Secede Petitions Cover All 50 States, Over 660K Signatures

To answer the question right up front, no, this is most likely not a serious movement to secede. Certainly not in deep blue states like Brokeifornia (10,036 at time of writing), NY (12,806), and Massachusetts (107), among others. Most of the petitions are carbon copies of all the others. Heck, it took 5 minutes for me to create the Alaska one, and only because I forgot my login password and had to reset it. No, this is mostly people showing that this is still a Democratic Republic, and want the Obama admin to understand that the minority and their opinions matter, that Obama shouldn’t ramrod his agenda down the throats of America

(Daily Caller) Less than a week after a New Orleans suburbanite petitioned the White House to allow Louisiana to secede from the United States, petitions from seven states have collected enough signatures to trigger a promised review from the Obama administration.

By midnight Tuesday, more than 660,000 digital signatures appeared on 69 separate secession petitions covering all 50 states, according to a Daily Caller analysis of requests lodged with the White House’s “We the People” online petition system.

A petition from Vermont, where talk of secession is a regular feature of political life, was the final entry.

Remember back to 2004 when President Bush won and John Kerry lost, liberals were advocating secession of Blue states, along with referring to Red states as “flyover” states, flying the American flag upside down, and calling the Red states “dumbf*ckistan“.

“Gov. Perry believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it. But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government,” according to a statement from the governor’s office.

But, apparently the American Right isn’t allowed to voice their concerns in the “progressive” United States.

A backlash Monday night saw requests filed with the White House to strip citizenship rights from Americans who signed petitions to help states secede. (RELATED: Anti-secession forces fight back with White House deportation petitions)

Progressives (read “fascists”) hate when people other than themselves are accorded First Amendment Rights.

Certainly, some are serious. Others are blowing off steam. Most surely are tired of the massive Central Government trying to dictate everything from the fever swamps of Washington, D.C.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Secede Petitions Cover All 50 States, Over 660K Signatures »

Washington Post: “Know What Would Be Awesome? A Carbon Tax”

Personally, I’d recommend that they recommend taxing Carbon Dioxide, since that is what they blame every weather even on. It’s not like our bodies are made of Carbon.

(Washington Post) Now if there were just some policy that would reduce carbon emissions and raise federal ­revenue . . . .

A tax on carbon, of course, is that policy, and lawmakers and the president should be discussing it. The idea is to put a simple price on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases — some dollar amount per ton of CO² — that steadily increases at a pre-set rate.

This is the best plan lawmakers can take off the shelf to fight global warming.

The best plan would be for every True Believer in hotcoldwetdry to give up their fossil fueled travel, take 2 minute showers, unplug every appliance when not in use, turn off their ice maker, walk to work, etc and so on. Live the 1299 “carbon neutral” lifestyle.

As an added benefit, it would reduce dependence on imported oil. If businesses and consumers had to pay something for the otherwise invisible costs of their actions — in this case, pollution — they would be more careful. Their combined preferences, not those of Congress or bureaucrats, would determine how to wring carbon out of the economy.

So, the Washington Post editorial board, part of an organization that uses vast amounts of energy and fossil fuels, not to mention all the trees they harvest, to publish and distribute their paper couldn’t give a damn if your cost of living skyrockets.

Read: Washington Post: “Know What Would Be Awesome? A Carbon Tax” »

Judge Rules Against Possum Drop, Brings Irony

Unintentional, and hilarious, irony

(Raleigh N&O) A Wake County judge has ordered a halt to the annual Opossum Drop in the mountain community of Brasstown, a victory for animal rights groups who called lowering the marsupial in a tinsel-covered box on New Year’s Eve is inhumane.

See, all sorts of animal rights whiners have gone whiny whiner over slowly lowering a possum on New Years. Here’s where it gets funny

“WRC should therefore have instructed Logan to immediately release the opossum into the wild where the opossum had been captured, or kill it,” Morrison wrote in his order.

Heh! I bet the possum would prefer the cushy life of getting fed, blazing around, and having to be in a box once a year to being killed.

The story also illustrates the idiocy of government overreach, since the judge ruled the way he did due to the store owner not having the “right permits” to keep a possum. Silly.

Read: Judge Rules Against Possum Drop, Brings Irony »

If All You See…

…are some wonderful carrots surely grown organically in a wonderful low emissions socialist nation, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Camp Of The Saints, with a post on marching fascism

Read: If All You See… »

McMorris-Rodgers Pushing “Comprehensive Immigration Reform”

Cathy McMorris-Rodgers is an up and coming star in the GOP. She’s the fourth leading Republican in the House. She was the person I hoped Romney would pick. Alas, she seems to be moving toward the amnesty viewpoint

(The Hill) Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) on Sunday said the GOP didn’t need to adopt “more moderate” positions, but rather needed to become “more modern” by being better inclusive of women and minorities.

“I don’t think it’s about the Republican Party needing to become more moderate. I really believe it’s the Republican Party becoming more modern,” said McMorris Rodgers, during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

In other words, she’s talking about pandering. Over the past 6 years or so, the GOP has moved away from the ultra-pandering campaign mode, since that involves promising that the Government will Do Something, which always involves money that the nation can’t afford. The problem is that the GOP view of “hey, we need some fiscal responsibility and we want to empower you” is competing against the Democrat nation of “here’s free stuff.” If I tell you “I’ll give you $25 to mow my yard so you can buy food” but my neighbor says “I’ll simply give you $15 to buy food”, which do you choose? Well, the majority of American voters chose the latter. How do you compete with the free stuff campaign?

“Whether it’s Hispanics, whether it’s women, whether it’s young people, the Republican Party has to make it a priority to take our values, to take our vision to every corner of this country,” she said.

Vision is good. But, that’s not what she means

Former Commerce Secretary and the head of GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s Hispanic Steering Committee Carlos Gutierrez said he “would lay the blame squarely on the far right wing” for driving away minority voters.

Former Utah governor and one-time presidential candidate Jon Huntsman said his party had “no vision,” adding it “needs to decide whether it wants to win or lose.”

But all three said the GOP should forge ahead with immigration reform to win support from Hispanic groups.

So, she’s joining the squishy “let’s give people who broke the law” amnesty crowd. It won’t earn the GOP any votes. But, it looks like the GOP is looking for some sort of excuse.

Sadly, it looks like Ed Morrissey is also buying into the immigration reform argument, with the hope of border security being included. Even if passed that way, the border control would never materialize.

Michelle Malkin, on the other hand, is completely un-amused by the return of Shamnesty talk and GOP squishyness.

It comes down to “are we a nation of law or a nation of men?”

Read: McMorris-Rodgers Pushing “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” »

Socialist Mayor Proposes Banning All Classic And “Old Bangers” From Paris

Would it surprise you that this is mostly about the climate change hoax?

(Telegraph) Under proposals presented to the city council on Monday, Socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoë intends to outlaw by September 2014 the use of cars and utility vehicles more than 17 years old and lorries or buses more than 18 years old.

Motorcycles built before 2004 will also be forbidden, as the mayor said they were the “most polluting and noisiest”.

The “old banger” ban will apply to all vehicles inside the A86 motorway that surrounds the French capital.

Hooray, we’re saved!

The plan would “exclude the poorest people from driving in the capital” and turn Paris into an “island for the rich”, he told Le Parisien newspaper.

You know, those poor people who rely on older cars. So, what to do?

The Socialists insisted they would introduce “social” measures to help families and businesses update vehicles, including state subsidies to scrap old cars for new ones – a move experts dubbed unrealistic given the huge cost of such a measure at a time of austerity.

Why, yes, they’ll offer more money they don’t have. Sound familiar? They also propose a whole range of taxes and fees. Why?

They are part of a plan to turn Paris into a Low Emission Zone, cutting emissions by 30 per cent by 2015. Failure to comply with European air pollution norms could see Brussels slap a 100 million-euro fine on France in 2016.

Certainly, all those vehicles, especially the older ones and those that run on diesel, provide quite a bit of actual air pollution, such as NO2, ozone, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which create smog, and particulate matter. But, this is aimed at reducing CO2 which has been so devastating that there has been no change in the world temperature over the last 16 years.

I find it interesting how Warmist doctrine always seems to resemble Big Government fascism and nanny statism, with the requisite taxes, fees, control, and give backs.

Read: Socialist Mayor Proposes Banning All Classic And “Old Bangers” From Paris »

ObamaCare Still Has Plenty Of Legal Challenges In The Works

Many people got on John Boehner’s case for saying that Obamacare is now “the law of the land.” Unfortunately, he’s right. With the loss of the race for the White House, and no control of the Senate, there is now way for the GOP to repeal it, or even water it down and/or limit its damage. At least at this time. If, say, the GOP manages to win the Senate and White House in 2016, it will be darned hard to repeal and replace a law that involves 1/6th of the U.S. economy. That said, there are still plenty of legal challenges to the law

(Politico) The Supreme Court gave its definitive ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act in June.

Actually, no. The ruling kicked the can down the road to hear legal challenges on the Mandate till 2014, when people will be actually affected by the tax.

But that hasn’t stopped three other legal challenges to core provisions of Obamacare — including the mandates and subsidies — that could unravel big parts of the law if they succeed.

One case challenges whether people can get subsidies for health insurance in states that don’t run their own insurance exchanges. Another puts forth a new legal argument against the constitutionality of the individual and employer mandates. And the third argues that the law isn’t valid because it originated in the Senate, and the Constitution says tax legislation needs to start in the House.

There’s also a barrage of lawsuits against the administration’s contraception coverage requirement, which wouldn’t derail the overall legislation but would keep the public focused on a controversial aspect of the law.

Of course, the ultimate challenge will be when the law truly starts affecting and harming people. When companies start dropping their insurance plans. When costs go up due to the massive bureaucracy necessary to run this polished turd of a law. When doctors refuse to accept the insurance offered through the exchanges, along with dropping Medicare and Medicaid coverage en masse. When the Central Government restricts procedures, medicines, and cause rationing.

And while the lawyers fight it out, the cases continue to be political irritants and a way to keep the antagonism to the law burning hot.

How dare you pesky American citizens fight against your masters!!!!!!

The subsidies, in the form of tax credits, are available only through these exchanges. But the law was based on the assumption that most states would run the exchanges with the federal government as a backup. Yet at this point, only 13 states and Washington seem likely to run their own exchanges, although a few undecided states could tip that way. The rest will either let the feds run them or will create so-called partnership exchanges with the Department Health and Human Services and the states divvying up responsibilities.

Oklahoma — building its case on an argument made by the Cato Institute and Case Western Reserve University Law professor Jonathan Adler — argues that the subsidies can be administered only through the state exchanges, not federal ones.

This is a big one, because, no matter the intent of the whole 2,700 page law, the specifics in the law made no provision for the Federal government to administer the subsidies. Oops.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: ObamaCare Still Has Plenty Of Legal Challenges In The Works »

Puppy Vs Doorstop

Because you probably need some cheering up

Read: Puppy Vs Doorstop »

Obama Defense Dept: “No Credible Threat Pre-Benghazi”

Here’s a new, and disturbing, spin

(UPI) A Defense Department official, speaking on background, provided a timeline of the U.S. military response to the deadly consulate attack.

“I would note … that there was no specific or credible threat that we knew of on the day that the attacks … occurred in Benghazi,” the official said.

Perhaps we do need to enforce the sequestration, and do away with some of the dead wood and non-combat military members warming chairs. Because others sure were worried

The International Committee of the Red Cross pulled its staff out of Benghazi and the State Department issued travel warnings for the region ahead of the attacks, however.

News outlets around the world were discussing the increasing danger in Benghazi and the surrounding area to Westerners from Islamic jihadis. Many of them were pulling their operations out of Benghazi. And we knew there were jihadis streaming in to eastern Libya and Benghazi during the civil war when the U.S. was bombing. Oh, and then there is this

(CNN) Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri again referenced the Benghazi, Libya, attack in an audio tape posted on jihadist websites last week, in remarks that, like all his statements, were immediately carefully scrutinized by counter-terrorism analysts searching for clues about the terrorist network’s operations.

Al-Zawahiri had called for Americans to be targeted in Libya the day before the diplomatic mission was attacked, leading to speculation that al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan had some sort of role or influence in the attack.

So, the day before the attack you have al Qaeda’s leader calling for attacks. Humph. You had Ambassador Stevens and many others screaming for more security. And, it was, you know, September 11th. Oh, and that whole thing about tons of people showing up with al Qaeda and Taliban style flags and headbands. The group that was supposed to provide security taking pictures of the American buildings. And it was September 11th. Now, if this had occurred in say, June, that might be a different story. Islamists love using certain dates to plan attacks. 9/11 is the big one.

Read: Obama Defense Dept: “No Credible Threat Pre-Benghazi” »

If All You See…

…is the sea being saved by the carbon limiting efforts of progressive paradise France, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Flopping Aces, with a post on the Obama lemmings.

Read: If All You See… »

Pirate's Cove