op ed review 11/1

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

The House health care bill unveiled Thursday clocks in at 1,990 pages and about 400,000 words. With an estimated 10-year cost of $894 billion, that comes out to about $2.24 million per word. .

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28904.html

According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who believe the cost of health care for their families will "get worse" under the proposed reforms rose to 49% from 42% in just the past month.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704335904574495131591949574.html

Conservatives outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/123854/Conservatives-Maintain-Edge-Top-Ideological-Group.aspx

Conservatives from around the country are fighting to preserve what they see as the integrity of the Republican Party. Urged on by leaders like former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and Dick Armey, the former House majority leader from Texas, they have come to defeat Dede Scozzafava, the Republican candidate for Congress in the 23rd District.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/nyregion/27upstate.html

Scozzafava is the product of an obscenely corrupt political bargain by GOP bosses that sells out their party -- and New Yorkers generally. She favors same-sex marriage, abortion, tax-and-spend, union card-check, and is backed by ACORN.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/doug_hoffman_for_congress_21sqalnJNLjOEpD7JEOHaJ

How or why the party regulars in NY23 thought that Scozzafava would be acceptable to anyone to the right of Karl Marx will forever remain a mystery.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/10/ny23_now_a_litmus_test_for_con.html

Inexplicably, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is warning conservative activists that their support for a third-party candidate in a key upcoming New York special election is a “mistake.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28730.html

On Saturday, trailing in the polls, , Scozzafava dropped out of the race.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1009/BREAKING_Scozzafava_drops_out_of_NY_23.html

An early progress report on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports. The government's first accounting of jobs tied to the $787 billion stimulus program claimed more than 30,000 positions paid for with recovery money ($2.6M/job). But that figure is overstated by least 5,000 jobs, according to an Associated Press review of a sample of stimulus contracts.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091029/D9BKMVMG0.html

A total of 690,000 new vehicles were sold under the Cash for Clunkers program last summer, but only 125,000 of those were vehicles that would not have been sold anyway, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the automotive Web site Edmunds.com. That means the government ended up spending about $24,000 each for those 125,000 additional vehicle sales.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/28/autos/clunkers_analysis/index.htm

One of the 20 finalists in health care video contest run by Barack Obama’s campaign arm features a mural of an America flag splattered with health care graffiti until it’s covered completely by black paint. According to the Organizing for American Web site, the 20 finalists in the “Health Reform Video Challenge” were chosen by a panel of “qualified” Democratic National Committee “employee judges.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28848.html#at

Cell phone service is now a government entitlement:

https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/Home.aspx

Virginia Turns Back to Red Again

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/017/117sxpdm.asp

“Medicare provides a rich income stream for criminals. Medicare fraud has become the most profitable crime in America.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/23/60minutes/main5414390.shtml

White House for sale: During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings. High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal DNC documents.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/28/democratic-donors-rewarded-with-wh-perks/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_photo_feature#at

A large, enthusiastic crowd of people carrying signs and waving flags in protest of a government they say is not representing them gathered in San Diego to kick off Tea Party Express II, the first of 38 stops that will span 7,000 miles in 20 days and wind up in Orlando, Fla.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/oct/26/crowd-kicks-8216tea-party8217-tour/?uniontrib

No good deed goes unpunished: The case of the "flying imams" has been settled. The six suspicious acting Muslim clerics who were pulled off a U.S. Airways flight will be paid an undisclosed sum to drop their lawsuit.

http://www.minnpost.com/ericblack/2009/10/26/12801/flying_imams_in_the_rear-view_mirror_what_was_the_evidence_against_them

Home Depot employee fired for wearing a button that reads: "One nation under God, indivisible."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-button-fired-bn102609,1,6533129.story

“Ratings for Fox News up 10% since attacks by Obama”

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/10/ratings_for_fox_new_up_10_sinc.html

US Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue says a campaign by the White House and its allies to undermine his association has largely failed — and actually has helped raise even more money for its pro-business efforts.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28720.html

There's a poll up at KIROTV.com. Hutchinson leads by 53%.

http://www.kirotv.com/surveyresults/21421874/detail.html?section=news&questionum=1&answer1=2

President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he's already he’s been on the golf course more than President Bush was in two years.

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0910/obama_ties_bush_on_golf.html

Democrats have made health insurance companies the villain in the health care debate. Actually, industry profits barely exceeded 2 percent of revenues in the latest annual measure.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091025/D9BI4D6O1.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Jed Babbin 10/26/09

Congressional Republicans are suffering from legislative exhaustion. They’ve been swimming against the Obama congressional tsunami since February and they’ve lost a lot of big battles. A good many of them have fought the good fight, but they’ve still lost on everything from the faux “stimulus” package to the awful and unconstitutionally vague “hate crimes” law. At this point, too many are fatalistic, seeing nothing more than a continuing string of defeats this year and next.

Establishment Republicans among them aren’t helping themselves. They’re ignoring conservative causes and neglecting to campaign to capture the Tea Partyers and the other votes that they can gain with a concerted effort aimed at them.

Perhaps the best example of the struggle between the Republican Establishment and resurgent conservatives is the otherwise obscure special election next month in New York’s 23rd congressional district. Most of the House Republican leadership is backing the hyperliberal “Republican” candidate Dede Scozzafava against conservative Doug Hoffman.

Prominent conservatives across the nation -- former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson and former House Minority Leader Dick Army, among many others -- have come out strongly for Hoffman. The Republican establishment is content with Scozzafava, who will -- if she’s elected -- make former Republican Arlen Specter look like a staunch party loyalist.

In the Senate, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) heads the outreach program. Is she concentrating on the Tea Partyers and independents? No: she’s going on a pander-quest, reaching out to women, blacks and Hispanics, usually-reliable Democratic voting blocks unlikely to be brought aboard the Republican train. Jennifer Lopez isn’t going to help Murkowski.

These are not the moves of a party serious about winning in 2010 and beyond.

The Republican establishment disdains ideological conservatives. Even some in the conservative media argue that to win, Republicans have to shy away from ideological campaigns. But ideological campaigns are built on solid conservative ideas and principles. It is these campaigns, not those such as John McCain’s last year, that win over independent voters.

It’s one thing to energize your base. But you have to build on it to win elections. The moment to start is now.

Republicans need to think -- and act right now -- on the Tea Partyers’ distrust of government and analyze what else will animate independents. Whether you call them Tea Partyers or “Reagan Democrats” doesn’t matter. What matters are those “kitchen table” issues.

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are pushing hard for the government-run healthcare takeover. Why isn’t the RNC running ads in every media market where the House Blue Dogs sit, asking the Tea Partyers specifically and everyone else to call their offices to demand that they vote against it?

Scott Rasmussen reports that thirty-eight percent of Americans think budget reduction is the top priority. All year, Speaker Pelosi has blocked Republicans’ ability to offer amendments on appropriations bills. Why isn’t Minority Leader John Boehner fighting openly against her? Forget earmarks: they’re small change. Republicans need to make the Obama multi-trillion dollar spending spree a top issue.

Ross Perot ran a campaign based almost entirely on the idea of reining in federal spending. And when Americans are losing jobs, fearing for the safety of their home investments and looking at what Washington is spending, that’s a kitchen table issue just as much as healthcare.

The Republican Party used to stand with the independents -- the Reagan Democrats -- on everything from federal spending to national security. It’s time to renew that focus, and conduct a national ideological campaign. If they start now, they can win big next year, and again in 2012. If they don’t, they will remain in the wilderness. And none of the Tea Partyers will shed a tear.

Edited from a longer column, read it here:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34120

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"Much of what government does is based on the premise that people can't do things for themselves. So government must do it for them. More often than not, the result is a ham-handed, bumbling, one-size-fits-all approach that leaves the intended beneficiaries worse off. Of course, this resulting failure is never blamed on the political approach -- on the contrary, failure is taken to mean the government solution was not extravagant enough."

-John Stossel

"What is most frightening about the political left is that they seem to have no sense of the tragedy of the human condition. All problems seem to them to be due to other people not being as wise or as noble as they are."

-Thomas Sowell

"Under every plausible analysis, it seems, ObamaCare will deliver lower-quality care at higher prices, increasing the federal debt while reducing Americans' freedom. Why are they so determined to do this to us?"

-James Taranto

"If the American press corps were as concerned about the Tenth Amendment as it has been protecting the First and trying to get rid of the Second, this would be a far different country."

-Rich Galen

"Communism is nothing more than Nazism with better PR. Its track record of atrocities dwarf those of Hitler, and its core philosophy is every bit as repugnant, if not more so. That anyone in America would even attempt to put 'lipstick on this pig' is an unmitigated disgrace. That they can do it with such relative ease -- under the banner of 'social justice,' no less -- is truly frightening."

-Arnold Ahlert

"The University of Chicago disclosed it would someday like to be home to Barack Obama's future presidential library. The president was a professor at the Chicago Law School for a dozen years. He taught the ‘How to Get Around Constitutional Law’ class."

-Argus Hamilton

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LEFTIST WATCH

Rep. Barney Frank lets the cat out of the bag: "We are trying on every front to increase the role of government"

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/10/26/frank_we_are_trying_on_every_front_to_increase_the_role_of_government.html

Rocco Landesman is President Obama's handpicked chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Last week he gave the keynote address to the 2009 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference. Those of us concerned about the politicization of life and art in the Age of Obama will not be consoled by a reading of Landesman's speech. The speech bears examination in its entirety, but Landesman's tribute to Obama is especially worth a look: “This is the first president that actually writes his own books since Teddy Roosevelt and arguably the first to write them really well since Lincoln. If you accept the premise, and I do, that the United States is the most powerful country in the world, then Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar.” (note: Obama didn’t write his own book, and Lincoln never wrote a book.)

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/10/024805.php

The Democratic National Committee, keeping up its drumbeat of harsh new-media campaigns against GOP leaders, is rallying Democrats to attack Sarah Palin where she communicates -- on Facebook. In an email to its list (after the jump) and a web page, the committee is pushing supporters to go after Palin on the social media site for alleged "lies".

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1009/DNC_attacks_Palin_lies.html

“Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Advocated ‘Queering Elementary Education”, calling for elementary school children to explore their sexual identities, for teachers to incorporate homosexual themes in grades K-5, for discarding a “hetero-normative” approach to education and for “acknowledging children as sexual beings.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56196

The head of a prominent liberal think tank says America should legalize pot and tax it to pay for health care.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/10/video-podesta-tax-pot-to-pay-for-health-care.html

Hillary Clinton tells Pakistan their taxes are too low. In the US, she says, “We tax everything that moves and doesn’t move..”

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=2009%5C10%5C30%5Cstory_30-10-2009_pg1_1

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ARTICLES

“It's officially safe to criticize Barack Obama”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Memo-Its-officially-safe-to-criticize-Barack-Obama-67950962.html

Political strategist Frank Luntz’s memo on how to defeat Pelosicare. Advice on how to frame the debate. Important read, especially for candidates.

http://www.politico.com/static/PPM41_healthcare_research_highlights_memo.html

Der Spiegel’s interview with Charles Krauthammer:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,656501,00.html

Better read this: “now look at the real reason why this policy (mass immigration) was introduced, and in secret. The Government's 'driving political purpose', wrote Neather, was 'to make the UK truly multicultural'. It was therefore a politically motivated attempt by ministers to transform the fundamental make-up and identity of this country. It was done to destroy the right of the British people to live in a society defined by a common history, religion, law, language and traditions. It was done to destroy for ever what it means to be culturally British and to put another 'multicultural' identity in its place. And it was done without telling or asking the British people whether they wanted their country and their culture to be transformed in this way. Spitefully, one motivation by Labor ministers was 'to rub the Right's nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date'.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1222977/MELANIE-PHILLIPS-The-outrageous-truth-slips-Labour-cynically-plotted-transform-entire-make-Britain-telling-us.html

As promised, Barack Obama is bringing change to America. He's making it more Republican. It's not that more people are actually becoming Republicans or calling themselves Republicans -- the number of voters who formally identify with the party is at its lowest point in years. But we appear to be in the early stages of a shift in which political independents, people who not too long ago were sick of Republicans, are now leaning

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obama_s-big-change_-He-moves-America-to-the-Right-8442204-66186122.html

“A four-hour stop in New Orleans, on his way to a $3 million fundraiser. Snubbing the Dalai Lama. Signing off on a secret deal with drug makers. Freezing out a TV network. Doing more fundraisers than the last president. More golf, too. President Barack Obama has done all of those things — and more. What’s remarkable is what hasn’t happened. These episodes haven’t become metaphors for Obama’s personal and political character..”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28764.html

A star is born: Hannah Giles is a townhall.com contributor and aspiring journalist. She is the journalist behind the ACORN prostitution/tax evasion sting. She is the oldest daughter of Townhall.com columnist Doug Giles.

http://townhall.com/columnists/HannahGiles/2009/10/28/mainstream_media_ignores_juicy_acorn_nuggets#at

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

NUTBUSTERZ: We are a citizen action group committed to exposing the danger that ACORN and the Working Family Party poses to our democracy based on their record of subverting elections through voter fraud, falsifying petitions for Constitutional Amendments and favored candidacies, looting government housing programs, blackmailing corporations and cheating the public campaign finance system.

http://nutbusterz.org/

The spaghetti western database

http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Essential_Top_20_Films

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WISE WORDS

"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care, and so on. The only thing lacking ... is freedom."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."

-John Adams

op ed review 10/25

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

The decline in Barack Obama's popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6409721/Barack-Obama-sees-worst-poll-rating-drop-in-50-years.html#

27% of the nation's voters strongly approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent strongly disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

A poll shows that only 34% of Californians approve of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) job performance, down 14 points from March.

http://thehill.com//blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/63689-poll-34-of-californians-approve-of-pelosis-job-performance

It has been nearly three months since General Stanley McChrystal asked President Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan, and still the "commander in chief" has declined to make a decision.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6879511.ece

Health care legislation taking shape in the House carries a price tag of at least $1 trillion over a decade

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091023/D9BH41EO0.html

A recent IBD/TIPP Poll showed two-thirds of physicians opposing Congress' proposed reforms, and warning of dire consequences. Now, a forum of prominent doctors has amplified those concerns.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=509698

President Obama is working systematically to marginalize the most powerful forces behind the Republican Party, setting loose top White House officials to undermine conservatives in the media, business and lobbying worlds.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28532.html

The effort is generating a backlash on Capitol Hill — and not just from Republicans.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28638.html

Your tax dollars at work: The first direct stimulus reports showed that $787 billion stimulus package has saved or created just 30,083 jobs. This comes to almost $532,000 per job “saved or created”.

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/16/jobs-saved-or-created-from-787-billion-porkulus-30083/

More than 80 people protested the Houston Chronicle's downtown building, asking for publicity for their conservative message as part of a widespread effort to protest news organizations. “We want the government out of our lives and we don't want to see our country become a socialist country,” said North Houston/Woodlands Tea Party organizer Suzanne Guggenheim.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6672596.html

The Justice Department has concluded that black voters need the Democratic Party.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/20/justice-dept-blocks-ncs-nonpartisan-vote/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_top_stories

"In a world exclusive, Oprah Winfrey will interview former Alaska governor Sarah Palin for an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to air Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.”

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/tv-zone-1.811968/oprah-goes-rogue-invites-palin-on-show-1.1535028/7.810409?view=blogPostComments

The number of Americans who believe there is solid evidence the Earth is warming because of pollution is at its lowest point in three years, according to a survey released Thursday.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/poll-americans-belief-in-169483.html

U.S. communications regulators voted unanimously to support “internet socialism”.

http://www.reuters.com/article/regulatoryNewsConsumerGoodsAndRetail/idUSN2237873320091022

House Democrats are at an impasse over whether their remake of the nation's health care system would effectively allow federal funding of abortion. At least two dozen anti-abortion Democrats believe it would.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091023/D9BGMCP00.html

The Obama administration’s safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings, has accused the Baptists, the Boy Scouts and sports fans of anti-gay bias, and he has advocated a special high school for gay teens as well as gay-straight alliance clubs for every high school in America. Jennings, who was a prominent homosexual activist before being named director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education, also has called for kindergarteners to be taught to respect all sexual orientations, while insisting that “ex-gay messages” and “Christian values” have no place in the nation’s public schools.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/55754

Cities are short of money, but Seattle can afford to do this?

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=76&sid=227018

It is "extremely unlikely" that taxpayers will receive a full return on their bailout money, says a new report by the Treasury Department's independent watchdog.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/21/tarp-watchdog-says-full-repayment-unlikely/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_more_news_carousel

More than $2.3 million in federal economic stimulus grants have gone to eight cosmetology and massage schools in Florida to pay tuition for the hairdressers, masseuses and nail technicians of tomorrow.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/article1044637.ece

Surprising endorsement: Seattle Times recommends Susan Hutchison for King County Executive

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2010079882_edit18exec.html

“A few weeks ago, a funny thing happened — call it a late night political paradigm shift. Conan O’Brien featured a tape of Sesame Street characters….instead of talking about food, the muppets questioned Obama’s ‘United States birth certificate’ and his ’socialist health care agenda.’ In the past, satire like this might have been automatically assumed to be an attack on the right, but the skit ended up taking some Obama fans aback. Then, Saturday Night Live rolled out a skit blatantly saying Obama had accomplished nothing, and followed it up by laughing at his Nobel Prize….”

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jmeath/2009/10/21/snl-isnt-funny-but-left-still-worry-obama-may-become-punchline/

Great moments in socialized medicine: National Health Service has spent £1.5m paying for hundreds of its staff to have private health treatment so they can leapfrog their own waiting lists. More than 3,000 staff, including doctors and nurses, have gone private at the taxpayers’ expense in the past three years because the queues at the clinics and hospitals where they work are too long.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6879553.ece

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Editor’s note: Just to be clear: this is satire written by a conservative writer, but as he says, “It really seems like something a liberal would argue, because the central theme of all their government programs is that freedom is overrated. They just have too much sense to say that out loud….”

Brain-Dead Conservatives Obsessed with ‘Freedom’

Frank Fleming 10/16

The big problem in America today is all these people who won't let the government do everything.

Conservative arguments against President Obama are becoming increasingly silly. They oppose Obama rescuing businesses despite all the jobs on the line, they’re against government taking control of health care from soulless insurance companies, and they oppose increased taxes on energy consumption despite the sorry state of the environment. And why do they oppose these most sensible actions? Because of their irrational, brain-dead obsession with liberty.

Of course, everyone likes freedom — to a point — but there are a number of loud, stupid Americans who just take it to ridiculous extremes. They hoard their freedoms like greedy little dwarfs hoarding gold when they have little actual use for most of it. People need rules and order and guidance, but they hardly ever need liberty. Liberty doesn’t feed your family. Liberty doesn’t heal you when you’re sick. Liberty doesn’t educate your children. A strong government can do all those things, but apparently that’s against liberty. Thus these freedom-obsessed conservatives ignorantly rail against it like Bible-thumpers do against science, when they should realize it’s not their enemy; it’s their superior.

Just look at this ludicrous debate over health care reform. Of course the government should provide health care for everyone; how obvious can anything be? The government has the money and smart people working for everyone’s interests to make sure all get health care, so why would anyone be against that? Because apparently people aren’t “free” to make their health care choices for themselves. How is that freedom worth anything when people go without? Real freedom is not having to worry about health care, and that’s what you get when you have the government take it over. Yes, you’ll have little control over who gets what kind of care, but some people will just have to suffer some for the betterment of the whole. The advantage of having the government in control is that it makes sure the fewest number suffer, and those that do aren’t particularly important.

Simple logic like this, though, is like water off a duck’s back to the tea baggers. They scream about their money being taken, but what exactly were they going to spend it on? Beer hats? NASCAR tickets? Cheetos? Oh, yes, that’s freedom worth preserving. But the more money the government has, the more control it can take over businesses and, thus, the economy. Then job creation lies in the hands of government — which looks out for its citizens — instead of in the hands of uncaring corporations out to make a buck off the misery of others. But apparently many Americans like being preyed upon by heartless corporations because that’s “liberty.” Well, if that’s liberty, no wonder so many progressive-minded people don’t want to participate.

Most of the civilized world has moved beyond this uncompromising view of “freedom” — if they were ever foolish enough to adopt it in the first place. Can you think of any other country that would permit its citizens to have guns like America does? Of course not; that’s beyond moronic. People know freedom is a dangerous, scary thing, and you have to be careful how much you tolerate. People can’t be free to have items that could be used to hurt others; dangerous things like that should only be permissible for those the government considers worthy of possessing them. The U.S. still doesn’t understand this — in fact, it has in recent years allowed even more freedom to own weaponry to the point that even Democrats can’t discuss the basic, common sense measure of firearm confiscation — and that’s why it is a mockery to decent, civilized nations.

This isn’t to say freedom is a bad thing. I think we can all agree that people should have unlimited freedom to do whatever weird sex stuff they like. Also, people should have the liberty to use mind-altering drugs. We should also have freedom of speech, but that ought to be limited by common sense. College campuses are a good example: they allow all sorts of progressive-minded speech and ban what they consider to be dangerous or hateful speech. That’s a perfectly fine standard, as long as we have the right people in charge making those decisions. That’s why it’s much more important than freedom to make sure we have the right people in government.

So what would be optimal in this country if we stopped the mindless liberty worship? I suggest slavery. Yes, I know it has a long awful history, but think about it. With slavery, everyone is guaranteed a job. Slaves get food and shelter. And we can make sure all needs are met by forcing people to take the jobs they are best suited for. Slavery is true freedom, because it is freedom from want and worry. It may have been a horrible thing when racist southerners were doing it, but think of how great it could be if benevolent liberals looking out for the good of all were in charge. I would say it is, in fact, the ultimate progressive ideal.

But how are we going to sell slavery to people when they don’t even want a public option?

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/brain-dead-conservatives-obsessed-with-freedom/

This guy is good, here’s his website: http://www.imao.us/

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"The problem with Iran is its regime; its nuclear program is merely a symptom of that problem. Do you lay awake at night worrying about Britain's nuclear weapons? France's? Israel's? Of course not, because stable democracies in general, and stable democratic allies in particular, aren't a threat. If your neighbor is an upright and responsible citizen, who cares if he has a gun? If your neighbor is a complete whackjob and criminal, you sure as Shinola care if he has a gun. Armed neighbors aren't a problem, dangerous ones are. The same logic applies to nations."

-Jonah Goldberg

"Twenty years ago this fall, the Iron Curtain was coming down in Europe. Across the Warsaw Pact, the jailers of the Communist prison states lost their nerve, and the cell walls crumbled. Matt Welch, the editor of Reason magazine, wonders why the anniversary is going all but unobserved: Why aren't we making more of the biggest mass liberation in history? Well, because to celebrate it would involve recognizing it as a victory over Communism. And, after the left's long march through the institutions of the west, most are not willing to do that. There's the bad totalitarianism (Nazism) and the good totalitarianism (Communism), whose apologists and, indeed, fetishists can still be found everywhere, even unto the White House."

-Mark Steyn

"So the president's aides appear on other news channels to say that Fox, unlike those outlets, is really not a news organization but an arm of the Republican Party. One wonders how our colleagues at CNN and elsewhere like being patted on the head and given the seal of approval by the White House."

-Brit Hume

“The military should not be a test lab. Pressure is building to put female sailors on submarines, along with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people presumably. That many heterosexuals find homosexual behavior immoral and not conducive to unit cohesion is of no concern to the social wrecking crew. What gay activists apparently don't care about is the effect reshaping the military in their image would have on our ability to fight and defend the country, which, after all, is the purpose of a military. ... The gays in the military and gay marriage issues are part of a broader attempt by liberals to restructure society. Social activists despise biblical morality (which heterosexuals could use a little more of, too), traditional values that have been proven to work when tried and numerous other cultural mores. This is not an opinion. It is also not a secret."

-Cal Thomas

"It's not the color of Obama's skin that we oppose. It's the color of his policies. It's not his blackness. It's his redness."

-Rush Limbaugh

"White House communications director Anita Dunn was videotaped telling a college crowd her favorite political philosopher is Mao Tse Tung, the founder of Communist China. She said she turns to him often. She just took the lead in the White House competition to see who can make the best Republican campaign commercial for next year."

-Argus Hamilton

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GLOBALONEY

A former science adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher says the real purpose of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18 is to use global warming hype as a pretext to lay the foundation for a one-world government. "Your president will sign it. Most of the Third World countries will sign it, because they think they're going to get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regimes from the European Union will rubber stamp it. Virtually nobody won't sign it," he told the audience of some 700 attendees.

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=113219

Coming next: carbon dioxide emissions labels on food products and restaurant menus.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/world/europe/23degrees.html?_r=1

The Department of Energy has loaned $529 million dollars of your money to a Finnish company that is producing a $90,000 dollar hybrid sports car.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/16013

No matter how many times Congress debates it, and no matter how environmentalists couch it, cap-and-trade will do virtually nothing to stop global warming, and cap-and-trade, as Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said, “is a tax, and a great big one.” These are the fundamentals in the cap-and-trade debate, and Republicans must refocus on them.

http://www.rollcall.com/features/Policy-Briefing_Energy-2009/energy_environment/39557-1.html

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LEFTIST WATCH

Emily Douglas, Web editor for The Nation magazine, said that making the “recession worse” and making goods “more expensive” is a good thing for America because it reduces consumerism and protects the environment.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/55558

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that individual health insurance mandates were ''like paying taxes.'' He added that Congress has ''broad authority'' to force Americans to purchase other things as well, so long as it tries to promote ''the general welfare.''

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/55851

"We get the joke. We know that the free market is nonsense. We know that the whole point is to game the system, to beat the market or at least find someone who will pay you a lot of money because they're convinced that there is a free lunch. We know this is largely about power, that it's an adults-only, no-limit game. We kind of agree with Mao [Tse-tung] that political 'power comes largely from the barrel of a gun.'"

-Ron Bloom, the White House manufacturing czar

The American Society of Magazine Editors has created a special award category to honor the best Barack Obama magazine cover. (Rolling Stone wins it this year.)

http://www.magazine.org/asme/2009-best-magazine-cover-winners-finalists.aspx

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NOTICE

Veterans and active duty military eat free at Applebee’s on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11. Just show proof of service.

http://www.applebees.com/vetsday/

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ARTICLES

“The most important thing you’ll read this week: are reports that the President’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel has been quietly but firmly twisting arms in the back rooms to insure the public option is included in the final bill……What exactly is so important about the public option anyway? And why do Democrats in particular seem so wedded to the idea?.....The truth is that the public plan is a carefully devised scheme, a sneaky strategy, to deceive American voters. It’s a political marketing ploy designed to move the nation to a single-payer system – like the one in Canada – over the next decade. The public option is the Trojan horse. On the outside it’s all about “choice and competition”, but once it has been dragged within the walls of American medicine its true nature will become evident. By that time, it’ll be too late. You want proof? We’ve got plenty.”

http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/21/the-public-option-deception-with-exclusive-new-audio/

“Decline Is a Choice: The New Liberalism and the End of American Ascendancy." That was the title of the devastating critique of Obama Administration foreign, defense, and domestic policies delivered by Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer at the annual Wriston Lecture at the Manhattan Institute in New York City on October 5.

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/10/21/president-obama-chooses-declin

For a feminist party, Democrats have a problem with women, or rather, with one certain type: Young and/or youngish, cute and/or stunning, with good hair, many children, and outspoken center-right views. Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann (dark hair, with five children) first roused the beast, and misogynist instincts. Now there's Liz Cheney, (blond, with five children), whom they themselves have made into a star.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Why-lefties-fear-strong-women-like-Liz-Cheney-8413465.html#

Great headline: “White House Tries to Muzzle Media; Draws Back a Bloody Stump.”

http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2009/10/22/white-house-tries-to-muzzle-media-draws-back-a-bloody-stump/

Sarah Palin's decision to endorse the Conservative party candidate over the Republican nominee in a special House election in upstate New York is the latest example that the former Alaska governor's allegiance is to her conservative principles rather than the edicts of the party.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/morning-fix-10.html?hpid=news-col-blog

(The republican candidate “reliably voted for higher taxes, supported abortion rights, flipped back and forth about card check, and was endorsed by none other than the far-left Daily Kos blog.” But “she has… received backing from the national Republican Party and an endorsement from Newt Gingrich.”

Can President Barack Obama and Congress enact legislation that orders Americans to buy broccoli? If so, where did they get that authority? What provision in the Constitution empowers the federal government to order an individual to buy a product he does not want? It is a question about the constitutional limits on the power of the federal government. It is a question about freedom.

http://townhall.com/columnists/TerryJeffrey/2009/10/21/can_obama_and_congress_order_you_to_buy_broccoli?page=full

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

ACORN is suing conservative journalist Hannah Giles for exposing their fraud, here’s her defense fund site with a must see video of her being interviewed on FOX news.

http://www.defendhannah.org/

Good attack ad against Dow Constantine.

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

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HUMOR

“President Obama orders 40,000 more U.S. troops committed to the fight against Fox News”

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WISE WORDS

"You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, 'The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.' The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing."

-Ronald Reagan

op ed review 10/18

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

Democratic members of the House of Representatives now represent most of the nation's wealthiest people, a sharp turnaround from the long-standing dominance that Republicans have held over affluent districts.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-10-13-House-wealth-gap-Democrats-richest-districts_N.htm

The federal deficit for 2009 is now $1.42 trillion. The previous year's deficit was $459 billion. “What is $1.42 trillion? It's more than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic, more than the entire economy of India, almost as much as Canada's, and more than $4,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States.” “it could be the seeds of another economic crisis.”

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091017/D9BCHP5O0.html

New Rasmussen poll: GOP 2012 presidential preference: : Huckabee 29% Romney 24% Palin 18%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2012/gop_2012_huckabee_29_romney_24_palin_18

The Obama administration has loosened export controls on technology that will benefit Chinese missile development.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=509357

RINO watch: Conservative Republicans have begun sending bags of salt to Olympia Snowe's Maine office as part of a protest at her decision to break ranks and vote for a compromise version of Obama's health-care scheme. Salt is used on US roads to melt snow.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/republicans-use-icy-attack-on-renegade-20091015-gz97.html

According to most conservatives in South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has officially gone over to the dark side. Under the guise of 'bipartisanship,' Graham has signed on to one of the left's most ambitious plans to impose a socialist agenda in America - government control of the formerly free market through implementation of cap-and trade.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/the_seduction_of_lindsey_graha_1.html

The AFL-CIO in a newspaper ad this week told the president and congressional Dems: If health care legislation doesn't include a public option, they won't support it. And if it does include a tax on their “gold-plated plans”, they'll oppose it.

http://townhall.com/columnists/LindaChavez/2009/10/16/unions_calling_in_their_chits?page=full

Sarah Palin fans can expect to see a new Palin political organization surface as her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” hits the shelves next month.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/10/14/palin-plans-new-political-group/

The most popular headline at the Real Clear Politics website the other day was: “Is Obama Becoming A Joke?” With brilliant comedic timing, the very next morning the Norwegians gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. Up next: His stunning victory in this year’s Miss World contest.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Mjg1YWFkM2RiZWU2NzllMjZkMGJjNTY2NjkzZTMxYTg

This just in from the Pulitzer Committee. “Barack Obama will be awarded the prestigious prize for his writing in "The Audacity of Hope."

http://townhall.com/blog/g/f712ef05-9cf9-4c60-9261-6b407ab67e86

“Obama Wins Heisman Trophy!”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-09/obama-wins-heisman-trophy/full/

“In the rose garden last Friday, Barack Obama, with a deep sense of humility and in the name of all mankind, reluctantly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize committee's decision proclaiming him president of planet Earth. He will be sworn in at a glittering ceremony in Oslo in December. In the meantime, Obama has decided to retain the title and the powers of president of the United States,”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/217096

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/15/troop-funds-diverted-to-pet-projects/

Fewer than one-third of Pennsylvania voters believe Senator Arlen Specter should be elected to another term...

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/10/14/New-poll-bad-news-for-Sen-Specter/UPI-89571255546351/

Nevadans say they're ready to replace Sen. Harry Reid with a Republican.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/two-could-beat-reid-poll-finds-63955312.html

At an apartment in Albany Oregon, residents were told they can't fly American flags. The reason: “..the flags could be offensive because they live in a diverse community.”

http://www.katu.com/news/local/64059697.html

Rush Limbaugh, who saw his bid to co-own a National Football League team sacked partly because of quotes he purportedly made regarding slavery, could have grounds for a libel suit, legal experts told Foxnews.com.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,566983,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r5:c0.070391:b28329240:z0

The plot thickens on the media’s character-lynching of Rush Limbaugh. Of the four stories ran on ESPN.com about Limbaugh’s bid for the Rams none of them mention that NFL Players Association Executive Director served as council to Attorney General Eric Holder and member of Barack Obama’s transition team.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/10/limbaugh_targeted_by_obama_off.html

Rush explains what happened:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704322004574477021697942920.html

Thousands of homosexual and lesbian activists marched through Washington after President Obama pledged to end the ban on gays serving openly in the US military. He also said he would work to undo America’s Defense of Marriage Act that allows states to refuse to recognise gay marriages from other states. “The president said he believed a gay relationship was ‘just as admirable as a relationship between a man and a woman'.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1219629/Obama-promises-cheering-crowd-Lady-GaGa-end-ban-gays-serving-openly-military.html

Great moments in socialized medicine: Ambulance paramedics in the UK battling to save a nine-year-old car crash victim were told the nearest back-up crew could not help as they were on their lunchbreak.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1220341/Ambulance-crew-barred-helping-girl-9-fractured-skull-having-lunch.html

A grandfather who beat cancer was wrongly told the disease had returned and left to die at a hospice which pioneered a controversial 'death pathway'. His family says he was denied food, water and medication except painkillers. He died within two weeks. But tests after his death found that his cancer was gone.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1219853/My-husband-beaten-cancer-doctors-wrongly-told-returned-let-die.html

Zero intelligence policies: Six-year-old Zachary Christie was so excited to become a Cub Scout that he brought his camping utensil to school. The tool serves as a spoon, a fork and a knife, and Zachary wanted to use it at lunch. What Zachary didn't know was that the gizmo violated his school's zero-tolerance policy on weapons.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,564605,00.html

And a 17-year-old Eagle Scout in upstate New York has been barred from stepping foot on school grounds for 20 days — for keeping a 2-inch pocketknife locked in a survival kit in his car.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,565520,00.html

A farmer in the UK has been fined £150 for 'failing to meet the psychological and ethological needs' of a cow. “ Ronald Norcliffe's offence was to keep his cattle in a barn without electric light.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/columnists/article-1220775/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-How-long-crime-Buttercup-dark-Richard-Norcliffe.html

A radical Muslim group has launched a massive campaign to impose Sharia law on Britain. The group is demanding a complete upheaval of the British legal system, its officials and legislation. Members have urged Muslims from all over Britain to converge on the capital.

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/134080

Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s eldest daughter Liz will launch a new group aimed at rallying opposition to the “radical” foreign policy of the Obama administration which it says has succeeded only in undermining the nation’s security.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28212.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Europe’s Bid to Re-Colonize America

Dick Morris 10/13

Whether it was rewarding Jimmy Carter for criticizing the Iraq War or supporting Al Gore in his crusade against global warming, the Norwegian Parliament — which chooses the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize — has sought to use the award as a political tool to influence American politics. Its prestige and moral power make the prize a potent weapon with which to help steer the direction of the colossus beyond the seas that controls a quarter of the world’s economy and most of its military power.

Now, the Norwegians have weighed in to support Barack Obama in his bid to reshape America so it looks more like, well, Norway — or at least like Europe.

European socialism cannot succeed without conquering the United States. If the European Union has high taxes and the U.S. keeps its levies low, business and brains will flow to America. If the EU’s labor standards require long vacations and high benefits and proscribe layoffs, and ours do not, employers will migrate across the ocean to do their business in the States. If the Old World curbs ambition by taxation, regulation and social opprobrium, the ambitious will flock to the New World, as they have done for four hundred years.

So, Vladimir Lenin was right. Socialism cannot exist in just one country — or one continent. It must dominate worldwide, or wealth and power will flow to those who remain committed to the free market. Europe realizes this reality, and it makes Obama’s election as president of the United States all the more welcome.

The Nobel Prize is really Obama’s payback for disciplining the unruly United States and taming it to be a member of the European family of nations. Europe wants to reverse the American Revolution and re-colonize us, and it sees in Obama a kindred spirit willing to do its bidding.

Does the United States let its entrepreneurs run wild, coming up with fanciful new ideas and making billions from them? Obama will regulate and subdue business just like they do in Europe. Do U.S. businesses compete by slashing prices, aggressively pursuing markets and jockeying for market share? Obama will make them behave themselves and stay in line, just like European companies do. Do Americans work hard and push aggressively to make as much money as they can? Obama will raise taxes, emphasize community values and narcotize their ambition by offering government largesse.

And does the United States still believe in a sloppy, contrarian democracy in which ordinary people can directly affect their government, states have powers and courts can reel in executive authority? Obama will use his rubber stamp majority in Congress to pass new laws regardless of public opinion and make us obey.

In foreign policy, is the United States still willing to stand up, alone if necessary, to protect human rights in Bosnia, in Iraq and in Afghanistan? Obama will curb this unruly independence and mold it within the fabric of appeasement that has dominated Europe for the past half a century.

All this heavy lifting, this conversion of America into a European state, deserves a reward. And what is a more fitting one to give Obama than the Nobel Peace Prize? He obviously doesn’t deserve the award for economics or, given his health care ideas, for medicine. But the Peace Prize expresses Europe’s longing: to take back the nation its overly ambitious and uppity children founded.

Edited from a longer column, read it here:

http://frontpagemag.com/2009/10/13/europes-bid-to-re-colonize-america-by-dick-morris/

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

“As we've said before, the Baucus bill will lead, inevitably, to higher taxes, lower-quality care, rationing and the intrusion of government into the most sensitive decisions we make. ... There are lines in the sand for both parties, and this bill should be one. A person can't support Baucus and still say he or she's for small, or limited, government. This is Leviathan writ large. ... The GOP must be wondering: With members like [Snowe], who needs Democrats?"

-Investor's Business Daily

"The best thing government can do for us is to get out of the way and let us care for ourselves. These [deficit] numbers are unsustainable. They are outrageous. And they will become a reality unless enough Americans rise up and say they are not going to take it anymore. It's our money, not theirs. They are now stealing it before we make it. Let's hear some outrage about this."

-Cal Thomas

"I'm not all for Americans winning international prizes, especially the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, I'm vigorously against it. The transnational progressives who pass out these accolades believe America is the problem in the world, the main threat to peace, the impediment to 'progress,' etc. The award is a symbolic statement of opposition to American exceptionalism, American might, American capitalism, American self-determinism, and American pursuit of America's interests in the world."

-Andy McCarthy

"The Peace Prize judges won't see it this way, but America has gone to Europe twice in the past century to fight for peace. This is an old concept, and has to do with killing killers so they can't kill anymore. It cost America a lot to do this, and we kept no territory, as they say, beyond the graves where our soldiers lie. America then taxed itself and gave its wealth not only to its allies but to its former adversaries, to help them rebuild. We didn't actually have to do this. We did it to make the world better. We did it to foster peace. (They should give us a prize.)"

-Peggy Noonan

"Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be a well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy free health care and 100 percent literacy."

-John Derbyshire

__________________________________________________________________________________________

GLOBALONEY

The climate change correspondent of BBC News has admitted that global warming stopped in 1998 – and he reports that leading scientists believe that the earth’s cooling-off may last for decades. Whatever happened to global warming?” is the title of an article by Paul Hudson that represents a clear departure from the BBC’s fanatical espousal of climate change orthodoxy.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100013173/the-bbcs-amazing-u-turn-on-climate-change/

In the freezing foothills of Montana, the temperature has shattered a 36-year record. Further into the heartlands of America, the city of Billings registered -12C on Sunday, breaking the 1959 barrier of -5C.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220052/Austria-sees-earliest-snow-history-America-sees-lowest-temperatures-50-years-So-did-global-warming-go.html?ITO=1490#

Record-low temperatures in southwestern Idaho are threatening to destroy at least a portion of this season's crop of seed potatoes.

http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_c1c13d5e-b6a4-11de-a09c-001cc4c002e0.html

Long-standing records were shattered as temperatures plummeted around North Central Washington.

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2009/oct/12/record-cold-hits-region-snow-on-the-way/

Austria’s provincial capitals are expected to see their earliest snowfalls in history as Arctic air sweeps the country.

http://austriantimes.at/news/General_News/2009-10-12/17147/Early_snow_records_set_to_be_broken

How do you reconcile the early snow in Minneapolis, ski resorts already opening in Nevada, and that August chill in North Dakota with expert warnings about a warming climate? You don’t. Why? The Earth isn’t warming right now, is why.“The depth of the cold of the coming winters will change the social and political climate in ways that only nature can orchestrate,”

http://features.csmonitor.com/discoveries/2009/10/10/biggest-news-youve-never-heard-earth-isnt-warming/

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BOOKS

Lots of climate change skeptics have written books:

“Blue Planet in Green Shackles” by Vaclav Klaus "The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy, and prosperity at the end of the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st century is no longer socialism," writes Klaus. "It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism."

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Green-Shackles-Vaclav-Klaus/dp/B001A3W3BK

“Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor” by Roy Spencer “….distinguished climatologist Dr. Roy Spencer observes that our obsession with global warming has only clouded the issue. Forsaking blindingly technical statistics and doomsday scenarios, Dr. Spencer explains in simple terms how the climate system really works, why man's role in global warming is more myth than science, and how the global warming hype has corrupted Washington and the scientific community”

http://www.amazon.com/Climate-Confusion-Pandering-Politicians-Misguided/dp/1594032106/ref=pd_sim_b_2

“The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You to Know About--Because They Helped Cause Them” by Iain Murray “…Murray's rollicking expose reveals how environmental blowhards waste more energy, endanger more species, and actually kill more people than the environmental villains they finger.”

http://www.amazon.com/Really-Inconvenient-Truths-Environmental-About-Because/dp/1596980540/ref=pd_sim_b_1

“Global Warming False Alarm: The Bad Science Behind the United Nations' Assertion that Man-made CO2 Causes Global Warming” by Ralph B. Alexander “Years ago, he was inclined to believe the "general wisdom" about the problem. His diametrically opposite conclusions are a result of his long research of the problem. And his pride of a scientist has been hurt. Climatology has become an ugly example of a scientific discipline that has largely ceased to be scientific.”

http://www.amazon.com/Global-Warming-False-Alarm-Assertion/dp/0984098909/ref=pd_sim_b_5

“Air Con: The Seriously Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming” by Ian Wishart. “Wishart's book demonstrates that there is not the slightest scientific reason for the new, quasi-religious belief that The Planet needs Saving. The new religion is merely an excuse for world government. World government will not, repeat not, be democratic government. The 'global warming' debate is not really a debate about climatology - it is a debate about freedom. It is the aim of the growing world-government faction among the international classe politique to take away our hard-won freedom and democracy forever.”

http://www.amazon.com/Air-Con-Seriously-Inconvenient-Warming/dp/0958240140/ref=pd_sim_b_1

“Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them” by Steven Milloy. The environmental movement has cultivated a warm and fuzzy public image, but behind the smiley-face rhetoric of "sustainability" and "conservation" lies a dark agenda. The Greens aim to regulate your behavior, downsize your lifestyle, and invade the most intimate aspects of your personal life. In this stunning exposé, Steve Milloy unveils the authoritarian impulse underlying the Green crusade. Whether they're demanding that you turn down your thermostat, stop driving your car, or engage in some other senseless act of self-denial, the Greens are envisioning a grim future for you marked by endless privation.

http://www.amazon.com/Green-Hell-Environmentalists-Plan-Control/dp/1596985852/ref=pd_sim_b_4

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LEFTIST WATCH

The rogue’s gallery: The following thumbnails describe a very small sampling of the locust horde of Leftist bureaucrats President Barack Hussein Obama has deliberately chosen to help him grasp the helm of America's ship of state, strip it from the American people, and steer it hard to port.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/ship_of_fools_obamas_intimates.html

MSNBC’s loathsome Keith Olbermann said Michelle Malkin looks like a “big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick” and railed about her “fascistic hatred.” Liberal viewers responded by sending her vulgar hate mail. (Foul language warning)

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/10/14/this-is-what-a-big-mashed-up-bag-of-meat-with-lipstick-looks-like/

Rep. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to comment, “I think we’re seeing a common DNA run through the Obama (judicial) nominees, and that’s the ACLU chromosome.”

http://townhall.com/columnists/JillianBandes/2009/10/16/aclu_pipeline_for_obama_judges?page=full

Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Friday shocked the world. But a peek at the backgrounds of the five people who made the selection gives a clue why the prize panel would be so favorably disposed to Obama – three of them would be considered hard-left liberals in American politics. One of those belongs to Norway’s Socialist Left party.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28138.html

ACORN or not, the 2010 census will be an organizing tool for the American Left. Here is a partial list of other census partners, according to the Census website. Among them: AFL-CIO, National Council of La Raza, SEIU, NEA, The Teamster’s Union...etc.

http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/10/2010-census-still-a-boondoggle-for-the-left/

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ARTICLES

Some mistakenly think a Senate panel vote means health reform will soon become law. Is it really that easy to take $26,000 a year away from the average American family?

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=508832

Top democrat lets the cat out of the bag: "We're going to have to, if you're very old, we're not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It's too expensive...so we're going to let you die." In fact it came from the very liberal former Labor Secretary Robert Reich who is now an economics adviser for Barack Obama.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2009/10/13/robert-reich-reveals-brutal-health-care-truths-msm-snores

“I have been a faithful Rush Limbaugh radio show listener for almost 20 years. I have never heard Rush make one racist comment. As a matter of fact, I am a black man who has been inspired and encouraged by Rush on numerous occasions. I am highly offended watching the liberal media's all out assault on this great American…..”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/if_rush_limbaugh_is_a_racist_a.html

While the energy of the anti-tax and anti-big government Tea Party movement may yet haunt Democrats in 2010, the first order of business appears to be remaking the Republican Party. Tea Party forces are confronting the Republican establishment by backing insurgent conservatives and generating their own candidates….

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28157.html

The Nobel committee may have chosen President Obama as the Peace Prize winner because of its hopes for his impact on the world -- but his top achievement so far has come at home. Indeed, Obama has been on a roll. In nine months, he has breathed life into the Republican Party, boosted pro-lifers, tarnished the reputation of regulation, bolstered traditional values, increased the public's desire for immigration restriction and shifted

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/why_the_gop_should_give_prize_4POGGHqMOW0OLzsXz7Cf9K

Is President Obama in trouble with his late-night comedy base? It’s likely he hasn’t noticed or doesn’t care. The bits about him are getting harsher. They are no longer just gentle gibes about Bo the dog, big ears, bad bowling and beer summits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/weekinreview/11leibovich.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Andy Thomas the painter: “The Grand Ol’ Gang”

http://www.andythomas.com/images/design/2008Grand%20Ol%20Gang.jpg

The best painting of The Gipper you’ll ever see:

http://www.andythomas.com/detail.aspx?ID=49

The Republican National Committee debuted its newly redesigned online portal this week.

http://gop.com/

The Canada Free Press: “Espousing Conservative viewpoints, cornerstone of which contain love of God, love of family, love of country, CFP maintains a loyal and growing readership.”

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/About-us/

Target Corp. had to apologize after coming under fire for selling an "illegal alien" Halloween costume on its website. The $39.99 costume comes with a space alien mask, an orange jail suit with "illegal alien" stamped on the chest and a large "green card."

http://www.target.com/gp/search/191-0630813-4254004?field-keywords=illegal+alien&url=index%3Dtarget%26search-alias%3Dtgt-index&ref=sr_bx_1_1&x=259&y=18

Top ten Obama quotes:

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/10/top-quotes-from-this-years-nobel-peace.html

Tracing the “History of political correctness”

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8630135369495797236&ei=kJDWSvKsJ4ewwgOnheH_Cg&q=history+of+political+correctness&hl=en

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WISE WORDS

"The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and is its concern for freedom from the state."

-Ludwig von Mises

"After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."

-Alexis de Tocqueville