Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach May 12, 2013 – 9:19 am

Happy Sunday! Are one of you fine folks going to help get rid of the mouse? Your mother would be proud. This pinup is by not a clue, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. The Lonely Conservative discusses IRS targeting.
  2. Ice Age Now covers the “warm is cold” paradigm
  3. No Frakking Consensus has scary global warming stories
  4. Wake Up America offers more ObamaFail
  5. This ain’t Hell... discusses politics and the fog of war
  6. The Strata-Sphere has the Benghazi smoking gun
  7. The Other McCain takes civility lessons for a nutty feminist liberal
  8. The Diary Of Daedalus provides more nutbaggery from Little Green Nutballs
  9. The Daily Gator has leftards caught on tape
  10. Rhymes With Right has Dems being recalled over gun grabbing
  11. Powerline has gone ice fishing in May (I mentioned something similar on Twitter)
  12. House Of Eratosthenes wonders about sexual assaults in the military
  13. Flopping Aces has the latest brilliant idea from the Bidenator
  14. Fire Andrea Mitchell digs deep into the Mark Sanford win
  15. And last, but not least, American Perspective has a flashback regarding Obama and the IRS
  16. And one to grow on: Stable Hand at The Jawa Report points out that the eagle on Obama’s Twitter page is upside down.

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts

(Evening updated links)

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

The posts do take a long time, so, if you want to send me your links for Rule 5 babeage or links, use ye olde email in the header bar (remove the NOSPAM part). Preferably, create the html link so I can copy and paste how you want it to read.

The USA’s mom.

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Washington Post: Government Powers Should Never Be Used For Partisan Purposes

By William Teach May 12, 2013 – 8:51 am

Let’s jump way back in time to the beginning of the week. Some guy said this at a commencement ceremony

PRESIDENT (NMP) OBAMA: Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, and creative, and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.

Flip to a surprising piece by the editorial board of the Washington Post

A BEDROCK principle of U.S. democracy is that the coercive powers of government are never used for partisan purpose. The law is blind to political viewpoint, and so are its enforcers, most especially the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. Any violation of this principle threatens the trust and the voluntary cooperation of citizens upon which this democracy depends.

So it was appalling to learn Friday that the IRS had improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny. It was almost as disturbing that President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew have not personally apologized to the American people and promised a full investigation.

It’s almost as disturbing that people within the Obama administration went after the Benghazi whistleblowers. Almost as disturbing as rewriting talking points 12 times to scrub any mention of terrorism in Benghazi, then going on a two week tear blaming a video. Almost as disturbing as Obama’s incompetence on economic issues. Almost as disturbing as forcing religious institutions to cover contraception and abortifacients against their conscience. Almost as disturbing as walking guns into Mexico with no intention to track them. Almost as disturbing as violating American’s 2nd Amendment Rights. Almost as disturbing as his foreign policy……wait, it’s all just as disturbing.

Politicians have long used the coercive power of government for partisan purposes, particularly Democrats, and particularly Mr. Obama. It’s no wonder the IRS felt emboldened to target right side groups with the rhetoric emanating out of the White House. Their ultimate boss has had no problem targeting political opponents, especially private citizens and entities. Why should the IRS worry? Heck, senior IRS officials knew of the intentional targeting.

And right side groups weren’t the only ones targeted: so were pro-Israel groups.

The WP goes on to write that there should be congressional inquiries, and that”Obama also should guarantee an unimpeachably independent inquiry.” Remember that when the hearings start and WP writers, particularly in the opinion pages, target Republicans for holding the hearings.

And remember that we should reject the voices which state that tyranny is just around the corner. Because it is already here.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

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Posted in Barry Obama, Current Affairs, Democrats, Taxation | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 11, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is champagne that will be be made in Siberia due to climate change, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The People’s Cube, with a post on “stylistic editing”.

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Hooray! Fish And Wildlife OK With Condor Deaths From Wind Farms

By William Teach May 11, 2013 – 12:42 pm

Sucks to be a condor, which is a federally protected bird on the endangered animals list, listed as “critically endangered”, being one of the world’s most rare birds. There’s only around 226 left in the wild

(LA Times) Federal wildlife officials took the unprecedented step Friday of telling private companies that they will not be prosecuted for inadvertently harassing or even killing endangered California condors.

In a decision swiftly condemned by conservationists and wildlife advocates, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said operators of Terra-Gen Power’s wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains will not be prosecuted if their turbines accidentally kill a condor during the expected 30-year life span of the project.

PS: They also exempted a private development which includes luxury homes and golf courses. And, yes, I’m on the side of the condors. Just because I’m not a Warmist doesn’t mean I’m not an environmentalist.

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Posted in Energy, Environment, Global Warming | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

Cows?

By William Teach May 11, 2013 – 9:47 am

Read: Cows? »

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Immigration Bill Mandates Biometric Information On All Adult Americans

By William Teach May 11, 2013 – 7:43 am

Everyone should Tweet Marco Rubio and ask him what this is all about

(Wired) The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.

Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf)  is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.

Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.

While the idea is interesting in terms of verifying who the person applying for a job is and whether they are legally eligible to work in the USA, and it’s certainly easier to match a photo from a government issued ID to a photo held in a database, one has to wonder about the privacy concerns raised.

This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet. Think of it as a government version of Foursquare, with Big Brother cataloging every check-in.

Let’s not forget that your Social Security number was meant solely for identification to the Social Security administration, now it’s used for lots and lots of different things, including Obamacare identification and tracking.

Perhaps if the legislation provides hard assurances that this will not go any further, it might be palatable. But, said promise would be as worthless as “if you like your insurance, you can keep it”.

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CO2 Passes 400ppm, Global Climate Shrug Shoulders

By William Teach May 11, 2013 – 7:00 am

Warmists have been anticipating CO2 hitting the CO2 mark with glee, much like they anticipated death milestones during the Iraq war (well, at least while Bush was president), and now they get their wish

(NY Times) The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years.

Yet, the global temperature is stagnant, and it only rose a miniscule .28F since 1990 and .14F since 1997.

The best available evidence suggests the amount of the gas in the air has not been this high for at least three million years, before humans evolved, and scientists believe the rise portends large changes in the climate and the level of the sea.

Justin Gillis means the best water pool scrying, because over 80% of the lower 48 has been below average during 2013. Hurricane activity has been below average for years. Tornado activity is way below average. Antarctica’s temps have been flatlined or dropping. This spring has been the coldest on record (so far). Europe saw it’s 4th harsh winter out of the last 5. Alaska’s average temp has dropped 2.4F over the last 10 years. Lots of instances of snow in the Middle East.

“It symbolizes that so far we have failed miserably in tackling this problem,” said Pieter P. Tans, who runs the monitoring program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that reported the new reading.

Virtually every automobile ride, every plane trip and, in most places, every flip of a light switch adds carbon dioxide to the air, and relatively little money is being spent to find and deploy alternative technologies.

And Warmists still haven’t given up their own fossil fueled vehicles. Kyoto was a failure. Carbon markets are at junk bond status.

Warmists have been proclaiming doom since 1988. Before that, people, including those at the NY Times, were proclaiming doom from a coming ice age. Before that, from warmth. And cooling. And warmth. This goes back to the late 1800’s, when newspapers were able to do mass printings. So far, no doom, and the global climate is failing to respond to the Warmist’s computer models.

If you want to have fun, head over to the Memeorandum link, then to the liberal sites listed, and ask them why they haven’t given up their own fossil fueled vehicles.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

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

Strange: Most Media Spent Little Time On Benghazi Hearings

By William Teach May 10, 2013 – 2:44 pm

Well, you’ve already been treated to the E-trade baby and his shocked face, so I’ll spare you

(MRC) Wednesday’s congressional hearings on the September 11 terrorists attacks in Benghazi provided a stark contrast between Fox News Channel and MSNBC. From the time the whistleblower testimony began at 11:36am through their conclusion after 5pm, FNC devoted 108 minutes to simply airing the hearing with no anchor commentary. MSNBC, in comparison didn’t allow any live coverage. Instead, the cable network aired a scant five minutes and 20 seconds of taped snippets of testimony.

CNN came in second, allowing a mere 17 minutes of footage. After the 2pm hour, CNN lost all interest, instead the network’s anchors eagerly promoted the coming verdict in the Jodi Arias murder trial. (FNC’s reporting on the story after 2pm dropped off to five minutes of taped footage.) The hearings commenced at 11:36 and so did Fox’s coverage. CNN waited until noon to break in and MSNBC came in last at 12:17 (with a taped report and discussion only).

That’s 108 minutes of live coverage for Fox News, 17 for CNN, and zero for MSNBC.

I’m not particularly surprised that CBS, NBC, and ABC did not provide live coverage, they rarely do, people might lynch them if they pre-empt the soaps. But, let’s look at the evening news

(MRC) In total, the three network evening newscasts gave a combined 19 minutes 12 seconds to coverage of the kidnapping case, while only 10 minutes 3 seconds to the new Benghazi revelations. A nearly 2-to-1 disparity.

[UPDATE: On Thursday night, May 9, ABC’s World News and the CBS Eevening News didn’t mention Benghazi. NBC Nightly News offered 27 seconds on House Speaker John Boehner’s call for the release of State Department e-mails.]

None led with the hearings. Nor did their morning shows on Thursday provide real coverage, only 7 minutes overall to 56 for Jodi Arias. Just imagine if Obama was a Republican, or had John McCain been president. Consider the wall to wall lead story coverage for Abu Ghraib for weeks, an issue which the DoD had been investigating for 6 months prior to being exposed, and conducted by low level soldiers being jerks, where no-one was killed nor really injured, just their feelings.

Related, the talking points for Benghazi were changed 12 times, per ABC’s exclusive (kudos for printing the story, perhaps someone other than CBS’ Sharyl Attkinson is interested in journalism before politics). Obviously, the liberals linked in the Memeorandum pull are spinning furiously.

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If All You See…

By William Teach May 10, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…are non CFLs using vast amounts of power causing the world to burn, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Nice Deb, with a post on SEAL Team 6 families going after the government.

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Why The New Star Trek Doesn’t Interest Me

By William Teach May 10, 2013 – 12:40 pm

You can call me a Trekkie. I grew up constantly watching repeats of the original Star Trek. I loved the Next Generation. Deep Space Nine. Voyager. Most of the movies, especially The Wrath Of Khan. I’ve moved on from reading the books, but, when they first started being published, I read them religiously, either buying them or getting them at the library. Over time, I probably purchased or borrowed 60-70 Star Trek books, most of them revolving around either the original Trek universe or pre-Kirk times. I still have a few around, though I donated most to the local libraries here in Wake County when I moved about 6 years ago or in Brielle, NJ, when my parents cleaned everything out to move to their smaller retirement house.

But, now we get to the reboot. I enjoyed the way JJ Abrams made it happen by splitting off to a new time line (though, if we look at the original timeline, there is no way in hell children and babies, as well as pregnant women, would be on a starship traveling into the far reaches of dangerous space, which was the whole point of the original program, per the books….yeah, geek mode on). Here’s: the problem:

..the whole thing breaks down when you realize that Kirk hadn’t even gone through the full course for Star Fleet Academy, and was still essentially a “young adult”, when he’s given command of a starship, the equivalent of giving a 1st year Annapolis cadet command of a carrier.

That’s the comment I left over at the UK Independent for their film review of Into Darkness (via BenK’s news dump). I can’t get beyond that part. Kirk had barely started as a cadet when they had this call up for everyone to get on a ship and go fight. He hadn’t graduated. He hadn’t even commanded a shuttle. Maybe he has the mental ability to do the job, and demonstrated that, I guess, but was there no one else in the chain of command to take over the Enterprise than a kid who had no experience, and surely hadn’t had time to “learn why things work on a starship”? Does anyone think that Star Fleet Command would hand over the US Navy equivalent of a carrier to Kirk once the emergency was over, promoting him to captain? Or would they have assigned someone who had been around for awhile, and perhaps fast tracked Kirk, once he frigging graduated, to becoming a command officer, sticking him on a small ship as a 2nd or 3rd officer to learn under someone who has, you know, experience?

It makes no sense, and, yeah, I know, movie. But, there’s pushing the boundaries of believability and then there’s flying several galaxies beyond. So, yeah, I have no intention of seeing the movie, nor renting it on DVD.

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