Minuteman Project

According to the director of the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration at the University of Northern Iowa, has estimated that 50,000 to 75,000 Latinos in Iowa are here illegally.

Guestimates would be more accurate if they doubled or tripled those figures.

Keeping that in mind there was a rally at the Iowa Statehouse against illegal immigration this past weekend, the Ragister reported 50 people attended.

In his remarks to the gathering Representative Steve King (R-IA) said the concept of a fence across the U.S.-Mexican border recently won approval from Congress because of grass-roots support from Americans who are unhappy about illegal immigration.

In a bit of a surprise there were no counter-protesters.

I say that because of the October 4th assault on the Minutemen at Columbia University. The groups founder (Jim Gilchrist) was invited to speak, but before he could do so the stage was stormed and a melee ensued.

Last Thursday the Ragister ran an opinion piece from David Goodner of the People's Republic of Johnson County (Iowa City) regarding the Columbia incident.

In the opinion of Goodner....I'm not sure which side of the free-speech issue to support. Everyone has a right to express his or her opinion, but racist scapegoating should not be up for academic discussion. Hate groups like the Minutemen do not present legitimate, reasonable debate.

This was after he noted....students jumped on stage during Gilchrist's speech and unfolded a banner that said, "No one is illegal." Hundreds of students chanted, "Minutemen, Nazis, KKK, racists, fascists, go away!" Unfortunately, the encounter soon turned violent.

Don't you just love Fiberals and their do as I say not as I do reality.

The only Free Speech they believe in is their own!

My friend Cal recently sent me this analogy regarding illegal immigration...

This summer large demonstrations were held across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely.

Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.

Let's say, I break into your house. Let's say, that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, "I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors; I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).

According to the protesters, not only must you let me stay, you must add me to your family's insurance plan, educate my kids, and provide other benefits to me and to my family (my husband will do your yard work because he too is hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part). If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to be there.

It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm hard working and honest, um, except for, well, you know.

And what a deal it is for me!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of selfishness, prejudice, and being an anti-housebreaker. Oh yeah, and I want you to learn my language so you can communicate with me.

Why can't people see how ridiculous this is?!

Only in America!

Consistency

As someone who makes fun of others, usually by name calling, it's hard for me to be "faux"raged by others speech.

Ann Coulter, shockingly, upset many when she said this at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)...

I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word faggot - so… Kind of at an impasse. Can’t really talk about Edwards, so I think I’ll just conclude here and take your questions.

There was wide spread "faux"rage on many blogs, conservative and fiberal.

I have yet to see the same "rage" on fiberal blogs for leftists sadness over the failed assassination attempt on Vice President Cheney.

Most were put on the Huffington Post, but Bill Maher aired his on his HBO show "Real Time...

Maher: What about the people who got onto the Huffington Post – and these weren’t even the bloggers, these were just the comments section – who said they, they expressed regret that the attack on Dick Cheney failed.

Joe Scarborough: Right.

Maher: Now…

John Ridley: More than regret.

Maher: Well, what did they say?

Ridley: They said “We wish he would die.” I mean, it was (?) hate language.

Barney Frank: They said the bomb was wasted. (laughter and applause)

Maher: That’s a funny joke. But, seriously, if this isn’t China, shouldn’t you be able to say that?...

Ridley: It’s one thing to say you hate Dick Cheney, which applies to his politics. It’s another thing to say, “I’m sorry he didn’t die in an explosion." And I think, you know…

Maher: But you should be able to say it. And by the way...

Frank: Excuse me, Bill, but can I ask you a question? Do you decide what the topics are for this show?

Maher: Yeah, I decide the topics, they don’t go there.

Frank: But you exercise control over the show the way that she does over her blog.

Maher: But I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow. (applause)

Scarborough: If someone on this panel said that they wished that Dick Cheney had been blown up, and you didn’t say…

Frank: I think he did.

Scarborough: Okay. Did you say…

Maher: No, no. I quoted that.

Frank: You don’t believe that?

Maher: I’m just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That’s a fact.

If you can generate "rage" over a slur that came out of a feeble attempt at humor, you can generate the same "rage" over wishing someone dead!

John Edwards had this to say about Coulter's comments...

"I think its important that we not reward hateful, selfish, childish behavior with attention. I also believe that is important for all of us to speak out against language of this kind; it is the place where hatred gets its foothold, and we can't stand silently by and allow this kind of language to be used."

I couldn't find any quotes from Edwards about those wishing death on Dick Cheney!

Personally, I think you lose the high ground, or any "faux" rage when you sully it with a fund raising attempt...

In a mass email sent to supporters today, Edwards Campaign Manager David Bonoir argued that "this is just a taste of the filth that the right-wing machine is gearing up to throw at us" and set a fundraising goal of $100,000 this week.

Bonoir also called the comments "one of the worst moments in American politics I've seen."

I also found amusing that Bonoir was so "faux" raged "I can't bring myself to even repeat her comments" but tells supporters "you actually have to see for yourself to believe it."

The mantra of the '90s continues, I'm offended by...(insert offense here).

The reality remains that they believe in freedom of speech, as long as you agree with what I'm saying.

Do As I Say

The Washington Examiner highlighted a segment of President Obama's weekly radio address...

over the last decade, we became a country that relied too much on what we bought and consumed. We racked up a lot of debt, but we didn’t create many jobs at all.

Make that a weakly radio address, and the scientific community is united in that fact, as the Examiner correctly points out the irony of Obama's $787 billion stimulus package.

In addition there's the cost of Obamacare and his call for stimulus lite.

Which more accurately makes it do as I say, not as I doo-doo.

D-Day

Today is the 62nd Anniversary of the allied invasion of Europe. I've always loved American History, maybe that's why I'm so appreciative of the sacrifices that make this such a great country. It's Primary Day, I'm going to make sure I go vote. It's not a big sacrifice to raise up off my rear, get in the car and stand in line for a few minutes. It puts it in perspective when you think of being shot at as soon as your landing craft neared the beach, or being pinned down there for most of the day and finally having to scale a huge cliff under enemy fire. I'll never forget the remarks President Reagan made in France commemorating the 40th Anniversary. It makes me tear up to remember the tears in the eyes of Lisa Zanatta Henn and how President Reagan become a little choked up too. Here's a snippet of his remarks...

Some who survived the battle of June 6, 1944, are here today. Others who hoped to return never did.

``Someday, Lis, I'll go back,'' said Private First Class Peter Robert Zanatta, of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion, and first assault wave to hit Omaha Beach. ``I'll go back, and I'll see it all again. I'll see the beach, the barricades, and the graves.''

Those words of Private Zanatta come to us from his daughter, Lisa Zanatta Henn, in a heart-rending story about the event her father spoke of so often. ``In his words, the Normandy invasion would change his life forever,'' she said. She tells some of his stories of World War II but says of her father, ``the story to end all stories was D-day.''

``He made me feel the fear of being on that boat waiting to land. I can smell the ocean and feel the seasickness. I can see the looks on his fellow soldiers' faces -- the fear, the anguish, the uncertainty of what lay ahead. And when they landed, I can feel the strength and courage of the men who took those first steps through the tide to what must have surely looked like instant death.''

Private Zanatta's daughter wrote to me: ``I don't know how or why I can feel this emptiness, this fear, or this determination, but I do. Maybe it's the bond I had with my father. All I know is that it brings tears to my eyes to think about my father as a 20-year-old boy having to face that beach.''

The anniversary of D-day was always special for her family. And like all the families of those who went to war, she describes how she came to realize her own father's survival was a miracle: ``So many men died. I know that my father watched many of his friends be killed. I know that he must have died inside a little each time. But his explanation to me was, `You did what you had to do, and you kept on going.'''

When men like Private Zanatta and all our allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy 40 years ago they came not as conquerors, but as liberators. When these troops swept across the French countryside and into the forests of Belgium and Luxembourg they came not to take, but to return what had been wrongly seized. When our forces marched into Germany they came not to prey on a brave and defeated people, but to nurture the seeds of democracy among those who yearned to be free again.....

Lisa Zanatta Henn began her story by quoting her father, who promised that he would return to Normandy. She ended with a promise to her father, who died 8 years ago of cancer: ``I'm going there, Dad, and I'll see the beaches and the barricades and the monuments. I'll see the graves, and I'll put flowers there just like you wanted to do. I'll feel all the things you made me feel through your stories and your eyes. I'll never forget what you went through, Dad, nor will I let anyone else forget. And, Dad, I'll always be proud.''

Through the words of his loving daughter, who is here with us today, a D-day veteran has shown us the meaning of this day far better than any President can. It is enough for us to say about Private Zanatta and all the men of honor and courage who fought beside him four decades ago: We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.

Under the Weather

I've had a cold and have been achy since Tuesday.

I thought I was getting better, but regressed yesterday.

So I'm under the weather...what the hell does that mean?

Isn't everyone, everyday(unless you're in space), under the weather?

It reminds me of a time, a few years ago, when I walked into a clothing store and heard a salesman say..."It's colder than hell."

It was January and it was cold.

Now I'm no Bible scholar, but I'm thinking isn't everyday colder than hell?

I guess I better brush up on hell because it appears that's where I'm headed for denying "Gore Bull" warming!

Ellen Goodman (her slave name?) opined that...By every measure, the U N 's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change raises the level of alarm. The fact of global warming is "unequivocal."

The certainty of the human role is now somewhere over 90 percent.

Which is about as certain as scientists ever get.

I would like to say we're at a point where global warming is impossible to deny.

Let's just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future.

How the hell do you make that cataclysmic leap?

First, and foremost, that's an insult to those who perished in the Holocaust and those who survived!

The Holocaust is a proven FACT!

"Gore Bull" warming ISN'T!

Where did the 90% figure come from? Out of her ass like the Holocaust statement?

As I stated yesterday, that per IPCC's own findings...man's role is so uncertain that there is a strong possibility that we have been cooling, not warming, the Earth.

That doesn't sound like 90% to me or even unequivocal!

Goodman then divides SCIENCE into Republican and Dummycrats...

There are astonishing gaps between Republican science and Democratic science.

Try these numbers:Only 23 percent of college-educated Republicans believe the warming is due to humans, while 75 percent of college-educated Democrats believe it.

I've been in the college classes with those Dummycrats, they take in every piece of bs that the professor feeds them and never challenge it!

I remember one time, before the prof got to class, one of my classmates asked what I was going to argue with the prof about that day.

I said it depended on whatever bs he was going to try and slide past us.

Another time a prof made an asinine statement and then asked for questions and comments.

I said I didn't agree with his theory and went on to explain my beliefs.

The prof said he didn't agree.

I replied I didn't ask you to agree, you asked for questions and comments.

I just though it important that these kids hear something other than the drivel you're pouring out.

But, I've digressed!

I'll interject an e-mail I received from my brother-in-law-Chris (the rocket scientist).

It comes from an article by James Lewis

Why Global Warming is Probably a Crock

The human-caused global warming hypothesis is completely model-dependent. We can't directly observe cars and cows turning up the earth thermostat. Whatever the human contribution there may be to climate constitutes just a few signals among many hundreds or thousands...

Scientists are always wrong --- they are just less wrong now than they were before (if everything is going well)...

Now there's a basic fact about complexity that helps to understand this. It's a point in probability theory (eek!) about many variables, each one less than 100 percent likely to be true...

Now imagine that all the variables about global climate are known with less than 100 percent certainty. Let's be wildly and unrealistically optimistic and say that climate scientists know each variable to 99 percent certainty! (No such thing, of course). And let's optimistically suppose there are only one-hundred x's, y's, and z's --- all the variables that can change the climate: like the amount of cloud cover over Antarctica, the changing ocean currents in the South Pacific, Mount Helena venting, sun spots, Chinese factories burning more coal every year, evaporation of ocean water (the biggest "greenhouse" gas), the wobbles of earth orbit around the sun, and yes, the multifarious fartings of billions of living creatures on the face of the earth, minus, of course, all the trillions of plants and algae that gobble up all the CO2, nitrogen-containing molecules, and sulfur-smelling exhalations spewed out by all of us animals. Got that? It all goes into our best math model.

So in the best case, the smartest climatologist in the world will know 100 variables, each one to an accuracy of 99 percent. Want to know what the probability of our spiffiest math model would be, if that perfect world existed? Have you ever multiplied (99/100) by itself 100 times? According to the Google calculator it equals a little more than 36.6 percent.

The Bottom line: our best imaginable model has a total probability of one out of three.

That's why human-caused global warming is an hypothesis, not a fact. Anybody who says otherwise isn't doing science, but trying to sell you a bill of goods.

I received his e-mail on February 7 and his conclusion was...

Unfortunately about 90% of the world's population don't study enough math or
science to understand this probability debate.

So that's where the 90% comes from!

Apology not accepted

Does anyone ever say "I'm Sorry" anymore?

People give an apology, when they should be sorry.

The difference to me is you take personal ownership when you say you're sorry.

I can apologize for offending someone without being sorry for the offense.

Here's what bothered me about Micheal Vick's apology.

"I totally ask for forgiveness and understanding as I move forward..."

The day you plead guilty is not the time to ask for for forgiveness & understanding.

"So I got a lot of down time, a lot of time to think about my actions and what I've done and how to make Michael Vick a better person."

I don't have a lot of faith that he'll be successful, as I mentioned in my post last week, Hair of the dog...

It began when he was still at Virginia Tech in 2000.

ESPN ran a video interview where Vick talked about how he needed to clean up his act and change his associates.

When the time line progressed to April of this year, at the NFL Draft, the words were exactly the same.

In 7 years he didn't get it, I'll be surprised if he gets it after prison.

Speaking of faith, so did Michael Vick.

"...I found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over to God. And I think that's the right thing to do as of right now."

As of right now?

Does that mean later he's going to revert to the asshole he is?

Michael Vick had at least one bus load of supporters there and commentators on ESPN said they were family and friends from the church Vick built.

If your building a church, you shoud have found Jesus and turned your life over to God then.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

So What Else Is New

Damn!

I missed the Dummycrat debate last night.

Actually, because I didn't watch it doesn't mean I missed it.

After all it was the "do as I say, not as I do crowd".

Want proof?

A flock of small jets took flight from Washington Thursday, each carrying a Democratic presidential candidate to South Carolina for the first debate of the political season.

...No one jet pooled, no one took commercial flights to save money, fuel or emissions.

As I recall, this week began with Earth Day and several candidates speaking out about "Gore-Bull" warming in Iowa.

Writing of Al Gore, here's his latest...

The sixth annual Tribeca Film Festival opened Wednesday night at a gala hosted by former Vice President Al Gore as the festival expanded its social mission with a slate of global warming-themed films.

The festival, which was founded after the Sept. 11 attacks to rejuvenate Lower Manhattan, opened with the premiere of nine short films produced by SOS (Save Our Selves), an organization to raise awareness on climate change.

I think SOS really stands for Same Old Shit.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

I'm weary of a world

...that celebrates the nothingness of celebrities.

Charles Robert Redford Jr. said at the opening of his Moondance Film Festival..."Anyone with a rational mind and a sense of decency is being positioned as a lefty by the extreme right...".

Fiberals "rational"? That's as funny as when they think they're "progressive" too!

Jr. also said, "I believe in the tenets of democracy, and when they get pushed, it pisses me off."

And..."I'm left-handed, I'm not a very moderate person."

RATIONAL!

Jr. also believes, "I think we're owed a big, massive apology", by U. S. leaders.

What pisses me off is people, like Jr., who live in a sheltered environment and make millions off of make believe, reading other peoples words and having people take their picture thinking they're brilliant.

You owe an apology to the people who went to see 'Downhill Racer', 'Little Fauss and Big Halsey',
'The Hot Rock', 'The Great Waldo Pepper', 'Legal Eagles', 'Havana', 'Up Close & Personal', 'The Last Castle' and 'Spy Game'.

You went out and lied to people, when you promoted those movies, to get them to spend their hard earned money to see your scaly mug.

Roseann O'Donnell is another do as I say Fiberal.

The former Queen of Nice went off, uncocked, again as she railed about American Idol.

Why does anyone care about any of it?

What irritated me is these comments..."I don't think America likes to watch people be ridiculed, made fun of....it's an absurd concept that this is what's tolerable now as consumption in America for mass media."

I forget, aren't you a comedienne (?) who's made fun of people when they're not there?

Didn't you recently dump on Donald Trump?

Seething about Simon Cowell, Roseann said..."That's compassion for you. Isn't that what America thinks is entertainment -- to make fun of someone's physical appearance and then when they leave the room, laugh hysterically at them?".

Roseann continued her diatribe as she, described the judges as "three millionaires...one who's probably intoxicated" -- a reference to her previous comments that she questions what Paula Abdul drinks from her omnipresent Coca-Cola cup.

That's certainly compassionate!

Finally Roseann spoke "some" truth, "If you keep serving people crap and telling them its a meal, eventually they're going to think it's a meal".

Welcome to the career of Roseann O'Donell!

Mmmm, Tasty!

Me vs. TV8

A little background. One Saturday I was watching the TV8 6p.m. news and they put up a map to go with the story that anchor Erin Kiernan was reading. The map showed the U.S. and Europe, with an ocean in between. Can you correctly name that ocean? Well, whoever put the map together prior to the newscast couldn't. They had named it the Pacific instead of the Atlantic. I sent an e-mail to Ms. Kiernan and asked if she was as shocked as I was about the change. She good naturedly replied she was stunned. I sent an e-mail to Davie Busiek, News Director, and he gave me some lame excuse about being out of town and not seeing it. Well last Sunday night, after a roughly two week period of watching their mistakes, I'd had enough. At the end of the 10p.m. news I sent an e-mail to the station manager and news director. Enjoy the following....

I grew up with TV8 news. My earliest memories are of Russ Van Dyke with AE milk at the desk and of course the backwards weather map. However you have made it difficult to stay with you. From the weekend when you replaced the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, ask Erin Kiernan, to the last few weeks when you've mis-spelled Italy on Cynthia Fodors report(ITALTY) to mis-spelling the Harlem Globetrotters (HARLAM). Bob Kaple has been the final straw for me. Stating, after a tree tore through a mans home and struck him, "no harm no foul" to his latest inability to report correctly the opening of the new DM library, stating the library would be closed Sunday 4/9 and not open again until Monday 4/10. Later corrected by Emily Givens, prior to the Dm Register plug, that it would be open Sunday 1-5pm. I'm done with your idiocy

His reply

Dave A Busiek wrote:
Mr. King:

We try hard every day to get it 100% right, but in 27 years at KCCI (back to the days of working with Russ), I've found perfect newscasts to be rare. You seem to have a wonderful memory for the mistakes. What's disappointing about your email is that you can't seem to give us credit for any of the good work that we do. Judging by a lot of factors, not the least of which is ratings dominance, I'd have to say the vast majority of viewers think we must be doing something right.

We live in a fishbowl, and every mistake is out there for all the world to see. We realize that, and we have systems in place to catch mistakes before they air, and they catch many, but they are not foolproof. If we make a mistake, we try to find the reason for it and prevent recurrences. And if it's a mistake that needs correcting, like the one this weekend on the library hours, we go on the air and admit the mistake.

I don't know what you do for a living, but if you work with people, you surely must know that humans make mistakes. If that makes us "idiots" in your eyes, I guess we'll have to live with that. I'll be sure to share your note with the rest of the staff so they know how you feel.

Sincerely,

Dave Busiek
News Diector

My BAD back

You might want to consider a refresher course for "How to win friends and influence people". I found your e-mail quite defensive for Iowa's News "Bleat"-er. I'm not surprised you missed the facts of my e-mail, since it's the facts that have been messed up in your newscasts. I didn't call you "idiots", I stated I was tired of your "idiocy". However, I believe it is "idiotic" to make excuses for the mistakes made. Oh well, "You'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people", or it's media. "No harm, no foul", Bob Kaple just may have captured your new slogan.


I usually cut folks some slack if they're new or doing a live shot. These errors are in their prepared pieces and facts that are easily checked. Needless to say, they lost a long time viewer.

The Not So Great Communicator

I thought it was just me, but the Big Lug Nut and posse don't answer calls or return e-mails period...

Ring. Ring. Ring. Click. Hello. You've reached the office of Gov. Chet Culver. We're sorry we can't take your call right now. We're very busy managing the latest state crisis...Please leave your name, phone number and a brief message after the tone, and we'll return your call just as soon as we can. Like maybe in November 2010. Beep!

Back on August 28 (No Charge), I had e-mailed the BLN about a mailing my wife received bearing the return address of Office of The Governor next to The Great Seal Of The State Of Iowa.

I wanted to know three simple questions:

How would the Governor get my wife's name?

What is the cost associated with this mailing?

Who paid for it?

On September 5th (Hello), I had found the answers to the last two questions on my own.

I still had no response from the BLN, so I e-mailed again stating, "This is my second attempt for a response, the first was sent 8/28".

Another week went by and nada, zip, zero, zilch and the scientific community is united in that fact.

On 9/13 I e-mailed, "This is my third attempt in the last three weeks to get an answer, the first was sent on 8/28 and the second on 9/5".

I patiently waited another week and sent this e-mail on 9/20, "This is the fourth straight week I've sent an e-mail seeking an answer. The first was sent on 8/28, the second on 9/5 and the third one on 9/13. This is hardly being constituent focused".

Finally a response was received on 9/24, but came out of the office of the Iowa Insurance Division?!?!?!

Thank you for your recent inquiry to the Governor’s office regarding questions you had about the “Own Your Future” campaign. The Governor’s office forwarded these concerns to me to answer as I am the project lead for “Own Your Future” and will happily answer your questions.

Your first question was how the Governor got your name to send the letter. This planning campaign is a joint initiative between the federal and state governments. The letters are from Governor Culver, but the fulfillment (printing, postage, and sending) is all part of the responsibility of the federal partner agency, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The names, and addresses that were used in fulfillment for this program came from a national list vendor, named Catalyst Direct (http://www.catalystdirect.com) which derives its lists from publicly available data sets.

You next asked how much this cost and who paid. The cost of fulfillment, as I hinted to before, comes from HHS. As far as how much it costs, perhaps the easiest way to answer this question is to say that in general the selected states that participate each year in the “Own Your Future” campaigns have to share resources of $3,000,000 per year. This money, since it is used to send letters to 45-65 year-olds in each state, is not evenly split due to different numbers of this demographic in each state. The funding for this initiative came out of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and is designed to help build awareness around planning for long-term care which would likely reduce the number of people that utilize the Medicaid program for their funding of long-term care. Nationally Medicaid pays more that $120,000,000,000 per year for long-term care services. I only provide this amount so that you can compare the amounts and draw your own conclusion as to the worth of the expense of this initiative.

I hope I have given you enough information, but if not, please do not hesitate to contact me.

It took over four weeks to dump my e-mail onto someone else?

Not even an apology from the BLN's staff for the bumbling of my original inquiry, or an explanation of who and why it was forwarded to someone else.

How difficult was this?

Their lips are moving

What is, How can you tell when a Fiberal Dummycrat is lying Alex?

USA Today has an Opinion Piece from Peter Schweizer that shows Al Gore is not as green as he espouses.

Stunning on two fronts! Gore's not green and USA Today printed it, albeit not a news story.

Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.

Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents.

But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted Wednesday, Gore's office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths.

Gore is not alone. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has said, "Global warming is happening, and it threatens our very existence." The DNC website applauds the fact that Gore has "tried to move people to act." Yet, astoundingly, Gore's persuasive powers have failed to convince his own party: The DNC has not signed up to pay an additional two pennies a kilowatt hour to go green....

Gore has held these apocalyptic views about the environment for some time. So why, then, didn't Gore dump his family's large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family's trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.

Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.

Humanity might be "sitting on a ticking time bomb," but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.

The issue here is not simply Gore's hypocrisy; it's a question of credibility. If he genuinely believes the apocalyptic vision he has put forth and calls for radical changes in the way other people live, why hasn't he made any radical change in his life? Giving up the zinc mine or one of his homes is not asking much, given that he wants the rest of us to radically change our lives.

Peter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.

I haven't read Schweizer's book, but that's the perfect definition of a FIBERAL!

The more things change

After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

(I'm shocked)

Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify "earmarks" - lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.

(I'm stunned)

Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman(David Obey) to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.

... Such requests total billions of dollars.

...Obey insists he is reluctantly taking the step because Appropriations Committee members and staff have not had enough time to fully review the 36,000 earmark requests that have flooded the committee.

I'm nauseous and the scientific community is united in that fact.

What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open.

Do as I say, not as I do-do.

With friends like Harkin

CommieTommie Harkin gave President Bush a couple of backhanded slaps in his criticism of Che Junior, Hugo Chavez.

According to Radio Iowa..... Harkin said the comments were "incendiary", then went on to say, "Let me put it this way, I can understand the frustration, ah, and the anger of certain people around the world because of George Bush's policies." Harkin continued what has been frequent criticism of the president's foreign policy.

Harkin says Bush came to office saying he wanted a new humility in foreign policy in reaching out to other countries, but Harkin says Bush's actual policy has been heavy handed. Harkin says the anger against Bush is generated from the Iraq war, which Harkin says was "unnecessary."

Unnecessary? Then why did you vote YEA?

Note: CommieTommie is represented as Quagmire from 'The Family Guy'

Harkin says, "We tend to forget that a few days after 9-1-1 thousands, thousands of Iranians marched in a candlelight procession in Teheran in support of the United States. Every Muslim country was basically on our side. Just think, in five years, President Bush has squandered all that." Harkin says the U.S. has put billions of dollars into the Iraq war, when it could be helping poor countries with things like clean water, medical aid and education.

I remember Palistinians dancing in the streets , pictured, at the 9-11 attacks.

The Ragister provided CommieTommie ground cover saying Harkin was more critical of Chavez in an e-mail press release.

“While I understand the frustrations of many in the international community because of George W. Bush’s policies, I do not believe that gives them the right to come to our country and personally insult and attack the President of the United States.”

Tusk and Talon weigh in with....Embracing leftist scum dictators (please excuse the redundancy) is nothing new for Harkin, however. He has a long history of cozying up to the likes of Castro, Ortega and others. Frontpagemagazine did a lengthy feature on him back in 2004.
Here are some highlights from that article:

During Harkin’s 1982 re-election campaign, his opponent documented that this Democratic congressman had always voted against foreign aid for countries friendly to the U.S., but that Harkin had voted to give taxpayer money to Communist Vietnam, Communist Cuba, Communist Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Marxist Sandinista Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and other Communist nations. When this came up in a broadcast debate, Harkin replied: “From now on, I am going to vote against all foreign aid.”

In 1982 CommieTommie was a Congressman, emphasis on the CON.

Back then I was calling him the Representative from Nicaragua.

It's been against my wildest wishes that he got as far as he did.

My friend Pat sent me this....

Here's a copy of an email I sent to Sen. Harkin today along with his email address in case you'd like to do the same. I know it won't do any good but it makes me feel better to tell that twit what I think of him.

Senator Harkin:
I was embarrassed to be an Iowan yesterday when I read your remarks about Hugo Chavez' speech at the United Nations. It is stunning when the likes of Charles Rangel and Nancy Pelosi will stick up for our President when the head of a foreign nation calls him the devil, but you make an apologist statement about Chavez saying you can understand his frustration. Your remarks are being carried in several publications yesterday and today so the entire country can see your depth of disdain for the President. It is unfortunate that you seem to put your party's political goals above those the the nation's.

Normally I would, but I just received a reply this week to an e-mail I sent him months ago.

He's always late in his response, if he responds at all.

So, I'll use this blog as my way to tell "that twit" what I think of him too....and I don't have to be diplomatic.

Degrees Of Separation

Though I longed to, I never got the chance to meet Ronald Reagan.

Therefore I had to rely on connections to greatness, such as Reagan and I both having worked for Palmer Communications (WHO & KLYF Radio), albeit years apart.

While I was on the Big Island, another of those Reagan connections passed away.

Robert "Bob" Weddell lived next door to the first home I ever purchased.

It was the early '80s and at that time I was working for KLYF, Bob invited me in to his house and showed me an invitation to Reagan's inauguration.

To say the least, I was curious about his Reagan memorabilia.

Bob explained that his dad had worked at WHO with Reagan.

Reagan fans will recall the story...

Jim Zabel: ...your ad-lib ability was really put to a super test with that machine right there, the old Western Union ticker tape that used to bring in the Chicago Cubs re-creations to you.

The President. Yes.

Zabel. And you had a stick one time—in that famous story—you fouled it off 34 times, 35 times.—

The President. [Laughing] Yes. It was— you sat—there was a window here. Curly Waddel was the operator, sat on that side with the headphones, and he would type and slip it under the window to me. And they used to keep track—because there'd be seven or eight stations competing and broadcasting, and most of them live, right at the park and we were within half a pitch of right up with the live ball game all the time.

Mr. Zabel. Sure.

The President. To do that, he had to abbreviate things down, like in would come the paper, and it would say, "Out 4-3." Well, that meant out from second base to first base, that meant it had to be a grounder. So, you'd take it, and you'd say, "And Dean comes out of the windup, and here comes the pitch, and it's a hard hit ground ball down toward second base. So-and-so going over after the ball, picks it up, flips it over to first, just in time for the out." And by this time you're waiting for the next one. Or he would send you "S-1-C." And that meant strike one called. So, you'd say, "He's got the sign, comes out of the windup, here's the pitch, and it's a called strike, breaking over the outside corner just"- [laughter] —"above the knees." And all of that.

But the thing that you're talking about was the time that—it was the ninth inning, the Cards and the Cubs, tied up 0-0, and he was typing, and I thought there's a play coming. And he kept shaking his head when I had—and it was Dean on the mound—and I had Billy Jurgess at the plate. And I had him getting a sign from the catcher, and finally here comes the slip of paper, and it said, "The wires have gone dead." And I knew in that ninth inning if I suddenly said, "Well, we'll have a little interlude of music while we get back connected with the ballpark," we'd lose every—they'd all turn on some of those other stations. So, I thought, "There's only one thing that can get in the—doesn't get in the score book: foul ball."

So, I had Jurgess foul one, and then I had him foul another. And then I had him foul one that missed a home run by a foot. Then I described two kids down back of third base that— [laughter] —were in a fight over the ball that had gone into the stands there. And pretty soon I know I'm beginning to set a world record for somebody standing at the plate and hitting successive fouls, if anyone ever kept those figures. And I was beginning to sweat a little, because I knew now that if I told them we'd lost the wire they'd know I hadn't been telling the truth.

Zabel. Who finally did get the hit in that game?

The President. Well, just—pretty soon, Curly started typing. And I had him throw another pitch, and in came the slip, and then I started giggling. I had trouble getting it out, because the slip said Jurgess popped out on the first ball pitched. [Laughter]

They mis-spelled Curly's last name, but his son Bob was proud of that story.

He was a good man and will be missed.

Do as I SAY, Not as I DO

The Irish Examiner reports that U2 and Bono(pictured with former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill) are furious that Ireland is doing away with its law exempting artists and authors from taxation.

Under the Irish government's last budget, artists and authors can get up to 250,000 euros ($325,000) in income tax free, but after that they pay like everyone else.

The Examiner reports that beginning in June of this year the group began moving parts of their business to Netherlands. The paper said now U2 pays "virtually no tax on royalties" in Holland.

This coming from a man who at the National Prayer Breakfast with President Bush in attendance, in February, quoted the Koran....

"Righteousness is this: that one should… give away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.’ The Koran says that. (2.177)."

He was trying to cajole, more like embarrass, America into "tithing" an extra 1% of the federal budget to send to Africa.

"To give one percent more is right. It’s smart. And it’s blessed"...."America gives less than one percent now. Were asking for an extra one percent to change the world. to transform millions of lives—but not just that and I say this to the military men now – to transform the way that they see us."

In a bit of irony, Bono is part of an investment group(Elevation Partners) that just sank $250 to $300 million into Forbes Media, owner of Forbes magazine. A magazine that celebrates Capitalism.

Roger McNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners, responded to the irony this way..."The way you solve poverty is giving people the tools to overcome it."

It just goes to show that U2 can be a hypocrite!

Channeling Joe Jones

As I mentioned yesterday, "You Talk Too Much" should be Joe Biden's theme song.

Biden appeared before the DNC and opened his remarks by asking, "So, how was your week?"

In an obvious attempt to disarm the comments he made about Barack Obama and other Dummycrat opponents.

Biden then said, "I truly regret the words I spoke of people I respect very much."

I'm always publicly disparaging people I respect very much.

How is that in any way considered an apology?

Because you can't go before the party of Howard Dean and not scream about Iraq, here's Biden again...

On Iraq, he said the proposed increase in troops is a "tragic mistake" and "I will do everything in my power to stop it."

He hasn't always felt that way.

Per The Washington Times... Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. has for years advocated increasing the number of troops on the ground in Iraq. But after Mr. Bush offered his proposal to do that earlier this month, the Delaware Democrat drafted a resolution rejecting the idea as not "in the national interest."

In the summer of 2005 here was Joe Biden on Iraq...

Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," disputed Bush's notion that sufficient troops are in place.

"I'm going to send him the phone numbers of the very generals and flag officers that I met on Memorial Day when I was in Iraq," the Delaware Democrat said. "There's not enough force on the ground now to mount a real counterinsurgency."

Biden argued, "The course that we are on now is not a course of success. He (Bush) has to get more folks involved..."

What changed?

The President is now for more forces on the ground so Biden, and other Dummycrats have to be against it!

It's a Groucho Marx "Horse Feathers" policy, they're not smart enough to realize they're asses!

I don't know what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway
Whatever it is, I'm against it.
No matter what it is or who commenced it, I'm against it!
Your proposition may be good
But let's have one thing understood
Whatever it is, I'm against it.
And even when you've changed it or condensed it, I'm against it!
For months before my son was born
I used to yell from night till morn
Whatever it is, I'm against it!
And I've kept yelling since I've first commenced it, I'm against it.

Lastly, in the fall of 2005, more genius that is Joe Biden...

"...Our large military presence-- while still the only guarantor against a total breakdown -- is increasingly counterproductive..."

How is the military presence LARGE when there's not enough forces?

How can it be a guarantor against total breakdown when it's countproductive?

Sing it Joe

You talk too much you worry me to death,
You talk too much, you even worry my pet
You just talk, talk too much
You talk about people that you don't know,
You talk about people wherever you go
You just talk, talk too much
You talk about people that you've never seen,
You talk about people, you can make me scream
You just talk, you talk too much

Standards

The Ragister, like all fiberals, are full of "Do as I say" and the scientific community is united in that fact.

It usually means means DooDoo and today was no exception.

Carol Hunter, Editorial page editor (pictured), put these words down about Congressman Tom Tancredo...

"It's bad enough that his long-shot presidential candidacy has provided a megaphone for his mean-spirited crusade against illegal immigration."

Here's his stand...

"Illegal aliens threaten our economy and undermine our culture. While our brave soldiers risk their lives to protect us overseas, our political elites lack the courage to defend us at home. I am 100% opposed to amnesty. As President, I will secure our borders so illegal aliens do not come, and I will eliminate benefits and job prospects so they do not stay."

It was just two weeks ago the Ragister penned an editorial stating...

Let's discuss immigration, but leave emotions at curb

Too much to ask from Ms. Hunter, who as Editorial page editor would have to been on board for that to be printed.

Likewise the rules the Ragister uses for readers is different too.

For Letters to the Editor...

Choose your words carefully. Letters that contain libelous or slanderous statements will likely either be edited or rejected.

For their online forums...

"...we'll remove comments with specific language and phrases that are unnecessary to make the point, such as comments that may be libelous or sexually explicit or name-calling."

"If you don't read the newspaper
you are uninformed, if you do
Read the newspaper you are
Misinformed."
-Mark Twain

Clinton/Gore...Please, No More!

Global Warming, it's been going on since the end of the last ice age. For me the major source of pollution is the noise and hot air that spews forth when Al Gore & Bill Clinton open their mouths. Here's a sample of stupidity that Clinton said on Saturday....global warming is a greater threat than terrorism and that the United States and other countries must "get off our butts" and do something about it. That explains why he never made a serious effort to rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein or the Taliban. Al Gore was in the south of France at the Cannes Film Festival screening "An Inconvienent Truth," which documents his one-man crusade to raise awareness about global warming. Of course America is to blame for its dependence on fossil fuels. I guess the man, who has a close connection to Occidental Petroleum, is ok with his use of fossil fuels as he jetted from a Los Angeles premiere of his film on Tuesday, to Washington D.C. and another premiere on Wednesday(where he got a big hug from CommieTommie Harkin) and to Cannes Saturday. Clinton is also jetting around the world for speaking engagements. He got off his butt yesterday to be in Austin, Texas. In March, Clinton jetted from Des Moines to Savannah, Georgia in the same day. Who can forget how he kept Air Force One idling on the tarmac in L.A. forcing all other traffic to either idle on the ground or circle overhead...while he got his haircut! It's all part of the Dummycrat philosophy of I know what's best for you. More like do as I say, not as I do.

'Bout Damn Time

In an interview with the Associated Press, Al Gore said that renovations are nearly complete to make his Nashville home a model "green" home.

"This plan has been in the works for a long time."

What's a long time to Gore?

Gore's renovation project, which he said has been in the works for months...

Months?

I believe he's owned this 10,000 square foot monstrosity since at least 2001!

What about his two other homes?

I think it's the one in Carthage that has a zinc mine and an oil well.

It's obvious that this is in direct response to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

That group, in February, made public Gore's electrical use for 2006.

Gore characterized that as a "...misleading attack by a global-warming denier group."

That's interesting because in February this is what the group said about "Gore-bull" warming...

...it's unclear whether global warming is caused by humans...

Hardly a denial.

I guess what a Gore spokesperson said then fits now...

"Sometimes when people don't like the message...it's convenient to attack the messenger."

That same spokesperson said...

Focusing on Gore's personal electricity consumption misses the point of An Inconvenient Truth...

The Fiberal point is the always hypocritical "do as I say, not as I do" and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Case Closed?

I tried watching Bad Bad Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia, but it was tough to follow his "retarded" thought process.

During the Q&A part of the program he was asked about Iran's treatment of women and gays.

"In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."

If you're swapping spit with another man, like Ahmadinejad pictured, you might be a homosexual (in any country) and the scientific community is united in that fact.

When questioned about his denial of the Holocaust, Bad Bad Ahmadinejad said it should not be treated as fact, but theory, and therefore open to debate and more research.

However, he declared Iran's disputed nuclear program is closed as a political issue and said Tehran will ignore a U.N. Security Council demand to curb its nuclear program.

That is certainly this countries fiberal "do as I say, not as I do" mentality.

No wonder I haven't heard any of our socialists denounce Ahmadinejad.