PLO: "Hamas had turned mosques into detention centers for interrogating and torturing Fatah activists."

JPOST:

Over the weekend, a number of top Fatah and Palestinian Authority representatives reiterated allegations that Hamas was stealing aid from convoys that are being dispatched to the Gaza Strip. They also accused Hamas of escalating its massive crackdown on Fatah by continuing to shoot members of the faction in the legs.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and close adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, claimed that Hamas had turned mosques into detention centers for interrogating and torturing Fatah activists.

WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE?

WHY DON'T BILL MOYERS AND CODE PINK AND THE ACLU PROTEST?

BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT FOR PEACE; THEY'RE ON THE OTHER SIDE.

AND THE OTHER SIDE IS EVIL.

ALSO IN THIS ARTICLE:

Scoffing at Hamas's claim that it emerged victorious from the war in the Gaza Strip, a prominent Palestinian academic and writer called on the Islamist movement to learn from the Israelis and form a Palestinian "Winograd Committee" to examine the group's performance.

"We want Hamas to form a Gazan Winograd," wrote Ahmed Abu Matar, referring to the commission that examined the government and IDF performance during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

"We want this commission of inquiry to be as brave and daring as the Israeli one," he wrote, in an article published on a number of Fatah-run media outlets. "We want the commission to tell us whether we have achieved a new divine victory or have added another defeat to our record."

The academic's remarks are seen in the context of a fierce war of words between Hamas and Fatah, which intensified after the military offensive ended.

THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN. BUT IT'S NICE THAT AN ARAB PALESTINIAN ASKED FOR IT; IT SHOWS THAT REALITY IS SLOWLY CREEPING IN...

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHAT'S THE QUICKEST AND FAIREST STIMULUS OF ALL? AN ACROSS THE BOARD TAX CUT

Instead of big bailouts to favored corporations...

Instead of big porkbarrel projects that will take years to start and complete...

We should just cut everyone's taxes.

Every taxpayer - personal and corporate - should get a 50% tax cut starting at once, and running until the recession ends.

Instead of doubling the federal deficit by financing PORKBARREL PROJECTS and CORPORATE BAILOUTS, we can double the deficit by letting people and businesses KEEP MORE OF THEIR OWN MONEY.

EVERYONE WOULD KEEP MORE OF THEIR OWN MONEY TO DO WITH AS THEY PLEASE: SAVE; SPEND; PAY DOWN DEBT - WHATEVER.

Instead of the politicians selecting which few of several corporations would get direct benefits and a few HUGE WINDFALLS, every company would get a equal windfall.

Instead of some taxpayers getting cuts and others none, while some non-taxpayers get added benefits, IT WOULD BE FAIRER TO GIVE ALL TAXPAYERS A BREAK.

The current Congressional "stimulus" package IS nothing more than PORKBARREL PROJECTS and CORPORATE BAILOUTS - AND MOST IF NOT ALL WILL GO TO THE CORPORATIONS WHO LOBBY FOR IT.

PJM:

Small Business to Get Short Shrift from Obama Administration

As the Ford Motor Company prepares to cash its first multi-billion dollar corporate welfare check and hand part of it over to the union, it’s easy to forget that almost exactly a century ago, this multi-billion dollar behemoth with 240,000 employees was just another young small business with big dreams about to launch its next product.

While many small businesses fail, including Henry Ford’s first two attempts, a precious few survive, thrive, and then change the world, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. Just about all of the great American companies were once mere dreams in the mind of an entrepreneur. Microsoft, Apple, Intel, McDonald’s, and WalMart are but a few examples.

The ability to start a small business and grow it into a much larger enterprise is the greatest wealth creation opportunity in America. Studies have shown that 2/3 of all millionaires are small business owners. Entrepreneurs and their children and grandchildren make up almost the entire Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.

If small businesses are the economic engine that creates jobs, builds wealth, and makes the American dream possible, then naturally our new president plans to support and rely upon them and give them everything they need to pull us out of the economic slump, right? Well, no.

Small businesses are facing the most hostile climate in a generation, and it is not just the slumping economy and credit crunch. With the quiet scrapping of the $3,000 job creation tax credit — which was “never set in stone” according to a senior Obama adviser – there is no more small business tax relief on the horizon. (Clearly, campaign pledges are only valid if chiseled into tablets, Ten Commandments-style.)

Instead, American small businesses face not only tax increases on individual income, dividend income, and capital gains as the 2003 tax cuts expire, but new environmental fees and regulations, health care “pay or play” mandates, and a significant expansion of new “rights” for workers that may well include compulsory unionization. The entrepreneurs we are counting on for future economic growth have only higher expenses and reduced flexibility and opportunities to look forward to.

Still, that’s no problem because small businesses can just send their CEOs and lobbyists to Washington D.C., by private plane to pick up their bailout checks, right? No, instead they can only watch on C-SPAN as their bloated and well-connected competitors cash in their political favors.

If you think that's fair, then by all means support it.

But if you see it for what it is: just more of the same crap that got us in this mess, then you should call your congressman and PROTEST. DEMAND AN ACROSS THE BOARD TAX CUT OR AT LEAST A TAX HOLIDAY.

We stopped Hillarycare.

We stopped Amnesty.

We can stop the Stimulus Package.

YES, WE CAN!

QADDAFI's SURPRISING ADMISSIONS

The New Duranty Times invited Muammar Qaddafi to write an op-ed on Israel and the Arabs. It was no surprise to read that he advocates dissolving the Jewish State by returning it to the Arabs. He thinks that Israel should be replaced by a new country to be called "Isratine."

But that's old hat. What did you expect he would say?

What I thought was more interesting were several of the points he made on the way to his stated conclusion. Did you ever think a Muslim Arab leader would admit this:

The Jewish people want and deserve their homeland.

Not "a homeland." Their homeland.
What about this:

A two-state solution will create an unacceptable security threat to Israel. An armed Arab state, presumably in the West Bank, would give Israel less than 10 miles of strategic depth at its narrowest point.

That's Qaddafi, not Netanyahu. And what about this:

It is important to note that the Jews did not forcibly expel Palestinians. They were never “un-welcomed.”

The Muslim leader of an Arab State actually admits the truth!

There are more than one million Muslim Arabs in Israel; they possess Israeli nationality and take part in political life with the Jews, forming political parties.

In fact, the Muslim Arabs have more civil rights in Israel than they do in any Arab country.

Qaddafi's conclusion is erroneous. A three-state solution would make more sense.

NEVER FORGET: OBAMA OUTSPENT MCCAIN BY 8-TO-1

• OBAMA IS OBNOXIOUSLY TRUMPETING THE FACT THAT HE WON.

• WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET THAT HE OUTSPENT MCCAIN BY 8-1 - AND DID SO AFTER RENEGING ON A PROMISE TO PUBLICLY FIANCE HIS CAMPAIGN.

• AND HE STILL MIGHT NOT HAVE WON HAD THE FINANCIAL MELTDOWN NOT OCCURRED EXACTLY WHEN IT DID.

• THAT'S WHY - WHEN CONFRONTED BY THE OBAMESSIAH'S OBNOXIOUSNESS - WE MUST NEVER BACK DOWN.

• AMERICANS DON'T WANT SOCIALISM.
• AMERICANS DON'T WANT RACIAL PREFERENCES.
• AMERICANS DON'T WANT WASTEFUL PORK.
• AMERICANS DON'T WANT POLITICALLY CONNECTED PEOPLE TO GET BREAKS FROM POLITICIANS.

• WE CAN DEFEAT HIS "STIMULUS" PACKAGE THE WAY WE DEFEATED HILLARYCARE AND AMNESTY.

YES, WE CAN.

FOR OBAMA'S SUPPORTERS, ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH

Excerpt from this article in the local section of the January 24, 2009 edition of the Washington Post:

Shut-Out Ticket Holders Plan Inauguration Replay

Barack Obama got a do over of his oath of office. Now, a campaign staff member who was shut out of the original ceremony is planning a do over of his own.

Gabe Cohen, 29, who spent 20 months campaigning, has sent notice to friends and Obama supporters that he will lead a swearing-in viewing event near the U.S. Capitol today at noon. They will watch on laptops and listen on iPods, he said....

Obama supporters are cultists, basking in the light of "The One." Our Founders are turning in their graves.

COOL: Frizions: Making art from ice and polarised light

These images are frizions. They were all created by NASA scientist Peter Wasilewski. A selection of frizions is currently on display at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau, Alaska.'

Next

OBAMA PROVES THAT THE "POST-PARTISAN" MANTLE WAS PURE BULLSHIT BY TELLING CONGRESSIONAL GOP: "I WON!"

"OBAMA - THE POST-PARTISAN CANDIDATE": BIGGEST LIE EVER.

RELEASED GUANTANAMO PRISONERS NO PROBLEM FOR USA?

Just read a report that Said Ali al-Shihri, a former Gitmo prisoner , turned over to and subsequently released by the Saudi's in 2007 directed the attack on the US embassy in Yemen in 2008. He is currently 2nd in command for al Qaeda in Yemen. That's a pretty good work-release program. Perhaps President Obama should get some tips from al Qaeda on how he can create productive jobs for millions of america's unemployed...

THIS WEEK ON THE GATHERING STORM RADIO SHOW

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Our guest at the bottom of the first hour is blogger The Merry Widow.

Our guest for the second hour is Nonie Darwish.

Nonie Darwish, formerly a Muslim and now a Christian, is the author of Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror and Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Sharia Law, and the founder of Arabs for Israel. Her bio is HERE.

Listen to the January 23, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
January 30: Bill Warner
February 6: Gordon Cucullu and Z
February 13: Ilana Freedman and Ayaan Hirsi Ali
February 20: Cinnamon Stillwell and Yid With Lid
February 27: Chaim and Elisabeth of Austria
March 6: Mohammed Abdul

Obama Urges Israel To Open Gaza Border And Allow International Community To Police It

How about if Obama opens the White House front door, and allows the international community to police that?

This is absolutely ridiculous. Does Israel not have the right to police their borders the way they want to? Is Obama going to dictate to any other country how they ought to police their borders?

And, if not, then why Israel? What is his real purpose here?

From the Financial Times:

President Barack Obama urged Israel on Thursday to open its borders with Gaza.

The plea came in a speech that signalled the new US administration’s shift from Bush-era policy on the Middle East and the world as a whole. In a high-profile address on his second day in office, just hours after he signed an executive order to close the centre at Guantánamo Bay, Mr Obama proclaimed that the US would “actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians” in the wake of this month’s Gaza war.

“The outline for a durable ceasefire is clear: Hamas must end its rocket fire: Israel will complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza: the US and our partners will support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime, so that Hamas cannot re-arm,” the US president said.

“As part of a lasting ceasefire, Gaza’s border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce, with an appropriate monitoring regime, with the international and Palestinian Authority participating.”

Here's another question for Obama.

Gaza has a border with Egypt. Why does he not set opening that border as his first priority?

Why is it that the Palestinians are so dependent on the Israelis?

Let Egypt and the rest of the Arab world trade with them.

HATRED IS BLIND. EVIL ISN'T.

These past 8 years have been imbued with so much hate. The Bush administration has been accused of using hate - and fear - of muslims terrorists to promote it's program of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's attack on human rights at home. But who are the real haters? Nowhere do I see more blind hatred than in the comments on Facebook, in the press, and on the street by people who are "so glad to see Bush go..." I believe this hate leads to a moral blindness - just like the blindspot we all have and do not see - these haters do not see their own moral blindness. A norwegian diplomat who compares the shortlived Israeli invasion of Gaza with the horrendous acts of the Nazi's is morally blind.

Hatred between democrats and republicans has made Congress disfunctional. Hatred has made the massmedia disfunctional. If americans disposed of their petty hatreds they might see who the real victims of hatred are.

When Obama's through dismantling the controversial defenses the Bush administration erected to protect Americans from terror we will see that there still exist millions of people who hate the West, particularly America and Israel. Yet their hatred is not morally blind - as it is directed by some of their religious leaders it is in fact EVIL.

DESPITE DENIALS, ANOTHER H2H BIRD FLU DEATH IN CHINA

RECOMBINOMICS.

IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME....

OBAMA IS AGGRESSIVELY MOVING TO MAKE US LESS SAFE: CLOSING CIA'S "BLACK SITES"

WASH TIMES: EXCLUSIVE: Obama to close terrorist 'black sites'

President Obama on Thursday will order the closure of so-called black sites, where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects, under executive orders dismantling much of the Bush admistration's architecture for the war on terror, according to four individuals familiar with a draft executive order.

Mr. Obama will shutter "all permanant detention facilities overseas," the draft said, according to the individuals who asked not to be named because the orders have not yet been signed. There are at least eight such prisons, according to published reports. The Bush administration never revealed the number or location of the facilities, although several were said to be in Eastern Europe.

THIS IS EXPECTED NEWS, BUT STILL HORRIFYING.

• FIRST HE SAID HE'S CLOSING GITMO.
• THEN SUSPENDING TRIALS FOR GITMO DETAINEES.
• AND NOW THIS.

• OBAMA IS HASTILY REDUCING OUR CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY TO GET INTELLIGENCE ABOUT THE ENEMY AND FROM THE ENEMY.

• WE HAVE BECOME INSTANTLY LESS SAFE BECAUSE THESE ACTIONS ENHEARTEN AND EMBOLDEN THE ENEMY.

BUSH KEPT US SAFE FOR SEVEN YEARS.

OBAMA IS IN OFFICE ONE DAY AND WE'RE ALREADY LESS SAFE.

IF WE ARE ATTACKED IT IS ENTIRELY OBAMA'S FAULT.

Porkapalooza: The trillion dollar phony stimulus package

As Democrats prepare a trillion dollar so-called stimulus package, it's worth reviewing the last time the Feds used a Politburo-style, centralized planning model for reviving the economy.

History has a lesson for those who [would use] government spending to "stimulate" the economy and create jobs. During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs never drove unemployment lower than 20 percent. The jobless rate actually climbed during the second phase.

The onset of World War II, not government spending, prompted America's economic [resurgence].

Furthermore, we know in advance precisely what more government spending in the proposed sectors will do. We have California -- now bankrupt -- as an example of what occurs when unchecked Democrat control allows liberal special interests to run wild:

• Expensive and overly onerous emissions standards, implemented at the behest of the environmental no-growth socialists

• Ridiculously expensive workers compensation and other healthcare mandates including more red tape for Doctors, horrific expenses and regulations for employers, undermining of private health insurance, and denial of individuals' right to self-insure.

• Subsidies and freebies for illegal aliens.

• Out-of-control growth in social programs aimed at corralling special interests.

Gee, with all of these programs, "progressive taxes" and regulations, shouldn't California be a liberal utopia?

Hardly. It's bankrupt. It's a Califailure.

California has effectively eradicated small business and free enterprise. It now suffers from the third-highest unemployment rate in the land as it exacts an immense stack of regulations, taxes and paperwork on all businesses.

And let me repeat: California is bankrupt. Not only will its tax refunds be delayed, welfare checks and student grants will also be held indefinitely.

Why is the situation worse in California than in neighboring states? Because it has an oppressive regulatory regime and a burdensome tax structure that penalizes individual success and drives businesses out of the state. Writing in the San Francisco Examiner in 2006, Adam Summers observed:

Apple is hardly the first business to leave California for "greener" pastures. Numerous surveys in recent years have revealed that many California companies are moving to other states because of the high costs of taxes and regulations. According to the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, 37 businesses left California in favor of Nevada in 2004, at least in part because of the favorable business climate....


...Small business owners are particularly hard hit by California taxation. According to the California Taxpayers' Association, the richest 10 percent of earners pay almost 75 percent of the entire income tax revenue in the state, and most of these are small-business owners. Thus, under California's backward tax policy, the very entrepreneurs responsible for economic growth and prosperity are being punished the most severely.

You would think that with the utter failure of the New Deal and the recent government-sponsored disasters in California, the one trillion dollar phony stimulus proposal would be laughed out of the Beltway in favor of tax cuts.

Real tax cuts, not welfare programs, which are statistically proven to increase single-parent families, crime and economic misery.

But, no. Democrats have proposed the twelve days of a lobbyist's Christmas:

1. The House Democrats' bill will cost each and every household $6,700 additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.

2. The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.

3. President-elect Obama has said that his proposed stimulus legislation will create or save three million jobs. This means that this legislation will spend about $275,000 per job. The average household income in the U.S. is $50,000 a year.

4. The House Democrats' bill provides enough spending - $825 billion - to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700.

5. $825 billion is enough to give every person living in poverty in the U.S. $22,000.

6. $825 billion is enough to give every person in Ohio $72,000.

7. Although the House Democrats' proposal has been billed as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, in actuality only $30 billion of the bill - or three percent - is for road and highway spending. A recent study from the Congressional Budget Office said that only 25 percent of infrastructure dollars can be spent in the first year, making the one year total less than $7 billion for infrastructure.

8. Much of the funding within the House Democrats' proposal will go to programs that already have large, unexpended balances. For example, the bill provides $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which already have $16 billion on hand. And, this year, Congress has plans to rescind $9 billion in highway funding that the states have not yet used.

9. In 1993, the unemployment rate was virtually the same as the rate today (around seven percent). Yet, then-President Clinton's proposed stimulus legislation ONLY contained $16 billion in spending.

10. Here are just a few of the programs and projects that have been included in the House Democrats' proposal:

· $650 million for digital TV coupons.
· $6 billion for colleges/universities - many which have billion dollar endowments.
· $166 billion in direct aid to states - many of which have failed to budget wisely. [Can you say 'Taxation without representation?]
· $50 million in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts.
· $44 million for repairs to U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters.
· $200 million for the National Mall, including grass planting.
· $400 million for "National Treasures."

11. Almost one-third of the so called tax relief in the House Democrats' bill is spending in disguise, meaning that true tax relief makes up only 24 percent of the total package - not the 40 percent that President-elect Obama had requested.

12. $825 billion is just the beginning - many Capitol Hill Democrats want to spend even more taxpayer dollars on their "stimulus" plan.

It's the loopiest boondoggle since FDR's "New Deal" failures.

There's only one thing that works and it's been proven over and over and over again.

TAX CUTS
And as for you, RINOs and Blue Dog Democrats? We're watching you. And we'll be coming after you in the next election cycle if you vote with failures like Pelosi, Reid, and Obama, none of whom have ever created a real job in their entire lives.

OBAMA'S SOCIALIST AGENDA MUST BE STOPPED

MARK LEVIN: YOU MUST AT LEAST LISTEN TO THE FIRST 30 MINUTES.

"NEW MAJORITY": THE MISGUIDED EFFORT OF DAVID FRUM

FRUM THINKS THR GOP NEEDS TO REFORM:

Our goal here at NewMajority.com is to renew and reform our Republican party and the conservative philosophy - so that we can again earn the confidence of the American people and govern responsibly and effectively.

WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

THE GOP LOST BECAUSE:

1 - IT DIDN'T NOMINATE A CONSERVATIVE; IT NOMINATED A "CENTRIST".
2 - IT WAS OUTSPENT 8-1 BECAUSE OBAMA LIED AND OPTED OUT OF MCCAIN-FEINGOLD.
3 - THE STOCK MARKET CRASHED.
4 - WE WON IN IRAQ - SO IT WENT OFF THE FRONT PAGES.
5 - THE MSM WAS TOTALLY IN THE TANK FOR OBAMA, VIRTUALLY TELE-FELLATING HIM.

THEREFORE: ALL THE GOP HAS TO DO TO WIN IS NOMINATE A REAL CONSERVATIVE - LIKE MITT OR DEMINT OR CORNYN OR INHOFE OR NEWT OR PALIN.

• CONSERVATIVE PHILOSOPHY IS FINE - BASED ON PRINCIPLES AND OPEN TO DEBATE ON POLICY.

• CONSERVATIVES JUST NEED TO STICK TO PRINCIPLES AND FIGHT FOR GOP CANDIDATES WHO WILL STAND FOR THOSE PRINCIPLES.

ONE WAY TO GUARANTEE A CONSERVATIVE IS NOMINATED IS TO MAKE SURE ALL GOP PRIMARIES ARE OPEN ONLY TO VOTERS REGISTERED AS GOP.

(MCCAIN WON NEW HAMPSHIRE AND FLORIDA BECAUSE DEMOCRATS VOTED FOR HIM, NOT REPUBLICANS.)

DUMBAMA DON'T TALK TOO PRETTY

DRUDGE:"All right." Obama said. "The bad news for the pool is there's 12 more balls."

At 735 pm, Roberts administered the oath of office again to Obama in the map room. Robert Gibbs said the WH counsel, Greg Craig, believes the oath was fine Tuesday, but one word was out of sequence so they did this out of a "an abundance of caution." "We decided it was so much fun..." Obama joked while sitting on a couch. Obama stood and walked over to make small talk with pool as Roberts donned his black robe. "Are you ready to take the oath?" Roberts asked. "I am, and we're going to do it very slowly," Obama replied. Oath took 25 seconds. After a flawless recitation, Roberts smiled and said, "congratulations, again." Obama said, "thank you, sir." Smattering of applause. "All right." Obama said. "The bad news for the pool is there's 12 more balls."

THAT SHOULD BE, "THERE ARE 12 MORE BALLS", NOT "IS 12 MORE".

• OBAMA IS AN IDIOT.

• HE SAID THE USA HAS 57 STATES. WRONG. HE SAID 44 MEN HAVE TAKEN THE OATH OF OFFICE. WRONG. AND SAYING "IS 12 BALLS" IS WRONG TOO.

• IDIOT.

IS ANYONE KEEPING TRACK OF THESE OBAMAISMS!? NOT IN THE MSM THAT'S FOR SURE!

• THE MSM IS TOO BUSY TELE-FELLATING OBAMA TO NOTICE, I GUESS.

• FACTS: REAGAN HAD BETTER TV RATINGS IN 1981, AND AND LBJ DREW A BIGGER CROWD IN 1965.

• OBAMA IS NOT ALL HE'S CRACKED UP TO BE,

• AND IT WILL SHOW MORE AND MORE EVERYDAY.

NASA ECO-ALARMISTS BEGIN HEDGING THEIR BETS: PUBLICLY ADMITTING GLOBAL WARMING IS AT LEAST PART NATURAL

BBC:

... trends across the bulk of the continent [of Antartica] have been much harder to discern, mainly because data from land stations is scarce.

It is somewhat insulated from the rest of the world's weather systems by winds and ocean currents that circulate around the perimeter. In the new analysis, a team of US scientists combined data from land stations with satellite readings

"We have at least 25 years of data from satellites, and satellites have the huge advantage that they can see the whole continent," said Eric Steig from the University of Washington in Seattle.

"But the [land] stations have the advantage that they go back much further in time.

"So we combined the two; and what we found, in a nutshell, is that there is warming across the whole continent, it's stronger in winter and spring but it is there in all seasons."

They conclude that the eastern region of the continent, which is larger and colder than the western portion, is warming at 0.1C per decade, and the west at 0.17C per decade - faster than the global average.

... The scientists said this study did not change that picture, with natural climatic cycles probably involved as well as elevated greenhouse gas concentrations.

"It's hard to think of any situation where increased greenhouse gases would not lead to warming in Antarctica," said Drew Shindell from Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss) in New York.

"We're almost certain that greenhouse gas increases are contributing to this warming, but what's difficult is to attribute this warming and so say how much is down to natural warming and how much down to anthropogenic causes."

IOW: GORE IS FUCKING LYING WHEN HE SAYS THERE'S A CONSENSUS GLOBAL-WARMING IS MAN-MADE.

• PREDICTION: BY THIS TIME NEXT YEAR THEY WILL BE FORCED TO ADMIT THAT GLOBAL-WARMING IS ALMOST ALL NATURAL AND NEARLY ALL OVER.

• I HOPE OBAMA'S "GREEN BOONDOGGLE" CAN BE UNDONE, AND THAT IT HASN'T DONE FURTHER DAMAGE TO THE GLOBAL ECONOMY!
  

UPDATED -- Are we allowed to question the "Will of Landru"?

One of the better Star Trek episodes from the early days dealt with a fictitious planet where the inhabitants either had to follow the will of their "Dear Leader"--in this case named Landru--or else to be "absorbed" (lose one's identity to a "collective mind"). In a sense, it was an early parallel to what later evolved into "the Borg".

Maybe the day when we are required to be within the "Body of Landru" (or else...) is not as far off in the future as the producers of Star Trek surmised.

One wonders--given the tone of yesterday's Inaugural address and the "follow the pied piper" vibe which seems to be suddenly virulent in our culture--whether the collective energy of "hope" that President Obama will be successful has not engendered willful blindness in many ordinary Americans.

Sure I can understand it--we have been here before. Take the 1930's: Economy in the tank. Not a lot of hope on the horizon. Trouble spots in the world. And people looking for someone, anyone want to put their faith in. In Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union men stepped forward to fill that "role".

So how did that work out?

Yet despite a long sordid history of what can (and inevitably does) happen when the masses put too much of their hope and faith into one figurehead, our irresponsible news media seems bound and determined to transform a two term State Senator with no executive experience into God Almighty himself. Hell the guy hasn't even raised a finger yet and yesterday Brokaw was comparing him to Vaclev Havel! Perhaps they should wait until he actually does something besides showing up for a speech.

Thus I spent much of the day yesterday in stark horror--not necessarily because of anything Obama said or did not say--but because of the sheer over-the-top hubris, exaltation and sickening glorification emanating from the televised media yesterday; their fawning went well beyond cheerleading to the point of idolatry. Allow me to be the first to coin a term for the psychological affliction which seems to be spreading amongst long-suffering BDS victims: let's call it ODS--Obama Deification Syndrome.

Meanwhile, (in just one day!) objectivity, criticism and dissent seem to have become so....passé:

Do all Americans truly have a yearning to fundamentally "remake" our nation? There must be a subversive minority out there that still believes the United States — even with its imperfections and sporadic recessions — is, in context, still a wildly prosperous and free country worth preserving.

Some of you must still believe that politicians are meant to serve rather than be worshiped. And there must be someone out there who considers partisanship a healthy, organic reflection of our differences rather than something to be surrendered in the name of so- called unity — which is, after all, untenable, subjective and utterly counterproductive.

How about those who praised dissent for the past eight years?

Is there anyone who still believes the Constitution was created to ensure each citizen liberty and the ability to pursue happiness rather than a guarantee of happiness — and a retirement fund, health care, a job, an education, a house ... ?

Yes, two important historical events transpired Tuesday: The first was the peaceful transfer of power from one freely elected politician to another (an uninterrupted streak we often take for granted). Then there was the first presidency of an African-American, which proves we can transcend our unsightly past.

After that, what we had was just another election. We conduct one every four years. For those of you not shouting hosannas, it might have occurred to you that we are suffering from a rampant sickness in American life that casts government as the author of your dreams and an Illinois politician the linchpin of your hopes.

Read the whole thing. (h/t Glenn Reynolds)

Yesterday Obama in his speech almost seemed to be suggesting that there can only be one point of view, one theory of economics, one faith in the ability of government to solve problems. The time for disagreement must now yield to lock-step conformity. And then the media uttered its collective Hallelujah.

Haven't we been here before? Is there not anyone left who lived through the 30's and 40's?

If allowed to run unchecked; if people don't start to get a grip on reality soon, this is the kind of collective insanity that can quickly lead to tyranny. Of course I too want the country to move forward, but not with blinders on. And what I saw yesterday was truly Orwellian.

Welcome to the "Body of Landru"; Beam me up Scotty.

UPDATE: With that said, David Horowitz does manage to find a few rays of sunshine in all this idolatry (emphasis mine):

All over the country Americans have invested their hopes in Obama's ability to pull his country together to face its challenges. Among these Americans are millions -- most likely tens of millions -- who have never identified with their government before, who felt "outside" the system they regarded as run by elites, who ascribed its economic troubles to the greedy rich, who bought the Jackson-Sharpton canard that America was a racist society and they were locked out, who would have scorned the term "patriot" as a compromise with such evils, and who turned their backs on America's wars.

But today celebrating their new president are millions of Americans who never would have dreamed of celebrating their president before. Millions of Americans -- visible in all their racial and ethnic variety at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday -- have begun to feel a patriotic stirring because they see in this First Family a reflection of themselves.

The change is still symbolic and may not last. A lot depends on what President Obama will do, which is not a small question given how little is still known about this man and how little tested he remains. Some of this patriotism may be of the sunshine variety -- in for a day or a season, when the costs are not great. Or more cynically: in to show that their hatred for America is really just another form of political “dissent.” Yet whatever the nature of these changes they cannot for now be discounted. Consider: When President Obama commits this nation to war against the Islamic terrorists, as he already has in Afghanistan, he will take millions of previously alienated and disaffected Americans with him, and they will support our troops in a way that most of his party has refused to support them until now. When another liberal, Bill Clinton went to war from the air, there was no anti-war movement in the streets or in his party’s ranks to oppose him. That is an encouraging fact for us in the dangerous world we confront.

If it seems unfair that Barack Obama should be the source of a new patriotism -- albeit of untested mettle -- life is unfair. If the Obama future is uncertain and fraught with unseen perils, conservatives can deal with those perils as they come. What matters today is that many Americans have begun to join their country's cause, and conservatives should celebrate that fact and encourage it. What matters now is that the American dream with its enormous power to inspire at home and abroad is back in business. What it means is that the race card has been played out and America can once again see itself -- and be seen -- for what it is: a land of incomparable opportunity, incomparable tolerance, and justice for all. Conservative values -- individual responsibility, equal opportunity, racial and ethnic pluralism, and family -- are now symbolically embedded in the American White House. As a result, a great dimension of American power has been restored. Will these values be supported, strengthened, put into practice? It is up to us to see that they are.

Points taken--many who have long felt left out of the process may indeed be more encouraged to get involved, and might even in some cases end up supporting certain policies that Obama's predecessor authored and/or supported. Some of those policies may correspond to our belief in strength through power, free markets and trade, etc. But this will not happen if the current media madness continues unchecked.

Even if we accept as a given that many more Americans will take interest in Government (not necessarily a bad thing), more than involvement for involvement's sake, they need objectivity and real debate about what our core values really are: on how our country should face down the threats that endanger us abroad; about whether free markets...or government creates/destroys our standard of living; about whether government is justified in confiscating private property from the productive for the sake of the non-productive; about whether borders and American citizenship--and all the responsibilities citizenship entail--are worth protecting or not; about whether We the People are responsible to the Government or if the Government is responsible to US; about why our Constitution is WORTH preserving and protecting.

THESE are the questions for which the masses' collective ignorance--combined with the media-fanned flames of pop-culture fads (Political Correctness, "Green Correctness", and now the new speak-no-evil "Obama Correctness"...)--have led to our current plight.

Unfortunately our current media culture in no way encourages legitimate discussion on these extremely powerful and important questions; the fact of the matter is that our media "news" entities have become mere propagandistic Party organs rather than legitimate policy discussion forums. This is not what the Founders had in mind with a free press; and this must change if we are to survive as the United States of America they envisioned, and which we know to be possible. If voices of dissent can no longer be heard then our First Amendment is not worth the paper it is written on. And at that point we've lost.

From my perspective, yesterday horrific coverage of the Inauguration was not an encouraging step in the right direction.

CAUSE FOR OUTRAGE INDEED: DUTCH COURT TO PROSECUTE GEERT WILDERS OVER FITNA

Truly atrocious. The Dutch court until now had wisely refrained from doing something so stupid. Now however, it appears they're going to capitulate to a campaign by Dutch Muslims to prosecute Geert Wilders for filming his anti-jihad film of Fitna (Hat tip: Jihad Watch).

This should not be allowed to pass without a fight. All those who value freedom should stand behind Wilders and make it clear to the Dutch government/courts that their planned actions are unacceptable.

GUESS WHERE THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN:

IS THIS SCENE OF DESTRUCTION AND FILTH AND DISAPPOINTMENT
AND ANGER IN GAZA?

NO.











IT'S THE MALL IN DC AFTER OBAMA'S INAUGURAL.

I THINK THIS SCENE PREDICTS OBAMA'S FUTURE -
UNLESS HE SWINGS TO THE RIGHT.

BAD BUT EXPECTED NEWS: OBAMA ASKS COURTS TO SUSPEND GITMO PROSECUTIONS

BAD SIGN: WE'RE GONNA GET MORE VULNERABLE FASTER: NYT/AP: US Seeks to Suspend Gitmo War Crimes Trials

The U.S. moved Tuesday to halt the Guantanamo war crimes trials, filing a late-night motion to suspend proceedings until President Barack Obama's administration completes a review of the system for prosecuting suspected terrorists.

The motion, filed at the direction of Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, says a suspension of at least 120 days is necessary for the Sept. 11 case and all other pending cases because the review may result in significant changes to the system.

''The interests of justice served by granting the requested continuance outweigh the interests of both the public and the accused in a prompt trial,'' prosecutor Clay Trivett wrote in the motion, which he said was written at the direction of the president and defense secretary.

The motion will be considered early Wednesday by the military judge hearing the case of five men charged in the attacks on America.

Human rights group at Guantanamo to observe this week's session of the war crimes court welcomed what appeared to be the looming end of the special tribunals.

''It's a great first step but it is only a first step,'' said Gabor Rona, international director of Human Rights First.

''The suspension of military commissions so soon after President Obama took office is an indication of the sense of urgency he feels about reversing the destructive course that the previous administration was taking in fighting terrorism,'' Rona added.

... The president's nominee for attorney general has said the so-called military commissions lack sufficient legal protections for defendants and that they could be tried in the United States.

THIS IS VERY BAD NEWS TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PREVENT ATTACKS AGAINST THE USA.

• OBAMA SEEMS SET TO GIVE MORE RIGHTS TO OUR ENEMIES THAN TO OUR TROOPS AND AGENTS.

• THIS WILL MAKE US WEAKER AND LESS LIKELY TO GET THE INTEL WE NEED.

IF WE GET ATTACKED HERE AGAIN IT IS ALL OBAMA'S FAULT.

The current decline in stocks is as nutty as the recent bubble in oil

Just saying...

• We are seeing a run in bank stocks now, whereas in the Depression there was a run on banks.
• I think that the stage is ALREADY set for a rebound: cheap and plentiful money, energy, and labor WORLDWIDE is a recipe for success.
• There's nowhere to go but up - (+/- 10% in the short run).
• Better buy now!

ANOTHER HUMAN DIES OF BIRD FLU IN CHINA...

BBC:

A Chinese health expert has said that the country is likely to experience an upsurge in the number of human bird flu cases in the next month or two.

Shu Yuelong, from the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said China needed to work harder at preventing bird flu outbreaks.

The warning came after the health ministry said a 16-year-old boy had died in central Hunan province.

The human form of bird flu has now claimed three lives this year.

IN ANOTHER YEAR, A BIRD FLU PANDEMIC COULD BE THE BIGGEST ITEM ON OBAMA'S LIST...

"GENIUS" OBAMA MAKES IDIOTIC ERROR IN SPEECH

FROM SONDRAK:

OBAMA SAID:

”Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.”

That’s wrong. Forty-three Americans, including Obama, have taken the oath of office. One president, Grover Cleveland, served two terms, separated by Benjamin Harrison’s. Cleveland is counted as both the 22nd and the 24th president.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! OBAMA IS AN DOLT - AND HIS SPEECHWRITERS ARE IDIOTS, TOO.

KINDA FIGGERS: HE SAID WE HAD 57 STATES ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL.

IDIOT.

BUSH IN TEXAS: "SOMETIMES WHAT I DID WASN'T POPULAR; THAT'S OKAY; I ALWAYS DID WHAT I THOUGHT WAS RIGHT."

GOD BLESS GEORGE W, BUSH.

BUSH LIBERATED AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ: WILL OBAMA LOSE THEM?

BUSH LIBERATED 50 MILLION PEOPLE IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ FROM ISLAMO-FACSIST TOTALITARIAN TYRANNY.

WILL OBAMA LOSE THEM?

JUST ASKING...

• I MEAN: THE DEM'S LOST KOREA, AND CHINA, AND SOUTH VIETNAM.

• IN THE 1980'S THEY WANTED TO SURRENDER IN CENTRAL AMERICA.

• IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS THEY'VE CONTINUOUSLY CALLED FOR RETREAT AND SURRENDER IN IRAQ.

• THE FIGHT GOES ON.

• WE MUST DEFEND OUR GAINS TO HOLD THEM.

• WILL OBAMA DO WHAT WE MUST TO DEFEND THEM?

JUST ASKING...

OBAMA, RAHM AND HOLLYWOOD

• HOLLYWOOD HAS LONG BEEN IN-THE-BAG FOR OBAMA.

• RECENTLY, THE HOLLYWOOD LEFT MADE A VIDEO ENDORSING OBAMA'S PRESIDENCY AND CALLING FOR THE NATION TO COME TOGETHER. "THE PRESIDENTIAL PLEDGE".

• HOW CONVENIENT: NOW THAT THERE'S A LEFTIE IN THE OVAL OFFICE THEY WANT THE NATON TO PULL BEHIND THE POTUS.

• (I'LL PASS. I WILL GIVE OBAMA HELL. AFTER ALL: DISSENT IS TRUE PATRIOTISM! HEH!)

CYNICAL QUESTION OF THE DAY:

COULD ANY OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT RAHM EMANUEL - (EARLY OBAMA ENDORSER, A CO-MEMBER OF THE CHICAGO MACHINE, AND OBAMA'S COS DESIGNEE) - HAS A BROTHER WHO IS ONE OF HOLLYWOOD'S BIGGEST AND MOST POWERFUL AGENT!?

ER UM... MICHAEL MOORE'S AGENT!

• I THINK IT DOES.

• I BETCHYA BEFORE THE PRIMARIES BEGAN, RAHM HAD HIS BRO' ARI CALL IN SOME CHITS AND GET AS MANY HOLLYWOOD HEAVYWEIGHTS TO ENDORSE OBAMA - NOT HILLARY.

MORE PROOF THEY'RE ALL A BUNCH OF LEFTIST HYPOCRITES AND SCOUNDRELS: OBAMA'S INAUGURAL SETS PRIVATE JET RECORD!

TWR:

According to an article in Bloomberg, as many as 600 private jets were expected to touch down in D.C. for the inauguration. The runway at Washington Dulles was closed Saturday to allow as many as 100 small planes to park. And the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said it expected a total of 500 small jets to land from Jan. 16 through Jan 21.

“That would set a record, topping the 300 the airport accommodated for President George W. Bush’s 2004 inaugural,” an Airports Authority says in the article.

Of course, flying private to a celebration of a populist, pro-environment President is a bit like the Detroit execs jetting to Washington for bailout money. How do you call for social responsibility after touching down in a $40 million, gas-guzzling Gulfstream? (Maybe travelers will buy carbon credits)

THESE HOLIER THAN THOU LIBS ARE SO FULL OF CRAP IT MAKE ME SICK.

MORE LEFTIST BULLSHIT IN OBAMA'S INAUGURAL SPEECH: "... a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous."

EXCERPT FROM OBAMA:

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.

And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

THE BASIC PROBLEM IS FRAMED CORRECTLY - IN THE FIRST THREE PARAGRAPHS.

BUT THEN THERE'S QUICK SLEIGHT-OF-HAND: INSTEAD OF BLAMING THOSE RESPONSIBLE - THE LIBERALS IN GOVERNMENT, HE BLAMES THE MARKET, SAYING:

a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

THIS IS EXACTLY WRONG, EXACTLY BASS-ACKWARDS.

WHAT GOT US IN THIS MESS WASN'T GOVERNMENT POLICIES WHICH FAVORED THE PROSPEROUS; IT WAS GOVERNMENT POLICIES WHICH FAVORED THE POOR, THE UN-CREDITWORTHY.

REPEAT:

WHAT GOT US IN THIS MESS WASN'T GOVERNMENT POLICIES WHICH FAVORED THE PROSPEROUS; IT WAS GOVERNMENT POLICIES WHICH FAVORED THE POOR, THE UN-CREDITWORTHY.

REPEAT:

WHAT GOT US IN THIS MESS WASN'T GOVERNMENT POLICIES WHICH FAVORED THE PROSPEROUS; IT WAS GOVERNMENT POLICIES WHICH FAVORED THE POOR, THE UN-CREDITWORTHY.

• IT WAS THE CRA AND FANNIE MAE - A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WHICH ORDERED BANKS TO MAKE BAD LOANS.

• WHEN BANKS AND INVESTMENT BANKS BOUGHT THE DERIVATIVES BASED ON THIS FEDERALLY MANDATED ACTION AND ISSUED BY FANNIE MAE - A GSE - THEY ACTED IN GOOD FAITH.

• THIS PAPER - (AND SIMILAR SOCIALIST-INSPIRED POAPER IN OTHER COUNTRIES) -LOST ALL MARKET-VALUE AND BROUGHT THE GLOBAL FININCIAL MARKETS TO THEIR KNEES.

• THE GOVERNMENT - ENACTING SOCIALIST, CENTRAL-COMMAND RULES OVER PRIVATE BANKS - CREATED THIS WHOLE FREAKIN FINANCIAL MELTDOWN.

OBAMA'S FAILURE OR REFUSAL TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT EXPOSES HIM AS THE INTELLECTUALLY DISHONEST LEFT-WING IDEOLOGUE HE TRULY IS.

AND IT SPELLS DISASTER FOR THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.

UNLESS WE STOP HIM.

CAN WE STOP HIM!?

YES, WE CAN!

*******UPDATE: MORE BULLSHIT AND ANOTHER SLEIGHT-OF-HAND; OBAMA SAYS (ABOVE):

... the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.

WELL, SAID - BUT OBAMA THEN DOESN'T ENDORSE WHAT WORKS, (TAX CUTS AND LESS GOVERNMENT -- AS PROVEN BY IRELAND AND REAGAN AND THATCHER).

OBAMA ENDORSES WHAT DIDN'T WORK: "NEW DEAL" SOCIALISM.

• THE ONLY STALE POLITCAL ARGUMENTS ARE THOSE FROM THE LEFT.

• IT WOULD BE FANTASTIC IF THEY NO LONGER APPLIED.
  

• BUT OBAMA'S ELECTION - AND HIS SELECTION OF THE SAME-OLD-SAME-OLD/CLINTONIAN FACES PROVES THAT OBAMA IS THE REAL STALE OLD POLITICIAN.
  

*******UPDATE #2: THE LIBS AT TNR GIVE THE SPEECH A THUMBS DOWN!

PUBLIC STILL IN PANIC MODE: OBAMA'S SPEECH MET WITH BIG DOW DOWNER

CNN MONEY MARKETS:

Jan 20 4:59pm ET † Change %Change Level Dow -332.13 -4.01% 7,949.09 NASDAQ -88.47 -5.78% 1,440.86 S&P -44.90 -5.28% 805.22

SEE: ALL THREE MARKETS MOVED UP AND DOWN IN UNISON; THE PERCENTAGES DIFFER, BUT NOT THE MOVES: EACH MINUTE OF EACH HOUR MOVING UP'N DOWN IN UNISON.

THIS REVEALS THAT THE BUYING AND SELLING WASN'T COMPANY RELATED, IT WASN'T EVEN MARKET-DRIVEN - BUT WAS MACRO-ECONOMIC DRIVEN.

AND THE EMOTION POWERING THE MACRO-ECONOMIC SCENE IS PANIC.

• PANIC IS IRRATIONAL.

• TO CHANGE TO DIRECTION OF THE MARKETS, ALL OBAMA HAS TO DO IS CHANGE THE EMOTIONAL TENOR OF THE MARKETPLACE.

• TO DO THIS ALL HE HAS TO DO IS CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT THE CRISIS IS BEING MANAGED AND THAT WE WILL RECOVER.

• PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES WILL START SPENDING AND THE SELF-FULFILLING RECESSION PROPHECY WILL CHANGE INTO A RECOVERY PROPHECY.

• THE ONLY RATIONAL REASON OBAMA ISN'T LIKELY TO START MAKING THE PUBLIC MORE OPTIMISTIC IS THAT HE NEEDS THE PANIC TO REMAIN UNTIL HE PASSES HIS LIBERAL BOONDOGGLE, AKA THE "STIMULUS" PACKAGE.

SADLY, THIS BOONDOGGLE - LIKE FDR'S - WILL ONLY MAKE THINGS WORSE.

SADLY, IT'S STILL LIKELY TO PASS.

KNOWLEDGE OF THIS FACT IS WHY THE MARKETS TANKED TODAY.

SIGH.

OBAMA'S INAUGURATION SPEECH FAILS TO COMPLETELY DISGUISE HIS LEFTISM

IT WAS LARGELY A CENTRIST-SOUNDING SPEECH, BUT HERE AND THERE OBAMA AND AXELROD SLIPPED AND LEFT SOME LEFTISMS IN - LIKE THIS TIDBIT:

"... our schools fail too many..."

OUR SCHOOLS DON'T FAIL, STUDENTS FAIL (AND IN THE CASE OF KIDS - THEY AND THEIR PARENTS FAIL), AND THE FAILURES THEMSELVES NEEDS TO TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, TOO.

SO DO THE TEACHERS UNIONS WHO FIGHT MORE FOR THEIR SALARY AND PENSIONS THAN FOR THE KIDS.

• ACCOUNTABILITY IS ESSENTIAL FOR ANY FREE SOCIETY TO FLOURISH.
• THE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS HAVE NOT BEEN VERY ACCOUNTABLE:
  

• ESPECIALLY RANGEL, DODD, REID, PELOSI, FRANK ALL OF WHOM HAD ENORMOUS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FINANCIAL MELTDOWN AND ALL OF WHOM HAVE F AILED TO PAY THE PRICE.

IF OBAMA IS SERIOUS, THEN AS FIRST ORDER OBAMA SHOULD DEMAND THE CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS CLEAN UP THEIR ACT:

REPLACE RANGEL, DODD, AND FRANK - TAKE THEM OFF ANY COMMITTEES THAT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH BANKING AND TAXES.

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST.

HAMAS TORTURING FATAH MEMBERS IN GAZA: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS POWER LINE BY A DAY

WHAT'S AT POWER LINE TODAY...

WAS HERE YESTERDAY.
(AND WE PREDICTED IT TWO DAYS BEFORE!)

REGULAR READERS KNOW THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. SPREAD THE WORD. BOOKMARK US. BLOGROLL US.

HERE'S WHY OBAMA'S "STIMULUS" PACKAGE WILL FAIL: "The Economy is Not a Machine"

Excerpt:

... the whole idea of fixing, running, regulating, designing, or modeling an economy rests on the notion that, if the right smart guys are at the rheostats, the economy can be ordered by intelligent design. But the economy is no mechanism. There is no mission control. Government cannot swoop down like a deus ex machina to explain the inexplicable and fix the unfixable. Why? Because the knowledge required to grasp each of the billions of actions, transactions and interconnections would fry the neural circuitry of a thousand Ben Bernankes. This is what F. A. Hayek called the knowledge problem. Knowledge, Hayek reminded us, is not concentrated among a few central authorities but is dispersed around society. That's why bad unintended consequences follow government interventions like black swans.

A few economists have not succumbed to the "fix it" fixation. They know that society is not like a machine at all, but an ecosystem. Faster than you can say market fundamentalism, a Keynesian will scoff at this metaphor. But his favorite trope has helped to stagnate many an economy; making Rube Goldberg apparatuses out of means-ends networks, perversion out of productivity. As Czech President Vaclav Klaus wisely notes: "The market is indivisible; it cannot be an instrument at the hands of central planners."


Society as Ecosystem

So if not the machine metaphor, why an ecosystem? Economies, like ecosystems are complex adaptive systems. Nature, including the economy, can experience episodes of wild wobbles, fluxes and flows. But it almost always returns to a steadier state known as "ordered chaos." That is, when it's left alone. In clumsier but perhaps more familiar language—ecosystems tend towards equilibrium.

Both ecosystems and economies are distributed systems. In the former, billions of interdependent means-ends activities are a reflection of a billion preferences and choices. In the latter, species are dynamic and interwoven in a web of relationships. For both, the whole system is an ever-evolving cascade of change that is unfathomable to a single mind. Data snapshots may be useful for some things, but should not be intended as blueprints for government planners. Even sophisticated computer models will, like the old Philips machine, eventually fail. There are no oracles.

Once we come to discover not only that the economy is an ecosystem -- but that the laws of ecosystems are very different from the laws of machines -- we'll resist our urge to fix things from the top down. We'll realize that economic growth is a holistic process that happens by virtue of countless adjustments and adaptations within the system itself. That's why economic planning is, and always has been, a form of hubris.

RTWT.

• THIS IS WHY CENTRAL PLANNING - EVEN BY SMARTIE-PANTS FELLAS LIKE OBAMA - CAN'T WORK, AND WHY GOVERMENT SHOULD JUST CUT TAXES AND GET OUT OF THE WAY.

• THIS IS WHY OBAMA'S "STIMULUS" PACKAGE IS A BOONDOGGLE AND IS DOOMED TO FAILURE.

• AND WHY WE MUST FIGHT IT.

CAN WE DEFEAT IT?

YES, WE CAN!

ORTHODOX ISLAM versus ORTHODOX JUDAISM - a comparison

• LEFT-WING ANTI-SEMITES LIKE BILL MOYERS HAVE RECENTLY BEEN ARGUING THAT JUDAISM IS INTRINSICALLY BLOODTHIRSTY.

• OTHER POSTMODERN LEFTISTS ARGUE THAT ALL RELIGIONS ARE THE SAME - AND ALL BAD - OR ALL PRONE TO THE SAME DIATHESIS FOR VIOLENCE.

BOTH ARE WRONG.

LET'S LOOK AT THE FACTS AND SEE IF WE CAN SPOT A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ISLAM AND JUDAISM:

FACT:

• Islam doesn't permit non-Muslims to go to Mecca - its religious capitol.

• Jews not only allow non-Jews into Jerusalem and live there, the Temple Mount - the most sacred real estate in all Judaism - was put under the control of the Muslim Waqf by Israelis.

In this is there ANY resemblance?

NO, NOT A SCINTILLA OF SIMILARITY.

FACT:

• For nearly 1500 years - and today in many nations and in more and more communities worldwide - Islam has forced non-believers to adhere to Muslim law.

• Judaism doesn't expect or demand gentiles to follow Jewish law or customs. (Orthodox Jews don't even expect all other JEWS to - though they'd prefer it!).
  

In this is there ANY resemblance?

NO, NOT A SCINTILLA OF SIMILARITY.

FACT:

• Islam aggressively seeks converts - sometimes under pain of injury or death, sometimes under threat of genocide.

• Judaism doesn't seek converts. Never has.
  

In this is there ANY resemblance?

NO, NOT A SCINTILLA OF SIMILARITY.

FACT:

• Islamo-terrorists and islamo-terrorist groups - (such as Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, Abu Sayyaf, et al) - act in accordance with written Muslim laws, to the principles and traditions of Islam explicitly articulated in the Koran and Hadiths; they are not "renegades" misinterpreting a "religion of peace"; [this according to Muslim and Muslim-scholar Irshad Manji, who has written extensively and argued far and wide that Binladen and his ilk are "LITERALISTS" and that Islam needs a reformation which would entail seeing much of Muslim "scripture" as "FIGURATIVE".]

• Jewish fundamentalists not only don't seek submission of non-believers; they don't even harass reform Jews who practice gay marriage and have female rabbis - though both are anathema to their core beliefs.

In this is there ANY resemblance?

NO, NOT A SCINTILLA OF SIMILARITY.

• Additionally, Jews have contributed enormously to human progress and modernity in every realm - science, humanities, arts, letters, and so on, and have done so - despite horrific persecution - in nearly every nation, in nearly every decade for the last 2000 years.

• Muslims have contributed ZILCH.

In this is there ANY resemblance?

NO, NOT A SCINTILLA OF SIMILARITY.

Any and all policies which equate the two are not only immoral, but they are doomed to fail because they're based on a delusion.

The delusion may be antisemitic or postmodern - it matters not. It's a delusion.

The Presidency Ages A Man

Suddenly, Obama's hair is gray. I don't believe this is simply a matter of the man forgetting his dye job. Dude's hair is already turning gray from the stress of inheriting this job at this time in history. At this rate, in just a few months, it will be white.

Who could envy the man?

Considering what the Presidency does to age a man, here's my prediction. In just a few years from now, Barack Obama is going to look like Gollum.

Let's hope he doesn't start to act like him.

MSNBC COMPARES THE BUSHES TO THE ROMANOVS

I'm not kidding!

I'm watching MSNBC's coverage of today's Inauguration because I want to hear just how far the leftards will go in their rhapsodizing.

MBNBC just compared the departure of the Bushes from the White House as akin to that of the Romanovs.

Bolshevik Revolution, anyone?

OBAMA'S "ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY"

From the Washington Times:

..."Our government takes a new ... ethic of responsibility, as well as financial institutions and banks, many of whom have gotten us into the mess we're in financially," Mr. Gibbs [incoming White House Secretary] said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "If we work together as one country and one people, there are better days ahead."...

Responsibility from government and community - any room there for individuals' rights? Just asking.

Not long from the moment of this posting, we'll be hearing Barack Hussein Obama's Inaugural Address. Listen carefully. He's slick, as are all demagogues.

SNOW IN SOUTH CAROLINA FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 20 YEARS!

IP:

Beaufort County has a 25 percent chance to see some snow flakes Tuesday, with a dusting of snow that would cover cars and grassy areas, according to the National Weather Service.

The last time Hilton Head Island saw snow stick was in 1989, said meteorologist Steve Rowley with the Nation Weather Service in Charleston.

FO/AP:

Snow was sweeping across the Carolinas on Monday as a combination of chilly northern air and southern moisture prepared to dump several inches from the mountains to the beaches.

A disturbance was arriving in a rush, diving from Canada to the Carolinas to mix with a surprising system that was building and moving up the coast.

The National Weather Service predicted as much as 6 inches in parts of central North Carolina, but almost all the Carolinas were expected to get at least an inch.

"All the evidence suggests from the model forecasts that we've seen that there's going to be decent snows across the area," said Darin Figurskey, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Raleigh. "Most of it should stick."

Forecasters said they expect a wintry mix before the precipitation turns to snow overnight as temperatures cross the freezing mark and continue falling.

Winter storm warnings, watches or advisories covered almost all of the Carolinas, but forecasters said a heavier band of snow would fall on the corridor from north of Columbia, S.C., to Norfolk, Va., which could get 2 to 6 inches.

Other areas, including the coast and southern parts of South Carolina, will see about 1 to 3 inches.

Governments across the region prepared for the weather, a task made harder because snow only entered forecasts after most people went to bed Sunday night, and the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. made it harder to get public works crews back to prepare roads.

In York County, S.C., just south of Charlotte, N.C., workers planned to head out late and dump a salt mixture to keep major roads and bridges from freezing. Workers also attached blades to the front of some trucks to try and scrape away any snow that does fall, county Emergency Management Director Cotton Howell said.

"I don't think there's a true snow plow in South Carolina," Howell said.

VEGAS AND NEW ORLEANS AND GOT RARE SNOWSTORMS THIS WINTER, TOO.

WHAT COULD IT MEAN!?

IT MEANS THAT AGW = BS.

Thank You Mr. President

I feel like I need to highlight a couple more really good pieces I saw today, because by and large I find myself agreeing with them.

There are not many people I know who think that President Bush has had a flawless Presidency. Then again there is not a President dead or alive who I think has had a flawless Presidency.

I saw the President speak the other night and I was very moved by the speech. Then I saw this great, unapologetic defense of the Bush Presidency. And you know what? I found myself agreeing with almost everything that AJ Strata had to say. Below is a decent excerpt but there is a lot more. Read it ALL:

...this led to something else President Bush did in his 8 years. He destroyed the concept of fringe politics. As much as the far left thinks they won (just as the news media gleefully celebrates a Pyrrhic victory over a retiring President Bush), the fact is the fringes are frowned upon. President Obama won because the nation wanted to hear about some fantasy solutions to hard times. He won on touting moderation and centrist platitudes (where Bush has been pilloried for actually making them happen on various fronts). Apparently America wanted a nice fiction wrapped up in a made for TV media spin. After years of having to minimally sacrifice the nation wants to run back to their fictional existences where all is well. They neglected to note Bush won many of his scars by being able to bridge the partisan gap.

Obama’s fiction won’t last. Our problems are very tough and still growing. Obama and the Dems have very little in their arsenal, and none of their ideas will do anything but makes matters worse. And their fringe will rise up just like the far right did under Bush. It will be interesting to watch them scream “Global Warming!” as we chatter our way through the next four years of cooling (this is predicted even by experts inside the global warming camp).

But for me, I will remember a more poignant image of America. That of George Bush holding a devastated young girl after 9-11. President Bush was not lavishing us with ridiculous promises of ‘no worries!’ He was not promising an easy road. He simply promised we would get through it all and succeed. And we did.

Sadly, most of us our too petty to give the man his due for making good on his promises. If you want to see America succeed, just look back to the Bush years. We took on a world war on two fronts, we rose like a phoenix out of the ashes of 9-11, we changed the world’s view of America from a complacent easy target to an ally that can be as dangerous as it is generous.

We took steps to integrate the private market and federal programs to make our elders’ final years a lot better. We reduced the tax burden on families and businesses so they could afford to go after their vision of the American dream. And we avoided becoming the funding source for the massive industrial murder of human embryos for profits. We succeeded, and we screwed up. But in the end we came out ahead.

Are we better off 8 years later? Is al Qaeda fading as a power in the world? Is Islamo Fascism the future of Islam or the enemy if Islam? Anyone can focus on what was not done. All those zero-sum captains of incompetence can cheer their efforts to destroy even modest progress on the false promise of perfection. But I dare anyone to achieve as much in as short a time as President Bush. Kennedy, Clinton, Carter didn’t. Neither did Reaqan or Nixon.

I have a simple example of how easy it is to destroy verses create. Anyone who thinks they are hot stuff can play along. First, grab a tissue and firmly and with great force tear it up. That is destruction. People spent years perfecting the product, it takes a second to destroy. However, to show superiority requires not destruction - it requires creation. To prove to me they are superior all those who tore up the tissue now need to produce one, from scratch, of the same quality as the one they destroyed. No buying a new one.

That is the difference between true success and false success. All the naysayers have not achieved anything. President Bush has accomplished an incredible amount of tangible change. Naysayers have not produced anything. Obama has not won a thing yet, because he has not done anything of value yet. If his first act is to free the terrorists in GITMO, then that is a sign his administration will be a failure. It will be a failure because the man has no vision, no principles and no backbone. It is a sign Obama acts out of a need to be liked or supported, not out of principles. Bush was just the opposite. He infuriated people because if they were in opposition to his goals they couldn’t deter him. It drove many to madness. Which is not a sign of something wrong with Bush!

President-Elect Obama, if you want to know how to succeed, study President Bush. Study how he was able to rack up an incredible number of challenging changes to a massive bureaucracy which has powerful inherent antibodies to any change. You need to study how he did it. You have incredible clout coming into office, don’t waste it placating the fringes. Bush never did.

And to President Bush, you have my thanks and my admiration. It will take a long time for those massive egos to understand their impotence and your accomplishments. It will take a long time for the Democrats to learn that having power doesn’t mean you know how to use it. You used your time in office well. You enacted long lasting and fundamental changes to our fabric of society. You set examples that will take years to appreciate, before they begin to be used as models to make changes we can be proud of (and believe in). You kept us safe, made us feared and respected, and you kept your word. So few politicians can even come close to making similar claims.

Update: Gateway Pundit has some impressive statistics on how well American fighting forces did under President Bush. Another lesson to be learned by Democrats.

Strata also points us to this superb retrospective by Andrew Roberts which is a must read. Just a small example:

When Abu Ghraib is mentioned, history will remind us that it was the Bush Administration that imprisoned those responsible for the horrors. When water-boarding is brought up, we will see that it was only used on three suspects, one of whom was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al-Qaeda's chief of operational planning, who divulged vast amounts of information that saved hundreds of innocent lives. When extraordinary renditions are queried, historians will ask how else the world's most dangerous terrorists should have been transported. On scheduled flights?

The credit crunch, brought on by the Democrats in Congress insisting upon home ownership for credit-unworthy people, will initially be blamed on Bush, but the perspective of time will show that the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started with the deregulation of the Clinton era. Instead Bush's very
un-ideological but vast rescue package of $700 billion (£480 billion) might well be seen as lessening the impact of the squeeze, and putting America in position to be the first country out of recession, helped along by his huge tax-cut packages since 2000.

Sneered at for being "simplistic" in his reaction to 9/11, Bush's visceral responses to the attacks of a fascistic, totalitarian death cult will be seen as having been substantially the right ones.

Mistakes are made in every war, but when virtually the entire military, diplomatic and political establishment in the West opposed it, Bush insisted on the surge in Iraq that has been seen to have brought the war around, and set Iraq on the right path. Today its GDP is 30 per cent higher than under Saddam, and it is free of a brutal dictator and his rapist sons.

The number of American troops killed during the eight years of the War against Terror has been fewer than those slain capturing two islands in the Second World War, and in Britain we have lost fewer soldiers than on a normal weekend on the Western Front. As for civilians, there have been fewer Iraqis killed since the invasion than in 20 conflicts since the Second World War.

Iraq has been a victory for the US-led coalition, a fact that the Bush-haters will have to deal with when perspective finally – perhaps years from now – lends objectivity to this fine man's record.

When I am long gone, President Bush will one day be regarded as a decent, steadfast, moral man who, like Churchill and Lincoln had to make extremely difficult choices against the strong but misled (by the partisan media...) tide of public opinion. More importantly: more times than not they turned out to be the right decisions.

That's good enough for me; the fact is--and conventional wisdom be damned--there are some big shoes for Barack Obama to fill, beginning at 12:01 ET tomorrow. (Good luck with that one.)

Mr. President: Thank you. Thank you for your service and for your loyalty to our country and what it stands for. Know that there are many, many of us who are grateful for what you have done for us, and who will never forget it.

We'll see you back in Texas.