Morning Must Reads: Plan

“In a fundraising e-mail titled “Time to Punish Dick Lugar?” Tea Party Express chair Amy Kremer wrote: “Dick Lugar has become the epitome of what is wrong in Washington, D.C” and that “it is clear that someone like this needs to go”.
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Punish? I’ll give them credit for being honest with their motivation.

Some provisions of the Patriot Act that expire near the end of February failed a reauthorization vote in the House last night.

How refreshing. Maybe some folks actually thought that “Tree of Liberty” slogan through a little bit. The problem with the Tea party, like the libertarians before them is their ‘one size fits all’ thinking about issues. Their beleifs are literally ‘faith based’ and therefore impervious to argument or contrary evidence.

But consistency would dictate that if you want to get rid of the ‘Nanny State’, one of the first steps would be disabling the baby monitor. This could be more interesting than I thought!

Dare I congratulate the tea party for standing up for their (often unconscionable, but in this case noble) principles? And of course kudos to the Dems that voted against it, too. I doubt this block will be sustainable, but at least it sends a message to those who believe a permanent near-police state in America is not “controversial” or will face no opposition on the grounds of “fighting terrorism.”

What a complete embarrassment for the GOP…
http://www.sunstateactivist.org

More on the Muslim Brotherhood Exposed: “Brotherhood’s objectives of advancing the global conquest of Islam and reestablishing the Islamic Caliphate”
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Where are the lame stream media’s investigative reporters on this? Missing in action. Why is that? Who are they protecting?
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A radical Muslim group, just like the President of the United States back when he was a candidate in 2008, totally un-vetted, totally un-reported about. Is Journolist still alive? Hopefully some brave reporter will step forward, and announce how the lame stream media keeps information like this hidden from public view.

News of the Patriot act’s nonrenewal inspires a fresh round of bedwetting on Rusty’s part. How unsurprising.

We drive a Toyota minivan (no stuck pedal problems). I think people who have stuck accelerators don’t realize that if you put the car in neutral you can coast to a stop. Knowing what your car can or can’t do is imperative once you get the keys.

“What a complete embarrassment for the GOP”
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This is a bill passed by Democrats previously and a bill the President endorses and its a complete embarrassment for the GOP?.

PS

It will come up for vote again and will only need a simple majority to renew.

Will The Real Tea Party Members Of Congress, Please Stand Up
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You can’t be for limited government, and then in the next breath vote to extend what is basically a license to wire-tap any and all citizens.

from Steve Benan:

You’ll likely hear some media accounts saying that the “Tea Party” wing of the GOP was responsible for beating back the Patriot Act, but that’s not quite true. Of the 26 Republican “nay” votes, only eight came from the massive freshman class, and many of those generally associated with the right-wing faction — including Michele Bachmann and Allen West — voted with the GOP leadership in support of the bill. Indeed, looking specifically at the 52 members of the House Tea Party Caucus, 44 of them voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act.
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Tea Partiers, in other words, generally backed the bill, their rhetoric about “limited government” notwithstanding.
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Freep’s point is actually a good one. Which party is a friend of Civil Liberties is a direct function of which one holds the executive branch.
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I continue to love this particular link:

http://www.badattitudes.com/AshWeb.html

John Ashcroft extolling the virtues of encryption!

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_02/027912.php

Economist Says Only The Ignorant Want High-Speed Rail: Paul Samuelson laid out the reasons last fall but apparently the WH wants to continue tilting at that windmill evidence to the contrary. (P Dirks what was it you said about faith based beliefs-envirogods or contrary evidence).
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Amtrak lost money on nearly every single route and has for years despite the federal subsidies. Exactly how that changes is uncertain. Maybe that’s what liberals mean by Hope and change. Nothings changed but let’s hope for the best!

Somehow, it has become fashionable to think that high-speed trains connecting major cities will help “save the planet.” They won’t. They’re a perfect example of wasteful spending masquerading as a respectable social cause. They would further burden already-overburdened governments and drain dollars from worthier programs—schools, defense, research.

Let’s suppose that the Obama administration gets its wish to build high-speed rail systems in 13 urban corridors. The administration has already committed $10.5 billion, and that’s just a token down payment. California wants about $19 billion for an 800-mile track from Anaheim to San Francisco. Constructing all 13 corridors could easily approach $200 billion. Most (or all) of that would have to come from government. What would we get for this huge investment?

Not much. Here’s what we wouldn’t get: any meaningful reduction in traffic congestion, greenhouse-gas emissions, air travel, or oil consumption and imports. Nada, zip. If you can do fourth-grade math, you can understand why.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/29/why-high-speed-trains-don-t-make-sense.html

To paraphrase John Tower , “Where government office does Toyota go to to get back their reputation”

Seems the code of silence is being broken.

In response to a letter sent to members of Congress at the end of January, encouraging them to ignore global warming skeptics and “take a fresh look at climate change,” global warming skeptics sent their own letter to members Tuesday telling them not to be intimidated by claims of a “scientific consensus.”

The letter, signed or endorsed by more than 50 scientists, tells members that the signees completely disagree with the assertions made by their alarmist peers.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/08/global-warming-skeptics-send-letter-to-congress-urging-members-not-give-into-climate-alarmists/#ixzz1DSz7rHrd

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To these statements, however, we take great exception. It is the eighteen climate alarmists who appear to be unaware of “what is happening to our planet’s climate,” as well as the vast amount of research that has produced that knowledge.

For example, a lengthy review of their claims and others that climate alarmists frequently make can be found on the Web site of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change (see Carbon Dioxide and Earth’s Future: Pursuing the Prudent Path). That report offers a point-by-point rebuttal of all of the claims of the “group of eighteen,” citing in every case peer-reviewed scientific research on the actual effects of climate change during the past several decades.

If the “group of eighteen” pleads ignorance of this information due to its very recent posting, then we call their attention to an even larger and more comprehensive report published in 2009, Climate Change Reconsidered: The 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC). That document has been posted for more than a year in its entirety at http://www.nipccreport.org.

These are just two recent compilations of scientific research among many we could cite. Do the 678 scientific studies referenced in the CO2 Science document, or the thousands of studies cited in the NIPCC report, provide real-world evidence (as opposed to theoretical climate model predictions) for global warming-induced increases in the worldwide number and severity of floods? No. In the global number and severity of droughts? No. In the number and severity of hurricanes and other storms? No.

Do they provide any real-world evidence of Earth’s seas inundating coastal lowlands around the globe? No. Increased human mortality? No. Plant and animal extinctions? No. Declining vegetative productivity? No. More frequent and deadly coral bleaching? No. Marine life dissolving away in acidified oceans? No.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/08/global-warming-skeptics-send-letter-to-congress-urging-members-not-give-into-climate-alarmists/#ixzz1DSywBWSg

We are prisoners of economic geography. Suburbanization after World War II made most rail travel impractical.

One of the few ‘benefits’ of the housing crash is that it will probably no longer be profitable to build housing developments in cornfields 80 miles away from urban centers. Suburban Bus service to commuter rail lines would probably do significantly more to reduce fuel consumption than high speed rails.

But the article misses one important point. One of the necessary roles of government is to provide services that would otherwise not be profitable. Rural electrification and broadband service, public transportation, (not to even mention police and fire service) are all provided buy tax dollars precisely because they aren’t profitable.

Arguing that Amtrak requires subsidies entirely misses the point.

Technically he is correct- Obama didn’t raise them once but many times! I wonder if any of the leftists “fact checking” sites will point any of this out or as usual go through the torture of the dam as to how Obama didn’t lie—again!

“I didn’t raise taxes once. I lowered taxes over the last two years,” Obama said

Just a partial list

Feb. 4, 2009 – Obama signs federal tobacco tax hike: Just sixteen days into his presidency, Obama signed into law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco– a hike of 62 cents per pack. Obama’s signature on this tax hike was a violation of his central campaign promise – a “firm pledge” that no American making less than $250,000 would see “any form of tax increase”. The median income of smokers is just over $36,000.

March 23, 2010 –Obama signs the healthcare bill into law: Obama’s signature on the health care bill enacted two dozen new or higher taxes (at least seven of which violate his “firm pledge” on taxes), including but not limited to:

– Individual Mandate Excise Tax

–Employer Mandate Excise Tax

– Small business 1099-MISC Information Reporting

–Surtax on Investment Income

–Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans

–Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax

–Medicine Cabinet Tax

–HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike

–Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka“Special Needs Kids Tax”

– Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers

– “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI

– Tax on Indoor Tanning Services

– Elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage

– Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike

– Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals

– Tax on Innovator Drug Companies

– Tax on Health Insurers

– Biofuel “black liquor” tax hike

– Codification of the “economic substance doctrine”

See 7.0

How ’bout an Excessive Blogging Tax?

Very interesting interview.
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John King of CNN was, however, able to secure a short interview with former House Speaker Gingrich over the weekend in Simi Valley, Calif., during the centennial celebration of President Ronald Reagan’s birthday.
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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/cnns-john-king-we-have-a-fox-problem

So unlike the Republicans, Obama actually wants to mitigate the defecit and uses the CBO for guidance.

So what did the serial adulterer have to say?

Same office that Audi went to…public opinion.
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12 years in the wilderness working to build back a brand and reputation.

Among other things, he said BO was not handling Egypt correctly.

Prolly too young to remember Ralph Nader and the Corvair.

nfl & Paul:

You folks go on and on about Beck, Limbaugh, Fox News lies but you give nonsense and misdirection when Obama does it.

What CBO guidance has to do with him lying only the brilliant (Read:psychotic) mind can figure out

A voice of sanity emerges from the left. Senate Intelligence Committee Chair, Diane Feinstein. Bravo Diane!!
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“So what did the serial adulterer have to say?”
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I did not have sex with..

sorry not that serial adulterer right?

Let the De-funding Begin
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(Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives is likely to vote to block funding for President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare overhaul when it takes up a budget plan next week, House Republican Leader Eric Cantor said on Tuesday.

Grilled Bernake Anyone??
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WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s first appearance before the House since Republicans took control last month is likely to be a tough one. And much of the grilling will probably come from members of his own party.

“Arguing that Amtrak requires subsidies entirely misses the point.”
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What misses the point is the government is supposed to spend our tax dollars efficiently and not be used to repay special interest groups and use the tax payer to endlessly fund government boondoggles.

While the bus to train scenario is great theory, check to see how many folk’s schedules would fit nicely into that rigid view. The ugly side that is always covered up with these programs under the guise of “helping the poor”, “for the children” or some other well intentioned liberal goal is costs go up and up with salaries and benefits that only add to the inefficiency of the operation and deficits. But of course, we can always tax the rich!

–Obama goes big on highspeed rail.

Whatever. Interestingly, the proposed spending is neither particularly “big” nor would the rail be particularly “high-speed”.

Americans don’t know what infrastructure spending is anymore.

No Madrasah in Texas!!!
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MANSFIELD (CBSDFW.COM) – A Mansfield ISD program to teach Arabic language and culture in schools is on hold for now, and may not happen at all.
The school district wanted students at selected schools to take Arabic language and culture classes as part of a federally funded grant.

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Gee, founding father of Arabic studies and former madrasah student, President Barack “Barry” Obama will be so sorely upset.

Adam, broken link on your Toyota-NASA floor mats story.

The Metamorphosis of Arianna Huffington
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I first came across Huffington in 1995, when she was working at Gingrich’s (yes, Newt Gingrich) Progress and Freedom Foundation, preaching social consciousness to fellow conservatives. She railed against “big government” and pronounced: “We do our part and God meets us halfway. That’s why I’m a conservative.”

The Pulitzer-winning “leftist” fact-checking site PolitiFact fact-checked Obama on his “I didn’t raise taxes once” claim & gave him a “false” rating, one step up from “pants on fire.” I highlighted the PolitiFact finding on my ever-so-leftist site. So the answer to your wondering is “yes.”

We on the left respect the truth & don’t make excuses when our guys prevaricate.

The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com

China is currently building the worlds largest high-speed rail network. Their rail plans are the centerpiece to the stimulus plan that has kept China’s economy growing despite the economic downturns in the U.S. and Europe.

The project not only creates jobs, but it creates good engineering jobs.

China will spend in excess of $300 Billion on rail over the next ten years. Compare that to the roughly $50B plan that Biden rolled out.

The American economy is being stabbed in the back by a combination of know-nothing tea party morons, who have convinced themselves that it is wise to throw out 100 years of economic knowledge and have no national economic planning by the government, and sociopathic business leaders, who know full well that stimulus spending is stimulative…they would just prefer that the spending be done in China where there are limited labor and environmental standards allowing for greater profits.

Somehow I don’t think that Obama’s speech to the Chamber of Commerce is going to change this dynamic.

I hope the high-speed rail project can get implemented. More people would opt to ride the train if it was faster and had more access to places within the U.S.

It is a pity that some Democratic and Republican groups are so selfish and self-centered that they cannot compromise a little, so that political agendas and necessities can get accomplished for the people and the country, instead of standing at a standstill watching other countries move forward with progressive agendas and accomplsihing big things.

Instead we argue and bicker, stay in static mode which will certainly and has, brought decline and decay.

No. The quote I was think of was “sorry about your Cancer. I want a divorce.”

constantweader

Appreciate your comments but the two folks on the left above are in contrast to your claim “We on the left respect the truth & don’t make excuses when our guys prevaricate.”
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I would also suggest the MSM is again MIA on this issue

“No. The quote I was think of was “sorry about your Cancer. I want a divorce.”
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The Breck girl John Edwards?

And I never addressed your point until now: Yes, politicians lie. Happy now? (Good grief, now you’re into mind reading…or hysterical assumptions, take your pick.)

“China will spend in excess of $300 Billion on rail over the next ten years. Compare that to the roughly $50B plan that Biden rolled out”
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Yes and most of that $300 billion will be compliments of the US taxpayer as Obama has spent us out of any hope to fiscal sanity.

We are still waiting fo rall those shovel ready jobs that the original porkulus package was supposed to bring while keeping unemployment under 8%.

Is that a picture of Obama reading up on the secret FEMA camps?

The engineering jobs created will probably be filled by foreigners, since our education systems and funding for them does not produce many engineers.

Paul Dirks@3.2,

I would imagine that most Tea Party members agree with Justice Jackson that “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.”

newfreedomblog@4,

“Where are the lamestream media’s investigative reporters…”

Aren’t they busy going through Sarah Palin’s trash cans trying to determine who is really Trig’s mother?

No, I thought he was holed up in your trailer.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/04/dramatic-drop-new-orleans-population-eliminate-states-democratic-stronghold/
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At first I laughed, but then remembered this:
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“New Louisiana census numbers show how dramatic the post-Katrina population loss has been in New Orleans, with the number of people living in the Crescent City dropping by nearly a third since 2000. And the shift could be bad news for Democrats with redistricting on the horizon.”

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Seriously, why wouldn’t you want kids to know what potential terrorists (who, BTW, would likely speak Arabic to avoid detection) are saying? Are you afraid the kids’ll turn into terrorists themselves?
What about learing Spanish? Will they become illegal aliens?
French – wimpy patriots?
German – little Hitlers?
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Logic gets lost on you. A lot.

It should be an elective, not a requirement. Good grief, it IS Texas after all.

I think it’s the summary to lighten up the morning of the people who believe in secret FEMA camps. Like the flat earthers, birthers and truthers. Always good for a laugh.

nflfoghorn@6.3,

And then there were the explosives installed in a GMC truck by Dateline NBC to spice up their demonstration of exploding GMC trucks.

@Freeper:
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1. China has been investing in infrastructure for years and rolled out its plans for high-speed rail before Obama was inaugurated.
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2. China is paying for its infrastructure spending, not the U.S. It is not “complements” of the U.S.
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3. To any extent that the debt incurred by the U.S. has fueled China’s infrastructure spending, it bears remembering that the bulk of the U.S. debt was created over the past debt while we were being governed by people like this:

“Reagan proved deficits don’t matter”
– Dick Cheney

4. If government spending is bad for the economy and governments cant create jobs then why is the Chinese economy growing and creating jobs?
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5. Republicans think that they can make idiotic and contradictory economic arguments and nobody will notice. Au contraire. You are complaining about a lack of “shovel-ready” jobs? Republicans wanted NO stimulus spending. Republicans want to CUT spending. How many “shovel-ready” jobs will that create? If you answered “less than zero” then you win the prize.

newfreedomblog@7,

“Roving wiretaps” are necessary for law enforcement to keep up with the new technology. We are no longer a nation of stationary landlines.

Here’s a rundown of some key arguments against investing in high-speed rail:
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•Cato Institute: “Saving energy and reducing pollution are worthy goals, and if high-speed trains could achieve these goals, the president’s plan might be a good one. But since they cannot, it isn’t.”
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•Heritage Foundation: “Even in a strong economy, building HSR makes little sense, offering minimal reductions in travel times at exorbitant costs…The country would be better off either not spending the money or spending it on something productive.”
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•Reason Foundation: “[The] conflict between freight and passenger service is one of the little-noticed problems with what really should be called ‘moderate-speed rail.’ You can optimize a rail network for freight or for passenger service, but not for both.”
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http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10170
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http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/03/america-s-coming-high-speed-rail-financial-disaster
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http://reason.org/news/show/high-speed-rail-plans-should-b
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In Reason.org’s review, this is what they expressed.
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And that conflict between freight and passenger service is one of the little-noticed problems with what really should be called “moderate-speed rail.” You can optimize a rail network for freight or for passenger service, but not for both. The current US rail network is optimized for freight, and as a result, rail’s share of US freight ton-miles is about 40 percent. By contrast, Europe’s network is optimized for passenger trains, and as a result, rail’s share of freight ton-miles is only 10-15 percent. Wendell Cox has crunched the numbers and estimated that the carbon-intensity of goods movement is about 25 percent higher in Europe than in the USA.
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So in other words it is not as simple as plopping a so-called “high speed train” onto the tracks. It would require an entirely new set of tracks, possibly side by side of the freight tracks already in use.
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Yea, China’s 300 billion seems to be a bargain. They will have the advantage of planning an entirely new system where none had existed previously. We do not have that same advantage.
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But, unless there is massive spending on high speed rails, new rails, then spending even one tax dollar on this bogus project is a farce, and an expense the tax payers should not accept.

Yes, but . . .

The military, FBI, intelligence agencies, defense contractors, and companies working in the Middle East are all looking for more Arabic speakers. It’s a matter of national security. Just like there was a push to teach more people Russian back in the Cold War.

freeinpa@8,

And this…

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/01/high-speed-rail-fast-way-waste-taxpayer-money

Just another Obama boondoggle.

“We are still waiting fo rall those shovel ready jobs ”
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Two miles from where I’m sitting there is a new bridge being built to replace an ill-engineered one built when the road was still a 2 lane US highway. Surveyors showed up 2 days after the President approved the funding. Flooding in 1998 damaged the bridge enough to put it on list of Federally built bridges requiring replacement. It will have been on that list fourteen years when the new bridge is completed. Worse than that, due to poor original design, the old bridge impinged floodwaters and redefined the upstream flood plain. The new bridge won’t do that. It will provide a better path for that tropical storm runoff to get back to the Gulf of Mexico, where it belongs. Maybe generate a little electricity on the way, feed an oyster or two. Seems like it’s working in my neighborhood.

newfreedomblog@12,

Code Pink will not be amused. And someone blogging at Daily Kos is bound to say that Feinstein is now “dead the me” as someone calling himself BlueBoy did with Congresswoman Giffords before the shooting in Tucson.

“China has been investing in infrastructure for years and rolled out its plans for high-speed rail before Obama was inaugurated.”
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They are also building ghost towns with housing that has no occupants. Eventually they will be forced to reconcile their spending or face civil unrest as they will be overspent.
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“China is paying for its infrastructure spending, not the U.S. It is not “complements” of the U.S.”
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Right the billions we pay them in interest doesn’t count, by your accounting standards.

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“it bears remembering that the bulk of the U.S. debt”
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This is another one of those lines that liberals repeat as truth bu tin reality they are the only ones who believe it. Debt has double under Obama
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“If government spending is bad for the economy and governments cant create jobs then why is the Chinese economy growing and creating jobs?”
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Because they enjoy the added benefit of a strong manufacturing base that has the benefit of not having to pay outrageous wages and benefits that killed our industries. Check the average wages these “government” created jobs in China pay and you will see how silly the left looks complaining about WalMart. The Chinese people also use 30-40% (and rising) of their households income for food.
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“contradictory economic arguments and nobody will notice. Au contraire.”
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Speaking of not noticing, it was Obama’s economic adviser who published research that for every $1 of government spending it reducing spending by private companies by $3. Guess what? People noticed and voted out Democratic policies for government spending was wrong and out of control.

Now Obama after hammering business for 2 years is pleading for them to hire. As Jay Leno said “only the government hires workers it does not need”

Truest words are sometime spoken in jest.

and you forgot global warmist’s

nflfoghorn@16.1,

It all depends on who is doing the teaching. Not sure it is a good idea to have Muslim radicals, like the ones who are hired to minister to Muslims in the prison system, educating American youth. What say you?

Free, this institute is not a real thing, but a think tank started by Fred Singer in 2004, those who know of Fred Singer know he is basically the go to guy for industry (be it on second hand smoke which until very recently, Dec 2010, he said was fine or global warming). It has no scientific credibility, he is famous for working with conservative think tanks like the Heartland institute and the George C Marshall institute. The “studies” you refer to is a cherry picked and poorly done work, that is not publish in a journal because it does not meet the minimum standards of peer review.The undergrads I teach could do a better hack job given a week end and a pot of coffee.

Measured differences in sea level, coral bleaching and temperature which are occurring everywhere on the globe. But you want to only focus on the cases of death and destruction, ok. The costs, especially in the high arctic where warming is hitting hardest, exactly as all the models predict, are showing a great deal of erosion, way beyond anything recorded in the settlements history (or in the oral traditions of natives). People are losing their homes, roads built into the permafrost to use for say mines or oil exploration up north are becoming unsafe to drive on earlier and earlier. Unlike your “institutes” suggestion, many animal species are under increased pressures due to climate change(most recently cbc reports a new studies on polar bear infant mortality primarily driven by the early melting of sea ice and how it affects the mother ability to hunt seals)

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/02/08/science-polar-bear-births-climate.html

These scientist you report are the same ones who are always in the news decrying the mountains of evidence. They never publish anything that actually shows that everyone but them is wrong, they never actually present any evidence that hundreds of satellite measurements, land and sea based records, dozens of different proxies for past temperature (all of which show a similar hockey stick pattern to what Mann first showed in his early studies in the 1990 and keeps on reappearing in newer studies despites some skeptics best efforts to manipulate the data by excluding points and changing the parameters without good reason), changes in animal migration pattern, weather patterns and many other signals (say sea ice extent ) are all faulty. No they just get interviewed by reporters who don’t know enough to question them, and spout off nonsense that anyone who understands how science works can easily tell is wrong.

This is really annoying me, Free you are smarter than this. You know that 50 scientists who present no evidence and are funded partially by industry that is challenging regulations to curb the impact of climate change should in no way be considered a viable retort to the hundreds of researchers around the world presenting mountains of evidence and measurements from dozen of highly respected institutions and published in peer review journals. You have people who for personal or political reasons are dragging their formerly good names through the mud fighting a lost cause. If i were to present to you 50 social scientist who would sign a petition saying capitalism is a faulty system and has not help out the USA or humanity, would you agree that we should all switch to communism? That is basically the equivalent of what you are saying, something that has years of evidence supporting it should be overturned based on the “feelings” of a few people whose work in the field is either non-existent or highly criticized due to errors and funding biases. The evidence is in, global warming is occurring, we are the primary cause of it and I am tired of people sticking their fingers in their ears and ignoring the evidence.

nflfoghorn@20.1,

That was a pretty lame retort, foghorn. I’ll bet you could do better if you put your mind to it.

ok why can’t I get paragraphs to separate? I apologize for the lack of spacing in that response.

hippooath@20.3,

I don’t know about you, hippo, but if I next see Obama heading for a “black helicopter,” I’m out of here.

“since our education systems and funding for them does not produce many engineers.”
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After spending more money per student than almost anyone in the world we produce achievement rates for math and science that is less than over 20 countries in the world who spend less.
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These stellar students of our union plagued education system then go on to college to undertake: Gender & Women Studies, Black Studies, American Culture Studies, Ethnic Studies, Folklore, Native American Studies, Peace & Conflict Studies, Social Welfare. Just a sampling from “one of the top universities”
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Contrary to the constant liberal meme, its not what we spend its how we spend it!

freeinpa@21,

But I’ll bet we’re number 1 in self esteem.

Off the charts. Not only do we have outstanding self-esteem we also have the right to be offended by others.

freeinpa@21.2,

Never have so many learned so little and remained so proud of it.

Extraordinary article by Ta-Nehisi Coates on the birth of his child, how he evolved into a pro-choice position, and what it means.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/02/on-labor/70976/

To get paragraphs to space, put a character on the empty line
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like
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this

“I don’t know about you, hippo, but if I next see Obama heading for a “black helicopter,” I’m out of here.”
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I’m sure you will be.

“Freep’s point is actually a good one. Which party is a friend of Civil Liberties is a direct function of which one holds the executive branch.”
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Democrats voted against renewal two-to-one. So no, that’s not a good point either.
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What you mean to say is that the Executive will hold onto whatever power it can get, regardless of party. That’s exactly what liberals tried to explain to “conservatives” when George Bush was wildly expanding executive authority. Hard-won checks against that power are unlikely to be replaced.

Interesting quote, Paullie.
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Although the phrase echoes statements made by Lincoln, and although versions of the sentiment have been advanced at various times in American history, the precise phrase “suicide pact” was first used by Justice Robert H. Jackson in his dissenting opinion in Terminiello v. Chicago, a 1949 free speech case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Constitution_is_not_a_suicide_pact
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Arthur Terminiello, a Catholic priest under suspension,[1] was giving a speech to the Christian Veterans of America in which he criticized various racial groups and made a number of inflammatory comments. There were approximately 800 people present in the auditorium where he was giving the speech, and a crowd of approximately 1,000 people outside, protesting the speech. The Chicago Police Department was present, but was unable to completely maintain order. Terminiello was later assessed a fine of 100 dollars for violation of Chicago’s breach of peace ordinance, which he appealed. Both the Illinois Appellate Court and Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari.
[edit] Majority opinion

Justice William O. Douglas, writing for the majority, reversed Terminiello’s conviction, holding that not only was his speech protected by the First Amendment (which was made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment), but that the ordinance, as construed by the Illinois courts, was unconstitutional. Douglas explained that the purpose of free speech was to invite dispute, even where it incites people to anger; in fact, the provocative and inflammatory content of speech could potentially be seen as positive. Although Douglas acknowledged that freedom of speech was not limitless, and did not apply to “fighting words” (citing to Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire), he held that such limitations were inapplicable here.
.
[...]
Jackson framed Terminiello’s speech, and the violent fracas which surrounded it, in the context of the global struggle between fascism and communism in the post-World War II world. He feared that these two groups, dominated as they were by radicals and accustomed to using violent means to propagate their ideology, were a threat to legitimate democratic governments, and that the court’s decision would greatly reduce the power of local law enforcement authorities to keep such violence in check. He also noted that without the help of the Chicago Police Department, Terminiello would not have even been able to give his speech, and that the majority’s opinion was not in line with the “clear and present danger” test set forth in Schenck v. United States.

Jackson’s dissent in this case is most famous for its final paragraph:

This Court has gone far toward accepting the doctrine that civil liberty means the removal of all restraints from these crowds and that all local attempts to maintain order are impairments of the liberty of the citizen. The choice is not between order and liberty. It is between liberty with order and anarchy without either. There is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.

.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminiello_v._Chicago
.
Had the case gone the other way, not only would, later, 1960s liberal activists not been allowed to speak, but, if you are going to be at all honest about it, some of the speech done today by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Bill O’Reilly – the whole AM radio and Fox “News” crowd – could easily be called “inflammatory” .
.
Add in how the Tea Party makes claim and claim again that the constitution must be followed more rigidly your choice of quotes ring with irony.
.
Free speech means that you can be an idiot and I get to call you and idiot. ( as in “one” – the editorial “you”)

Yesterday Rusty and the right were hiding under their beds fearing the obscure, useless, obnoxious, tiny and powerless New Black Panther Party.
.
Today it is the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
.
I wonder what life is like when you are so scared of everybody and everything that you spend your life counting dusty bunnies under your bed instead of getting out and finding out how extreme and out of touch you really are.
.
Thanks to wireless technology, Rusty can bring his laptop with him under his bed.

Three things for all of us to remember:
.
1) You can stop an accelerating car by pushing it into neutral and breaking.
.
2) Letting your floor mat rest on the accelerator causes acceleration.
.
( I always threw away driver side floor mats since they always slid around and annoyed me.)
.
3) Detonating explosives in your GMC Trucks make really cool-looking explosions.

Damn! I think I agree with Rusty about something.

does it really come as a surprise to ANYONE that there is no sudden-acceleration defect to be found? next time you’re in your car, take a look and see whats right next to the brake pedal. hint: the accelerator. ppl hit the wrong one quite often, and for obvious reasons, many ppl will not admit to themselves or to insurance companies that they made a mistake. all the other manufacturers probably get claims just like toyota’s but have the good sense to keep quite. toyota is THE pioneer of modern quality control, and it’s been laid low by a ridiculous frenzy over dubious consumer claims.

patricksartor@3.6,

The principle remains. The founders did not craft a document for the founding of the United States with the idea that adherence to it should lead to the death of the Republic.

As for free speech, it does not mean that you are free to falsely shout “fire” in a crowded theater.

patricksartor@4.2,

Muslim Brotherhood – Founded in 1928 with the goal of restoring the caliphate. It’s slogan is “Islam is the solution”

The Muslim Brotherhood handbook instructs followers to “Prepare yourself and train in the art of warfare, and embrace the causes of power…so that your jihad will be the one accepted by Allah.”

A leading member of the Brotherhood has just declared that the Suez Canal should be closed and the Egyptian people should prepare for war with Israel.

The Obama administration and the Muslim Brotherhood. What could go wrong?

patricksartor@6.6,

“3. Detonating explosives in your GMC trucks make really cool-looking explosions.”

Indeed. And it makes great TV ratings too. That is if you have zero ethics and honesty.

patricksartor@7.2,

Who’s Rusty?

npo42@9.3,

Do you mean
.
you can paragraph
.
like this?

hippooath @20.7,

Well, don’t say that I didn’t warn you.

“The founders did not craft a document for the founding of the United States with the idea that adherence to it should lead to the death of the Republic.”
.
No, they wrote a document with the idea that our leaders shouldn’t have the power to spy on and arbitrarily abuse American citizens and make endless war to justify continual expansion of executive power and a military state, that would lead to the death of the Republic. Moron.

paulejb:

.
LOL I think you just coined the liberals new motto

Yes but the bad press let Government Motors rebound

and in the settlement, the truck owners got coupons for a new GM truck and the lawyers got the millions of dollars. What a country!

Never have so many learned so little and remained so proud of it.

True. They’re call “teapartiers”.
..
http://www.capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/1592/ignorance-bliss-tea-party-crowd

Who’s Rusty
.
newfreedom

toyota is THE pioneer of modern quality control

Maybe so but their quality has slipped mightily in recent years and that’s what has allowed the competition to catch up. The unintended acceleration issue has been a part of that but certainly not the bulk of it.

diecash1@21.5,

Nice try but way off topic. Try again.

What would be fun would be to watch the enviro-whackos eat their young;
.
On one hand the “save the one-eyed horn toothed swamp frog” group would be frothing over permits to lay tracks while the “I get a thousand miles on my own urine” car group railing against them to stop (pick one) – a) global warming, b) global cooling, (c Algore from exploding — for the children

“This is really annoying me, Free you are smarter than this. You know that 50 scientists who present no evidence and are funded partially by industry that is challenging regulations to curb”
.
Look each side gets money from those pushing any effort. To think otherwise is naive.
.
I would also submit the “evidence” produced by the warmists is nothing but manipulated models from which the original data has now been destroyed. Before we spend trillions and possibly destroying our economy, I would suggest that both sides re-start and refine their research

shepherdwong@3.8,

Glad to see you back in rare form, Wong. My day would’t be complete without a shout of “moron” from you.

By the way, are you one of those “arbitrarily abused American citizens?” What happened?

“And I never addressed your point until now’
.
Avoidance is part of a deeper seated mental disorder known as liberalism

Oh it’s entirely accurate and on topic, at least as much so as freeper’s commentary but I noticed that you failed to admonish him for it. Face facts, teapartiers are largely ignorant, more so than the general populace, on a host of issues. Your comment is their unofficial slogan.

Yes diecash its the Tea Party’s fault that the teacher’s union has destroyed our educational system.

I got to admire you persistence in keeping delusions alive

Yeah it brought a tear to me eye.
.
I care less about what Ta-Nehisi Coate thinks about Pro-Choice than Erza “Scooter” Klein says about HC

“Maybe so but their quality has slipped mightily in recent years”
.
Now if we really wanted to destroy them Obama could make them organize with the UAW

the teacher’s union has destroyed our educational system

You need to keep your assorted rants straight freeper! What about personal responsibility? Are the parents responsible for the education of their children? I realize you’d like to lay this all at the feet of the terrible teacher’s union but it’s just not so. As such, it’s the teapartiers’ fault that they remain largely ignorant of pretty much everything.

freeinpa@8.4,

“I got a thousand miles on my own urine.”
.

That, my friend, is the laugh of the day, if not the month. It perfectly encapsulates the environmental wacko crowd.

“By the way, are you one of those “arbitrarily abused American citizens?” What happened?”
.
Authoritarian-following morons like you kept voting against the nation’s and your own self-interest, for Republicans.

diecash1@21.7
.
I suspect that your assessment of the intelligence of Tea Party members is based on your political bias. It is likely that the average Tea Party member knows more about the Constitution than the average Democrat member of Congress.
.
As Reagan said, “Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.”

diecash1@21.9.

No, diecash, you are wrong. It is now the consensus on both left and right that Teacher’s Unions are the problem.
.
I submit as evidence Charter Schools and the tale told by the documentary “Waiting for Superman.”

Oh, patty sartor again. Did he say something cute? I simply ignore him all the time now.

I must be missing something…
.
WHY are the Muslims hired to administer to those in the prison system automatically radical?
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One might argue that the reason prisoners are so open to them is because they make a honest effort to reach out to them.
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Face it… Christians are notoriously poor at seeing anything positive about a prisoner. They are, after all, bad people and “damaged goods”.
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And we don’t like to associate with ‘that” type.

shepherdwong@3.10
.
That wasn’t an answer to my question, Wong. I was just trying to get to the bottom of your despair and bitterness.
.
Did some agency tap your phone while you were making calls to a cave in Afghanistan? Did you wake up one morning as a detainee at Gitmo? Did the FBI check your library record and reveal that you spent your time there surfing porn? Just what is it that has made you so surly, Wong?

“The Obama administration and the Muslim Brotherhood. What could go wrong?”
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A few facts would help you make or not make this argument:
.

The term caliphate “dominion of a caliph(‘successor,’),” (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfa, Turkish: Halife ) refers to the first system of government established in Islam, and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah (nation). In theory, it is a constitutional republic[1] (see Constitution of Medina), meaning that the head of state (the Caliph) and other officials are dicate to the people according to Islamic law, which exercises power over their citizens. It was initially led by Muhammad’s disciples as a continuation of the political system the prophet established, known as the ‘rashidun caliphates’. It represented the political unity, not the theological unity of Muslims as theology was a personal matter. A “caliphate” is also a state which implements such a governmental system.

Sunni Islam dictates that the head of state, the caliph, should be selected by Shura – elected by Muslims or their representatives.[2] Followers of Shia Islam believe the caliph should be an imam descended in a line from the Ahl al-Bayt. After the Rashidun period until 1924, caliphates, sometimes two at a single time, real and illusory, were ruled by dynasties. The first dynasty was the Umayyad. This was followed by the Abbasid, the Fatimid, and finally the Ottoman Dynasty.

The caliphate was “the core political concept of Sunni Islam, by the consensus of the Muslim majority in the early centuries.

[...]

[edit] Electing or appointing a Caliph

Fred Donner, in his book The Early Islamic Conquests (1981), argues that the standard Arabian practice during the early Caliphates was for the prominent men of a kinship group, or tribe, to gather after a leader’s death and elect a leader from amongst themselves, although there was no specified procedure for this shura, or consultative assembly. Candidates were usually from the same lineage as the deceased leader, but they were not necessarily his sons. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual direct heir, as there was no basis in the majority Sunni view that the head of state or governor should be chosen based on lineage alone.

This argument is advanced by Sunni Muslims, who believe that Muhammad’s companion Abu Bakr was elected by the community and that this was the proper procedure. They further argue that a caliph is ideally chosen by election or community consensus, even though the caliphate soon became a hereditary office, or the prize of the strongest general.

Al-Mawardi has written that the caliph should be Qurayshi. Abu Bakr Al-Baqillani has said that the leader of the Muslims simply should be from the majority. The founder of the biggest Sunni Madh’hab, Imam Abu Hanifa also wrote that the Caliph must be chosen by the majority.[2]
[...]
On March 3, 1924, the first President of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as part of his reforms, constitutionally abolished the institution of the Caliphate. Its powers within Turkey were transferred to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the parliament of the newly formed Turkish Republic. The title was then claimed by King Hussein bin Ali of Hejaz, leader of the Arab Revolt, but his kingdom was defeated and annexed by Ibn Saud in 1925. The title has since been inactive.

A summit was convened at Cairo in 1926 to discuss the revival of the Caliphate, but most Muslim countries did not participate and no action was taken to implement the summit’s resolutions.

Though the title Ameer al-Mumineen was adopted by the King of Morocco and by Mullah Mohammed Omar, former head of the now-defunct Taliban regime of Afghanistan, neither claimed any legal standing or authority over Muslims outside the borders of their respective countries. The closest thing to a Caliphate in existence today is the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC)[citation needed], an international organization with limited influence founded in 1969 consisting of the governments of most Muslim-majority countries.

.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate#End_of_the_Caliphate.2C_1924
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Imagine if the Pope were elected by all Catholics and, if, at least occasionally people listened to the pope pontificate. That is the Caliphate.
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Also the Suez Canal reference was clarified a few days ago that the full quote said that it should be closed exclusively by passive resistance and not by violence.
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So, let’s not bet on any ship traffic actually stopping anytime soon.

Rusty,
.
I don’t care how cute you say I am.
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I am not going to join the Log Cabin Republicans and share a log cabin with you!
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It’s not just that you’re Republican, but, the fact that you are not female really turns me off.

Pj – When someone called you “tiresome” they didn’t realize how right they were. You continually put forth what I’ll generously call “crap” as fact (without substantiation) while actual facts bounce harmlessly off of your thick cranium. You then double down on stupid by calling me ideologically blind while spouting your ideologically-colored viewpoints endlessly. Pot meet kettle.

Now if we really wanted to destroy them Obama could make them organize with the UAW

Trouble with that is that U.S. nameplates have better quality rankings than Toyota while using UAW labor. Reality is a b!tch, huh?

We taught the Japanese to build cars… even sent Ed Deming over to teach them about the quality process.
.
Some time afterward, the US automakers forgot their own lessons and allowed the manufacturing process to be run by the “ban counters”.
.
I was “dyed-in-the-wool” GM through HS. However, at some point later, I bought the Pinto and Vega (couldn’t afford anything else) and watched a succession of POS offerings appear. Every year, they would roll out their new ones and PROMISE that they had learned their lessons about quality. The car mags were absolutely brutal in their reviews.
.
And every year it turned out they still built sh!t. They even had a term for it… “planned obsolescence”.
.
I suspect that, like us, the Japanese have discovered the old “cost-cutting” religion we had. (Why put in stainless steel when plastic will do?) And they, like we did, are seeing their quality suffer for it.
.
Toyota drive-trains are legendary for their durability but, if I recall, are still assembled in Japan and shipped here for the final product.
.
Both we (and they) need to go back and read the old quality design manuals… not just on HOW to do it, but WHY.

Free,
Yes its those models that have caused the temperature measurements for 2010 to tie for the warmest on record. Its the models that made the decade 2001-2010 the warmest decade on record, followed by 1991-2000. Its the the computer models that have caused the measured steady decline in arctic sea ice seen since satellite records began in the 1970′s with the past few years showing levels no one, including natives who have lived there for decades, have seen. Its the models that have changed migration routes and brought new species to the arctic, these species have no name in the traditional Inuit dialect because they have never been seen before. Its the models that have caused the erosion of the coast of the north, as permafrost melts. Its the models that have changed the animal communities, including even changes from cold water dominated diatom (single celled algae with a silica case) to a warmer water one over the past few decades (just went to a talk by a limnologist who works in the high arctic and she has seen this happen, along with the evaporation of standing bodies of water that have existed for millennia, in her career). Its the models that are causing the polar bears to have a harder time trapping seals because the sea ice is melting earlier. Yes this is all the work of computer models in a researchers lab.
.
.
.
Oh and about the funding, as a researcher my funding source is primarily the Government. Given that my federal Gov (in Canada) is actively acting to undermine climate change agreements world wide, and up until Jan 2009 so was yours (and the vast majority of papers, even new papers, either had their research started and certainly were funded before this date) its an illogical statement to say researchers are faking proof of AGW to get money. Since Governments don’t like paying for things that show they are wrong, the incentive to get money was not to show that our funding source was wrong and that more needed to be done, but the opposite, to find no warming and please the political forces that hold the purse strings. Besides, as has been said a million times the best way to make a name is to show a paradigm in science is wrong. You want money (which as a researcher is not much, the big grants mostly cover operating costs and have no real affect on you salary. I get a million dollar grant, I don’t get to take home half of it, some pays my salary(which stays the same as it was before I got the grant), the rest either goes into my lab or to my institution) go into the private sector or work with a think tank whose political views you try and support with your findings. There is little incentive to cheat, as if you do, it will be found out and you will be disgraced and lose both your reputation and possibly your job. Now as a denier you don’t have to worry about that, you get money from say the Heartland institute, you go on TV or get interviewed by the paper, no need to publish you “results”, just post them on a website online. You don’t need to have others whose expertize and with years of experiences and knowledge(much of it gained first hand) check your work, examine your data or challenge your findings, you have hundreds of online viewers, many with little to no background in science above the basics they took in high school years ago, thats the same right? Then write a non-peer reviewed book and cash in on the profits. So what if your science is bad, the institute doesn’t care, it just needs a Phd to give the air of respectability to its political motivate view.
.
.
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Oh and paulejb, sorry I don’t known the ins and outs of blogging like you. I spend my time doing my work, researching, talking to my girlfriend or exercising and only come here to relax and clear my mind. I occasionally post, usually when someone puts up the denier BS (as a scientist it really, really annoys me) but honestly it is not the most important part of my day. Since it appears to be yours, I will deffer to you expertize on making anonymous comments on a blog.

Sorry, that would be “bean counters”.

@ paulejb
“It all depends on who is doing the teaching. Not sure it is a good idea to have Muslim radicals, like the ones who are hired to minister to Muslims in the prison system, educating American youth. What say you?”
.
I can’t comment on your claim that radicals are being hired to minister at prisons, but to claim that Arabic language teachers should all be distrusted until proven otherwise is more than a little racist. Consider this:
.
“A plan to allow the teaching of German in state schools has been put on hold until we can be sure that none of the teachers are Nazi sympathisers.”
.
Stupid, right?

“Did some agency tap your phone while you were making calls to a cave in Afghanistan? Did you wake up one morning as a detainee at Gitmo? Did the FBI check your library record and reveal that you spent your time there surfing porn? Just what is it that has made you so surly, Wong?”
.
Paullie,
.
You missed the point.
.
First there are the real-life cases of Richard Nixon.
.
Second people like Rusty could imagine a Democratic version of Nixon who could tap your phone, search your home and do all kinds of things to ruin your life if you allow the fourth amendment to be ignored.
.
Even though there have been no cases of Republicans outside of Nixon in federal government abusing his ability to use surveillance and no cases of Democrat doing such at all in federal office , it, clearly would not serve this country well to allow the government to have so much power .
.
The fact that Obama does not care what you read in the library doesn’t mean that, in theory, president Joe Biden will not turn out to be so kind to Republicans.
.
Also, the case that term came from was about outlawing right wing inflammatory speech had justice Jackson had his way, the FBI could be shutting down Fox News and AM radio stations by the dozen.
.
Ironically you stand by that as acceptable while I do not call that acceptable .

And freak in pa wrote something factually correct!
.
Damn! Swampland never ceases to surprise me.

diecash,
.
I have a theory about why it is taking so long for the sales to catch up to the new quality reality.
.
It took a LONG time of their building sh!t for the sales to die off. People remember the marketing strategies instead of putting the money into sound design. They aren’t gonna rush back.
.
May seem like a paradox, but I think that their used cars will help to sell the new ones.
.
When customers start to find that a GM or Ford auto will still drive as well (and be as tight and rattle-free) after 8 years as they are when they are new, THEN they’ll buy them again.
.
Don’t think very many are going to be eager to buy or lease a new car every three years as they have been in the past.
.
After all, the economy and job prospects just ain’t gonna be that great for the forseeable future.

“Well, don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”
.
I would of course find it ironic if he flew away in a white helicopter, but that might just be me.

True story afguy. I think that car buyers are already discovering that and have been for what looks like at least the last year though I believe many had already discovered that fact. Toyota has been having problems with quality at an increasing rate for quite a few years now. Consumer Reports has even downgraded Toyota’s products for a couple of years now. They are no longer a “recommended” brand while many UAW-made vehicles are not CR “recommended”.
..
Here’s a recent article about some of Toyota’s troubles:
..
http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/08/news/companies/toyota_cost_cutting/

LI suspect that your assessment of the intelligence of Tea Party members is based on your political bias. It is likely that the average Tea Party member knows more about the Constitution than the average Democrat member of Congress.
.
As Reagan said, “Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.”".
.
Just how ironic is that sentiment from someone who full well embrace ignorance in regards to provable facts. Such as history. Also, being ignorant is not the same thing as being unintelligent.
.
As far as the tea party goes – no your average tea party member don’t know more about the constitution than your average democratic party member in congress. I’m pretty sure the average ignorance in both those groups are pretty high.

Bloomberg Joins Obama’s Push for High-Speed Rail
[...]
In Asia and the Middle East, Bloomberg explained, bullet trains are being built while American transportation infrastructure languishes. “And we are sitting here!” he said. “What is America waiting for? I don’t want to spend money we don’t have. I’m sympathetic to the cost of debt. I’m sympathetic to encumbering our descendents with the cost of building things. But this is not wasting money.”

The mayor complained that the current federal plan for high-speed rail projects allots just over 1% to the Northeast. “That simply just doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “What we need is a new approach to spending transportation money — one that is not dictated by politics, but based on economics.”

.
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/01/27/bloomberg-joins-obamas-push-for-high-speed-rail/
.
NYC has three independent commuter rail systems ( The Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and, service Mainland New York and Connecticut, Metro North ) in addition to two subway systems ( The MTA and a small system connecting Manhattan to parts of New Jersey called The Path)
.
Trains have been the life blood of New York City for over a century now. My family has been using commuter rails since my grandfather (an anti-FDR Republican who died years before I was born and decades before the greenhouse effect/ climate change was discovered in 1967) in 1937, not out of compassion, but because it was quick and efficient as it still is.
.

Big cities like New York, London and Shanghai send less pollution into the atmosphere per capita than places like Denver and Rotterdam, said a study released Tuesday.

Researchers examined data from 100 cities in 33 nations for clues about which were the biggest polluters and why, according to the report in the peer-reviewed journal Environment and Urbanization.

While cities across the world were to blame for around 71 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, urban dwellers who can use public transport rather than drive helped to lower per capita emissions in some cities.

For instance, the sprawling western US city of Denver’s per capita emissions were nearly double those in New York City, home to eight million inhabitants and a gritty, heavily used subway system.

“This is mainly attributable to New York’s greater density and much lower reliance on the automobile for commuting,” said the study.

.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hn39qtRX5Y5b0YYc3YTrVSbwcA8Q?docId=CNG.66611c06a3acd7de23902bf90fe8c74c.fe1
.
Economic growth with fast transportation without greenhouse gasses?
.
Let’s take the train!

@ freep. It’s worth pointing out that courses similar to “Gender & Women Studies, Black Studies, American Culture Studies, Ethnic Studies, Folklore, Native American Studies, Peace & Conflict Studies, Social Welfare” exist in a number of countries rated higher than the US. For example, there are 13 universities in the UK (ranked 14th for literacy and numeracy) that provide American Studies.
.
You cannot simply point to the social sciences and claim they are the cause of your troubles, when you have nothing to back it up.

patricksartor@3.12,
.
1.Watergate was a drama that turned into farce. Despite liberal hysteria, the Republic was safe.
.
2. Barack Obama’s weapon of choice against talk radio is the FCC, not the FBI. Attention must be paid.
.
3. The general premise of the term is not vitiated by the use of it by Justice Jackson on one case about inflammatory speech.

patricksartor@4.5,

I repeat, The Obama administration and the Muslim Brotherhood. What could go wrong?

patricksartor@7.5
.
That is not how you win friends and influence people. You should listen to Barack Obama on the subject of civility.

patricksartor@8.6,

And does Bloomberg want these high speed rails to run on trans fats and cigarette smoke?

I agree with Rusty. I think Rusty is finally realizing that there are two types of conservatives (as demonstrated on last night’s episode of Rachel Maddow). The first is the libertarian/fiscal conservative–they believe in “small government”. Fiscal conservatives want little or no federal involvement in the lives of Americans; the role of the federal government is to provide for national security. The other “conservative” is the authoritarian conservative. Authoritarian conservatives talk about fiscal and libertarian ideals, but they govern in an authoritarian manner. They constantly fight the culture wars. They argue that the Patriot Act is necessary because it supposedly has kept us safe. They also argue that a woman and her doctor are not smart enough, nor should be trusted enough to make the right decisions for herself, her pregnancy and her life. In short, the authoritarian conservative believe in the ideas of liberty–so long as each person’s liberty follows a narrow path the authoritarian conservative as mapped out.
.
I’m all for the federal government to practice fiscal conservatism. There is far too much waste and abuse within the government (at all levels). However, it is very possible to be fiscally conservative and socially responsible at the same time. What I find objectionable are the authortarian conservatives who would dictate how each and every one of us lives.

“Avoidance is part of a deeper seated mental disorder known as liberalism”
.
Who told you this, a Republican psychologist?
.
Oh, I forgot. There are, basically no Republicans research psychologist !
.
What do actual psychologists say about conservatives
.

Researchers help define what makes a political conservative

By Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations | 22 July 2003 (revised 7/25/03)

BERKELEY – Politically conservative agendas may range from supporting the Vietnam War to upholding traditional moral and religious values to opposing welfare. But are there consistent underlying motivations?

Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:

* Fear and aggression
* Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
* Uncertainty avoidance
* Need for cognitive closure
* Terror management

“From our perspective, these psychological factors are capable of contributing to the adoption of conservative ideological contents, either independently or in combination,” the researchers wrote in an article, “Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition,” recently published in the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Bulletin.

.
http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/07/22_politics.shtml
.
Sorry, Freak. If I were you I would not pretend to use psychology.

only if the rails are salted

“Yes its those models that have caused the temperature measurements for 2010 to tie for the warmest on record. Its the models that made the decade 2001-2010 the warmest decade on record, followed by 1991-2000″
.
No the models project a trend line that only moves up based on a “hockey stick” curve. The data where sensors are placed near heat sources coupled with the fact that the older data has been destroyed can give you whatever result you want to mathematically receive. Temperatures for centuries have been cyclical and there is no real evidence to believe that has changed. The 70s the whacko-left warned about global freezing based on similar trend models.
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So to cover their insanity the left has now concluded warmer temps.= global warming- colder weather and snow = global warming. That way you don’t have to justify what the actual results are.

Rev Jim I did not have to read further than this “BERKELEY” and new exactly what the “research” results would be to fit arguments liberals want to make. It is just more proof of them lying to themselves.
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Here are some others that suggest overwhelmingly the opposite:

According to polls — Pew Research Center, the National Science Foundation — and studies such as Professor Arthur Brooks’ Gross National Happiness, conservative Americans are happier than liberal Americans.
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Suicide rates are also higher for liberals. So have mom take away your shoelaces and belts

“You need to keep your assorted rants straight freeper! What about personal responsibility?”
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That is priceless- a liberal talking about personal responsibility. The left has made a career of making victims groups out of everyone and regulations to end any perceived wrong or problem.

Want a list?

Do not drink alcohol while pregnant
Do not put a metal ladder against a power line
Gone on most playground equipment from our childhood
Let’s take soft drinks out of schools (that have been there since cavemen) or take salt out of food or put a warning label on hot coffee while driving a car.

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Not only do liberals not recognize personal responsibility they have regulated it as a government function

“Just how ironic”
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Ironic the left’s word of the day

Tomorrow will be false equivalence

That’s quite a rant; you might want to see a doctor (real, not the pretend ones that inhabit the Swamp) about that. Precisely what does that have to do with anything I said? That’s right, nothing. It’s just an excuse for another non-sequitur in which you rail against “the left.” You probably don’t know this but I’m only one person, not “the left” or whatever else you come up with in your fevered imagination.
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I’ll take your non-response to mean that you have nothing substantive to offer on the subject. Thanks for the laughs though!

Ivy_B, I responded to you more fully in MS’s Kumbaya posting. I also forwarded this to my cousin. We were both raised Catholic and have stumbled our way as real life intruded on our idealism and were able to expand our views.

rahonavis2, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
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Come back again.

The freeper “so’s your old man response”.

Feinstein is my Senator. She has sold out privacy rights consistently. Along with Rockefeller, they have hidden from the American public the most odious of actions used on the war against terrorists from Bush to Obama. For years I have wished the Dems would replace her.

I have had this bookmarked for sometime. I think it is an answer to those who think the “good old days” were so superior. Take a look. You might gain a little optimism.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18983_5-complaints-about-modern-life-that-are-statistically-b.s..html
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5 Complaints About Modern Life (That Are Statistically B.S.)
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5.”Everything Is So Expensive.”
4.”People Are Getting Stupider.”
3.”All This Processed Food Is Killing Us.”
2.”Crime Is Out of Control.”
1.”Today’s Music Is All Derivative Trash.”

My goodness! I sure caused the echo chamber to reverberate with that one. I think it’s worth noting that there are many types of engineers and many of those humanities type courses mentioned are necessary to have the broad spectrum of knowledge required for the job. If you want to transport people, it helps to understand the culture that you are intending to transport. One can easily point to the TSA as an example of a system that was engineered with very little thought regarding the culture of the people being transported.

freeinpa@8.8,
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How could I have forgotten the salt? Soon we will all be forced to eat less of it. Nanny Bloomberg has only our best interests at heart.

hippooath@20.9,

It is unlikely that he will ascend into heaven like the Prophet Elijah. But it is known that the UN has a number of white helicopters.

diecash1@21.12,
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I have yet to see a “fact” grace one of your posts, diecash.
A lot of bile, misinformation and angry outbursts but nothing remotely resembling a fact. Why is that?

apr2563@12.2,
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You may well get your wish. It does seem that the Democrat party has taken up a purge of anyone to the right of Alan Grayson.

Perhaps because you’re a dim-witted and utterly clueless ideologue? Sounds about right.

One more time, with feeling:

Why is that?

Perhaps because you’re a dim-witted and utterly clueless ideologue? Sounds about right.

hippooath@24,
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Reagan was not so ignorant that he thought the Soviet Union was to be with us always.
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Willful ignorance is worse than being unintelligent. It is the result of a closed mind.
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Rep James McGovern [D-MA] “I think the Constitution is wrong.”
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Rep Phil Hare [D-Il] “I don’t worry about the Constitution.” Mercifully he was not returned to Congress in 2010.
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Rep Jay Inslee [D-WA] – Took to the floor of the House to complain about the reading of the Constitution before the House.
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And the piece de resistance is the infamous; “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” That from Madame Defarge aka Nancy Pelosi.

diecash1@21.18 & 21.9,
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There you have it, folks. Diecash unwittingly proves that every thing that I said in my comment was true. I rest my case.

And the piece de resistance is the infamous; “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” That from Madame Defarge aka Nancy Pelosi

Yet another example of your willful ignorance. Don’t you ever tire of being proven wrong on this ridiculous right-wing talking point that you repeat endlessly? This is precisely why I call you a dim-witted ideologue. You fail to see the disingenuousness of your comment; well that, or you really are stupid. Your choice I suppose.
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In honor of freeper, I shall call this repetition of bogus r-w talking points a PJ fact. Your posts seem to be full of them.

It is now the consensus on both left and right that Teacher’s Unions are the problem.

Yet another example of a PJ “fact”. I notice you provided absolutely zero substantiation for this presumed “fact” yet you call my posts fact-free. Tiresome and stupid you are.

“I don’t care how cute you say I am.
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I am not going to join the Log Cabin Republicans and share a log cabin with you!”
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Because it would make the sheep jealous–Patrick is soo bahhhhhhd!

No apr its sarcasm. The left always plays the holier than thou and tries to smear conservatives. Take a hard look at the left. If you think they are any better get yourself medical help- Because dementia has set sail for you.

“If you want to transport people, it helps to understand the culture that you are intending to transport.”
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Yes and the culture of an independent liberated country is one that does not want to be slave to a schedule and herded like cattle to a destination. Nor do they want a car that hamster can outrun. But that doesn’t seem to get int he way of the left delivering us cultured transport

Like so much of reality the left saying things just doesn’t make it true.

.

According to the right wing firm JD Power here are the top rated calls for quality:
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Compact Crossover- Toyota
Compact – Ford
Compact Premium- Volvo
Compact Sport- Mazda
Premium- Mercedes
Premium Crossover- Acura
Large car – Ford
Large Crossover – Chevy Tahoe
Large Premium – Lexus
Midsize- Honda
Midsize Premium – Lexus
-Mid-size crossover SUV – Lexus
Subcompact- Honda

3 UAW cars and 10 foreign 4 of which Toyota. And the reason for the improvement in US cars. Technology replace half of the moronic UAW members on the assembly line. You know the ones that are home collecting full salary and benefits for sitting at home that drove the autos companies to bankruptcy

Now isn’t that a bi**h

It seems diecash1 the willful ignorance is all you. Pelosi said it and that is a real fact not one from your delusional mind

Your response to paulejb was unrestrained stupidity

Here’s the video. watch it and then take your meds and lie down

I should have known, dumb and dumber stick together in their outright idiocy. What Pelosi said was:

We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it away from the fog of the controversy

Now I realize you both are too stupid and disingenuous (precisely my original point, thanks for that!) to parse that statement but what she meant was that all of the numerous right-wing lies (pull the plug on Grandma, death panels, etc.) had created a fog of controversy around the bill and due to the fact that the Faux misinformation machine was in high gear, people would not be able to see what’s in it until it’s put into action, as is being done now. Now people are seeing some of the benefits of the bill and despite the bogus “kill the bill” efforts of the duplicitous right-wing, people like it and don’t want it repealed.

diecash1@21.21,

Weren’t you paying attention? I submitted as evidence;
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1. Charter public schools where non unionized staff out perform unionized teachers much to the chagrin of Teacher’s Unions leaders.
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2. The documentary “Waiting for Superman” which chronicles the desperation of parents to get their children into Charter Schools. The documentary was a creation of Davis Guggenheim who brought us Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”
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There is also..

3. Educators 4 Excellence. NYC school teachers who are courageously bucking the Unions.

4. A quote from a Chicago Tribune article by Leonard Pitts; “When you can’t get fired for doing bad work, what’s your impetus for doing good?”

diecash1@24.2,

I always enjoy doing this, diecash. Thanks for the opportunity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV-05TLiiLU

The immortal words of Madame Defarge.

Still not a single objective fact in your list of “evidence”.
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You can find examples of high performing public schools and charter schools. The converse is also true. No points there.
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A documentary by a filmmaker the worked with Al Gore? That speaks for itself (in your mind anyway) doesn’t it? Again, no points there.
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Some NYC teachers don’t like the union and that’s somehow news? No points there.
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Leonard Pitts’ word is the gospel truth and a fact? Uh, no. No points there.
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Allow me to quote Nick Nolte in 48 Hours: “I believe in the merit system so far you ain’t earned any points, boy.”
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You right-wingers like to tout personal responsibility but when push comes to shove, you just want to bash convenient right-wing targets like the teacher’s union, or any union for that matter. You paint with the broadest possible brush and are woefully confused as to what constitutes a fact. Epic fail on your part. Again.

You can play the clip all you like. Why not try having someone with an IQ above room temperature explain my post at 24.4 to you? That might clear up your obvious and long-standing confusion.

diecash1@24.4,
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What she actually was saying was “Trust us. We know better than all you peasants what is good for you.”

That was not an insult to Nancy’s constituents who keep returning her to office, but it is an insult to everyone else in the United States.

diecash1@24.6,
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Are you really that inane? Do you really believe that American’s can’t understand a piece of legislation until it is passed? You really are a liberal.

It seems to me that when people were polled about what is in the bill, the were woefully uninformed. Faux “News” and the rest of the right-wing contributed mightily to that. Do you really think the average American is going to read a bill being considered before Congress, let alone one of that length? Not a chance.

No, that’s not what she was saying. That’s the right-wing trying to smear Pelosi as they’ve always done.

diecash1@21.24,
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You can’t be serious. Teacher’s union leaders make the Gestapo look like pansies. In their estimation the public school system is of the teachers, by the teachers and for the teachers. Minor considerations like the welfare of the children get short shrift.
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With a huge round of layoffs in the offing nationwide, Teacher’s Union leaders still insist on LIFO. A rule which means that young, enthusiastic teachers will be laid off rather than the listless timeservers. It’s not about the kids, it’s about seniority. And it’s effect is to the detriment of the most poorly served in minority districts. Dare I say, that the effect is de facto racism.

diecash@24.9 & 24.10,
.

I don’t expect each American to read 2600 page monstrosities couched in terms that only a lifelong government bureaucrat could love. I do expect that their representatives should read it before they vote their aye or nay. Is that too much to ask?

rahonovis2@9.6,
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It’s called multitasking, rahonovis. I could be writing a letter, sending e-mails, listening to talk radio, watching cable news, or reading newspapers and magazines, all while blogging. Hell, I could even be talking to your girlfriend while blogging.

It’s all very simple really. You just have to learn to focus your mind.

“1.Watergate was a drama that turned into farce. Despite liberal hysteria, the Republic was safe.”
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Wow! a Richard Nixon-Watergate defender! I thought all of you went extinct like dial telephones!
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“2. Barack Obama’s weapon of choice against talk radio is the FCC, not the FBI. Attention must be paid.”
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Yet the last person fined heavily who, was speaking against government was Howard Stern who was fined for exactly the same thing he said during the Clinton years by the W Bush administration and Obama has fined nobody .

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“3. The general premise of the term is not vitiated by the use of it by Justice Jackson on one case about inflammatory speech.”
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But the concept is the same. Political speech is always lawful unless it is about the planning an immanent, literal ( not metaphorical) physically violent attack against people or property
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The propagators of inflammatory yet non-specific speech of the last twenty years broadcast or disseminated on a large scale have been the far right only.
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You may find some person in front of an audience of 200 who is liberal and making anti-government inflammatory speech, but, for those who do so regularly with audiences in the hundreds of thousands to many millions of viewers/listeners are exclusively on the right.

“Because it would make the sheep jealous-”
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Will you quick pimping out your sheep in Pa, Freak?
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You know that we don’t have sheep in NYC.
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But now I know how you earn your money. “Freedom Sheep for rent. A girl you’d really like to take home to meet Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.”

Take black Americans, for example. It makes perfect sense that a black American who is essentially happy is going to be less attracted to the left. Anyone who has interacted with black conservatives rarely encounters an angry, unhappy person.

Why?

Because the liberal view on race is that America is a racist society. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, a black American must abandon liberalism in order to be a happy individual.

Read more: Why conservatives are happier than liberals http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=231717#ixzz1DYKj8HRp
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This is putting the carriage in front of the horse.
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If a black person faces racism, they will know that some racism exists in this society and, since they are unhappy with racism they will chose the ideology which acknowledges racism exists.
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“But conservatives assume that life will always be hard. Liberals, on the other hand, have utopian dreams”
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Wanting to get from New York to Philadelphia in 30 minutes via high speed rail is a Utopian dream?
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Once again, this is a throw back to the Marxists of the 1930s who were the middle aged and senior citizens of the 1960s and 1970s and completely and totally unrelated to any non-Marxist ideology. Those people recruited to Marxist-Leninism in universities during the Great Depression ( when, momentarily it appeared that free markets, not Marxism would be the failed experiment ) grew old and died twenty five years years ago or are well over 90 years old now.
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Arthur C. Brooks (born May 21, 1964, in Spokane, Wash.) is an American social scientist and musician. He is the president of the American Enterprise Institute. Brooks is best known for his work on the junctions between culture, economics, and politics. Two of his popular volumes, Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism and Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America—and How We Can Get More of It, explore these themes in greater depth.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Brooks
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The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) is a conservative,[1][2][3][4] non-partisan[5] think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is “to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate.”[6] AEI is an independent non-profit organization supported primarily by grants and contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Enterprise_Institute
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So why is Arthur C. Brooks claiming that conservatives are happier than liberals?
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Because he got paid a huge heap of money by a very well funded corporatist public relations group to say this.
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On an individual level, Freak, I am sure that I am much happier than you, 3X, Rusty, Retardomax and Earl combined.
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Paullie might be happy. I don’t know.

.

“The left always plays the holier than thou…”
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LOL
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Yeah, I am waiting for those liberal and leftist Evangelical ministers to start shouting out about the evils of conservatism .
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Oh, Lord