Day 401 – Anthropogenic

I heard guest Ron Geraci on Fox’s Red Eye make an important point about global warming. If the goal is to reverse climate change, why is it so important to assign blame by saying it’s man-caused? Anthropogenic Global Warming is an increasingly tough sell. Humans produce very little CO2 compared to nature. Other so-called “greenhouse gas” levels have been going down in the US, mostly due to the lack of manufacturing in this country. Instead, dirtier, less developed countries are putting out more pollution regardless of greenhouse gases per product made.

Making global warming man-made has two effects. First, it gives us the arrogance to think we can change something involving an entire solar system by unplugging our cell phone chargers.The second reason is obvious. We broke it, so now we have to buy it.

Funny thing is, the guilt is heaped upon the people who are doing the most about it. China and India feel no guilt about proving economic stability to their countries. They go along with carbon limits for public relations, but won’t commit to legally binding restrictions. Maybe it’s our fault for being their market.

The biggest bang for the buck in carbon neutrality would be to keep manufacturing local. Stop using China and their Iranian-oil powered infrastructure to make a buck. Stop sea and air shipping products here and sending our wastepaper there to make shoddy boxes to pack our stuff. When I see that come up in a climate change meeting, maybe I’ll listen. Until then, the only man-caused global change I see is the UN trying to turn the civilized world into a socialist nightmare.

Day 400

I’m a little stuck tonight for comments. The administration is in a holding pattern as well. The EPA opened the door to regulate CO2, when 95% of it is produced by nature. Health insurance reform is now going to involve the government buying private insurance policies. Rules are being drafted to make employers liable for thought crimes such as privileged legal consultations about union activities.

They’re all dominos. Once in place, one nudge will change this country from free to enslaved. The funny thing is that this country does not accept tyranny well. More than anything else, the people in power should consider that.

Day 399

An abortion de-funding amendment was defeated with 55 votes in the Senate today. This is a very perilous victory for Democrats. At least one out of the 60 necessary potential voters will refuse to vote for this bill without such a provision. In fact, only 55 votes are firm now.

Blue dog Democrats in the Senate will face a nearly impossible fight next year based on this health insurance bill alone. Even liberal Democrats face public resentment. Some Democrats who voted for the debate are worried about voting for the Senate version of the bill.

If somehow the Senate is strong-armed into passage, there’s the conference. With abortion funding so fundamentally different in both bills, whichever outcome results will certainly lose two or more Representatives necessary for final passage. They’ve painted themselves into a corner.

I’ve mentioned before that this administration relies on charm, bribes and threats to operate. Charm is pretty much off the table now. Bribes are getting thin so threats will take the forefront. Luckily, gays and women are threatening to starve off the DNC for lack of movement on certain core issues. That puts Democratic candidates in danger of being de-funded themselves.

There’s still a long way to go, but this bill is in sorry shape right now. It will not pass in 2009. In 3-4 months, the election season will start to materialize. Those polls people like Harry Reid have been ignoring will be daily reading. They’re in the weeds now.

Day 398 – My Watergate

In 1972, a break-in at the Watergate hotel in Washington, D.C. led to the greatest political scandal of this generation. This was at a time when dislike of the government was at a high due to Vietnam policy. The fact that the administration at the time was essentially covering up a scheme to get reelected made the government untrustworthy as well.

If you look at the mechanics of Watergate, it’s an even sadder turn of events. Nixon did more to end the war in Vietnam than the previous presidents. Also, Nixon was in a much better position to win in 1972 without having to resort to “dirty tricks.” If he had fought impeachment proceedings like Bill Clinton, he would have lost due to members of his own party trying to get him out more than any guilt he had.

Three decades later, I had a Watergate moment. In my case, it was about the media and their capability to lie, to believe lies and to hide lies under scrutiny. I wasn’t naive. I knew that the news networks were biased in their selection of stories. I’ve seen them cut corners on the facts and not use the standards of fact checking they claimed. Still, when National Guard memos regarding George Bush were revealed in 2004, the media fell all over themselves to shame themselves.

The brunt of the blame fell to Dan Rather, his biased producer and the lack of fact-checking involved in taking the “evidence” of a well-known Bush critic on faith. When the memo was shown to be only a pdf CBS obtained from a Kinko’s fax whose original was never examined, things started to unravel. Conservative sites discovered that the fuzzy transfer looked very much like the default Times New Roman font on Microsoft Word that used variable spacing impossible on a typewriter from the 1960s.

In the weeks that followed, CBS went from truth to “fake, but accurate.” There was no physical memo, but it was transcribed word for word from memory. Of course, that didn’t track, either. Other networks ignored the story, (think ACORN or maybe Climate “Gate”) then defended the story, then slowly gave up. Dan Rather kept his job, but he was eventually retired after the election.

Even without people like Penn and Teller, you know that magicians are performing tricks. You may not know how they do it, but you know in your gut that it’s not real. When I hear that I must believe the people on the news, I just think about the fact they can lie and that the Courier font on MS Word could have changed an election.

On CNN, I saw Climate Science being defended by Bill Nye, “The science guy.” Nye is an engineer by trade. If he were a skeptic of global warming, he would be derided by “climate scientists” for not being a real scientist. In the world of global warming, you can only talk with authority if you are a climatologist and you will never become a climatologist if you criticize global warming. Nye defended the scrubbing of e-mails by saying that the FOIA requests were taking too much time and nitpicking could lead to problems.

That’s just too damn bad. Peer review isn’t getting the job done. Considering the public policy at stake, maybe the global warming industry could do with a little second-guessing. Anyone can lie about anything. If enough people support the lie, it can look like the truth, but it will never become the truth.

Day 397

I was a little off. The unemployment rate went down 0.2%, keeping it in the double digits officially. Six years ago, unemployment numbers came out for December of 2003 with a gain of 1,000 jobs. Bush was derided for that small gain after months of 6 digit job losses. Yet, this jackass is taking some perverse credit for 12,000 more people unemployed than that month years ago.

This administration still blames the last one for these job losses. Did Bush blame 9/11 or bin Laden? No, he FOUGHT them. Maybe 30,000 troops this week represents a jobs plan.

Here’s an idea for the holiday season. We should all send the president a plaque that reads “The Buck Stops There” just so everyone knows where they stand.

Day 396 – 12-Dimensional Chess

This weekend, Climategate is world-wide news, Cap and Trade is basically dead, Health Insurance reform is on the ropes and the Senator who sweetened the deal for insurance companies just got caught trying to get a job for his girlfriend. There’s less than a year until election day and even Nancy Pelosi’s liberal district has a Republican challenger.

Was I wrong? Was my perceived suicide streak in the conservative movement truly a brilliant scheme to show the world what these neoliberals are really like? We have a Democrat president and Congress and yet they’ve done nothing. They spend money, sure, but that would have bitten the Republicans on the ass if they had the majority and the unemployment rate was 10% after no stimulus.

This could be the next step up from Jackass’ 11-dimensional chess move. Let Soros get his way. Let Hollywood’s guy get elected. Make ACORN so big they commit unspeakable acts in plain sight. Watch them grab for all the power they can. For the first time in a century, show traditionalists (even liberals, given the Stupak amendment and Afghanistan troop levels) what happens when you blindly vote for hopen’change at the expense of reason.

I think Democrats and the Administration will still fight like hell to stay in power, but they know they will have some major losses in 2010. Things could change, but the loyal (to the founding principles of the country) opposition has all the momentum on its side. The other side has no hope and not even climate change to fall back on.

Day 395 – Dollhouse

All the (new) media attention was focused on ABC’s “V” remake with its excessive focus on hope and adoration hiding the sinister intentions of a supposed savior. It seems that all the while, another series was staking its claim to the mechanics of creating a mandate out of nothing.

If for any reason, someone may be negatively spoiled about the series Dollhouse, stop now.

Dollhouse is a series for FOX created by Joss Whedon (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer & Firefly) about people who are used as shells for whatever personality is needed by a wealthy client. It started as a story about desperate, attractive people who gave up their memories for 5 years so their bodies could be used for romantic encounters. By the end of the first season, a more sinister plot of a pharmaceutical company using these “dolls” as guinea pigs was revealed.

The culmination of the series came tonight. A Senator was revealed as a doll. But he wasn’t some desperate criminal or depressive. He was the black sheep of a political family. His personality was altered to make him more political. Three years later, he was a powerful Senator being groomed for president. he’s also under the control of the most sinister corporation in television.

Dollhouse is canceled. The announcement came a month ago. I start to wonder if these plot lines hit a little too close to home. Might we see more of the marginalization of provocative story if it’s too uncomfortable? A character referred to the corporation as fascists. Who else in real life fits that bill?

Day 394

Today’s White House job summit comes one day before new unemployment figures come out. Offhand, I say they will come in with at least a stable, if not a 0.1% lower unemployment rate. Temporary Christmas help should lower the official numbers until January.

There are two basic factors preventing the free market from creating jobs. First, the government has decided not to cut taxes in any way on business. States have followed, in some cases raising them. The second factor is uncertainty. Cap and trade legislation, along with new health insurance laws, represent a huge change in what companies will pay to do business. Why hire employees when their insurance status could bankrupt you?

Either legislation will pass or dithering will continue. If a vote fails, it will come up again and again. This pattern could go on for the next year until the Democrats are soundly defeated. That dithering will keep hiring feeble at best. I wonder if anyone thought of that in today’s summit.

Day 393

Today, I heard ABC News fact check Sarah Palin’s bus tour. I’m really not surprised, but they are getting more inventive. Since the fact-checking of her book (which has been subsequently counter fact-checked with real facts) was a big flop, they are desperate to inform us that while ordinary Americans wait out in the cold, Palin has been flying the distance between far away cities “in style” (they used that exact phrase).

Yes, I’m sure Sarah Palin has to fly to make it to different appearances. Those planes cost money, paid for by the publisher. That publisher and that charter service are extremely grateful to her as well, for giving them business in a down economy. Sarah Palin has created more jobs that President Jackass this year.

Since ABC has finally run out of news, here’s some more fact-checking ideas.

• The White House handing out white coats during a press conference about health care to make doctors look more doctory (assuming all the white coat wearers were doctors).
• Two party “crashers” at the first state dinner who were in communication with a hand-picked Administration staff member who was stringing them along over tickets until the day of the party. How about the fact that a staff member who would usually handle the guest list was let go earlier this year with the explanation that the White House would not host state dinners during the economic downturn?
• A certain network airing a holiday special with Oprah interviewing the president. There is no news value and the program will likely be low rated. I wonder what network would do such a thing.

Day 392 – Last Christmas

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart.
But the very next day, you gave it away.
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3354flS1KJs

25 years ago, Wham! released the song “Last Christmas” as the B side of “Everything She Wants.” Both are excellent 80’s songs. I’m a fan of the pop era. Since then, hundreds of bands and solo acts have covered the song, something on the order of a dozen per year. The lyrics and the melody are pretty basic, one being a little too close to Barry Manilow’s “Can’t Smile Without You.”

If you turn on one of the stations in your area playing Christmas music, (I have 3-4) you’re likely to hear one of the versions of “Last Christmas” come up fairly quickly.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Christmas. In some cases it’s a saccharine love song or the repetition of a movie about a 10-year-old boy getting a BB gun, but it’s there. It’s good to remember in the midst of this culture war, that the ridiculous malcontents waging it against Judeo-Christian values are still using external measures (lawsuits) instead of changing the attitudes of Americans.

This country is still a majority of sanity. Mostly people became complacent over the years, but they know what’s right. We’ve learned in history that people can lose their freedom over disinterest. That may be the largest impact of media, keeping people on their fat asses on the couch instead of doing something.

Let’s hope we’ll do more for our country this Christmas than last Christmas.