Obama Votes “Present” On Palestinian Funding

By William Teach December 2, 2012 – 7:59 am

If there’s one thing that Obama has done throughout his political career, it’s avoiding hard choices (and avoiding responsibility for Bad Things along with Blamestorming, but that’s a different story). More often than not he votes “present”. When it comes to dealing with the aftermath of the vote at the United Nations granting the Palestinians non-member observer status Mr. Obama has done what he does best: vote present, or, as The Hill terms it, punts

The White House won’t seek to punish the Palestinian Authority for this week’s statehood vote at the United Nations, but did not vow to veto pending legislative proposals to cut off U.S. aid in retaliation.

The U.N. General Assembly voted 138-9 on Thursday to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as a non-member observer state, over the strident objections of the United States and Israel. In response, the Senate is expected to vote next week on legislation placing new restrictions on the $600 million in annual U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority.

Questions about repercussions are “better directed at the Congress than at us,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday. She said the State Department is still trying to release $495 million in pending funds for fiscal year 2012 that were held up following the Palestinians’ failed effort last year to become a full member of the U.N.

This allows Obama to keep his hands clean over whatever legislation comes out of the Senate, which is looking to place huge restrictions on the support money the Palestinians receive. The legislation would cut the funds off if the Palestinians attempt to use the International Criminal Court to go after Israel. No matter which way the vote goes, Obama can stay above the fray, especially since a good chunk of the Democratic base supports the Palestinians and hates Israel.

I have an idea: instead of spending $600 million a year on a terrorist nation, why not spend it on, as Obama says, “nation building here at home”? Liberals were whining about the bridge that collapsed in New Jersey yesterday, and about how money needed to be spent on infrastructure (not like there wasn’t a Stimulus program or something): that money could go a long way. Same if we cut of the funds to the United Nations.

“We will also continue to try to support the Palestinian Authority” Victoria Nuland said, “because this money supports their … ability to administer the territories, provide security, and take care of the needs of the Palestinian people, who we continue to believe need our support, need the international community’s support.”

Well, let the international community fund the terrorist “nation”. Let them pay the bulk of the money to areas that produce virtually nothing by terrorists, suicide bombers, and missile launches against Israeli civilians. They actually do have some small amount of real products. Perhaps if the Palestinians spent their time developing their agricultural, soap, textiles, and other products instead of their terrorist activities real peace could be achieved.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

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WWF Stages Protest At COP18

By William Teach December 1, 2012 – 2:56 pm

I wonder how many unnecessary fossil fueled flights and automobile trips were taken to put on this demonstration? There are quite a few faces of people who surely live nowhere near not only Qatar, but the Middle East.

And how many trees were killed to produce the professionally made signs?

(Washington Post) A few hundred people marched in a peaceful demonstration Saturday for “climate justice” in Doha, where negotiators from nearly 200 countries are debating about how to slow global warming and help protect the most vulnerable countries from rising seas and other impacts of climate change.

Waving banners saying “Stop climate change” and “Arabs reduce emissions,” the well-behaved crowd marched along the Qatari capital’s Corniche, a waterfront walkway lined by gleaming skyscrapers.

Khalid al-Mohannadi, one of the organizers, noted that “it’s not a protest, it’s a march for peace.”

Well, by taking all those fossil fueled trips, the Warmists are destroying peace, per their own words.

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Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach December 1, 2012 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible climate killing cow, you just might be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Watts Up With That?, with a post on inconvenient tornado data.

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Bummer: Moscow Sees Heaviest November Snow In 50 Years

By William Teach December 1, 2012 – 10:22 am

Probably because you, dear reader, drove your car to work instead of riding a bike

(WP) A major snowstorm has brought Moscow to a standstill, disrupting road and air travel in a city that’s no stranger to harsh wintry weather.

The Associated Press reports that over 8 inches (27 cm) of snow fell in the Russian capital in the past 24 hours. That’s half of the city’s typical November snowfall. Moscow’s city hall has called it the biggest November snowstorm in half a century, and local forecasters expect the snow to continue into Friday.

Much of Europe is also in a deep freeze.

Wintry conditions have also extended westward into central Europe. In central and southern Germany, icy road conditions led to multiple accidents, including one death. Spiegel Online reports more than 10” (27 cm) of fresh snow fell atop the Feldberg in the Black Forest. Freezing temperatures and heavy snow also affected the Swiss and Austrian Alps – though such conditions are hardly unusual there for this time of year.

Britain is also seeing early snow. Probably caused by Hotcoldwetdry.

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Obama’s Keeping A “Naughty And Nice” List

By William Teach December 1, 2012 – 8:51 am

Yet another “enemies” list for the most polarizing president ever (via The Lonely Conservative)

“Joe Biden was in Costco and he wanted to buy some of this stuff, but I told him he had too much work to do. I wasn’t going to have him building roller coasters all day long. Now, of course, Santa delivers everywhere. I’ve been keeping my own naughty and nice list for Washington, so you should keep your eye on who gets some K’NEX this year. There are going to be some members of Congress who get them, and some who don’t,” President Obama said Friday at a rally where he pushed Congress to avoid the fiscal cliff.

You can watch the video at Real Clear Politics. He also trotted out a Scrooge reference

Obama’s 14-minute speech at a toy manufacturing company here amounted to a verbal poke in the eye, warning that taxes will go up without a plan — and likening Boehner and other Republicans to one of the most reviled figures of the holiday season.

“That’s sort of like the lump of coal you get for Christmas,” Obama said at K’nex, the maker of Tinkertoys. “That’s a Scrooge Christmas.”

What he didn’t offer during his neverending campaign appearances Friday was any sort of leadership or willingness to negotiate in good faith. He laid his big taxing plan on the table, which includes even more big stimulus spending, and a promise (wink wink) to deal with entitlement spending cuts next year. America’s problem isn’t revenue: it’s spending.

Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner delivered a proposal to lawmakers that included $4.5 billion in reduced borrowing over the next decade. Administration officials said Friday that Obama is also proposing to delay automatic spending cuts through Aug. 1 to give Congress a limited amount of time to hatch a deal.

In terms of government spending, cutting $4.5 billion over 10 years is like you cutting your own spending by about 5 cents a year. This shows how unserious (NMP) Obama is in dealing with America’s spending issues. Instead of negotiating, he’s playing campaign games.

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Smart Power: Egypt Hurriedly Passes Islamist Style Constitution

By William Teach December 1, 2012 – 8:27 am

Who could have possibly seen this coming when the Obama administration decided to throw Mubarak under the bus?

(LA Times) Egypt’s Islamist-dominated constitutional assembly passed a rushed draft of a constitution early Friday to ease public anger against President Mohamed Morsi’s expanded powers and preempt an expected court decision to disband the chamber this weekend.

The proposed constitution states that the nation will be governed by the “principles” of Islamic law, the same wording in the charter under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak. But liberal critics argue that the language in certain articles of the constitution is open to interpretation and could allow conservative Islamists to impose a rigid version of sharia law. (snip)

The final draft omitted a stipulation that equality for women would be protected only if it didn’t conflict with sharia law. The charter, however, does not define discrimination by gender and states that women, not men, must balance their duties between family and work. Another article forbids the “defaming of messengers and prophets” but does not define defamation, opening the possibility of limiting freedom of expression and allowing clerics to condemn perceived “infidels.” (snip)

The draft charter states that Egypt is a Muslim nation and that — for the first time in the republic’s history — parliament must consult clerics at Al Azhar mosque, a revered institution in Sunni Islam, on legislation “related to Islamic sharia.”

Ultraconservative Islamists, known as Salafis, were pressing for the document, which contains 230 articles, to explicitly state that sharia was the “primary source” of legislation. But moderates in the Muslim Brotherhood — in a concession to liberals — opted for less strict wording and, in a number of areas, limited attempts by Salafis to imbue the charter with fundamentalist overtones.

We aren’t quite at the point that the Egyptian constitution mimics Iran, but, they’re getting there, and this would entrench the principles of Sharia law within the Egyptian society. As Rusty Shackleford writes

Whereas the former government oppressed the Egyptian people by ignoring the law and Constitution (hey, it’s what dictators do), the new government will now oppress the people through the law.

Once the draft is passed, it is supposed to go to the Egyptian people for a yes or no vote. It will be interesting to see which way they jump.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

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Feds Spend $100k On Condom Negotiation

By William Teach November 30, 2012 – 2:43 pm

I think they’re a bit late since most in the study were already pregnant

(Washington Examiner) The administration is funding a $100,000 study of pregnant and “at-risk” 14-17-year-old girls on probation in Houston, Texas, to determine ways to help them choose safer lifestyles and avoid pregnancy, including better “condom negotiation” tactics. The National Institutes of Health , part of the Health and Human Services Department, is providing a University of Houston researcher the money because of the lack of study of female teen juveniles in trouble with the law.

And they’ve decided to use girls who already in correctional facilities. Perhaps they could simply teach them to keep their legs closed? Obviously, that would conflict with everything else liberals are teaching kids about sex.

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If All You See…

By William Teach November 30, 2012 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil CO2 infused bottle of beer, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Powerline, with a post on what Obama’s fiscal cliff offer was.

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Climate Wackos Project Sandy Images On Gas Station

By William Teach November 30, 2012 – 11:26 am

I wonder how much energy was consumed in this little stunt?

(Village Voice) The Exxon Mobil station on 2nd Street and Avenue C became an impromptu movie theater last night, as a coalition of climate-change activists projected a short film about Hurricane Sandy recovery onto the wall above it.

Josh Fox, one of the filmmakers behind the anti-fracking film Gasland, shot the 25-minute film in the Rockaways in the first weeks after the storm hit.

Fox had shown some of the footage earlier this month at a Do The Math event, and in the parking lot last night he said the guerrilla projection stunt fit in well with that campaign’s goal to tie the responsibility for climate change directly to fossil fuel companies.

“We’re dealing with a hurricane that was supercharged by climate change,” Fox said. “Really, we should be calling it Hurricane Exxon.”

OK, if it’s all about fossil fuel companies, that must mean they have people using their products. Time for all you little climate crazies to give up all fossil fuels.

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Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Obama’s Fiscal Cliff Offer: Tax And Spend

By William Teach November 30, 2012 – 7:36 am

An unserious proposal from an unserious president

(Politico) Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s fiscal cliff proposal to Republicans Thursday was rejected out of hand, but offered a window into President Barack Obama’s priorities in the fast-evolving budget talks.

In the plan, sources said, Geithner proposed a two-step process to ultimately achieve about $1.6 trillion in new revenue. The first step would net $960 billion immediately by allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire on top earners along with raising rates on dividends and capital gains.

Another $600 billion would come from overhauling the tax code — presumably next year — reaching the administration’s $1.6 trillion goal.

The administration also pressed for a patch of the alternative minimum tax and the extension of targeted business tax breaks at a cost of $236 billion.

And there were more tax rate increases he offered up. They just kept coming and coming.

He proposed appropriating an additional $25 billion in stimulus spending, above the current baseline, for six years, with $50 billion in fiscal 2013 alone. Along with that, the Treasury secretary called for an extension of expanded funding for unemployment benefits totaling $30 billion, and another $25 billion for the so-called doc fix.

And more spending.

But, what about cuts? Not so much. When all is said and done, there would be $3 in new taxes now for every $1 in cuts sometime in the far future which would never appear. Republicans walked away. Mitch McConnell burst into laughter upon hearing the proposal.

(Daily Caller) Boehner and other Republicans derided Obama’s wishlist, which was described by the New York Times as ”a detailed proposal … loaded with Democratic priorities and short in detailed spending cuts.”

The Washington Post described the package as lacking “any concessions to Republicans, most notably on the core issue of where to set tax rates for the wealthiest Americans… [and] it seemed to take Republicans by surprise.”

It was a ridiculous offer from a president who either fails to understand just how broke the country is or doesn’t care. There was no compromise in the offer. There was no balance. But, fortunately, Obama plans to take a 2 week trip to Hawaii, costing the taxpayers $4 million, right in the middle of the time the cliff is coming.

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