Can Our Republic Survive?

We must remember that our Representative Democratic Republic was formed with the idea that those voting for representatives to go to Washington actually knew:

A) What the important issues are for the country.
and
B) Where the different candidates stand on the different issues.

Sadly, more and more research shows the general American populace does not know enough to make informed decisions.

This is important because, without focusing on real issues and having a modicum of understanding concerning the candidates' position, we end up with demagoguery as the deciding factor in almost any political race. And even if appealing to the masses will get you elected, governing based on poll numbers will never be good for the country. Sometimes, to do what's best for the country, you have to buck the polls. Just ask G.W. Bush, who stuck it out in Iraq, knowing that a surge would bring more peace than retreat.

Let's Have an Honest Anthropogenic Global Warming Debate

The debate on anthropogenic global warming is quite a bit cloudier, thanks to the release of the CRU emails. In the emails, we see 'scientists' discussing ways to help push a political agenda. They do this through using doctored and inaccurate data and intimidation tactics against journals to remove a "troublesome editor." What happened to real science, where scientists reported on facts?

Real science seems to be subverted by something known as 'Post-normal science.' This post-modern approach states science must "re-invent itself as a political tool." The idea espoused by this post-normal science group is, surprise, that the data must be made to fit a specific narrative.

One of the major narrative we're all familiar with is Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). This "Man Made Global Disaster" idea is based on questionable science, science that drops information that doesn't fit their story. In fact, the whole AGW thing is more akin to a religion or political stance instead of real science.

If you want to have a real discussion about global warming, then show us your data and let's discuss why there are two climate events (Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age) are not included in your hockey stick model.

This is What I'm Afraid Of!

One reason healthcare in the US is expensive is because America (and American companies) generate almost HALF of all medical innovations in the world. This includes new, life saving procedures as well as new prescription medications. Now, if Health Insurance Reform passes, with some sort of public option to "increase competition," where does that leave innovation?

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was afraid of.

He's Exactly Who We Thought He Was

Well, in a previous post during the campaign, I had hopes for now-President Obama. My hope was that Obama's connections to the far left radicals marked him simply as a political animal who would use whoever was around him to get ahead. My fear was he would be more like a true believer and start moving this country to the left.

Based on what I read in this Washington Examiner article, Obama is a believer. It's interesting to note how Obama won the primary election by "out lefting" the rest of the Democratic candidates, and won the general election by moving back to the center. An important note in how he managed to do this was the coddling given to him by the main stream media. With the information they provided, people could hope for a centrist Obama who happened to be among a 'few' bad apples.

However, with his economic BS package and his new budget, Obama has marked himself as a liberal of the higest order. I can't say I'm surprised.

Do Any of these Democrats Pay Taxes?

Well, apparently another Obama nominee has had to withdraw because of tax issues. This is in addition to other tax cheats I've talked about before. Do any of these Democratic leaders even pay taxes anymore? This would explain why they are okay with raising taxes, since they plan to cheat their way out of paying their fair share.

For Heaven's Sake, if you're going to set the rules, you should at least follow them yourselves. Not something the Obama administration is known for in it's short time in office, though.

And where is the Main Stream Media on this? Even they are giving Obama warnings that all may not be well.

Another Democratic Nominee a Tax Cheat?

Having one appointee with tax problems can seem like an easy mistake for the new President. Having two nominees who don't pay their taxes, however, sounds like more than that. The second nominee to run into problems, Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services, makes me pause and look a little more closely at Obama's administration.

I mean, here is a man who forgot to report more than $80,000 in income. Doesn't this disqualify him from office? I think so.

Hat Tip Hot Air for the start.

NASA's Climatologists Now Against Anthropogenic Global Warming

If we really listen to climatologists, instead of ex-politicians parading as celebrities, we will see more and more scientists speaking out about the fallacy of CO2 and the failed climate models used to predict dire consequences.

Instead, these climatologists point to cooling global temperatures and a slowing of the "dramatic rise" of ocean levels. In fact, more climate scientists signed on as anthropogenic global warming skeptics than those authors supporting the IPCC report.

It looks more and more like the debate about global warming, far from being over, is just now starting to get going.

See also this article detailing dissent from the IPCC models used to predict global warming.

Hat Tip - Crossfit - Breaking the 'dumb jock' stereotype.

Not Learning from History, Hope We Don’t Repeat It

Obama is all rhetoric and no substance. He talks a good game, mentioning words like "bipartisanship" and "job creation." Unfortunately, his actions don't follow his words. He constantly ignores history when it does not agree with his point of view.

Now he's trying to push through a bloated spending bill disguised as a stimulus package, with almost HALF of the spending happening 2 years from now or more. Spending that far out CANNOT jump start the budget. Even John McCain, who supported the first failed bailout, learned that this spending bill will not be able to dig America out. In addition, everyone knows that the new "temporary" programs put in place by this bill would become another piece of the entrenched Federal bureaucracy.

Now, if we look at what Obama wants to do to help “create jobs” in America, we will realize his policies sound very familiar. These policies include public works and more big government spending, to the tune of over $800 BILLION. In addition, it includes such stupid measures as requirements to “buy American” requirements that have caused more problems in the past than they helped.

As anyone who is a student of history can see, this didn’t work then and it won’t work now. Let's hope Obama and lawmakers realize this before it's too late.

Stand By Your Guns

I'm glad to see the Republicans in the House standing firm and not giving ANY support to the "stimulus package" that was grunted out of the House. This package is more like a flaming pile of poo flung on the American tax payers front door than a real attempt to help fix things now.

Economists agree that for the stimulus to work, it needs to take effect immediately and start pushing things through sooner rather than later. However, reading the text shows that only 20% of the stimulus would be spent this year! What? So why load up the bill with a bunch of crap?

Now we just need to see whether the Republicans in the Senate will fold. I'm thinking no, although I don't see a filibuster on the way.

Who Supports Hamas?

Not the people who have to live with them. These are stories of people who have been taken advantage of. Hamas was supposed to help them have a better life. Instead, Hamas uses their children, their women and their elderly as human shields against Israeli bombs.

So, who really supports Hamas. We have "intellectuals" from New York, Ireland, and other countries outside of Gaza as the main supporters. These people have absolutely no idea of the real reasons the Israelis have to strike in populated areas. As this author states, "Almost no one on the Left has any understanding of militant Islam. Their politics is a politics of gesture, where wearing a keffiyeh is cool but understanding its symbolism is too much effort even for intellectuals."

I say stop pointing fingers at the defender and point the blame with the Hamas terrorists, where it rightly belongs.

Inaugural Speech Commentary

As I read the text of Obama's speech, I was struck by how much the speech included language that seemed more appropriate for a Republican like Bush than a Democrat like Obama.

And it seems I'm not the only one to see the connection.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Why can't he just admit he's wrong?

This video is very enlightening.

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An honest, upstanding man, one who truly wants to serve the nation well, would readily admit when they are wrong. When confronted with obvious errors, an honest man will say, "You're right. I was wrong." However, Harry Reid is not an honest man, nor a great statesman. Instead he shows himself as a grasping, self-serving politician who wants to attribute all successes to himself and blame others for all failures.

Remember, Harry Reid was the politician who pushed hardest for us to leave Iraq as soon as possible. He stated that the surge was a failure and would not secure the region. Even in his review of the current issues in the Middle East, where he talks about the "destabilizing" of the region because we invaded Iraq, he makes monumental and factually wrong mistakes. (For instance, Israel's attack on Hamas in Gaza has absolutely nothing to do with George Bush and the US Congress agreeing to attack Iraq.)

I will agree with Harry on one thing, though. Patreaus is a genius. He had the intelligence to correctly guage the high morale of our troops, understand the mindset of the enemy and discern the correct path. He knew that the enemy would rightly see this as weakness on the part of America. Of course, the one Senator who supported and fought for this surge strategy ran for President. Unfortunately, another politician, one who had similar views to Harry, was elected. At least he had the grace to admit the surge worked.

I'm From the Government and I'm Here to Help... Part III

It seems like every time there is an economic downturn, some people start clamoring for government support of the economy. Unfortunately, from a logical, historic perspective, more government interference does nothing to actually rebuild the economy.

See this video to learn more about the theory of "More Government Assistance will Help the Economy."



The reason this is important is because Obama is about to take office. The US economy is at it's weakest level in years. We have already had a spate of "bailouts" for private firms, with talk of more to come. Unfortunately, these government interventions do not truly fix the problem. Without some time to 'reset,' the economy will continue to falter and flail.

We need more common sense and less use of tax payer money to try and make politicians look good.

The First Amendment Means You Can Be Annoying

Well, the folks in Brighton, MI don't think so. Apparently, freedom of speech is only for acceptable speech. Huh?? The whole reason we have a First Amendment to the Constitution is to protect speech that others might find offensive or unacceptable.

The Ban takes effect January 2nd. How soon do you think it will take before someone challenges this and gets it taken into the courts? Once that happens, the ban will have to come down, as it is patently unconstitutional.

(Hat tip to Hot Air for the news link.)

Why Everyone Needs the Second Amendment

This young lady was attacked in her home, apparently without motive. She did what many believe is adequate to protect themselves; she called 911. Unfortunately for her, and her fiance, the police did not arrive for 48 minutes. Instead of the police being able to come speedily to her rescue, her body was found by her fiance when he returned to their apartment.

Occasions like this simply reinforce the fact that all individuals have a right to self defense, and should respond with deadly force to threats on our lives. It is our responsibility, not the State's, to defend ourselves. The State merely offers additional measures of security to help us defend ourselves.

Opposite Day in Global Economics

I never thought I'd see the day where China makes the right decision for fostering a better business environment and the United States makes the exact opposite (and wrong) decision. The article from the Straits Times details how China is reacting to the global economic slowdown. They're doing the intelligent thing by lowering the tax burden on businesses.

And what is the US response to the economic slowdown? How about trying to nationalize industries and creating public works projects (funded with tax payer money). And if you think FDR's plan worked out well for the US, you should think again. This doesn't sound very capitalistic. In fact, it's quite far from it.

Hey Barry!! Wake up and face reality. Taxes don't work, no matter how much you want to believe otherwise. Try relieving the tax burden of your businesses and lower the threshold for new companies to get started.

(Hat Tip to Hot Air)

This is Obama's Training Ground

Wow!

This political crime spree shows the sordid underbelly of Illinois politics. You know, Illinois? The launching point of Barack Obama's political career (from the home of that English teacher). I can't say I'm surprised.



Thanks Little Green Footballs for the video.

Will He Ever Answer a Question Directly?

CNN is finally starting to ask the President elect some tough questions (FINALLY, after practically signing on to his campaign staff before).

However, I notice that, instead of simply answering the question, Barry simply laughs it off, using a fallacious argument. Is the rest of his presidency going to be like this? Because you have to know that all of the promises he made during the campaign are total tripe. There is no way he can do everything he says he's going to do. He's already saddled with a status of force agreement with Iraq that keeps us there for some time. He also has said he would drop the tax on oil companies for their "windfall profits." He's even gone back on the campaign promise to avoid lobbyists and ex-lobbyists in his political team.

The press is going to be asking some tough questions, so Barry better put his notes together and start providing real answers.

The Filibuster is Safe... For Now

HotAir had running commentary of the Senate race in Georgia. Based on how it's been reported by the AP, Republican Chambliss will win. Why is this important? It's a big deal because, as the article explains, this ensures a filibuster can still work to help protect Americans (that's you and me) from extreme partisan laws that may be put forth by the House with assurances of being singed by a Democratic president.

Remember the post I wrote about how the filibuster saved us from some bad laws? This is what we need to protect. We need to help ensure no one party is in control of everything. Not the Democrats and not the Republicans. This will help ensure we have the "best" government we can expect.

Protect My Rights... ALL OF THEM!!

Holy cow! Can you believe the audacity of the president elect's administration, including this question in their job application packet? As was correctly pointed out on another website, this is discriminating against people who chose to exercise one of their rights.

Now remember, this is the same gentleman who wouldn't change gun laws (bottom of the page) to ensure people defending themselves in their homes were not charged with a crime. He is supported by a Vice President who helped write the Assault Weapons Ban, some of the most illogical rules about gun restrictions based on the appearance of the weapon.

I hope the NRA keeps up their pressure on Obama, because if they don't we may see our legal, individual right to own a gun taken away from us.