Biggest Joke in "Journalism"

"Journalism" Code of Ethics

George Stephanopoulos gets his daily 'talking points' from the Obama administration.

The biggest joke of all is in the preamble to the 'code of ethics':

Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty.

They forgot this part to that sentence:

. . . . when if fits our agenda."

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Where the heck is everyone??

This has been news everywhere except the US "mainstream media" for almost 3 weeks.

The great climate change science scandal

Emails have appeared from scientists claiming to have proven man made global warming. The emails show how the proponents "cooked the books" so to speak, to cover the fact there has actually beem global cooling since 1998.

The Grand Forks Herald even ignores the story, but maybe they are waiting for the AP to send them the story. The AP is sorta like the Grand Forks Info Center where reporters can get their story without actually having to do any research on their own.

An outspoken Herald blogger, The City Beat is a big believer of man-made global warming, but I wouldn't expect him to mention it anyway. He claims he only has time to cover the city and the university so we won't expect anything soon until he runs out of things and mentions his stands on politics and global warming again.

Ain't this the truth

If a *conservative* doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a *liberal *doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
If a *conservative* is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a *liberal* is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.
If a *conservative* sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy.
If a *liberal * he wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.
If a *conservative *is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a *liberal* is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.
If a person of color is *conservative*, they see themselves as independently successful.
Their *liberal *counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.
If a *conservative* is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A *liberal* wonders who is going to take care of him.
If a *conservative* doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
*Liberals* demand that those they don't like be shut down.
If a *conservative* is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A *liberal *non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it’s a
foreign religion, of course!)
If a *conservative *decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may
choose a job that provides it.
A *liberal* demands that the rest of us pay for his.
If a *conservative *slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed.
If a *liberal *slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he's in labor and then sues.

Al Sharpton lies about Rush Limbaugh

Sharpton's radio show was the stage he used and he is bragging about how he ruined Rush's attempt at buying a portion of the Rams NFL team.

Al Sharpton’s platform for his assault on Rush Limbaugh’s NFL ownership bid was the National Action Network (NAN), which is bankrolled by corporate America.

The following companies were identified this year by NAN as “sponsors”: American Honda, Anheuser Busch, Colgate-Palmolive, Comcast, Entergy, Ford Motor Company, Home Depot, Johnson & Johnson, Macy’s, PepsiCo, Pfizer and Wal-Mart. Sponsorship reportedly cost $50,000.

NLPC is asking these companies to end their support for Sharpton and NAN.

See here also.

Pretty much sums up the Obama Administration

Got this in an email and it's pretty much represents the Obama administration to date.

Let me get this straight - - - - -

A clunker at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline.

A greenie at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.

So, the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

They claim 700,000 vehicles were sold under the clunkers plan – so that's 224 million gallons / year.

That equates to about 5.33 million barrels of oil (using 42 gal barrels which is the oil industry measurement).

Now, 5 million barrels of oil is just about ¼ of one day's US consumption.

And, 5.33 million barrels of oil costs about $400 million dollars at $75/bbl ($399.75 million to be precise).

So, we all contributed to spending $3 billion of tax dollars for clunkers to save $400 million.

Exactly how was that a good deal???

And we want congress to run our health care???

Last night, Obama stated that he would not approve any health care bill that would worsen our debt. With the number crunchers he has....perhaps he lied about more than giving Illegal immigrants health care? (I know I have read significant portions of HR3200 that don't match what he says!)

And let's see, there are supposedly 46 million uninsured people he is worried about getting covered. Wow, that's a lot of people to cover. Let's forget about the ones that get converted to the government run program for this exercise and look only at the supposedly uninsured numbers.

And they say it's only going to cost $900Bn over 10 years? Really?

Some simple math:

$900bn/10 year is $90bn per year.

Now divide that by 46 million people, and you come out with just under $2,000 medical care spent on each person PER YEAR.

Now this $2,000 a year is going to supposedly cover all of these 46 Million people for prescriptions, medicines, doctor visits, emergency room visits, x-rays, MRIs, surgeries, long term care stay in hospitals for $2,000 per person per year! Such a deal!

Considering we have an aging baby boomer population, and these numbers don't even take into consideration inflation...

And you say it's only going to cost us ONLY $900Bn over 10 years?

Really?

Really?

REALLY?????

And don't even get me going on the bank bailouts with billions into bonuses for bad performance, or even worse, the auto industry takeover where billions of dollars of shareholder and bondholder wealth was wiped out so the companies could be turned over to the unions! Didn't bondholders (aka widows and orphan's funds) used to be considered preferred debt? You know, protect the widows and orphans? Guess the widows weren't union members!

Texting while driving?

Obama Care

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Apocalyptic literature . . . .

How's this for apocalyptic literature. This was written by a pastor's wife in biblical prose as a commentary of current events. It is Brilliant.

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And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people ofthe land called America , having lost their morals, their initiative,and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their SupremeLeader that person known as "The One".

He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you.

My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego,and my association with evil doers are of no consequence. For I shall save you with Hope and Change.

Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who preceded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed." And the people rejoiced, for even though they knew not what "The One" would do, he had promised that it was good; and they believed.

And "The One" said "We live in the greatest country in the world.

Help me change everything about it!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah! Change is good!"

Then He said, "We are going to tax the rich fat-cats." And the people said "Sock it to them!"

"And redistribute their wealth." And the people said, "Show us the money!"

And then He said, "Redistribution of wealth is good foreverybody"

And Joe the plumber asked, "Are you kidding me?

You're going to steal my money and give it to the deadbeats??"

And "The One" ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe's personal records were hacked and publicized.

One lone reporter asked, "Isn't that Marxist policy?"

And she was banished from the kingdom!

Then a citizen asked, "With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with radical terrorists?" And "The One" said, "Simple. I shall sit with them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!"

Then "The One" said, "I shall give 95% of you lower taxes." And one, lone voice said, "But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes."

So "The One" said, "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!" And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Show us the money!"

Then "The One" said, "I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!" And the people yawned and the slumping housing market collapsed. And He said, "I shall mandate employer- funded health care for EVERY worker and raise the minimum wage. And I shall give every person unlimited health care and medicine and transportation to the clinics." And the people said, "Give me some of that!"

Then he said, "I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas." And the people said, "Where's my rebate check?"

Then "The One" said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!" And the people said, "Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don't care for that part about higher electric rates." So "The One" said, "Not to worry. If your rebate isn't enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over!"

Then He said, "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted.

Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing..." And the people said, "Hallelujah!!" And they made him King!

And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers.

Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff.

The banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.

Then "The One" said, "I am the "The One" - The Messiah - and I'm here to save you! We shall just print more money so everyone will have enough!" But our foreign trading partners said unto Him, "Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have to pay more..."

And the people said, "Wait a minute. That is unfair!!" And the world said, "Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!"

And the people cried out, "Alas, alas!! What have we done?" But yea verily, it was too late. The people set upon "The One" and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung.

And the once mighty nation was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope. And the Change "The One" had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed them and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built.

And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish,"Give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!!" But it was too late, and their homeland was no more.

You may think this is a fairy tale, but it's not.

It's happening RIGHT NOW !!

Call BEFORE you dig or put up a fence!

We put the fence up in 2001 and are now (2009) planning to expand the dogs running space. This time we thought it a good idea to use North Dakota ONE CALL. The red paint marks in the picture show where the 240 volt supply for our house is buried. (Click the picture for a larger view) There is a gate to the left of the red mark where we pounded in two posts about 1 foot from that line. There is a steel "T" post pounded about 4' into the ground and the fence post is pounded in over that "T" post. Someone above was smiling on us the day we pounded in these posts! ! !

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They'd be funny if . . . . .

As if most of didn't already know . . . .

Read it all with links, right here: http://lewrockwell.com/orig9/deming3.html

Global Warming Is a Fraud

As I write, satellite data show that the mean global temperature is the same that it was in 1979.

Every year in the US, more than forty thousand people are killed in traffic accidents. But not one single person has ever been killed by global warming.

One reason is that the temperature data from weather stations appear to be hopelessly contaminated by urban heat effects.

Another cause of global warming hysteria is the infiltration of science by ideological zealots who place politics above truth.

While releasing a politicized report that prostitutes science to politics, the Obama administration simultaneously suppressed an internal EPA report that concluded there were "glaring inconsistencies" between the scientific data and the hypothesis that carbon dioxide emissions were changing the climate.

After the warm weather of the 1930s gave way to a cooling trend beginning in 1940, the media began speculating on the imminent arrival of a new Ice Age. We have now come full circle, mired in a hopeless cycle of reincarnated ignorance.

David Deming [send him mail] is a geophysicist and associate professor of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma.

Copyright © 2009 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

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Pictures worth 1,000s of words.

* * * * See more here! * * * *

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Marlin 1895

.45-70 - Marlin 1895 Stainless with Bushnell Trophy 1-4x with illuminated dot.

Just had to shoot a couple of reloaded rounds this evening. Remington 300 grain HP pushed by IMR 4198. (Scope was bore sighted by removing the bolt and using a 1" Shoot 'N See spot on the wall on the other end of the basement.) Because there has to be something to shoot at, a full 20 oz water bottle was put out about 30 yards. I could see the dot just to the right of the bottle when the rifle went off and then the bottle exploded. What's left of the bottle is right below the rifle. Set the windage a few clicks over and now what do I shoot at? Picked out a couple of stones laying out in the yard and they disappeared. Took a couple of shots for some of them. Six rounds was enough for today. Recoil doesn't hurt, it just lets you know it's there.

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From a Mexican newspaper

The arrogance of them demanding the USA turn our country over to them?

El Sol de Mexico (Mexico City) 6/7/09

Claudia Carichi-Garcia a Mexican Senator of the “PRD” (Partido Revolucionario Democrático, a far left party) “demands the normalization of Mexican immigrants in the U.S.” During an interview on the issue of immigration reform, Corichi Garcia said that an integral migratory reform is needed so that it may normalize the immigration status of the approximately 12 million undocumented who work in U.S. territory, of whom some 7 million are Mexican, and to permit the orderly flow of the new immigrants. She pointed out that she will demand the U.S. Congress to de-penalize migration, such as was done in Mexico and that the reform respect individuals’ innate right to have freedom to move between countries. In relation to the just ended “inter-parliamentary reunion” between U.S. & Mexican congress members, held in Seattle, Mex. senator Rosario Green said that “on June 17 “they” (not specified) will meet with president Obama to reach an accord upon a migratory reform which would authorize work visas with all the labor related, legal and social rights for migrants, perhaps a temporary work program which will have nothing to do with the “Bracero” program.” Senator Rosario Green said that the only thing left is for the United States is to modify its Constitution and just mention a line – every migrant will be processed in accordance with his rights – because the word migrant is not included in that document.”

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Source

This little piggy . . . .

Health Care

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T-Shirt means "truth" shirt?

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Women's gun control

Cap Carbon Dioxide? Why?

COMPOSITION OF GREENHOUSE GASES
WATER VAPOR: 95%
CARBON DIOXIDE 3.6%
OTHER GASES: 1.4%

COMPOSITION OF CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE AIR
NATURAL SOURCES: 96.8%
HUMAN SOURCES: 3.2%

GREENHOUSE GASES MADE BY MAN
3.6% (0.036) X 3.2% (0.032) = 0.1% (0.001)

1/10^TH OF 1% OF GREENHOUSE GASES ARE MAN-MADE

HUMAN BEINGS DO NOT CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING

*Data source: U.S. Dept. of Energy




Earth's Atmosphere
78.08% nitrogen,
20.95% oxygen,
0.93% argon,
0.038% CARBON DIOXIDE

Quote:

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

R. J. Wiedemann LtCol . USMC Ret

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Help Callie help the March of Dimes

Callie's Blog

Familiar to anyone?

“We can’t expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism.”


Nikita Khrushchev

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Here's that City Beat guy!

It's a bird!
It's a plane!

No, it's 2E! ! ! !

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Up to date quote:

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson

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Hmmmm!

Excellent analogy!

Who will help me plant the wheat? asked the Little Red Hen.

'Not I,' said the cow.

'Not I,' said the duck.

'Not I,' said the pig.

'Not I,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.
The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.

'Who will help me reap my wheat?' asked the little red hen.

'Not I,' said the duck..

'Out of my classification,' said the pig.

'I'd lose my seniority,' said the cow.

'I'd lose my unemployment compensation,' said the goose.


'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.

At last it came time to bake the bread.

'Who will help me bake the bread?' asked the little red hen.

'That would be overtime for me,' said the cow.

'I'd lose my welfare benefits,' said the duck.

'I'm a dropout and never learned how,' said the pig.

'If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen.

She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see.

They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, 'No, I shall eat all five loaves.'

'Excess profits!' cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi)

'Capitalist leech!' screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer)

'I demand equal rights!' yelled the goose. (Jesse Jackson)

The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)

And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

Then the farmer (Obama) came. He said to the little red hen, "You must not be so greedy, Let's re-distribute the wealth!"

'But I earned the bread,' said the little red hen.

'Exactly,' said Barack the Farmer. 'That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle.'

And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, 'I am grateful, for now I truly understand.'

But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established.

Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared...so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were paying for.


IS THIS A GREAT BARNYARD? OR WHAT?

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(w/thanks to the Critterwoman)





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Profound Statements

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress.

-- John Adams



2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.

-- Mark Twain


3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself.

-- Mark Twain


4 I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.

-- Winston Churchill


5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

-- George Bernard Shaw


6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.

-- G. Gordon Liddy


7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

-- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)


8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.

-- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University


9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

-- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian


10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.

-- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)


11. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

-- Ronald Reagan (1986)


12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

-- Will Rogers


13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!

-- P.J. O'Rourke


14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.

-- Voltaire (1764)


15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!

-- Pericles (430 B.C.)


16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.

-- Mark Twain (1866)

Words of Wisdom

I found this one today...

SEEMS LIKE THERE IS SOME WISDOM IN THESE THOUGHTS

Years ago when I sometimes used unsavory language, I often used the expression "Bull Sh**" As I grew up a bit and discovered it was not necessary to use such crude language, that expression became "BS."

Q. What did I really mean when I used those expressions?

A. I meant that something was ridiculous, or idiotic or a half truth or just stupid. It covered any number or negative formats. The dictionary defines it as: nonsense; especially : foolish insolent talk.

I have decided that I no longer will use either of those expressions in the future. When I have the need to express those feelings, I will use the word "Pelosi".

Let me use it in a sentence. "That is just a bunch of Pelosi." I encourage you to do the same. It is such a good word. It really packs a lot of punch. We are no longer being vulgar. But it clearly expresses our feelings. If enough of us use it, possibly we can get the word in the dictionary. And that would be an excellent legacy for the Speaker of the House.

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Stimulus?

[Senator DeMint gave this speech at the Heritage Foundation in the wake of the unanimous rejection by Republicans in the House of the Democrat Stimulus Bill]

I think all Americans owe a huge "thank you" to all of the House Republicans and the 11 courageous Democrats who cast their votes for freedom and opposed the stimulus bill last Wednesday night (1/28).

I'm here to discuss the very real problems facing our economy and how we can secure prosperity for years to come. Americans are very concerned about the direction of our country. I've never seen people more anxious. They are worried about the economy, but even more worried about the reckless spending and government intrusion into our culture and free markets.

Our economy is in trouble. The unemployment rate is now over 7 percent and climbing. Stock markets have plunged, jeopardizing the retirement income of seniors. Nearly a million homes were repossessed last year. And in the [last week] thousands of Americans have lost their jobs at some of our nation's most recognized companies, including Home Depot, Microsoft, and Boeing.

In the midst of these difficult and uncertain times, Americans understandably voted for change. Frustrated with runaway spending, Wall Street bailouts, and soaring energy prices, they voted for Barack Obama, a candidate who promised to lower taxes, cut spending, increase domestic energy, and create millions of new jobs.

Mr. Obama and I were elected to the Senate at the same time and we've worked together on a number of common goals. I believe he wants to do what is best for our country. But our economy needs more than hope and empty promises. And with his first major piece of legislation, we have learned more about his real agenda than we did after an entire year of debates and speeches.

The stimulus bill that is being championed by Mr. Obama, which was passed by Democrats in the House last Wednesday, is the worst piece of economic legislation Congress has considered in a hundred years.

Not since the passage in 1909 of the 16th Amendment--which cleared the way for a federal income tax--has the United States seriously entertained a policy so comprehensively hostile to economic freedom, or so arrogantly indifferent to economic reality.

The bill, if it were a country, would have the 15th largest economy in the world--right in between Australia and Mexico, greater than the gross domestic products of Saudi Arabia and Iran put together. And the American people will be forced to borrow 100 percent of the unprecedented $1.2 trillion price tag, including interest. The stimulus bill will cost well over $1 billion for every page it is printed on and $400,000 for every job it hopes to create or save.

But after the accolades from the newspaper editorials have been printed and politicians finish slapping themselves on the back for "doing something," there will be little to show for all this new spending. That's because this bill is based on hope, not reality. Democrats have spared no expense to show how much they care, but in doing so they have sacrificed common sense.

Proponents argue that we are facing a once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis and that only an immediate and overwhelming stimulus can ignite the economy, create jobs, and spur growth. That very well may be true, but the spending bill passed in the House is just that: a spending bill, not an economic stimulus package.

The Democrat bill takes money--actually, it borrows money--and decides where it should go. It does virtually nothing to stimulate the economy while it wastes billions of taxpayer dollars. It's a hodge-podge of long-supported pet projects that the normal budget process would have thrown out.

Using the troubled economy as their motive, Democrats have opened the floodgates for all sorts of outrageous wasteful spending. Here are just a few examples from the Senate's bill, which we are debating now:

* $400 million for researching sexually transmitted diseases,
* $200 million for bike and pedestrian trails and off-road vehicle routes,
* $200 million to force the military to buy environmentally friendly electric cars,
* $34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters,
* $75 million for a program to end smoking, which if successful will bankrupt the children's health program the Democrats passed, as it's funded by cigarette taxes.

And those are just some of the ridiculous things they have written into the bill. With over 600 pages of bill text and committee reports that were just released to the Senate, we have just begun to uncover the waste.

Of the $825 billion in the bill that is being sold as an infrastructure investment, only $30 billion will actually go to build highways, about $40 billion for upgrades to our telecommunications and electricity infrastructure, and about $20 billion in business tax cuts. These are the only three components of the bill that might arguably stimulate the economy and create jobs, if only temporarily.

Altogether, only 11 percent of the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will have anything to do with either recovery or reinvestment.

And rest assured, unlike the oceans at President Obama's command, the elevated spending levels in this bill will never recede.

The tax side of the bill is little better. Think of it this way: If nearly every Democrat in Congress supports a tax cut, it's not really a tax cut. And, indeed, the text of the Democrats' plan reveals $212 billion of smoke-and-mirrors gimmicks: temporary cuts and rebates exactly like those that failed to stimulate the economy last year, and eco-shakedown tax credits.

As these facts become known and Republicans begin to question the wisdom of the plan, the American people are being given their first glimpse behind the curtain of our new, post-partisan leadership.

Any doubters of the bare-knuckled partisanship at the heart of the Democrats' trillion-dollar catastrophe would do well to ask a simple question: Cui bono? Who benefits from this legislation?

Who indeed? Alternative energy companies, public employee unions, teachers unions, university faculty and administrators, welfare recipients, ACORN-style "community organizers," politicians who spend the money, federal bureaucrats who allocate it, and the lawyers and lobbyists who will influence every dime behind the scenes.

In other words, this bill is a massive transfer of wealth not from the rich to the poor, but from middle-class families and small businesses to favored Democratic constituencies below and above them on the socio-economic ladder.

This bill is not a stimulus, ladies and gentlemen; it is a mugging. It is a fraud. Conservatives who fear proponents of this bill want to inch our economy closer to European-style socialism are kidding themselves. The proponents of this bill want to strap a big rocket on the back of our economy and launch it all the way to Brussels!

This massive spending bill is fatally flawed. It will not rescue our economy; it will strangle it. That is why this bill must be stopped dead in its tracks. It cannot be fixed in the Senate by adding a few tax cuts or taking away a little spending. It must be scrapped entirely.

Fortunately, there is another way. A better way. A way that will actually stimulate the economy, spur investment, and create jobs. A way that will permanently keep billions of dollars--immediately--in the private sector: in the hands of Americans who buy goods, provide services, start businesses, and hire employees.

Call it "The American Option." It is not innovative or particularly clever. In fact, it's only 11 pages. But it will work. And it is based on proven American principles of freedom and the opportunity to succeed.

The plan -- developed by scholars J. D. Foster and William Beach here at The Heritage Foundation--is the best anyone has proposed since the recession first took hold. I have adopted the plan and will offer it on the Senate floor next week as a substitute.

The idea is simple: first, make the temporary tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 -- now set to expire in 2011-- permanent. Short-term tax relief, of the sort envisioned by the Democrats' plan does not stimulate economic growth.

It's the difference between a $1,000 gift one month, which you might put away or use to pay off some credit card debt, and a $1,000-a-month raise, which might get you thinking about buying a house or a new car or taking a summer vacation or starting a new business.

To encourage people to take risks and create new jobs, we must make tax relief for families and small businesses permanent. Recessions are caused by uncertainty that keeps investors on the sidelines. By making low taxes permanent, plans and decisions can be made with an eye toward the future.

With the 2011 tax-bomb defused, our plan will cut income tax rates across the board compared to current law. The top marginal rate--the one paid by most of the small businesses that create new jobs-- will fall from 35 percent to 25 percent. It simplifies the code to include only two other brackets, 15 and 10 percent.

These marginal rate reductions would be permanent and give the private sector maximum predictability as it decides how to best spend its recovered income. This is a matter of fairness. No American family should be forced to pay the federal government more than 25 percent of the fruits of their hard labor.

Just as we cut taxes for families and small businesses, we need to cut them for corporations as well, from 35 percent to 25 percent. And we shouldn't be afraid to say so. Our corporate tax rate is one of the highest in the world, driving investment and jobs overseas. Lowering this key rate will unlock trillions of dollars to be invested in America instead of abroad.

And rather than giving large companies loopholes and targeted tax benefits--which only encourage them to spend money on the lobbyists who secure such goodies--Congress should get out of the business of picking winners and losers in the market and simply cut everyone's taxes and let the best company win. My plan will make businesses compete for consumers, not Congressmen.

To further simplify and improve the code, our plan would also:

* permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax once and for all;
* permanently maintain the capital gains and dividends taxes at 15 percent;
* permanently kill the Death Tax for estates under $5 million, and cut the tax rate to 15 percent for those above;
* permanently extend the $1,000-per-child tax credit;
* permanently repeal the marriage tax penalty;
* permanently limit itemized deductions to home mortgage interest and charitable contributions.

The Heritage Center for Data Analysis widely respected economic forecasting model projects this plan would create nearly 500,000 jobs this year, 1.3 million next year, 7.5 million by 2013, and a total of nearly 18 million jobs over the next decade.

The Democrats are forced to rely on hope to save or create just 3 million jobs as a result of their plan. When pressed, they refuse to stand behind these numbers. But with our plan -- the American Option -- long-term, broad-based tax cuts will spur the American economy to create 7.5 million jobs in five years and nearly 18 million jobs in just ten years. That is an average of over 2 million new jobs a year.

Instead of taking a trillion dollars out of the economy so politicians can spread it around to special interests, the American Option will keep a trillion more dollars in the hands of American workers and businesses.

Instead of growing government, where waste and corruption run rampant, we grow the private sector, where innovation flourishes. Instead of giving the power and control of our economy to politicians and bureaucrats, we give Americans and small businesses the freedom to spend and invest their own money.

The evidence in support of this legislation is not theoretical but historical, unlike the Keynesian arguments in favor of the Democrats' debt plan. John F. Kennedy's 1964 tax reductions led to 9 million new private sector jobs in five years. Ronald Reagan's 1981 tax cuts led to 7 million in the same time frame. And five years on, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts have led to the creation of 4 million and 6 million jobs, respectively.

Every time the United States has cut marginal tax rates, millions of jobs have been created -- jobs that lifted the unemployed into the workforce, the working poor into the middle class, and the middle class into long-term economic security.

Similar stories can be told of Great Britain rescued by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and Israel's economic reforms under Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr. Obama's own chief economist, Christina Romer, has shown that tax cuts do truly stimulate economic activity, to the tune of $3 of increased output for every $1 of tax relief.

On the other hand, the world's great experiments in spending one's way out of a recession have three textbook examples. The first is Franklin Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression. The New Deal began in 1933 with unemployment around 25 percent and effectively ended with the establishment of FDR's "war economy" in 1940, with unemployment still hovering around 20 percent.

The second example is from the 1970s, when huge Keynesian deficits in the United States neither spurred economic growth nor curtailed inflation.

The third example is Japan's so-called Lost Decade, in which the Japanese government tried in vain for ten years to spend its way out of a national real estate and investment market collapse.

Every discredited idea from these three monuments to economic mismanagement can be found in the fine print of the Democrats' trillion-dollar socialist experiment--massive public spending, skyrocketing deficits, inevitable tax increases, and the disastrous, unintended consequences of hurried and arbitrary meddling in the economy.

That leads me to one final and overarching point, a point the mainstream media refuses to understand and elite liberal institutions refuse to acknowledge. It is the point conservatives must make if we ever hope to rescue our economy from this bill and regain our national majority.

That point is very simple, and we must repeat it every day on the floor of the Senate, from the well of the House, around household dinner tables and office water coolers. Any time a pundit, a politician, or anyone else says that this recession is the fault of the free market, that Mr. Obama has inherited the problems of a conservative ideology, conservatives of every stripe can answer with force and facts:

Conservatism has nothing to apologize for.

It was not conservatism that foisted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac onto the national credit market.

It was not conservatism that shook down the nation's banking system with the Community Reinvestment Act.

It was not conservatism that asked for, lied about, and then wasted $350 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Nor did conservatism sign on to the second tranche of the TARP funds now in the hands of our notoriously irresponsible new Treasury Secretary.

It was not conservatism that used taxpayer funds to bail out the perpetrators of the Wall Street meltdown. It wasn't conservatism that led our financial industry to make these reckless loans, and it certainly wasn't conservatism that made that industry ask for the taxpayers to foot the bill for their idiocy.

It wasn't conservatism that bailed out an auto industry bankrupted by its inability to manage costs and strangled by the barnacles of unionism.

Every problem now plaguing our economy can be directly traced to some government policy that was passed over the vehement objections and prescient warnings of principled conservatives. The same scenario is playing out with the Obama spending bill, but the result is not pre-ordained.

This is not a moment for Republicans to rally simply in the interests of party unity or to give the Democrats a run for their money. This is not a time to merely fight the good fight. This is a fight we can still win. The Democrat plan will not work, it will hurt our economy, it will kill jobs, it will lengthen and deepen the recession, and it will delay any hope of recovery.

We should all be encouraged by the movement among congressional Republicans against this bill. But it is not enough to expose the dangerous flaws of the Democrats' plan. That is why I am proposing this plan.

It is not simply a viable alternative, it is the American Option to rescue our economy from an inexorable slide toward European social-democracy. With a troubled economy, mounting national debt and an entitlement crisis ready to explode, conservatives must offer bold and proven solutions to secure America's future.

We cannot simply derail the Liberal Express, we must show our fellow countrymen a better path. There is nothing wrong with our economy that a free people cannot solve. All we need is the freedom to take back from Washington control of our economic destiny.

The policy approach I have outlined can work, and if implemented, will work. How do I know? Because liberating people to pursue their own happiness and fortune is the only thing that ever does.

Thank you very much, and may God bless America.

The Honorable Jim DeMint (R-SC) is chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, a caucus of Senate conservatives.






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Do your part on the "Stimulus Plan"

Go here to search and even give your opinion on the
need for the "stimulus."

http://www.stimuluswatch.org/







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True or not, a good read!

Posted to Craig's List Personals:

To the Guy Who Mugged Me Downtown (Downtown, Savannah)


]
Date: 2009-01-06, 3:43AM EST
I was the white guy with the black Burrberry jacket that you demanded I hand over shortly after you pulled the knife on me and my girlfriend. You also asked for my girlfriend's purse and earrings. I hope you somehow come across this message. I'd like to apologize.
I didn't expect you to crap your pants when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket. Truth is, I was wearing the jacket for a reason that evening, and it wasn't that cold outside. You see, my girlfriend had just bought me that Kimber 1911 .45 ACP pistol for Christmas, and we had just picked up a shoulder holster for it that evening. Beautiful pistol, eh? It's a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head, isn't it?
I know it probably wasn't a great deal of fun walking back to wherever you'd come from with that brown sludge flopping about in your pants. I'm sure it was even worse since you also ended up leaving your shoes, cellphone, and wallet with me. I couldn't have you calling up any of your buddies to come help you try to mug us again. I took the liberty of calling your mother, or "Momma" as you had her listed in your cell, and explaining to her your situation. I also bought myself some gas on your card. I gave your shoes to one of the homeless guys over by Vinnie Van Go Go's, along with all of the cash in your wallet, then I threw the wallet itself in a dumpster.
I called a bunch of phone sex numbers from your cell. They'll be on your bill in case you'd like to know which ones. Alltel recently shut down the line, and I've only had the phone for a little over a day now, so I don't know what's going on with that. I hope they haven't permanently cut off your service. I was about to make some threatening phone calls to the DA's office with it. Oh well.
So, about your pants. I know that I was a little rough on you when you did this whole attempted mugging thing, so I'd like to make it up to you. I'm sure you've already washed your pants, so I'd like to help you out. I'd like to reimburse you for the detergent you used on the pants. What brand did you use, and was it liquid or powder? I'd also like to apologize for not killing you and instead making you walk back home humiliated. I'm hoping that you'll reconsider your choice of path in life. Next time you might not be so lucky. If you read this message, email me and we'll do lunch and laundry. Peace!
- Alex

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Global Warming hits Grand Forks, ND

Yesterday it said -33

A few minutes after taking this it was -28

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Ain't it the truth!

The late Dr. Adrian Rogers (1931 to 2005) offered the
following observation several years ago and it bears poignant significance today:

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the rich out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend is about the end of any nation.

You cannot multiply the wealth by dividing it.

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