OMG, SCOTUS Strikes Down Bill Clinton’s DOMA!!!!!!!1!!!!

By William Teach June 26, 2013 – 10:43 am

Yesterday, progressives were going bat guano insane over the Supreme Court’s decision on one portion of the Voting Rights Act. Today, they are going…bat guano insane over the DOMA decision, based on their headlines

Many of those articles go on to point out that, nope, only a portion was shot down. Some, like that last link to the Washington Post, position it as having the whole law shot down (just to be clear, I’m not a big fan of DOMA). Here’s the USA Today, which also features a disingenuous headline

Supreme Court strikes down Defense of Marriage Act

A divided Supreme Court gave a major boost to gay and lesbian rights on Wednesday, striking down a key section of a federal law that denied federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples.

The justices declared unconstitutional part of the 17-year-old Defense of Marriage Act, a law that has denied federal benefits to married gays and lesbians in a dozen states, from Maine to Washington, and the District of Columbia.

In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, said the federal law unconstitutionally denied equal treatment to gay and lesbian couples. “DOMA singles out a class of persons deemed by a State entitled of recognition and protection to enhance their own liberty,” Kennedy wrote.

“The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity. By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment,” Kennedy wrote.

But Kennedy was careful to say that the court’s conclusion about the Defense of Marriage Act was “confined to those lawful marriages” performed in states that already recognize same-sex marriage.

As to the other parts of DOMA, such as defining marriage as between a man and a woman and that the powers of recognizing marriage are left to the states, they are left in tact. This simply means that people who are legally married in the States that allow it cannot be denied federal benefits. This is equal protection under the law, as SCOTUS blog’s Kevin Russell notes

To be clear: Windsor does not establish a constitutional right to same sex marriage. It was important to the outcome that the couple in the case was legally married under state law. The equal protection violation arose from Congress’s disrespecting that decision by New York to allow the marriage.

Hot Air has more on what went on with California’s prop 8.

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Man With Giant Carbon Footprint Squees Over Speech Given By Man With With Biggest CFP In World

By William Teach June 26, 2013 – 9:07 am

If you guessed that the first was Al Gore, and he’s congratulating Obama for making a speech, you get a cookie. No beer. It contains CO2

(Al’s Journal) This was a terrific and historic speech, by far the best address on climate by any president ever.

I applaud the new measures announced by President Barack Obama this afternoon to help solve the climate crisis – particularly the decision to limit global warming pollution from existing as well as new power plants.

Like Obama, Gore is a 1%er who cares not a whit that these executive actions will cause real harm to middle and lower class Americans. John Kerry (another 1%er) told poor Indians that fighting hotcoldwet dry was more important than fighting poverty. Gore and Obama seem to agree with this notion.

This action – if followed by skillful and thorough execution of the plan – has the potential to fundamentally alter the course of our nation’s energy infrastructure development and help to promote a sustainable future. On the international front, this action will bolster U.S. credibility and moral authority in negotiations with other countries.

Meanwhile, many nations are moving away from all this silliness where they slap up solar and wind farms, because they haven’t been able to supply the necessary power as they suffered through the 4th harsh winter out of the past 5. Al doesn’t care about citizens, he cares about his money train.

As President Obama said today, history will judge the present generation by our success or failure in meeting and surmounting this existential challenge.

History will laugh at the unhinged madness of people like Gore and Obama who push their anti-science politics on people. Global temperatures have gone up a measly, and statistically insignificant, 0.14F since 1997, per the UK Met Office. And just 0.28F since 1990.

And last time I checked, denigrating people who do not believe in anthropogenic “climate change” and believing that we need to Do Something is highly un-presidential and shows a profound inability to lead. But let’s stick with that denigrating thing, because we already know Obama has never been and is still not a leader.

(Climate Depot) “President Obama is still parading his ignorance on climate science, linking bad weather to “global warming”, claiming a mythical 97% consensus, and implying that his executive actions can alter the globe’s temperature and lessen extreme weather events. The President has descended into the realm of medieval witchcraft by claiming he can combat global temperature rises and weather patterns through administrative action. Let the battle begin.”

Obama’s speech was purely political, a way he could institute more Big Government, more taxation, and more control of the economy. There was no science involved. The Arctic is at a 10 year high. Tornadoes and hurricane strikes are at record lows. The US climate is flipping from drought to wet, usually a sign of decreased solar activity (more cosmic rays strike the Earth, creating more clouds). And….it doesn’t matter, “climate change” is not about science, but an extension of the Progressive (nice fascists) political agenda.

The last people we should be listening to are those with “carbon footprints” that are many, many times larger than the average American’s. No one has done a calculation for Gore, but it is whoppingly big. Obama’s is at least 41,000 metric tons. The average American’s is 19 metric tons. I’ll listen to anyone who practices what they preach. Few Warmists do.

Read: Man With Giant Carbon Footprint Squees Over Speech Given By Man With With Biggest CFP In World »

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North Carolina Moves Ahead With Voter ID Bill After SCOTUS Ruling

By William Teach June 26, 2013 – 8:29 am

I forget who wrote the Tweet yesterday, they come so quick, but it went something like “If they can drive down to the polling place, they can drive down to get an ID”

(WRAL) Voter identification legislation in North Carolina will pick up steam again now that the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down part of the Voting Rights Act, a key General Assembly leader said Tuesday.

A bill requiring voters to present one of several forms of state-issued photo ID starting in 2016 cleared the House two months ago, but it’s been sitting since in the Senate Rules Committee to wait for a ruling by the justices in an Alabama case, according to Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, the committee chairman. He said a bill will now be rolled out in the Senate next week.

The ruling essentially means a voter ID or other election legislation approved in this year’s session probably won’t have to receive advance approval by U.S. Justice Department attorneys or a federal court before such measures can be carried out.

Texas and other states will now move ahead with their plans to require ID, something that the vast majority of citizens have or can purchase for a small amount. NC’s bill may reduce early voting as well as eliminate Sunday voting and same-day registration. One would think that the integrity of our election process might be important to Democrats, too, based on all their talking points, yet, they are most certainly against any attempts to make sure that the person who is voting is actually eligible. For Southern states like my home state of North Carolina, this is much about making sure illegal and legal aliens do not vote. Along with the shenanigans Democrats like to pull.

What the SCOTUS decision said is that the small part of the Voting Rights Act which required that certain states obtain “pre-clearance” from the federal Department Of Justice (which has become a heavily politicized agency) for any voting changes within certain state counties be changed. It did not strike it down. Pre-clearance made a lot of sense back in the days it was passed, as Democrat run government looked to stop Blacks from voting, and the DOJ was able to deal with the states and counties which were the biggest offenders (and run by Democrats). In 2013 it makes no sense, especially since the last time it was re-authorized in 2006 they used 40 year old data. Times have changed. If there are states, counties, and localities that look use racism/bigotry to block minorities or other groups from voting legally, then the DOJ can jump in. But modern data is needed.

This ruling has obviously turned Democrats into start raving barking moonbats, and make them remember the days when things weren’t good….during Democrat rule

The Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the (Democrat) NAACP, one of the plaintiffs that sued over the 2011 maps, urged Congress to redo the formula so that areas of the country with a history of racial discrimination will still be monitored closely.

“Clearly, the avalanche of attacks we are seeing leveled at voting rights and the intense attempts at voter suppression in state houses around the country remain a constant reminder of the constitutional and moral necessity for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” Barber wrote in an email.

Of course the article spends more time quoting those who are against voter ID, the liberals at the station are certainly against it as well. And they, like hyper-agitator William Barber never acknowledge that Democrats were the ones instituting harsh measures to stop Blacks and other minorities from voting.

Anyhow, the NY Times is in full apoplexy, but fails to understand that this is 2013, not 1965. The President is in full uproar, whining as he usually does, demanding that Congress Do Something, without specifying what they should do. Jonathan S. Tobin points out that Democrats are living in the past (and aren’t very bright). Bloomberg notes that Jim Crow (a Democrat policy) is dead, let’s go by the Constitution.

(WSJ) “Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder, “Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.” The Constitution requires that the federal government treat states equally, and the Voting Rights Act’s selective restrictions were only warranted under extraordinary circumstances. “Current burdens,” Justice Roberts wrote, quoting a previous case, must be justified by “current needs.”

Democrats would prefer to live in the past, ginning up racism (which they themselves were the leaders of said racism) where it doesn’t exist in order to continue the money train and whip up a frenzy. And they say Republicans live in the past. Sheesh!

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: North Carolina Moves Ahead With Voter ID Bill After SCOTUS Ruling »

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Washington Free Beacon Infiltrates The Alabaster Nutroots Nations

By William Teach June 25, 2013 – 7:24 pm

Unsurprisingly, lots of alcohol was required. Make sure to read just how moonbat the Netroots Nation gathering was. Mostly professional activists, very few of the grassroots and left-side bloggers. And white. Very, very white. The kind of white that the Tea Party is always accused of being. Anyhow, it was this nutty

Netroots organizers go to great pains to overcome the pasty patriarchy. They don’t allow panels with only white males, according to one blog. Netroots also included several gender-neutral bathrooms and gave attendees tips on transgender etiquette.

“Please do not assume anyone’s gender, even people you may have met in the past,” advises the Netroots official program. “A person’s external appearance may not match their internal gender identity. Pay attention to a person’s purposeful gender expression.”

Read: Washington Free Beacon Infiltrates The Alabaster Nutroots Nations »

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Obama Outsources Blame For Shooting Down Keystone XL

By William Teach June 25, 2013 – 2:53 pm

This will hopefully be my last post on President 44K metric tons carbon footprint (OK, I added 3k, but, does anyone think his CFP hasn’t gone up over the years? And 44 is perfect) Obama’s hotcoldwetdry speech. At least for today. But, here’s a little snippet (via Ace and Erika Johnson)

(HuffPost) President Barack Obama will ask the State Department not to approve the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline unless it can first determine that it will not lead to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, a senior administration official told The Huffington Post. …

The new Obama policy somewhat splits the difference — not killing the project outright, but ensuring that it meets a basic environmental standard. …

“As the executive order on Keystone contemplates, the environmental impacts will be important criteria used in the determination of whether the Keystone pipeline application will ultimately be approved at the completion of the State Department decision process,” said the senior administration official. “In today’s speech, the president will make clear that the State Department should approve the pipeline only if it will not lead to a net increase in overall greenhouse gas emissions.”

Keystone XL has passed so many environmental standards inquiries, but, here’s how Ace puts it

Rather than announcing this decision himself, he pawns it off to a third party who can take the heat while he once again pretends to have nothing to do with his own government.

Cowardly, as usual.

His barking moonbat base (which fails to admonish Obama for taking a huge motorcade to Georgetown U, which is less than 4 miles from the White House) will be satisfied, because they know that Keystone will be locked up in red tape and studies for at least the rest of Obama’s term. Low info voters won’t really know that this means “f*ck you and your need for inexpensive, reliable energy”.

Read: Obama Outsources Blame For Shooting Down Keystone XL »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Barry Obama, Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 25, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil fossil fueled limo, which no one else should be allowed to use except President Obama, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Director Blue, with a post on the ammo shortage by the numbers.

Read: If All You See… »

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Primal Scream: Warmists Declare That “Climate Change” Isn’t About Air Temperature

By William Teach June 25, 2013 – 12:04 pm

The 15+ year pause in statistically significant warming has had Warmists scrambling for ways to protect their cult. Here’s Dana Nuccitelli at the UK Goreball Guardian

When you hear the term “global warming,” do you think of the warming of air temperatures at the Earth’s surface, or the warming of the planet as a whole?

Only about 2 percent of the planet’s overall warming heats the atmosphere, so if we focus only on surface air temperatures, we miss 98 percent of the overall warming of the globe. About 90 percent of the warming of the planet is absorbed in heating the oceans. However, until the past few years, our measurements of ocean temperatures (especially of the deep oceans) were somewhat lacking. Our measurements of surface air temperatures were much more accurate, and so when people spoke of “global warming,” they tended to focus on air temperatures.(snip)

The key take-home point is that we now have better measurements of ocean and global heat accumulation. We no longer have to settle for focusing on the 2 percent of global warming represented by surface air temperatures….

The key take-home is that Warmists will say anything to protect their un-scientific cult. The article positions that all that heat is in the oceans (we’ve already heard the “it’s hiding in the deep oceans” malarkey), and uses far left studies to attempt to “prove” this. Yet, if oceans were heating up, we’d see more atmospheric warming. We aren’t. We have no long term data to compare to, which is what Warmists really love.  The Guardian even claims that the overall warming of the Earth’s climate has sped up. Despite a lackluster increase of .14F since 1997, one of the coldest springs in decades around the northern hemisphere, bitter cold during the winter across much of the northern hemisphere, and a cold summer in the southern hemisphere.

(IBD) “The science of climate change is screaming at us for action,” Secretary of State John Kerry said over the weekend. Yes, we hear screams, but not from science. They’re from the alarmist movement dying.

Warmists continue to hold out and fight like Japanese soldiers hiding in jungles across the Pacific post-WWII, clueless that they’ve lost. They’re losers sitting alone at bars getting drunk and finding ways to Blamestorm everyone but themselves for their pathetic condition. They’re ideologues scared that their money train will dry up, watching reality take away their ways to push their far left agenda of fascism.

Read: Primal Scream: Warmists Declare That “Climate Change” Isn’t About Air Temperature »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Fifteen Republicans Duped By Shumer-Corker-Hoeven Border Amnesty Bill

By William Teach June 25, 2013 – 9:36 am

Does anyone else think that the National Republican Senatorial Committee is going to have a really tough time getting donations for 2014?

(The Hill) The Senate voted 67-27 Monday to advance a border security amendment to bipartisan immigration legislation, building momentum for a final vote later this week.

Fifteen of the “yes” votes were Republicans, suggesting supporters could hit the 70-vote threshold they hope to reach in the final vote. It is thought a big, bipartisan vote could put pressure in the GOP-held House, where immigration reform faces dimmer prospects.

The Republicans who voted “yes” were Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) — the four authors of the legislation — and Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Jeff Chiesa (N.J.), Susan Collins (Maine), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Dean Heller (Nev.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Roger Wicker (Miss.).

Paul Ryan, who’s gone completely squish on this subject after losing the election as Romney’s running mate, thinks that the toothless and soon to be blown off border security measures makes it more likely for it to be passed in the House. But, will it? We know that 100% of Democrats will vote for it, since it’s a wet dream for them: they know that border control will be a joke, that those getting legal status will receive federal benefits, regardless, and that they will start agitating for the post-illegals be given voting rights, if not outright citizenship. As David Weigel points out, there is no pressure on House Republicans to pass this turd of a bill. In fact, there will be enormous pressure to not pass it, and to craft legislation that is all about security.

(Michelle Malkin) These cynical pols insist that the rest of law-abiding Americans and law-abiding permanent residents must support Washington’s push to “do something” because “11 million people are living in the shadows.”

To which I say: So? There are 23 million Americans out of work. Why aren’t they Washington’s top priority anymore? Didn’t both parties once pledge that j-o-b-s for unemployed and underemployed Americans was Job No. 1? Why is the very first major legislative push of 2013 another mass amnesty/voter drive/entitlement expansion?

See those 15 Republicans above? Primary them. Do not donate to them. They are liars, Democrats in Republican clothes, and are destroying the Republicans. I’ll give Democrats this: they picked a perfect method to destroy the GOP. I’m just surprised they didn’t wait till 2014 to pull this, thereby giving them a better shot at picking up more Senate seats.

Read: Fifteen Republicans Duped By Shumer-Corker-Hoeven Border Amnesty Bill »

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Big Carbon Footprint Obama To Give His Deflection To Climate Change Speech Today

By William Teach June 25, 2013 – 9:16 am

The big question is, will he forgo either traveling in a huge fossil fueled motorcade or taking fossil fueled Marine 1 to Georgetown and instead slapping on the Mom Jeans and ride his bicycle? Yeah, we know which mode of transportation he’ll choose

(CBS) With little to no hope on Capitol Hill for action on climate change, President Obama on Tuesday plans to bypass Congress and move forward with executive actions designed to reduce carbon emissions.

There is a good reason Congress hasn’t taken this up: no one really cares except a small subsection of unhinged Obama voters, who themselves refuse to practice what they preach. Dealing with global warming is dead last in a Pew poll, and generally comes in last or close to last among concerns for Americans, with things like the economy, jobs, deficit reduction, and pretty much everything else being more important than dealing with Hotcoldwetdry. But, the Man with a 41,000 metric ton “carbon footprint” wants to Do Something (that effects everyone else).

In a speech at Georgetown University, the president will lay out what the administration is billing as a comprehensive plan built on three pillars: cutting the nation’s carbon pollution, leading global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and preparing the United States for the impacts of climate change. As part of that effort, Mr. Obama on Tuesday will sign a presidential memorandum directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to start engaging with states, the private sector and other stakeholders to set carbon pollution standards for both new and existing carbon power plants.

I guess he wants all you Americans to die, because your body, dear reader, is 18% carbon by mass. But, we aren’t talking about carbon, but carbon dioxide. If we want to talk science, we have to be specific. Calling CO2 carbon is like caller H20 “hydrogen”.

Nor is it pollution: it is a clear, colorless, odorless trace gas necessary for life on Earth, which tends to lag behind temperature, not precede it. If it makes the temperature go up, then why has the Earth seen a 15+ year pause in statistically significant warming? Oh, sorry, I forgot, Warmists are desperately peering into their crystal balls to find ways to blame other things, like that the heat is hiding in the deep ocean. It’s “the dog ate my warming” defense.

(USA Today) President Obama will announce new rules Tuesday to restrict carbon pollution at new and existing power plants, part of a comprehensive plan to combat climate change that he can put in place through executive action.

In a speech at Georgetown University, Obama will also direct the Interior Department to permit new wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects on public lands, enough to power more than 6 million homes by 2020.

New energy-efficiency projects are also part of the climate change plan, according to a blueprint provided by the White House.

So, he plans to hose middle and lower class Americans who are already suffering during the extended economic malaise during Obama’s presidency with artificially higher energy prices, leading to higher prices of everything else.

Then he will ruin our parks and open spaces with wind, solar, and other projects (ask the Brits how much they like their plan to do this in the UK), hooking up his campaign contributors, and all those homes will still need old school power plants because solar and wind are very inefficient. And these projects will be surely protested and blocked from actual construction by his enviroweenie base, like they often do.

Oh, and remember just how well all those “energy efficiency projects” worked with the Stimulus? Utter failure. And now he wants to do it again.

He’ll apparently use most of the speech attempting to scare Americans about “climate change”, using scientifically illiterate notions. He’ll blame all weather on Other People having carbon footprints. Yet, there has only been 1 actual hurricane strike during his entire time in office (and one could debate whether Isaac was a hurricane at landfall). Fire activity is down. Drought is switching to wet. The US had a very cool spring. Climate models are being shown to fail, and fail spectacularly.

It’s less than 4 miles from the White House to Georgetown U. He should bike it.

More: Anthony Watts has a copy of the plan, which he embargoed till this morning, and he breaks down the good, the bad, and the ugly. I won’t steal his thunder by excerpting, go read the whole, but, will note

I’m not impressed at all with the Obama plan. It lacks real vision, and seems written mainly to appease activist groups. While there are some glimmers of positive things in it, the lack of a real way forward (solar, biofuels, and wind aren’t it) combined with new restrictions can only mean higher energy prices in our future, most of it due to government meddling in the free market.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Big Carbon Footprint Obama To Give His Deflection To Climate Change Speech Today »

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NY Times Op-Ed Really Psyched For Far Left Greek Party Syriza

By William Teach June 24, 2013 – 3:29 pm

Anyone surprised that they think that only Syriza can save Greece?

(NY Times) Indeed, right now, Syriza may be Europe’s best hope. Greeks neither want to leave the euro nor see the euro zone disintegrate, an eventuality likely to bring down the European Union. They also know that Europe’s approach to the crisis, involving increasingly harsh austerity and larger loans, has failed miserably.

So, the best plan is to elect or install a party that is super far left, quadrupling down on failed leftist policies?

Syriza plans to fight both rising hunger and a xenophobic neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, with school lunches and food stamps. A Syriza government would seek these reforms and the salvation of the European project. And this can be only a good thing for the United States.

Golden Dawn also holds Progressive views, just not as much as Syriza.

Lord knows I’m no expert on Syriza, so let’s check with the Socialists. For one thing, it’s known as the Coalition of the Radical Left. That should be the first clue.

The other characteristic is the relationship of the organizations involved in the alliance. A number of different currents–revolutionary and reformist, Trotskyists, Maoists and Euro-communists–coexist in SYRIZA and manage to work together on the urgent tasks that face us. This clearly has a big appeal to many people and helps explain the depth of support for SYRIZA.

Syriza is the political wet dream of American Progressives. A super hard left Party made up with all the far left.

What do they want? Nationalization of all financial institutions, massive taxation of the wealthy, forcible repatriation of all overseas money, nationalization if many other business sectors, free everything, majorly decreasing their military (such as it is), forgiving much of loans, and, of course, hating on Israel and taking the side of the Palestinians and going back to pre-1967 borders. Because nothing says leftist like Israel bashing.

And this is what people at the NY Times thinks is great.

Read: NY Times Op-Ed Really Psyched For Far Left Greek Party Syriza »

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