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Selected News For May 16 – May 22

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news items we might otherwise miss.

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This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

52 Responses to “Selected News For May 16 – May 22”

  1. proreason
    May 16, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    Don Luskin on the Larry Kudlow show, via youtube:

    What’s going on here Don?

    …”it’s so simple Larry. The Obama administration is proving that old saying. “Democracy is like two wolves and a sheep voting on what to eat. And the definition of liberty is a very well-armed sheep.” …

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrvT_2Xt02U

    Protect your flock.

  2. proreason
    May 16, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    Obamy’s Wall Street voters are shocked to learn he’s not exactly a pro-capitalist kind of guy. From a paper that isn’t bent over to Obamy, the UK’s Telegraph :

    Barack Obama’s rich supporters fear his tax plans show he’s a class warrior

    Wealthy Wall Street financiers and other business figures provided crucial support for Mr Obama during the election, backing him over the Republican candidate John McCain as the right leader to rescue the collapsing US economy.

    But it is now dawning on many among them that Mr Obama was serious about his campaign trail promises to bring root and branch reform to corporate America – and that they were more than just election rhetoric.

    A top Obama fundraiser and hedge fund manager said: “I’m appalled at the anti-Wall Street rhetoric. It was OK on the campaign but now it’s the real world. I’m surprised that Obama is turning out to be so left-wing. He’s a real class warrior.”

    Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute, a free enterprise think tank, said Democrats in Congress were unnerved by the president’s latest plan to raise $210 billion over 10 years from multinational corporations.

    The money is needed to pay for a national debt that will double over the next five years; and triple over the next 10 years to $17.3 trillion. But the crackdown already faces fierce Democratic resistance.

    “These big companies are based in New York Boston, Seattle and Silicon Valley, where Democrats dominate,” Mr Edwards said. “Obama’s tax plan is already cleaving him from his big corporate supporters,” he said…

    The president’s plans are direct repudiation of the model of light touch regulation credited with creating economic growth and wealth in America in recent decades. …

    That Mr Obama should have radical views on the shortcomings of the US economy is hardly surprising. As a young man he turned down a high paying career in the corporate sector to work as a community organiser in Chicago.

    “I would imagine myself as a captain of industry, barking out orders, closing the deal, before I remembered who it was that I had told myself that I want to be,” he wrote in his memoir Dreams from My Father. …

    It has also dawned on wealthy Americans who flocked to the Obama campaign of “Hope” and “Change” that the president opposes the “trickle down” theories that have guided US economics since President Ronald Reagan was elected with a mandate to slash taxes…..

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....rrior.html

    Maybe these Wall Street yahoos were too busy supporting Drooling Barney’s plan to bankrupt the country by giving houses to deadbeats to listen to what the Lightworker was saying.

    Or maybe they are as stupid as The Moron.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      May 16, 2009 at 9:41 pm

      How many Obamas does it take to change a light bulb?

      One to criticize the bulb for being so bright while other bulbs don’t have the opportunity to shine so brightly
      One to demand “changing” the bulb
      One to tell us he plans on redistributing the light
      One to criticize the bulb for burning out and putting so many into darkness
      One to demand a “greener, more environmentally friendly bulb” to replace it
      One to point out that the existing bulb is “light as usual” and must be changed
      One to travel all over the world and apologize for the bulb burning out, or being so selfishly bright
      One to laugh at the bulb and snicker at it when comedians make fun of it
      One to say it is a “bulb in crisis”
      One to say it’s not as bad of a bulb as he originally thought
      One to read the teleprompter and say “This is the bulb I ought to have now”
      One to blame Bush for the bulb’s existence in the first place
      One to tell us how we must sacrifice our bulbs so that others may have bulbs
      One to tell the US that the original bulb is the “bulb of the future”.
      One to point out that “this bulb cannot be sustained”

    • canary
      May 17, 2009 at 5:32 am

      “As a young man he turned down a high paying career in the corporate sector to work as a community organiser in Chicago.”

      Huh? He never turned down a high paying career. Was doing some kind of secretary work after his got his poli-sci degree. Decided to go to Chicago after watching old M. L. King riots on TV. They became like a prayer to him.

    • Dangerous
      May 19, 2009 at 1:30 pm

      “Obama’s tax plan is already cleaving him from his big corporate supporters,”

      This just makes me ask why he had any in the first place. I don’t mean the Soros type, where the world could collapse and they’d still own enough to be filthy rich, but the ones who don’t have enough to protect what they’ve got from the man doing (some of) what he said he would on the campaign trail.

  3. canary
    May 16, 2009 at 9:24 pm

    Ambush at Afghan school in ‘Valley of Death’
    AP Assoicated Press by AP Writers Andrew Drake And Fisnik Abrashi

    ALIABAD, Afghanistan – The bearded Afghan army officer dropped off bundles of pens and notebooks at the school and asked one boy which he preferred: The Americans or the Taliban?

    “I don’t know,” the boy replied. But after a short silence other children in the classroom answered for him: “The Taliban.”

    Within minutes the discussion was punctuated by an insurgent ambush and the joint U.S.-Afghan patrol became pinned down in this area with forested mountains, caves and ravines that American soldiers call “the Valley of Death.”

    The tribes here speak a distinct language — Korengali — and adhere to the austere Wahabi brand of Islam most prevalent in Saudi Arabia, and practiced by Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

    The Saturday gunbattle erupted following a humanitarian mission to deliver 60 bags of school supplies to the students, aged 5 to 12-years old.

    An Associated Press news team embedded with the U.S. troops dashed back to the American military base nearby on dirt trails. It was unclear what happened to the students after the joint patrol retreated…

    President Barack Obama has ordered another 21,000 troops to join the fight

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....ern_battle

    • canary
      May 16, 2009 at 9:27 pm

      strange Obama just axed the top General because he asked for more troops.
      Obama always means and does the opposite.

    • JohnMG
      May 16, 2009 at 9:41 pm

      What did he “axed” him for, Canary? Directions?

  4. canary
    May 17, 2009 at 5:03 am

    Last Anti-Chavez TV Station Faces Probe, Shutdown
    Associateed Press AP writer CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER Sat May 16, 2009

    CARACAS, Venezuela – When Venezuelans tune to Globovision, they see protests against faulty public services…

    Now Chavez seems to be gearing up for a final showdown with Globovision, Venezuela’s only remaining opposition television station on the open airwaves.

    Broadcast regulators are investigating the all-news channel for inciting “panic and anxiety” during a minor earthquake when it criticized the government for slow response.

    Earlier this week, he threatened severe measures against any media inciting unrest: “You are playing with fire, manipulating, inciting hatred and much more. All of you: television networks, radio stations, newspapers.”

    Globovision is the remaining counterweight to state television, which airs only praise for Chavez while attacking opposition politicians on a late-night talk show called “The Razorblade.”

    In an October broadcast, newspaper editor Rafael Poleo said Chavez should be careful or he could end up “hanging” like Mussolini. The Fascist leader was shot dead, then hung upside down and stoned by his detractors.

    Chavez, who views the stations as mouthpieces of the wealthy, puts it another way:

    “You oligarchs, your time is up.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....q9TkZvaA8F

  5. Gila Monster
    May 17, 2009 at 11:08 am

    More socialistic propaganda from the NY Slimes, anything to promote the agenda of their Democratic masters;

    From a Theory to a Consensus on Emissions Sign in to Recommend
    By JOHN M. BRODER
    Published: May 16, 2009
    WASHINGTON — As Congress weighs imposing a mandatory limit on climate-altering gases — an outcome still far from certain — it is likely to turn to a system that sets a government ceiling on total emissions and allows polluting industries to buy and sell permits to meet it.

    That approach, known as cap and trade, has been embraced by President Obama, Democratic leaders in Congress, mainstream environmental groups and a growing number of business interests, including energy-consuming industries like autos, steel and aluminum.

    But not long ago, many of today’s supporters dismissed the idea of tradable emissions permits as an industry-inspired Republican scheme to avoid the real costs of cutting air pollution. The right answer, they said, was strict government regulation, state-of-the-art technology and a federal tax on every ton of harmful emissions.

    How did cap and trade, hatched as an academic theory in obscure economic journals half a century ago, become the policy of choice in the debate over how to slow the heating of the planet? And how did it come to eclipse the idea of simply slapping a tax on energy consumption that befouls the public square or leaves the nation hostage to foreign oil producers?

    The answer is not to be found in the study of economics or environmental science, but in the realm where most policy debates are ultimately settled: politics.

    Many members of Congress remember the painful political lesson of 1993, when President Bill Clinton proposed a tax on all forms of energy, a plan that went down to defeat and helped take the Democratic majority in Congress down with it a year later.

    Cap and trade, by contrast, is almost perfectly designed for the buying and selling of political support through the granting of valuable emissions permits to favor specific industries and even specific Congressional districts. That is precisely what is taking place now in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has used such concessions to patch together a Democratic majority to pass a far-reaching bill to regulate carbon emissions through a cap-and-trade plan.

    The bill is poised to win committee approval this week, although with virtually no support from Republicans.

    http://tinyurl.com/qeuuem

    The Slimes declares a “consensus” on cap and trade, even though the bill has virtually zero support from Republicans in Congress.
    I suppose that depends on what your definition of “consensus” is, right? It’s just words. Useless morons, …sigh.

    Republicans hatched this environmental emissions cap and trade scheme? Really?
    In its current form, I thought this fiasco was spewed forth by the Gore-acle and his fellow global warming cultists. Time to do a little research.

    • proreason
      May 17, 2009 at 11:39 am

      The article does reveal the truth about cap and trade.

      The commiecrats don’t think they will be able to sneak a humongous, mega life-changing tax past the American people.

      So what is the solution.

      They call it something different.

      Their contempt for the people of this country is boundless.

      And justified.

  6. BillK
    May 18, 2009 at 6:33 am

    Uh-oh, health care reform must be in trouble as it’s time to rev up Swine Flu Panic again!

    From our “only the GOP uses fear” friends at the AP:

    NYC Has First Swine Flu Death as Cases Soar

    NEW YORK — A school assistant principal became the city’s first death linked to swine flu, and the number of cases in Japan surged to more than 120 on a wave of new confirmations, prompting government-ordered school closures and cancellations of public events.

    Mitchell Wiener, 55, died Sunday evening, Flushing Hospital Medical Center spokesman Andrew Rubin said. He had been sick with the virus for nearly a week before the Queens intermediate school where he worked was closed on Thursday.

    In Japan, at least 121 people — most of them teenagers — have tested positive for the virus, health officials in the hardest hit areas said Monday. All were recovering in local hospitals or their homes.

    Chile also confirmed its first two swine flu cases Sunday in two women who arrived on a flight from the Dominican Republic. The women, ages 25 and 32, are hospitalized and in good condition, Health Minister Alvaro Erazo said.

    The swine flu epidemic is already expected to dominate the World Health Organization’s five-day annual meeting, which begins Monday in Geneva and involves health officials from the agency’s 193 member states. Officials will examine transmission rates and hear experts’ recommendations on producing a swine flu vaccine.

    As of Sunday, the virus has sickened at least 8,480 people in 40 countries, killing 75 of them, mostly in Mexico.

    Complications besides the virus likely played a part in the death of Weiner, who had been hospitalized and on a ventilator, Rubin said. It was the sixth swine-flu related death in the U.S.; officials have also reported three in Texas, one in Washington state and one in Arizona. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520477,00.html

    Wow, a whole 75 have died world-wide?

    Remember when the AP was claiming hundreds dead in Mexico over a month ago?

  7. BillK
    May 18, 2009 at 6:38 am

    From the AP:

    Scholars Plan U.S.’ First Four-Year Accredited Islamic College

    PLAINSBORO, N.J. — A group of American Muslims, led by two prominent scholars, is moving closer to fulfilling a vision of founding the first four-year accredited Islamic college in the United States, what some are calling a “Muslim Georgetown.”

    Advisers to the project have scheduled a June vote to decide whether the proposed Zaytuna College can open in the fall of next year, a major step toward developing the faith in America.

    Imam Zaid Shakir and Sheik Hamza Yusuf of California have spent years planning the school, which will offer a liberal arts education and training in Islamic scholarship. Shakir, a California native, sees the school in the tradition of other religious groups that formed universities to educate leaders and carve a space in the mainstream of American life.

    “As a faith community our needs aren’t any different than the needs of any other faith community,” Shakir told the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals, as he sought donations at a recent conference near Princeton, N.J. “As Muslims, we need to develop institutions to allow us to perpetuate our values.”

    Others have tried to start Muslim colleges around New York and Chicago, but those schools remained obscure or quickly folded. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520450,00.html

    I’ve no problem with this as told.

    But why do I think that if some future President who was seen as “anti-Muslim” were to speak there, the MSM would be banging the loudest drum urging the President not to attend so as not to offend?

    But Obama at Notre Dame? Well those are just Catholics…

    • canary
      May 19, 2009 at 4:55 am

      Know you enemy. Keep your enemy close.
      Just checking out Sheik Hamza Yusaf who believes in the Mohammand Qu’ran and of the dangerous Shariah group, he was an extreme liberal, sides with Palenstine in killing Jews, see’s nothing wrong with Palenstines suicide attacks on innocent Isreals (blames PTSD!!) and hopes for Muslims to never end up like Christianity with no backbone. But, he is sorry about all the pre-9/11 rage and speeches he gave, but still proud of them.

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....eligion.uk
      was raised in what probably would be called a liberal progressive background -…… I think the same is true for Muslims in the Middle East…. I was moving towards a lot of what I’m talking about now prior to 9/11. People can see that who’ve followed my talks and the things that I wrote just prior to 9/11 in fact.

      He regrets speeches he himself has made in the past, peppered as they were with the occasional angry statements about Jews and America that are a staple of much Muslim oratory. Days before the September 11 killings, he made a speech warning that “a great, great tribulation was coming” to America. He is sorry for saying that now.
      “September 11 was a wake-up call to me,” he says. “I don’t want to contribute to the hate in any shape or form. I now regret in the past being silent about what I have heard in the Islamic discourse and being part of that with my own anger.”
      http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....eligion.uk
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared.....indow.html
      Frank Gardner:
      I think possibly part of the problem though, in terms of perception here, is that where you have a secular struggle such as the Palestinian struggle for a homeland, that in some ways it is associated with Islam. When an Hammas suicide bomber goes and blows himself up and kills people in a Tel Aviv shopping mall and Hammas releases a video of him afterwards…

      Hamza Yusuf:
      He’s doing it for God.

      Frank Gardner:
      Yes but the imagery is very graphic. In one hand he’s holding a Kalashnikov and in the other he’s holding the Koran. Can you blame westerners who haven’t been to the Middle East associating Islam with terrorism?

      Hamza Yusuf:
      Well first of all not that long ago most of the Palestinian resistance was communistic. People forget that in the ’60s and 70′ it was all communistic rhetoric. … I would much rather see suicide bombing understood within the context of despair and the psychology of despair and of trauma because I think a lot of these people are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome or continued traumatic stress syndrome. !!!!
      (is that scary!!!!)

      If it means that we water down Islam to where it no longer has any backbone and it’s destined to the fate of Christianity in the West where it no longer really impacts on the society – I don’t want to see that.

      I really think that relatively the impact that Muslims are having, the harmful impact they are having on the planet I think is much less than other places in the world.

      This idea somehow that all the women in the Muslim world are oppressed – I look around in the West and I think the women here aren’t doing that well either.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamza_Yusuf

  8. BillK
    May 18, 2009 at 6:55 am

    A defense lawyer is seeking a Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice’s removal from a case because… he’s “tough on crime.”

    From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    Defense attorney seeks ouster of Gableman from criminal case

    By Patrick Marley

    Madison – An attorney is trying to force state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman off a case, arguing that his tough-on-crime election campaign last year denigrated criminal defendants.

    Attorney Robert Henak is asking Gableman to step aside under the state’s judicial code. If he does not, Henak argues, Gableman’s colleagues on the court must force him off the case.

    The move comes as Gableman faces ethics charges over a campaign ad.

    Observers said it was unlikely Gableman would step aside, noting that if he did, he would be pressured to get off all criminal cases.

    Henak filed the motion in his defense of Aaron Antonio Allen, who was sentenced to 37 years in prison after being convicted in 1999 of armed robbery and possessing a firearm as a felon in Milwaukee County. Allen contends he had ineffective counsel.

    Henak said Gableman shouldn’t hear the case because of comments he made during the campaign, including promises not to “look for loopholes to put criminals back on our streets.”

    “The facts of this case demonstrate either actual bias or the appearance of bias by Justice Gableman in favor of the state and against those, such as Allen, who are accused of crimes,” Henak wrote.

    But the state said the court should not force Gableman off the case, which is known as recusal.

    “The possibility that every judicial election campaign could turn into a breeding ground for a subsequent recusal motion against the successful candidate would threaten the independence of campaigning judicial candidates . . . ,” Assistant Attorney General William L. Gansner wrote the court. …

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/s.....68007.html

    You can’t make this stuff up… and it’s actually going to be decided by the Wisconsin Supremes:

    The case is now before a three-judge panel, but will ultimately be decided by his fellow justices.

  9. proreason
    May 18, 2009 at 10:09 am

    Since the msm doesn’t report facts about the economy, lets get some real information from American Thinker instead:

    How Did Bush Do This?

    Europe is in its deepest recession since World War II, so reports the UK’s Telegraph .

    “German economic policy is ‘bankrupt,’ economists have said. The declaration was made as it emerged that Europe’s biggest economy has now suffered a worse ‘lost decade’ than Japan and is deeper in recession than any other major economy. On a day of dismal news for the European economy, official figures also showed that Italy, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands are facing their biggest combined slump in post-war history.”…

    Do you notice anything funny about these numbers? Here is what I notice: the recession in the US is milder than that of Europe. Every country on this list had more economic shrinkage from 2008 to 2009 (Q1 to Q1) than did the US.

    How could this be? Did they all have George Bush for President? Did they all succumb to free market ideology in the last eight years? Did they all repeal part of Glass-Steagall? Did they all spend wildly on an unnecessary war in Iraq? Did they all bankrupt themselves with out-of-control defense spending?

    Perhaps we need to look deeper, into the last eight years, in order to discover how bad President Bush was. Here are the average GDP growth rates over the last eight full years…..

    Well I’ll be darned. With the minor exception of Spain, the US did better than all these countries over the last eight years as well.

    What could it be? Could it be possible that Bush was not the cause of our global economic meltdown? Could it be possible that the economic illness spread from Europe to the US, rather than vice versa?

    Could we have the whole thing wrong?

    Whatever it is, I’m sure if our government does what it did in the 1930’s — raises taxes, spends more, regulates more, restricts trade, and “fine tunes” monetary policy — we will get through this just fine. Just like we did then. I think we’re seeing the results already.

    http://www.americanthinker.com....._this.html

    This is very important.

    To recap…..USA had the second best economic growth among western countries during the Bush Years (second only to Spain). The USA grew 42% faster than Europe and a whole. And the recession is less bad in the US than any other western country.

    Shockingly, our trustworthy media hasn’t told us that, have they?

    • canary
      May 19, 2009 at 7:09 pm

      Pro, Obama learned this bringing “measles trick from his relative Yusaf while in Kenya. Obama started the great depression, 9/11, Katrina scare tactic “pre-election”. People needed him to save them. Then full force from day 1, if Republicans didn’t immediately sign the stimulous package, it would be too late, the end of America.
      “bringing measles” convince people they are poor, they become fearful beggars. Add the heightened real trueful fear Obama has brought in his mad spending spree.
      Obama continue the “bringing measles” in that if we don’t immediately do health reform, there will be no SS. I recall hearing a statement when he had everyone in a panick and said it wasn’t so bad Americans ” should be hiding money under their mattresses”.

    • 12 Gauge Rage
      May 21, 2009 at 8:41 am

      It’s always a republican president’s fault. Back in the 80’s the Euro Weenies blamed everything on Reagan.

  10. badcrow
    May 19, 2009 at 10:05 am

    This letter appeared in “American Thinker” this a.m.
    The damage being done by this administration is phenomenal.

    http://www.americanthinker.com.....ealer.html

    How can a philosophy that allows this kind of theft, and subsequent economic damage, result in anything positive!

    • proreason
      May 19, 2009 at 11:00 am

      That damage is deliberate.

      Small Businesses are one of the biggest threats to our Central Planning overseers, for many reasons.

      They must be destroyed.

      Chysler is the first opportunity for direct intervention, so they siezed it.

      Small business owners in this country should prepare for all out war. If you don’t unite, your lifestyle will be reduced to that of Chicago’s South Side in 3 years.

  11. pdsand
    May 19, 2009 at 11:24 am

    Not that it’s news, but Jeopardy had a category of New York Times columnists on yesterday, the answers were all supposedly noteworthy quotes and quips that the columnists had written. 3 pro-obama, 1 anti-bush, 1 anti-mccain. I couldn’t have seen that coming.

  12. proreason
    May 19, 2009 at 12:03 pm

    Great news for Communists!!! Housing worse than expected. From the perpetually surprised AP via Yahoo:

    Stocks mixed after surprise drop in housing data

    …The Commerce Department reported that construction of homes and apartments fell 12.8 percent last month to the lowest pace on records going back a half-century. Analysts had expected housing starts to rise….

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....amp;ccode=

    but, but, but. What about last week’s promise that we have seen the bottom and that it is all uphill from here until the 2010 elections?

    Maybe those hard-hitting mortgage programs haven’t kicked in yet.

    Or maybe the serfs aren’t as confident as Obamy that condemning our descendents to servitude for the next 100 years isn’t a smart way to get out of a recession

  13. BillK
    May 19, 2009 at 3:50 pm

    Republicans insert sane gun measure into bill, Democrats overreact as usual.

    From the AP:

    Loaded guns allowed in national parks under bill

    By Matthew Daly

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-controlled Congress is moving to restore a Bush administration policy that allowed loaded guns in national parks.

    The Senate voted Tuesday to allow guns in national parks and wildlife refuges, and the House could follow suit as soon as Wednesday.

    The measure is included in a popular bill imposing new restrictions on credit card companies. Democratic leaders have said they hope to send a final version to the White House for the president’s signature by week’s end.

    The Senate vote is a stark reversal from what many gun-control advocates expected when a federal judge blocked the Bush policy in March. The decision reinstated restrictions that had been in place since the Reagan administration. The rules severely restrict guns in the national parks, generally requiring them to be locked or stored.

    The Obama administration accepted the March 19 ruling, saying that the Interior Department would review the policy over the next several months.

    That timetable changed quickly last week after Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn inserted an amendment to the credit card bill that would allow concealed, loaded guns in parks and refuges.

    To the surprise of many, the amendment easily passed, winning support from 67 senators – including 27 Democrats. Among those who voted “yes” was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who had blocked Coburn’s amendment from coming to the Senate floor for more than a year. Seven other Western Democrats voted with Reid to support the Republican senator’s amendment, which allows a range of firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges as long as they are allowed by federal, state and local law.

    Spokesman Jim Manley said Reid is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, adding that the guns in parks issue was a major concern for many Nevadans.

    “The rules that apply to our federal lands are felt acutely in Nevada, where 87 percent of the state’s land is managed by federal agencies,” Manley said.

    The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which sued to block the Bush policy, called the Senate vote reckless. The group called on President Barack Obama to demand that the gun provision be stripped from the credit card bill.

    “Families should not have to stare down loaded AK-47s on nature hikes,” said Brady campaign president Paul Helmke. “The president should not remain silent while Congress inserts reckless gun policies that he strongly opposes into a bill that has nothing whatsoever to do with guns.” …

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....ONAL_PARKS

    You’ve got to love the left’s use of tired cliches:

    Families should not have to stare down loaded AK-47s on nature hikes

    No quote better explains liberal paranoia about firearms or those who legally own them.

    By the way, there’s nothing stopping families from “having to stare down loaded AK-47s” now – because those who would point them at a family on a nature hike don’t care that they’re illegal.

    Only law abiding citizens do.

    That’s something those on the left will never, ever understand.

    I’m quite frankly amazed that we haven’t had a mass shooting in a National Park already, as the bad guys know that citizens are, by law, unable to defend themselves and there are probably about 20 rangers for a land mass the size of New Jersey.

    • canary
      May 19, 2009 at 7:16 pm

      Too bad Brady didn’t have a gun under his belt that sad day. Only the gangs and illegal drug cartel Mexicans hiding in parks, will have the AK-47’s pointed at families.

    • 12 Gauge Rage
      May 21, 2009 at 8:54 am

      These lefties have obviously never been to a national park like Denali in Alaska, where the big predatory animals roam wherever the heck they please. The last time I was in Denali the rangers told us that certain backpacking/camping sites were off limits due to increased wolf pack activity. People who brought firearms into Denali only did so because they wanted to be prepared against both the four legged and two legged variety of threats. While an AK-47 has it’s merits, the old salts in Alaska told me that a twelve gauge shotgun loaded with slugs and double ought buck was the best thing for defense against bears. It won’t kill an angry nine foot Kodiak outright, but it’ll knock him down to give you enough time to get the hell outta’ Dodge.

  14. BillK
    May 20, 2009 at 12:40 am

    Democrats vs. the CIA.

    From a ecstatic AP:

    House Dem Raises Questions About CIA’s Accuracy on Briefing Details

    WASHINGTON — A top House Democrat raised new questions Tuesday about the accuracy of the CIA’s account of congressional briefings on severe interrogation techniques. He said a staff aide the agency listed as attending a 2006 briefing was instead barred from it.

    House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin said in a May 18 letter to CIA Director Leon Panetta that a committee aide, Paul Juola, was listed as being in a Sept. 19, 2006, briefing on the full detainee program, including 13 enhanced interrogation techniques.

    But according to Obey, Juola said he walked members to the briefing room, but was told by then-CIA Director Michael Hayden and another CIA official that he could not attend. Reps. Bill Young, R-Fla., and John Murtha, D-Pa., are listed by the CIA as attending the briefing, though Murtha left before the discussion of interrogation techniques.

    The steady drip of information about CIA briefings to Congress has clouded questions of who in Congress knew what and when about the harsh interrogation techniques used on two dozen CIA prisoners. Three detainees underwent waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning that President Barack Obama has called torture.

    A CIA list of 40 congressional briefings for legislators and staffers was turned over to Congress two weeks ago.

    The list was made available after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was accused by critics of not speaking out during the briefings against the harsh techniques and then suggested that she was never told about the use of the methods by CIA briefers.

    The CIA list has been cited by Pelosi’s critics as evidence that she attended one 2002 briefing where waterboarding and other harsh methods were discussed. Pelosi has said the briefers at that session described waterboarding, and said they had legal opinions approving it but that it had not been used at that time. Last week, she accused the CIA briefers of misleading her, but later issued a statement that shifted the blame to the Bush administration.

    Other House officials say the CIA list contains more errors but would not describe them, claiming the attendance information was classified because it is based on secret transcripts of the meetings.

    CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano acknowledged Tuesday that the list may not be accurate.

    “As the agency has pointed out more than once, its list compiled in response to congressional requests reflects the records it has. These are notes, memos, and recollections, not transcripts and recordings.” …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....g-details/

    For the record, being mistaken about who was at a meeting is just a bit different from Pelosi’s assertion that she was at the meeting but that she was lied to…

    • Gila Monster
      May 20, 2009 at 11:29 am

      “….. and then suggested that she was never told about the use of the methods by CIA briefers.”

      Note how the AP reporter is trying to soft sell the notion that Piglosi merely “suggested” she was never told when in fact, she emphatically stated, numerous times, that she was never told.
      See, it’s not an outright lie if she simply suggested this. Yeah, ..uuhhh OK, … sure.

      Madame Fabulist has changed her story so many times now, I don’t think even she can keep all of the different versions of her fairy tales straight.

  15. canary
    May 20, 2009 at 5:29 am

    The Alinsky Administration
    Today, reading Rules for Radicals is illuminating and worrisome.
    National Review By Jim Geraghty May 14, 2009

    ..three of Obama’s mentors from his Chicago days studied at a school Alinsky founded, and they taught their students the philosophy and methods of one of the first “community organizers.” Ryan Lizza wrote a 6,500-word piece

    on Alinsky’s influence on Obama for The New Republic, noting, “On his campaign website, one can find a photo of Obama in a classroom teaching students Alinskian methods. He stands in front of a blackboard on which he has written ‘Relationships Built on Self Interest,’ an idea illustrated by a diagram of the flow of money from corporations to the mayor.”

    One of Alinsky’s first lessons is: “Radicals must have a degree of control over the flow of events.”..

    Alinsky wrote: “The moment one gets into the area of $25 million and above, let alone a billion, the listener is completely out of touch, …

    Much of this is explained by Alinsky’s epigram, “In the politics of human life, consistency is not a virtue.”

    Alinsky sneered at those who would accept defeat rather than break their principles: .. He assured his students that no one would remember their flip-flops, scoffing,…” If you win, no one really cares how you did it.

    .. Obama’s decision-making; an Alinskyite’s core principle is to take any action that expands his power and to avoid any action that risks his power.

    Alinsky’s influence goes well beyond Obama, obviously…Alinsky philosophy: Power comes first….. It’s about power, and it has been for a long time.

    Full article — Jim Geraghty writes the Campaign Spot for NRO
    http://article.nationalreview......kxOGYyYTE=

  16. BillK
    May 20, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    What a shock – China’s worried about U.S. Debt.

    Too bad our President isn’t.

    From our friends at Reuters:

    Wary of U.S. debt, China shifts gears on investment

    By Simon Rabinovitch

    BEIJING (Reuters) – China has engineered a subtle yet significant shift in the investment of its foreign exchange reserves, a sign of how it is willing to act on concerns about financing an explosion of U.S. debt.

    Beijing has been far and away the single biggest foreign buyer of Treasuries over the past year, but this apparent vote of confidence belies how it has turned its back on long-term U.S. debt in favor of shorter maturities.

    China’s move to the shorter end of the U.S. debt spectrum is a defensive tactic adopted by the wider market as well on the view that the United States will have to raise interest rates down the road to control inflationary pressures when the economy recovers from the financial crisis.

    But the shift also comes after pointed comments from Beijing expressing worries over the security of its U.S. investments and calls from Chinese government economists for a tough line with Washington in return for continued access to loans.

    “The United States is making policy decisions purely according to domestic considerations and is giving little thought to the outside world,” said Zhang Ming, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a leading think-tank.

    “This being so, the Chinese government should prepare its defenses,” he said. “We can keep buying U.S. debt but we have to attach some conditions.”

    But China’s leverage may be limited, despite sitting on the world’s largest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves at $2 trillion.

    The very surge in U.S. debt — the Treasury plans gross issuance this fiscal year of $8 trillion — means China’s heavy buying is increasingly looking like a drop, albeit a very big one, in the ocean. …

    http://www.reuters.com/article.....H620090519

    Once again we find that the leader in fmarket-based economic thinking these days is Communist China.

    • canary
      May 21, 2009 at 12:59 am

      Obama’s recent public complaining that China charges us interest didn’t help.
      Obama didn’t want to pay back school loans. I’m so glad China will pay ours.

  17. BillK
    May 20, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    No shock, number two from Reuters:

    GM bankruptcy plan eyes quick sale to gov’t

    By Chelsea Emery and Tom Hals

    NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) – General Motors Corp’s (GM.N) plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company’s healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

    The source, who would not be named because he was not cleared to speak with the media, did not specify a purchase price. The new company is expected to honor the claims of secured lenders, possibly in full, according to the source.

    The remaining assets of GM would stay in bankruptcy protection to satisfy other outstanding claims.

    GM has about $6 billion in secured debt, including a secured revolving credit and bank debt.

    The government’s plans include giving stakes in the new company to GM’s union and bondholders, although the ownership structure of the company is still being negotiated, said the source who is familiar with the company’s plans.

    In addition, the government would extend a credit line to the new company and forgive the bulk of the $15.4 billion in emergency loans that the U.S. has already provided to GM, the source said.

    The government has given GM until June 1 to restructure its operations to lower its debt burden and employee costs.

    If those talks failed, the company has said it would follow rival Chrysler LLC into bankruptcy. …

    http://www.reuters.com/article.....6Y20090519

    So that’s right, the Federal Government won’t even be a bankruptcy creditor, the $15.4 billion given to GM to date will simply be forgiven – GM won’t ever have to pay back a dime even if by some miracle Obama Motors turns a profit in the future.

  18. jobeth
    May 20, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    As hurricane season is nigh upon us, I found this story ironicallly interesting.

    One more area our god like (not) leader is sticking his finger into to “fix”. We all know what that means…more money for….everyone…. but the one who earned it.

    Obama Team Tightens Hurricane Response Plan
    President warns staff to be ready; officials also note residents’ roles

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30831971/

    “Obama also told the group that he would be very angry if, after a disaster, federal officials said they were unprepared or didn’t have a plan”

    Oooooh….don’t make our dictator angry! (((((( 00 )))))) !!! <<<< just me me shaking….

    Now this is rich coming from the ‘Dear Won’ Tell me again what his own plan was to empty Gitmo? Was he mad at himself?

    ” “There are a lot of folks that are going to need very specific help that should not have to compete with the rest of us who could have and should have done the things to protect our families,” said Craig Fugate, who only hours earlier was sworn in as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency”.

    Tranlate that to mean those folks that are too dumb to get the heck outta Dodge BEFORE the storm hits! So get ready for more N.O. type situations….meaning while the rest of us (as we always have done) board up our homes, remove what we can’t afford to lose and leave the area, the feds will be quicker on the scene to pluck the dumb and dumber off their roofs.

    So don’t any of you think YOU can get help when the more “needy” will take up all the help oxygen. Remember we must spread the wealth. Our wealth of course…

    Maybe what he means is the cities shouldn’t let whole fleets of buses should not be left to drown when they should have been in use collecting all the roof toppers BEFORE the storm… We can only hope.

    Odd those folks to the east of N.O. in Ala. who were hit directly, seemed to need less help than the crowd who lived in the soup bowl called New Orleans. Of course even N. O. may not have needed that much help if they didn’t have such a corrupt city and state gov. who redirected fed funds to rebuild their levees. But of course that must have been Bush’s fault…as always.

    Sorry, I don’t feel even the least little bit of compassion for those people in N.O. or anyone else who should use their brains to remove their sorry selves from the area before a storm hits. None…nadda!

    Insurance also goes a long way to provide the individual for long term needs. Fema and the feds should only be there to provide short term immediate needs…like water, food etc. And even then only AFTER the local governments call them in.

    Just can’t wait to see how many of us build those folks a new home who didn’t have insurance. Or as with Katrina provide free new mobile homes for years.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      May 20, 2009 at 4:08 pm

      Obama Team Tightens Hurricane Response Plan
      President warns staff to be ready; officials also note residents’ roles

      So what’s he gonna do now? Actually COMMAND a hurricane to happen?

      I am reminded of an episode of Star Trek where Captain Kirk gets bonked on the head and loses his memory…and then goes native. Everyone thinks he’s a god until he can’t command the obelisk to fend of the asteroid that’s coming. But for a minute there, he actually thought he could. Could that be our little barry? Gone into his own head and thinking he can do anything?

      Like ProReason says, I think there is a distinct possibility that he we may actually witness a president go virtually butso while in office or, at the very least, have a very significant tantrum.

  19. caligirl9
    May 20, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    I know TOTUS has thrown a boat load of $$$ into “hurricane research.”

    I know a young man who will be very much reaping the benefits, assessing the damage a hurricane does to the transportation system.

    He makes killer bucks. I wish my daughter would marry him LOL They’ve been friends for 10+ years …

    Oh and he’s conservative, but he’s happy to take TOTUS’ money if he’s going to throw it around like that. Better he gets it than some ACORN wackjob or an illegal …

    • jobeth
      May 20, 2009 at 6:47 pm

      “Oh and he’s conservative, but he’s happy to take TOTUS’ money ”

      It’s our money, not the TOTUS’ money, but since he’s a good conservative I can’t think of a more deserving recipient! :-D

      Besides…he will have earned what he gets…unlike the other types mentioned
      I’ll bet he’ll make better use of it,like taking your daughter out to dinner ; – >

      Like you said…if not him it will surly go to ACORN or the illegal. And they don’t earn it!

    • caligirl9
      May 20, 2009 at 7:00 pm

      He’s trying to talk my daughter into going to this weekend’s Bonnie and Clyde Festival … he’s got pre-hurricane season work in Florida this week, flying in a charter jet with some other transportation types.
      Really a good guy, but I guess the two know each other too well to have anything serious. Sad really; they’d make cute little lib-hating conservative babies (that would be 6th generation Repub on my daughter’s side).

  20. BillK
    May 21, 2009 at 1:53 am

    From an amused AP:

    Trebek Makes Bush Joke as Texas Teen Wins Geography Bee

    WASHINGTON — The nation’s top geography whiz breezed through questions about mountain ranges, rivers and world capitals Wednesday, but he was stumped when National Geographic Bee host Alex Trebek asked him to name one of his weaknesses.

    “Um …” said Eric Yang, 13, pausing. The Texas teen had just revealed to the “Jeopardy!” host how he crafts his own chess strategies and plays the piano.

    “That’s OK,” Trebek replied. “You remind me of a former president, but we won’t get into that.”

    Some in the audience at National Geographic’s headquarters in Washington gasped. Others laughed. But the joke was on Trebek by the end of the hour as Eric took home the top prize of a $25,000 college scholarship, beating out nine other boys in the finals without missing a single answer. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520894,00.html

    On the other hand, this could be interpreted as “a former president” also had difficulties naming a weakness.

    Still, it’s not at all surprising.

  21. BillK
    May 21, 2009 at 2:18 am

    Legitimate business activity now gets your business “exposed” by the media.

    From Denver’s KUSA Television:

    Trucking company avoids paying Colo. sales tax

    By Deborah Sherman

    DENVER – Records show one of Colorado’s largest trucking companies has been licensing most of its fleet out of state for 13 years to avoid paying Colorado sales taxes and emissions fees.

    The practice by Western Distributing Transportation Corp. has cost Colorado millions of dollars in sales tax during the state’s worst budget crisis in decades, according to a 9Wants to Know investigation.

    Whether or not this is against rules and regulations is still being determined.

    “If Colorado wants the business, they need to change the law and change it to a responsible fee and a bunch of us Colorado carriers would be glad to move it back to Colorado. But Colorado has priced themselves out of it,” said Dino Guadagni, vice president of Western Distributing.

    Western Distributing opened for business in 1933 and maintains a fleet of 235 trucks and 345 trailers at its headquarters on York Street in Denver. While the signs on the truck doors say Denver, Colorado, their license plates say Wyoming.

    Records show the company’s trucks drove 4.5 million miles on Colorado roads last year and 1.5 million miles in Wyoming.

    “What they’re saying to the state is that: ‘We want to take advantage of all of the amenities that you provide as the state of Colorado, we want to use your roadways, we want to have access to your emergency services without paying for it,’” said House Speaker Terrance Carroll (D-Denver). “That’s an insult to the all of the businesses that do what they have to do in Colorado.”

    Registration fees are going up for Coloradans, on average, $40 over the next three years to help pay for the state’s most structurally deficient roads and bridges. The reason for the increase is that there is a shortage of tax dollars available.

    Western Distributing says trucking regulations put forth by the International Registration Plan (IRP) allow them to license their vehicles in Wyoming. IRP requires companies have a real place of business in the state that they register vehicles, complete with a permanent employee, a building, and company records.

    On its Web site, the company says it has a second office in Wheatland, Wyoming. 9NEWS visited the location and found the office is inside an auto dealership also owned by Western Distributing. The office has a phone and a fax machine in front of an empty desk. Most of the company records are kept in Denver, according to U.S. Department of Transportation officials who audited the company in December.

    Chuck Ruwart, the president of Laramie Peak Motors in Wheatland, Wyoming, told 9NEWS he is also the plant manager for Western Distributing in Wheatland and answers about three or four calls a week for the company there.

    “We’re entitled to license wherever we want,” Guadagni said.

    On hidden camera, unidentified employees talked to reporters about why they have an office in Wyoming.

    “We own a car dealership in Wyoming. And we just license out of there to save on taxes,” said a manager.

    “They just have an office up there so we can license our trucks up there because it’s a whole lot cheaper,” said a truck driver. …

    http://www.9news.com/news/arti.....;catid=222

    So legally licensing your vehicles where taxes are cheaper is now a “crime” worthy of a hidden camera investigation by a television station.

    How dare they not pay Colorado taxes!

    As the story states:

    Whether or not this is against rules and regulations is still being determined.

    It’s just not fair that they followed the letter of the legislation! How dare they!

    That’s our money!!!

    They are doing everything the law requires them to.

    The article mentions:

    However, IRP officials in Wyoming and Colorado say that the company is breaking the spirit of the trucking regulation, if not the actual regulations themselves. Wyoming is conducting an audit of the company to see if it’s legally allowed to license its fleet in Wyoming.

    “It is absolutely not the intent of the IRP to allow somebody to go to a foreign jurisdiction and rent a little room and put a temporary employee… with a phone or a fax that is transferred to another location in another state,” said Jaki Berry, the IRP program manager for the Colorado Department of Revenue. “That is not the intent behind what we are doing.“

    “Spirit?” “Intent?”

    That means nothing as any lawyer would tell you; if that’s what they “meant,” they should have written the law differently.

    They didn’t.

    So a company that has not committed any crime is “exposed” because they’re violating the “spirit” of an agreement.

    Nice.

  22. canary
    May 21, 2009 at 2:31 am

    Senator Jim Inhofe (R) Reminds of the Dangers of the Fairness Doctrine. Article at bottom. Also, Inhofe exposes Carol Browner on news.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....annel_page

    May 20, 2009 Contacts: Matt Dempsey 202-224-9797 Elizabeth French 202-224-8260

    Recently, acting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Michael Copps asserted that the “Fairness” Doctrine is “long gone” and that “it’s not coming back,” and that those concerned about its re-imposition are “issue mongering” and “conspiracy theorists.” Yesterday, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell issued a statement in response to Copps’ statements, requesting that House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid allow a vote on the Broadcaster Freedom Act, legislation that would prohibit the FCC from reinstituting the Fairness Doctrine.

    Senator Inhofe commended Mr. Bozell’s request, saying, “We must not allow ourselves to believe that the Fairness Doctrine has gone away. The sheer number of Democrats who have recently called for the re-imposition of the Fairness Doctrine is proof positive that this remains at the forefront of their agenda. Furthermore, new proposals such as broadcast localism and diversity in media ownership requirements continue to threaten the First Amendment rights of broadcasters across our nation.”

    http://inhofe.senate.gov/publi.....08d719b99a

    • canary
      May 21, 2009 at 2:56 am

      Republican Senator Jim Inhofe speaks out we must keep Prisoners from U.S.

      There is no other option than to release or shoot them.

      After, a revengeful Obama chose Ft. Sill in Oklahoma as a possible place of release prisoners, knowing of Inhofes ongoing battle to stop the release and close of Gitmo prison. Two doctors for evey prisoner. Low cost to the U.S. of 4000 a year. Inhofe has led the way for 27 other states to adopt legislation, and also won battle to build monument of Ten Commandments, though citizens must pay for it.

      Watch Senator Inhofe tell it like it is.

      From the RealClearPolitics CNN vidio
      http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....oners.html

  23. BillK
    May 21, 2009 at 3:54 am

    Clueless star of the day – Michael Douglas.

    From the AP:

    Michael Douglas: No-nukes world would be good deal

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Greed is good. A world without nukes is better.

    Actor Michael Douglas, whose performance as the conniving Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street” won him an Oscar in 1987, spent part of Wednesday evening focused on a more critical cause – ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

    Douglas moderated a panel of Washington experts on the issue – former Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Sam Nunn, D-Ga., and Robert Gallucci, a former U.S. diplomat who was chief negotiator during the nuclear crisis with North Korea in 1994.

    Douglas questioned Hagel about whether the new Obama administration has provided a transformational opportunity for the world’s nuclear-armed nations to address the issue. He pressed Nunn on recent multinational conferences and his recent White House meeting with other former diplomats and President Barack Obama.

    Gallucci told the forum gathered at the Italian Embassy that recent discussions between the United States and Russia hold promise, but the threat of nuclear terrorism is a legitimate concern, given the unrest in Pakistan. …

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....EL_DOUGLAS

    Don’t get me wrong – the idea of a nuclear weapon-free world is lovely.

    But it’s not at all realistic.

    Say China, Russia and the US gave up theirs.

    North Korea, India, Pakistan and all too soon Iran will stand by and laugh hysterically.

    As will al Qaeda – not that our nukes would deter them – who would the US attack? – but nothing’s going to stop them from using a nuke as soon as they can get their hands on one.

  24. BillK
    May 21, 2009 at 6:48 am

    Good thing this dangerous practice has been stopped.

    From an appreciative AP:

    Pentagon reports no longer quote Bible

    The Pentagon said Monday it no longer includes a Bible quote on the cover page of daily intelligence briefings it sends to the White House as was practice during the Bush administration.

    Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he did not know how long the Worldwide Intelligence Update cover sheets quoted from the Bible. Air Force Maj. Gen. Glen Shaffer, who was responsible for including them, retired in August 2003, according to his biography.

    For a period in 2003, at least, the daily reports prepared for President George W. Bush carried quotes from the books of Psalms and Ephesians and the epistles of Peter. At the time, the reports focused largely on the war in Iraq.

    The Bible quotes apparently aimed to support Bush at a time when soldiers’ deaths in Iraq were on the rise, according to the June issue of GQ magazine. But they offended at least one Muslim analyst at the Pentagon and worried other employees that the passages were inappropriate. …

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....332D31.DTL

    Well, if one Muslim analyst was offended, we must put a stop to things immediately.

    Of course our friends on the left don’t recognize irony when they step into it:

    The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, on Monday said U.S. soldiers “are not Christian crusaders, and they ought not be depicted as such.”

    “Depicting the Iraq conflict as some sort of holy war is completely outrageous,” Lynn said in a statement. “It’s contrary to the constitutional separation of religion and government, and it’s tremendously damaging to America’s reputation in the world.”

    The irony being of course that it is a holy war – that’s what jihad means – just not on our side.

    But that’s beside the point – a Bible quote on the cover page somehow makes our soldiers into “Christian Crusaders” but yet we must go out of our way to avoid offending a Muslim.

    Got it.

  25. BillK
    May 21, 2009 at 6:56 am

    An interesting battle from the point of view of who’s against it.

    From the Madison, WI Capital Tmes:

    Wisconsin poised to become 1st state to mandate hearing implant coverage

    By Shawn Doherty

    The Legislature recently passed a bill that would make Wisconsin the first state in the country to require insurers to cover the costs of giving deaf children cochlear implants, but some members of the deaf community are waging a furious last-minute battle to try to persuade Gov. Jim Doyle to veto it this week.

    Deaf critics of the bill say that the implants are dangerous, expensive and a threat to their unique community’s identity, culture and sign languages, and nearly 500 have signed a petition asking Doyle not to sign it.

    Being deaf is not a medical disorder, and they do not need to be fixed, they say. “The notion that being deaf is an affliction and an abomination which alienates one from society and leaves (one) dependent and isolated is a myth,” the petition reads.

    Several of these critics and an interpreter were expected to show up at Doyle’s office Tuesday with the petition. “We really have to make a lot of noise, to let people know who we are,” said Darrell Roby, a Middleton landscaper and the president of the Madison Association of the Deaf, in an interview. “We want people to understand what deaf culture is about.”

    The bill has reignited a bitter divide within the deaf community over exactly what deaf culture is really about, however.

    It is a debate that first gained national attention with the 1986 release of the movie “Children of a Lesser God,” in which a hearing teacher, played by William Hurt, fell in love with a young deaf student, starring deaf actress Marlee Matlin, and tried to persuade her to learn oral language and join the hearing world. The conflict portrayed in that movie is at the heart of the dispute today over the Wisconsin bill.

    The mandate would require insurance companies to pay not only for children’s implants, but for their hearing aids and related treatments. The bill would affect only the third of Wisconsin’s population currently covered by private insurance. Self-funded insurance plans are not subject to the state law, and most public insurance plans already cover the devices. …

    http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/451696

    The arguments are just incredible:

    Yet the most powerful arguments made by those in the deaf community who oppose the bill are not economic. They are personal.

    Mat Fowler, a 32-year-old carpenter who lives in Rothschild, was the second child to receive a cochlear implant in Wisconsin way back in 1990, he said in a videophone interview. He was 14 and did not want the implant, but agreed to try it. “I wanted to prove my love for my parents,” he said. His parents are not deaf. Receiving the implant was a “culture shock,” Fowler said. Suddenly he felt tremendous pressure to succeed and communicate in entirely new ways. When he was 18, he said, he took the external part of the implant off. Just last year, he underwent surgery in Milwaukee to remove the internal portion. He and his wife, who is deaf, have three sons. All three can hear and are doing well. They are bilingual, able to communicate in both spoken and sign languages.

    Fowler says he opposes the bill, but can see the arguments on both sides.

    I can understand an adult making this decision, but parents making the decision that by hearing their kids might miss out on “deaf culture?”

    Of course this will raise insurance costs for Wisconsin residents exponentially, but that’s OK, Obama will fix all that…

  26. BillK
    May 21, 2009 at 7:04 am

    Another clueless union story, as reported in the (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal:

    Upset with outsourcing, union won’t give up raise

    By Jason Stein

    One major state workers union is saying “no thanks” to Gov. Jim Doyle’s call for them to give up a promised raise to help fill a gaping state budget hole.

    The workers won’t give up the 2 percent raise scheduled for June as long as the state continues to outsource additional work to contractors, said Bryan Kennedy, president of AFT-Wisconsin. The union has roughly 10,000 white-collar state workers including computer staff, public defenders and university teaching assistants.

    “As long as the state continues to contract out, we will not discuss giving back the pay increase,” said Kennedy, arguing that state workers are cheaper for taxpayers than contractors. “It’s a non starter.”

    Earlier this month, Doyle said he would rescind a pay raise for 9,500 non-union state workers to help fill a $1.6 billion hole in the state budget opened by falling tax collections and the struggling economy.

    If the state’s 38,600 union workers don’t agree to give back their pay raises as well, Doyle has said that he could seek the savings by laying off up to 400 of them. Those layoffs would come on top of up to 700 layoffs and 16 days of unpaid leave for state workers also being sought by Doyle to solve the budget gap. …

    http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/latest/451976

    So, give back your raise and you all keep your jobs, or keep it and 400 of you get fired.

    Of course the union would rather see the 400 fired.

    Par for the course.

  27. englishqueen01
    May 21, 2009 at 10:58 am

    From those lovers of everything (but religious freedom) at CNN.com:

    New Hampshire House opposes governor on same-sex marriage

    May 20, 2009

    (CNN) — New Hampshire’s move to become the most recent state to legalize same-sex marriage hit a bump Wednesday, after the state House of Representatives failed to agree to changes made by the governor.

    The House and Senate have approved allowing gay couples to marry.

    But Gov. John Lynch, a three-term Democrat, said last week he would sign a same-sex marriage bill only if it provides “the strongest and clearest protections for religious institutions and associations, and for the individuals working with such institutions.”

    Lynch said any such measure needs to “make clear that [clergy and other religious officials] cannot be forced to act in ways that violate their deeply held religious principles.”

    The House on Wednesday fell two votes short of approving Lynch’s language, 186-188.

    The chamber then voted to send the legislation to a committee to be considered further.

    The language would specify that religious organizations can decline to take part in any marriage ceremony without incurring fines or risking lawsuits.

    Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITI.....index.html

    And here’s a telling response as to why the governor’s additions were so opposed:

    State Representative Steve Vaillancourt, a gay Republican from Manchester, was a leading voice against the amendment securing religious liberties, saying that the House should not be “bullied” by the governor.

    Vaillancourt said an earlier bill that did not provide protections to clerics or religious groups was the one that should have been passed, adding that the amended bill would allow discrimination to be written into state law.

    Source: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/287557.php

    So now it’s “discriminatory” to protect religious institutions from being harassed, sued, or forced to perform “marriages” contrary to their beliefs. But it’s not discriminatory to thwart the First Amendment rights of such persons or groups.

    Further proof that the gay-marriage movement is not about equality, but about forcing groups – especially and specifically religious groups – to violate their beliefs in the name of political correctness and “tolerance.”

  28. canary
    May 22, 2009 at 2:50 am

    Obama: 50 Gitmo detainees cleared for transfer
    Associated Press By Associated Press Writer Lara Jakes

    WASHINGTON – Forty-eight terror suspects currently held at Guantanamo Bay are waiting to be released to other nations, the Obama administration said Thursday.

    In a speech defending his plans to close the detention facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba by early next year, Obama described the 50 detainees as prisoners who “can be transferred safely to another country.”

    The government has been negotiating with nations like Yemen and Saudi Arabia for months to deal with some of the detainees. Obama is seeking to place up to an estimated 100 Yemeni detainees in Saudi rehabilitation programs.

    … Many nations, however, are reluctant to take detainees who remain at Guantanamo because they are seen as higher security risks than those who were cleared earlier.

    And the U.S. is leery about transferring many detainees to other nations, like Yemen, where they may be released despite the threat they may pose.

    The two detainees who have been transferred to other nations since January are:
    _Ethiopian national Binyam Mohammed, a former resident of Great Britain,…was sent back to Britain in February…

    _Lakhdar Boumediene, an Algerian, was sent to France earlier this month…. Boumediene’s whose landmark 2008 Supreme Court case gave the Guantanamo detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200....._detainees

  29. canary
    May 22, 2009 at 4:30 am

    If guns are good for Obamas teen’s, they are good enough for ours.

    FoxNews excerpt from Newsweek
    Obama Says Security, Spotlight Will Complicate Daughters’ Dating Lives
    President Obama told Newsweek magazine that dating might be an issue for his two daughters “because I have men with guns surrounding them at all times.”

    President Obama says he doesn’t worry about daughters Malia and Sasha because they are “happy, normal kids” despite living in the public eye. But wait until they become teenagers and start dating.

    “Now, I worry about them when they’re teenagers where, you know, you’re already embarrassed about your parents and even more embarrassed on TV all the time,” Obama told Newsweek magazine. “And dating I think will be an issue because I have men with guns surrounding them at all times, which I’m perfectly happy with, but they may feel differently about it.”

    Malia is 10; Sasha is 7.

    Asked whether he had spoken with any former presidents or celebrities about raising young children in the spotlight, Obama gave a roundabout answer.

    “The truth of the matter is that the campaign was the equivalent of me being the frog in the saucepan of water and the temperature slowly being turned up,” the president said. “By the time the inauguration had taken place, we had pretty much gotten accustomed to it.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ing-lives/

    • JohnMG
      May 22, 2009 at 7:39 am

      OK. One of them will be 14 and the other 11 by the time he is hopefully turned out to pasture. If he’s so anxious to have them start dating he might find them punished with a baby.

  30. DW
    May 22, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    From the Canadian Press

    ‘Toronto 18′ member gets 2.5-year sentence

    By Maria Babbage, THE CANADIAN PRESS

    BRAMPTON, Ont. – A man convicted of terrorist offences following the high-profile takedown of a homegrown terror cell bent on wreaking havoc in Canada was sentenced Friday to 2 1/2 years in prison and walked free just hours later based on time already served.

    The man, who cannot be named, was the first member of the so-called Toronto 18 found guilty in the plot, though his lawyer said his role was minimal at best.

    “He’s somebody who’s essentially found guilty of shoplifting, somebody who went to a second (training) camp that was essentially benign,” Mitchell Chernovsky said outside the court.

    “He’s somebody who’s young, has no prior record, has a positive pre-sentence report.

    “Maximum sentence for the offence is only 10 years.”

    Story:
    http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Ca.....31-cp.html

    …sigh

  31. DW
    May 22, 2009 at 8:37 pm

    Check out these poster children for abortion, from the AP:

    Police: Pregnant teen beaten to force miscarriage

    By The Associated Press

    NAPLES, Utah (AP) — A man in Utah beat a pregnant teenager who asked him to do so in an effort to induce a miscarriage, police said Friday.

    Arron N. Harrison, 21, was jailed in lieu of $10,000 bail for allegedly beating a 17-year-old girl whose name authorities haven’t released. She is also in custody.

    “I haven’t decided who’s more at fault,” Mark Watkins, police chief of Naples, 130 miles east of Salt Lake City, told The Associated Press. “She was just as cold as the assailant — we’re not going to treat her as a victim.”

    Uintah County deputy attorney Mark Thomas said he plans to file a second-degree felony charge of attempted homicide against Harrison on Friday. Harrison is expected to appear in court Tuesday and faces one to 15 years in prison if convicted.

    Harrison pummeled the girl’s abdomen in an effort to cause a miscarriage, Watkins said.

    “Her intention was, in fact, to abort the child — to terminate the pregnancy,” he said.

    The six-month-old fetus survived, but doctors won’t know for certain what injuries it may have sustained until it is born.

    Story:
    http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Wo.....41-ap.html

    So tell me again what Roe vs Wade is supposed to prevent…?

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