Short notice here, but the WWF is once again sponsoring that ridiculous event, Earth Hour, at 8:30 PM local time.
As I have commented on before, this is nothing more than a feel-good notion, something to try to manipulate people into believing -- or at least pretending to believe, which is no better -- in the socialist-inspired, scientifically-unsound, so-called theory of AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming, for those of you who haven't wandered deep into my older rantings).
So, like I said last year, it's time to light up the world. Turn on the lights! Run the A/C and the heat together! Mow your lawn -- well, it'll be nighttime, so just run your lawn mower! Idle your car in the driveway with the lights on bright! Fire up the barbecue grill!
I'm going to also have all my outdoor lights on and be standing outside. Maybe the astronauts on the International Space Station can take my picture.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Senate "Health Care" Reform Bill Passes; American Health Care to Follow
The House of Representatives passed the Senate "health care" reform bill today, and it is a certainty that President Obama will sign it. The only thing that will delay that signature is arranging the ceremony in the Rose Garden. Whether or not the "fixes" in the so-called reconciliation bill pass or not, this marks the darkest day for American medical care ever, even darker than the day Medicare was passed in 1965.
I have expounded my initial thoughts on this 'momentous' occasion on my companion blog on RedState. It will hopefully get a wider readership there.
In a related vein, I also direct you to this from Walter Williams, re-emphasizing what I have said previously.
There is now a much more important target for my ranting:
OBAMACARE DELENDA EST!!!!!
I have expounded my initial thoughts on this 'momentous' occasion on my companion blog on RedState. It will hopefully get a wider readership there.
In a related vein, I also direct you to this from Walter Williams, re-emphasizing what I have said previously.
There is now a much more important target for my ranting:
OBAMACARE DELENDA EST!!!!!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Coming Down to the Wire -- Stop ObamaCare NOW!!!
Sometime this week, supposedly, the House of Representatives will vote upon the previously passed Senate "health care" reform bill. The time to stop this obscenity is now. Contact your CongressCritter now -- call, write, email, text, Tweet, send up smoke signals, whatever. Tell them not just to vote no, but what you will be doing for them if they do not vote no, namely voting for whoever is running against them this November.
While you're at it, do the same for your Senators, and if your Senator(s) voted for this monster, let them know that you hope that they have enjoyed their time in the Senate for it will soon be coming to an end.
American Solutions has linked a video from a new organization of physicians and surgeons called Docs 4 Patient Care. This group was formed last year as a response to the AMA's incomprehensible support for ObamaCare and to let the public know that the majority of doctors in this country do NOT support this reform plan. In addition to the video linked by American Solutions, I would recommend this video, made by the organization's founder and president, Dr. Hal Scherz.
I encourage everyone to spread the word and these videos as widely and as quickly as possible.
There is no time to waste.
While you're at it, do the same for your Senators, and if your Senator(s) voted for this monster, let them know that you hope that they have enjoyed their time in the Senate for it will soon be coming to an end.
American Solutions has linked a video from a new organization of physicians and surgeons called Docs 4 Patient Care. This group was formed last year as a response to the AMA's incomprehensible support for ObamaCare and to let the public know that the majority of doctors in this country do NOT support this reform plan. In addition to the video linked by American Solutions, I would recommend this video, made by the organization's founder and president, Dr. Hal Scherz.
I encourage everyone to spread the word and these videos as widely and as quickly as possible.
There is no time to waste.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Snow Falling on Never-Actually-Endangered States
Yes, I'm reusing a post title. The pun is too good not to reuse.
Courtesy of Marc Sheppard at American Thinker comes this notification of the fact that on Feb. 12, 2010 an unprecedented event occurred. There was measurable snowfall on the ground in all 50 states of the United States.
University of Oklahoma meteorology graduate student Patrick Marsh is assembling a slide show of photographs of the snow in each state. So far he has pictures from 49 of the 50 states. The only unphotographed snow is in Hawaii, where there are apparently small patches on the steep north slope of Mauna Kea; photographs of this snow are still being sought and/or verified.
Mr. Marsh is going to place these photos on Google Earth eventually. For now, they are viewable at his blog.
My only question is how many years in a row are we going to have to have winters like this one before the AGW zealots give up on their cockamamie theory? Especially since even the revelation that the data and research supporting their theory was essentially cooked up out of sheer desperation and is wholly unreliable? (If you haven't heard about the Climategate scandal by now, no link from me is going to help. Use Google. Or Bing. Or Yahoo. Take your pick.)
Courtesy of Marc Sheppard at American Thinker comes this notification of the fact that on Feb. 12, 2010 an unprecedented event occurred. There was measurable snowfall on the ground in all 50 states of the United States.
University of Oklahoma meteorology graduate student Patrick Marsh is assembling a slide show of photographs of the snow in each state. So far he has pictures from 49 of the 50 states. The only unphotographed snow is in Hawaii, where there are apparently small patches on the steep north slope of Mauna Kea; photographs of this snow are still being sought and/or verified.
Mr. Marsh is going to place these photos on Google Earth eventually. For now, they are viewable at his blog.
My only question is how many years in a row are we going to have to have winters like this one before the AGW zealots give up on their cockamamie theory? Especially since even the revelation that the data and research supporting their theory was essentially cooked up out of sheer desperation and is wholly unreliable? (If you haven't heard about the Climategate scandal by now, no link from me is going to help. Use Google. Or Bing. Or Yahoo. Take your pick.)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
They Took Health Care Reform Out Back and Shot It in the Head
I made the comment yesterday that following the miraculous and historic election of Scott Brown (R-MA - just had to type that to see what it felt like!), they (meaning the Democrats) took 'health care' reform out back and shot it in the head.
Basically, with the restoration of the Republican minority's ability to filibuster any attempt to pass an obnoxious 'health care' reform package, the impetus for all Democrats to fall in line and support the bill disappeared. Those few Democrats that were not happy with the bills being debated, for whatever reason, now no longer feel compelled to respond to the arm twisting from the Democratic leadership. Thus, you are now seeing enough Democrats backing away from these bills that there is no longer enough votes to pass them. Just like in 1993-94, the 'health care' reform process is dying the slow death of progressive overreach, as well as the fact that the hyper-liberals can never gain enough support for a bill that is communistic enough to suit them. Couldn't be happening to a nicer piece of legislation.
I think we must all continue to listen for the footsteps of the process coming back to life, zombie-like. But the chances are slim; the momentum has been reversed, and all the steam is leaking out of the engine that was driving it forward. The Republic is saved, at least for now.
Referring back to my call for brinkmanship, I am a little concerned that this 'victory', such as it is, might result in defusing the anger at the overreach and overspending of the Democrats. This is something we simply must not allow to happen. Even though this process may have been stopped for now, we must go on as if it has not. The only difference is that where before we had the threat of imminent socialism, we now have only the spectre of the threat. Don't think for a moment that if the progressives are not beaten back now, that they will not very quickly be back for another attempt to try again.
It is helpful that that Democrats cannot help but give us new ammunition to replace that we just lost. The Democrats are now debating a bill to increase the federal debt ceiling by another $1.9 trillion dollars to a staggering total of $14.3 trillion.
The Democrats complained that George W. Bush ran up massive deficits. As you can see here, Bush raised the debt by $1.885 trillion in his first term and another $3.014 trillion in his second, for a total of $4.889 trillion in his 8 years as President. President Obama has increased the debt by $1.573 trillion in his first 365 days as President; when combined with the $1.9 trillion increase now under debate, he will have reached $3.473 trillion in under 13 months.
That's 71% of Bush's increase in essentially just his first year!! And no substantial improvement in economic performance or unemployment has come from it.
I'd call that some pretty powerful ammunition, wouldn't you?
Basically, with the restoration of the Republican minority's ability to filibuster any attempt to pass an obnoxious 'health care' reform package, the impetus for all Democrats to fall in line and support the bill disappeared. Those few Democrats that were not happy with the bills being debated, for whatever reason, now no longer feel compelled to respond to the arm twisting from the Democratic leadership. Thus, you are now seeing enough Democrats backing away from these bills that there is no longer enough votes to pass them. Just like in 1993-94, the 'health care' reform process is dying the slow death of progressive overreach, as well as the fact that the hyper-liberals can never gain enough support for a bill that is communistic enough to suit them. Couldn't be happening to a nicer piece of legislation.
I think we must all continue to listen for the footsteps of the process coming back to life, zombie-like. But the chances are slim; the momentum has been reversed, and all the steam is leaking out of the engine that was driving it forward. The Republic is saved, at least for now.
Referring back to my call for brinkmanship, I am a little concerned that this 'victory', such as it is, might result in defusing the anger at the overreach and overspending of the Democrats. This is something we simply must not allow to happen. Even though this process may have been stopped for now, we must go on as if it has not. The only difference is that where before we had the threat of imminent socialism, we now have only the spectre of the threat. Don't think for a moment that if the progressives are not beaten back now, that they will not very quickly be back for another attempt to try again.
It is helpful that that Democrats cannot help but give us new ammunition to replace that we just lost. The Democrats are now debating a bill to increase the federal debt ceiling by another $1.9 trillion dollars to a staggering total of $14.3 trillion.
The Democrats complained that George W. Bush ran up massive deficits. As you can see here, Bush raised the debt by $1.885 trillion in his first term and another $3.014 trillion in his second, for a total of $4.889 trillion in his 8 years as President. President Obama has increased the debt by $1.573 trillion in his first 365 days as President; when combined with the $1.9 trillion increase now under debate, he will have reached $3.473 trillion in under 13 months.
That's 71% of Bush's increase in essentially just his first year!! And no substantial improvement in economic performance or unemployment has come from it.
I'd call that some pretty powerful ammunition, wouldn't you?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Fundamental Flaw of ObamaCare in a Nutshell
Ken Blackwell made a startlingly succinct appraisal of the current plans by the Obama Administration to 'reform' the medical care system in a post on RedState today. I think the reason that so many people in this country are opposing this plan is really on the basis of this particular aspect of it -- they feel in their hearts and souls what is wrong with it without being able to put it into words. Ken Blackwell has found the words.
In a post discussing the special election for the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts left open by the death of Ted Kennedy (I will not call it Kennedy's seat; that seat belongs to no one person)between Martha Coakley (D) and Scott Brown (R), Blackwell was discussing the statement made by Coakley that Roman Catholics should not work in certain jobs in health care because of their conscientious objections to certain procedures (read abortion):
Blackwell responds by stating:
And it won't just be 'health care' professionals' ethical positions that will be subjugated to that of the ruling party (as it will be the ruling party, not the "government" making these ethical decisions). The ethical positions of every individual patient must also bow down to the edicts of those who have placed themselves over us because they are convinced they know better how to run our lives than we ourselves do.
This is the ethical, nay the moral bankruptcy of the reform plans that are being rammed down our throats and of all of those who are doing the ramming and anyone else who does not stand up against this travesty.
Almost every action taken so far from Dear Leader has had at its core this issue, but in the 'health care' reform debate, it is openly, glaringly clear:
We are engaged in a fundamental battle between liberty and tyranny.
And in this war, there is no middle ground, no fence to sit on.
I know which side of this battle I am on. Which side do you choose?
In a post discussing the special election for the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts left open by the death of Ted Kennedy (I will not call it Kennedy's seat; that seat belongs to no one person)between Martha Coakley (D) and Scott Brown (R), Blackwell was discussing the statement made by Coakley that Roman Catholics should not work in certain jobs in health care because of their conscientious objections to certain procedures (read abortion):
Pittman specifically asked Coakley about the rights of conscience of health-care providers, and segued into a query on Roman Catholics in Massachusetts’s hospitals....
(Coakley's) response to Pittman was to denounce the idea of any allowance for individual conscience in federal healthcare legislation. Then she uttered the line that alone ought to sink her campaign: “The law says that people are allowed to have that. You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.”
Blackwell responds by stating:
The logical consequences of Martha Coakley’s statement are both grotesque and stupid.
Martha Coakley does not exist in a vacuum. Her belief that conscience and its protections must be forced out of the healthcare sector are tightly bound up with the ideology underlying the President’s push for healthcare reform. That reform threatens ever-greater government involvement in healthcare, and probably portends its takeover if passed.
With that comes the precedence of government priorities — and there’s little room for individual conscience then..... President Obama is taking the first step toward forcing healthcare professionals to follow the government’s ethical agenda rather than their own.
And it won't just be 'health care' professionals' ethical positions that will be subjugated to that of the ruling party (as it will be the ruling party, not the "government" making these ethical decisions). The ethical positions of every individual patient must also bow down to the edicts of those who have placed themselves over us because they are convinced they know better how to run our lives than we ourselves do.
This is the ethical, nay the moral bankruptcy of the reform plans that are being rammed down our throats and of all of those who are doing the ramming and anyone else who does not stand up against this travesty.
Almost every action taken so far from Dear Leader has had at its core this issue, but in the 'health care' reform debate, it is openly, glaringly clear:
We are engaged in a fundamental battle between liberty and tyranny.
And in this war, there is no middle ground, no fence to sit on.
I know which side of this battle I am on. Which side do you choose?
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