Today's Required Viewing.

With the 'Climate-gate' scandal now unfolding, this video - made before the damning emails and computer codes were released - puts "global warming" in perspective. It's long (about 90 minutes) but well worth watching.

Hattip: Maggie's Farm.

An Interesting Statistic.

Here's why Team Hopenchange doesn't trust the private sector: Few of them have actually been in it.

Honduras Wins.

Obama, Chavez, Ortaga, and Castro... lose.

Making Jimmy Carter Look Good. (UPDATED AND CORRECTED)

Oh, good lord.

UPDATE: OK, when I get taken in, I admit it. This seems to be one of those times, as the the image linked to above appears to be a very professionally done fake of this image.

The Elite Man's Burden.

Michale Barone suggests that Team Hopenchange's ultimate goal is to remake America into a European social democracy, ah la, France. An ironic return to the old country.

I think Barone's right. If you look below the surface, Europe still works on the ancient social organization model that our ancestors fled - that of benevolent lord / grateful vassal - though they have replaced the divine right of kings with the divine right of elites. But the vassals though - that's you and me - are still seen as just that - great ignorant masses that need to be pacified and ruled; to be controlled for our own good. I believe the ultimate goal of this Congress and the Obama administration is to get that control, and their party, locked in place before they loose the opportunity.

They no longer see us, the People, as their masters - but their vassals. Why else would they be so tin-eared to our opinions?

Our Health Care Future.

Here is yet another example of why we do not want Team Hopenchange, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Mary Landrieu calling the shots on our health care.

Government-run health care has never worked - anywhere - and some of us will be reminding Mary Landrieu and Harry Reid that we do not want it here.

Something To Be Thankful For.

Don Surber reminds us that Thanksgiving gave us the greatest line, from the greatest episode, in TV sitcom history.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day.

Inside A Can Of Whoop-Ass.

This is what it looks like.

Now there's something to be thankful for.

Hattip: Instapundit.

My New Second Favorite Lady.

Move over Sandra Bullock, you've been replaced. Seems her dad is rubbing off on her.

(My favorite lady is still the one who put a ring on my finger 22 years ago. So second-favorite is the best you can do, Angie. Sorry.)

If That News Thing Doesn't Work Out, There's Always 'Dancing With The Stars'...

Or in Katic Couric's case, it appears a spot in the next Sir Mix-a-Lot video would be in order.

Hattip: Midwest Conservative Journal .

It's Monday.

Busy day at work, so not much posting.

Dwight Hudson, the legislative action chair for our intrepid group of issue-oriented partiers, will be on Neil Cavuto tonight on Fox. More on health care and our Senator Mary "But I'm Not Cheap" Landrieu.

Our BRTP President, Jenifer Madsen, was on Cavuto last Friday. I guess everybody loves a winner.

UPDADE: D'Oh! Dwight was already on. Make sure to catch the repeat tonight.

Mary "Cheap Date" Landrieu Explains Her Vote.

A profile in statesmanship: “I will correct something. It’s not $100 million, it’s $300 million, and I’m proud of it and will keep fighting for it.”

You do that. I'd also recommend you stop by a Washington McDonald's concerning a job. Come January 2015, you're gonna need one.

Hattip: Vodkapundit.

Climate Zealots Lied; Science Died.

It turns out ManBearPig is bullshit after all. Apparently academics knew it, and tried to hide that from the public. (More here.)

Read. It. All.

Hattip: Christopher at Midwest Conservative Journal.

We've Established What You Are; Now We're Just Haggling Over Price. (UPDATED)

And it ain't much, as it appears Mary Landrieu is selling out for a lousy $100 million. In Medicaid benefits. Like that'll help us working stiffs...

UPDATE 20NOV09: Drudge is calling it the 'Louisiana Purchase'.

UPDATE 20NOV09: Is this a pointer toward Mary's true allegiance: She will be hosting a fund-raiser for Harry Reid in New Orleans next month. I'm beginning to think all that fence-sitting talk was just that - talk - and she was just holding out for a better deal. M'thinks we been had, folks.

The vote hasn't happened yet - there is still a chance to get Mary to change her stance from representing Harry Reid back to representing the people of Louisiana. So, dear readers, get on the phone - or fax, or e-mail - and let Mary know what you think about all this. Especially you Louisiana readers.

UPDATE 20NOV09: Here's the YouTube of BRTP President Jennifer Madsen on Fox, responding to Mary's apparent sale:

All Politics Is Local. (UPDATED)

Remember this little election drubbing we helped hand our Mayor the other day? Well, it got noticed.

The Tea Party movement is no longer a flash in the pan. And we proved it.

UPDATE 20NOV09: More notice. My buddy Jen, the President of the Baton Rouge Tea Party, will be on Neil Cavuto's show today on Fox. Make sure to watch.

I'm Not A Betting Man, But...

...Which do you think will happen first? Gold topping $1,500 an ounce, or Obama finally deciding what to do in Afghanistan?

UPDATE: Obama ponders Afghanistan; a waffle shortage erupts. Coincidence?...

The Obama Prayer.

Psalm 109:8.

Hat In The Ring. (UPDATED)

(Holy sheep-dip! An Instalauhche! Welcome Instapundit readers!)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Clifford, proprietor and author of the blog Red Stick Rant, announced today that he is a candidate for Louisiana's 12th Congressional District in 2010. "In a district where the average salary is over $900,000.00," said Clifford, "a robust, growing economy is critical to maintain our prosperity."

Clifford said his priorities in Congress will be controlling government growth, returning government to Constitutional principals, and protecting jobs in the district.

For more information, contact Clifford at redstickrant@gmail.com. Until the campaign committee is fully operational, contributions can be made through the 'DONATE' button over on the right.

VOTE CLIFFORD! The Big Red Dog Republican.

UPDATE 19NOV09:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Clifford, author and big cheese of the blog Red Stick Rant, is indefinitely suspending his campaign to represent Louisiana's 12th Congressional District, since the 12th District no longer exists.

"It was a good campaign while it lasted," said Clifford, "and I hope both constituents in the 12th District know I was fighting hard for them."

While disappointed that he will not have the to opportunity to promote mainstream conservative values in Congress - such as government accountability, individual freedom, and the recognition by the USDA of chocolate and bacon as separate and distinct food groups - Clifford will continue to fight for those in Congress who do support such values.

(For those not in on the joke, Team Hopenchange's Recovery.gov initially listed $1.8 million in stimulus dollars being funneled into Louisiana's 12th congressional district, saving 2 (count 'em, 2) jobs. Alas, Louisiana only has 7 congressional districts.)

Yes, You Can Beat City Hall.

We did. And pretty soundly, at that.

Now, it helped that City Hall and their establishment financial backers were pushing something that the voters had already rejected a year before, and they answered the many criticisms and unanswered questions about the ALIVE scheme with, at best, condescension. Those who opposed ALIVE were dismissed either too ignorant, too narrow-minded, or simply lacked vision. Not a way to win votes.

While I hated to push back much needed infrastructure improvements by defeating the all-in-one bond proposal, I would rather do that than saddle Baton Rouge taxpayers with paying $225 million for the ALIVE project. To paraphrase Cornelius Ryan, The Mayor and Metro Council went a project too far.

I hope the Mayor and the Metro Council listen to their employers - the voters - and go back to the drawing board to re-craft a funding proposal for those improvements the voters can support. We all want to make Baton Rouge America's next great city.

W In Reteospect.

A group of gay Hillary supporters hear about W and Laura at Ft. Hood, and get it.

Read. It All.

A Modest Proposal.

If it's "reform" to give the government control over our health care, why not do the same thing with the legal system?

I mean, the current legal system is as unequal and unfair as the current health care system - if not more so - so we need to do something to make high-quality, affordable, legal services available to all. In the name of equality and the children (of course) we can simply force everybody to buy a government-approved legal insurance policy, and have the government set legal fees and jury awards. It's a free country, right?

A Sign Of The Times?

Don't tell Arnaud de Borchgrave, but his this here blog thingy got mentioned in the Washington Times.

Veterans Day.

If you woke up safe and sound in your bed this morning, make sure you thank a veteran today.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

- Willian Shakespeare, Henry V

My thanks to John, Morgan, Keith, Hugh, Earl, Lloyd, Chad, Toby, Jacque, Garland, Fritz, David, Bruce and Jason.

An excellent way to celebrate Veterans Day - donate to Project Valor-IT.

And Another Birthday Today...

...Mikhail Kalashnikov turned 90.

Today's Required Viewing.

Happy 234th Birthday, Marines.

Watch it all, maggot!

'Going Muslim?'

Tunku Varadarajan, in this article at Forbes.com, argues that 'going Muslim' is the new 'going postal.' I disagree, because I think the term paints to broadly. There are patriotic American Muslims, some who have given all for this country.

'Going jihadi' would be more accurate.

Watching The World Wake Up From History.

20 years ago today the Berlin Wall fell. 20 years ago today the Cold War ended.

Free minds, free markets, and Ronald Reagan won the day. Marxism, detante, and Jimmy Carter lost.

While Barack Obama doesn't think this is something to be celebrated (gee, wonder why...), I do. Unlike our President, I visited Germany and Berlin back when each was divided into East and West (1983). I travelled in the DDR (East Germany) and saw a real Marxist country in action. I saw the Wall - from both sides - and saw the dull, dreary Marxist East Berlin so directly contrasted against the free, capitalist West Berlin.

While I thought myself a Republican before, a week in Berlin (East and West) made me understand why. It crystallized on a West German train heading to Berlin, when we were forced to stop at at the East German border for passport checks. The East Germans customs agents made us stay in our seats and put up the windows, while border guards with AK-47s stood on the platform. One young guard, in his green Grenztruppen uniform, funny helmet and Kalashnikov, walked up to our window, staring in. I asked, rather rhetorically, "I wonder what he wants?" An elderly German woman sitting next to me replied, in English: "He wishes he were you." Pow.

So in celebration, dear readers, here is today's required listening: Right Here, Right Now.

And lest we forget, today's required reading: Murderous Idealism.

The Rep. Joseph Cao Theme Song.

One Vote, One Term.

All Your Freedoms Are Belong To Us.

Queen Nancy gets her way.

The GOP gets a winning cause.

And Rep. Joseph Cao gets to find out that one is the loneliest number.

UPDATE 11NOV09: Welcome Technologizer readers! Make yourself at home - there's beer and snacks in the fridge.
Oh, wait... There isn't a fridge. Cause... like... this a website; it doesn't have a fridge n' junk.
...
...
K'bye!

Is The Mandate Constitutional?

Here is an excellent debate on the constitutionality of Congress mandating we purchase health insurance or be penalized.

After reading through Mr. Chemerinsky's Commerce Clause justifications for a mandate, I find them unconvincing.

The Commerce Clause, upon which Mr. Chemerinsky bases his mandate claim, concerns regulating commerce among the states. But the purchase of health insurance is, by law, strictly an intra-state economic activity. Since none of us can cross state lines to purchase health insurance, where is the interstate commerce that is affected? Insurance is a service, not a commodity, like wheat, that I can possess and sell in another state. My health insurance policy exists as a contract recognized and governed by the laws of my state - it is not enforceable in another state, and therefore has no value or standing in another state.

While the purchase of health insurance is an economic activity, and therefore (in this case intra-state) commerce, the failure to purchase is an economic inactivity, and therefore is clearly not commerce - intra-state or otherwise. Mr. Chemerinsky seems to be saying that the Commerce Clause gives Congress almost unlimited power - including the power to compel an economic activity for it to regulate! As Mr. Rivkin points out, United States v. Lopez and United States v. Morrison show that the Commerce Clause does not provide Congress with such such unlimited power.

And that's before we get to the 9th and 10th Amendment arguments against a mandate. If the Pelosi/Reed/Obama notion of socialized "reform" becomes law, I think the mandate will not long survive Constitutional challenge.

ACORN Has A Visitor.

According to the Pelican Institute, ACORN Headquarters in New Orleans was raided today. WWL-TV confirms.

A Personal Note.

For Matthew:

Um, Good Question.

Friday Morning Distraction.

Admit it - you would have worn this costume on Halloween if you had the chance. (Watch the video all the way through.)
C'mon, admit it.

Obama Lied. Jobs Died. (UPDATED)

Remember this statement Barack Obama made in support of the Democrat stimulus package, which passed a month later:

“Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don’t act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment and the American Dream slipping further and further out of reach.”

Oops:


So, after Obama, Pelosi, and Reed put us, our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren in hock to "stimulate" the economy, unempleyment is now at 10.2%... and still climbing.

Keep this in mind when these very same folks tell you they can make health care affordable.

UPDATE: Exurban League nails it:

The Future Comes ALIVE.

A cautionary tale about rosy predictions of the future:



Something to remember when you hear this.

The Republican Alternative To ObamaCare. (UPDATED)

Yes, there really is one. How is it better? Well, for starters, it's 1,771 pages shorter... (Summary of the GOP proposal is here.)

UPDATE 05NOV09: A "grim milestone?" The ObamaCare bill is now over 2,000 pages long. Only a government mind would think making something bigger and more complex makes it more effective and cost efficient.

The Best Analysis Of This Election Night. Period.

From Creative Minority Report on Twitter: "America's decision on Obama came quicker than Obama's decision on Afghanistan."

Um... Ouch.

Kate Schori's Theme Song.

Right here. (With apologies to Lee Greenwood.)

Yes, Kate; they're laughing at you.

Yes I Do.

Hattip: Kiss My Gumbo.

At Least Everyone Got Out ALIVE.

Something to remember when you're listening to Holden/Futrell/Foreman, et. al., tell you what a great idea it is to build an amusement park an Epcot on the Mississippi an "interactive adventure" "celebration" (fill in misty marketing superlative here) out into the Mississippi River:



Yes, that is a really big ship. And what is stopping it is the New Orleans' Riverwalk Marketplace shopping center.