No wonder liberals like Obama: Convenient Morality

Written by Paul Zannucci on 8:24 AM

<----Medal of Honor for the Libs


From The Huffington Post we have this little gem by R.J. Eskow, Letter to a Clinton Supporter. In it we find the author explaining his differences of opinion with the Clinton supporters and his hopes, though he won't beg, that they will find their way back to the party in time to celebrate Obama's coming victory.

Mr Eskow writes, "Sure, we've had our differences. We've seen the Clintons in very different ways, you and I - especially their campaign tactics. Where you've seen honest if tough campaigning, I've seen the cynical manipulation of divisive emotions and a desire to put self before others."

Just like Obama, liberals have spent most of the last twelve years worshiping at a church (First United Clinton) with an atrocious history. The Clintons are egomaniacal political scum. Anyone paying attention has known this for ages. The general voter can be forgiven, but the liberal political commentators and those at the top of the Democratic party cannot. The leading liberals didn't decide to throw the Clintons to the dogs until a pretty alternative came along. Congratulations Mr. Eskow for making this decision to come out against the Clintons when it was convenient for you.

From the Whitewater days in Arkansas to vandalizing the White House on the way out, it would take me all day to chronicle the reasons an "in touch" liberal should have dropped this crew long ago. Just as Obama was sitting in the congregation listening to hate spew forth from his minister for years, the Democrats smiled and nodded at all the Clinton tricks, all the while knowing these folks were power hungry hooligans.

Want to see the proof that liberal leaders knew the Clintons were bad news and didn't care? Look no further than to what happened when Obama came along. Here were the Clintons who, by their accomplishments, should have been considered modern day progressive heroes, and here was Hillary Clinton, potentially the first female president and wildly popular with the electorate. And then here came Obama. He couldn't defeat Hillary in the Democratic stronghold states or in the popular vote overall (remember how important this popular vote used to be to Democrats?), but the party leaders started selling this guy as though he were the messiah. Next thing you know, the liberal controlled media is hammering away at Hillary and depicting Obama as the unstoppable leader of an unrivaled movement--despite the fact he wasn't winning the majority of the democratic votes. It was a an orchestrated con job on the electorate that is still going on today, and all because they saw a convenient way to chuck the Clintons. They suddenly had an option and a hallelujah moment couldn't be far behind.

Perhaps that explains why Obama is getting a virtual pass in the mainstream media for attending the church of hate for twenty years before chucking them when it became convenient. It's because they are liberals, and they fully understand the concept of convenient morality.

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Walter Williams: Dumb or Ill-Informed

Written by Paul Zannucci on 7:17 AM

No, Mr. Williams is neither dumb nor ill-informed. The question is which of these two options does congress think describes the American public? Personally, I vote for both. Read this article about our energy problems and the "solutions" proposed by congress by clicking here.

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Obama's Church Apology and Defection

Written by Paul Zannucci on 6:16 AM

From Townhall.com we have a Thomas Sowell piece: Irrelevant Apologies

Writing about Obama's recent defection from his church after being Pflegerized, Sowell points out the obvious, which the media nevertheless has missed, "For any politician, what matters is not his election year rhetoric, or an election year resignation from a church, but the track record of that politician in the years before the election."

Let's make something clear. This is a deserving dead horse Sowell is whipping here. That church has been proven to be a consistent source of racial hatred, preaching divisive sermons one after another. I even heard one African American commentator shrug it off the other day by saying (paraphrased), "Well, if you were familiar with the African American experience you wouldn't be so shocked at hearing this." I suppose that's like being familiar with the Hamas movement and not being shocked by suicide bombers. If you're reading this site, I know that you are not likely the type of person who has given Obama a free pass on this, but the mainstream media is ready to move on, and we can't let them.

It is not acceptable to be associated with a church of hate for 20 years and to quit only in the middle of a presidential election. It is not at all okay to surround yourself with hate and then only extricate yourself when the polls say it is time to do so.

This is one dead horse that needs to keep being beaten.

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Wisely, Obama just ignores Clinton for the moment...

Written by Paul Zannucci on 11:05 PM

From FoxNews: Obama in St. Paul: “Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.”

I suppose this is his own way to apply pressure. Truly, he doesn't need to wait for her concession. He just needs to come out and declare himself the victor. Everyone realizes that, by all reasonable standards, he's won the Democratic Party nomination. Clinton's only hope is a massive scandal (see the next post down).

I can only imagine what the Obama camp was thinking as they watched Hillary make her case for being the best candidate only moments before his acceptance speech.

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What the heck is going on here?

Written by Paul Zannucci on 10:40 PM


Is this the end for Clinton or the Clinton endplay. Over the last 24 hours or so we’ve learned twice that Clinton was going to concede and, now, twice that she is not. We’ve also heard a growing rumble of chatter regarding an already infamous, yet quite possibly imaginary, video of Michelle Obama raving about “Whitey”. This chatter has leapt from the blogs and onto cable news stations, with Bob Beckel this morning on FoxNews claiming that the “bombshell” would be released Wednesday morning. Given that Paris Hilton is already free, this can only mean something else, but the whole thing is getting more than a little confusing.

I guess there are three main possibilities. There’s a tape and the Republicans have it. The rumor is mostly true as reported. Second option, there is no tape but the Hillary camp has been floating rumors of one to serve an unknown purpose (Republicans wouldn’t be floating rumors at this point). Or third, the tape is not there and the Clintons aren’t pushing the concept. This is actually my pick.

Rumors of the “whitey tape” all started, so far as I can tell, some time back with Larry Johnson over at the No Quarter blog. Larry is so far up Hillary’s ass that you can barely see his toes hanging out her bottom. Instead of waiting for the email, he gets her talking points as she thinks them. Either that or little gray beings from outer space deliver them each evening telepathically. Given all that, I hardly ever know when to take his site seriously. I mean, I would give Johnson full credit for breaking the “Karl Rove will be indicted” story, but I have to deduct a point since, well, there was no indictment.

So anyway, Johnson started this rumor regarding the tape and that, naturally, got picked up by many other bloggers because most of us bloggers never went to journalism school and don’t understand the difference between an actual source and a raving lunatic. Eventually, the blogger chatter grew so great that even analysts on the cable news shows and respected websites began to disseminate the information. This news is everywhere. I even sacrificed 25 IQ points to read a thread on it over at democraticunderground.com while preparing to write this piece.

So what’s going on—the concession, the no concession, the concession, the no concession, the “whitey tape”? Beats the hell out of me, but I doubt it’s that Clinton is trying to secure the nomination on the heels of a bombshell video.

First of all, if there is a video, which I highly doubt, it is not going to be distributed by the Republicans tomorrow (Wednesday) as the rumors have it. I have no inside information on this, but why would the Republicans want to damage McCain and help Hillary? They have to hold this imaginary tape until the last possible moment and then release it to the media right before the November elections. The Republican organization is nothing if not naïve and clumsy, but even this is something they can handle.

Second, given that there is likely no video, what could be Hillary’s motives if it is her camp providing the information to Johnson? Is she blackmailing for a VP spot or to pay off her debt? Pretty unlikely, but let’s look at it. Hillary’s campaign is over $40 million in debt, and there have been rumors (the usual bloggers with their sources) that she already has been working behind the scenes to strike a deal with the Obama camp to pay off her debt. And that really wouldn’t be a lot of money to pay to get rid of her and her marauding hoard of blogging goons. After all, liberals are like human ATM’s to Obama. He can raise this money in less than a month, particularly since he’s clinched the number of delegates needed to be the nominee.

But besides the blogging goons, there’s another good reason to appease Hillary and this is where the problem sets. Many of her supporters are miffed. Actually, that’s quite an understatement. Many of her supporters are enraged, believing this election was stolen from them (they’re mostly getting this, so far as I can tell, from the blogging goons). And McCain? Well, he’s not that conservative, is he? From communicating with a number of Clinton supporters and reading on various sites, it would appear that a decent number of them would defect to McCain in the fall or just not vote at all. That just won’t work in what is predicted to be a close election. But there’s a solution. For only about $40 million (and maybe the VP spot) I know someone who can help to smooth that out a bit for you.

So there’s good reason for Obama to do what Clinton wants with or without a video. I could be wrong. There could be a video released in the next day or two that causes the superdelegates to begin a defection to Hillary. But I’ll be glad to eat crow if that is the case. I think it’s much more likely that she just calls it a campaign tomorrow and uses the leverage of unifying the party to get her debts paid and to plead her case for VP.

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Clinton to concede to Obama according to AP reports

Written by Paul Zannucci on 11:30 AM

Fresh off of reports that there has been a surge of superdelegates towards Obama today, likely timed to allow him to make a speech at the conclusion of tonight's voting declaring himself the Democratic nominee, we have reports that Clinton will concede the race tonight.

According to Ms. Puerto Rico's senior officials, as soon as Obama reaches the correct number of delegates, Clinton will acknowledge the obvious, though she will continue to speak out on such issues as health care.

According to the article, she's been at home with her husband (that must be uncomfortable) phoning friends and supporters.

update: Clinton has released a statement stating she will not concede tonight and that the AP story is wrong.

Undoubtably, she'll wait until tomorrow. I'm guessing that they just don't want to impact today's voting, so they had to put out something.

update: And now she's conceding again.

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Eating Insects, Iran Nukes, Cap and Spend

Written by Paul Zannucci on 8:46 AM



Earlier this year the Food and Agriculture Organisation held a conference to discuss how entomophagy - eating insects as food - could contribute to sustainable development.

If we can just keep becoming more and more progressive, perhaps some day we can work this concept into legislation. Just think how healthy it would be for Mother Earth if only we were required to put, say, 20% ground worm into ground beef.
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From The Wall Street Journal: Cap and Spend

As the Senate opens debate on its mammoth carbon regulation program this week, the phrase of the hour is "cap and trade." This sounds innocuous enough. But anyone who looks at the legislative details will quickly see that a better description is cap and spend. This is easily the largest income redistribution scheme since the income tax.

Hmm. Copying and pasting that was a lot easier than writing these long tirades as I've done the last few days. Let's try it again.

Ms. Boxer expects to scoop up auction revenues of some $3.32 trillion by 2050. Yes, that's trillion. Her friends in Congress are already salivating over this new pot of gold.

Okay, I have to stop now. I'm beginning to feel this tingly, inspired feeling.
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Sen. John McCain Monday called for tougher worldwide pressure on Iran and painted his potential rival Sen. Barack Obama as naive about the Middle East.

Oh, come on, John. Give peace a chance. Obama is going to open up a dialogue with Ahmadinejad.
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All together now:

"Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too.

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace..."

I feel so enlightened now, don't you? I can't wait for Obama to head over there and spread the love.
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I'm pretty certain I saw my first ad for this election about thirty-two years ago. At that time, Obama was only fourteen and a little idealistic.

"The sooner we can bring the party together, the sooner we can start focusing on McCain in November," Obama told reporters in Michigan.
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Congressional Democrats want to ban Pentagon propaganda on the Iraq war, but they are likely to find that enforcement is easier said than done..."At the end of the day, a lot of what the Defense Department is doing is trying to raise support for the military," said Ken Bacon...Last month, the House passed legislation to prohibit the military from engaging in "any form of communication in support of national objectives..."

Make up your own string of expletives to go with this.


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Reports of the death of the Warner-Lieberman bill have been greatly exaggerated

Written by Paul Zannucci on 8:23 AM


Debate in the Senate over this bill should begin today, and word is that it doesn't stand much of a chance of getting passed. And even if it does manage to scrape its way out of congress, President Bush would only veto it. Even as the bill prepares to, we hope, go down in flames, we get wind from this CNN article that "supporters concede that the debate will set the scene for action in 2009."

And why shouldn't the supporters of the bill be optimistic? For all the conservative anger over Bush, everyone should realize he's the last president we'll have for awhile who would veto this bill. A quick trip to the presidential candidates' websites gives us this information:

Ms. Puerto Rico supports: "A new cap-and-trade program that auctions 100 percent of permits alongside investments to move us on the path towards energy independence"

Barack Obama supports: "Cap and Trade: Obama supports implementation of a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary: 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050."

John McCain believes: "Climate Policy Should Utilize A Market-Based Cap And Trade System."

So any failure this year should really only be seen as a first step to passage in 2009. A "cap and trade" system has many features, after all, that a visionary, progressive politician could grow fond of. What's not to love about having more control over businesses, raising billions of tax dollars through carbon auctions, and getting to decide where to redistribute that wealth?

Is there still time to prevent this overwhelming infringement upon liberty? Well, there is an election in November, and all the House of Representatives is up for grabs, but if you've been following public opinion lately, you likely know how this is going to turn out. And why should anyone be motivated by liberty anymore anyway? After years of suffering low blows at the hands of the righteously indignant left, conservatives have become a bunch of feel good appeasers and enablers for the erosion of freedom.

Ah, America. What have you done? Where have you gone?

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Charles Krauthammer on Environmentalists and Communists

Written by Paul Zannucci on 11:11 AM




From Townhall, Environmentalists Pick Up Where Communists Left Off, by Charles Krauthammer

Honestly, there are too many great quotes here. I barely could restrain myself from violating the rules of fair use, but here is one of the better ones:

"The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity," warns Czech President Vaclav Klaus, "is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism."

Anyone can review who is championing global warming and combine that information with the economic results of the environmentalists' goals and figure out what the agenda driving this movement is. Yet the idea that this is a social movement is portrayed, when it's given any credence at all, as a wacky conservative conspiracy theory.

As Mr. Krauthammer points out, socialism and communism died out less than two decades ago, but "just as the ash heap of history beckoned, the intellectual left was handed the ultimate salvation: environmentalism. Now the experts will regulate your life not in the name of the proletariat or Fabian socialism but -- even better -- in the name of Earth itself."

But that's a rather odd, if elegant, way of putting it. Was the intellectual left actually handed environmentalism, or did it yank it away as an avenue to exert its will on the world? I suppose that, for the present, examining the origins of the movement in such detail hardly matters. Historians, many years from now, will have to determine whether the global warming hysteria was adopted or concocted. What matters now, in the midst of this nonsense, is the fight against it. We simply cannot give the global warming leftists their way and maintain our liberty at the same time.

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Be Like the Amazing Kreskin. See Your Future.

Written by Paul Zannucci on 11:32 PM


Every adult should be forced to use a 'carbon ration card' when they pay for petrol, airline tickets or household energy, MPs say.

This comes from a story at MailOnline. Of course, this particular article is about Britain, but we in America are only a few terrifying steps away from being in this same position. In fact, the Warner Lieberman Energy Bill is one giant, scary step in that direction.

In a summary of the bill, as I posted below, it includes the following information: "Provides for the distribution of emission allowances, including initially giving allowances to: (1) specified owners and operators of covered facilities; (2) states; (3) load-serving entities that deliver electricity to retail consumers; (4) the Secretary of Agriculture to reduce GHG emissions in the agriculture and forestry sectors; (5) international forest protection activities; and (6) the Emission Allowance Account for covered facilities in the electric power and industrial sectors."

The first thing you should notice about this is the phrase "initially giving allowances to..." which gives the obvious impression that we'll be distributing emission allowances to additional groups not listed above in the future. The second and third things that you should notice are the first two groups, "specified owners and operators of covered facilities" and "states". If "states" doesn't scare you enough, let me clarify "covered facilities" for you. This means businesses.

Skipping away from the slippery slope argument for a moment, let's look a little deeper at the results of this bill. Quoting the minority party from the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, "...analysis by CRA International estimates the Lieberman-Warner bill will cost $4 to $6 trillion over 40 years. The American Council for Capital Formation has concluded that the legislation's emissions-swapping scheme would lead to higher energy prices, lost jobs and reduced [gross domestic product]...The bill's end results would cause serious damage to our economic security and at best have a negligible impact on the world's rising greenhouse-gas emission levels. It also does nothing to boost nuclear-energy development, one of the cleanest and most efficient energy sources. The bill fails to compensate and protect consumers from rising natural gas prices and harms job security by encouraging companies to move overseas to nations with less draconian standards."

The most prominent nations with less draconian standards would be China and India, who are given a free ride internationally as "developing nations" despite the exponentially increasing release of carbon by both these billion-plus person countries.

Even if this did not take us one step away from individuals being issued carbon credits, which it does, the bill itself is a disaster for America. But that is the direction we are headed--disaster. And all because of the neo-socialist global warming movement. So there's your future, oh Kreskin. First your state and your business get carbon allowances and then you'll personally get one. But will your state, your business and you survive it? That'll be another $50 to find out.

The truth of the matter is that the bill is not likely to pass when it comes up in June. After all, it is an election year. But what will happen after the elections when we put more Democrats into congress and, God forbid, Obama in the presidency? What will happen after another year of irrational environmental hysteria?

That's right, give me another $50 to find out--if you haven't figured it out already.

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Correction and Apologies

Written by Paul Zannucci on 9:52 PM

<---Paul Zannucci in a dunce cap doing math.

If you are looking for the "Count Michigan and Florida" post, I apologize for its absense. One of the other writers on this site found a major flaw in my math, as in I didn't adjust the "needed to win" totals to include the FL and MI delegates. In other words, Obama would no longer be just 41 delegates short if you count these two states because the amount needed to win would increase. Given that the basic premise of the article was incorrect, I felt it would be better to remove the piece and take my medicine rather than to spread misinformation.

And then I remembered I had posted the article at Real Clear Politics, thus screwing up their link. Can you make that dunce cap a double?

But really I'm just upset that I had to delete all the carefully crafted humor.

Oh well. Perhaps I can work those jokes into a more accurate entry.




Thanks for reading,

Paul Zannucci

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Congress and Oil Prices, Bush and Security, Sarandon to Italy

Written by Paul Zannucci on 9:09 AM

An Op-Ed from WSJ: Blame Congress for High Oil Prices

That price, which has risen to record levels, is set by the intersection of supply and demand. On the one hand, world-wide demand has accelerated mainly due to the rapid growth of China and India....On the other hand, supply has been curtailed by the cartel-like behavior of foreign national oil companies...Congress by its actions over the years has ensured the economic viability of the national oil company cartel.

The actions of congress amount to preventing the exploitation of vast reserves available in America and off the coasts of America. According to the article, it is estimated that there is enough untapped natural gas to meet the need of 60 million homes for over a century and enough oil to produce gasoline for fuel oil for 60 million cars and 25 million homes for 60 years.

These figures do not include the oil found in oil shale. If we are able to cheaply extract this oil, then you could add, perhaps, another few hundred years to the above equations. Yes, there are resources available. Resources here in America. The problem is that many a liberal would consider the CEO of Exxon to be the American equivalent of Osama bin Laden. The other problem is that conservatives are a very soft-spoken voice of reason. Since the 1994 "Contract with America", conservatives have lost their way, getting excited mostly for inconsequential things like the ineffectual impeachment of Bill Clinton and posting the Ten Commandments in public places.

Yet again, I feel compelled to promote the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less (and get the cool bumper sticker) campaign started by American Solutions. They now have more than 100,000 people who have signed the petition. To check it out, go here.
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From the Washington Post: U.S. Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda

While cautioning that al-Qaeda remains a serious threat, Hayden said Osama bin Laden is losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world and has largely forfeited his ability to exploit the Iraq war to recruit adherents.

I checked this three times and it really is the "Post" and not the "Times" reporting this very positive view of the war on terror. If this sort of open honesty becomes a habit of the mainstream media, Bush could see his approval rating increase to the high 20's by the time he's out of office. Actually, despite the vast differences between the two, anything that is good for Bush is good for McCain's chances in November.
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Back to the traditional source of reality, the WSJ: The President Has Kept Us Safe

With President Bush-bashing still a national pastime, it's notable how much international terrorism has been forgotten, and how little credit the president has received for keeping Americans safe.

This is a piece written by a New York liberal, someone who predominately disagrees with the policies of the Bush administration (in fact he just lumps them together as "failed policies"), and yet he wonders how, in the wake of 9/11 and the global terrorism that quickly ensued, that Bush is not given credit for his greatest success.
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What the heck? Back to the Washington Post: On Policy, Obama Breaks Little New Ground

Obama has not emphasized any signature domestic issue, or signaled that he would take his party in a specific direction on policy, as Bill Clinton did with his "New Democrat" proposals in 1992 that emphasized welfare reform or as George W. Bush did with his "compassionate conservatism" in 2000, when he called on Republicans to focus more on issues such as education.

I'm calling the FBI. Clearly the good folks at the Post are being held hostage by some radical conservative group and today's issue is a cry for help.
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To the WJS: The Obama Gaffe Machine

Sen. Obama is often an indifferent speaker without a teleprompter. He has large gaps in his knowledge base, and is just as likely to dig in and embrace a policy misstatement as abandon it. ABC reporter Jake Tapper calls him "a one-man gaffe machine."

Barack "57 states" Obama is a real man of genius. The biggest problem is that McCain is likely too principled to call his opponent on most of the gaffes, which means the alt-media will have to hammer him every chance we get. So far, Republican leadership hasn't shied away from the bigger gaffes, such as his Memorial Day speech, but we are yet to see the concerted effort to tie him to his tongue has was done with Al Gore. Perhaps that will come later.
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And, yes, Susan Sarandon has declared that she will move to either Canada or Italy if John McCain is elected in November. First of all, she clearly doesn't pay any attention to Italian politics, as Silvio Berlusconi (after briefly being out of office) was just sworn in, again, as prime minister on May 8th. He makes John McCain look like Nancy Pelosi.

But my real question is, what kind of ego maniac thinks that a threat to move out of the country will actually sway votes? I mean, I guess it could sway votes to McCain, but that's about it. I think that in this election if McCain wins we should demand that these stars and starlets follow through with their courageous promises of leaving us alone.

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Live in one of these 10 cities? Expect to come under carbon footprint assault.

Written by Paul Zannucci on 4:41 PM


The Brookings Institute has released a study that many chambers of commerce and city councils will undoubtedly groan over. It's a list of the cities with the top carbon footprints. Fifteen years ago that might have been seen as a sign of a growing city with a healthy economy. Now it's a big red target for environmentalists and pastors of the church of global warming.

The top ten cities (sorry about this guys) are:

1. Lexington-Fayette, KY
2. Indianapolis, IN
3. Cincinnati-Middletown, OH
4. Toledo, OH
5. Louisville, KY
6. Nashville, TN
7. St. Louis, MO
8. Oklahoma City
9. Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
10. Knoxville, TN

Currently there are no federal standards regarding carbon emissions, but that day is coming. One component of the Warner-Lieberman Energy Bill is designed to, according to a summary of the bill,

"(Provide) for the distribution of emission allowances, including initially giving allowances to: (1) specified owners and operators of covered facilities; (2) states; (3) load-serving entities that deliver electricity to retail consumers; (4) the Secretary of Agriculture to reduce GHG emissions in the agriculture and forestry sectors; (5) international forest protection activities; and (6) the Emission Allowance Account for covered facilities in the electric power and industrial sectors...Establishes the Climate Change Credit Corporation to auction emission allowances. Provides for the use of auction proceeds, including for a zero- or low-carbon energy technologies program, an advanced coal and sequestration technologies program, incentives for production of fuel from cellulosic biomass, and an advanced technology vehicles manufacturing incentive program."

This is a piece of legislation coming to a vote in early June. As I've said before, the scope and implications of the Warner-Lieberman Energy Bill are staggering, but especially for businesses (I'm sorry, "owners and operators of covered facilities") and for the states, and therefore cities, in which these "covered facilities" operate. Never mind that American manufacturers are already fighting against near impossible odds to remain in the game with their overseas competitors, now we will place a greater burden upon them. Never mind that the economy is already struggling. Never mind that the cost of carbon is already at all time highs. This bill is going to be hammered through. It's the perfect example of Pollyanna legislation dreamed up in a vacuum. No regard to this bill's impact on anything other than the great villain, carbon, has been properly examined. It's a piece of feel-good, global warming nonsense.

To see the report from the Brookings Institute, click here.

If you thought a new energy bill would be aimed at increasing the amount of oil in the market and refining more gasoline as opposed to the opposite, click here.

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Operation Shoebox Charity Auction

Written by Paul Zannucci on 1:05 PM


Bill O'Reilly is running a charity auction for Operation Shoebox, which sends much needed care packages to troops overseas.


The winners of the auction will receive a beautifully framed American flag that flew over Kuwait and a certificate of authenticity. The bidding prices are, at least for now, surprisingly low and would make a fantastic Father's Day gift--and what a great cause for the money to go to.


The auction ends on June 4th at 9:30 pm PDT (east coasters may have to stay up late to get those last bids in). To go to O'Reilly's auction site, click here.
5-30-2008--Just a quick update to say that I no longer consider the prices surprisingly low. But, hey, it's for a great cause, so dig deep!

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English Language Dying Out in Miami

Written by Paul Zannucci on 9:09 AM


In Miami, Spanish is becoming the primary language

"In many areas of Miami, Spanish has become the predominant language, replacing English in everyday life."

According to Census Bureau figures quoted in the article above, the percentage of non-Hispanic whites in Dade county is currently at 18.5%, and this number is quickly dwindling as it becomes more difficult to work, shop and play in an area where English is no longer the primary language of the majority of residents. For many of the 58.4% of residents who speak Spanish, it is the primary or only language they speak.

"I do resent the fact that people seem to expect that the people who live here adjust to their ways, rather than learning English and making adjustments," [librarian Martha Phillips] said. "Obviously I don't expect an older person to learn to speak English, but younger people come in and they don't seem to make much of an effort to learn to adapt to this country and they expect us to adapt to them."

So what do we do about this? My suggestion is nothing. Clearly, we cannot pass an English language law in Miami since it would be surprising to find that the local government didn't closely resemble the populace. Furthermore, there are serious questions about the constitutionality of such a law. As conservatives, we cannot abandon the constitution when it is convenient to do so. That would make us "progressives".

Instead, I suggest that we let it play out. As the situation becomes worse (as far as English goes), Miami will find that it is harder and harder to attract American investment development and American tourists. If the economy can thrive without that, which I doubt, there will still be other incentives. In the thriving Latin economy scenario, you'll see a development of progressive generations of wealth building and American identity building. The new Miami middle and upper classes will not be content to just sit in a small corner of American culture. Once fully settled and growing, there will be a shift toward conformity. Parts of the culture will still remain and create a sort of Latin attractiveness to Miami that will actual help to draw American tourists.

The only fear is that the economy fails to thrive with its new language, as would be expected, and the people fail to adapt, and we end up with the familiar South American model in which you have gated resorts on the coast and strong suggestions that you not leave the resort. Yet, even if this becomes the case, these new immigrants will soon realize that they no longer have to stay in Miami. They will begin to migrate north where speaking Spanish won't get them much. But I have a hard time seeing it come to this. In a few generations, the desire to conform and share in the wealth and culture of America will become overwhelming. It may get worse before it gets better, but I feel strongly that we should refrain from overreacting at this stage of the process.

Weakening liberty to satisfy a personal agenda is no way run a country.

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American Solutions: The Warner-Lieberman Energy Bill

Written by Paul Zannucci on 9:57 PM


I bet you stopped at the gas station today and thought, "Gee, now would be a great time to fight carbon emissions by increasing the costs of fossil fuels." Or maybe you stopped in a grocery store and thought, "Gee, I wish we could make it harder on food producers and transporters so that our grocery bills would get higher." Perhaps you looked at your local housing market, the 2% interest rates and the general economic climate and thought, "Wow, we need to make it tougher on business."

You didn't? Don't feel badly. The great folks behind the Warner-Lieberman Energy Bill have thought all those things for you and more. In fact, the bill is so overreaching as to be staggering and a perfect example of liberal policies gone mad.
To read follow up stories on this site about this bill, click here.

You can read what the good folks at American Solutions have to say about the bill, including links to the bill itself, by clicking here.
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Al Qaeda and WMD, More on Jupiter's Global Warming, Etc.

Written by Paul Zannucci on 8:02 AM


From CNN: McCain buying Michigan, Pennsylvania airtime

"The fact that he's expanding into these states is a clear signal that both the general election has begun and fundraising has fattened his campaign accounts," Tracey said.

And, in fact, Pennsylvania and Michigan are perfect places for McCain to start his big push. Hillary won both of these states (even though Obama wasn't on the Michigan ballot--don't think that will make Michigan like him more), which have had reasonably close general elections in both 2000 and 2004. There is a real opportunity for McCain, beloved by many a Democrat, to do well in some of these swing states that have been swinging the wrong way lately.
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From the Washington Post: Clinton's Grim Scenario

A woman uniformly described by her close friends as genuine, principled and sane has been reduced to citing the timing of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination as a reason to stay in the race -- an argument that is ungenuine, unprincipled and insane. She vows to keep pushing, perhaps all the way to the convention in August. What manner of disintegration is yet to come?

That doesn't sound grim. That sounds delicious. Who titled this piece for the Washington Post? Hillary Clinton = Jesse Jackson on steroids. Get used to her. She'll be running for president every 4 years. That just makes me happy.
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Back to CNN: Bill Clinton says wife is victim of a ‘cover up’

“'Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not. Oh my goodness, we have to cover this up.'"

So says Bill Clinton as he imitates the folks of the vast left wing conspiracy against Hillary. How did someone once so politically savvy become so impotent? Well, being married to Hillary doesn't help your virility, but I think Bill somehow considers this his run for a third term.
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To The Hill: McCain camp claims it has money lead over Obama

While McCain is raising far less money than Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), he is also not forced to spend as much money, because he has clinched the GOP nomination.

The ugly truth is that Obama is raising money at such a clip that he hardly cares that he's still in a battle with Hillary. If Obama briefly stops spending after the last primaries in early June, he'll have a significant money lead over McCain by the end of the month.
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To Breitbart: Report: Billions in defense spending unchecked

"The continual degradation of audit resources that is occurring at a time when the (Defense Department) budget is growing larger leaves the department more vulnerable to fraud, waste, and, abuse and undermines the department's mission," the report states.

This is hardly surprising. And I suspect you can't hire outside accounting firms due to security concerns. Perhaps we need a surge not just in Fallujah but also in military auditors. Do the job but don't steel the money, please.
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To ABC News: Al Qaeda Supporters' Tape to Call for Use of WMDs

"Supporter videos are made by fans or supporters who may not have ever had any contact with a real terrorist," Venzke said. "These videos almost always are comprised of old video footage that is edited together to make a new video."

Al Qaeda fans. These are the people so pathetic they can't actually be Al Qaeda; they can just admire Al Qaeda from afar. I become more misanthropic every day.
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CNN: Obama uses Daschle to make blue-collar pitch in new SD spot

In the 30-second spot, former Sen. Tom Daschle says that Obama “is rooted in the same values as most South Dakotans. He has an understanding of America — rural and urban alike.”

I've stared at this for about 5 minutes and can't think of anything to say. Perhaps I need to go back and rewatch the videos from Obama's church. I'm sure there are some South Dakota values in there somewhere, and I just missed them.
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From FoxNews: Jupiter Grows Third Red Spot

The idea that Jupiter is undergoing global climate change was proposed in 2004 by Phil Marcus, a mechanical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley. He predicted large changes in the southern hemisphere starting around 2006 that would destabilize jet streams and spawn new storms.

More crazy people from Berkeley talking about climate change. But wait! Does this mean that extreme climate change can occur without the intervention of humans? Of course, there's no correlation between Jupiter, a gas giant, and Earth, which only has free-range gas giants (think Al Gore and Ralph Nader), but still, can anyone really think that if we weren't all living on Jupiter (don't think about it too hard) that Al Gore wouldn't be going ballistic right now? We humans have an overly high opinion of ourselves and our reach.
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CNN: McCain calls for slashing U.S. nuclear arsenal

"Today, we deploy thousands of nuclear warheads. It is my hope to move as rapidly as possible to a significantly smaller force," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said at the University of Denver.

This came from a speech laying out his "nuclear security policy." This was followed by a back and forth between McCain and an Obama spokesperson as to who had the most liberal policy. I feel so secure now.

I'll be gone for a few days as I turn my pool into a bomb shelter.

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Need I Say More

Written by Anonymous on 7:48 AM

If you have not heard or read about Obama's remarks on Memorial day regarding his Uncle then this is a must read. Can we afford to have this man as our President. God help us all. God Bless America

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/rnc-statement-obamas-false-claim/

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Banning Wi-Fi in Public Places: Electro-Sensitive

Written by Paul Zannucci on 2:15 PM


Please, for the love of God and country, tell me I've somehow been transported back to April 1st, and this story is just a joke. From KOB.com website, we have: Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings.

Seems there is a now a growing collection of individuals who label themselves as "electro-sensitive" and feel that offering Wi-Fi in public buildings is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones. 'I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away,' he said."

First of all, I suffer from an allergy to pollen. I think that all plant life in public spaces, including national forests, should be irradicated, or I'm going to file papers showing how the government is in violation of ADA. I'll bet $10,000 that Mr. Firstenberg is a registered Democrat who can't wait to stick it to big oil by voting for Obama in November.

A quick google on electro-sensitive found over 41,000 entries, and I was just preparing to leap from the window (not out of depression, but because, OMG!, there are electric devices in here), when I found a series of obnoxious blog articles, such as, Could This Be The Haven For The Electrosensitive?, hammering away at the whining lunatics in the aluminum foil hats.

Suddenly, my faith in humanity, and in kitchen appliances, was partially restored. But, seriously, what is next? Sensitivity to radio waves? Oh, yeah, that's what this is. In fact, it was first called "radio wave sickness". Searching the web for that, I came across a paper that was written by, surprise of surprises, the crazy person Firstenberg from New Mexico, who describes himself as "President, Cellular Phone Taskforce". According to this paper, if you are sensitive to radio waves, you can expect some or all of the following symptoms:

"Insomnia, headaches, dizziness, nausea, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, irritability, respiratory illness (bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia), flu-like illness, asthma, fatigue, weakness, pressure or pain in the chest, increase in blood pressure, altered pulse rate (usually slowed), pressure behind the eyes, other eye problems, swollen throat, dry lips or mouth, dehydration, sweating, fever, shortness of breath, muscle spasms, tremors, pain in the legs or the soles of the feet, testicular or pelvic pain, joint pain, pains that move around the body, nosebleeds, internal bleeding, hair loss, digestive problems, skin rash, ringing in the ears, impaired sense of smell, pain in the teeth (especially with metallic fillings)"

That should pretty much cover everyone. Anyway, this just goes to show that it only takes one really dedicated nutcase to cause widespread ignorance. Just imagine how many people would be suckered in if there were more than one Democrat...

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A Big Weekend: Posts from the last few days...

Written by Paul Zannucci on 9:00 AM

Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less
A message from Newt Gingrich

Uh-oh. A feminist hissy-fit for Hillary
If you're a girl (and especially a girl who likes other girls), you may be really really angry now.

Life on Mars, Could it settle the Democratic Nomination?
ALL LIFE must have its chance to vote.

Memorial Day. What did they die for?
No, it wasn't for big oil.

Cold-fusion Works
The D. Pitney special.

Now your SUV is F'ing up Jupiter
Global warming on Jupiter. We've got to act now!

Camille Paglia on Hillary Clinton, Feminism, and Ambition
A scathing anti-Hillary attack from liberal feminist Paglia.

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