Students Face Possible Federal Charges For Being Jerks

By William Teach February 22, 2014 – 11:17 am

Orwell would be proud

(NY Times) The University of Mississippi said Friday that students could face criminal charges for placing a noose on a statue honoring the college’s first black student, and a fraternity announced that it had expelled three men because of the incident.

If you continue reading the article you’ll see how this bit of assholery spawned a massive, deep investigation, all sorts of law enforcement, then

It was also unclear Friday what charges the men could face, but the F.B.I., which has been assisting the university, said earlier this week that the vandalism could bring federal charges.

Look, actions have consequences, but vandalism charges? These kids were assholes, and did the dumb crap college kids do. The statue was not destroyed or damaged. Take the noose off and it’s fine. I’m not defending their actions. They were caught, and should possibly face some punishment. But actual criminal charges, and possible federal charges? The FBI involved? Overkill. Was anyone harmed? Other than feelings? Any property destroyed?

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Democrats, FDA Going After Electronic Cigarettes

By William Teach February 22, 2014 – 7:26 am

Ronald Reagan once said “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” Democrats aren’t even waiting to see if e-cigs keep moving before they run straight to regulation

(National Review) There are a lot of rumors out there about e-cigarettes. They are white sticks, they emit what looks like smoke, and people hold them like their papery peers. Faced with these visible similarities, many lawmakers are out to shun e-cigarettes from polite society, much as traditional cigarettes have been banned from parks, restaurants, public spaces, and sometimes even peoples’ homes.

In the process, government health nannies are accomplishing the perverse goal of squashing what may be the most successful smoking-reduction product of the last 15 years.

The regulatory push, predominantly led by those who claim to base their political views on science, has little science to support it. More importantly, many studies show that e-cigarettes help smokers quit, while the water vapor they exhale has been shown, at least in one study, to contain ten times less nicotine that tobacco smoke.

Are e-cigs better for you than tobacco? At this time, we would have to say yes. It’s simply water vapor with flavor and some nicotine. Obviously, nicotine is not that good for you. And there’s always a chance that a long term study will find that they are very bad for you. Yet, as of today, they seem to be much better, and people find that quitting cigarettes is much easier than with patches and gum. Personally, I am down to 5-8 a day, when I was a pack to pack and a half a day smoker. I was the first one at work to give them a whirl (workplace went tobacco free February 2013). Many have follow along. One is down to 2-4 a day. Another is down from 2 packs a day to limiting himself to no more than 10. A few have quit altogether.

Of course, since e-cig use has taken off and become what seems to be a success during this terrible Obamaeconomy, liberal busy-body nanny-staters have to jump in

Yet Minnesota state representative Phyllis Kahn of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party has proposed a law that would restrict the usage of e-cigarettes throughout the state in the same way that cigarettes are restricted. Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill also want to treat e-cigarettes the same was as cigarettes by banning e-cigarettes in the Capitol, legislative office buildings, and within 25 feet of the entrances of any of those buildings. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville recently banned e-cigarettes from all campus buildings. The list goes on and on.

The FDA has been threatening to get involved, even though there are no real studies. Craig Weiss, CEO of the e-cigarette company NJOY, notes

“Our view is that we support reasonable, balanced regulation,” Weiss says. “I support ingredient disclosure, good manufacturing practices, age restrictions, and what I would call ‘reasonable regulation on advertising,’ meaning, for example, no using cartoon characters or advertising on Cartoon Network on Saturday mornings.”

I think we can all agree on that. Right now much of what is going on is self-regulation. The place I get my vapor liquid from refuses to sell to minors. When I was there the other day the owner told some kids who walked in to walk right out.

So far, studies have found that electronic cigarettes can actually help smokers quit or reduce the amount they smoke. One study published in the American Journal of Health and Behavior looked only at smokers aged 18 to 65 who were not interested in quitting smoking. By using e-cigarettes, 89 percent of the participants reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked a day by an average of 39 percent. Sixteen percent of subject reduced their cigarette consumption to zero by the end of the study.

And in comes Government to mess things up with lots and lots of restrictions.

“Here you have an incredible situation where private enterprise took on something that seemed like an intractable problem and developed a product with enormous potential,” Weiss says. “But if you make it just as inconvenient for smokers to use an alternative to their cigarette as it is to use their cigarette, they are just going to keep smoking their cigarettes, and that is not in the best interest of public health.”

Instead of making things more difficult, Government should get out of the way.

Left unsaid in the article is that when Government starts regulating, they can also cause the price to rise artificially.

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Obamacare Turns Massachusetts From Model To Mayhem

By William Teach February 22, 2014 – 7:06 am

At one point, Massachusetts was the model for Obamacare. Whatever your opinion of a state run insurance program, with a requirement that people must purchase health insurance, it seemed to work. Most residents supported it. Most liked it. Roughly 98% of the citizens obtained health insurance. And under the stewardship of Republican governor, it wasn’t a disaster. Romney may have been a “Blue state” Republican, but the man knew how business worked and How To Get Things Done. Alas, along came Obamacare, as Robert Eno, a Mass. resident who has been writing about Romneycare for years tells us

(Daily Caller) But the changes mandated by Obama’s Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, have actually gutted the effectiveness of Massachusetts’ once-working model.

Thanks to Obamacare, in 2012, Massachusetts began a transition to a new federally compliant health exchange, budgeted to cost $69 million. But to date, not one person has purchased health care through that federally funded exchange.

In addition, Jean Yang, the executive director of the Health Connector Authority, told her board that 50,000 paper applications remain unprocessed — leading the Commonwealth’s leading progressive blog to quip that, “lives are at risk.”

What was once working in Mass. is now a failure, thanks to Ocare. The AP even stated that Mass. is almost dead last in Ocare implementation. Mass. received a $69 million grant to overhaul the website, and CGI was in charge. That worked as well as it did for the federal exchange. The Democrats in charge of implementation and the state government failed completely in getting the website to work. The website continued to fail, Mass. resorted to paper application, waivers were given, coverages were extended, accommodations made for those who were still “unsubsidized”, and officials from the Patrick administration (all Democrats) refused to be honest with the public, and really had no plan.

And, yes, this is about the website not working, not about obtaining health care via the now more expensive insurance. Obamacare took a system that worked and turned it into a pure mess.Particularly since Democrats were implementing, or, at least, attempting to implement it. That said, just wait until people try and use it. One thing FactCheck noted on Romneycare facts and falsehoods was

The major components of the state and federal law are similar, but details vary. The federal law put a greater emphasis on cost-control measures, for instance. Massachusetts is just now tackling that.

Those cost controls are what will lead to poor care, rationing, and limited networks, among other issues. Mass. tried to implement what would work best for the state. Obamacare attempts to implement one Big Solution for the entire country. And fails.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Here We Go: A Call To Ban The Second Amendment

By William Teach February 21, 2014 – 3:28 pm

What would one expect?

Zack Beauchamp is a Reporter/Blogger for ThinkProgress. He previously contributed to Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish at Newsweek/Daily Beast, and has also written for Foreign Policy and Tablet magazines. Zack holds B.A.s in Philosophy and Political Science from Brown University and an M.Sc in International Relations from the London School of Economics.

Say, I wonder if George Soros, the major funder of Think Progress, has security that carries guns? Anyhow, here’s the title

Ban the Second Amendment

Imagine the Second Amendment didn’t exist, and try arguing for a constitutional right to gun ownership. You will fail.

Interestingly, there is a method to do this embedded in the Constitution, whereby Amendments can be changed and even done away with. But Progressives would simply like to avoid that messy route, and simply infringe on the 2nd Amendment and just straight up ban guns.

There’s lots of moonbattery in the screed, too much to list. Zach offers three reason why people would like guns, the 2nd being “Citizens have a right to defend themselves however they’d like. Gun rights enable self-defense and, thus, save lives.” Not in ZachLand, though

The second argument in favor of untrammeled gun ownership, a right to self-defense, is equally incoherent. For starters, there’s no reason that, in a civil society, the right to defend yourself implies the right to defend yourself however you’d like. A basic part of government’s job is to limit our ability to hurt others; assuming the absolute right to self-defense constitutes, in Alan Jacobs’ evocative phrasing, “the absolute abandonment of civil society.”

So, we can throw defending yourself out the window in Liberal World. At least with a gun. And, really, even harsh language might be Bad, if certain words pass your lips. But, you might hurt someone who is trying to hurt you, so, that Cannot Be Allowed.

I bet there are lots of liberal ladies who wish they had a gun at the Occupy Wall Street camps when other liberals were raping them. A gun gives women power over people who would do them harm. So, since Liberals would like women to be disarmed, we can assume that Liberals are pro-rape.

BTW, is anyone surprised that a Progressive doesn’t understand how the Constitution works?

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If All You See…

By William Teach February 21, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is snow in the tropics due to Global Weirding, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Public Secrets, with a post on grim times for gun grabbers.

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Dr. Roy Spenser: Time to push back against the global warming Nazis

By William Teach February 21, 2014 – 11:08 am

What were Nazi’s? Fascists. What are Progressives? Jonah Goldberg refers to them as “Nice Fascists”. Prick a Warmist and you’ll find a Progressive. And Dr. Roy Spencer has had enough

Yeah, somebody pushed my button.

When politicians and scientists started calling people like me “deniers”, they crossed the line. They are still doing it.

They indirectly equate (1) the skeptics’ view that global warming is not necessarily all manmade nor a serious problem, with (2) the denial that the Nazi’s extermination of millions of Jews ever happened.

Too many of us for too long have ignored the repulsive, extremist nature of the comparison. It’s time to push back.

I’m now going to start calling these people “global warming Nazis”.

The pseudo-scientific ramblings by their leaders have falsely warned of mass starvation, ecological collapse, agricultural collapse, overpopulation…all so that the masses would support their radical policies. Policies that would not voluntarily be supported by a majority of freedom-loving people.

Dr. S goes on to compare what the Nazi’s political policies were to the policies of Warmists, and there are lots of similarities. At the end he notes

NOTE: A couple people in comments have questioned my use of “Nazi”, which might be considered over the top. Considering the fact that these people are supporting policies that will kill far more people than the Nazis ever did — all in the name of what they consider to be a righteous cause — I think it is very appropriate. Again, I didn’t start the name-calling.

Let’s not forget, Warmists have called for “deniers” to be jailed (and here. Here. Lots more where they came from) and executed (also the first jail link. And here. And more). These are intollerant, anti-science fascists, against freedom of thought and belief that doesn’t jibe with their own beliefs. Yet, interestingly, they themselves will not live the life of their beliefs.

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Obama Wants Others To #GetCovered

By William Teach February 21, 2014 – 11:03 am

Good thing there’s nothing important going on in the world right now

Says the man who only obtained Obamacare symbolically, but doesn’t actually have to use it himself. And keeps changing the law.

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Obama Tells Dems To Make Mid-terms “Sexy”

By William Teach February 21, 2014 – 7:45 am

This is the world Obama lives in

(The Hill) President Obama warned that Democrats often get into trouble during the midterm elections because state-level races aren’t as “sexy” as national presidential elections during a meeting with Democratic governors and party donors Thursday night.

“We know how to win national elections,” Obama said. “But all too often it’s during these midterms where we end up getting ourselves into trouble because, I guess we don’t think it’s sexy enough.”

The people in Kiev and Venezuela were not amused. But, hey, Obama made a wishy-washy comment, so his job is done. Back to campaigning

(The Wilderness) Why is this President, elected because of a hope he promised in front of the world, so content to sit it out instead?

Is he bored? Does massive public upheaval not interest him if it does not serve his political ends? Does it remind him that everything is in fact, not awesome?

Make sure to read the entire awesome article, a pure indictment of the Social Media President.

During the meeting at a luxury hotel near the White House, Obama said that while those at the top were doing better in recent years, the middle class was still getting squeezed. He said voters understood his policy proposals, including ObamaCare and the minimum wage, were the right thing to do.

It’s apparently “sexy” to push Obamacare, which has caused millions to lose their plans and have to get new plans which are, if not more expensive via the premiums (someone else has to pay the rest), much more expensive for the deductibles, with reduced networks. Maybe turning America into Welfare Nation is sexy?

What upsets Obama is the large numbers of state governorships and/or general assemblies won by the GOP since 2010. Democrats have made national politics an art form over the past 30 years, forgetting about local politics to some degree. And he knows the Dems will most likely lose the Senate in 2014, so retaking the executive and/or general assemblies in the states would allow him to push his absurd Obamacare law forward. That’s sexy or something. Presidential Leadership in the Age Of Obama.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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Kay Hagan Is Bummed About Those Medicare Cuts She Voted For

By William Teach February 21, 2014 – 7:24 am

She and other vulnerable Democrats finally realized that their Obamacare votes have consequences, so they wrote a letter (via NRO)

(NRSC) Hagan’s ObamaCare “enacted $200 Billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage over 10 years”

  • In 2009, Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) promised North Carolinians who depend on Medicare that she was going to “protect Medicare” and that they would “not see a drop in their Medicare coverage.”
  • But in 2010 Kay Hagan voted to slash Medicare Advantage to pay for ObamaCare. (H.R. 4872, CQ Vote #72: Motion agreed to 56-42: R 0-40; D 54-2; I 2-0, 3/24/10, Hagan Voted Yea)
  • In North Carolina 463,159 seniors depend on Medicare Advantage plans (28% of all Medicare enrollees).
  • According to America’s Health Insurance Plans, in North Carolina, seniors on Medicare Advantage plans experienced cost increases and benefit cuts of an estimated $50-60 per month as a result of this year’s 6 percent cut to the program due to ObamaCare.
  • Now, as North Carolina seniors are being crushed under the weight of ObamaCare and as her own poll numbers plummet, Kay Hagan admits in a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid that she cut Medicare for seniors after promising North Carolinians that they wouldn’t “see a drop in their Medicare coverage”
  • Hagan’s letter reads: “We write to raise serious concerns about the Medicare Advantage (MA) 2015 rate notice and the impact further cuts may have on the millions of individuals enrolled in the program,” the senators write. “We are strongly committed to preserving the high quality health plan choices and benefits that our constituents receive through the MA program. Given the impact that payment policies could have on our constituents, we ask that you prioritize beneficiaries’ experience and minimize disruption in maintaining payment levels for 2015.”

“Kay Hagan promised North Carolinians that ObamaCare wouldn’t harm seniors who rely on Medicare, but that wasn’t true,” said NRSC Press Secretary Brook Hougesen. “Kay Hagan has repeatedly deceived North Carolina voters. Now even though Kay Hagan admits that she slashed Medicare Advantage to pay for ObamaCare, she is trying to blame others for her broken promises. Hagan’s reckless cuts to Medicare mean fewer benefits and health care choices for seniors.  Deceiving seniors about Medicare isn’t the first lie Kay Hagan told about ObamaCare, but it serves as the latest reminder that North Carolinians can’t trust her to keep her word.”

If only there was something Kay and the other Senate Democrats could actually do. Some power delegated to them by the Constitution. But, then, perhaps they should have been concerned with what Obamacare would do before they stampeded straight to passing the Obamination of a bill.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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“Climate Change” Might Mean More Turbulence In The Skies

By William Teach February 20, 2014 – 4:26 pm

After that airplane incident the other day which featured massive turbulence, including a baby being thrown several rows away, who bet on “Warmists will blame this on Hotcoldwetdry”?

Fasten Seat Belts: Climate Change Could Mean More Turbulence

“Could” is one of my favorite scientific words, because it could mean anything and has no measurable testing requirements.

Sudden turbulence injured crew and passengers on two flights an ocean apart this week, and the back-to-back bumpy rides are more than a coincidence — winter weather and changing climate patterns may have played a role. Technology to precisely anticipate the “clear air turbulence” likely to blame for both flights just doesn’t exist, experts say.

The first incident occurred on Monday, when United Airlines flight about to land at Billings, Montana, was rattled by sudden turbulence, which left two passengers and three flight attendants injured. The jolt also tossed a baby from its mother’s arms and into a nearby seat, where it landed unharmed. The second occurred aboard a Cathay Pacific flight out of San Francisco hit a patch of rough air above Japan, and a high-altitude “roller-coaster” ride left eight crew and passengers in hospital.

Oh, but if you thought it was the warmth created warmth from fossil fuels, alas, no

“Winter is when turbulence is the worst,” Williams said. “It’s when the jet stream is strongest … And that’s why we’re seeing the two encounters this week.”

So it is the warmth created cold from fossil fuels that could make turbulence worse.

Buckle Up, It’s Going to Be a Bumpy FutureThe bad news is that research suggests our travel is likely to get bumpier in the coming decades. Computer models have predicted that climate change and increased carbon dioxide levels will speed up the jet stream, leading to more serious episodes by 2050.

Once Warmists trot out “computer models”, especially when they “suggest”, game over. We’ve just gone into La La Land where science is conducted by unicorns who far out rainbows.

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