Raul Alfonsin: 1927 - 2009

Spitfire for Sale!

I have always wanted one of these:

It is being offered for £1.5million - £2 million by a private owner.
It's the first of its kind to be offered at public auction for more than 20 years and has been painstakingly restored to airworthiness over a five-year period.

"The warbird is absolutely ready-to-fly and in truly sparkling flightline condition," said a spokesperson from Bonhams auctioneers.

Anybody got 2 million pounds they can loan me? I want to shoot down some Messerschmitts.

Tea Party in Oklahoma City: April 15, 2009

On April 15, on the south side steps of the Oklahoma state capitol, we will show our contempt for 0bama's ridiculous policies. Please join us.

http://okcteaparty.webs.com/index.htm

Is It Socialism Yet?

0bama and his worshippers keep claiming that the Anointed One's agenda is not socialist. If that's true, then how come he was able to fire the Chairman of GM?

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.
On Monday, President Barack Obama is to unveil his plans for the auto industry, including a response to a request for additional funds by GM and Chrysler. The plan is based on recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, headed by the Treasury Department.
The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason.

Hey 0bama, if you waddle like a duck and quack like a duck, then we're going to call you a duck. It's going to take future presidents several decades to repair the damage you have wrought in just two months.

Who are Sinn Fein's Heroes?

At Sinn Fein's online store you can buy a t-shirt with the merged likenesses of the marxist IRA terrorist Bobby Sands and the marxist Argentine Ernesto "Che" Guevara. If any in Sinn Fein/IRA wonder why the loyalists in Northern Ireland will resist the takeover of their country, they should look no further than symbols like that. Read what Alvaro Vargas Llosa had to say about Guevara:

But the “cold-blooded killing machine” did not show the full extent of his rigor until, immediately after the collapse of the Batista regime, Castro put him in charge of La Cabaña prison. (Castro had a clinically good eye for picking the right person to guard the revolution against infection.) San Carlos de La Cabaña was a stone fortress used to defend Havana against English pirates in the eighteenth century; later it became a military barracks. In a manner chillingly reminiscent of Lavrenti Beria, Guevara presided during the first half of 1959 over one of the darkest periods of the revolution. José Vilasuso, a lawyer and a professor at Universidad Interamericana de Bayamón in Puerto Rico, who belonged to the body in charge of the summary judicial process at La Cabaña, told me recently that

Che was in charge of the Comisión Depuradora. The process followed the law of the Sierra: there was a military court and Che’s guidelines to us were that we should act with conviction, meaning that they were all murderers and the revolutionary way to proceed was to be implacable. My direct superior was Miguel Duque Estrada. My duty was to legalize the files before they were sent on to the Ministry. Executions took place from Monday to Friday, in the middle of the night, just after the sentence was given and automatically confirmed by the appellate body. On the most gruesome night I remember, seven men were executed.

Javier Arzuaga, the Basque chaplain who gave comfort to those sentenced to die and personally witnessed dozens of executions, spoke to me recently from his home in Puerto Rico. A former Catholic priest, now seventy-five, who describes himself as “closer to Leonardo Boff and Liberation Theology than to the former Cardinal Ratzinger,” he recalls that

there were about eight hundred prisoners in a space fit for no more than three hundred: former Batista military and police personnel, some journalists, a few businessmen and merchants. The revolutionary tribunal was made of militiamen. Che Guevara presided over the appellate court. He never overturned a sentence. I would visit those on death row at the galera de la muerte. A rumor went around that I hypnotized prisoners because many remained calm, so Che ordered that I be present at the executions. After I left in May, they executed many more, but I personally witnessed fifty-five executions. There was an American, Herman Marks, apparently a former convict. We called him “the butcher” because he enjoyed giving the order to shoot. I pleaded many times with Che on behalf of prisoners. I remember especially the case of Ariel Lima, a young boy. Che did not budge.

So tell us something, Mr Sinn Fein/IRA. If you take control of Ulster, will you have your own Irish version of La Cabaña where thousands of loyalists are summarily executed?

Canada Talks Tough

A Canadian spokeswoman recently claimed that her country will defend its arctic interests:

The Canadian government on Friday reaffirmed its Arctic claims, saying it will defend its northern territories and waters after Russia earlier announced plans to militarize the North.
"Canada is an Arctic power," Catherine Loubier, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, said in an email to AFP.
"The government is engaged in protecting the security of Canada and in exercising its sovereignty in the North, including Canadian waters," she said.

There's just one small obstacle in your way, Madame Loubier. How are you going to defend your arctic claims if you don't have a military to speak of? Canada has allowed her military to dwindle down almost to nothing. I have heard it said that the Michigan National Guard could defeat your entire military.

Who Caused the Recession?

People such as Jamie Gorelick, Franklin Raines, and 0bama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel served 14 months on the Freddie Mac board and received $320,000 for doing almost nothing.

Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator.One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago's Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort.As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation's mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration's pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world.

Emanuel's Freddie Mac involvement has been a prominent point on his political résumé, and his healthy payday from the firm has been no secret either. What is less known, however, is how little he apparently did for his money and how he benefited from the kind of cozy ties between Washington and Wall Street that have fueled the nation's current economic mess.

Hey 0bama, how about making your boy pay back the $320,000?

Carbon Communism

From the Russian newspaper Pravda, which was long the official mouthpiece of the Soviet Union, comes an interesting Op-Ed about global warming:

When Hansen, Gore, Blair, and Obama give up their patrician incomes and lifestyles and restrict their own ‘carbon footprint’ to the level of the common labourer or office worker, I will begin to believe that they are sincere about preventing Global Warming. Their obvious unwillingness to do what they are asking the rest of us to do proves that they are not sincere. They want the common people to sacrifice their lives to prevent Global Warming, while the wealthy retain their high-carbon consuming and producing privileges.

Too Cute by Half

Many of the people who run our public schools are lunatics and PC nazis. Often they will suspend or even arrest kids who draw pictures of guns with their crayons. I can certainly understand their desire to keep drugs out of school, but this case is sheer lunacy:

SAFFORD, Ariz. — Savana Redding still remembers the clothes she had on — black stretch pants with butterfly patches and a pink T-shirt — the day school officials here forced her to strip six years ago. She was 13 and in eighth grade.

An assistant principal, enforcing the school’s antidrug policies, suspected her of having brought prescription-strength ibuprofen pills to school. One of the pills is as strong as two Advils.
The search by two female school employees was methodical and humiliating, Ms. Redding said. After she had stripped to her underwear, “they asked me to pull out my bra and move it from side to side,” she said. “They made me open my legs and pull out my underwear.”

Ibuprofen is not the slightest bit intoxicating, nor habit-forming. So what is the problem with a student bringing some to school? But here's the best part:

Ms. Redding said school officials should have taken her background into account before searching her.
“They didn’t even look at my records,” she said. “They didn’t even know I was a good kid.”
The school district does not contest that Ms. Redding had no disciplinary record, but says that is irrelevant.
“Her assertion should not be misread to infer that she never broke school rules,” the district said of Ms. Redding in a brief, “only that she was never caught.”

You got to love their logic. Hey Mr School District, can you prove you didn't kill Jimmy Hoffa? Since you haven't been caught, we cannot infer you didn't do it.

Poetess of the Week: Sylvia Plath

I have fallen a long way. Clouds are flowering

Blue and mystical over the face of the stars

Inside the church, the saints will all be blue,

Floating on their delicate feet over the cold pews,

Their hands and faces stiff with holiness.

The moon sees nothing of this. She is bald and wild.

And the message of the yew tree is blackness - blackness and silence.

From "The Moon and the Yew Tree"

Like Jim Morrison, Princess Diana, and Janis Joplin, Sylvia will always be young.

Professor Richardson Says War on Terror a Mistake

This is so amazing I had to post it. Professor Louise Richardson, head of St. Andrews University in Scotland, says the War on Terror was a mistake:

A SCOTTISH university principal last night delivered a damning critique on the US-led war on terror, branding it a "huge mistake" that has made the world a more dangerous place.
Professor Louise Richardson, head of St Andrews University and a global expert on terrorism, told an audience in Edinburgh that the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq had played into the hands of al-Qaeda.

Here's the best part:

Prof Richardson, who grew up in Ireland and as a youth toyed with the idea of joining the IRA, said western democracies had failed to take account of the "three Rs" that are the aims of terrorists – revenge, renown and reaction – with devastating consequences.

So, a would-be terrorist thinks that the war on terror was a bad idea? That doesn't surprise me one bit.

Judge Blocks Rule Permitting Concealed Guns In U.S. Parks

In an attempt to repeal the second amendment rights of people who visit national parks, a Clinton-appointee to the federal bench has blocked a rule issued by the Bush administration to allow concealed-carry permit holders to carry guns in national parks:

A federal judge yesterday blocked a last-minute rule enacted by President George W. Bush allowing visitors to national parks to carry concealed weapons.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by gun-control advocates and environmental groups. The Justice Department had sought to block the injunction against the controversial rule.
The three groups that brought the suit -- the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees -- argued that the Bush action violated several laws.
In her ruling, Kollar-Kotelly agreed that the government's process had been "astoundingly flawed."
She noted that the government justified its decision to forgo an environmental analysis on the grounds that the rule does not "authorize" environmental impacts. Calling this a "tautology," she wrote that officials "abdicated their Congressionally-mandated obligation" to evaluate environmental impacts and "ignored (without sufficient explanation) substantial information in the administrative record concerning environmental impacts" of the rule.

Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the department could not comment because of "ongoing litigation."
The regulation, which took effect Jan. 9, allowed visitors to carry loaded, concealed guns into national parks and wildlife refuges if state laws there allowed it in public places. In most cases, a state permit would be required to carry a concealed weapon into a national park.
In the past, guns had been allowed in such areas only if they were unloaded, stored or dismantled; gun rights advocates said they saw no reason to be denied the right to carry concealed weapons in parks when they could in other public places.
Bryan Faehner, associate director for park uses at the National Parks Conservation Association, said his group is "extremely pleased" with both the court decision and the fact that Interior is now conducting an internal review of the rule's environmental impact. "This decision by the courts reaffirms our concerns, and the concerns of park rangers across the country, that this new regulation . . . has serious impacts on the parks and increases the risk of opportunistic poaching of wildlife in the parks, and increases the risk to park visitors," Faehner said.

First of all, this was not a "last-minute rule". It was under study by the Bush administration's Interior department for two years before it was enacted.

People who have concelaed carry permits are not likely to engage in poaching. Research by John Lott and others have found that they are among the most law-abiding people. Moreover, pistols are rarely used for hunting.

I would like to submit an amicus curiae brief to the court for this case. Would anyone like to join me on it?

Bernadine's Hero

The California department of corrections released a recent photo of Charles Manson. Thanks to lefties, he wasn't given the death penalty he deserves. We can only hope he dies a slow and painful death in prison. Here is what 0bama supporter Bernadine Dohrn had to say about Manson's activities:

Dig it! First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into the victim's stomach! Wild!

So when Sarah Palin gives 0bama the boot in 2012, is His Holiness going to pardon Manson on his way out the door? Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

0bama to Deny Health Care to Wounded Veterans

Our president Zero and his cabal of America-hating leftists all despise our military for promoting freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they want to force wounded veterans to use their private health insurance for all combat-related medical problems. The Commander of the American Legion has complained

WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The leader of the nation's largest veterans organization says he is "deeply disappointed and concerned" after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.
"It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan," said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. "He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it."
The Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, "This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ' to care for him who shall have borne the battle' given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm's way, and not private insurance companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America's veterans!"

0bama cares more about illegal aliens or al Qaeda terrorists than he does American citizens.

You Think We Got Problems?

Look what has happpened to the Icelandic stock market over the past year.

Hypocrite New York Times Reports on Ukranian Famine of 1930s

To quote Bill Murray's character in the movie Caddyshack, "I have to laugh....I have to laugh." The New York Times has a new article about the Ukranian famine of the early 1930s:

KIEV, Ukraine — A quarter century ago, a Ukrainian historian named Stanislav Kulchytsky was told by his Soviet overlords to concoct an insidious cover-up. His orders: to depict the famine that killed millions of Ukrainians in the early 1930s as unavoidable, like a natural disaster. Absolve the Communist Party of blame. Uphold the legacy of Stalin.
Professor Kulchytsky, though, would not go along.
The other day, as he stood before a new memorial to the victims of the famine, he recalled his decision as one turning point in a movement lasting decades to unearth the truth about that period. And the memorial itself, shaped like a towering candle with a golden eternal flame, seemed to him in some sense a culmination of this effort.
“It is a sign of our respect for the past,” Professor Kulchytsky said. “Because everyone was silent about the famine for many years. And when it became possible to talk about it, nothing was said. Three generations on.”

Very interesting and very true. There was a government-sponsored famine in the Ukraine that killed millions, and that same Soviet government covered up what happened. But they weren't the only ones who participated in the cover-up. A British reporter for the New York Times named Walter Duranty helped them:

"There is no famine or actual starvation nor is there likely to be." --New York Times, Nov. 15, 1931, page 1
"Any report of a famine in Russia is today an exaggeration or malignant propaganda." --New York Times, August 23, 1933
"Enemies and foreign critics can say what they please. Weaklings and despondents at home may groan under the burden, but the youth and strength of the Russian people is essentially at one with the Kremlin's program, believes it worthwhile and supports it, however hard be the sledding." --New York Times, December 9, 1932, page 6
"You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." --New York Times, May 14, 1933, page 18
"There is no actual starvation or deaths from starvation but there is widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition." --New York Times, March 31, 1933, page 13

And, in a private conversation:

What are a few million dead Russians in a situation like this? Quite unimportant. This is just an incident in the sweeping historical changes here. I think the entire matter is exaggerated.

Like Bill Murray, I have to laugh. Because it hurts too much to cry.

Emirates Airline Unhappy with Their Airbust

Some genius in Europe decided to make a plane that holds over 1,000 people. Now we learn that Emirates Airline is unhappy with their beached whales:

DUBAI-BASED airline Emirates is unhappy with its first four giant Airbus A380 aircraft, which showed manufacturing faults that forced flights to be cancelled, a report said on Saturday.
The German weekly Der Spiegel, in its issue to be published on Monday, said Emirates in February gave Airbus officials a 46-page report listing its complaints, including burned electric cables, missing cabin fittings and engine defects.
A source close to Airbus told AFP on Thursday Emirates was seeking a delay in the delivery of several of the long-haul A380 superjumbo jets because of financing difficulties.
The airline is Airbus's biggest customer for the double-decker A380, having ordered 58 of them.
"Emirates could delay deliveries on several planes ... They are in talks" with Airbus, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Emirates "is beginning to have problems for the first time. We always relied on this type of company as a major stable client," the source said.

You couldn't pay me to get on one of those monstrosities. I would feel safer on the Titanic.

American Businessman is Caught Funding the Real IRA

One of the most shameful things about the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland is that many Americans have been aiding the Sinn Fein/IRA terrorists. Now we hear that Roman Vidal, an American businessman, has been funding the Real IRA by arranging a cigarette smuggling ring for them:

An American businessman has been accused of funding the Real IRA by masterminding a cigarette smuggling ring that has netted them hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The case highlights the criminal activities which underpin the funding of terrorism in Northern Ireland.
Roman Vidal, 57, arranged for shipments of millions of cigarettes from Panama to Dublin where they were collected by contacts linked to the terror group.
The Real IRA has claimed responsibility for the murder of two British soldiers in Antrim on Saturday.

Vidal is accused of sending two massive shipments of cigarettes to Ireland which were sold on the 'black market' at a fraction of the cost of other cigarettes.
U.S. customs agents told a Miami court they were able to trace the shipments, hidden under wood flooring and insulation material, to gangs linked to the Real IRA.

Officials calculate the criminals avoided paying over £1.5million in taxes on the first shipment alone.
Special agent Robert Manzanares said: 'During the course of the investigation, evidence has indicated that some of these associates were connected to the group the Real IRA.'

Since this Vidal scumbag has been bankrolling terrorists, we should treat him to luxury accomodations at the Guantanamo Hilton..... oh, but His Holiness wants to close down the place.

0bama's Department of (In)justice to 'Investigate Arizona Sheriff

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa county, Arizona, is now being 'investigated' by President Zero's justice department for enforcing the state and federal laws:

(CNSNews.com) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona following requests by congressional Democrats and allegations by liberal activists that the department has violated the civil rights of illegal aliens.Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Robert Scott (D-Va.) requested the investigation, and activists groups such as National Day Laborer Organizer Network and ACORN launched petition drives and rallies in support of the probe.

So why are these congressmen unhappy with Joe?

"While the Sheriff’s illegal immigration and human smuggling operations conducted on the streets and roadways here have netted nearly 2,300 arrests, another very successful effort to locate illegal aliens has been quietly happening inside Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails," the release said.It continues: "Despite the growing criticism of the Sheriff’s illegal immigration fight by some valley politicians and activists, Sheriff Arpaio says 60 detention officers trained by ICE officials have conducted over 106,000 interviews and investigations of inmates booked into jail since April of 2007."In those 18 months, 16,000 inmates were determined to be illegal aliens. Either they have already been deported or will be deported after being tried and/or serving their sentences for crimes committed in the valley. The work being done be Arpaio’s detention staff is a likely contributor to the recent reduction in crime in the valley,” the press release added."That number of 16,000 represents a full one-third (1/3) of all inmates in the United States who have had holds placed on them after being identified by jail or prison officials as illegal aliens."The press release goes on to say that 20 percent of inmates in the Maricopa County Jail are illegal aliens and that of those, 2,000 illegal aliens - 70 percent - were arrested for felony crimes.Those felony crimes committed included the following: forgery, 12 percent; kidnapping, 10 percent; aggravated assault, 7 percent; driving under the influence, 7 percent; drug charges, 27 percent; robbery, 3 percent; murder, 3 percent; and theft, 4 percent.

It's not surprising that a president who palled around with Weather Underground and IRA terrorists would object to an honest sheriff who wants to enforce the laws.

As for Representatives Conyers, Nadler, Lofgren, and Scott, how about giving some consideration to US citizens? Are illegal aliens so important to you that you completely ignore the people you are supposed to be representing?

Ulster Scots Wha Hae

Censorship in Thailand

On March 5, the Thai police raided the office of a political website called Prachatai, and arrested its webmaster: Cheeranuch Premchaiphorn.

The offense was Lèse majesté (injury to majesty), the act of denigrating a monarch or a state.

I wonder how long it will be before 0bama and his sycophants in the Democrat party and the leftist media propose similar laws here in the USA.

What Are the Best Blogs?

Here are the blogs I read on a regular basis, in no particular order. I rate them on a scale from one to ten, ten being the highest.

Gates of Vienna (10) – Baron and Dymphna have done outstanding work. Their blog is the one I turn to first concerning events in Europe. They have had many posts concerning the advancing tide of islamofascism. They have bravely defended the Belgian Vlaams Belang party against the smear campaign that has been mounted against it.

Little Green Footballs (7) – Charles Johnson’s outstanding work in exposing the fake National Guard memos speaks for itself. He often has many good posts. But on the negative side, Charles orchestrated a smear campaign against Vlaams Belang. He has a bizarre infatuation with the evolution/creationism debate. I agree with him about evolution. But so what if someone wants to believe in creationism? They have a right to their beliefs. It doesn’t harm me a bit.

Michelle Malkin (9) – An outstanding blog on many issues, especially illegal immigration.

Celestial Junk (8) – A very good Canadian blog. I love the photo of the Horsehead nebula.

Captain Capitalism (6 1/2) – Very good.

Durham-in-Wonderland (10) – K.C. John has done outstanding work in exposing the Duke rape hoax case.

Power Line (8) – Very good blog written by three attorneys in Minnesota

The Anchoress (7) – Very good blog that often has insights into important issues.

Small Dead Animals (10) – THE Canadian blog. Whenever Kate links to me, my traffic goes way up.

Protein Wisdom (8) – Very good blog. These guys are sharp and it shows.

John Lott (8) – John is the best blogger for any and all gun control issues. His research has been invaluable.

Gateway Pundit (9) – Midwest Jim always hits on the hottest topics of the day.

Instapunk (9) – Excellent, irreverent blog

The People’s Cube (9) – Hilarious!

Dissecting Leftism (8) – Another good Anti-left blog

Dr. Helen (10) – All I can say is, wow! Helen is a woman with a Ph. D. who actually cares about men. Until I began reading her blog, I thought that all highly educated women hated men.

Anatreptic (9) – Very good blog but I can’t stand that name. What was wrong with Uncorrelated?

So tell me, what blogs do you guys like?

Gallup Poll on Global Warming

Gallup has released the results of a recent poll concerning Americans' opinions on the issue of global warming. Of course, only the idiots on the left could believe that a poll would constitute proof or disproof of the question. But the poll is revealing in another respect.

The above graph shows the percentage of respondents who believe that news about global warming is exaggerated, by party identification. The percentage of Republican skeptics is triple that of Democrats: 66% to 22%.

So why the difference by party affiliation? It shows a couple of things. People on the left are far more gullible. For example, these are the same group of people who believed Bill Clinton when he claimed that the Republican congress were 'cutting' medicare spending in 1995 and 1996, when they were actually increasing it. All the Democrats need is some leftist politician like Al Gore to tell them that CO2 emissions are causing global warming, and they will swallow it, hook, line, and sinker.

And for those few Democrats who actually have a brain in their heads, it shows something else. Most of them really don't have any idea whether or not global warming is a real problem and many could probably care less. But what they see is an opportunity to extend government control over industry, like those stupid cap-and-trade prooposals.

Bernie to Plead Guily

The Noo Yawk Times is reporting that Bernard Madoff, former chairman of NASDAQ, will plead guily to 11 felony counts. That could result in a 150 year sentence.

But cheer up Bernie, you'll only be 220 when you get out of prison.

This entire Madoff affair reminds me of the global warming hoax. The perpetrators of the hoax are refusing to debate the matter with those of us who have called their 'facts' and analyses into question. Often they are refusing to make their data and computer programs available to others for verification. Whenever they are questioned, the response is that so many 'scientific experts' have reached a 'consensus'.

Madoff was thought to be an expert in the field of finance. As former chairman of NASDAQ, he had the credentials to prove it. How are Al Gore, James Hansen, and others going to look when people realize that the entire notion that humans are causing the earth to warm is a complete hoax? Things could get quite ugly.

The moral of the story: Don't rely on people's credentials. Don't be swayed by the consensus of 'experts'. Many of Madoff's victims were very knowledgeable about investing themselves. They included some of the top executives at Merrill Lynch, as well as some of the most savvy investors in Europe. If you rely on someone, ask them questions. If they claim XYZ, demand that they prove it. And if they try to put you off by citing their 'credentials', then get suspicious and redouble your efforts.

Supremes Do Good Again

Since most people favor gun rights, leftist politicians have found the gun control advocacy to be a loser. Therefore, some state and local governments have attempted a back-door approach to eliminate our second amendment rights by suing the gun manufacturers out of business.

This is a ridiculous because it violates one of the primary principles of law: Proximate cause. If I take some matches and burn down your house, should you have a cause of action against the company that manufactured the matches?

Back in 2005, the US congress passed, and Bush signed, a law to protect gun manufacturers against these ridiculous lawsuits. New York City decided they didn't like the law and tried to go ahead with their frivolous suit anyway:

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- New York City on Monday failed before the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit it filed against the gun industry.
New York sued several gun manufacturers in 2000, arguing the companies violated a state public nuisance law with their marketing and distribution of the firearms products they sell. Among the companies sued were Beretta USA Corp., Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (SWHC), Colt's Manufacturing Co. LLC, Sturm, Ruger & Co. (RGR) and Glock GmbH.
A federal law enacted in 2005 sought to shield gun makers from lawsuits like the one New York filed, prompting a federal judge to throw the case out. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in April 2008 upheld that ruling by a 2-1 vote.
New York, in a court brief, said the 2005 law violates state rights under the U.S. Constitution. "This congressional effort to control how states make law raises important questions about the Tenth Amendment's protections of state sovereignty," New York said.
The gun manufacturers, in a joint legal brief, said the federal appeals court correctly applied the 2005 statute and argued the law does not violate the Constitution. "This case does not qualify for Supreme Court review," the gun makers said.
The case is New York v. Beretta, 08-530.

The problem is, we got a leftist moonbat in the white house. If there is a vacancy in the supreme court, he will undoubtedly appoint some socialist to the supreme court. Fortunately, the justices who are most likely to retire in the near future (Stevens, Ginsberg) are also moonbats. So 0bama will only be replacing a moonbat with a moonbat.

However, Justice Scalia is 73 and so is the flip-flopper Kennedy. We have to be careful and not let 0bama get re-elected in 2012.

P.S. Republican presidents picked some people for the Supreme Court who they thought would be good jurists (Stevens, Souter) who turned out to be moonbats. Wouldn't it be nice if 0bama picked someone he thought was a fellow moonbat, but later turned out to be a decent judge? We can always hope.

Guardian Newspaper Gives Biased Report of Climate Change Deniers' Convention

The leftist media are almost unanimously backing the myth that human CO2 emissions are causing global warming. So when the UK Guardian reports on the anti-moonbat conference being held in New York, it is not surprising that they would lace their report with myth and innuendo:

It is billed as the largest ever gathering of climate change deniers, a convention that kicked off last night with a title suggesting global warming is a thing of the past, and a guest list that includes a hurricane forecaster, a retired astronaut and a sitting European president.
Entitled Global Warming: Was It Ever Really a Crisis? and featuring some of the most prominent naysayers in the climate change debate, this week's conference in New York sets out to escalate its confrontation with the scientific establishment, the vast majority of whose members subscribe to the view that humans are the principal cause of climate change. (italics mine)

This myth of a 'vast majority' has been debunked many times.

Kert Davies, research director for Greenpeace, says the climate change deniers and sceptics have been adept at adapting their views as the public grows more conscious of the dangers of global warming.

Kert, you crack me up. The skeptics have been singing the same tune for years. It is you global warming moonbats who keep adapting your views. First saying that CO2 emissions are causing the atmosphere to warm. Then saying they are causing it to cool. Saying that CO2 emissions are causing more hurricanes, then saying they are causing fewer hurricanes. There are no empirical facts which you would admit could contradict your hypothesis. Therefore your hypothesis is suspect.

IRA Terrorists Continue Violence in Northern Ireland

I have often heard it said that the good friday peace agreement for Northern Ireland isn't worth the paper it's printed on. This has recently been confirmed by the recent attack by the IRA on British soldiers:

Two soldiers killed in a brutal attack on Army barracks in Ulster yesterday were shot execution-style as they lay injured on the ground, police said today.
Four others were injured in the attack at the Massereene Barracks, outside Antrim, which has been blamed on dissident republicans.
The dead soldiers, aged in their early twenties, were dressed in desert fatigues and were due to fly out of RAF Aldergrove, just a few miles away from their base, in the early hours of today.

So what did Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein (and former IRA commander) have to say?

Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, called the murders "wrong and counter-productive".
He said that it was an attack on the peace process and those responsible "have no support, no strategy to achieve a united Ireland". He said "the logic" of Sinn Fein's position "is that we support the police in the apprehension of those involved in last night's attack".

To Adams, it is just 'counter-productive'. He doesn't offer any condolences to the families of the murdered soldiers. Only 'the logic' of Sinn Fein's position.

British Academicians: Climate Change Denial is a Mental Illness

Now I understand everything clearly. The reason why I am not persuaded by the lame arguments of the global warming enthusiasts is because I am mentally ill. They are having a conference at the University of the West of England today, in order to discuss our delusions:

A one-day conference presented by the Centre for Psycho-social Studies, UWE, and sponsored by Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility.

Strangely, whenever I read some group claim to be "Such-and-Such for Social Responsibility", I interpret it as "Such-and-Such for government coercion".

Man-made climate change poses an unprecedented threat to the global ecosystem and therefore to ourselves. The future depends on how proactive, imaginative and courageous we can be in dealing with our addiction to fossil fuels.
The task of achieving action that is sufficiently rapid, determined and concerted faces daunting psychological and political obstacles - but we cannot afford to be daunted. We must seek out every means of co-operation, information-sharing and support at our disposal.
By bringing together a group of people who are uniquely qualified to assess the human dimensions of this human-made problem, this conference aims to strengthen our awareness of the challenge facing us and to enhance our capacity for effective decision-making and action.

It warms my heart to hear these courageous people are rising to the occasion and not allowing themselves to be 'daunted'.

Speakers, workshops and presentations:
George Marshall, Founder, Climate Outreach and Information Network, author of “Carbon Detox”– Sleepwalking into Disaster – Strategies of Evasion and Denial in Social Attitudes to Climate Change
Paul Hoggett, Psychotherapist, SIP/Lincoln, Professor of Politics, UWE, and Director of CPSS – The Politics and Emotions of Climate Change Denial
Mary-Jayne Rust, Jungian analyst, Ecopsychologist – The Myths by Which We Live, or Die? – The Psychological Dimensions of Our Environmental Crisis

I'm glad those climate activists in Washington who attended the Capitol Climate Action mass civil disobedience weren't sleepwalking. Else they wouldn't have known they were standing in 10 inches of snow!

Teddy Gets Knighted for Supporting Terrorists

Not content to have merely fouled up the USA. Teddy Kennedy has also caused trouble in Northern Ireland for people who don't need any more trouble. Now the Queen is giving him his knighthood.

Gordon Brown sparked fury today by awarding an honorary knighthood to U.S. senator Edward Kennedy, who has been accused in the past of being an IRA sympathiser.
Conservative MPs and Peers condemned as 'inappropriate' the decision to make a man closely linked to the Irish nationalist movement a 'Sir'.

But the senator - descended from immigrants from County Wexford - angered Loyalists during the Troubles with his sympathies to the Republican movement.
In 1971, he compared the British military presence in Northern Ireland to America's unpopular involvement in Vietnam.

Teddy, you and your fellow travelers got your wish in Vietnam. You abandoned the freedom-loving people of South Vietnam to a brutal, totalitarian dictatorship that has no respect for human rights nor human life at all. I hope you don't get your way in Northern Ireland.

He also called for the immediate withdrawal of the Army, claiming that Protestants who could not accept a united Ireland 'should be given a decent opportunity to go back to Britain'.
Lord Tebbit, the ex-Tory Cabinet minister whose wife was confined to a wheelchair after suffering terrible injuries when IRA terrorists bombed the party's conference hotel in Brighton in 1984, said the honorary knighthood was 'wholly inappropriate'.

He said: 'Edward Kennedy may never have said outwardly he supported the IRA but he certainly leaned towards extreme Republicanism. He was certainly no friend of the UK.
'This honour is wholly inappropriate on the basis of the sleaze attached to him after the crash at Chappaquiddick, let alone his support for nationalism in Northern Ireland. It cheapens the whole honours system.

Hey Teddy, how about you and your fellow Sinn Fein/IRA sympathizers be given a decent opportunity to go back to Ireland and stay there?

In 1979, the IRA murdered Louis Mountbatten, uncle of the Queen's husband Prince Phillip, by detonating a bomb aboard his boat. The bomb also killed fourteen year-old Nicholas Knatchbull, fifteen year-old Paul Maxwell, and 83 year-old Baroness Brabourne. Sinn Fein/IRA terrorist leader Gerry Adams, pictured above with Teddy, had this to say about the murders:

In my opinion, the IRA achieved its objective: people started paying attention to what was happening in Ireland.

Vegan diet increases the risk of birth defects, scientists warn

Terrorist groups like PETA want to force everyone into a strict vegetarian diet that would include no meat, fish, milk, or eggs. They have backed up their acts of terrorism with disinformation about the pros and cons of eating meat.

The fact has been well established that very young children need animal protein, in addition to their mother's milk. And now we learn that pregnant women also need it, in order to prevent birth defects:

Women who are strict vegetarians or vegans may be a greater risk of having a child with birth defects because they are likely to be deficient in vitamin B12, researchers warned.

Research carried out in Ireland has found that women with low levels of B12, found in meat, eggs and milk, when they conceive are at greater risk of having a child with neural tube defects.
These conditions include spina bifida, which causes partial paralysis, and anencephaly where the brain does not develop and is normally fatal shortly after birth.

Why Do They Hate Us? German Politicians Criticize Secretary Oinkubus

How could this be? I thought that only President Bush could do things that angered foreigners? Von Der Spiegel:

German conservatives are angered by statements from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton placing what appear to be limits for Washington's support of Tibet, Taiwan and human rights in its ties with Beijing.

Prominent politicians in the conservative camp of German Chancellor Angela Merkel are upset by statements made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to China last week. During her Asia sojourn, Clinton said efforts to press China on issues like Taiwan, Tibet and human rights "can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis."
Instead Clinton, who visited China from Feb. 20-22, sought out fresh Chinese loans for the deeply-indebted American government. "This is very questionable," said Günter Nooke of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party. "We should dampen our enthusiasm for the new American foreign policy."

Quite right, Hillary. We can't allow some mundane issue like human rights get in the way of addressing climate change!

Government Bails Out AIG..... Again

Not content to have wasted $150 billion of the taxpayers' money on failed insurer AIG, our tax-evading Treasury Secretary is about to throw another $30 billion into this bottomless pit.

It is time that we find a way to shut this stupid thing down. And we need to ask Mr Geithner and Mr. Bernanke to seek employment elsewhere.

The 0bama Market

November 4, 2008 0bama elected president DJIA 9,625.28

January 20, 2009 0bama inaugurated 7,949.09

March 2, 2009 6.962.26

His Holiness is overseeing the greatest destruction of wealth since the Tower of Babel was destroyed.

Protesting Global Warming!

Capitol Climate Action is planning "Mass Civil DISOBEDIENCE at the coal-fired CAPITOL POWER PLANT Washington DC" tomorrow.

All you disobedient global warming enthusiasts had better bundle up:

Issued by The National Weather ServiceBaltimore/Washington, MD 7:48 pm EST, Sun., Mar. 1, 2009
... WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 PM EST MONDAY...
LOW PRESSURE OVER SOUTH CAROLINA WILL DEEPEN AS IT MOVES UP THE SOUTHEAST AND MID ATLANTIC COASTS OVERNIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. THIS LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL BRING SNOW TO THE MID ATLANTIC REGION.
THE PERIOD OF HEAVIEST SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR LATE THIS EVENING INTO EARLY MONDAY MORNING... WHEN HEAVIER BANDS OF SNOW WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION.
THE HIGHEST TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO RUN ALONG AND JUST TO THE EAST OF INTERSTATE 95... WHERE TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 7 TO 9 INCHES ARE EXPECTED. THIS INCLUDES WASHINGTON DC AND BALTIMORE.

Hoo wah!