The Science Is Settled

Really. It is.

Oh sure, we haven’t quite figured out how to work clouds into all of our high-falutin’ computer models. And sure, even if we did our temperature data sets have gaps that would make Rose Mary Woods proud. Oh and yes all the “independent” data sets are in fact all based on the same “corrected” data set. And, no, we really haven’t figured out how to work that thing called “the sun” into these models either. Or the effect of the weakening of the earth’s magnetic field, either.

But really, no matter.

It’s settled, you denier.

This Needs To Be Quashed

Nothing has been introduced in the Senate yet that I can find, but this can not be allowed to stand

Three senior US lawmakers are piecing together a sweeping bipartisan energy and climate bill, which looks set to include sweeteners to galvanise support among Republicans and industry groups.

…Environmental groups are divided over the bill, with some decrying the push to pre-empt existing state and federal greenhouse gas regulations. But many moderate groups are withholding judgment until the bill is introduced, saying concessions to industry bodies will be necessary. According to people briefed by the senators, the bill aims to cut carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 17 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050, largely by implementing separate caps on utilities and manufacturers. The federal government would sell separate pollution permits to each sector, using a “hard price collar” to limit greenhouse gas allowances to between $10 (£6.70) and $30 per ton, and committing to flood the market with credits if the price ceiling is exceeded.

The bill’s sponsors – John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat, Joseph Lieberman, the Independent from Connecticut, and Lindsay Graham, the South Carolina Republican – said the new sectoral approach would begin imposing carbon caps on utilities in 2012 and manufacturers in 2016.

The last thing we need is a new tax on gasoline and more government controls on the economy.

FBI Raids In Michigan

I’ll be curious to see what the charges are

At least seven people, including some from Michigan, have been arrested in raids by a FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana as part of an investigation into an Adrian-based Christian militia group, a person familiar with the matter said.

There is this

Lackomar said he heard from other militia members that the FBI targeted the Hutaree after its members made threats of violence against Islamic organizations.

but not much else.

Update: Well, here’s an update

Detroit, Michigan (CNN) — Federal authorities decided to arrest members of the Hutaree militia group upon learning they were planning an exercise in April that might have included violence, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.

“They talked about doing a covert reconnaissance exercise,” said Barbara McQuade, U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Michigan, in an interview with CNN’s Drew Griffin. “And they did also say that, in connection with the exercise, if they came upon anyone from the public or law enforcement who kind of stumbled upon them in the midst of this exercise, they were prepared to kill them.”

That moved authorities to act, she said.

The militia members’ ultimate plan, she said, was to call 911 reporting a fake emergency and then to kill the police officer who responded. They then planned to kill more police by attacking the funeral procession using improvised explosive devices, she said.

Sounds like a real charming bunch who were planning to kill, so it seems the authorities did their jobs in stopping it. It appears that they were threatening pretty much anyone and everyone, not specifically an Islamic organization.

I have to say I’m bothered by them listing an IED as a “weapon of mass destruction”. That seems to me to be an example of the government dumbing-down threats to expand their reach.

I Guess It Says Something About Their Clientele

So I was in Gamestop today buying a game for, er, um, this friend of mine who likes to play them occasionally. Whilst I’m looking about some ads, things promoting games like Eviscerator IV and Super Mohammad Kart and some TV shows, were playing over the PA system in the store; all pretty innocuous stuff really.

What got my attention was every few minutes (and I do mean every few minutes; it was pretty constant) there would be this ad that started off with soft guitar picking in happy major chords and the soft tenor voice of the announcer would come on (I swear it sounded exactly like the CBS spots for the Masters; you know the ones with the “A Tradition Unlike Any Other” tag line) saying “Support her dreams. Support his education. Child support. It’s not just about the money.”

I laughed out loud the first time I heard it…then I looked quickly around to make sure no one was coming after me.

Start Stockpiling Those Depends

So much easier to force folks to “opt out” rather than the freedom to choose to join, isn’t it? Then think how much cash you can accrue if folks are clueless!

While Congress spent the last year debating how to provide health insurance for the uninsured, a little-known provision slipped into the heath care law that could cost some Americans upwards of $2,000 a year.

The Class Act, otherwise known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act, is the federal government’s first long-term care insurance program.

Under-reported and the under the radar of most lawmakers, the program will allow workers to have an average of roughly $150 or $240 a month, based on age and salary, automatically deducted from their paycheck to save for long-term care.

…”This is a scary proposition where the government passed a huge new entitlement program with gimmicks and tricks and the American people don’t know they will be automatically enrolled in it by their employer if they don’t watch out,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).

)…- After a five-year vesting period, enrollees who need help bathing, eating or dressing will be eligible to take out benefits, estimated to be around $75 a day for in-home care.

Video here.

I mean really. Who’s the asshat who came up with this gem? Crusader was kind enough to force me to drink heavily ruin my Saturday evening with the news. “Who even KNEW this was in the bill?!?!” he exclaimed. I pointed out that it’s happened exactly as Madame Speaker said: it passed, you found out. Duh.

“I stand corrected”, he said.

Dear Leader and His EE-ville Minions

…can keep the CHANGE.

AT&T Inc. will book $1 billion in first-quarter costs related to the health-care law signed this week by President Barack Obama, the most of any U.S. company so far.

A change in the tax treatment of Medicare subsidies triggered the non-cash expense, and the company will consider changes to the benefits it offers current and retired workers, Dallas-based AT&T said today in a regulatory filing.

I HOPE the Congressional Cabal doesn’t think they’ll be keeping their jobs.

In fact, I’m HOPING for a FALL of epic proportions come the FALL.

How’s That Smartest Evuh Mortgage Plan Going?

Oh, just about as well as you’d expect

March 25 (Bloomberg) — More than half of U.S. borrowers who received loan modifications on delinquent mortgages defaulted again after nine months, according to a federal report.

The re-default rate of loans modified in the first quarter of 2009 was 51.5 percent by the end of the year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision said in a joint report today. The figure, which measures payments at least 30 days late, climbed to 57.9 percent for changes made in the prior 12 months.

Of course, given the results I guess it’s a good thing that the implementation has been so sucktastic

The expansion of President Obama’s signature $75 billion loan modification effort comes on the heels of two blistering government watchdog reports, which slammed the administration for poor implementation of the program, and raised doubts that it would reach the initial goal of helping 3 to 4 million troubled borrowers stay in their homes.

The program, which calls for reducing borrowers’ monthly payments to 31% of their pre-tax income, has led to only about 170,000 long-term modifications so far.

The low figure has prompted consumer advocates and industry experts to call the program — which focuses on adjusting interest rates and loan terms to bring monthly payments to affordable levels — a failure.

(though of course as you can see this has led to the standard “gee the problem isn’t our Super Plan itself but rather that WE DIDN’T GO FAR ENOUGH” response)

Gack.

That Was Such Fun…

…let’s do it again

Washington (CNN) — In a marathon Senate session that lasted into the wee hours of Thursday, Republicans kept their vow to use every parliamentary tool available to undermine the recently enacted health care reform law.

In the end, they found violations in two provisions, forcing the bill back to the House for another vote.

The GOP launched its attempt to amend or kill legislation expanding the new law in a Senate session that finally adjourned at 2:45 a.m. Thursday.

…But after hours, the Republicans found two minor provisions related to higher education that violate Senate procedure. These provisions have to be removed from bill, and then it has to be voted on by the House again, said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Let’s see how it goes this time.

Funny, if people actually read these bills before forcing votes on them then these things might not happen.

Shocking Headline Of The Day

“Dwight Gooden arrested for DUI after crash“

**sigh**

“The passage of the health care law shows that the US empire is declining because it illustrates the fact that people expect the state to take care of them…”

Sure wish I could argue the logic, but I’m too depressed.

Carbon Tax Axed; Al Gore Weeps

When even France says “you know, this will totally hose our economy…”

President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday scrapped the country’s proposed carbon tax and reshuffled his cabinet in populist tilt after suffering a crushing electoral defeat over the weekend, when his Gaulliste UMP party lost every region other than in its bastion of Alsace and the Indian Ocean island of Reunion.

…The government said its energy tax was being postponed indefinitely in order not to “damage the competitiveness of French companies”, fearing that it would be too risky for France to go it alone without the rest of the EU. Brussels has announced plans for an EU-wide tax, but the initiative already looks doomed.

…I expect Team Barry to push right ahead with this stupid idea.

Gaia: Murderess

She’s heartless, cruel and viscious

Falling icicles and ice blocks have killed five people and injured 147 in St Petersburg following Russia’s coldest winter in 30 years.

“Every day, I go out into the street as if I was entering a war zone,” complained resident Boris Ilinsky, 28

…The high toll has prompted residents and relatives of victims to demand action against those responsible for what they believe to be careless clearing of ice from rooftops.

Those responsible?

Prius drivers.

Snappy Dialogue in Local Fishwrap Saves Printing Costs!

Eliminate those pesky English class, Conjunction Junction-type nuisance rules and voilà! LESS ink, even in a story as compelling as this:

Escambia County drug ring shut down

A nearly two-year investigation into 11 men suspected of smuggling cocaine into Escambia County has resulted in the seizure of more than $500,000 in cocaine and cash. Five Pensacola men and six others from Texas and Mississippi are suspected of taking part in the drug ring, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Monday.

…The investigation started after a confidential source began helping investigators after being arrested June 26, 2008.

Cocaine fell out the source’s pocket while at Escambia County Jail…

More egregious than a typo…set my teeth on edge, it did.

It also explains why this rag is down to about 6 total pages per edition.

Filed Under: “Watch Me Pull a Rabbit Outta My Hat!”

…If Alexandria doesn’t spend the $173,000 they don’t have, you see, they won’t qualify for EPA giving them $200,000 the federal government doesn’t have. So they have to do it. They won’t get that bag of money from the federal government if they don’t undertake this expenditure.

Compelling argument, n’est pas?

Sisters…Sisters

There were never such devoted sisters

Two octogenarian sisters from Connecticut are headed to trial in their fight over a $500,000 lottery jackpot.

Eighty-four-year-old Theresa Sokaitis of Middletown and 87-year-old Rose Bakaysa of Plainville are expected in New Britain Superior Court on Tuesday morning as their trial begins.

Many men have tried to split us up but no one can
Lord help the mister
Who comes between me and my sister
And Lord help the sister
Who comes between me and my man money…

The Best Argument I’ve Heard Yet For Allowing Gay Marriage

We’ll get more stories like this

A bride was arrested at her own wedding party after baring her breasts at a doorman – and then hitting him over the head with her red stiletto shoe.

Sharon Hancox, 40, spent her first night of marriage in police cells after the row at the champagne reception for her lesbian wedding to her new wife.

A court heard Hancox had drunk up to eight pints of lager and champagne at the party after their gay civil ceremony.

As an interesting legal defense, I wonder if she could have said that, as the other woman was the wife she was therefore the husband, and as it is not illegal for the “husband” to expose “his” breasts in public no crime therefore occurred.

Well, no crime apart from the two-inch-spiked-stiletto-heel-to-the-forehead bit, but some guys like that sort of stuff.

A Hint Of Things To Come For us

All the money we need to even begin to pay for the massive expansion of government Our Glorious Leaders have in mind for us has to come from somewhere

The Public Accounts Committee said the Ministry of Defence’s funding shortfall could rise to more than £36 billion in the coming decade – many times the official estimate of £6 billion

The MPs had been investigating the department’s governance and budgeting arrangements were fit for purpose.They found that the current defence budget was “fundamentally unaffordable”.

A Most Glorious Sound

I was reminded of this by a post over at Jim’s.

God I love this video (content warning: an f-bomb or two but when you can crank the volume to hear the engine)

Ah, You Gonna Take Me Home Tonight?

Via HotAir we have this scientific proof that Queen was right

In the book The Unsolicited Gift, Dr Dennis Friedman said delegating child-rearing responsibilities too soon risks equipping your son with life-long double standards when it comes to women.

This means that even though he could go on to be married he will always have the feeling that another women could cater for all his basic needs.

…”As a result, he grows up with the idea that although he will one day go through all the social and sexual formalities of marriage, he will have at the back of his mind the notion of this other woman, who not only knows, but caters for, all his needs.”

I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad,
But I knew love before I left my nursery,
Left alone with big fat Fanny,
She was such a naughty nanny!
Hey big woman you made a bad boy out of me!

I guess Tiger had a nanny, eh?

Well, Now Our Betters Have Given Us This Crap Sandwich

It’s going to be a mess, and it’s going to accelerate our bankruptcy. There’s no way around it; the numbers just don’t work. The way they gamed and front-loaded the income numbers so the CBO score would be positive are sickening.

Here’s the roll call on how they voted. I hope you will join me in working to defeat everyone who voted “aye.”

“The Mailbox Belonging to Bill Nelson Is Full”

“Goodbye”

“Goodbye” to my vote as well, Bill.

I hope all those fat asses at the Commissary today with the Obama stickers on their mini-vans enjoy having the Cheetos snatched out of their pudgy hands in about a year. Not healthy, you know. Porkage ‘costs money’. And all those retirees with the same stickers who are now using the TriCare for Life supplement to Medicare. Good luck hangin’ on to that, Granny. Moot point if there isn’t a doctor that’ll take you, right?

Jesus.

I’m sick. Just sick.

UPDATE: John Boehner just gave the speech of his life. And all I could think was a Skyler-like, “WHERE has THIS Republican Party been for 4 years?!?!?! The bastards have doomed us.”

UPDATE: I hear Stupak was the deciding vote, the stupid, stupid little man.

Like the Song Says

“Promises, Promises”

Military Plans Not Protected Under Obamacare?

…The final bill would leave it up to a bureaucrat at the Department of the Treasury to determine whether TRICARE meets the minimum standards under the Democrats’ individual health insurance mandate. If that bureaucrat decides against TRICARE, service members and their families would have to buy some other health coverage or pay a penalty.

Hey, That Reset Button Really Worked!

We’ve gone from only getting limited co-operation from the Russians under Chimpy McHalliburton to getting, well, none at all now

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, promised on Thursday that Moscow would help Iran complete a civil nuclear power station by this summer, drawing criticism from Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state.

…Asked about Mr Putin’s remarks, Mrs Clinton said it “would be premature to go forward with any project at this time, because we want to send an unequivocal message to the Iranians”.

Oh, Hills, there is definitely an unequivocal message being sent to the Iranians, sweet cheeks.

CHANGE: Not Only is a Couple BOTH Working Their Asses Off for $250K a Year

…now considered “RICH” (I’m sure they’re dancing in the streets to ‘Movin’ On Up’) and therefore subject to an additional 3.8% TAX on all those investments they have (via Prof. Reynolds)…

…but NOW the hallowed middle-class rest EVERY LAST SCHWINGING SCHWANZ of us can get a tentacle tickle at any time, too!

…the [health reform] bill would allow the IRS to confiscate refunds if there are penalties for not buying health care.

Is that a tingle or a tinkle I’m feeling legwise?

P.O. Box 1142

It’s one of the most important addresses you’ve never heard of

An offhand comment from a park visitor unveiled the untold story of a secret Virginia facility where clever interrogation techniques and good old-fashioned eavesdropping helped secure victory in World War II. Now the Park Service is racing to unearth all the details before the last remaining witnesses vanish.

What a neat tale! Go read all of it, and remember there have been times when government programs actually worked.