op ed review 12/27

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

The consequence of losing elections: The Democratic-controlled Senate passed health care legislation Thursday, 60-39, strictly along party lines, one day after Democrats succeeded in crushing a filibuster.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_overhaul

Unbelievable. To protect it from future Republican Congresses, the Senate health care bill declares on page 1020 that the Independent Medicare Advisory Board is permanent and cannot be repealed.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/12/reid_bill_declares_future_cong_1.asp

With Obamacare, you get the good, the bad, and the ugly -- except for the first part. The Congressional Budget Office's score is in for the final Senate health bill, and it's amazing how little Americans would get for so much. The Democrats are irresponsibly and disingenuously claiming that the bill would cost $871 billion over 10 years. The CBO says that the bill's full 10-year tab is approximately $2.5 trillion.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/12/cbo_real_10year_cost_of_senate.asp

The ‘health care reform’ legislation is the most corrupt piece of legislation in our nation’s history. Yes, we understand that is a strong statement and there have been other abominations throughout our nation’s life. But never before did corrupt legislation threaten to radically and forever change the lives of every American. Exhibit A is the outright bribe extracted by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Corn Huckster State) from Sen. Harry Reid. As a result of Nelson’s performance in his role of Hamlet in the health care deliberations, we will have two health care systems in this country; one for Nebraska and one for the other 49 states.

http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/19/sen-nelsons-bribe/

In exchange for Nelson’s critical 60th vote, Sen. Reid agreed that the federal government would pick up 100 percent of the tab for the planned Medicaid expansion in Nebraska – forever.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/58899

The CBO’s analysis indicates the bill would slap a mandatory annual fee of about $15,000 on middle-class families of four earning more than $88,200 and not provided with health insurance by their employer.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/58913

But Democratic celebrations are premature, the battle isn’t over, and opponents of the legislation could still win.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Y2Y0ZmQwYTRlMzA5MzBjMTZjMzY1M2FlNGY5OTRiOTg=

Organizations and lawmakers opposed to the health care reform package are getting their legal briefs organized, threatening to challenge the constitutionality of the sweeping overhaul.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/22/health-care-face-string-legal-challenges/

The Senate also voted Thursday to raise the ceiling on the government debt to $12.4 trillion, a massive increase over the current limit. ($41,000 for every American).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091224/ap_on_bi_ge/us_debt_ceiling

Thirteen years ago, Damon Dunn ran 93 yards to score a touchdown against USC. Now the Irvine CA Republican, who had never voted until this year, is running for secretary of state. He's articulate, outgoing, good looking -- and one of the few black Republican political candidates in California. Why Republican? "No entitlement program got me out of poverty," he says. "It was hard work."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap24-2009dec24,0,611441.column?track=rss

Usually one does not see Congressmen or Senators flipping parties to join the minority. Blue Dog Democrat Parker Griffith of Alabama, a freshman in Congress, has seen enough of Nancy Pelosi’s leadership. He will join Republicans in a move that has far more symbolic than substantive impact — for now.

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/22/breaking-blue-dog-flips-to-gop/

A decision to ordain actively gay clergy has caused deep fissures in the nation's largest Lutheran church group, with some traditional Lutherans saying they have been subjected to threats and retaliation as they consider breaking away. Several disaffected members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) say the decision made at the church's national convention in Minneapolis in August could prompt a major exodus.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/19/dissident-lutherans-claim-bullying-over-gays/

Scotland Yard has warned businesses in London to expect a Mumbai-style attack on the capital.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6962867.ece

A devout Christian teacher in the UK has lost her job after discussing her faith with a mother and her sick child and offering to pray for them.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1237204/Christian-teacher-lost-job-told-praying-sick-girl-bullying.html

Hawaii, New Mexico, Washington and Utah are the only states that don't ban illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580626,00.html

Great moments in socialized medicine: Women in the UK are still waiting months to find out whether they have breast cancer because of the Labor Party’s failure to meet a commitment. The party promised before the last election that any woman with signs of breast cancer would be seen by a specialist within two weeks by 2008. The deadline was later extended to the end of 2009 but the “cancer czar” has admitted the NHS will still fail to hit the target.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1237319/Labour-breaks-election-manifesto-women-wait-months-breast-cancer-diagnosis.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Tea Parties, Go Home! All Politics is Local! 12/22/09

By “A Confidential Source in the Halls of Power”

TEA Parties nation-wide have found that calling, writing, and showing up in person in D.C. has the same impact as a hiccup in a hurricane. After turning out thousands of citizens at rallies, overwhelming the Senate phone lines and crashing Congress’ e-mail system, our elected representatives are poised to enact the greatest expansion of government in history. The TEA Parties followed the direction of national organizations and associations. They answered the call, but were sent over the trench-line without an actual plan or support. (See, for example, Somme, Battle of) It is time for the TEA Party movement to turn inward. In the words of the age-old adage, “ All politics is local “.

Stories like the ACORN tapes have massive national legs, yet they do not destroy the local farm team of tax-and-spend big government. Fighting for Liberty and the ability to live the American dream requires getting your hands dirty far closer to home. For the TEA party and 9-12 groups to become effective, they must evolve again, and this time the Gadsden Flag will be a marker laid down to far more personal targets.

People find the mundane of daily life and local news forgettable, yet this is how the TEA party can enact meaningful change. To end the progression of large intrusive government and the progressive agenda, the TEA party must neuter the left’s farm team. City Council, County Board, Park Districts, and School Boards may not have the flash of State Representatives, State Senators or their federal partners, but, they are, indeed, perhaps more the important .

The progressives and Big Government-types have entrenched themselves into local power bases. They have expanded the role of government from the garbage man to the kindergarten teacher. They are taking us over from within, yet we can push back…..

Now is the time for the TEA party to show it’s real colors and longevity. Now it is time for us to stop the rallies and start the process of running for election and holding our current officials directly accountable. Now is the time for the plumber, the electrician, and the Joe Six-pack American to end this madness.

No more will we go quietly into that long night. Now, we must fight. We must take back the system and make our elected officials fear “we the people”. This is the battle our forefathers saw many years ago.

This is the time for the Tea Party to seize the day and make a difference. Which party you decide to run on doesn’t matter. Republican or Democrat matters little, as the national leaders of both have lost touch. What matters is we destroy the go-along-to-get-along farm team. It also matters that we pick a party…the Republicans and Democrats have together gamed the system against third parties. Creating a TEA Party isn’t a serious solution. Leverage your power locally to change your party.

Make a pledge to not vote to tax and spend the people’s money. Make a pledge to quit after “x” amounts of terms in office. The people are waiting for a leader; they are waiting for a Captain. Be that Captain. March to the sound of the guns, and seize the day.

With TEA party people in every position of government, the political class in Washington will listen. They will no longer have the political cover of pork-hungry Mayors doing tricks for the political elite. There will no longer be days of staffers blowing people off to vote for their party line.

A carpet-layer has more experience to lead than any political hack. An insurance man has more ability to look at regulations than a risk-adverse lawyer. A veteran has more understanding of what it takes to support our men and women in harms way…

Help start the process and run for office. The great sleeper that is America has woken up. 2010 is not the end game, neither is 2012. The end game is when we level the playing field and make America once again the land of opportunity.

Fly that Gadsden flag high and fly it proud. But, that isn’t enough. It is time to leave your fields and join the battle. March to the sound of the guns.

http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/21/code-tea-tea-parties-go-home-all-politics-is-local/

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

“It's Christmas Eve and we already know we got coal. The overzealous Left has wailed and won a major victory. They've passed a bloated bill that perfectly captures their statist state of mind. Americans stew, but our brake pedal (Congress) simply isn't working. We want more time, more thought, more debate, and all we got is this lousy bill rushed to us like some Tickle Me Elmo we never wanted but everyone thinks we're crazy about. Let's hope the gift is returnable. This is one receipt we're sure to keep.”

-Robert Costa

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GLOBALONEY

The United Nations climate change conference ended in recrimination without reaching a clear deal on emissions targets. After a stormy session in Copenhagen, in which a vociferous anti-American minority brought the talks close to collapse, most countries agreed simply to ''take note'' of a watered-down agreement brokered by President Barack Obama and supported by Britain. Critics pointed out, however, that the agreement failed to say how this limit on rising temperatures would be

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6962879.ece

Like Al Gore, the head of the UN's climate change panel has made a fortune from his links with 'carbon trading' companies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6847227/Questions-over-business-deals-of-UN-climate-change-guru-Dr-Rajendra-Pachauri.html

Record snow in Alaska : Valdez got five feet eight inches this week.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/dispatches/news/3334-valdez-socked-in

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LEFTIST WATCH

In a wide-ranging interview, Obama funder, terrorist sympathizer and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans spoke about her meetings with the Taliban and President Obama. “She lauded the Taliban for bringing peace and justice to Afghanistan” while saying that the U.S. has failed to deliver either.

http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/21/obama-funder-jodie-evans-on-her-new-tali-pals-taliban-bring-peace-and-justice-u-s-created-hell-on-earth-in-afghanistan/

The political advocacy group ''Rock the Vote'' has a new video out encouraging young people to abstain from having sex with folks opposed to healthcare reform.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/12/20/rock-vote-encourages-youth-use-sex-pass-obamacare

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) says those who don’t support health care legislation are “birthers and fanatics in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups.”

http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/watercooler/2009/dec/20/sen-whitehouse-foes-health-care-bill-are-birthers-/

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ARTICLES

'Page 1,020" — it may soon be a mantra for one of the most disturbing abuses of legislative power in history. In setting up an Independent Medicare Advisory Board, that page of the Senate health overhaul bill passed in the dead of night early Monday says, "It shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection." That is the arrogance of the mind-set dominating the legislative and executive branches: Your money is really theirs, to be handed out like a Mob-backed union boss toting a bag of cash on the waterfront. The statists may now finally have bitten off more than they will be able to chew politically. If Republicans act like Republicans and convince the populist Tea Party movement not to go the suicidal third-party route, the coming public backlash will see to it that the greatest health care system in the world is not gone for good. Look for demonstrators to start burning copies of Page 1,020 the way '60s radicals used to burn their draft cards.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=516040

Obamacare would require Americans to buy government-approved health insurance. It would make it illegal to offer choices in insurance plans beyond the handful of very similar ones that the government would allow. It would become illegal to offer new and innovative plans. Under any of the government-approved plans, it would become illegal to pay your doctor directly for more than a certain percentage of your care. Higher deductible, consumer-driven plans would be severely altered or eliminated. By law, a greater percentage of money would have to be paid in insurance premiums, rather than directly for care. Competition and choice would diminish tremendously. One-size-fits-all conformity would rule the day. At its core, what Obamacare really means is a loss of freedom.

http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mjc5ZmM4ODk4MWZhZTA5NDlhY2JkODE3ZTQ1ZmZmZWY=

Sen. Mary Landrieu was the new "Louisiana Purchase." Sen. Ben Nelson got the federal government to pick up his state's future Medicaid tab. Maybe we should just put Senate votes up on eBay. Nelson, the 60th vote in the middle-of-the-night Senate party line vote on health care reform, will go down in American political history as the inventor of the permanent earmark.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=515933

Ben Shapiro: If this is the beginning of the full-scale implementation of socialized health care, we must stop it in its tracks. Here is a basic, three-step plan for putting an end to the Democrats’ sickening “beginning”:

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/58949

How a political wave builds (turnout is the key) a wave only happens when two things happen simultaneously: 1) turnout skyrockets overall 2) one side makes massive increases in its vote share from the previous midterm elections while the other side stays stable or loses slightly from its total votes.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/how-a-political-wave-builds.html?wprss=thefix

Nat Hentoff: “I try to avoid hyperbole, but I think Obama is possibly the most dangerous and destructive president we have ever had.”

http://www.rutherford.org/oldspeak/articles/interviews/oldspeak-Hentoff_2009.html

Ted Nugent: “Of the many self-inflicted problems that face our country, none is as dangerous to the survival of our nation as the curse of political correctness.”

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34933

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Dick Cheney named HUMAN EVENTS ‘Conservative of the Year’

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34906

A chronology of suspicious behavior:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/terror_test_runs_on_airlines.html

Understanding the universe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U&feature=player_embedded#

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WISE WORDS

"[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments."

-Benjamin Rush, 1806

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined."

-Patrick Henry, 1788

op ed review 12/20

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

In a stunning reversal of fortune for President Barack Obama, top Democrats are attacking the health-reform plan moving through the Senate as “hollow,” “unsupportable” and a sellout to corporate interests. Republicans, after plotting for months to sink the signature legislation of Obama’s first year, suddenly think that Democrats might wind up doing it for them.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30737.html

Clad in red and armed with Grinch dolls, grim reaper scarecrows, posters and their loud voices, several thousand tea party protesters rallied near the Capitol Tuesday to send a single message: "Kill the Bill." The crowd's message and energy was only intensified by the encouragement of some of the nation’s best known conservatives, including Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30641.html

“Welcome to Obamaville” Sign Marks Colorado Homeless Tent City

http://www.breitbart.tv/welcome-to-obamaville-sign-marks-co-homeless-tent-city/

Four in 10 Americans now say that they place little or no trust in what scientists have to say about the environment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/18/AR2009121800002.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll reported that more than half of Americans, 55%, think America is on the wrong track, with only 33% saying it is going in the right direction. A stunning 66% say they're not confident that their children's lives will be better than their own.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704238104574602470345172100.html

Democrats' problems seem in part linked to their ambitious health-care plan, billed as the signature achievement of Mr. Obama's first year. Now, for the first time, more people said they would prefer Congress did nothing on health care than who wanted to see the overhaul enacted.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126100346902694549.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

The loosely organized group made of up mostly conservative activists and independent voters that’s come to be known as the Tea Party movement currently boasts higher favorability ratings than either the Democratic or Republican Parties, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll coming out later today. More than four in 10, 41%, of respondents said they had a very or somewhat favorable view of the Tea Party

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/12/16/wsjnbc-news-poll-tea-party-tops-democrats-and-republicans/

Conservative leaders are eager to turn Tea Party anger into election-year cash – and to do that, they’re launching a flurry of new political action committees aimed at collecting small-dollar donations from newly engaged anti-tax, anti-spending activists. The common goal of the groups is to transform the Tea Party movement into something of a conservative answer to MoveOn.org, a mechanism for bringing in huge numbers of small checks.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30595.html

Did a White House official threaten Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., that if he doesn't support Democratic health care reform legislation, Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base will end up on the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) list?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/12/white-house-sen-nelson-dispute-rumor-in-conservative-media-about-air-force-base-closure-threat.html

There are more than 10,000 Federal bureaucrats earning more than $150,000 annually, and the average federal salary is $71,206, not including generous government benefits, while the average private sector salary is $40,331.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20091211/1afedpay11_st.art.htm?loc=interstitialskip

2,000 line up at Elmendorf AFB for Palin's Alaska book signing

http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/1054312.html

The Obama administration’s plan to move terrorist detainees from the security of Guantanamo Bay to a little-used state prison in Illinois is being hailed by supportive Democrats as a boon for local economic development. Even if the development were truly a boon — and it’s more a boondoggle — that would not come close to justifying it. National security is not a shovel-ready jobs program. It is the first duty of government…

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjhlYjVhZjBjOTU5NTMzN2ZlZTc2ZTMxOGQyYzRmNmE=

A local group promoting the Tea Party movement said Monday that San Antonio will host a national symposium featuring Gov. Rick Perry, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, television host Sean Hannity and other conservative speakers. Tea Party Support announced that the event, billed as the National Conservative Symposium, will be held Jan. 22-24.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/79241112.html

China has overtaken the U.S. as the world's biggest market for automobiles, the first time any other country has bought more vehicles than the nation that produced Henry Ford, the Cadillac and the minivan.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091212/BIZ/912130304/1055/NEWS/Chinese+car+market+overtakes+US

A conservative businessman is comfortably ahead in the polls as Chile prepares for a presidential election Sunday that could end 20 years of rule by the center-left coalition that brought democracy and prosperity to this country of 17 million people. Sebastián Piñera, 60, a billionaire who owns a stake in Lan Airlines and other enterprises, has pledged to fight crime and manage government funds better.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/12/AR2009121202701.html

The estimated time when whites will no longer make up the majority of Americans has been pushed back eight years - to 2050 - because the recession and stricter immigration policies have slowed the flow of foreigners into the U.S.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/16/white-americans-majority-to-end-by-mid-century/

Rush Limbaugh is getting married:

http://gawker.com/5415624/rush-sets-wedding-date

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

National Review editors, 12/16

Sen. Harry Reid has been a kind of reverse Houdini with a talent for getting into traps. To appease Democratic moderates, he proposed to drop the public option, which made liberals furious. To get back in their good graces, he suggested expanding Medicare by letting people as young as 55 participate in it — but that led Sen. Joe Lieberman to threaten to join Republicans in a filibuster. If Reid manages to cobble together a deal that gets 60 votes, he may find that it cannot win majority approval in the House. The Senate and House do not, for example, see eye to eye on abortion funding. And if Reid and Nancy Pelosi somehow squeak something through Congress, they may walk into the biggest trap of all. They will have pushed through a major, unpopular piece of legislation on a party-line vote.

Democrats seem to be reconciling themselves to losing seats in order to achieve their health-care ambitions. A few ended political careers will be the price of progress. This attitude would be admirable were it not delusional. This legislation will not reduce health-care costs; the Obama administration’s own actuaries have just reported that it will increase them. It is unlikely to make Americans healthier: The evidence tying extensions of insurance to improved health outcomes is surprisingly weak. Insurance will reduce the financial anxiety of some people; but others will find theirs increased. Some will still lack insurance, but now have to pay a fine for the privilege. Some will be paying higher premiums and taxes.

The Medicare buy-in that Reid proposed is the perfect distillation of the Democratic approach. It would expand a program that is already facing insolvency. Similarly, the bill attempts to achieve cost control by empowering the Medicare and Medicaid bureaucracy to drive hard bargains — a policy that has been tried, and has failed, for decades.

Ramming through complex, far-reaching, and unpopular legislation on a party-line vote would be unprecedented, and if it happens it should call forth an equally unprecedented response. Federal programs tend to last regardless of their results. This time, Republicans should commit themselves not to let that happen. If anything resembling the current health-care legislation passes, Republicans should spend the next two election campaigns vowing to repeal it. We should both deny liberals their cause and give them their martyrdom.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGMwMDk4YmIzZjYyOTMwNDRlMTA5YWE4NDEyZWVjZDM=

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"The Library of Congress once asked readers which books made the biggest difference in their lives. 'Atlas Shrugged ' came in second, after the Bible. ... The embrace of freer markets has lifted more people out of the misery of poverty than any other system -- ever. The World Bank says that in just the last 30 years, half a billion people who once lived on less than $1.25 a day have moved out of poverty. But now, Wesley Mouch -- I mean, Congress and the bureaucrats -- tell us they are going to 'fix' capitalism….Who are they kidding? Rand had it right. She learned it the hard way in Soviet Russia. What makes a country work is leaving people free -- free to take risks, to invent things -- and to keep the rewards of their work. Critics say Ayn Rand promotes selfishness. I call it 'enlightened self interest.' When free people act in their own self-interest, society prospers."

-John Stossel

"On the day Copenhagen opened, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claimed jurisdiction over the regulation of carbon emissions by declaring them an 'endangerment' to human health. Since we operate an overwhelmingly carbon-based economy, the EPA will be regulating practically everything. No institution that emits more than 250 tons of CO₂ a year will fall outside EPA control. This means over a million building complexes, hospitals, plants, schools, businesses and similar enterprises. ... Not since the creation of the Internal Revenue Service has a federal agency been given more intrusive power over every aspect of economic life”

-Charles Krauthammer

"[I]t just so happens that with the exception of nuclear power -- which most greens still won't support -- global warming fuels nearly every progressive ambition. Wealth transfers from rich to poor nations: Check. The rise of 'global governance' and the decline of American sovereignty: Check. A secular fatwa not only to erode capitalism but to intrude on every aspect of our lives (Greenpeace offers a guide to carbon-neutral sex): Check. Weaning us off of oil: Check. The checks go on for as far as the eye can see, and we will be writing them for years to come."

-Jonah Goldberg

"Right now, if you don't like the local grade school, you move to the next town. If you're sick of Massachusetts taxes, you move to New Hampshire. Where do you move to if you don't like 'global governance'? What polling station do you go to to vote it out?"

-Mark Steyn

“The economic laws described by Mises that brought down Communism apply equally to the American brand of soft socialism. Market forces will soon lay waste to American central planning just as surely as they did to the Soviet version two decades ago. The crises in housing, health care, and banking, the inevitable results of government intervention, are but harbingers of greater instability in our way of life. If Republicans wish to stay relevant, they must return to their conservative roots.”

-Dan Oliver Jr

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GLOBALONEY

Speaking at the Copenhagen climate change summit, Al Gore said there is a 75 per cent chance of the entire polar ice cap melting during the summertime by 2014. However, he faced embarrassment after the climatologist whose work the prediction was based on, refuted his claims.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6815470/Copenhagen-climate-summit-Al-Gore-condemned-over-Arctic-ice-melting-prediction.html

Global warmists are selling iceboxes to Eskimos. Really!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/13/2770156.htm

The UK Meteorological Office is facing accusations it cherry-picked climate change figures in a bid to increase evidence of global warming. UK climatologists “probably tampered with Russian-climate data” to produce a report submitted to world leaders at this week’s Copenhagen summit, it is claimed.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/146517/Climate-change-lies-by-Britain

When your attempt at recreating the Congress of Vienna with a third-rate cast of extras turns into a shambles, when the data with which you have tried to terrify the world is daily exposed as ever more phony, when the blatant greed and self-interest of the participants has become obvious to all beholders, when those pesky polar bears just keep increasing and multiplying – what do you do?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100020279/copenhagen-climate-summit-most-important-paper-in-the-world-is-a-glorified-un-press-release/

Record low temperatures in Washington State last week are resulting in something of a record in insurance claims.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/79574762.html

Radical environmentalists are forging a new socialist post-democracy that is slowly undermining representative government. The myth of global warming along with the Environmental Protection Agency have become the hammer and sickle of eco-Marxism - the new green-red alliance that seeks to destroy capitalism and the sovereign nation-state. The United Nations climate-change summit in Copenhagen represents a major victory for international socialism. It also marks the triumph of ideological fanaticism over reality.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/13/a-convenient-lie/

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BOOKS

“The 5 Big Lies About American Business: Combating Smears Against the Free-Market Economy” by Michael Medved. “Every American benefits every day from the phenomenal productivity of the free market, so why do so many people feel guilty or skeptical about our business system? In this passionately argued, eye-opening book, talk-radio star and bestselling author Michael Medved provides detailed and devastating rebuttals to the most widely circulated smears against capitalism.”

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Lies-About-American-Business/dp/0307464946/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261165329&sr=8-1

“United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror” .by Jamie Glazov. “….analyzes the Left's contemporary romance with militant Islam as a continuation of the Left's love affair with communist totalitarianism in the twentieth century. Just as the Left was drawn to the communist killing machines of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Castro, so too it is now attracted to radical Islam.”

http://www.amazon.com/United-Hate-Romance-Tyranny-Terror/dp/1935071602/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261165431&sr=1-1

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LEFTIST WATCH

Hugo Chavez told a cheering crowd at Copenhagen this week: "Capitalism is the road to hell.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/dictators_toxic_spew_at_summit_CCR2uP4lqjiDLl0Vjd1joJ

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ARTICLES

In “sharing my do's and don'ts” as a journalist, Washington Post humor columnist Gene Weingarten found good fodder in the presumption journalists are out to help liberals and Democrats while hurting conservatives and Republicans. “When deliberately slanting stories in support of liberal causes, always cover your tracks by quoting the other side,” he advised. “Example: 'President Obama wants universal health care, whereas Rush Limbaugh, the big fat drug addict, contends it is a bad idea.'” “Remember always that your word is your bond. “Off the record” means off the record, unless it's something you can use to embarrass a Republican….Never, ever write directly about the mandatory class you took in journalism school in how to give aid and comfort to America's enemies at home and abroad, or the seminar in how to disrespect the memories of our fallen heroes. These classes are a fraternal secret, like Skull and Bones…..”

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2009/12/14/humorist-presumes-liberal-bias-unveiling-secrets-journalists-never-told

Mark Steyn: “The Emperor’s New Carbon Credits” “For a small country, Denmark sure attracts a lot of attention. A Chicago Muslim, David Headley, was recently arrested at O’Hare International Airport en route to Copenhagen to kill the commissioning editor and artists of the Danish Muhammad cartoons. Alas, a far bigger group flying in to Copenhagen for a massive suicide bombing were permitted to board their flights: these were the jet-setting bigwigs of the climate-change circuit en route to Denmark to blow up the global economy and individual liberty in order to get back to paradise and enjoy their reward of 72 virgin-growth forests.”

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/12/17/the-emperor%E2%80%99s-new-carbon-credits/

Researchers have found that liberals and Democrats are far more likely to believe in ghosts, psychic powers and astrology than their conservative/Republican counterparts. About 50 percent more Democrats than Republicans say they have spoken to the dead. Or as it’s known at Democratic Party headquarters, “voter outreach.”

http://bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/20091215yes_there_is_santa_hes_no_liberal_myth/srvc=news&position=also

“My name is Bill Bruhmuller. I am a US Navy retired Master Chief Petty Officer having served twenty five years in the Navy's Underwater Demolition and SEAL Teams. I am not accustomed to speaking outside our Navy community. But I feel I must to register my complaint against the injustice being perpetrated against those three SEAL enlisted men being court martialed for doing their job. Court martial three SEALs for punching a terrorist in the stomach? Are you kidding me?

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34844

Sign the petition against this stupidity (53,000 so far).

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34775

“…the end of liberalism may be within sight. We base this suggestion not on a hunch or on wishful thinking, but on mathematics…… within the lifetimes of the vast majority of living Americans, government as we have known it since the New Deal will become paralyzed, unable to deliver even basic services, let alone the myriad of entitlements that politicians had promised would last forever. Liberalism will owe its undoing to its blind faith that government could forever be the inexhaustible provider of ever more spending, more benefits and more prosperity, with nary a day of reckoning. This report does not come from some gold bug or fevered disciple of trickle-down economics. On the contrary, it is the product of a bipartisan commission led by three former congressmen, two Democrats and one Republican.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Debt-crisis-portends-liberalism_s-end-8660155-79353372.html

Victor Davis Hansen: The Palin Wonder

http://frontpagemag.com/2009/12/18/the-palin-wonder-by-jamie-glazov/

Are Democrats exiting the sinking ship? Part 4

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Exiting-the-sinking-ship-IV-79138192.html

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

The 22nd Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting

http://mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/2009/publicballot/results.aspx?page=1

100 reasons why climate change is natural and not man-made:

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/146138

Through a steady stream of national polls and focus groups, Resurgent Republic helps policy makers, think tanks, interest groups and others advocate for policies that are consistent with conservative principles, and to oppose policies that stifle job creation, weaken national security and undermine values that have made America a great country.

http://www.resurgentrepublic.com/pages/about

Renew Liberty is a Citizen's Group established to stem the flow of Government Spending, Expansion and Consumption.

http://renewliberty.com/

Individual rights and promoting limited government aren’t just buzzwords. Those are the constitutional obligations of our elected officials. With 100 Ideas for 100 Days, the Goldwater Institute provides elected officials at all levels of government a stable of ideas that will help them in that purpose.

http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/file/4186/download/4188

Relaxing

http://fauxfire.com/

Latest Round-Up of Obama Poll Numbers by State

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/13/l/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl1|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2009%2F12%2F13%2Fl%2F

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WISE WORDS

"The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse."

-James Madison

"The [U.S.] Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals ... it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government ... it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government."

-Ayn Rand

"I guess we all have our own favorite Christmas memories, for this is the time of year when most of us try to be better than our everyday selves. For the past few years in this great house, I've thought of our first real Christmas as a nation. It was the dark and freezing Christmas of 1776, when General Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware. They and Providence gave our nation its first Christmas gift -- a victory that brought us closer to liberty, the condition in which God meant man to flourish. It always seems to me that Christmas is a time of magic. Each December we celebrate a Prince, the Prince of Peace, born in utter poverty. And the fact of his birth makes hearts turn warmest at the coldest time of the year."

--Ronald Reagan

op ed review 12/13

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

President Obama's job approval rating has fallen to 47 percent in the latest Gallup poll, the lowest ever recorded for any president at this point in his term.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/08/obamas-percent-approval-lowest-president-point/

Perhaps the greatest measure of President Obama's declining support is that just 50% of voters now say they prefer having him as President to George W. Bush, with 44% saying they'd rather have his predecessor back.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1209/Bush_closes_the_gap.html

Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year’s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30417.html

The $1T spending bill that passed the House has more than 5,000 congressional earmarks.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-12-10-spending-bill-earmarks_N.htm

Here are some: puppet shows, research on the sex drive of rats, and $54 million for a California “wine train”.

http://biggovernment.com/author/porkreport/

The new CNN/Opinion Research Poll shows Sarah Palin now at 46% favorable, just one point below President Obama.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/12/sarah-palin-barack-obama-poll-gap-narrows.html

The Democrats' health care legislation is now polling worse than President Bush's failed effort to reform Social Security did in 2005. (61% oppose)

http://spectator.org/blog/2009/12/10/health-care-bill-polling-worse

But the healthcare reform looks likely to clear its most formidable obstacle by Christmas. Time to call your senator.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9628e37a-e5cc-11de-b5d7-00144feab49a.html

“The Democrats' sweeping health-care plans may bankrupt the nation, but every American will be insured. Except for 24 million of 'em. No kidding: The Congressional Budget Office estimates the reforms will trim the ranks of the uninsured by only 57 percent -- leaving 24 million residents, without coverage. And for this, it will cost taxpayers $1 trillion.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/health_care_missing_millions_XCZxueHQ3Vl82veJylmeaP

The Congressional Budget Office also predicts up to 10 million people would lose employer-sponsored health care coverage under Senate Democratic health care reform plan.

http://tinyurl.com/yb49rth

Unemployment insurance taxes in Washington State will increase 54% next year. (In the People’s Republic of Washington, businesses impose “social costs” that require a “social-cost tax”…Yes, that’s what they call it.)

http://www.esd.wa.gov/newsandinformation/legresources/factsheets/unemployment-ins-taxes.pdf#zoom=100

Americans remain overwhelmingly in favor of allowing religious symbols to be displayed on public land and feel even more strongly that public schools should celebrate at least some religious holidays. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 76% of adults believe religious symbols should be allowed on public land. Just 13% disagree.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/holidays/december_2009/americans_strongly_favor_religious_displays_on_public_lands_celebrating_religious_holidays_in_schools

The unexpected victory of Republican Jimmy Higdon in the Kentucky state Senate special election -- despite a 2-to-1 Democratic registration advantage -- is another fire bell in the night that national Democrats are going to ignore.

http://townhall.com/columnists/MonaCharen/2009/12/11/democrats_whistling_past_graveyard?page=full&comments=true

Here comes the call for a planetary one-child policy.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmQxMzdiZDkzYjdlYjJkNWFkYmI2MjhmMzM3NzMxNjc=

Online conservative media mogul Andrew Breitbart announced that he is launching a new website in January designed to report its own original journalism and take on “the Democratic-media complex.” The site – to be called Big Journalism – builds on the “Big” brand Breitbart launched in September with Big Hollywood and Big Government. Both sites have made waves with stories exposing past controversial remarks by Obama.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30465.html

President Obama and the First Family are planning a “non-religious Christmas,” according to Social Secretary Desiree Rogers. Ms. Rogers reportedly told a gathering of former social secretaries that the Obamas did not intend on putting the Nativity scene on display – a longtime East Room tradition.

http://www.foxnewsradio.com/2009/12/07/obama-wanted-non-religious-christmas/

Five Americans from the Washington, D.C., suburbs developed Internet contacts with al Qaeda operatives and were preparing to go to Pakistan's lawless tribal areas to join a militant-training camp when they were arrested this week, Pakistani officials said Thursday. The men -- who are students in their 20s -- appear to have come together as members of a youth group at the Islamic Circle of North America Mosque in Alexandria, Va..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126045800896585617.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

Radio host Laura Ingraham is auctioning off the red jacket Sarah Palin wore on the cover of her memoir, "Going Rogue." Proceeds for the sale will benefit two organizations that serve American military and veterans: Wounded Warrior Project and The Fisher House.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/10/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5963663.shtml

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Copenhagen's Political Science
Sarah Palin, 12/9/09, The Washington Post

With the publication of damaging e-mails from a climate research center in Britain, the radical environmental movement appears to face a tipping point. The revelation of appalling actions by so-called climate change experts allows the American public to finally understand the concerns so many of us have articulated on this issue.

Climate-gate," as the e-mails and other documents from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia have become known, exposes a highly politicized scientific circle -- the same circle whose work underlies efforts at the Copenhagen climate change conference. The agenda-driven policies being pushed in Copenhagen won't change the weather, but they would change our economy for the worse.

The e-mails reveal that leading climate "experts" deliberately destroyed records, manipulated data to "hide the decline" in global temperatures, and tried to silence their critics by preventing them from publishing in peer-reviewed journals. What's more, the documents show that there was no real consensus even within the CRU crowd. Some scientists had strong doubts about the accuracy of estimates of temperatures from centuries ago, estimates used to back claims that more recent temperatures are rising at an alarming rate.

This scandal obviously calls into question the proposals being pushed in Copenhagen. I've always believed that policy should be based on sound science, not politics. As governor of Alaska, I took a stand against politicized science when I sued the federal government over its decision to list the polar bear as an endangered species despite the fact that the polar bear population had more than doubled. I got clobbered for my actions by radical environmentalists nationwide, but I stood by my view that adding a healthy species to the endangered list under the guise of "climate change impacts" was an abuse of the Endangered Species Act. This would have irreversibly hurt both Alaska's economy and the nation's, while also reducing opportunities for responsible development.

Our representatives in Copenhagen should remember that good environmental policymaking is about weighing real-world costs and benefits -- not pursuing a political agenda. That's not to say I deny the reality of some changes in climate -- far from it. I saw the impact of changing weather patterns firsthand while serving as governor of our only Arctic state. I was one of the first governors to create a subcabinet to deal specifically with the issue and to recommend common-sense policies to respond to the coastal erosion, thawing permafrost and retreating sea ice that affect Alaska's communities and infrastructure.

But while we recognize the occurrence of these natural, cyclical environmental trends, we can't say with assurance that man's activities cause weather changes. We can say, however, that any potential benefits of proposed emissions reduction policies are far outweighed by their economic costs. And those costs are real. Unlike the proposals China and India offered prior to Copenhagen -- which actually allow them to increase their emissions -- President Obama's proposal calls for serious cuts in our own long-term carbon emissions. Meeting such targets would require Congress to pass its cap-and-tax plans, which will result in job losses and higher energy costs (as Obama admitted during the campaign). That's not exactly what most Americans are hoping for these days. And as public opposition continues to stall Congress's cap-and-tax legislation, Environmental Protection Agency bureaucrats plan to regulate carbon emissions themselves, doing an end run around the American people.

In fact, we're not the only nation whose people are questioning climate change schemes. In the European Union, energy prices skyrocketed after it began a cap-and-tax program. Meanwhile, Australia's Parliament recently defeated a cap-and-tax bill. Surely other nations will follow suit, particularly as the climate e-mail scandal continues to unfold.

In his inaugural address, President Obama declared his intention to "restore science to its rightful place." But instead of staying home from Copenhagen and sending a message that the United States will not be a party to fraudulent scientific practices, the president has upped the ante. He plans to fly in at the climax of the conference in hopes of sealing a "deal." Whatever deal he gets, it will be no deal for the American people. What Obama really hopes to bring home from Copenhagen is more pressure to pass the Democrats' cap-and-tax proposal. This is a political move. The last thing America needs is misguided legislation that will raise taxes and cost jobs -- particularly when the push for such legislation rests on agenda-driven science.

Without trustworthy science and with so much at stake, Americans should be wary about what comes out of this politicized conference. The president should boycott Copenhagen.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/08/AR2009120803402.html?nav=hcmodule

Sarah makes a surprise visit to the Tonight Show with William Shatner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zKtR2aSj-0

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"There's no difference in this global warming hoax, and the health care reform hoax. They are born of the same ideology, they're born of the same tactics, and they are born with the same objectives. Radical leftists claim that man-made global warming destroys lives. Radical leftists also claim that private sector medical care destroys lives. The president himself has indicted the medical community for this."

-Rush Limbaugh

"The EPA's finding that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant explains why the administration wasn't too concerned over possible failure at Copenhagen. This was their Plan B."

-Investor’s Business Daily

"Democrats have defined success as dragging any [health care] bill into law as quickly as possible, no matter how damaging, while leaving the mess it creates to be cleaned up in the future once the entitlement is entrenched and higher taxes are inevitable. The only way to prevent that outcome is to force them to start over."

-The Wall Street Journal

"Imagine an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting where all the members showed up drunk and with extra cases of wine, beer, and booze to keep them happy. Now imagine that that same group of drunks was empowered to make trillions of dollars worth of economic decisions for everybody in the world. This absurd scenario swiftly summarizes the United Nations Climate Change Conference beginning today, and lasting through December 18, in Copenhagen."

-The Heritage Foundation's "Morning Bell"

"Congress voted Thursday to impose a 45 percent tax on all estates over $3 million. It just never ends. The only difference between death and taxes is that Congress can't think of a way to make death any worse than it already is."

-Argus Hamilton

"It's fitting that the first day of the Copenhagen climate hoax summit happens on December 7th, a day, FDR said, 'that will live in infamy.' We're being attacked again."

-Rush Limbaugh

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GLOBALONEY

The Copenhagen climate summit: 1,200 limos, 140 private planes

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6736517/Copenhagen-climate-summit-1200-limos-140-private-planes-and-caviar-wedges.html

During the conference, a Stanford Professor used United Nations security officers to silence a journalist asking him “inconvenient questions” during a press briefing.

http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/11/un-security-stops-journalists-questions-about-climategate/#more-44722

Al Gore has studied the Climategate emails with his typically rigorous eye and dismissed them as mere piffle:

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/climategate_gore_falsifies_the_record

Monday’s declaration by the Environmental Protection Administration that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health is apparently a regulatory fraud.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34747

A conservative media watchdog says the mainstream media has given 15 times more coverage to the Tiger Woods scandal than that of the "ClimateGate" ordeal.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=805272

In the high desert of central Arizona, more than five thousand miles from the global-warming summit in Copenhagen, sits an aging and unfinished vision of the enviro-friendly, sustainable life that some climate change activists foresee for us all. It's called Arcosanti, created in 1970 by the Italian architect Paolo Soleri, and it is the prototype of a green community of the future. The only problem is, it doesn't work.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/A-green_-sustainable-future-that-doesn_t-work-8648843-79008007.html

High electrical bills this winter? You don't have to look far for someone to blame. The Sierra Club volunteers to take the blame with this gleeful announcement that it has killed 100 coal-fired power plants nationwide.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Risky-green-investments-could-put-Sierra-Club-in-the-red-78968787.html

For the second straight day Thursday, the temperature hit a record low in Seattle.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010478324_cold11m.html

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BOOKS

“Conservative books to help you survive the Obama era”

http://www.amazon.com/Conservative-Books-Help-Survive-Obama/lm/R2ZCIIV6AYUQ19/ref=cm_lmt_srch_f_2_rsrsrs0

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LEFTIST WATCH

Here comes another one: “Gay sex is morally good." "Committed, loving households [can have] more than one conjugal partner." "Gays win; Christians lose." These could easily be the new mottos of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) if Chai Feldblum becomes the next boss of the EEOC. That string of comments is only part of Chai's shocking record on marriage.

http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-eeoc-nominee-chai-feldblum-latest-obama-liberal-extremist

The two most important questions for society, according to the Greek philosopher Plato, are these: What will we teach our children? And who will teach them? Left-wing celebrities have teamed up with one of America's most radical historians to take control of the classroom in the name of "social justice." Parents, beware: This Hollywood-backed Marxist education project may be coming to a school near you.

http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2009/12/11/hollywood_and_howard_zinns_marxist_education_project

Democrats off their meds:

Sen. Boxer compares denying women abortion coverage to denying men Viagra...

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13953999?nclick_check=1

Sen. Feinstein Says It's 'Morally Correct' to Force Taxpayers to Fund Abortion...

http://www.breitbart.tv/sen-feinstein-says-its-morally-correct-to-force-taxpayers-fund-abortion/

Sen. Reid said Republicans who opposed the democrat health care plan were displaying the same mindset as those who defended slavery.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/71207-reid-doubles-down-on-slavery-analogy

And Roseanne Barr says that Sarah Palin is “like a slave to these, you know, right-wing men. That’s like the only way a right-wing woman can make it."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2009/12/12/roseanne-barrpalin-slave-right-wing-men-against-all-other-women

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ARTICLES

Interesting study by Canadian researchers. “Subjects who made simulated eco-friendly purchases ended up less likely to exhibit altruism in a laboratory game and more likely to cheat and steal…..When people have the chance to demonstrate their goodness (by ‘saving the planet’) they then feel free to relax their ethical standards.”

http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politics/910-is-green-card-a-passport-to-immorality

If it weren't for bad luck, Mike Huckabee would have no luck at all. Of all the deranged criminals in the country, it was Maurice Clemmons -- granted clemency by then-Gov. Huckabee of Arkansas almost a decade ago -- who recently murdered four police officers in Washington State. Seldom has an act of mercy been more publicly or horribly betrayed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/08/AR2009120803404.html

Why I commuted Maurice Clemmons's sentence, by Mike Huckabee

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/07/AR2009120702333.html

One lesson that Democrats learned from the failure of HillaryCare in 1994 is that they had to buy the silence, if not the outright support, of the business class. They've done this brilliantly by peddling the illusion that ObamaCare will "lower costs" for employers. But slowly as the legislative details become clear, it is dawning on executives of businesses large and small that reform is boiling down to a huge tax increase.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704007804574574380625962314.html

“If Republicans are 'the party of big business,' why are the Democrats raking in big bucks from industry after industry?” One of the great frustrations of the libertarian-minded right is how Republicans got stuck being "the party of big business." The quotation marks around the term are at least somewhat necessary because, in many respects, it's not true.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldberg8-2009dec08,0,831331.column

American heroes are arraigned for allegedly punching a terrorist in wartime. What happens to Tiger Woods isn't vital to our country's future. What happens to Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe is…..Why are the SEALs who captured a terrorist butcher on trial? All did the jobs we asked them to, bravely and well. All deserve medals, not punishment….It is the American people who are being sucker-punched in the gut.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=514947

The same-sex marriage movement appears likely to end a banner year with a string of stinging defeats that opponents say have undermined a core proposition of the movement - that the acceptance of gay marriage is, sooner or later, inevitable.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30377.html

If anyone were to doubt that there really are two Washingtons — that the Seattle metropolitan core (and its playgrounds) are another world from most rural to small-city Washington, and especially from east of the Cascade crest — a look at the vote on Referendum 71 should be persuasive.

http://crosscut.com/2009/12/11/politics-government/19432/

Important Essay: “Conservatives recognize that social order is hard to achieve and easy to destroy, that it is held in place by discipline and sacrifice, and that the indulgence of criminality and vice is not an act of kindness but an injustice for which all of us will pay……Liberals are of course very different. They see criminals as victims of social hierarchy and unequal power, people who should be cured by kindness and not threatened with punishment.”

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/12/09/totalitarian-sentimentality

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

This is bizarre:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1234430/Mystery-spiral-blue-light-display-hovers-Norway.html

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WISE WORDS

"[A] wise and frugal government ... shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."

-Thomas Jefferson

"Time and money spent in helping men do more for themselves is far better than mere giving."

-Henry Ford

"All history is one long story to this effect: men have struggled for power over their fellow men in order that they might win the joys of earth at the expense of others, might shift the burdens of life from their own shoulders upon those of others."

-William Graham Sumner