Boston Globe: Biden Should Apologize For “Chains” Remark

By William Teach August 19, 2012 – 8:59 am

The Boston Globe isn’t exactly a bastion of conservatism: in fact, it tends to lean quite left. And the editorial board isn’t as amused by Biden’s remark as so many other Democrats are

When Vice President Joe Biden warned a Virginia rally of hundreds of African Americans that Republican efforts to loosen bank regulations meant “They’re going to put y’all back in chains,” Stephanie Cutter, Team Obama’s deputy campaign manager, said the president would have “no problem with those comments.”

But imagine if Republican Paul Ryan uttered comments like that. Mitt Romney’s pick for vice president would be pilloried for racial insensitivity — and so would Romney. In the fight for civility and substance over pointless hyperbole, Biden may not be the worst offender. But he’s an offender nonetheless, and he should apologize. (snip)

Liberals routinely dismiss Biden’s gaffes as the rhetorical excesses of an overly exuberant speaker — it’s “Joe being Joe.” And there can be something appealing about a politician who throws caution and the script that goes with it to the winds. Yet when conservative speakers get overly exuberant and cross a rhetorical line, they are presumed racist or culturally insensitive, rather than refreshingly free-spirited. One standard should apply.

There should be one standard, but as long as Democrats have free reign to say whatever they want and get away with it because 90% (that number could have dropped a bit since the study came out, but certainly not by much) of the media votes Democrat, there won’t be one standard.

Joe Biden has been given pass after pass for his comments, while Republicans have been assaulted, which is easy when the media is complicit in the politics of personal destruction.

Will we get an apology from Joe? Will he say “sorry”? We can put it in the doubtful to good luck with that category. Democrats are allowed to be bigots, insensitive, and racists because they just want to help the people they are being bigoted, racially insensitive, and plain insensitive to. his vorpal sword is a good example, utterly trying to protect Biden.

Powerline wonders why Team Obama didn’t walk back Biden’s comment, and comes to the conclusion “These are plausible explanations, I think. But we should also consider the possibility that Obama affirmatively wants to stand by Biden’s race-baiting.”

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Boston Globe: Biden Should Apologize For “Chains” Remark »

Posted in Current Affairs, Democrats, Joe Biden | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Obama Once Again Pushing Money For Teachers After His Stimulus Failed So Spectacularly

By William Teach August 18, 2012 – 4:56 pm

Hey, he needs that unionized public teachers campaign contributions and votes

Obama: My plan will save teachers’ jobs

President Obama again urged Congress to pass his jobs bill Saturday, this time with an emphasis on teachers.

“Since 2009, we’ve lost more than 300,000 education jobs, in part because of budget cuts at the state and local level,” Obama said during his weekly radio address.

Um, wasn’t the Stimulus supposed to save those jobs? Well, it did. In the short term. This dovetails into my post earlier this morning in terms of the Stimulus being about short term goals and measures, which meant any recovery and/or slowdown of horrible economic conditions ended up being simply short term. The Stimulus gave money to the states to keep teachers on the job. But, because the economy hasn’t improved and the States aren’t seeing revenues increase through sales taxes, property taxes, and income taxes, the three primary sources, they don’t have the money. Especially since public pensions and costs are out of control.

So, now Obama is back to trying to save public sector teacher’s jobs. Because the Stimulus should have been called “here’s some money.”

Education cuts are “the opposite of what we should be doing as a country,” Obama said. “States should be making education a priority in their budgets, even in tough fiscal times. And Congress should be willing to help out — because this affects all of us.”

I always have to wonder if this kind of talk from Obama simply highlights his cluelessness on economic, an inability to divorce himself from his ingrained far left thoughts, or pandering to his liberal base. Education is worthless if there are no jobs to be filled. We can’t keep spending money we do not have. The solution is to increase economic output, which results in money coming in to the state treasuries. If the Feds simply give money to the states for teachers (again), that means a temporary reprieve.

“There’s nothing more important to our country’s future than the education we give our kids. And there’s no one more important to that education than the person at the front of the classroom.”

Which would be for naught if the economy is in free fall.

Read: Obama Once Again Pushing Money For Teachers After His Stimulus Failed So Spectacularly »

Posted in Barking Moonbats, Barry Obama, Economy | 12 Comments | Trackback URL

Grist Loves Joe Romm’s Book, Notion Of Speaking Better On Climate

By William Teach August 18, 2012 – 2:02 pm

ManCrush by Warmist Chris Mooney

(Grist) I don’t normally do this. But right now, I am going to come out and gushingly endorse a book: climate blogger Joe Romm’s Language Intelligence: Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga.

Everybody who cares about why science doesn’t get through to the public should read it. (snip)

If you ever want to understand why scientists fare so poorly getting their message across — and why liberals lose policy debates and, often, presidential campaigns — this is also the book for you. In essence: Too much higher education, too much wonk sophistication, destroys the common language simplicity of good rhetoric and makes you less persuasive.

Let me fix that

If you ever want to understand why far left climate believers fare so poorly in getting their message across, you should understand that those who push “climate change” the hardest are the ones who are the biggest “carbon” offenders, jetting around the world on fossil fueled flights to exotic vacation spots, driving fossil fueled vehicles, and otherwise refusing to reduce their own carbon footprint. And people have just become too darned educated to buy into this ginned up issue which is really designed to push far left policies (and keep the money train going for those involved in pushing “climate change”).

Makes sense.

Read: Grist Loves Joe Romm’s Book, Notion Of Speaking Better On Climate »

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

If All You See…

By William Teach August 18, 2012 – 1:00 pm

…is a world flooded because some charged their iPhone, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Maggie’s Farm, with a post about Democrats lining up against Special Operators.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

New Era Of Civility: Democrat Spits On Romney Supporter

By William Teach August 18, 2012 – 9:20 am

Using Democrat language, this is an indictment on the entire Democrat Party, showing that all Democrats are mean and filthy

(Post Crescent) A bus tour event on behalf of Mitt Romney turned ugly Friday afternoon when a protester interrupted a rally and spit in a supporter’s face.

The event featured Wisconsin state Sen. Alberta Darling and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

During Darling’s remarks, the protester, Mary Hoglund, 83, of Appleton, interrupted the event to ask about Republican opposition to Planned Parenthood.

A local Romney supporter began arguing with Hoglund, who then spit in her face. Hoglund was escorted out, and received medical attention for a scratch she received on her neck.

Of course, the people being rude (certainly Obama supporters who want their free money) claim that others were being mean.

Right Scoop features video, and, based on that video, I wonder if this is the same Mary Hoglund (if not, my apologies, but, sure looks the same). For other activities we get

UW-Oshkosh Theatre, Barack Obama, I Stand with the Bad River Tribe, Tammy Baldwin, Schoenbohm: Real Representation for the 56th, BuzzFlash.com, PETITION: Tell Republican Leaders to Denounce Rush Limbaugh, VIDEO: UC Davis police pepper spray peaceful students

Her wall shows dislike of the Boy Scouts because they do not allow gays, dislike of Scott Walker, wanting to impeach Justice Thomas, a big supporter of far left Wisconsin politician Tammy Baldwin, more hatred of Scott Walker.

Read: New Era Of Civility: Democrat Spits On Romney Supporter »

Posted in Barking Moonbats, Democrats | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Ryan Pledges Romney Administration Will “Put Aside Childish Things”

By William Teach August 18, 2012 – 8:58 am

Hopefully, one of those things will end up being the Obama administration

(Daily Caller) Ryan said that if elected, Mitt Romney would treat Americans like adults.

“We have a very serious choice to make,” Ryan told the crowd. “And what Mitt Romney is offering is to make a decision together.”

Ryan has earned praise as a serious policy wonk willing to tackle the tough issues, and in his speech to the overflowing crowd at a northern Virginia high school, he spoke of issues — like entitlement reform — that tend to be flashpoints used to rile up voters.

Ryan said politicians ought to confront those issues head on, like adults, instead of avoiding them.

“The problem is, too many politicians in Washington, like President Obama, have been more worried and concerned about their next election than they have about the next generation,” Ryan said. “We will not do that.”

He’s exactly right: what happens is politicians tend to pass legislation with thoughts of their next elections in mind. Even on the occasions where the legislation has long term goals and impacts, those are suborned to short term cares. Take the Stimulus: what was the long term goal? Get the economy going. How did it work? It shoveled money to short term projects. It propped up public sector unions and the States for a short time. And, once that money dried up, things went right back to being crummy. It gave people around $40 extra a month. But, it changed withholding rules, meaning that a lot of money was lost from the Social Security trust fund in the long term.

The “green” energy projects were designed for the long term, but with short term thinking. Hence, money was dumped into companies that had little to no chance of succeeding. This kind of spending isn’t just an Obama problem (though he seems to have perfected it), but a government problem. “How can I spend some money to help my re-election?” Doesn’t matter what this does in the long term to the pols.

“When we get elected, we will not duck the tough issues, we will lead. We will not blame other people; we will take responsibility,” Ryan said.

“Remember how President Obama used to say we aren’t the blue states or the red states, we’re the United States of America?” Ryan asked. “Remember when he said to put aside childish things and have an adult conversation? We’re still waiting for that adult conversation.”

This nation, like so many others, has serious fiscal issues that need to be addressed. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security (there are multiple programs, and they aren’t just for seasoned citizens). Long term infrastructure. Energy. Debt. Deficits. Unemployment. It will be interesting to see if a Romney/Ryan administration looks towards dealing with the long term issues, rather than simply pushing legislation that is designed to say “hey, look at what we did, don’t forget to vote!”

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Ryan Pledges Romney Administration Will “Put Aside Childish Things” »

Posted in Elections, GOP, Romney | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Bummer: World About To Get Pushed Over Globull Warming Cliff

By William Teach August 17, 2012 – 4:57 pm

Warmists who refuse to give up their fossil fueled travel and big “carbon” lives hit hardest

(Grist) There’s a new scientific paper out in the journal Nature called “Approaching a state shift in Earth’s biosphere.” In a sane world, it would be front page news. This is from the abstract:

Localized ecological systems are known to shift abruptly and irreversibly from one state to another when they are forced across critical thresholds. Here we review evidence that the global ecosystem as a whole can react in the same way and is approaching a planetary-scale critical transition as a result of human influence. [emphasis by David Roberts at Grist]

As examples of past global state shifts, the authors cite the Cambrian explosion (“a conversion of the global ecosystem from one based almost solely on microbes to one based on complex, multicellular life,” which took a comparatively brief 30 million years), the Big Five mass extinctions, and the last glacial-interglacial transition, which started about 14 thousand years ago.

The difference today is that human beings are generating “forcings” (influences on biophysical systems) of unprecedented power at an unprecedented rate. These forcings include “human population growth with attendant resource consumption, habitat transformation and fragmentation, energy production and consumption, and climate change.” The authors emphasize that all these forcings “far exceed, in both rate and magnitude, the forcings evident at the most recent global-scale state shift, the last glacial-interglacial transition.”

Darwin’s ghost wonders why in the hell he wrote that book about survival of the fittest in the first place.

Anyhow, there is a slight point about being better stewards of the environment. Of course, the enviroweenies believe that we should live like we did tens of thousands of years ago, or, should I say, everyone else should. They won’t give up their big lifestyles. Oh, and everyone else should die.

Read: Bummer: World About To Get Pushed Over Globull Warming Cliff »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Enviroweenies | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 17, 2012 – 1:00 pm

…is a mass of planet killing humans standing in a world ravaged by drought, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is American Power, with some Rule 5 Paul Ryan for the ladies.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

State Department Edits Documents, Adding All Sorts Of Obama Narcissism

By William Teach August 17, 2012 – 12:11 pm

Sadly, I’m not surprised in the least (via The Lonely Conservative)

(Heritage)Inserting himself into the biographies of past presidents on the White House website apparently wasn’t enough for President Obama. His State Department is now editing its descriptions of foreign countries into yet another taxpayer-subsidized campaign commercial for the Obama Administration.

The State Department has recently ended its long-running series of Background Notes, which were analytical, objective histories of other countries. In their place, new “Fact Sheets” now tout Obama’s policies and actions toward each nation. No more historical context, no recounting of complex and long-standing issues in the country. Just cut to the chase—that is, the time when the current Administration came to power.

Heritage’s Jim Roberts, one of the editors of Heritage’s Index of Economic Freedom, was struck by the disproportionate change in emphasis while doing some research recently.  Roberts, who worked at the State Department from 1982 to 2007 and used to write these country profiles, said he had never seen edits like these under either previous Republican or Democratic Administrations.

Ed Morrisey points out this bit

American officeholders are supposed to take great pains to separate their campaigns from their official duties. Using taxpayer resources to blatantly promote the president’s positions on foreign policy—and even editing the historical record—is an egregious abuse of power.

Has Obama ever separated his permanent campaign from his official duties?

More from Public Secrets: I don’t know if this originated with Obama the narcissist, himself, or staffers acting as sycophants, but, regardless, it’s unseemly, eye roll-inducing, and unworthy of the Chief of State of the United States.

Read: State Department Edits Documents, Adding All Sorts Of Obama Narcissism »

Posted in Barry Obama, Narcissist In Chief | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Bummer: Kids Won’t Know What Surfing Is

By William Teach August 17, 2012 – 11:07 am

Another stupid pronouncement of doom and gloom sometime in the future from Warmists (via The New Nostradamus of the North)

(Pacific Standard) “Every time a new climate study comes out its worse than the last,” Hechter says. “Climate change means more big storms. More storms, more surf, right? I guess that’s the most you can say for such a calamity: Maybe we’ll get some epic waves.”

Among surfers, Hechter’s assumption is common. According to Curt Storlazzi, a surfer and a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who studies coastlines, it is true that climate change will likely cause ever-larger storms, and more epic swells. But that doesn’t take into account the varied effects of climate change. The periods between those swells will lengthen: surfers may get to enjoy a week of all-time surf, but that might be followed by a month or more of excruciating flatness. “Climate change makes extremes more extreme,” Storlazzi said. Over time, he added, because the waves between storms will get smaller even as the bigger waves get bigger, the average height of waves is likely to stay the same, and may even go down a bit.

“Sea level rise is going to change where waves break,” said Storlazzi. Waves that break at sand-bottomed surf spots like Huntington Beach in Southern California, or the Outer Banks in North Carolina, are likely to retain their same basic form as they move toward the land. But waves at surf spots that lack a dynamic bottom—where they break over cobblestone, like at Rincon, or coral reef, like G-Land, in Java—could change significantly. These breaks are often better at low tide, and as sea levels rise, Storlazzi said, it is reasonable to assume that they will be good less often.

“The frequency where you have the exact right combination of tide, wind, and swell to make a classic surf day are going to be fewer and further between,” said David Revell, a senior associate with the environmental hydrology firm Phillip Williams and Associates. Revell said climate change will eventually have a profound affect on surfing, citing Rincon and Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz, as two good examples of breaks that could eventually be significantly affected by sea level rise. On a long enough time frame, Revell said, some low tide spots, like Supertubes in Los Angeles County, could disappear completely.

Warmists really cannot help themselves. They can’t actually prove any of their pronouncements, but, you’re supposed to run out and give up your big carbon lifestyle spread awareness and donate your money, time, and freedom.

It boggles the mind that these people think that nature is always supposed to stay unchangeable for all time. It never does, and never will. Seas rise, seas fall. Shorelines change from storms and ocean currents. Sandbars build up and become islands, then may be destroyed by nature (and sometimes measure by mankind).

Read: Bummer: Kids Won’t Know What Surfing Is »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL
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