Separated at birth?

Obama proposes price-fixing

Since the direct approach at a government takeover of the U.S. healthcare system appears to have failed (though I haven't popped a champagne cork yet), Barack Obama is proposing new regulations to prohibit private businesses from setting the price for their product.  According to this New York Times story, the president "will propose on Monday giving the federal government new power to block excessive rate increases by health insurance companies."

Obama is banking, of course, on the fact that the private businesses targeted - insurance companies - have been portrayed as big, bad, and evil throughout the media - the latest national boogieman - following the oil industry, the banking industry, the securities industry, the auto industry, heck - industry of any sort seems to be the enemy in Obama's eyes. 

The reality is that this is [or at least was] a market economy, with competition in the marketplace keeping costs in check.  But now, the government wants to take on that job.  If companies can no longer decide what to charge for their products, is this really a free country anymore?

Friends of Robin

Acorn & Robin Carnahan

The return of the Big Fat Who Cares Department: on religion and homosexuality.

According to Elton John, noted biblical scholar (ha!), Jesus Christ was gay . . .

"I think," Sir Elton said, "Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems.  . . .  Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving."

Does the fact that Jesus was compassionate or the fact that he was super-intelligent or the fact that he understood human problems constitute evidence of homosexuality?  Does the fact that he wanted us to be loving and forgiving mean that he was gay?

Of course not.  

And, I really want to know, why do any of us care what Elton John thinks about the sexuality of Jesus?

Don't let the door hit you in the ___ on the way out.

Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (I didn't make that title up - though somebody at Wikipedia might as well have) resigned today.  (Link to story here.)

Good riddance.  Maybe the entire bureaucracy should follow him out the door.

With apologies to lawyers everywhere . . .

I'm going to adapt my favorite old lawyer joke.  Here's the old version:

How can you tell if a lawyer is lying to you?  Look to see if his lips are moving.

Here's the 2010 version:

How can you tell if the president of the United States is lying to you?  Look to see if his lips are moving.

Link to the latest whopper here.

Obama's on the campaign trail and I couldn't be happier.

Barack Obama is heading out to stump for Democrat senators in Nevada and Colorado.  Both Harry Reid and Michael Bennet are trailing challengers in the polls so Obama's heading out on what has been dubbed his "Save the Senate" tour.  (Link to story here.)  

While the president can by raise boatloads of money for these candidates . . . apparently the Democrats have not yet learned the lessons of Massachusetts.  

The only thing that could make me happier about this story would be Obama coming to Missouri ahead of the mid-term elections to campaign for Robin Carnahan . . . 

And guess what . . . he is coming!  Not to campaign for Carnahan but to raise money for Claire McCaskill.  (Link here.)

Please, please Robin, go to this event and mug for the cameras.  Give us the photo op for Roy Blunt's campaign flyers.  Pretty please.

The blogger's absence explained . . .

But watch out liberals, I'm baaaack.

Evan Bayh apparently heard the news and got out while he could.  (Link here.)

A live tiger for Mizzou? I can think of better ways to spend $2 million

Tim Noce, the president of the Missouri Students Association is pushing to have a live tiger at Faurot Field for Mizzou football games.  According to Noce, a real tiger - as opposed to Truman - would "increase school spirit and draw attention to Missouri athletics."  The cost . . . ONLY two million dollars.  (Link to                                                                                  story here.)

Thankfully, Noce is looking for private donations and not tax dollars to pay for this idea but still, in the midst of a pretty big recession, two million dollars is a lot of money.

I would respectfully request that if this young man can attract two million dollars in donations, he ought to be doing it for a cause more worthy of the money than a new school pet.

Here are just a few such causes . . . 

starting scholarships for kids who want to get an education at Mizzou but can no longer afford it because of the recession,

donating to the American Red Cross's Haiti Relief and Development fund, or 

purchasing 200,000 mosquito nets to fight malaria, one of the largest killers of children in Africa, through Nothing But Nets.

Wouldn't you rather support a good cause, save a life, combat poverty, or provide an education to someone in need than look at an animal at a football game?  Rah, rah!

Here's hoping Mizzou gets its priorities in line.

Why is Washington responsible for school lunches?

Today, Michelle Obama took the reigns of the "Let's Move" campaign, described by the New York Times as "a sweeping initiative . . . aimed at revamping the way American children eat and play - reshaping school lunches, playgrounds and even medical checkups - with the goal of eliminating childhood obesity within a generation."  (Link to story here.)  

First Ladies have always had their causes from Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign to Hillary Clinton's failed attempt at socializing medicine in America to Laura Bush's promotion of literacy.  I have no particular problem with Mrs. Obama taking on childhood obesity.  And, frankly, I have no problem with nutritious lunches at school or exercise-promoting playgrounds.  I don't even have a problem with the First Lady using her status to encourage change in habits.

I do have a problem with this campaign coming from Washington, D.C.  It grates on me.  It grates on me because the role of the federal government has expanded so far into the daily lives of Americans that it is taking on the task of determining what to feed our children at school, bypassing state governments entirely and usurping the role of local school boards.

In an ideal world, or even in a country operating as this country's founders envisioned, most power would remain with the people; some would be given to local government entities - like cities, counties, or school boards; a smaller share would go to the states; and very little would be given to the federal government.  Why?  Because the closer the government is to the people, the more responsive the government is to the wants and needs of the people.  If I have a problem with my children's school lunches, or their playgrounds, etc., I should be able to take it up with a neighbor, a school board member who lives nearby and is elected to serve the school district.  Does anyone think that somebody in Washington would be more responsive to me than my neighbor?

Ours is no ideal world.  Everything has been (or is being) federalized.  Washington has its sticky fingers everywhere.  America has lost its way.  The distribution of power is upside-down and "Let's Move" is symptomatic.  

Nothing personal Mrs. Obama.  I hope that your campaign meets its goal.  I just wish the power to do something about the problem was closer to my home than yours.

Who is that running past Russ Carnahan?

Ed Martin.

Go Ed Go!

(Thanks to The Tim Man for alerting me to this video.)

44% Approval - 47% Disapproval

Barack Obama's job approval rating has crashed to a new low, just over a year after he took office.

I think the country knows the answer to Sarah Palin's question.  It isn't working out very well at all.

The 44% approval rating, by the way, comes from a poll of all registered voters - including dyed in the wool Democrats and liberals of all description.  Among independents, whose support thrust Obama into office, his job approval sits at 29%.  57% of independents disapprove.  (Link to story here.)

For America, election day can't come soon enough.

"Hows that hopey, changey stuff working out for ya'?" -Sarah Palin

Good question Sarah.  Good question.  (Link to story here.)

India gets it!

Tonight, SLC is flying the flag of India.  Why?  Because India's government has pulled out of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change because the IPCC has proven unreliable.  (Link to story here.)

The Indian "environment minister" said this . . . 

"There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism.  I am for climate science.  I think people misused [the] IPCC report, [the] IPCC doesn't do the original research which is one of the weaknesses . . . they just take published literature and then they derive assessments, so we had goof-ups on Amazon forest, glaciers, snow peaks."

That India would pull out of the IPCC is a real blow to its chairman, Dr. R.K. Pachauri, because he's Indian.  

But really now, how can any government really stand behind the IPCC or what it should be called, the IPCL - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Lies - after the truth has been exposed.  (Recent examples here, here, and here.)

With apologies to Kipling . . . Science is science.  And politics is politics.  Never the twain shall meet.

What is $14.3 trillion? And why do I ask?

It is nearly impossible to comprehend big numbers.  Ten, no problem.  I've got that many fingers.  Twenty, add the toes.  A hundred, well, that gets harder but we all know what a hundred pennies look like and that we can get a double cheeseburger for that at the local burger king.  A thousand, well, we're starting to get big here.  What about a million?  Or a billion?  It is really not a concept we face on a daily basis.

So what is a trillion?  Time ran this article last January that quoted a guy named David Schwartz who wrote a children's book that tries to "wrap young minds around the concept [of a mere million]."  Schwartz said that his "favorite way to think of it is in terms of seconds.  . . . One million seconds comes out to be about 11 1/2 days.  A billion seconds is 32 years.  And a trillion seconds is 32,000 years."  Extending the math, 14.3 trillion seconds is 457,600 years!

Again, unfortunately, we've once again reached an incomprehensible number.  How long is 457,000 years?  Well, "archaeologists estimate that modern humans have been on the Earth for about 200,000 years."  Not wanting to to start a fight over evolution or creation, lets put it this way instead, one of the oldest discovered sites of human settlement is 160,000 years old.  So, if we double the proven time period that human beings have been walking on the planet, we won't have reached 457,000 years.  We'd still be a couple of trillion seconds short.

So, why do I ask?  Because the debt of the United States of America - our federal government - is expected to reach $14.3 trillion by the end of this month.  (Link to story here.)

Our government has no money.  We have borrowed more than the human mind can fathom.  Yet Washington Democrats want to borrow more and spend more.

Enough is enough.  Enough is too much.  2010 has got to be a referendum on this kind of thing - and put it to an end forever - or at least for a couple of trillion seconds.

Looking for a safe bet on your next trip to Vegas? Here's a sure thing . . .

Barack Obama won't carry Nevada in 2012.

Why not?

Exhibit A:  Last year, Obama said, "You cant take that trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on taxpayers' dime."  After those comments, Nevada tourism tanked.

Now, Exhibit B:  Today, Obama said, "When times are tough, you tighten your belts.  You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage.  You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college."  (Link to story here.)

What happens when people don't go to Las Vegas and spend money?  The casinos lose revenue, yes.  But so do the hotels, tourist shops, and restaurants.  And the folks who work at casinos, hotels, tourist shops, and restaurants lose their jobs - and their ability to pay their mortgages or save for college tuition.

James Clyburn's words were right yesterday, but his meaning all wrong.  We do have to spend our way out of the recession.  But we is the American people and American business.  Not the American government.  Americans spending money, buying things from other people, churning dollars back and forth between one another, buying goods and services . . . economic activity, and a lot of it, is our only hope.

President Obama should get in the way of government spending and get out of the way of Americans and, yes, American corporations, spending their money in ways that they deem appropriate.

Democrat: "We've got to spend our way out of this recession."

Barack Obama has proposed a $3.8 trillion budget for 2010.  One third of that - ONE THIRD OF THE TOTAL BUDGET - is deficit spending, borrowing (or printing) money that we don't have.

Defending this irresponsible and reckless budget is Congressman James Clyburn (D-South Carolina), the majority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Clyburn said, "we're not going to save our way out of this recession.  We've got to spend our way out of this recession, and I think most economists know that."  "You're not going to grow the economy by wishing it;" he said, "you've got to invest in it.  And that's what we're doing with this budget."  (Link to story here.)

You're not investing, Mr. Clyburn.  Investing is taking money that you have and putting it to work.  You're taking money that you don't have and funding a massive increase in government expenditures.  You're attempting to make more and more Americans dependent on feed from the public trough.  

Allow me to put it simply.  We don't have the money!

What the Democrats are advocating is akin to a family with annual income of $60,000 borrowing $30,000 more - on top of its already staggering debt load - and buying a new car or going on vacation.  It is irresponsible.

Again, we don't have the money!

The time is now to take a meat cleaver to this budget.  Cut.  Cut.  Cut!

Glaciergate leads Adolph Hitler to the breaking point

Thanks to Mr. Xyz for pointing me to this one.

Not as good as the original (link here) but funny indeed.

Up, Up, and Away

The U.S. government's budget deficit in 2008 was $450 billion.  (Link here.)

The deficit in 2009 ballooned.  It more than tripled to over $1.4 trillion.  (Link here.)

After Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, where he portrayed himself as as deficit hawk, you would expect the deficit to go down, right?  Not so much.

The White House is projecting a budget deficit for 2010 of $1.6 trillion.  (Link here.)

Will enough ever be enough?

This can't continue.  Cut now.

Another "Global Warming" Lie Exposed - Again

Last week, I wrote about the U.N.'s global warming panel's false claim that the glaciers in the Himalayas were melting so fast that they would be gone by 2035.  (Link here.)

Now, yet another lie has been exposed.  In the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest report, "it state that observed reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and Africa were being caused by global warming."  Two sources were claimed for these "observed reductions."  Now, it turns out, that those sources were a magazine article and and a geography student's master's degree dissertation.  And both of those sources based their conclusions on, get this, interviews with mountain climbers . . . not scientific measurements . . . interviews.  (Link to story here.)

I suspect that the interviews went something like this . . . 

"Yo, Mr. mountain climber, was there a lot of ice up there?" 

"Yeah man."

"But not as much as last year was there?"

"I dunno, it's all white man.  Snow and ice all over the place.  But it's sure not like it was back in '78.  Man, that was a cold winter."

"So you're telling me that in your experience, it is warmer now than it was that winter."

"Oh yeah.  That was a cold one."

"So the planet must be warming, right?"

"Well, huh, I guess you're right.  Want some granola?"

"No thanks.  I've got what I need."

Is anything about the IPCC scientific?  It sure doesn't seem so.  

Return to the Gulag?

Today in Moscow, "police detained up to 100 anti-Kremlin protesters, including leading opposition figure Boris Nemtsov."  (Link to story here.)  "Hundreds of people gathered to protest what they say is a long-running Kremlin campaign to dismantle the constitutional right to peaceful protest."

If lessons in history are not well-learned . . . Vladimir Putin will start us down the Soviet path once again.

iPad

The Liberals Just Won't Quit

Like the zombies in Michael Jackson's Thriller, the Democrats just won't quit.  Even after losing Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat in deep blue Massachusetts, Nancy Pelosi and her party pals aren't ready to give up on Obamacare.  "We will move on many fronts - - any front we can," said the Speaker of the House and - until we throw the Democrats out of office in the next election - third in line to the presidency, "we are going to get [so called] healthcare reform passed for the American people [whether they want it or not]."  (Link to story here.)

What do you think "any front we can" means?  Political shenanigans, of course.  Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama are still looking for ways to ram socialized medicine through before the November elections and the seating of a new Congress in January.  Be watchful.  Ethics and rules won't stop these people.  And they won't quit - they're like zombies.

Why is a commercial about Pam Tebow's "choice" to keep her baby controversial?

Yesterday, I posted the upcoming commercial featuring Tim Tebow and his mother's decision not to kill him in 1987. Though the commercial is clearly Pro-Life, why is the "Pro-Choice" community up in arms. Erin Matson a V.P. of the National Organization for Women called the commercial "frankly offensive." She claimed it was "hate masquerading as love. It sends a message that abortion is always a mistake." And Jehmu Greene of the Women's Media Center plans to hold "CBS and the NFL and the other Super Bowl advertisers accountable for inserting an exceedingly controversial issue" into the Super Bowl. (Link to story here.)

Why is this controversial? Aren't these people supposed to be in favor of "choice"? Shouldn't they be applauding the "choice" that Pam Tebow made?

Or are these people finally showing their true colors. They're not "Pro-Choice." They're simply, and sadly, "Pro-Abortion."

"That's not true." -Samuel Alito

Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) didn't call President Obama a liar tonight (like he did last year), but Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito did.  Alito didn't shout it out and his opinion is only known to us through the magic of lip-reading but he's right.  And, thankfully, it seems as though Americans are starting to realize that.

Random thoughts on the State of the Union

To any of you who want my exhaustive opinion of the State of the Union address delivered earlier this evening by Barack Obama, I am sorry.  I can't oblige.  I can't stomach the soaring oratory - soaring over the truth that is.

I did tune in long enough (during a commercial break from Friends re-run on TBS) to see Obama blaming George W. Bush for all our woes, even though the deficit more than tripled in the first year of Obama's presidency.  But, of course, we should all know, sayeth the president, things would be so much worse if he (and the Congress - with its big Democrat majorities) hadn't spent all our money.

Now, after the speech, I'm seeing the headlines that Obama declared, "I don't quit."  My first reaction . . . darn, that's too bad.  My second reaction . . . even if he did, would Joe Biden be any better.  I can't imagine he'd be worse.  But better?  My third reaction . . . it is amazing that the thought of quitting the presidency could appear in a man's first State of the Union address.  I don't think things have worked out quite like Barry thought they would.

But, by far, the most noteworthy thing from my, admittedly limited, viewing of tonight's speech was Joe Biden's persistent practice of nodding in agreement after nearly every sentence uttered.  I swear I saw the man nod his head in the background more times than I saw him blink!  I hope he didn't get a concussion.

Tim Tebow is my new favorite quarterback

Why? Tebow will be appearing in a Pro-Life Super Bowl commercial for Focus on the Family. (Link to story here.) Apparently, the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback came after a difficult pregnancy. But his mother chose life.

Thank God for all the mothers who choose life.

One day, may they all.

Drudge Report Corrects Headline

This afternoon, a friend alerted me to the fact that the Drudge Report had scratched out the "THEY" in its headline about who owed the federal debt and replaced it with "WE".

I wonder what made Matt Drudge realize his mistake.

Thanks for getting it right Matt. And thanks for reading Saint Louis Conservative.

Blunt leads Carnahan . . . by six points

For those of you wondering about the Missouri 2010 Senate Race, there's a new poll out . . .

Roy Blunt 49% - Robin Carnahan 43%  (Link to Rasmussen Report here.)

Imagine how high Blunt's numbers will go when/if Carnahan starts speaking in public again.

What's wrong with this Drudge Report headline?

Matt Drudge is the best at what he does.  He (or his people, he probably has people by now) seem to screen everything and pull out the truly newsworthy pieces from everywhere around the internet and provide links in one place.  The Drudge Report is the first place I go to find out what is going on around the world.  

But I've got a gripe.  He's linked to this Associated Press story (for lack of a better word) that lists the public debt, receipts, and outlays of the federal government for fiscal 2008 and 2009.  The numbers are too big for the AP to print in their entirety.  No big deal, right?  Lots of financial statements drop off three zeros.  Well, when talking about the U.S. federal debt, they had to drop six - SIX - zeros to make the numbers comprehensible.  How could anyone comprehend that the total public debt outstanding as of January 22 was $12,302,465,000,000.  That's over 12 TRILLION dollars folks.  TWELVE TRILLION!

The Drudge Report added the zeros, so what's my gripe?  Well, "THEY" don't owe that massive amount of money -- "WE" do.  If only "they" did, I wouldn't be worried.  But since I do, and my kids do, and you and your kids and grandkids and their grandkids do, I'm a little bit worried.  And more than a little bit angry . . .

Dear Washington,

It's time to cut spending, massively.  Cut, cut, cut.  No new programs, not a one, until you've cut three times its cost from the budget.  And no fuzzy math.  Real numbers, real cuts, not reductions in percentage increase for your pet projects.  Not President Obama's tiny, tinkering, proposal to freeze - that's freeze, not roll back - spending on a part of the budget.

And, while you're tinkering, you might want to stimulate growth in the economy by maybe, get this, cutting taxes.

Sincerely,

SLC

Himalayan Glacier Update

They're still there.

Now, in an update to the previous story about the IPCC's false and unscientific claim that all the glaciers in the Himalayan Mountains would melt away by 2035, we have verification from the IPCC report's author that the claim was included for political reasons . . . Dr. Murari Lal told the U.K.'s Daily Mail that he was well aware of the fact that the claim "did not rest on peer-reviewed scientific research."  Nonetheless, Lal admitted, "we thought that if we can highlight it, it will impact policy-makers and politicians and encourage them to take some concrete action."  (Link to story here.)

In other words, the IPCC is willing to say anything - true or not, verified or not - to support their political agenda.

Shocker, eh.  It is almost as shocking as the breakup of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.  Hollywood marriages are usually so solid.

Here's something just as shocking . . . the chairman of the IPCC, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri's Energy and Resources Institute used the "bogus" claims about melting Himalayan glaciers to win grants worth more than a million dollars.  (Link to story here.)

So is the IPCC falsely pushing its "global warming" agenda for political purposes - or personal economic gain?  Or, like most liberals worldwide, do they see those two things as one in the same?

More Meaningless Babble and Fuzzy Math

In the midst of mass unemployment and the tanking U.S. economy, the Obamites are still patting themselves - and the president - on the back for the jobs they claim were "saved or created" by the "stimulus" plan.  Just in case there is anyone out there who still believes them - check this out - three top Obama advisors appeared on three different Sunday morning talk shows today and gave three different totals for the number of jobs that the government spending a trillion dollars of your children's and grandchildren's money "saved or created."  Valerie Jarrett gave a vague "thousands and thousands," while Robert Gibbs put the figure at 1.5 million, and David Axelrod claimed credit for "more than 2 million jobs."

They're making it up as they go.  If you didn't realize it before, the evidence is now pretty clear.

Don't believe a word you hear from these people without some independent verification.

I'm from Missouri . . . you've got to show me.

Hugo's New Conspiracy Theory . . . or is it an old movie plot?

It seems that our hemisphere's loudest communist dictator, Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez, is blaming the United States Navy for testing a massive new weapon that caused the earthquake in and destruction of Alderaan, I mean Haiti.  This test, of course, was only a test and the true target is the Secret Rebel Base on Yavin IV, I mean Iran.

I wish that I was making this all up.  But I'm not.  Link here for the story.

This latest Chavez rant is worthy of Oliver Stone . . . or is it George Lucas?

"Government may not suppress political speech on the basis of the speaker's corporate identity."

So says Anthony Kennedy for the 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark decision issued today striking down a major plank of the abominable 2002 campaign-finance law known as McCain-Feingold.  (Link to story here.)

I'm amazed that it took this long to strike down that monstrosity.  Though four liberals and questionable Kennedy explain a lot.

I'm also amazed that, with straight faces, can read the First Amendment (quoted here as a convenience for those who may never have - Stephen Breyer perhaps - "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech") and say that the Constitution allows Congress to make a law prohibiting television commercials advocating support of or opposition to a political candidate in an upcoming election.  Liberalism, again, explains a lot.

It is vital to your freedom and mine that the current balance of power on the Supreme Court remains until the next Republican president.  We should all be praying for the health of Chief Justice John Roberts,  and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito.  And we should be praying that three years from yesterday, the remaining Justices all decide to take up golf and retire.

Three years from today . . .

Barack Obama will be sworn in for another four years in office . . . OR, if we all do everything we can, he will no longer be president.

One quarter, twenty five percent of this national nightmare is over.

Hang in there America.  Together, we can make it.

Do you believe in miracles? . . . YES!

A Republican Senator from Massachusetts.  (Link to story here.)  Congratulations Senator-elect Scott Brown.

Could he be #41?

The latest polls show Scott Brown well ahead of Martha (or is it Marcia?) Coakley in Massachusetts.  (Link here to see for yourself.)

Let's hope only live, local, registered voters, vote tomorrow . . . and only once each.

Scott Brown Election-Night Watch Party

Ed Martin, a Republican candidate hoping to unseat Russ Carnahan for Congress in October is hosting a Senate Watch Party tomorrow night from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at 1921 South Brentwood Boulevard in Brentwood.  Here's a link to the events page at Martin's website.  The establishment is only identified by its street address at the site but, since the address matches, I'm assuming that the party will be at O'B. Clark's.  

The party is, of course, organized to watch the election reports from the special election in Massachusetts where Republican Scott Brown is gaining momentum in his bid to end the Democrats' super-majority in the U.S. Senate.

Go Scott Go!  And, in October, Go Ed Go!

If you've got the time and inclination, head to Brentwood tomorrow night and lend two fellow conservatives your support.

Another "Global Warming" Lie Exposed

The high-profile Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change issued a report a couple of years ago claiming that "the world's glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035."  Their report was supposed to "incorporate the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming."

Too bad it didn't.  Instead, it incorporated the mere bald speculation of a single Indian scientist from Delhi whose comments were reported in a magazine ten years ago.  (Link to exposé  here.)

The holes are gaping in the scientific "consensus" pushing the myth of global warming.  Wake up world!  Wake up America!  It is time to smell the coffee and stop dumping billions - and possibly our entire economic future - into this boondoggle.

Caller: Missouri forces fabricated reports on "stimulus" jobs

Minutes ago on KMOX, I was listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show in my car before stopping for lunch.  I caught a conversation between Limbaugh and a caller who chose to remain anonymous.  The caller identified himself as the superintendent of a Missouri school district that through the state's funding formula received money from the federal "stimulus" plan.  In the Fall of 2009, Missouri officials required this superintendent to complete a report stating the number of jobs created with or saved by the federal funds provided.  The district had not hired any additional personnel and had not planned to lay anyone off before receiving them money so, being an honest man, the superintendent reported to the state that no jobs had been created and no jobs had been saved.  A few days after submitting the accurate report, a state official contacted the superintendent and informed him that he was not allowed to report zeros.  Instead, he was ordered to submit a new report claiming that jobs were created or saved with "stimulus" money.  Not wanting to bite the hand that feeds his district, the superintendent complied and submitted a fabricated, false report.

As Rush commented, if it happened once, we can bet that it happened on many, many such reports.  (Is there an investigative journalist in the state?)

Do not believe any of the government figures on jobs created or saved.  They are fictional.

The truth is that the "stimulus" plan was an abject failure.  It failed to stimulate the economy and failed to hold down the unemployment rate, as the Democrats, including the president, claimed it would.  The only thing that it succeeded in doing is creating a massive political slush fund and driving up the national debt at a rate and to heights never seen before.

And unless they're stopped, the Democrats are ready to do it again.  Keep the pressure on and throw the bums out of office as soon as you get the chance.

Haiti

I simply cannot imagine what people in Port-au-Prince are going through.  At least tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost to a massive earthquake.  Link here for one of the latest stories.

My prayers are with those in need.  All of us should be praying for the health and safety of those victims still alive and the families and friends of those who have been taken.  May they all be at peaceful rest.

If you want to help, here's a link to give to the American Red Cross.

A victory for law

I'm no fan of convicted sex offenders but I still give credit to the Missouri Supreme Court. Today, by a 4-3 decision, the Court determined that additions to the list of restrictions on convicts enacted years after their crimes, trials, and sentencings could not apply retroactively. (Link to story here.)

That's good news for those of us writing blogs that are currently legal.

to talk about the past . . .

Mark McGwire has admitted that he used steroids in the 1990s, including during the faux-magical 1998 season.  (Link to story here.)

Americans are a forgiving lot.  St. Louisans probably more than most.  Admission of past mistakes is, of course, a giant step toward reconciliation.

Let the healing begin.  It is likely to take a long time.

U.N. Scientist admits "global warming has paused"

Shivering with cold, no doubt, Professor Mojib Latif "a leading member of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" admitted this weekend that "the extreme retreats that we have seen in glaciers and sea ice will come to a halt.  For the time being, global warming has paused, and there may well be some cooling."  (Link to story here.)  As a matter of fact, arctic sea ice has actually increased 26% - 409,000 square miles - since 2007.  (Same link.)

Dripping with sarcasm (and certainly not sweat this very cold January night in St. Louis) the blogger writes . . . How about that?  A complete reversal of "global warming" trends even without a deal in Copenhagen.  Without cap-and-trade in the U.S.  And without wrecking our economic fortunes with more and more useless regulation - oh, wait, I guess America's been doing its best on that last one.  

It is truly amazing what a few hybrid engines can do, isn't it?

Thankfully, the polar bears have nothing to worry about anymore.  Didn't we all know that things were bound to get better when we elected Barack Obama president?

Foreshadowing?

Following blackouts and water shortages, socialist economic policies have forced Venezuelan "president" Hugo Chavez to devalue his nation's currency by 50%.  

What would/will socialist economic policies do the the dollar in years to come?

A Republican Senator from Massachusetts? Anything is possible in 2010.

What could be better than the Cardinals signing Matt Holliday to bat fourth in the lineup for the next seven years?  A Republican elected to serve in Ted Kennedy's old U.S. Senate seat for the next three years!  Apparently, anything can happen in 2010.  (Link to story here.)

Scott Brown is still a longshot, but, once again, hope springs eternal.

Chubbs

There is a lot wrong with the world these days.  But it isn't all bad.  Link here to view or here to read a wonderful story about a dream come true for a learning disabled high school senior from Kirkwood, Missouri, David "Chubbs" Stillman, and the coaches and teammates who made it happen.

God bless you Chubbs, Ahmad Hicks, Coach Bill Gunn, Myles Artis, and the rest of the Kirkwood Pioneer family.

Thanks to Frank Cusumano for bringing the story to Channel 5 and Bryan Burwell for writing it in the Post-Dispatch.

Residence of Evil

Where does evil live?  Unfortunately it lives in many cities and many neighborhoods.

Evil is taking up residence in a six-story palace in Houston, though, as Planned Parenthood is renovating the old bank building shown here (ironically shaped like a cash register) to turn it into a 78,000 square foot abortion clinic.  It "will include a surgical wing equipped to provide late term abortions."  (Link to the sad and disgusting story here.)

The Call to Conscience is organizing a January 18 protest rally and prayer march near the site.  For details, link here.

Freeze Legislators' Expense Allowances? Absolutely!

How many Missourians know that their elected representatives, on top of a $35,915.00 annual salary for a part-time job, are paid an additional $87.20 per day for expenses while the General Assembly is in session?  And how many know that that per diem is going up to $103.20 per day?

Very few, I'm sure.

With the economy in the tank and the legislature looking to cut the state's budget, it makes sense to freeze the legislators' expense allowance or even (heaven forbid!) roll it back a bit.

Kudos to Columbia Senator Kurt Schaefer for proposing a freeze.  (Link to Political Fix  story here.)

Happy Holliday St. Louis

Slugger Matt Holliday has agreed to a seven-year, $120 million contract with the Cardinals.  (Link to story here.)

First, the Rams lock up the first pick in the NFL draft, then the Cardinals re-sign Holliday.  2010's off to a good start.

Next move?  A contract extension for Albert Pujols?  The Blues turn around their season?  Mizzou races to the Final Four?  Republicans take control of Congress?

Hope springs eternal.       

What to do when you've promised to close down the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay?

Send the Yemeni terrorists who have been caught since 2001 back to Yemen to reconnect with al-Qaeda and fight again.  (Link to story here.)

Why didn't I think of that?

Carbon Dioxide is - get this - NOT increasing in the atmosphere

The entire global warming religion is based on the premise that human beings are emitting so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that we're causing the earth's temperature to climb beyond a life-supporting limit.  But guess what . . . a new study reanalyzing the data found that there has been no increase in atmospheric CO2 in the past 150 years.  (Link to story here.)

The St. Louis Rams are on the clock . . .

With the first pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the St. Louis Rams select Ndamukong Suh, defensive tackle, Nebraska.

Things are looking up already.