Unemployment Rate Continues to Climb

During the recovery following past recessions, there were many people hired by small businesses. This resulted in a declining unemployment rate and rapid increase in GDP. But during the 'recovery' following the 0bama recession, the unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high, due to little or no hiring by the private sector:

WASHINGTON — Hiring slowed to a near-standstill last month. Employers added the fewest jobs in nine months and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent.

The economy generated only 18,000 net jobs in June, the Labor Department said Friday. And the number of jobs added in May was revised down to 25,000.

The latest report offered stark evidence that the recovery will be painfully slow. It also raised doubts that the economy will rebound in the second half of the year after hitting a spring slump.

Businesses added just 57,000 jobs last month_ the fewest in more than a year. Governments cut 39,000 jobs. Over the past eight months, federal, state and local governments have cut a combined 238,000 positions.

Many of 0bama's supporters in the media and elsewhere have characterized the nonexistent recovery as "baffling". By doing so, they only betray their own ignorance. Small (and large) businesses are not hiring because the 0bama administration and their allies in congress have placed too many obstacles in their path. 0bama wants to raise taxes on the wealthy, but he doesn't understand that most of the wealthy are small business owners. His 0bamacare will increase health care costs for employers, such that one-third of businesses are contemplating dropping health insurance coverage for their employees. The many other taxes and regulations that the Democrats have enacted or contemplated enacting, such as the ridiculous "cap-and-trade" legislation to solve a nonexistent global warming problem, are making it difficult for any business to hire new employees.

And even worse, 0bama wants 'comprehensive' immigration reform, meaning amnesty for some 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom have taken jobs away from Americans. He cares more about the citizens of foreign countries than he does about the citizens of the USA.

What amazes me is that anyone would fall for the BS that 0bama and his minions continue to spew. How long does unemployment rate need to stay high in order to convince them?

Muslims Still Celebrating 9/11

I was chatting with some random stranger on omegle.com this morning when they posted this:

Stranger: ✈ ▌▌ / ¦҉▌▌ / ▄ ▌ / ▄✈▌ / ▄ ¦҉▌ / ▄ ▄

It was not immediately obvious to me what this was. At first I thought it to be just random symbols. But looking at it I realized it is a pictorial representation of the hijacked jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center buildings and knocking them down. Even ten years later, the terrorist scumbags are gloating over the murder of innocent people.

The islamic hatred of other people and religions even extends to muslims who have immigrated to the USA. On 9/11/01, I lived next in Wellington, Florida, next door to a family of muslims from India. On the whole they were nice to me and their other neighbors. But one incident, on the very morning of 9/11, sticks out in my mind.

I was working at home that morning. Approximately one hour after both World Trade Center towers had collapsed, I went outside to get some fresh air and walk my dog. The woman of the islamic household and her sister were standing outside her house, smiling and laughing to each other. The sister greeted me and asked 'how's it going?"

I responded "Terrible".

She asked "Why?", with a puzzled look on her face.

I was amazed she had not heard the news and said "Didn't you hear what happened in New York and Washington?"

She replied "OH.... yes I did", and feigned an expression of concern.

This is Stefani, a German otter.

Hillary Wants to Run the World Bank

Apparently, Herself is tired of being Secretary of State, so she wants to run the World Bank, a position traditionally held by an American. How ironic, since the World Bank refuses to hire American economists.

So why the World Bank, Hillary? Do you and Bill plan to use it as your personal piggy bank?

Yet Another Reason Not to Vote for Romney

Mitt was kind enough to let us know that he's not just a Mormon, he's one of the faithful Branch Carbonians:

(Reuters) - Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney broke with Republican orthodoxy on Friday by saying he believes that humans are responsible, at least to some extent, for climate change.

"I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that," he told a crowd of about 200 at a town hall meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire.

"It's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors."

Mitt, why should I vote for someone who is stupid enough to fall for a ridiculous hoax?

An Historic Victory

The Scottish National Party, which advocates independence for Scotland from the UK, has won a majority of the seats in the Scottish parliament.

The Techniques of the Left

Our good friends on the political left do not have any facts or reason to back up their perverse policy prescriptions. If they had relied on facts or reason in the first place, they would never have come to such ridiculous ideas that have been shown time after time in the laboratory of the real world to be doomed to failure.

The left rely on two primary techniques to advance their agenda: (1) Telling outright lies about their opponents, and (2) Smearing their opponents with ad hominem arguments. They rarely if ever try to present any facts to try to refute their opponents, nor do they try to use reason. Thus, for example, when political opponents of president 0bama express opposition to his policies, such as the failed $800 billion 'stimulus', or the government health care takeover, they don't try to counter our arguments. Instead, they use the inconsequential fact that 0bama's father was African, in order to falsely accuse us of racism.

These techniques are used in the most glaringly obvious and pathetic manner in an essay by Johann Hari in Slate, about 1 1/2 years ago. I had never read the essay until today, nor had I ever heard of Mr. Hari. But no matter. I think I will derive a great deal of enjoyment in the future by citing his essays, of which he has written many. In this essay, he tells many falsehoods about and engages in a great deal of smearing of one of the most eloquent defenders of capitalism and individual freedom: Ayn Rand. The title of his essay: How Ayn Rand Became an American Icon:
The perverse allure of a damaged woman.

A few choice excerpts:

She opposed democracy on the grounds that "the masses"—her readers—were "lice" and "parasites" who scarcely deserved to live.

Johann puts the derogatory "the masses" (a marxist term) into quotation marks as if Rand actually used it in her writings. I am not aware of any instances of Rand using it. Likewise, I am not aware of her ever calling anyone 'lice' or 'parasites'.

Rand did not oppose democracy. I have never read any argument of hers against it, ever. Many on the left do not make a distinction between socialism and democracy. They contend that a nation cannot be democratic unless it has a government-controlled economy. And thus, since Rand opposes socialism, she must also be opposed to democracy. Some of the chattering classes of the left take this view to such extremes that they praise the dictatorship of the Castro brothers in Cuba as 'democratic'.

Johann has little or no understanding of free-market economics nor of Rand's advocacy thereof. In order to denigrate the book, he resorts to outright lies of what Rand has written. For example, in reference to a fictitious train crash dramatized in Atlas Shrugged, Johann says:

One of the strikers deliberately causes a train crash, and Rand makes it clear she thinks the murder victims deserved it, describing in horror how they all supported the higher taxes that made the attack necessary.

The train crash was not caused by any of the strikers, nor was it a murder. It was caused by an incompetent employee of the railroad who was following orders from political bosses who were using their influence to get special favors. The victims of the crash were not supporting higher taxes. Rand was dramatizing how the passengers on the train supported political policies that led to their undoing. There was no attack.

Her heroes are a cocktail of extreme self-love and extreme self-pity: They insist they need no one, yet they spend all their time fuming that the masses don't bow down before their manifest superiority.

Once again we get the marxist terminology falsely attributed to Rand. And Johann claims the heroes are 'fuming that the masses don't bow down'. I wonder if he bothered to read the oath the strikers in Atlas Shrugged took when they decided to withdraw from society:

I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine (Atlas Shrugged, p. 731).

Above all, Johann is baffled by the large number of people who find Rand's work to be informative and enlightening:

What I do find incomprehensible is that there are people—large numbers of people—who see her writing not as psychopathy but as philosophy, and urge us to follow her. Why? What in American culture did she drill into?

I can answer that question:

1. Rand has shown that the nihilistic, post-modern philosophical systems in vogue for most of the 20th century were the basis for perverse political-economic systems including socialism, nazism, and communism.

2. Rand provided an ethical defense of free enterprise and limited government, as opposed to the socialists who claim that capitalism is based merely on greediness and material comfort.

3. Rand hammered another nail into the coffin of of the long-refuted notion that socialism is in any way compatible with democracy.

Johann, if anyone is guilty of psychopathy, it is the political/economic ideas that you espouse and your methods for promoting them.

The leader of the National Socialist German Worker's Party's 122nd birthday is today. Just like 0bama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, et al, Hitler believed in unlimited government power over people's lives. And if those in the USA got their way, the results would be similar to what happened in Nazi Germany.

A little known fact: Many leftists in the USA, UK, and France openly supported Nazi Germany up until June, 1941.

Lady Gaga released her new single Judas today. Check the Billboard Hot 100 next week. It will be at #1.

Those of you who keep predicting that the Gaga is just a flash in the pan had better get used to her. She will be cranking out hits for years to come.

David Evans: Climate Models Go Cold An Australian climatologist explains how the government gravy train has corrupted the science:

The debate about global warming has reached ridiculous proportions and is full of micro-thin half-truths and misunderstandings. I am a scientist who was on the carbon gravy train, understands the evidence, was once an alarmist, but am now a skeptic. Watching this issue unfold has been amusing but, lately, worrying. This issue is tearing society apart, making fools out of our politicians.

Let's set a few things straight. The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s. But the gravy train was too big, with too many jobs, industries, trading profits, political careers, and the possibility of world government and total control riding on the outcome. So rather than admit they were wrong, the governments, and their tame climate scientists, now outrageously maintain the fiction that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant.

Judas: 4-19-11

Elizabeth Taylor, circa 1956. Photo by Roddy McDowall of Planet of the Apes fame.

Thomas Sugrue: Leftist Moonbat of the Week

The left see a racist under every rock. It's the basis of their entire worldview and essential to the perpetuation of their perverse governmental policies. They can't argue with conservatives or libertarians over the basic principles of free enterprise and equal protection under the law. So they are always levelling false accusations of racism against those who disagree with them on any issue, whether the issue has anything to do with race or not.

Thomas Sugrue is a professor of history and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, a very prestigious institution. He has written an Op-Ed in the New York Times, lamenting racial segregation and white flight in Detroit and its suburbs:

When white Detroiters could not win by fighting, they fled to the suburbs. Indeed, for a half-century beginning in the 1950s, Detroit lost nearly half of its population, almost all whites. Those who left the city cited various reasons: desire for a little green space, new housing, better schools, freedom from crime. Few of them acknowledged the racial motive behind white flight, that words like “freedom from crime” were code for moving away from blacks.

In other words, when a white person doesn't like it when someone sticks a gun in their face, steals their car, or breaks into their home, they must be racist towards blacks. Now get a load of what Sugrue says about blacks who move out of Detroit:

What, then, accounts for blacks’ move to the suburbs in the last decade? Like whites, blacks have long looked for alternatives to Detroit, with its high crime, poor services and scarce job opportunities.

Sugrue's complete lack of any logic whatsoever staggers the mind. So are those blacks who moved out of Detroit to get away from crime also racist against blacks? The absurdity and hypocrisy that the left will stoop to in order to press their agenda have no limits.

This shows how low higher education has sunk. Sugrue has a PhD from Harvard University and is a tenured, full professor at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the leading research institutions in the world. Yet the basis of his research is immature race-baiting, totally unsupported by the facts.

Update: Professor Sugrue has told us by email that he is honoured.

0bama Considering the 'Mistress of Disaster' for FBI Director

One thing you can count on with His Holiness: He will always make the worst possible choice for all important federal appointments in his administration. He chose Eric Holder, a terrorist sympathizer, to be Attorney General. He chose Timothy Geithner, a tax evader, to be Secretary of the Treasury. And now, he's considering Jamie Gorelick to be director of the FBI! This is the same Jamie who:

1. As deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration, set up the 'wall' between the FBI and intelligence agencies that allowed Mohammed Atta and the other 18 9/11 terrorists to operate undetected while they planned to murder 3,000 on 9/11.

2. As vice-chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997 to 2003, earned over $26 million while causing it to invest in questionable mortgages and engage in fraudulent accounting. It has cost the US taxpayers hundreds of billions to bail out Fannie Mae and led to a massive recession which we have yet to climb out of.

3. Is currently representing Duke university in a lawsuit filed against it by the former lacrosse players who were falsely accused and expelled from the university for a rape that never happened.

Elizabeth Taylor: 1932 - 2011

Global Warming: The Lysenkoism of the 21st Century

Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet agronomist who espoused a Lamarckist theory of genetics: Adaptations of a living organism to their environment could be transmitted to their offspring. Thus, if the ancestors of today's giraffes stretched their necks in order to reach the food supply, this trait would then be passed on to their offspring.

The Lamarckist theories were contrary to the Mendelian genetics and Darwinian theories of evolution. Yet Lysenko succeeded in convincing Soviet dictators Stalin and Kruschev that his theories were correct. They sponsored his research and suppressed contradictory theories and the scientists who promoted them. Many of the dissenting scientists were fired from their jobs, arrested, imprisoned, and even executed.

Lysenko applied his genetic theories to Soviet agricultural practices and they were put into widespread practice throughout the Soviet bloc and in Maoist China. The results were disastrous. Agricultural output plummeted but the government-controlled press was constantly heralding the triumphs of Lysenko's methods!

In spite of the poor results and the mass famines that resulted from Lysenko, the methods continued to be used for several decades in the Soviet Union until 1965 when Kruschev was deposed and in China until 1976 when Mao died.

The entire episode reminds me of the global warming hoax. It is based on fraudulent science. There has been massive government sponsorship of the research of the climate-change alarmists, but little to none of the skeptics'. Many of the alarmists have advocated government sanctions or even arrest and imprisonment for skeptics. The leftist-dominated media have helped promote the fraud.

It may take time, but just like Lysenkoism, some day the global warming myth will be revealed to all as the fraud it is. And there will be hell to pay.

Best Description of 0bama I Have Ever Read

From Instapunk:

Until November 2012, we're just taking our lumps, the inevitable fallout of a truly wretched president who is as indecisive and ignorant of his responsibilities as he is supremely confident of his superiority to the people, the democratic process, and the complexities of the globe.

Ignore Sarah Palin Week

A leftwing group are trying to ignore Sarah Palin this week. If you wish to join them in ignoring her, you may sign their online petition here.

But it ain't gonna happen. The poor wretches on the left are too damn obsessed with Sarah to be successful. They have the same chance of ignoring her as I have of ignoring Lady Gaga.

Some Things Never Change

Remember how things were in 1980, just before Reagan was elected?

1. Turmoil in the middle east
2. High inflation
3. Surging oil prices
4. A Federal Reserve run by a Keynesian who didn't realize that his outdated ideas were debunked decades ago
5. Federal government run by Democrats who were spending, taxing, and regulating without limits
6. Stubbornly high unemployment
7. A generally pessimistic mood in the country. Many people thinking that the USA's best days were all in the past
8. A clueless president who thought that all we have to do is be nice to other countries and they will be nice to us too

The only thing we don't have today from the above list is high inflation, but that may change soon too --- for the worse.

Jungle Jim Meets Taylor Momsen

Went to The Pretty Reckless concert in Oklahoma City last night. There were three opening bands, all of which were good, but I was eager to see TPR.

Taylor & Co. finally came onstage at 10:30 and tore the place apart. All of them are very talented musicians and Taylor electrified the audience with her powerful vocals and sexy, sultry stage presence. They played most of the songs on their Light Me Up album, closing with Make Me Wanna Die.

We got to go to the meet & greet after they were done with their set. Taylor stood behind a table between Mark Damon (bassist) and Jamie Perkins (drummer). Guitarist Ben Phillips wasn't at the table. He was walking around the club all night. When my turn came, I told Taylor I loved her voice. She responded "Thanks" in a crisp, hi-pitched voice that sounded totally different from the voice she uses when singing or talking on stage. One of the event staff took our picture with my phone and they signed my CD insert and ticket stub. Taylor thanked me for coming.

They played at a fairly small venue that night. I predict they will be playing arenas soon.

Swiss Voters Show Good Judgment

The voters of Der Schweiz decided to preserve their right to bear arms:

Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a proposal to ban army firearms from their homes, following a nationwide referendum.

The referendum was launched by a coalition of non-governmental groups, religious authorities and center-left parties, who sought to get the weapons stored in armories instead.

Voters upheld their national tradition of having an ever-ready army, and many see keeping a weapon at home as a crucial aspect of national identity.

Just two hours after polls closed, 22 out of 26 cantons returned final results, with a majority of cantons - 17 - voting firmly against the move. For the referendum to have passed, it would have needed the support both a majority of cantons and a majority of people.

When given the choice, the voters of any country will choose freedom over government despotism.

You Got the Blues?

Jeb Bush for President in 2012?

No. We don't need any more Bushes. No more RINOs.

Adios Traitor

Sen. Jim Webb Not Running For Re-Election

Ronald Reagan: Born Feb 6, 1911

I have often wondered, when Lenin, Trostky, and Stalin seized power in Russia in 1917, and the leftists of the world cheered, did they ever imagine there was a 6 year old boy in Illinois who would lay their plans to waste?

The Left Have Suddenly Decided They Don't Like Judicial Activism

Isn't that a bloody shame?

Just Being Republican is No Reason to Vote for Anyone

From Proteinwisdom:

The era of many of us voting for whatever pandering GOP candidate the establishment promotes is over. If that means progressives retain control of the White House, so be it: we can continue to promote strong classical liberal/constitutional conservatives for the House, the Senate, governorships, and state assemblies — and not have to sacrifice our ideals in order to save the country from its increasingly debased establishment political class.

The only thing I disagree with is Jeff's use of the 'progressive' moniker for the left. Progressing towards what?

Joe Conason: 0bama Shows Why 2010 Election Was a Mistake

No Joe, 0bama showed why the 2008 election was a mistake.

I'M BEAUTIFUL IN MY WAY
'CAUSE GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES
I'M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY

"I’d sooner let a Tesco butcher fix my toe than ask the NHS"

Those in the USA who advocate European-style national socialist health insurance are invariably deaf to the many problems those countries face with their health care. Here is one British woman's experience:

For three weeks I’ve been limping around on a broken toe. The horse stamped on it and I’m in agony, but I’m not going to get it seen to because I do not want to go anywhere near my local hospital. I’m sorry, I know I will get complaints from doctors and nurses about how hard they work. I know the NHS is a sacred institution that must not be criticised. But I have been to St George’s Hospital in Tooting in London, and my nearest alternative, King’s College in Denmark Hill, and hell and high water wouldn’t drag me back to either.

I consider a little toe the size of a big toe far preferable to the horrors that might await me at either of those emporiums of state-sponsored, one-size-fits-all, “sit down and do as you’re told” totalitarianism.

The last time I went to St George’s, they made me fill in a questionnaire about my drinking habits before they would even look at my injury, which was a hole through the middle of my hand where I had got it stuck in my horse’s mouth. I told them I had been teetotal for most of my adult life, but that didn’t put them off. They mercilessly insisted I tick about 30 boxes with a “no” or “never”, while gripping and writing with one hand, before I qualified for anything approaching care.

And all the while, I could see people being admitted for emergency dental work. This is not my NHS, I thought. It’s someone else’s. I just pay for it. It quite likes my tax money but is not the least bit concerned about me. If it does care, it cares only in so much as I am fodder for its next risk assessment.

And we will have the same here, if the advoocates of socialized medicine for the USA get their way.

Disinformation on Immigration

Those who wish to give amnesty to illegal immigrants often use disingenious arguments or often outright lies to advance their position. An example of this comes from Micaela Saucedo, who advocates immigration 'reform' in the USA:

For Saucedo, head of Casa Refugio Elvira in Tijuana, a shelter for deported families, the upcoming march spotlights the absence of a legal entry system for Mexicans and Latin Americans and a lack of economic opportunity in those countries.

First of all Micaela, there is a legal entry system for Mexicans and other Latin Americans. Legal immigration from Mexico to the USA is averaging about 175,000 people per year. The would-be immigrants can wait their turn with other law-abiding people.

Why is there a lack of economic opportunity in Latin American countries? The reason can be summarized properly with one word: Socialism. For example, the PRI regime in Mexico nationalized all oil properties in Mexico in 1938. Their government-controlled economies, along with their lack of a consistent system of property rights and rule of law, have caused nothing but poverty and misery for generations of people.

And those of you here in the USA who want our government to control our economy (e.g. 0bamacare, Greenhouse Emissions, etc.) should take note. At least the Mexicans have the USA to run to. When 0bama and his worshippers turn the USA into a third-world hellhole, we won't have anywhere to run.

Alessandra Ferri and Sting

The Pretty Reckless are about to start a new headline tour in the USA!

Gerry Rafferty: 1947 - 2011

Tom Vandegriff: 1926 - 2010

The Song: 2-13-11 The Record: 5-23-11

Housing Prices are Still Too High

Peter Schiff argues in this Op-Ed in the Wall Street journal that average US housing prices are still too high:

If we assume the bubble was artificial, we can instead imagine that home prices should have followed a more traditional path during that time. In stock-market terms, prices should have followed a trend line. When you do these extrapolations (see lower line in the nearby chart), a sobering picture emerges. In his book "Irrational Exuberance," Yale economist Robert Shiller (co-creator of the Case-Shiller indices along with economists Karl Case and Allan Weiss), determined that in the 100 years between 1900 and 2000, home prices in the U.S. increased an average 3.35% per year, just a tad above the average rate of inflation. This period includes the Great Depression when home prices sank significantly, but it also includes the frothy postwar years of the 1950s and '60s, as well as the strong market of the early-to-mid 1980s, and the surge in the late '90s.

In January 1998 the 10-City Index was at 82.7. If home prices had followed the 3.35% annual 100 year trend line, then the index would have arrived at 126.7 in October 2010. This week, Case-Shiller announced that figure to be 159.0. This would suggest that the index would need to decline an additional 20.3% from current levels just to get back to the trend line.

Schiff is quite correct. And I would add that the diversion of capital from other industries to housing during the 1998-2006 bubble is one of the reasons why the current recession is so severe. It is unfortunate that the federal government continues to subsidize the home mortgage market.

#1: Jimmy Page

Back in the 1960s, there was an excellent British rock band called the Yardbirds. Their personnel changed several times, and included the likes of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.

After Beck and Clapton left the group, the lead guitarist was a man from London named Jimmy Page. He played for the Yardbirds for a time, and then all the other members of the group quit. So he found a new singer, bassist, and drummer and they went on their first tour billed as the "New Yardbirds". And then they changed their name --- to Led Zeppelin.

Page was heavily influenced by Robert Johnson. But he brought the art of guitar playing to its highest level. As can be seen in this early video of one of their greatest songs: Communication Breakdown:




Like a handful of other people, Page has that unusual ability to transform his thoughts and emotions into music. Watch how he makes a masterpiece by simply strumming a scale on his guitar:




So there we have the greatest musician on the planet. But you'd best watch out Jimmy. There's a tiny woman from New York in your rear-view mirror. And she's gaining on you fast.

Top 20 Musicians

Before we discuss who is #1, let's first review #2 through 19:

2 Lady Gaga
3 John Bonham
4 John Lennon
5 Paul McCartney
6 Jimi Hendrix
7 Brian Jones
8 David Bowie
9 Elvis Presley
10 Robert Johnson
11 Hank Williams Sr
12 Patsy Cline
13 Nat King Cole
14 Cindy Wilson
15 Diana Ross
16 Johnny Cash
17 Brian Wilson
18 Willie Nelson
19 Mick Jagger
20 Paul Simon

"Britain will be hit by longer and colder winters in coming years because of global warming, scientists have said."

Chris Monckton Asks for Perspective on "Global Warming"

Chris Monckton, aka Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, has been attending the Climate-Change junket in Cancun. He has the following to say:

With perspective, no one would waste a single second of his own time or a red cent of other people’s money trying, Canute-like, to make “global warming” go away.

In the me and now, even eminent professors lack perspective. Last week one such wrote to the Daily Telegraph to say that Roger Helmer, the jovial Tory MEP, ought not to have gone to Cancun for the latest big-carbon-footprint UN climate junket. Instead, said the Prof, Mr Helmer should have used the time learning that “global warming” of 0.7C in a single century was unprecedented in the last 600,000 years.

Once the number of people who are waking up to the global warming hoax reaches a critical mass, those who are currently promoting this nonsense will have nowhere to hide.

Taylor's got legs right up to her neck

Don Meredith: 1938 - 2010

Branch Carbonians Junket to Cancun

Anyone ever notice these 'climate change' conferences are always in exotic locations like Cancun?

ENTERPRISE Minister Jim Mather has sparked fury by jetting off to a Mexican holiday resort on a climate change junket.

As Scotland is gripped by the worst snowfall in 45 years, Mr Mather flew out on Saturday to Cancun, where temperatures soared to a balmy 79F yesterday.

Flanked by two officials, he joined the UK’s 45-strong delegation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The four-day trip is expected to cost more than £6,000 in business class flights alone. Mr Mather’s 10,000 mile round trip will create almost four tons of greenhouse gas.

If the climate alarmists were really serious about reducing CO2 emissions, they could have had a teleconference, instead of jetting around the world while they expect the little people to live like cavemen.

#2: Lady Gaga

You see new stars in the music world make their splash in the mainstream genres of country-western, rhythm and blues, rock, and hip hop. It would be quite amazing to see a musician from the offbeat fields like classical or jazz to have the highest number of views on youtube or dominate the iTunes sales. That is what makes Gaga’s accomplishments all the more spectacular. From the further offbeat world of electropop we are witnessing one of the most talented musicians to emerge on the scene in decades, with both commercial and artistic success.

How does Gaga command all this attention? It’s not just her outrageous costumes or her catchy lyrics. She has a talent for creating music that only a handful of people possess. Her sense of tempo and phrasing are unmatched. These are not things you can learn from a music teacher. You’re either born with it or develop it on your own. I can only think of one musician who has that same innate sense: Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Even though their music styles and instrumentation are completely different, I swear I can hear faint echoes of Page’s influence throughout Gaga’s music.

Gaga’s singing voice can send me into orbit. She has a way of working the raspy lower tones in her voice in a manner that is reminiscent of John Lennon singing “Hard Day’s Night”. Her frequency range is impressive and dynamic range is awe-inspiring. She can sing in a soft, whispery doll’s breath or belt it out like an opera singer. To hear such a tiny woman blow her pipes in that manner can send a chill down my spine.

Gaga already has an impressive repertoire of songs she has written and recorded herself and also for others. Unlike many artists who have one or two good songs per album and a lot of filler, Gaga has had multiple hits off both the Fame and the Fame Monster.

Gaga is so talented she has several unreleased songs from earlier in career that are every bit as good as Poker Face or Bad Romance. These were leaked to the internet in various ways, mainly by a hacker who calls himself ‘Burim’. These songs, including “Wonderful”, “Retro Physical”, and “Fashion”, are some of my favorites. Here is “Captivated”, sung by a pre-famous brunet Gaga at a talent contest at NYU:

Gaga has made a connection with her fans in a way that has never been done before. She makes us feel like every one of her successes are our successes too. I have attended three monster balls and was floored. The woman knows how to perform. For a couple of hours you can forget about life’s problems and go completely bonkers with her.

So here she is, only two years after releasing her first album, bracketed at #2 between two of the greatest rock musicians ever.

My Blogue

Have nay been posting much of late. I will now resume the top 20 countdown of the best musicians of all time. Its been so long since I updated that we might need a reminder of where we left off and what the other rankings were:

3 John Bonham
4 John Lennon
5 Paul McCartney
6 Jimi Hendrix
7 Brian Jones
8 David Bowie
9 Elvis Presley
10 Robert Johnson
11 Hank Williams Sr
12 Patsy Cline
13 Nat King Cole
14 Cindy Wilson
15 Diana Ross
16 Johnny Cash
17 Brian Wilson
18 Willie Nelson
19 Mick Jagger
20 Paul Simon

Christopher Hitchens

Some of my favorite people are former marxists. Thomas Sowell for one. And another is Christopher Hitchens. Chris eventually came to the same conclusions that I have about the nature of the left:

I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.

Very true. And now we learn that sadly, Chris has contracted esophageal cancer. Let's hope that he defeats it, just like he has defeated the lunacy of the left.

Residents of Mumbai, India confined to homes for two days while 0bama visits

The leftists' god 0bama has always opposed freedom for most people. And while visiting India, he and his minions forced the residents of Mumbai to be locked in their houses for two days

During the two-day visit of the US president, while the lives of many reporters were on the fast track, the residents of south Mumbai were confined to their homes due to security arrangements. No wonder, they celebrated their ‘freedom’ after Barak Obama left the city
It may sound strange, but on Saturday and Sunday, lives of countless reporters as well as residents from south Mumbai were held 'hostage' by the establishment for making 'arrangements' for US president Barak Obama and Co. While our friends from the media were running from one place to another like there would be no news left for the next moment, the residents, particularly from Colaba (Mumbai's southern tip) were locked in their homes.

The dumbass thinks it was because he didn't get his message across.