in a month when satellite images were showing Arctic sea-ice 30% more extensive than at the same time last year. Ooops.

If Dr. Hansen thinks oil company executives should be tried for crimes against humanity for being skeptical about global warming claims and seeking the truth, what should the penalty be for him and his ilk? He is yelling fire in a crowded planet.

The Goddard now says it got the data from another body and didn’t have the resources to verify the data. In the computer world, there’s a phrase for this — garbage in, garbage out. The institute’s figures are one of four data sets used by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to come up with its doomsday scenarios.

And now, just in time for Obama's video address to the Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles, preliminary data from a long-term study shows another side effect of higher CO2 levels in the atmosphere: increased growth in trees. Surprise! The Earth adapts! (h/t: Say Anything)

The 10-year experiment in Oak Ridge showed that higher levels of carbon dioxide enhanced productivity of sweetgum trees - at least for a while. Absorption of carbon dioxide and conversion to wood, leaves, roots and sugars took place at an increased rate.

“This is important because if forests across the Earth absorb carbon from the atmosphere a bit faster, the carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustions won’t build up quite as fast, and the greenhouse effect causing climate change will be slowed,” Norby said, emphasizing that the change won’t be stopped.

The increased productivity occurred mostly below ground, the scientist said. Instead of making more wood in the trunk, the trees enriched with carbon dioxide made more roots, he said. These fine roots only live for about a year and then deposit their carbon into the soil, he said.

Those damn trees could rob Obama of his 5 million new "green jobs"!
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Previous posts for further reading:

• Chicken Little debunked... again
• American Physical Society declares "global warming" unproven
• Denying the global warming "deniers"
• Penn & Teller challenge environmental hysteria

New Star Trek trailer 2

Enjoy this before they take it down. Just strap on some Depends first.

It doesn't look 100% canonical to the original Trek series (Platocrates, help me out here), and I know they aren't the real Kirk/Spock/Bones/Scotty/etc, but it still looks pretty cool to me. I'll be seeing it regardless! Fingers crossed that Paramount isn't repeating Lucas' prequel abortions.
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Reposted with the official version

Obama's permanent safety net

During my morning train ride to work today, I was reading a few articles on my iPhone since the Dallas Morning News no longer publishes their Quick newspaper. And I was struck by the number of bloggers and pundits who are believing that the Obama-fellating media will eventually turn on the Democrats. The popular reasoning is, now that the Dems hold the White House as well as a nearly filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and the largest Democrat majority in the House since 1993, there’ll be no one else to blame if/when their policies fail.

To which I say: have y’all not been paying attention for the past 8 years?

Does anybody really believe that Bush Derangement Syndrome will simply go away after he leaves office in January? When the Democrats’ well-intentioned philosophies and policies inevitably fail (as they are doing right now with all these bailouts), we will hear excuse after excuse about how it’s Bush’s fault.

And they will be partially correct. This is what I was talking about last week.

Bush has abandoned many conservative principles, choosing instead to govern in an irresponsible manner that has been correctly described as “Democrat Lite.” Combining Democrat-style spending with Republican-style tax cuts has made a tremendous mess of our economy. Integrating Democrat-style touchy-feely amnesty into security and social issues like illegal immigration has resulted in new crime wave fueled by illegals as well as millions of illegals who who defy deportation orders (just like Obama’s aunt). Bush’s disparate track record will be a primary reason why it won’t be hard for Obama to successfully dodge accusations if he fails to fulfill his campaign promises (he’s already backing away from many, such as his promise to have no lobbyists in his administration or his promise to close Guantanamo).

When you combine Bush's inconsistencies with the far right’s often caustic social agenda (i.e. their hateful anti-gay attitude), the left and center will be continue to be disinclined to support the GOP for years to come, even if they agree with them on many essential political and economic issues. And the media will continue to use Bush and the Republicans as convenient whipping boys, allowing a majority of voters to maintain their excitement at being "progressive," even if many of them can't tell you what that means.

Bottom line, it’s “hip” to be a Democrat whether you’re a voter or in the media. And it will remain so for the forseeable future. No amount of mistakes by Obama or the Dems will swing the pendulum back – even to the center – until it’s way too late.

After all, we’ve done a bangup job at weaning our society off welfare, haven’t we?

Watchmen Trailer #2!

Unbe-freakin'-lievable.

Yahoo's Watchmen page has more cool pics and posters, too.

Is Obama eliminating gun owners from his cabinet?

Here comes the change we've been hearing about.

Many liberal voters must have sighed with relief after President-elect Obama's victory, secure in the thought that, with no Republican nominees joining the Supreme Court for at least the next four years, the right to privacy is safe. Yet while it's true that Roe v. Wade will remain the law of the land for the foreseeable future, there is more to privacy than judicial rulings regarding sex and its consequences.

The New York Times reports that Obama's transition office is requiring prospective cabinet members and other high-ranking officials to respond to a seven-page, 63-item questionnaire that "may be the most extensive--some say invasive--application ever."

Looks like Obama's litmus test for serving in his administration may include surrendering 2nd Amendment rights.

"Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun?" (page 7, question 59).

Nice. Obama has already been anti-gun for a long time, as evidenced by his voting record. Now that he's ready to rule, it seems the gloves are slowly coming off.
---
Previous posts for further reading:

• An open letter regarding Obama's votes on gun rights


• Why Barack Obama's "change" is wrong

I KNEW IT!

(teh funny h/t: jcrue)

That's Why Obama Was Born?

Beverage alert. And by beverage, I mean Kool-Aid. See how much of this "Ode to Chairman O" you can stomach. (h/t: Two Dogs)

Looks like Time Magazine has been drinking deeply:

"Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope. Barack Obama never talks about how people see him: I’m not the one making history, he said every chance he got. You are. Yet as he looked out Tuesday night through the bulletproof glass, in a park named for a Civil War general, he had to see the truth on people’s faces. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, he liked to say, but people were waiting for him, waiting for someone to finish what a King began."

They capitalized "King"? Are they actually alluding to Obama as MLK 2.0? Or do they think he's the second-coming of Christ?

Either way, gag.

Awaiting my turn in Room 101

I've been noticing the recent trend toward kumbaya from the left but before I could write something about it, my blog-buddy Pam Meister beat me to the punch in grand style. Here's just a taste; be sure to click over and read the whole thing.

Call for Post Election 'Unity' Fails the Giggle Test

...Speaking of unity: over the past eight years, many on the left made it known that they had no use for unity. For example, “embarrassed” by George Bush, noted political commentator Julia Roberts said, “He’s not my president.” Unflattering comparisons of Bush to chimpanzees and Hitler and claims of his inherent stupidity dotted the blogosphere. While the legacy media couldn’t quite get away with calling Bush the heir to the Third Reich, they did everything they could to discredit the president and his policies, even if it meant printing leaks of sensitive programs designed to keep Americans safe in the wake of 9/11.

Now that The One has emerged victorious, the need for unity is suddenly imperative. During his acceptance speech, Obama said that even if he didn’t win your vote, “I will be your president.”...Another example of this sudden need for peace, love, and reconciliation is the website From 52 to 48 with Love. Perhaps they chose the site name before the final vote tally was in. Created by the same type of “feelings first” folks who brought you Sorry Everybody, a site that apologized to the world for the 2004 reelection of George Bush, it’s populated with photos of people holding handmade signs with saccharine sentiments like, “Dear 48, I PROMISE: to listen to you, to fight for you, to respect you always. Love, 52.” It’s an interesting reaction, considering signs like this one that appeared on Sorry Everybody in 2004: “I am so sorry. Next time we’ll get the b****** for real O.K.”
[...]
The left has assumed power — whether it be temporary or long-lived — and the dissent that these self-proclaimed tolerant progressives wore as a badge of honor during the Bush years suddenly is no longer desirable. From bullying children in the classroom to using fear of the economy to get those who tried “to make sure that Barack Obama would not become president of the United States” to march in lockstep with the progressive agenda, these are the means to the end of “unity.”

Yep, everyone is now expected to roll over and support socialist doctrines which are so patently un-American, we've repeatedly gone to war against them. Yet now, we're expected to embrace them in silent consent because they're being espoused by a charismatic black politician who's hell-on-wheels with a teleprompter. No more "loyal opposition." No more "dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Now we all must believe the Ministry of Truth and "get behind" Obama, even though his policies are demonstrably wrong.

Like I've said before, I'm tempted to dish out a heaping helping of "not my president" for the next few years, but I won't be doing that. I had a hard time dealing with 8 years of President Clinton, but never did I think or feel that he wasn't my president. I just disliked his policies and his smarmy style (well, that and his perjury and obstruction of justice). I opposed many of his priorities and I'll likely oppose Obama's if he tries to slide America toward Marxism. I'll give Obama a chance. But I refuse to empower communism in my country.

Of course, there's always Room 101 for folks like me.

5 Things Meme

I've been tagged by Writemarsh, so here goes...

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago

• Spending lots of time with my daughters


• Working as Creative Director for a small regional ad agency


• Hiking & camping (which I never do any more)


• Planning a career move to a larger city


• Contemplating a divorce

5 Things on My To-Do List Today

• Multitasking at work, supervising my team


• Organize my Safari links so they’re the same at work, on my iPhone, at at home


• Pick out songs for karaoke tonight


• Finish making my insurance choices (annual open enrollment)


• Submit overdue invoice for an old freelance gig

5 Snacks I Like

• Quaker chocolate or apple cinnamon “Quakes” (Mini Rice Cakes)


• Jack Link’s beef jerky


• Dreyer’s Dibs


• Yoplait fat-free yogurt


• Anything from Taco Bell (not really snack, but totally great)

5 Things I Would Do If I Was A Millionaire

• Invest 10%, tithe 10%


• Make sure my kids are fully set with savings accounts for college and weddings


• Pay back my parents every penny they ever gave me


• Spend a month in Japan


• Buy a super tricked-out Harley

5 Places I Have Lived

• Dallas, TX


• Louisville, KY


• Atlanta, GA


• Gainesville, FL


• Jacksonville, FL

5 Jobs I Have Had

• Creative Director


• Freelance Art Director/Designer


• Stat Camera Operator


• Typesetter/Paste-Up Artist


• Lifeguard

5 People I Tag

• traci
• Tirya
• Vicious Headbutt
• Fuzzy’s Dad
• Roland Hume

Midweek Peek 11.12.08

Salma Hayek

Obama wants Bush on the hook for rescuing automakers

I realize that I'm totally jaded, but this seems to me to be an effort by Obama to have his cake and eat it, too (surprise, surprise). If all goes well, he can take credit for being proactive before taking office. And if the bailout fails, he's positioned himself to be able to blame Bush for the mistake.

President-elect Barack Obama yesterday urged President Bush to support immediate aid for struggling automakers and back a new stimulus package, even as congressional Democrats began drafting legislation to give the Detroit automakers quick access to $25 billion by adding them to the Treasury Department's $700 billion economic rescue program.

Large-scale government intervention into American industry is not the answer. How does another bailout make GM and Ford better companies? Infusing these corporations with cash won't make them more efficient. Besides, why can't they be allowed to fail if they're unable to compete? Why must American taxpayers continue to prop up unsuccessful businesses and reward ineptitude?

If that's our model going forward, is the federal government also going to bail out every taxpayer who faces personal bankruptsy?

Well, Bush has been acting like a liberal for several years, spending money like the proverbial drunken sailor. And Obama's Santa Claus proposals are what got him elected in the first place. So I guess it stands to reason that nobody will be held accountable for their mistakes anymore; Big Brother will continue to step in and rescue everybody.

And it'll all be Bush's fault again.

It's 11:11 on 11/11

Yeah, I know I'm weird. But this makes me happy (and in three years, I'm gonna really love it).

Happy Veterans Day 2008

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - George Orwell


A heartfelt thanks to all the men & women who have served and continue to serve in our armed forces, protecting America's citizens and our liberties.

A little history on the origin of Veterans Day, courtesy of Wikipedia:

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 12, 1919. The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting the President issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies. An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday; "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."

In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas, shoe store owner named Al King had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who served in World War I. King had been actively involved with the American War Dads during World War II. He began a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. The Emporia Chamber of Commerce took up the cause after determining that 90% of Emporia merchants as well as the Board of Education supported closing their doors on November 11, 1953, to honor veterans. With the help of then-U.S. Rep. Ed Rees, also from Emporia, a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954.[3]

Congress amended this act on November 8, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with Veterans, and it has been known as Veterans Day since.

Please consider saying "thank you" by making a charitable donation today while it's fresh in your mind. There are several worthy organizations whose efforts honor those who've sacrificed for our country. Here are just a few...

Soldier's Angels is my favorite. They have 20 different teams and programs supporting all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

"We send letters, care packages, and comfort items to the deployed, and we support their families here at home. We also provide assistance to the wounded, continuing support for veterans, remembrances and comfort for families of the fallen, and immediate response to unique difficulties."

Two other great charities:

• Wounded Warriors provides services and programs that ease the burdens of the most seriously wounded and their families, aid in the recovery process and smooth their transition back to civilian life.


• Operation Gratitude helps by sending care packages addressed to individual service members deployed overseas.

"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards." - Theodore Roosevelt

Will Obama obey the SCOTUS and produce his original birth certificate?

From the Department of "Don't Count Your Chickens Before They're Hatched", here is the latest on Philip Berg's petition to the US Supreme Court challenging Senator Obama's "lack of qualifications" to serve as President of the United States (namely, proof of American citizenship), via Joan Swirsky:

...Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s Clerk informed Philip J. Berg, the lawyer who brought the case against Obama, that his petition for an injunction to stay the November 4th election was denied, but the Clerk also required the defendants to respond to the Writ of Certiorari (which requires the concurrence of four Justices) by December 1. At that time, Mr. Obama must present to the Court an authentic birth certificate, after which Mr. Berg will respond.

If Obama fails to do that, it is sure to inspire the skepticism of the Justices, who are unaccustomed to being defied. They will have to decide what to do about a president-elect who refuses to prove his natural-born citizenship.

“I can see a unanimous Court (en banc) decertifying the election if Obama refuses to produce his birth certificate,” says Raymond S. Kraft, an attorney and writer. “They cannot do otherwise without abandoning all credibility as guardians of the Constitution. Even the most liberal justices, however loathe they may to do this, still consider themselves guardians of the Constitution. The Court is very jealous of its power - even over presidents, even over presidents-elect.”

Also remember that on December 13, the Electoral College meets to casts its votes. If it has been determined that Mr. Obama is an illegal alien and therefore ineligible to become President of the United States, the Electors will be duty-bound to honor the Constitution.

The Obama campaign created their own page to display his birth certificate and quash rumors. And the issue has been debunked by Snopes and FactCheck.org. But the controversy remains that the document produced is a copy of a brand new document, not the original certified birth certificate that Obama has yet to produce.

More details via John P. Connolly at The Bulletin:

Mr. Obama put an electronic photo of a birth certification on his "Fight the Smears" Web site, a document that his critics have found unconvincing. The raised seal and authoritative signature needed to validate the document cannot be seen on the scan. The Obama campaign was unwilling to release the original document to the court when Mr. Berg filed suit in August, choosing instead to argue against Mr. Berg's standing.

Mr. Berg asserts that Mr. Obama was born in Kenya, as his mother, Ann Dunham, was denied entry to the plane home due to her advanced pregnancy. Since she was only 18 at the time of Mr. Obama's birth, she would not have passed citizenship on to Mr. Obama. In 1961, citizenship could only be passed on to a child where one parent was an alien should the citizen parent have resided in the U.S. for 10 years, five of those over the age of 14.

The State of Hawaii has refused to release copies of Mr. Obama's birth certificate, because Department of Health officials say the privacy statutes of the state prevent them from doing so to anyone who does not have a "direct and tangible interest" in the record as prescribed in the state statute.

In Honolulu, Andy Martin, a longtime critic of Mr. Obama, filed a lawsuit in October, in an attempt to get the Hawaiian Department of Health to release Mr. Obama's birth certificate records. Mr. Martin announced last week that he plans to get members of the Electoral College to pressure Mr. Obama into presenting his birth certificate.

"We are going to start organizing a 'Goal Line Stand' in the Electoral College to force Barack Obama to produce his original 1961 birth certificate for review by the American people," Mr. Martin said. "Republicans, conservatives and independents have a new rallying point. Don't let Obama pass through the Electoral College until he has produced his original birth certificate and ended the mystery shrouding his origins."

No one, aside from Department of Health officials, has seen the original document. Mr. Martin has a court hearing on Nov. 18 in the Circuit Court for Honolulu, Hawaii to continue his case.

I orginally thought this was simply another conspiracy theory. And it may yet be. But with the SCOTUS being involved now, it's one theory that won't likely be easily swept under the rug.

Happy Birthday, Marine Corps!

Happy 233rd Birthday, Marines. Semper Fi!

R 082000z OCT 08
ALMAR 042/08
MSGID/GENADMIN/CMC WASHINGTON DC CMC//
SUBJ/UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS BIRTHDAY MESSAGE - 10 NOVEMBER 2008//
POC/SSGT M. BELL/ADMIN CHIEF/UNIT:CMC STAFF GROUP/-
/TEL:(703) 614-2326//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/

1. During the summer of 1982, in the wake of a presidential directive, marines went ashore at Beirut, Lebanon. Fifteen months later, on 23 October 1983, extremists struck the first major blow against American forces - starting this long war on terrorism. On that Sunday morning, a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden truck into the headquarters of battalion landing team 1/8, destroying the building and killing 241 marines and corpsmen.

2. Extremists have attacked our nation, at home and abroad, numerous times since that fateful day in Beirut. Their aim has always been the same - to kill as many innocent Americans as possible. The attacks of 11 September 2001 changed our nation forever, and our president has resolved that this nation will not stand idle while murderous terrorists plot their next strike. Marines will continue to take the fight to the enemy - hitting them on their own turf, crushing them when they show themselves, and finding them where they hide.

3. Only a few Americans choose the dangerous, but necessary, work of fighting our nation's enemies. When our chapter of history is written, it will be a saga of a selfless generation of Marines who were willing to stand up and fight for our nation; to defend those who could not defend themselves; to thrive on the hardship and sacrifice expected of an elite warrior class; to march to the sound of the guns; and to ably shoulder the legacy of those Marines who have gone before.

4. On our 233rd birthday, first remember those who have served and those "angels" who have fallen - our reputation was built on their sacrifices. Remember our families; they are the unsung heroes whose support and dedication allow us to answer our nation's call. Finally, to all marines and sailors, know that i am proud of you and what you do. Your successes on the battlefield have only added to our illustrious history. General Victor H. "Brute" Krulak said it best when he wrote, "... The United States does not need a Marine Corps ... The United States wants a Marine Corps." Your actions, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and across the globe, are at the core of why America loves her Marines.

5. Happy birthday, Marines and SEMPER FIDELIS! James T. Conway, General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps//

A national holiday for Obama?

The Cult of Obama beclowns themselves by planning a new federal holday around a president whose sole accomplishment is being elected.

Plans are being made to promote a national holiday for Barack Obama, who will become the nation's 44th president when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.

"Yes We Can" planning rallies will be at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. every Tuesday at the downtown McDonald's restaurant, 1100 Kansas Ave., until Jan. 13. The goals are to secure a national holiday in Obama's honor, to organize celebrations around his inauguration and to celebrate the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12 1809.

At 7:30 a.m. on Inauguration Day, Obama Cake will be served at the downtown McDonald's, and a celebration is scheduled for 8 p.m. to midnight Jan. 20 at the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center, 420 S.E. 6th.

Washington and Lincoln's birthdays have been folded into the generic "President's Day" which commemorates other historic (and accomplished) leaders like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman. Blogmeister USA mentions the other major fact overlooked in the idea of giving Barack Obama his own holiday:

"Last I heard, public figures were not memorialized, either on stamps or with public holidays, until they've been dead a long time. But then, this is the new Messiah we're talking about!"

Oh well. Soon we'll all embrace the wonder of The One when we finally provide care for the sick, the rise of the oceans begins to slow and our planet begins to heal. Then we can add him to Mt. Rushmore, too!

I think I just felt a thrill go up my leg.

Catching up

My apologies for letting the blog drift aimlessly for the past few days. Between too much work on Friday and a trip to College Station, TX to see Traci's son at Texas A&M, I've just not had enough time to properly research current events to write a post. Will have something for you today. Thanks for your patience.

Tax The Vote!

I find it interesting that the day after Obama is elected president, the campaign is already trying to do damage control to lower expectations among its supporters. Obama knew he couldn't provide the Christmas list he used to entice voters (for instance, Peggy the Moocher who voted for Obama, thinking he would pay her mortgage and provide free gasoline).

I had an unusual notion last night in the shower (isn't that where some of the best ideas come from?) regarding future presidential campaigns. In a nutshell, your presidential vote would correspond to your tax rates and yours alone. Your vote couldn't raise anyone else's taxes.

This would first require that we flatten tax rates for all Americans...say, everyone would pay a flat 10% tax on income. Now bear with me a minute, I know some of you don't agree with a flat tax but we're gonna get past that and actually raise taxes on some folks. What makes my idea unique is WHO we're gonna tax more, and why.

Presidential candidates would have to put together an actual budget to correspond with all his/her proposals and when a citizen votes for that candidate, they use their Social Security Number as part of their ballot and thus agree to support these proposals (and future programs during that president's career) with a corresponding tax rate increase. That way, if your candidate wins, you will be supporting his/her priorities and not using the government to force your fellow citizens to fund things with which they disagree. And if your guy loses, your tax rates drop back down to 10%.

For instance, the 53% of folks who voted for Obama would pay more in income tax to fund all his policies, and the other 46% would get a huge tax break while still providing marginal financial support to fund basic government. How's that for fairness?

I daresay that if voters had the onus on their wallet alone rather than figuring they can stick it to everyone, they might think – and vote – differently.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

On the day after the election of Barack Obama, it's especially ironic that today also happens to be Guy Fawkes Day. With that in mind, here's an excerpt from a speech in the movie V for Vendetta (influenced by Ayn Rand) from the title character, "V", addressing his struggle against a totalitarian government:

“Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor...He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives.”

The Day After

Well, it happened. We've finally proven that racism is essentially dead in this country by electing the first black president (sorry, Bill Clinton, you really don't count). Congratulations to Barack Obama and all the Democrats who won last night.

While I can appreciate the historic magnitude of this event, the collectivist policies put forth by Obama & Biden are so incompatible with America that I find myself feeling like I'm in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and I'm one of the few remaining people who hasn't yet gone to sleep and been turned into a pod person. It's still hard for me to believe that half of my fellow citizens willingly surrendered our country to the Marxist ideology we fought in the Cold War.



So I have yet to decide how I'm going to respond to the next four years. Part of me wants to support our new president and see how he does. Part of me wants to pick up the mantle of "loyal opposition" and do everything in my power to resist the socialistic "change" we're bound to have foisted upon us. And part of me wants to dish out a taste of the vitriol spewed forth by the Kossacks over the past 8 years.

I'll probably wind up with some mixture of the first two. What's your take on the future? (quiz h/t: Dr. Helen)

How are you feeling about yesterday's election?
	Excited
	Meh, just another election
	Anxious
	Disgusted
	Just get it over with already
	What election?
	Who cares, I'm going John Galt
pollcode.com free polls

Midweek Peek 11.05.08

Linda Edelstein as Dr. Lisa Cuddy from the TV show, "House."

Decision '08 results

CNN inadvertently exposes another case of voter fraud for Obama?

via Amanda Carpenter – Ron Jones of Philadelphia told CNN's Brian Todd he was so inspired to vote he voted more than once.

"It's time for change, man," Jones said. He complained about the long lines and said that "I decided to come back and vote a couple times."

Sure, Jones might have meant he came back TO vote a few times, but wouldn't it be good for the reporter to ask for clarification? Todd didn't seem to mind. In fact, he didn't even blink.

"I think that's against the law, but it's okay, all right. Well, thanks, Ron," Todd said. Then, the camera conveniently cut away.

Some Election Day perspective

The partisan atmosphere at my office today is pretty incredible. A lot of the people I work with seem to think Obama is a better choice because he "makes them think." But I've noticed they never really talk about the issues nor what his policies will do to/for America. Just that he somehow affirms their feelings.

With that in mind, here's a brief excerpt from Vicious Headbutt's excellent blog post today.

Politicians are not going to make your morals right or wrong. Politicians will not affirm anything about you. If you are voting for someone who agrees with you, that's fine, but to think that your morals or values will be in jeopardy if a certain politician loses?

Vote for the politician you agree with, but don't think that a "loss" means that your morals are in jeopardy or that your character may be in danger of being lost. They aren't.

You do not need John McCain or Barack Obama to tell you how to live and what is important.

In similar fashion, Flopping Aces issued a challenge to Republicans that stands in sharp contrast to the unhinged Democrat "not my president" BDS mentality we've seen for the past 8 years.

The 2008 election has been too divisive. Half of America will be disappointed on Nov5th. Let’s try to at least oppose that sense of alienation, frustration, and defeat. After you vote, find someone in line, and shake their hand. Wish them well regardless of who their voting for. If they are for the other guy…then all the better. Be a neighbor not a partisan. When there’s a flood, we don’t just save Republicans or Democrats. We save Americans. Let’s be Americans first tomorrow, and Democrats or Republicans or whatever last.

Nice to see calls for civility, even in the face of possible defeat. Be sure to read them both.

Voter intimidation by Black Panthers in Philadelphia

Fox News is reporting on some alleged voter intimidation going on in Philly by some guys dressed in Black Panther garb and identifying themselves as "security." (h/t: Michelle Malkin)

Uhuru Shakur, chairman of the New Black Panther Party's Atlanta chapter, had a few choice words for those who disagree with Barack Obama.

"Every president America has had has been a white man. Now the black man must be given his time to rule."
[...]
"We warn you, leave Barack Obama alone and leave our babies alone because black people are a spiritual people and a people who are trying to do right, and we will not hesitate to take up our legal rights of self-defense."
[...]
"We will be at the polls in the cities and counties in many states to ensure that the enemy does not sabotage the black vote, which was won through the blood of the martyrs of our people."

Whether or not these guys are actual Black Panthers remains to be seen. Hopefully the media will investigate, as will the police who had to escort one man away; then we'll find out whether this is for real or not. But I've been surprised in the meantime by how many Obama supporters on Twitter immediately dismissed the story as being concocted by Karl Rove and the "Panthers" in question as being Young Republican "tricksters" in disguise.

Check out this second video and judge for yourself. Do these gents look like Young Republicans to you?


Mary Katharine Ham responds:

Whew, good thing we've got these guys around to prevent intimidation. And, what better tools for preventing intimidation than all-black paramilitary uniforms and billy clubs? Thank you, New Black Panther Party!...Intimidation, of course, takes many forms. And, in their ever magnificent projection performance, Democrats will whine that it's Republicans doing all the intimidating by, err, having people stand in line to vote, or something.

Over 100,000 Georgia voters also registered in Florida and Ohio

For months, ACORN has been laying the groundwork for massive voter fraud in more than a dozen states to throw the election to Barack Obama. Today, all their felonious efforts are coming to fruition. (h/t: Gateway Pundit)

Atlanta – Georgia's Secretary of State has launched a full investigation and may seek criminal charges against three Georgia men who appear to have early-voted twice.
[...]
A team of investigative journalists from WSB-TV in Atlanta, WFTV in Orlando and WFTS in Tampa and WCPO in Cincinnati compared Georgia's voter rolls with those in Florida and Ohio and found more than 100,000 people who appear to be registered to vote in more than one state, with no government oversight to catch it.

---
Previous posts for further reading:

• Is DOJ looking the other way on ACORN?
• Obama asks DOJ to silence McCain-Palin on ACORN
• FBI investigates ACORN voter fraud
• ACORN registers one Ohio man 72 times
• 4,000 dead voters found in Houston
• Obama's ACORN Freudian slip
• ACORN hires felons to collect voter information
• Dems launch widespread voter fraud

Election Day links

Are y'all ready for election day? Hopefully you've all either voted early or have plans to cast your ballot today. And if you're a political junkie like I am, you'll want to keep up with the results all day. Here are a few of my favorite resources for tracking today's madness:

• Check out reports of voter fraud with the CNN Voter Irregularities Map


• Get real-time election results with the MSNBC Results Widget. Watch the electoral vote count and the congressional balance of power with the national U.S. map or choose a state and see how individual counties are voting.


• Hot Air teamed up with AOL News to present a cool interactive map showing election results, telling you what states still have polls open, when they close, and will track the AP's calls on whether each state goes to Barack Obama or John McCain.


• Fox News also has an interactive election tracking map which breaks down today's results by presidential race, senate & house seats, and governors.


• Also, you can set up a toolbar at the top of your browser to see all the latest election headlines with the AOL Election Toolbar. It's available for IE, Firefox, or Flock browsers.

Got any favorite pages, widgets, or other online tools you recommend? Post your suggestions in the comments section and I'll update this post throughout the day.

The (in)tolerance of Obama supporters

Overheard in my office this morning: "Texas is populated by nazis. Anyone who votes for McCain is a nazi."

Feel the love?

Obama thinks $9,000 is “chump change”?

From his appearance on MTV this weekend, Comrade Obama clarifies his ideas on redistributing income. And further illustrates just how out of touch he is with working Americans. (h/t: Ed Morrissey )

Sway: Our next question is from Matt from Iowa: “If your desire is to spread the wealth around, what incentive is there for me to try to work hard? If I am only going to get more taken away from me, the more money I make, why wouldn’t I just slide into a life of relaxation and let rich people take care of me? And a lot of people are asking similar questions, and I wanted you to specify. What does this mean exactly?”

Obama: What is amazing to me is this whole notion that somehow everybody is just looking out for themselves. I mean, the fact is, we just talked about student loans. When young people who have the drive and the skill to go to college can’t afford to go to college, how do you think we pay for scholarships or loan programs? That money doesn’t grow on trees. It’s got to come from somewhere, and the attitude that I have is that, if we want to grow our economy, the way it grows is from the bottom up. You don’t just give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. What you do is make sure the tax code is fair. I want to give a tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans, but in order to pay for that, I’m going to take the tax rates back to what they were in the 1990s for people who are making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year. Now for people who are making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year, if they are paying 2 or 3 percent higher in taxes, the notion that they’re somehow going to stop working, or that this young man is going to not want to be successful, that just doesn’t make any sense. Back in the 1990s, we created more millionaires, more billionaires, because the economy was growing, everything was strong, at every income bracket, people were doing well. So this idea, that somehow everybody is just on their own and shouldn’t be concerned about other people who are coming up behind them, that’s the kind of attitude that I want to end when I am president.

Sway: Just out of curiosity, for those that are being taxed that are making more than $250,000 a year, how much difference would it be from how they are being taxed today?

Obama: Well, right now, they are getting taxed at 36 percent. Under Bill Clinton in the 1990s, they were being taxed at 39.6 percent. You are talking about a 3.6 percent difference, and for the average person who is making half a million, a million dollars, now people like you Sway, that’s chump change, that’s nothing.

An additional 3.6% of $250,000 (what Obama is touting as the beginning level of his tax increases) comes to $9,000. And that's in addition to the $90,000 the federal government already takes in income tax.

But given the unprecedented fundraising his campaign has pulled off due to fraudulent and untraceable donations (of the $150 million he raised in September, nearly $100 million came in over the Internet), I guess I can see how Obama would lose track of the value of money.
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RELATED: More info on Obama's rampant online donor fraud.

I work for the credit card processing company that is culpable for allowing the DNC and the Obama Campaign to get away with rampant online donor fraud.

In a deliberate attempt to evade campaign financing laws, the Obama Campaign turned off certain security features on their online contribution page, which basically enables anyone in the world with a Visa/Mastercard to make donations in almost any amounts.

I have over 7 years experience in the payment services industry, and I have never seen such flagrant disregard for online security as I have seen on Obama’s Website and ACTBLUE (DNC PAC). In an age of identity theft and rampant online fraud, it is unconscionable for anyone to maintain an ecommerce site without the basic security features. Yet, the majority of Democrats do. (McCain’s website and the Republican sites are in compliance with security regulations.)

I have followed the trail from the DNC to a PAC called ACTBLUE, which is responsible for the ecommerce portion of Democratic Party websites. ACTBLUE contracts the online fundraising portion to a company called, AUBURN QUAD. Auburn Quad has developed a software program, called Indigo, to make fund raising quick and easy. The secret sauce of Indigo appears to be the part of the program that turns off the Address Verification and CVV2 security features, which allows for untraceable, unlimited online donations.

There is no plausible explanation for these security violations other than wanting to skirt around campaign finance rules. I would vigorously argue that a large portion of Obama’s $579 million in individual contributions is in violation of campaign finance laws. Many donations may have been made by non US citizens, made in excess of the $2,300 individual limit, and made on stolen credit card numbers.

A Twitter buddy of mine tested this for himself, making a successful fraudulent donation using his credit card with a fake name & address. It was accepted by the Obama site, while a similar donation was automatically rejected by the McCain site.

Are you smart enough to vote?

I love memes like this. I wonder how many voters would fail? I bet we'll find out tomorrow night.

You Should Be Allowed to Vote

You got 15/15 questions correct. Generally speaking, you're very well informed. If you vote this election, you'll know exactly who (and what) you'll be voting for. You're likely to have strong opinions, and you have the facts to back them up.

Should You Be Allowed to Vote?

(h/t: Wyatt Earp)

Gators STOMP Bulldogs 49-10!!!

After Georgia’s infamously unsportsmanlike celebration at the end of last year's Florida-Georgia game, today's overwhelming 49-10 victory for the Florida Gators was especially sweet.

Jacksonville – Just a little more than two months ago, when the season was but a concept, the Georgia Bulldogs were ranked No. 1 in the land. National championship talk was everywhere.

Or was that all just a dream?

Hard to say after Saturday. Only this much is certain: What played out that afternoon was a reality-bites-Dawg story of the cruelest kind.

Bad enough that Georgia was virtually written out of any national or conference championship equation. But it was Florida, the most reviled rival, doing the editing. And not gently.

The Gators’ 49-10 victory over Georgia represented their second-largest margin of victory in this 87-game series. It also was the most lopsided loss by a Georgia team by the Mark Richt regime (since 2001).

“I’m sure it will rank up there pretty good,” Richt said when asked if this was the worst defeat of his career.

Many had portrayed the game as the biggest in the long history of the series. Both entered the day as one-loss teams ranked in the top 10. The loser would be shunted off to a side room, where the undesirable BCS pledges are kept. The winner would continue on in the quest to impress computer programs and poll voters.

Then, there was the backstory of a season ago, when the Bulldogs declared their freedom from Florida tyranny with a riotous party after their first touchdown. While that act didn’t assure Georgia’s victory, it did define it.

Last year, Georgia celebrated in the end zone excessively.

This year, Florida ran into the end zone excessively.

Karma's a bitch, Bulldogs!