MaxRedline

State Attorneys General Question US Senate

As is well-known, the Dem leadership essentially bribed Senators from Nebraska, Louisiana, and elsewhere in order to secure their votes for passage of a purported health care bill.  Attorneys for several states are now questioning the constitutionality of such moves.

This is interesting, though freighted with other questions: if the Obamacare bill ultimately becomes law in the next few months, can the legal challenges to follow prevent the feds from enacting any portion thereof?

Bicyclists Stunned

A judge in Multnomah County tossed out a citation issued to a driver after her vehicle struck a bicyclist.  The driver had made a right turn, clipping a cyclist, and Portland cops issued a citation for "failure to yield to a rider on a bicycle lane."

Problem:  there are no bicycle lanes at intersections.  The lanes begin at the far side of an intersection, and continue to the near side of the next.  At intersections, the lanes disappear completely.

Adding to the beauty of it all, the cyclist in question was Carmen Piekarski, an employee in the City's Office of Planning and Sustainability.  Of course she was riding her bike, because it's so green and sustainable and all.  Unfortunately, the "planning" part doesn't seem to have worked out so well.  Fortunately, while she took a spill, she wasn't injured, by all appearances.  Certainly, her mouth continues to work well.

She understands why there's now "bike lane confusion."

Well, Ms. Sustainability, try this:  when the lane ends, you stop - unless you can proceed safely and there are no traffic control devices in place.  I know that stop-signs, yield signs, and traffic signals are for "the other people", but you'll still do better to obey them - and to use common sense when riding.  That's a lot to ask, sure.

If you want to ride a bicycle, good for you.  Just try not to assume that it means that the whole world revolves around your good little self.

Obama A Liar?

Well, according to Cuba's foreign minister, yes.  This seems surprising, as Nope'n'Change was was going to sit down with intransigent leaders around the world and apologize repeatedly for all of America's faults, and then everybody was going to join the duckies and the bunnies as they hold hands and dance around the Maypole while singing "Everything is Beautiful".

Whatever happened to that?  We have a president and first lady who hate America as much as the Cubanistas do, and Cuber disses him? 

Rodriguez's comments Monday echoed remarks by former President Fidel Castro, who in a weekend opinion column called Obama's speech in Copenhagen "deceitful, demagogic and full of ambiguities."

Apparently, Cuba has judged the depth of Obama's hatred for this country, and finds it lacking.  It's hard to imagine how BO can find a way to appease them.

Do They Need Them To Play?

It appears that the NFL is asking players to donate their brains to science.  Isn't the science settled?

The Disconnect Grows

Obama flew into Hopenchangen in a desperate bid to achieve concensus on a plan to Save The Planet from Man-Made Global Warming.  It was a quick trip: it was snowing over there, and he had to leave quickly because blizzards were headed for the east coast of the USA.  This is emblematic of the disconnect between politicians and voters: Obama and others in the political class see global warming as an urgent threat that is caused by human activities, while most voters dismiss the anthropogenic part of the climate change hysteria; recognizing instead that the planet occilates between warm patterns and cold ones.

Most voters now oppose messing around with health care, yet Obama and his fellow Dems are set to foist their "plan" onto an unwilling public.  Most voters don't want the government messing any further with the financial systems, yet Democratics plan ever more governmental oversight. 

66% of voters favor smaller government and lower taxes, but the Democratics are pushing for a national sales tax in order to fund more government programs.

FERC has approved plans for an LNG terminal and pipeline in Coos Bay; Dem governor Kulongoski plans to spend tax dollars to fight it.  Oregon has high unemployment, but Kulo's going to fight against new jobs.  Anybody see a pattern, here?

Democratics, locally and nationally, demonstrate repeatedly an arrogant disdain of the wishes clearly expressed by the very people who voted them into office.  Perhaps it is time for Republicans to offer a clear alternative:  they should draw up a list of failed Democrat policies and offer the voters an opportunity to retract them.  They should tell the voters, in unambiguous terms, "Here is what they've pushed onto you.  Here's what it costs.  Here are the results.  If you're down with all that, then fine.  If you don't like it, then elect us to undo the damage."

It could be a winning proposition - if they are willing to put it forth and then follow through.  Back in the 1990's, the Contract With America resonated with voters, and Republicans were elected in droves.  But once in office, they promptly started behaving like little Democratics - which seriously disillusioned the electorate.  Their failure to remain true to the conservative principles they espoused led directly to what we have today.

Something's Rotten In Denmark

Much has been made within the blogosphere, and very occasionally, even in some of the media, regarding the CRU data dump.  AlGore has gone on record with abject lies; he's claimed in at least two interviews now that the emails and associated documents are irrelevant and outdated, and that the most recent email is a decade old.

Actually, the most recent missive included in the dump was dated November 12, 2009.

On October 5, 2009, Phil Jones was discussing data manipulation:  And the issue of with-holding data is still a hot potato, one that affects both you and Keith (and Mann). Yes, there are reasons -- but many *good* scientists appear to be unsympathetic to these. The trouble here is that with-holding data looks like hiding something, and hiding means (in some eyes) that it is bogus science that is being hidden.
I think Keith needs to be very, very careful in how he handles this.
I'd be willing to check over anything he puts together.

What many appear to be overlooking, however, is the significance as it applies to organizations well beyond CRU itself.  The IPCC itself is implicated in data manipulation schemes, as is NASA and others.  Moreover, it seems clear that thuggery is occurring not purely among the "scientists" involved, but has spread throughout the IPCC and the U.N.  Heck, at Hopenchangen just the other day, they have literally thrown unbelievers to the ground.  Apparently, when they say "the debate is over", they really mean it.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

 Rielle Hunter wants John Edwards to pay $17,910 a month in child support for her daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, according to the National Enquirer. Private financial negotiations between Hunter and Edwards reportedly broke down last week when her demands for the 22-month-old child were more than the former senator and presidential candidate was willing to pay.

My, that's a lotta green for the holiday season!  Wasn't the woman a photographer?  How did she ever aquire a lifestyle that requires so much cash?

I've never held the ambulance-chaser in high regard, and in a sense, he's getting exactly what he deserved.  Still, that woman has raised the bar for gold-diggers everywhere.

Extinction

Wall Street Journal figures that a number of companies will go extinct next year, including Newsweek, Motorola, Blockbuster, Borders, and Palm.  Newsweek looks increasingly likely to turn up dead, although the others seem a bit more questionable.  Borders and Motorola still seem to have some life in them.  Blockbuster and (unmentioned in the list) Hollywood Video deserve shortlist standing, despite repeated efforts to reinvent themselves.

Let's Turn Health Care Over To The Feds

After all, they've done such a great job of managing money for the trust funds of American Indians.

Federal Indian law — or the law pertaining to the land and other holdings owned by Native Americans — isn’t a typical area of coverage for us. But when a lawsuit between Native American and the U.S. government settles for $3.4 billion, well, we sit up and take serious notice.

The federal government announced on Tuesday that it intends to pay that sum to settle claims that it has mismanaged the revenue in American Indian trust funds.

So-So Security, Medicare, Medicaid, trust funds...is there anything the government can't screw up?  More to the point - is there any federal program that's performed well?

Global Warming? Salmon Didn't Get The Memo.

More spring chinook are expected in the Columbia River and its tributaries than at any time during the past 70 years.  Dams aren't killing them.  Global Warming isn't killing them.  Logging isn't killing them.  Nothing's stopping them. Time to find another business-killing icon, because the salmon aren't cooperating with the meme.