Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Hondurans voted yesterday, and it appears that a rival of Manuel Zelaya has won. For those of you who regularly read this blog, you know of the struggle of Honduras not only against Zelaya and his primary backer, Hugo Chavez, but also against the Obama administration.

The Honduran election is a massive win for the good guys, and a massive loss for Chavez and Daniel Ortega. It is unfortunate that I also have to say that it is a loss for Obama, who staked out an unprincipled position which used words of principle, then backed down.

Honduras was the wrong target for Obama, and the fact that Honduras was able to stand up to the world will have many unintended consequences.

Here's some commentary from around the web:

• David Kopel, Volokh Conspiracy - Honduras election results in decisive win for democracy
• Fausta's Blog - Honduras: Porfirio Lobo elected new president
• Heritage Foundation - Morning Bell: A Victory for Democracy in Honduras
• Powerline - The supremacy of Honduras
• POWIP - The Mouse That Roared: Congratulations, Honduras

Here are just a few of my prior posts on the situation in Honduras:

• Zelaya The Insane
• I Hope Obama Fails In Honduras
• Let them come to Tegucigalpa
• Hands Off Honduras

Congratulations to Honduras. And thanks.

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Best line of the weekend. Bill Kristol on Fox News Sunday, asked whether the White House party crashers should be prosecuted:

Yes, we should put them on trial in New York in a courtroom right next to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

(My transcription from memory, until I can get a transcript)

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Another day, another exposé by a British newspaper about the failure of nationalized health care. This time, it's the left-wing The Guardian reflecting on how delays in cancer care cause 10,000 unnecessary deaths each year compared to other European countries:

Up to 10,000 people die needlessly of cancer every year because their condition is diagnosed too late, according to research by the government's director of cancer services. The figure is twice the previous estimate for preventable deaths....

Britain is poor by international standards at diagnosing cancer. [Prof. Mike] Richards's findings will add urgency to the NHS's efforts to improve early diagnosis....

Richards found that "late diagnosis was almost certainly a major contributor to poor survival in England for all three cancers", but also identified low rates of surgical intervention being received by cancer patients as another key reason for poor survival rates.

Research by academics at Durham University led by Prof Greg Rubin has identified five types of delay in NHS cancer care: "patient delay", "doctor delay", "delay in primary care [at GPs' surgeries]", "system delay" and "delay in secondary care [at hospitals]"....

Since Britain's population is less than one-fifth that of the U.S., the equivalent number of unnecessary deaths in the U.S. would exceed 50,000. The U.S. has cancer survival rates which exceed [see note below - link problem] even the better European countries, so that number may be higher.

Keep that in mind the next time you hear Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) and others throw around fictitious numbers about how many people die in the U.S. from lack of insurance. And this week as Harry Reid and the Democrats tout how Reid's plan will save families in the "non-group" market $500 on private insurance.

Still nothing to see here, move along.

Update: Michelle Malkin has a good post on the phony and baseless emotionalism used by supporters of Obamacare, who ignore the pain and suffering caused by de facto rationing under government-run healthcare.

Note: For some reason, the link to Medscape has started pulling up a log-in screen -- subscription is free -- so here is the money quote from the article, which is titled "Cancer Survival Rates Improving Across Europe, But Still Lagging Behind United States":

"New reports from EUROCARE suggest that cancer care in Europe is improving and that the gaps between countries are narrowing. However, comparisons with US statistics suggest that cancer survival in Europe is still lagging behind the United States. The reports are published online August 21 in Lancet Oncology and scheduled for the September issue .... Survival was significantly higher in the United States for all solid tumors, except testicular, stomach, and soft-tissue cancer, the authors report. The greatest differences were seen in the major cancer sites: colon and rectum (56.2% in Europe vs 65.5% in the United States), breast (79.0% vs 90.1%), and prostate cancer (77.5% vs 99.3%), and this "probably represents differences in the timeliness of diagnosis," they comment. That in turn stems from the more intensive screening for cancer carried out in the United States, where a reported 70% of women aged 50 to 70 years have undergone a mammogram in the past 2 years, one-third of people have had sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy in the past 5 years, and more than 80% of men aged 65 years or more have had a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. In fact, it is this PSA testing that probably accounts for the very high survival from prostate cancer seen in the United States, the authors comment."

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The list of potential GOP presidential candidates just narrowed. If reports are accurate, a convict to whom Mike Huckabee granted clemency is sought in the killing of four Seattle policemen.

This is Huck's Willie Horton. Sure, there are differences. Horton committed rape while on weekend furlough granted by Mike Dukakis.

The alleged Seattle shooter, Maurice Clemmons, had a long history of arrest, conviction, and release after Huckabee granted clemency, so there were numerous intervening points at which the criminal justice system failed. Michelle Malkin has good background on this.

Nonetheless, it is close to over for Huck. This is too Willie Horton-ish. Republicans hung Willie Horton around Dukakis' neck in 1988, and the same thing would happen to Huckabee regarding Clemmons, both in the primary and the general election. It would take some real political mastery for Huck to get out from under this.

It is weird that just this morning Huck stated that a run was "less than likely." Yeah, I think so.

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I want to believe Tiger Woods' statement that the rumors about his wife attacking him are false. Refusing to speak with the police, however, is not a good sign.

One issue keeps popping back into my mind on this. Tiger's wife reportedly helped extricate him from the car by smashing a window with a golf club.

So where did she get the golf club?

Even in the Tiger Woods household, it is hard to believe that Mrs. Woods first thought, upon realizing that her husband's car had crashed, was "let me grab a golf club." And at 2:25 in the morning, it is doubtful that she was practicing her chip shot at the time.

Second question.

Why didn't she just open the door? The photos show only damage to the front end. The Escalade SUV is a big vehicle, and it is hard to believe that none of the doors would open merely because of a relatively modest front-end collision.

Third question.

Why am I blogging about this? Another waste of a good education (see, I said it, so no need to send e-mails telling me what I already know).

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Democrats have a thrill running up their legs because health care economist Jonathan Gruber of MIT has proclaimed that private insurance policies "in the non-group market" will cost $200-$500 less if Harry Reid's plan becomes law.

The analysis is rudimentary. Gruber merely takes the CBO scoring analysis, then backs out the analysis as to "actuarial values" to assert that the CBO "implies" that private non-group policies will cost less. While I'm sure Gruber is brilliant, his analysis adds nothing of substance to the debate.

The reason Gruber's analysis should not be taken seriously is because there is one big caveat highlighted on the first page of Gruber's report:

The CBO has not reported many of the details of their analysis, such as the age distribution of individuals in the non-group market or in the exchange. So these data do not provide a strictly apples to apples comparison of premiums for the same individual in the exchange and in the no-reform non-group market. And their conclusion may change as legislation moves forward. But the key point is that, as of now, the most authoritative objective voice in this debate suggests that reform will significantly reduce, not increase, non-group premiums.

Gruber has based his projections and theory on underlying assumptions and analysis to which he not only does not have access, but which themselves are full of caveats. And all of these caveats will be ignored as Democrats trumpet Gruber's report.

On this we are supposed to restructure one-sixth of our economy?

And if private policies in the non-group market were, in fact, to cost a few hundred dollars less, would it be worth the price in terms of government intervention in our lives, de facto rationing, bureaucracies, taxes, mandates, increases in Medicaid dependents, and inevitable deficits?

Are our liberties worth only $200-$500? That's the best Harry Reid can do?

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Can't seem to get motivated to write in great detail about John Kerry's "hey, look, I just issued a report about George W. deliberately letting Osama go in Tora Bora, you know, the same argument I have been making for several years and which failed to get me elected President; but this time I've got the goods on him, based on public information readily available for years which has been the basis for public reexamination of the military tactic of a "light footprint;" I just had to release this report on the eve of Obama announcing his intention to put more troops into Afghanistan subject to conditions, even though I've had this important information for years."

Go to Mudville Gazette for a good take-down of John "20/20 Hindsight" Kerry's political posturing.

But a more important point on Kerry. The BDS Victims who are cheering the report will soon realize that Kerry is, once again, playing both sides.

The report was issued not just to reopen old wounds, but also to justify putting more troops into Afghanistan, as Obama will announce Tuesday. So while the Left cheers, they should understand that the report is not intended to support their agenda.

In other words, Kerry issued a report in favor of the left-wing agenda before he used the report against the left-wing agenda.

Happy now?

Update: BlackFive also has a good explanation as to why the John Kerry's of the world don't know what they are talking about. Contrary to the ridiculous talk by some that Bush and the military commanders "apparently didn't believe that capturing or killing the man responsible for murdering 3000+ Americans was very interesting or worthwhile," there were many other factors militating against dropping 800 Army Rangers into the mountains with little infrastructure (at the time) for resupply. But then again, everyone is a genius in hindsight.

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Politico is fast replacing The New York Times as my favorite source of screen shots. Of course, nothing yet approaches the NY Times' Nude Swiss Hikers screen shot, but give the new media time. For now, be satisfied with this ultra-obvious Politico headline:
While obvious, the headline also engages in a bit of overstatement.

The "jobs summit" not only is not a magic bullet, it also is not even a bullet. It is the equivalent of an upper-level seminar on job creation offered by a professor who never created a job.

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This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:

Matt Taibbi in explaining the many and varied reasons why he hates Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, WWE Star:

Palin — and there’s just no way to deny this — is a supremely gifted politician. She has staked out, as her own personal political turf, the entire landscape of incoherent white American resentment. In this area she leaves even Rush Limbaugh in the dust.

This is good. The race card wrapped in Palin Derangement Syndrome with a topping of Rush Delirium Disorder.

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It's not Obama's fault that two publicity-seeking reality-show wannabees crashed the State Dinner for the Indian Prime Minister, any more than it was Obama's fault that the Nobel Peace Prize committee awarded Obama the undeserved Peace Prize.

In the absence of any real achievements by Obama, however, these quirks of fate seem destined to define Obama in a way that is damaging to his presidency.

The greatest celebrity on earth increasingly is being viewed just as the McCain campaign predicted. The phrase "reality show" is not something any president wants mentioned in close proximity to his name, much less in photographs plastered all over the internet (and the White House news feed).

The photo of Obama warmly greeting the bleached-blonde stick-thin faux-famous reality-show hopeful is an image which will enter the public consciousness.

And there is not much Obama can do about it.

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Pulls out of his driveway at 2:25 a.m., driving fast enough to cause serious injury when he hits a fire hydrant and tree near his home. No alchohol involved. Likely verdict:

In massive fight with his wife, and drove off like a bat out of hell because he was pissed.

Just my speculation, having been married for 25 years.

Update: Looks like I'm late to this.

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From the London Times, on continuing problems in the British health care system:

An immediate investigation to uncover the true extent of death rates across the NHS has been ordered by the Health Secretary after scandals at two hospital trusts.

Amid claims that patients are dying due to poor care in at least 27 hospitals around the country, Andy Burnham said that patient safety was paramount and must take precedence above all else.

His comments come after the head of a foundation trust in Colchester, Essex, was sacked over concerns about high death rates, leadership and waiting times.

Nothing to see here, just move along.

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Do not worry that your electronic medical records, once in the possession of the government, will not be safe. The government has extensive procedures in place to assure that the never, ever, could there be a breach of security.

These security procedures have been developed and tested by the Secret Service, so you can sleep well at night knowing that your most personal details are safe from prying eyes.

What could possibly go wrong?


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Or so it seems. Democratic Representative Mike Capuano is running in the Democratic special primary for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. While running against numerous other high-profile Democrats, such as Attorney General Martha Coakley, Capuano has put Dick Cheney at the center of his campaign strategy.

In an advertisement (below), which is running frequently on television, Capuano urges voters to select him because he is the only one who can stand up to Dick Cheney:

"Because there'll always be people like Dick Cheney and the need to stand up to them."

It will be interesting to see how this strategy plays out, considering that Cheney is not on the ballot in the Democratic primary, will not be on the ballot in the special general election, and is not Vice President anymore.

This is either the most irrational example of Bush-Cheney Derangement Syndrome, or the most brilliant strawman argument since Obama demanded that conservatives grab a mop to help Obama clean up Bush's mess.

If I were a Massachusetts Democrat, I would vote for Capuano, because the one thing we are lacking in Washington, D.C., is someone willing to blame Bush-Cheney for our problems.

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From an op-ed by Sen. Jeff Session (R-Ala.), on how Harry Reid was one of the architects, during the Bush administration, of the judicial filibuster. Now that Reid is Majority Leader, Reid is against the use of the filibuster for judicial nominees, and indignantly so:

This controversy arose when Democratic senators met at a strategy retreat shortly after President George W. Bush took office. There, they made a calculated and historic decision to cast aside more than 200 years of Senate precedent and to openly and systematically filibuster even highly qualified Bush nominees....

The Democrats' tactics were a dramatic change of Senate precedent, which had generally limited filibusters to legislative matters. These were politically motivated obstructions, not thoughtful debates on the nominees' character or judicial philosophy. In the midst of a filibuster of Priscilla Owen's nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) suggested that 10 additional hours be allowed before a final vote. Then-Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) objected. How long did he need? "[T]here is not a number [of hours] in the universe that would be sufficient," Reid replied....

So, given this context, it's difficult to understand the majority leader's recent indignation over a Republican attempt to block only one of President Obama's most troubling nominees, Judge David Hamilton (since confirmed). It's curious that the architect of the judicial filibuster is complaining about its use.

Curious, yes. Surprising, no. That was then, this is now, and many other cliches apply to how the Democrats run Congress.

The willingness to change or reinterpret Senate rules shows why it is not over until it is over on Reid's health care restructuring bill. What John Hindraker refers to as the "It's B-a-a-a-ack! " nature of Reid's efforts.

Being for something but now against it makes no difference if the goal is achieved, apparently.

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Rasmussen Reports just released a survey indicating that 49% of Americans rate the health care system as good or excellent, and 27% rate the system as poor. There are many interesting details, including the partisan breakdown of the numbers.

What most interests me is the shift in the numbers as the health care debate has progressed. The more the American public has learned about what the Democrats want to do, the more people have shifted towards a greater and more positive appreciation of the current system. As reported by Rasmussen:

Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters nationwide now rate the U.S. health care system as good or excellent. That marks a steady increase from 44% at the beginning of October, 35% in May and 29% a year-and-a-half ago....

It is interesting to note that confidence in the system has improved as the debate over health care reform has moved to center stage. The latest polling shows that only 38% favor the health care legislation currently working its way through Congress.

The more we examine the current system versus the alternatives, the more we understand how much we have to lose. This public consciousness rejects a massive restructuring of the system through mandates, taxes and bureaucracy -- as the Democrats want -- in favor of making incremental changes on important issues.

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Scott Eric Kaufman, at the Lawyers, Guns and Money blog, thought counting non-white people at Sarah Palin book signings was a cool way to prove that Palin and her supporters were racist because there were so few non-whites pictured in available photos.

In fact, all Kaufman proved was that he was capable of playing the race card. Dividing and classifying people by skin color for political purposes has become the most convenient political tool of the American left-wing.

Flush with that success, if you call it success, Kaufman has followed up with another post in which Kaufman engaged in demographic analysis of those who attended Palin's book signing at Fort Bragg. Kaufman looked at a handful of photos posted at Palin's Facebook page, and concluded once again that Palin only appealed to whites because the crowd did not reflect the local demographics:

Instead of playing "Count the Non-White People!" with Sarah Palin's photographs of her appearance at Fort Bragg, I will present some statistics about the base and surrounding community:

White Non-Hispanic (52.9%)
Black (25.2%)
Hispanic (15.8%)
Other race (8.3%)
Two or more races (4.5%)
American Indian (2.1%)
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (0.9%)
Filipino (0.6%)
Korean (0.5%)

What nonsense. Even if true that the crowd did not match the local demographics, it would prove nothing other than that Kaufman has a fixation on race and suffers from Palin Derangement Syndrome.

It is so easy for the Kaufmans of the world to falsely accuse people of being racist. In his post, since it was not enough to smear the crowds at Palin book signings, Kaufman also maliciously and falsely referred to one conservative blogger as a "noted racist." Kaufman was so emboldened because this is the internet, and no one is held accountable.

But even a little searching by Kaufman would have revealed some inconvenient facts. Here is how an MSNBC reporter -- hardly a network sympathetic to Palin -- described the crowd in this televised report (at 1:45):

"I can tell you this crowd today was very, very diverse, a lot of people from different races, ages, all coming to see Palin and wanting get a glimpse of who this lady is that says that she's going rogue."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Kaufman's worst fears realized (h/t Protein Wisdom). People of all races coming together to stand up to the demeaning attitudes of those who confuse academic credentials with leadership qualities, and snark with wisdom.

Kaufman has a lot to learn, notwithstanding his recent Ph.D in English.

Kaufman may have succeeded in playing the race card, but that is a shameful and dishonest measure of success.

Update: Check out The Wilding of Sarah Palin (h/t Patterico) for an interesting discussion of the left-wing's obsession with Palin, written by a former leftist-feminist Hillary supporter:

What finally woke me up were the utterances of "bitch," "witch," and "monster" toward Hillary Clinton and her supporters early last year. I was shocked into reality: the trash-talk wasn't coming from conservatives, but from male and female liberals....

Then along came Sarah, and the attacks became particularly heinous. And I realized something even more chilling about the Left. Leftists not only sacrifice and disrespect women, but it's far worse: many are perpetuators.

The Left's behavior towards Palin is not politics as usual. By their laser-focus on her body and her sexuality, leftists are defiling her.

Read the whole article. The analogy holds as to the use of the race card. It almost always is left-wing Democrats who bring up race, focus on race, use race for political purposes, and attempt to stifle debate by making false accusations of racism.

Update No. 2: Take a good look also at Sarah Palin and “progressives” jumping the shark on race, and It doesn’t matter what this posts says … and On SEK’s latest “racism” charges.

And now this: Patterico Breaks His Suspicious Silence Regarding SEK’s Lame Defense of His Lame Accusations of Race-Baiting by Ed Morrissey

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Before I head into a turkey-induced stupor, I'll leave you with these two wonderful clips of the great Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn. The first clip is the first time they danced together shortly after Nureyev defected. The second clip will leave your head spinning!

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Have a Great Thanksgiving, and remember that we all have so much for which to be thankful:





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Ithaca, NY, where I work, is in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Ithacans hate global warming because it is so corporate and capitalist.

So at what point in time should global warming have stopped?

"The 'Ice age' was really a series of many advances and retreats of glaciers. The Finger Lakes were probably carved by several of these episodes. Ice sheets more than two miles thick flowed southward, parallel but opposite to the flow of the rivers, gouging deep trenches into these river valleys. Traces of most of the earlier glacial events have vanished, but much evidence remains of the last one or two glaciers that covered New York.

The latest glacial episode was most extensive around 21,000 years ago, when glaciers covered almost the entire state. Around 19,000 years ago, the climate warmed, and the glacier began to retreat, disappearing entirely from New York for the last time around 11,000 years ago." (Image source here)

For me, I'll just say "thanks global warming," we couldn't have done it without you.

Update, from the Hmmm Dept: Pretending the climate email leak isn't a crisis won't make it go away and NZ’s NIWA accused of CRU-style temperature faking.

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Sarah Palin's visit to a turkey farm last year made news when the camera caught a shot of the owner slaughtering a turkey. The NY Times Editorial Board was all over the controversy.

Turns out the farmer in question has had a tough year, for a number of reasons, mostly related to the economy.

But when Andie Coller at Politico covered the farmer's fate, the focus naturally was on Palin (image right).

Because no Thanksgiving would be complete without a headline and photo suggesting that Palin had caused this poor farmer's problems, even if the article itself pointed out that the economy -- not Palin's visit -- was the cause.

So on this Thanksgiving, Politico readers will get a small side order of Palin Derangement Syndrome with their turkey, no extra charge.

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Another post by Matthew Yglesias engaging in gross generalizations and stereotypes of the politically acceptable kind, Stuff White People Like: Disapproving of Barack Obama:

The diversity issues that you see at the elite level of most of American life are, in my opinion, particularly egregious in the punditry world. People whose job is largely to express a point of view really ought to come from a variety of points of view, and it’s a huge problem in politics since demographics are so closely linked to political opinion....

About 50 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s job performance, but he’s overwhelmingly liked among non-white Americans and quite widely disliked by white Americans. Our punditry, however, is done almost exclusively by white people and pretty overwhelmingly by a demographic of older white men that’s pretty much the most right-wing cohort you can construct.

If demographics drive political opinion, then I suppose the types of pundits Ygelsias wants to see more of are the Thomas Sowell type, and less of the Keith Olbermann/Frank Rich type.

Like I said, how do they think this stuff up?

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I really hope this is a bad Photoshop, not the real thing. From DrudgeReport: "Obama leaves WH clutching GQ mag -- featuring himself...



No matter what I have said in the past, I truly do not want this to be so.

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Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, to be announced formally next week, centers around the phrase "finish the job."

That is an interesting concept. Seems simlar to "peace with honor," a very Nixonian phrase signaling that we will claim one thing (the dreaded "V" word) while accepting something else (the dreaded "D" word).

Even the NY Times twists itself into knots figuring out how to signal to friend and foe that we are in it to win it, while simultaneously signaling that we are preparing a way to get out:

Over the next week, [Obama] will deliver multiple messages to multiple audiences: voters at home, allies, the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the extremists who are the enemy. And as Mr. Obama’s own aides concede, the messages directed at some may undercut the messages sent to others....

So it is no surprise that one of Mr. Obama’s senior aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity, acknowledged Tuesday that the forthcoming speech was a “potential minefield.” One of his national security strategists put Mr. Obama’s challenge this way: The trick, he said, will be “signaling resolve to the allies while not signaling open-ended commitment to the American people.”

We'll see what Obama says and does, and it would be unfair to judge him based on leaks, even if it is clear that the leaks are authorized and part of the White House communications strategy.

One word I'll be waiting to hear is "Victory." I have a feeling I'll be disappointed.

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Does playing the race card never grow old? Apparently not when Palin Derangement Syndrome is at work.

At Lawyers, Guns and Money blog, Scott Eric Kaufman is counting non-white people at Sarah Palin book signings, with smoking gun photos such as the photo (right) of white hands at the signing table.

And all because Darleen Click [is that really her name?] at Protein Wisdom, in responding to some comments to her post about PDS, called out those who harp on the race of people at Palin rallies. Proving that no comment at a post should be left unturned, Kaufman writes:

Time to play "Count the Non-White People"! [followed by 12 linked crowd photos]

In all those photographs, there is one non-white person who can be positively identified as having come of their own accord. To Click, pointing out that Palin's own handlers consider her appeal limited to white people makes me a racist. Over in the increasingly diverse place known as the United States, this is why people like Click should hunker down for a long run of political disappointment.

Being meticulous, Kaufman notes that the non-white person in one photo [*] was just a "security guard." In another photo showing three Asian people, Kaufman postulates "but only one identifiably of her own volition." Yes, because any non-white person who attended a Palin book signing must be there involuntarily, apparently.

I wonder if Kaufman also is counting all the non-white hosts at MSNBC. Maybe that explains why MSNBC is failing.

I would have included this in my Saturday Night Card Game series, but I just couldn't wait.

But maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe Kaufman actually was counting white people. Would that make it better?

*Note: Some of the links have gone dead because SEK's blog has switched url address.

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Allison Kilkenny at HuffPo (September 24, 2009 11:34 AM) on the right-wing inspired killing of Bill Sparkman:

By utilizing the branding "Fed," the killers were clearly trying to make a political statement, namely "Obama: Stay Out."

Worst call since the criticism of John Bolton for warning that the North Koreans were planning a nuclear test, just days before the North Koreans conducted a nuclear test:

Bolton's stance is pretty brave because his frenzied ideology flies in the face of scholarly counsel.

I think she is a counter-indicator. Someone let me know what she thinks the stock market will do tomorrow.

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The Kentucky state police announced that the death of Bill Sparkman was an elaborate suicide made to look like a murder so that Sparkman's son could collect on his insurance policy. Robert Stacy McCain has all the details and updates.

I'll let others delve into all the sordid facts. What I want are some apologies from all the left-wing blog ghouls who danced on Bill Sparkman's grave hoping to score points by blaming conservatives for the death, as detailed in my post Ghouls Preparing To Dance on Sparkman's Grave.

The theory went that right-wing concerns over government power incited anti-government violence. Here are the bloggers specifically quoted in my prior post pushing this agenda:

• Think Progress,
• Steve Benen,
• Andrew Sullivan,
• MyDD,
• Crooks and Liars,
• Richard Benjamin,
• Mark Kleiman and
• No More Mister Nice Blog, among many.

I'll be following these blogs to see who owns up to their smears. And I'll let you know.

UPDATE: What others are saying:

• Michelle Malkin: When will the Left retract the Kentucky census worker case smear?
• Sister Toldjah: Breaking: KY investigators say Census worker likely killed himself
• JammieWearingFool: Census Worker Killed Himself and the Credibility of Leftwing Bloggers
• DaTechGuy: Bill Sparkman, Haditha and Duke all over again
• American Power: Bill Sparkman's Death Ruled Suicide: Meanwhile, Deafening Silence on the Radical Left?
• Jack Blood: Take it back Rachel Madcow! – Kentucky Census Worker Killed Himself
• Allahpundit: Census worker murdered by conservatives not actually murdered by conservatives
• Matthew Moynihan: Send the Body To Glenn Beck!
• Matt Welch: Remember That Census-Worker Murder, the One Michele Bachmann Was Supposed to Apologize For?
• McCain follow up: "Where do to the people of Clay County go to get their reputation back?"

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When the story of the e-mails "hacked" (or leaked) from a British climate institute first exploded, I was very cautious. I'm turning from a "hacked e-mails skeptic" to a "hacked e-mails believer" for two reasons.

First, numerous bloggers have done a good job exploring and explaining the e-mails (including, but certainly not limited to, Doug Ross, John Hinderaker, Andrew Bolt, and James Delingpole). Even supporters of global warming theories recognize the damaging nature of the e-mails, although still defending the overall nature of the science.

Second, the conduct of the left-wing blogs and mainstream media reflects an uneasiness. An initial couple of days of dismissiveness have given way to a silence reminiscent of the Van Jones affair. As the videos and audios of Jones dribbled out day-after-day, the usually vocal blogs and mainstream media pundits fell silent, reduced to watching centrist- and right-wing blogs and Fox News dig out the truth.

The final chapter has not been written, but it appears that the "hacked" e-mails are genuine, and reflect genuine intellectual dishonesty among researchers at and interacting with a prominent climate control institute.

How far the scandal goes remains to be seen. But some things are for sure:

The mainstream media will play little or no role in investigating the scandal, and will actively attempt to marginalize the effects by focusing on how the e-mails were obtained. And the left-wing blogs will have no choice but to sit idly by as the Van Joneses of the global warming community twist in the wind.

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Related Posts:
L'Affaire Van Jones is Histoire
Hacked E-mails or Else!

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Last January, I warned of a dangerous slide by Turkey into the Islamist orbit, Turkey Looking Like The Next Iran. About a month ago, I further noted Caroline Glick's excellent article about Turkey's coziness with Iran and anti-democratic Islamism, Turkey is Lost to Islamists.

In response to Glick's article, with a link also to my posts, blogger and professor Robert Farley at Lawyer, Guns and Money blog not only accused Glick of not being concerned with Israel's survival, but also dismissed concerns about Turkey: "It's difficult to plow through the many layers of rank idiocy in the assertion that Turkey is 'lost to the Islamists.'"

Not that The Washington Post is the last word on the subject, but I take note of this interesting editorial (not an op-ed) today:

Yet, as his tenure lengthens, it is becoming evident that Mr. [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan's commitment to democratic principles and Western values is far from complete. As Turkey's prospects of joining the European Union have dimmed, the government's foreign policy has taken a nasty turn: Shrill denunciations of Israel have been accompanied by increasing coziness with the criminal rulers of Iran, Syria and Sudan. Mr. Erdogan recently declared that Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has been indicted for war crimes in Darfur, was welcome in Turkey because "a Muslim can never commit genocide."

Even more concerning is Mr. Erdogan's treatment of the Turkish media. Frustrated by hostility toward his government by media conglomerates that formed part of Turkey's traditional secular establishment, the prime minister and his allies have resorted to increasingly heavy-handed measures....

Mr. Erdogan and his party were once seen by many in Washington as a model for how pious Muslims could practice democratic politics. That image is rapidly darkening. If it is not to be extinguished, Mr. Erdogan must stop coddling Muslim dictators -- and stop following their practice of silencing domestic opposition.

If the apologists at Lawyers, Guns and Money want to play word games over whether Turkey is "lost," that is their prerogative.

But the rest of us don't need to play word games; if Turkey is not lost, Turkey is being lost to the Islamists and becoming the next Iran in part because of an attitude of denial and political correctness in the West.

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Related Posts:
Caroline Glick Not Interested in Israel's Survival?
Turkey is Lost to Islamists
Turkey Looking Like The Next Iran

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Mary Landrieu's deal for an extra $300 million in Medicaid funds for poor Louisiana residents has been hailed by Landrieu as a great victory for the people of Louisiana, and by just about everyone else as a shakedown of Harry Reid and the American people.

But there is another, equally unseemly, angle.

If the poor in Louisiana so badly need this assistance, why aren't Harry Reid and other Democrats who control Congress giving Louisiana the aid without the string attached of Landrieu's vote?

Why is Harry Reid using the poor of Louisiana as a bargaining chip? We know why, but let's spread the blame around to all corners where it is deserved.

When it comes to passing Obama-Pelosi-Reid-care, it seems hard to distinguish between hostage and hostage-taker.

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Landrieu To Hold Fundraiser for Reid
Mary Landrieu Should Make Edwin Edwards Proud
100% Plus Taxation Key To Permanent Dem Majority

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The Nation magazine has an extensive article detailing a classified operation in Pakistan by Blackwater, acting expressly under U.S. authority and coordination, to fight al-Qaeda:

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.

Thank you for disclosing this program to make the nation less safe. The thank you comes not from me, but from the al-Qaeda operatives who will read your article and use the information to avoid capture, so they can kill Americans in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Read the article. It is clear that the agenda is to get back at Donald Rumsfeld and other Bush administration personnel who helped organize covert efforts in Pakistan, and to play on the left-wing Blackwater Derangement Syndrome.

This is pathetic. There is no evidence in the article that anything illegal is taking place. This is nothing more or less than a deliberate attempt to harm the United States in its war against al-Qaeda.

Update: Figures, Raw Story uses The Nation article as an excuse to rehash the Seymour Hersh nonsense about Dick Cheney's "hit team." See my prior post, Sy Hersh DID Claim Cheney Ran "An Executive Assassination Ring".

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Related Posts:
Executing Paralyzed Hasan "Barbaric"
KSM's Opening Statement - Priceless To Him
Who We Are As A Nation - Nov. 2009 Edition

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Today is just filled with wonderment at the unexpected nature of being. From the "I didn't see this coming" department:

• Lawyer: 9/11 defendants want platform for views
• Obama's Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage
• Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government
• Schumer: Dems ready to go-it-alone on health care
• Newspaper circulation may be worse than it looks
• Obama Thanks Hollywood With Coveted Invites To First White House State Dinner

Will wonders never cease?

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Great post by Michelle Malkin pointing out that MSNBC, whose commentators routinely lash out at conservatives and Republicans as being all-white, is in fact all white:



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In my post the other day, Berkeley Students Should Be Protesting Obamacare, I made the point that the Berkeley student protesters were too stupid to realize that their future was being sold out from under them under the Obama-Pelosi-Reid health care restructuring plans because younger people were being asked to subsidize older people. Four years of higher tuition would be a drop in the bucket compared to decades of higher insurance premiums and taxes.

Now Robert J. Samuelson puts some more meat on that bone, with a column in The Washington Post titled Health 'reform' that burdens our young:

Now comes the House-passed health-care "reform" bill that, amazingly, would extract more subsidies from the young. It mandates that health insurance premiums for older Americans be no more than twice the level of that for younger Americans. That's much less than the actual health spending gap between young and old. Spending for those age 60 to 64 is four to five times greater than those 18 to 24. So, the young would overpay for insurance that -- under the House bill -- people must buy: Twenty- and thirtysomethings would subsidize premiums for fifty-and sixtysomethings. (Those 65 and over receive Medicare.)

Samuelson also lashes into AARP which is supporting Democratic proposals not because they are good for the whole country (contrary to AARP rhetoric) but because of the insurance premium cost-shifting from old to young:

Not surprisingly, the 40-million-member AARP, the major lobby for Americans over 50, was a big force behind this provision. AARP's cynicism is breathtaking. On one hand, it sponsors a high-minded campaign called "Divided We Fail" and runs sentimental TV ads featuring children pleading for a better tomorrow. "Join us in championing your future and the future of every generation," ended one ad.

Meanwhile, AARP lobbyists scramble to shift their members' costs onto younger generations. For example, the House health legislation improves Medicare's drug benefit. That would help the half of AARP members who are over 65. The other half, those between 50 and 64, could benefit from the skewed insurance premiums.

These bills are unique in that they take resources away from both seniors (through massive Medicare cuts) and juniors (through skewed insurance rates) in order to create a welfare entitlement system which will create massive fiscal problems for everyone.

Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Care is the Worst Legislation since the Great Depression. An equal opportunity loser. And the Berkeley protesters still are too stupid to realize it.

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Related Posts:
Alphabet Soup of Health Care Delusions
AARP and Consumers Union Should Put Their Money Where Their Pro-Tax Mouths Are
AARP Shills for Kennedy
AARP Prepares To Sell Out Seniors

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It is reported that Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, is paralyzed. So you knew this was coming:

How barbaric that the military will seek to kill a man with no sensation in his body from the chest down. He might prefer it (I certainly would) but it's inexusable behavior for a civilized society and way beyond the pale of decency.

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Saturday, November 21, 2009. State: Louisiana. Verdict: Bad Day. Proof:

• LSU butchers final few seconds


• "It's not $100 million; it's $300 million!"

Somebody is not happy.

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It gets curiouser and curiouser.

Yesterday, Mary Landrieu closed the deal for a payoff to Louisiana in exchange for her vote to let Harry Reid's health care restructuring bill go to Senate floor debate. The deal had been negotiated over weeks, with initial reports putting the price tag at $100 million, only to have Landrieu brag that the real price was $300 million.

Now, it turns out that Landrieu has agreed to hold a fundraiser for Reid in New Orleans:

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., will host a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in New Orleans next month, an event that comes on the heels of Reid's assistance getting Louisiana a windfall of Medicaid money in the health care reform bill.

The event was planned "several weeks ago," according to Landrieu's office. She and political consultant James Carville will host a brunch on Dec. 12 at the St. Charles Avenue home of David Voelker, an investor who chairs the Louisiana Recovery Authority and was a supporter of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

I am sure the two are not connected. Just like Landrieu's vote had nothing to do with the payoff.

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Related Posts:
Mary Landrieu Should Make Edwin Edwards Proud
100% Plus Taxation Key To Permanent Dem Majority
Berkeley Students Should Be Protesting Obamacare

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The other day, when the news of "hacked" e-mails from a British climate institute hit the internet, I wrote Why The "Hacked E-Mails" Don't Interest Me, Yet.

In the post, I noted that I did not have the time to devote to the hacked e-mails because I was too busy monitoring Andrew Sullivan's attempt to uncover what was in Sarah Palin's uterus in early 2008. Apparently another failed attempt at humor, because some of my readers took the post as an indication I didn't think the hacked e-mail issue was important.

So here's my take as of this moment in time:

1. It is not clear that the e-mails were "hacked," but may have been "leaked" by someone with the alleged "hacking" story to cover the leaker's trail. How the e-mails were obtained could be significant as to veracity, authenticity, and most important, significance.
2. I'm not sufficiently familiar with the e-mails to argue their significance based on my own review. But a growing body of analysis on the blogs and even the mainstream media demonstrates -- at a minimum -- that the specific scientists authoring the e-mails have been less than honest with the public as to underlying data, methodology, and politics.
3. It is going to be a stretch, in all likelihood, to argue that the e-mails show a worldwide conspiracy to doctor the science. The science is subject to dispute on its own merits by other scientists, so you don't need a conspiracy theory to challenge it.
4. We should be insisting on an open debate, rather than allowing people like Al Gore to shut down debate by accusing scientists with opposing views of being flat-earth types. The e-mails should be used to demonstrate why open debate still is needed.
5. The e-mails reflect that we should not take at face value the highly politicized arguments of some man-made global warming theorists or politicians like Al Gore who stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars from climate-change legislation.
6. The e-mails also demonstrate what we all have known to be true -- that left-wing academics hate people who disagree with them, and are willing to engage in de facto boycotts and intimidation in order to silence opposing opinions.

The "hacked" e-mails are significant, but it is too early to fully appreciate the full impact of the revelations. I hope bloggers keep digging and analyzing and disclosing.

Of course, the left will try to silence debate. That's what they do. My hope is that after a full analysis of the e-mails, and perhaps if some other brave souls leak information about politicized science, we can avoid disastrous economic policies like cap-and-trade resulting from global warming hysteria and political correctness.

If that is the case, here some other headlines which may go down in infamy, along with Dewey Defeats Truman, as having really bad timing, having been released on the eve of the e-mail disclosures:

• Climate Change Deniers' Smear Campaigns Exposed (James Boyce, HuffPo, November 19, 2009, 02:24 PM)(also at MyDD and Firedoglake)


• Will the GOP Nominate a Climate Change Denier in 2012? (Josh Nelson, HuffPo, November 18, 2009, 02:55 PM)


• Sen. Climate Change Denier endorses Fiorina (San Francisco Chronicle Politics Blog, November 18, 2009, 05:06 PM)


• Global Warming Deniers Beach Party poster (image).

The argument goes something like this: "Remember, the planet is depending on us. The Earth needs us. We only have four months to act, or it will be too late. Pass the stimulus health care cap-and-trade bill immediately or there will be catastrophe." The hacked e-mails burst this hysterical bubble, at a minimum.

Let's get it right, or our children will be swimming -- not in water -- but in economic ruin resulting from failed policies based on politicized science propagated by people with hidden agendas who stand to make fortunes off of our misery.

Update: The Milli Vanilli of Science: CRU Emails Unpeel the Warming Scam

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