"Cap & Trade" or "Tax & Redistribute"

So the foolishness continues in the selling of the cap and trade policy. I've no doubt this will be implemented, but I just want all the losers who thing the One is going to actually help you understand how it will work.

Who is being taxed?

Hit hardest would be the "95% of working families" Mr. Obama keeps mentioning, usually omitting that his no-new-taxes pledge comes with the caveat "unless you use energy." Putting a price on carbon is regressive by definition because poor and middle-income households spend more of their paychecks on things like gas to drive to work, groceries or home heating.

The Congressional Budget Office -- Mr. Orszag's former roost -- estimates that the price hikes from a 15% cut in emissions would cost the average household in the bottom-income quintile about 3.3% of its after-tax income every year. That's about $680, not including the costs of reduced employment and output. The three middle quintiles would see their paychecks cut between $880 and $1,500, or 2.9% to 2.7% of income. The rich would pay 1.7%. Cap and trade is the ideal policy for every Beltway analyst who thinks the tax code is too progressive (all five of them).

Oh, but wait, it gets better. We now need to add in the redistribution part of the scenario.

Democrats say they'll allow some of this ocean of new cap-and-trade revenue to trickle back down to the public. In his budget, Mr. Obama wants to recycle $525 billion through the "making work pay" tax credit that goes to many people who don't pay income taxes. But $400 for individuals and $800 for families still doesn't offset carbon's income raid, especially in states with higher carbon use.

"Trickle back" is so entertaining that I just giggle every time I read it. Someone appears to be pissing down my neck and keeps telling me that it's raining. No doubt this will be great for no one.

Oh, and I did get my first pay check under the new stimulus package. I got nothing. What a shock.

I'm so thrilled with hope and change.

Maybe Obama would be less tired if he spent more time on things that make sense rather than all this stupidity. (He'd also piss off less of our close allies. Funny how Bush was so vilified for that and Obama is wonderful for doing worse.)

Freedom

Hmm.

We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation and paternalism. New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Maryland. On personal freedom alone, Alaska is the clear winner, while Maryland brings up the rear. As for freedom in the different regions of the country, the Mountain and West North Central regions are the freest overall while the Middle Atlantic lags far behind on both economic and personal freedom. Regression analysis demonstrates that states enjoying more economic and personal freedom tend to attract substantially higher rates of internal net migration.

Nice to live in a free state.

Well, until our Democrat Party controlled government changes that this. With luck they won't have that majority for long.

Mexican Assault Weapon

Anyone else getting tired of the lie about the "Assault Weapon Ban" would help keeping guns from going to Mexico in their little drug war?

The attorney general also suggested that re-instituting a U.S. ban on the sale of assault weapons would help reduce the bloodshed in Mexico, where last year 6,000 people were killed in drug-related violence.

Increasingly, U.S. law enforcement officials see cartel violence spill into the United States, often as far away as Phoenix and Atlanta.

As he discussed the problem, Holder spoke briefly in Spanish, pledging continued cooperation with Mexican authorities who have increasingly come under direct fire from the heavily armed drug gangs.

U.S. officials have a responsibility to make sure Mexican police "are not fighting substantial numbers of weapons, or fighting against AK-47s or other similar kinds of weapons that have been flowing to Mexico," Holder said.

DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart said the raid showed the tentacles of the crime syndicate had spread far across the United States — not just to major cities like Washington and Los Angeles, but to quiet, smaller communities like Stowe, Iowa, which the cartel allegedly used as a conduit to funnel drugs around the country.

Recall that selling guns to someone from/in Mexico is already illegal. Not to mention the fact that selling of actual assault weapons to a foreign body is illegal without Federal licensing.
Recall that the "Assault Weapon Ban" from 1994 was related to semi-automatic firearms that had cosmetic similarities to actual assault weapons and had no affect on actual assault weapons that have been highly regulated since 1938.

I'm not saying the assault weapons that are going into Mexico aren't coming out of the US. But I am saying that they are NOT coming out of the civilian firearms trade. If they are coming from the US the transactions are already illegal and the 1994 like "Assault Weapon Ban" will have absolutely no effect.

As for the AK-47 they whine about, I am betting that it would be much cheaper and easier to get south of the Mexican border rather than north of the border. That is if they actually are AK-47 and not the semi-automatic versions that exist freely in the US. My question is, would a drug cartel with large amounts of money go to gun shows in the US to buy semi-auto versions when they could easily purchase fully actual assault rifles elsewhere for substantially less?

In addition, do you really believe restricting our rights in the US will stop the illegal activities that are already occurring. Making something more illegal doesn't stop it. Stemming our rights just leaves us wanting, not to mention vulnerable.

But we'll continue to sit by while the MSM protests that the "Assault Weapon Ban" is the only cure and ignore the reality of the situation.

UPDATE: SayUncle has more.

My favorite quote:

What is more, the sheer volume of licensed dealers — more than 6,600 along the border alone, many of them operating out of their houses — makes policing them a tall order. Currently the A.T.F. has about 200 agents assigned to the task.

My heart bleeds for the BATFE. Imagine what they could do by investigating this rather than prosecuting dealers for putting down a y instead of "yes" or fiddling around with what they consider the definition of a gun today. I think the worst of these bureaucrats should be shipped down to Mexico or the border states and forced to do some honest work.

In 2007, the firearms agency traced 2,400 weapons seized in Mexico back to dealers in the United States, and 1,800 of those came from dealers operating in the four states along the border, with Texas first, followed by California, Arizona and New Mexico.

Interesting data. Wonder how many were stolen? Or how many were purchased from a single dealer? Or how many were purchased from a single buyer? No data of course. You are led to the conclusion that they just leaked out of all dealers and gun owners. God knows we're all irresponsible.

Another Broken Windows Study

Saw this linked at Schneier's.

Researchers, working with police, identified 34 crime hot spots. In half of them, authorities set to work—clearing trash from the sidewalks, fixing street lights, and sending loiterers scurrying. Abandoned buildings were secured, businesses forced to meet code, and more arrests made for misdemeanors. Mental health services and homeless aid referrals expanded.

In the remaining hot spots, normal policing and services continued.

Then researchers from Harvard and Suffolk University sat back and watched, meticulously recording criminal incidents in each of the hot spots.

The results, just now circulating in law enforcement circles, are striking: A 20 percent plunge in calls to police from the parts of town that received extra attention. It is seen as strong scientific evidence that the long-debated "broken windows" theory really works—that disorderly conditions breed bad behavior, and that fixing them can help prevent crime.

[...]

Many police departments across the country already use elements of the broken windows theory, or focus on crime hot spots. The Lowell experiment offers guidance on what seems to work best. Cleaning up the physical environment was very effective; misdemeanor arrests less so, and boosting social services had no apparent impact.

Funny thing is I always wonder where the crime went. Some no doubt just didn't happen, but there is some that would move somewhere else. I've yet to see any data that shows what happens in adjacent neighborhoods or cities. There are several people in Schneier's comments who wonder the same thing.

I don't doubt that there is some effect. I just would like to know what really happens in a broader region. If you move the bad crime down the road, you haven't fixed anything, you just changed the victim.

This hits pretty close to home since a lot of Lowell crime problems seem to leak up over the boarder to around where I live. Lowell has cleaned up a lot, but they still have higher crime rates than we do here in NH. Nashua is a lot lower, and even Manchester has lower crime in most categories.

Atlas Shrugged Sales Up

Interesting. Gun sales are over the top, and now Atlas Shrugged sales have tripled. Makes you wonder why.

Sales of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" have almost tripled over the first seven weeks of this year compared with sales for the same period in 2008. This continues a strong trend after bookstore sales reached an all-time annual high in 2008 of about 200,000 copies sold.

"Americans are flocking to buy and read 'Atlas Shrugged' because there are uncanny similarities between the plot-line of the book and the events of our day" said Yaron Brook, Executive Director at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. "Americans are rightfully concerned about the economic crisis and government's increasing intervention and attempts to control the economy. Ayn Rand understood and identified the deeper causes of the crisis we're facing, and she offered, in 'Atlas Shrugged,' a principled and practical solution consistent with American values."

Could it be people are getting a bit more buyer's remorse with our president?

Firing Antique Cannon

Antique as in circa 1592 (Well at least they were based on the antiques.). Film of the testers cowering behind cover makes it more fun.

Tests on cannon recovered from an Elizabethan warship suggest it carried powerful cast iron guns, of uniform size, firing standard ammunition.

"This marked the beginning of a kind of mechanisation of war," says naval historian Professor Eric Grove of Salford University.

Wish I had one of those.

And They Called Bush a Fascist?

Here we go. Tell me this isn't an act you'd expect from a real Fascist Regime. Again seen at Bruce's.

The police officers who stopped Oklahoma City motorist Chip Harrison and confiscated a sign from his car told him he has a right to his beliefs, but the Secret Service "could construe this as a threat against President Obama," according to the incident report released this morning.

Capt. Steve McCool of the Oklahoma City Police Department is seen in this NewsOK.com video frame grab. McCool says an officer who wrongly pulled a man over last week and confiscated an anti-Barack Obama sign from his vehicle misinterpreted the sign as threatening.

The sign, which read "Abort Obama Not the Unborn," was returned to Harrison later that day, the report said.

Police spokesman Steve McCool said this morning that the sign was taken in error, and Oklahoma City residents should not be worried that their First Amendment rights will be violated.

I think someone may want to point out to McCool that the guy's First Amendment rights had been violated as soon as the cops pulled him over and stole his sign.

But it only gets better:

''The Secret Service called and said they were at my house," Harrison said.

After talking to his attorney, Harrison went home where he met the Secret Service.

''When I was on my way there, the Secret Service called me and said they weren't going to ransack my house or anything ... they just wanted to (walk through the house) and make sure I wasn't a part of any hate groups."

I guess I would have called my attorney, if I had one, but then I would have called every MSM organ in the local area to visit me at the appointed hour to watch the SS visit. Nothing like transparency when the hot lights of the MSM are on. At least you can depend on them to report your arrest.

HopeyChangey better get his SS under control. This is something that should greatly concern the citizenry.

I love one of Bruce's commentors pointing out how there was no arrests of hippies by the fascist Bush administration when they openly criticized him. Hell, I recall some Frisco flakes protesting openly for his murder and they weren't even pulled over by the locals.

Political Ethics - Circling the Drain

With the Dems putting on demonstrations of how they are no better ethically than the Repubs, we keep being handed these wonderful bits of legislation that makes one question if a politician can be ethical at all. The RAT board was another feature of the stimulus package. Nice to see they rammed it past all the reviews.

The provision, which attracted virtually no attention in the debate over the 1,073-page stimulus bill, creates something called the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board — the RAT Board, as it’s known by the few insiders who are aware of it. The board would oversee the in-house watchdogs, known as inspectors general, whose job is to independently investigate allegations of wrongdoing at various federal agencies, without fear of interference by political appointees or the White House.

In the name of accountability and transparency, Congress has given the RAT Board the authority to ask “that an inspector general conduct or refrain from conducting an audit or investigation.” If the inspector general doesn’t want to follow the wishes of the RAT Board, he’ll have to write a report explaining his decision to the board, as well as to the head of his agency (from whom he is supposedly independent) and to Congress. In the end, a determined inspector general can probably get his way, but only after jumping through bureaucratic hoops that will inevitably make him hesitate to go forward.

Isn't that pleasant. I had to check the link because it was something I thought obviously put out by the Onion. Unfortunately, it's by Byron York and all too real.

Burris and Blago from the Chicago corruption machine are bad enough. Tax dodgers Daschle and Geithner make one question the Ones choices, not to mention Bill Richardson.

How about Feinstein revealing the Predator Drone bases in Pakistan in a public forum. No doubt she lied about her source of that tidbit and made the US work with the Pakistani government extremely difficult. With political allies like this Obambi is in trouble.

Caught from Bruce.

Icy Weekend

I went out and played some with my new camera. I'm still trying to figure out the wide angle part of it though. Seems like I've forgotten about the format every time I take a picture.

This was at the resevoir in Burlington MA. The ice was interesting and I thought I'd try a picture with the sun. Seems to work better than my film cameras ever did.

Universal Healthcare - Bend Over

As Bruce says, be afraid... be very afraid.

Senators should read these provisions and vote against them because they are dangerous to your health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version).

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

This has so many things wrong with it that it's actually very frightening. Why would I trust a federal government database to keep my information private? They can't even keep information that is supposed to be secret from reaching the press, not to mention when some political hack in the bureaucracy gets a hardon about you and does what they did to Joe-the-Plumber, you may be finding some concern.

How about having the government telling the doctor what is appropriate? Since bureaucrats are so good at analyzing detailed information. Second guessing the doctor's diagnosis from a database, which will be fraught with errors, like say the TSA database, makes me shudder.

Next Second Amendment SCOTUS Challenge - Here Comes Incorporation

Didn't take too long. I hope this goes up their backside real fast.

The Second Amendment guarantee of the right to bear arms does not apply to override state firearms bans, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit declared Jan. 28. Under the incorporation doctrine, only certain provisions of the Bill of Rights apply to the states, and the Second Amendment is one of those that does not, the Second Circuit held....

The statute at the center of this case, N.Y. Penal Law §265.01(1), provides criminal penalties for possession of a broad range of items, including weapons used in martial arts. The plaintiff was charged under the statute after police found fighting sticks, or nunchaku, in his home. He ended up pleading guilty to a different charge and then filed a lawsuit against the county prosecutor and others seeking a declaration that the law offends his Second Amendment right to bear arms.....

Arsenal

I just bought a new small camera, since I haven't been very good at carrying around my SLR.

So I took this picture just for the fun of it.

It doesn't give you the full perspective though. I think there are about 50 guns in there. They are stacked half stock down, half barrel down. The doors are a major pain to close since the guns need to be carefully set to have the doors not touch them. You also can't see a lot of the guns because they are wrapped so that when they are stacked they won't be marked.

So, let's see.

Fusil Mas-36

Steyr-Mannlicher M-95

M-1917 Enfield

M-1903-A3

Schmidt-Rubin M-1911

Mauser Gewehr-98

Mosin-Nagant M-1891

Mauser M-1896

VZ-52

Steyr-Mannlicher M-95

Topbreak 38

Ross 1905 Mk II

Krag 1912

Carcano 918 Long Rifle

Carcano 918 Carbine

M1 carbine

Mosin-Nagant 91/39

SMLE No. 1 Mk III*

Mauser M-94

Berthier Mle M-1916

MAS Mle 49-56

Lee-Enfield No.1 Mk 5

SKS

SVT-40

Krag (1896)

Roos MkII

PP-32

PP-32

SMLE No. 1 Mk III*

Webley Mk 6

Mauser Karabiner 98 A

Star B

1894 Krag

M-1897

M-1903-A1

SKS 59/66

SAFN-49

No.4 Mk 1

Lee-Enfield Carbine

Webley Mk 4

Browning Hi-power

CZ-50

Detective Special

AG-42B

TT-33

Hi Standard Supermatic Citation

Llama Extra

Makarov

M-1911

42M

Tokagypt Super 12

Hi Standard H-D military

So does this qualify as a collection or an arsenal.

Evil Rendition Policy Maintained by the ONE

Shock. The evil Bush policy of Rendition isn't going away. (Though it started under Clinton, I thought I'd just stay within the left's whining parameters.)

The CIA's secret prisons are being shuttered. Harsh interrogation techniques are off-limits. And Guantanamo Bay will eventually go back to being a wind-swept naval base on the southeastern corner of Cuba.

But even while dismantling these programs, President Obama left intact an equally controversial counter-terrorism tool.

Under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States.

Secret prison's are being shuttered, if you can find them and prove that I'd love to see the evidence not just the political bloviating. (and don't forget the exceptions.)
Harsh interrogation techniques are off limits, well, unless we think we actually need them.
GITMO being closed, with no plan on where to move the detainees, we'll see.

Sounds to me like a lot of wind and almost no real activity. So how is this all better than what we had?

The "Presidential Pledge" - Nonsense

I watched the inauguration speech and was only offended a couple of places. The "childish things" part was the worst. The arrogance of Obama to assume that the country has been childish in any context is insulting. Not that this country hasn't had huge benefit to the world and its citizens in taking responsibility to fight tyranny and injustice in places that we had no interest in. Jerk.

Now we have Hollywood types pledging to put the seat down or play nice. Personally, I wonder why they weren't capable of doing that before Obama called for the Obama Youth movement. Another pledge with that slight whiff of fascism. Kutchner gives a perfect example of what I mean:

"We are honored to be working with MySpace to rally the entertainment industry to answer President-elect Barack Obama's call to service," Kutcher said in a statement. "The 'Presidential Pledge' is a platform for people across the nation and throughout the world to make a first-person commitment of service to our new president, articulating a specific intent or action to become an agent of positive change."

I'm waiting to see some evidence that any of these spoiled brats actually perform any "first-person commitment of service." I also find it a bit creepy that they make the pledge to the president and not the country.

I watched their video and it is mostly a fluff piece. (The video can be found at the link thing above.) They should have gotten the writer's guild to think something inspiring for them to say, because they definitely come across as the lightest of light weights.

Breitbart is giving them crap as well.

Many of the celebrities that were central to demonizing and making life impossible for President Bush for eight loathsome years NOW want to help with the heavy lifting of bringing America back together under President Barack Obama.

Witness Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher’s cavalcade of shiny, happy situational patriots appearing in a derivative public servitude announcement: A “Presidential Pledge” to President Barack Obama.

Forgive and forget? Right.

President Bush was not holding back Moore from “free[ing] one million people from slavery in the next five years.” Nor was he holding back the Obama-biquitous Will.I.Am from “chang[ing] how [he] live[s].” Ditto: Aaron Ekhart (”To be a better person,”) Marisa Tomei (”To integrate into my heart what I already know in my head which is that we are all in this together,”) Kutcher (”To the abolition to 21st century slavery,”) Anthony Kiedis (”To be of service to Barack Obama,”) P. Diddy (” pledge to turn the lights off, cause I used to leave the lights on but we want to conserve energy so I’ma turn the lights off, you turn the lights off,) and all-in-unison (”Because together we can, together we are, and together we will be the change that we seek.”)

Missing are pledges not to kiss the ring of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and other pledged enemies of America. Nor are there pledges not to make movies that glorify these tyrants. Nor are there pledges to take seriously that we are at war, will continue to be at war under President Obama and that our precious and under-appreciated military is fighting an avowed and evil enemy — so that, among other things, Hollywood can continue to make decadent crap that actually motivates our enemy to fight us harder!

Nicely done. The piece is much longer and worth the time just for the perspective.

No doubt many of the Obots will be taking the pledge in some strange and sanctimonious manner.

More Inauguration Costs

Hmm. I wonder if it is true now that the AssPress is reporting it?

The price tag for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration gala is expected to break records, with some estimates reaching as high as $150 million. Despite the bleak economy, however, Democrats who called on President George W. Bush to be frugal four years ago are issuing no such demands now that an inaugural weekend of rock concerts and star-studded parties has begun.

Obama's inaugural committee has raised more than $41 million to cover events ranging from a Philadelphia-to-Washington train ride to a megastar concert with Beyonce, U2 and Bruce Springsteen to 10 official inaugural balls. Add to that the massive costs of security and transportation — costs absorbed by U.S. taxpayers — and the historic inauguration will produce an equally historic bill.

I guess it must be OK for the hypocrisy to continue. No doubt the anointing will cure all mankind's woes and make the US loved by everyone.

Well maybe Chavez didn't get the memo.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday Barack Obama had the "stench" of his predecessor as U.S. president and was at risk of being killed if he tries to change the American "empire."

Most world leaders expect a new era of U.S. foreign relations when Obama, a Democrat, is sworn in as president on Tuesday after Republican George W. Bush's eight years in the White House.

But Chavez said frayed ties with Washington were unlikely to improve despite the departure of Bush, who the Venezuelan leader has often called the "devil."

Well no doubt he is the only one unhappy. Or maybe not.

Why Blogs Get Popular

Bill Whittle:

Which brings me to the point: if the news professionals did their job the way we were told they would do their job — namely cover the facts without bias (including selection bias) and not deign to illuminate us with their superior moral sense — then there would be no need for Joe, or J.D., or Mike, or me, or Pajamas Media, or any of that.

BINGO!

This all relates to Joe the Plumber being in Israel reporting on the Gaza action. I don't believe Joe is claiming to be a journalist, but the pin-heads in the MSM and their Comedian brethren are all in a tizzy over it none the less. I love this comment from Mr. Whittle:

Joe stated that he did not think reporters should be allowed on the front lines to cover conflicts. This generated a lot of heat: some from the left, whose elitist disdain for Joe was best captured by John Stewart, sneering at him for his lapses in professionalism as he reminded all of us that a career being the primary news source for an entire generation of voters cannot be entrusted to a rank amateur like some common plumber, but must instead be vouchsafed to a person with a far nobler and serious and weighty background … a career in stand-up comedy, say.

Since John Stewart wants to comment on these actions and hide behind being a comedian, then he can be a big boy and stand up to the responses like that.

Inauguration Price Tags and Liberal Hypocrisy

You really have to love the cheers of the liberals now over their former screeches about the costs of inaugurations. Bush was the evil bastard four years ago for spending $40M but Obama is just fine with spending $50M. What a shock.

There has been little outcry over the hefty price tag so far — unlike four years ago when the cost of President Bush's second inauguration provoked liberal outrage. Salon.com described the event, in an piece by Eric Boehlert on Jan. 20, 2005, as "Bush's overblown celebration," the think tank Center for American Progress called it "lifestyles of the rich and heartless," and an article in the London Guardian by Paul Harri on January 9, 2005, said it was "an unashamed celebration of red America's victory over blue America."

No doubt the listed talking heads are all very partisan. But it is almost hypocritical to complain about one and then defend remain silent on the other.

Eric Boehlert over at Media Matters gets in a tizzy over the bloggers calling him out. You'll note that he won't discuss the fact that Obama's is just as bad as Bush's and that he will only speak to the most outrageous of estimates on the cost.

Drudge today also linked to an article I wrote at Salon four years ago chastising the press for not asking questions about the cost of the Bush 2005 inauguration ($40 million), which at the time shattered all the spending records and occurred at a time when the war in Iraq was still front-and-center. (Although it cost roughly the same, Bush's bash attracted just a fraction of the crowd expected for Obama's swearing in.)

Drudge claims my article captured the "lefty outrage" at the cost of Bush's 2005 celebration. In truth, a strong majority of Americans (66 percent, including 46 percent of Republicans) thought that, in light of the fresh fighting in Iraq, Bush's inauguration should have been more "subdued."

My favorite still his finding that the Iraq war was a disqualifier while the recession doesn't seem to be an issue with him. He also lowballs the price for Obama's inauguration at $40M while most media I've looked at place it at least at $50M.

I wonder where his equivelant study is viewing the outrage over Obama's inauguration, since he so handily throws the bush data at the reader.

Oh, and the crowd size apparently is all that matters. Though you can be quite certain that the money will be spent mostly on a very small number of people just as it was for Bush. Lot's of crowds in the cheap seats don't get you moral equivalence. Maybe he misses that point that the crowds don't change the equation by looking at his own FYI.

FYI, the $40 million figure for the Bush and Obama inaugurations is in reference to the cost of the swearing in and the activities surrounding that. The extra cost of state and federal security is not traditionally included in media references to the final tab for inaugurations. In the case of Bush in 2005, the cost of security added tens of millions of dollars on top of the final $40 million figure. The same will be true for Obama this year.

Look, it's simple. If they want to spend the money fine, no matter who the elected party is. But to call Bush a fool for all the spending and give Obama a free pass is stupidity.

International Red Cross - Whining in War

I find the International Red Cross almost as worthy of derision as the ACLU. They continually screech about proportionality with no understanding of the term and they completely fail to understand what war actually is. This is an example that proves the point.

PARIS — The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday it had discovered “shocking” scenes — including small children next to their mothers’ corpses — when its representatives gained access for the first time to parts of Gaza battered by Israeli shelling. It accused Israel of failing to meet obligations to care for the wounded in areas of combat.

In response the Israeli military did not comment directly on the allegation. In a statement, it accused Hamas, its foe in Gaza, of deliberately using “Palestinian civilians as human shields” and said the Israeli Army “works in close cooperation with international aid organizations during the fighting so that civilians can be provided with assistance.”

The Israeli military “in no way intentionally targets civilians and has demonstrated its willingness to abort operations to save civilian lives and to risk injury in order to assist innocent civilians,” the statement said, promising that “any serious allegation” wouldl “need to be investigated properly, once such a complaint is received formally, within the constraints of the current military operation.”

Because Palestinians were the ones victim to the combat, it must be Israel's fault that they weren't getting care, not that Hamas has been intentionally attacking Israel from areas directly against civilian populations. And where were the Palestinian authorities to aid their own people?

The statement said a team of four Palestine Red Crescent ambulances accompanied by Red Cross representatives made its way to Zeitoun Wednesday where it “found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.”

In another house, the statement said, the rescue team “found 15 other survivors of this attack including several wounded. In yet another house, they found an additional three corpses. Israeli soldiers posted at a military position some 80 meters away from this house ordered the rescue team to leave the area which they refused to do. There were several other positions of the Israeli Defense Forces nearby as well as two tanks.”

Hmm. Maybe I missed something, but when did a tank become an ambulance? A military has first responsibility to do their job and themselves. Then comes the civilian wounded. Of course the NYT can't have any context for the statements. They don't bother to tell what the military position was for or whether they were in an active combat situation. No doubt they will continue to ensure Israel looks bad irrespective of the realities of a situation.

No doubt Hamas is so much more reasonable a group since their rockets are hitting Israel and they don't have to assist the injured or secure the dead. Funny how the IRC seems to be missing the relevance of combat situations.

Bay Area Protests

I always love mob protests. They are so very idiotic.

A protest over the fatal shooting by a BART police officer of an unarmed man mushroomed into several hours of violence Wednesday night as demonstrators smashed storefronts and cars, set several cars ablaze and blocked streets in downtown Oakland.

The roving mob expressed fury at police and frustration over society's racial injustice. Yet the demonstrators were often indiscriminate, frequently targeting the businesses and prized possessions of people of color.

They smashed a hair salon, a pharmacy and several restaurants. Police in riot gear tried to control the crowd, but some people retreated along 14th Street and bashed cars along the way.

The mob smashed the windows at Creative African Braids on 14th Street, and a woman walked out of the shop holding a baby in her arms.

"This is our business," shouted Leemu Topka, the black owner of the salon she started four years ago. "This is our shop. This is what you call a protest?"

Nothing like destroying the local's possessions to voice your dissent. Lord knows that will teach the police a lesson.

Here's a really precious bit from one of the protesters.

"I feel like the night is going great," said Nia Sykes, 24, of San Francisco, one of the demonstrators. "I feel like Oakland should make some noise. This is how we need to fight back. It's for the murder of a black male."

Sykes, who is black, had little sympathy for the owner of Creative African Braids.

"She should be glad she just lost her business and not her life," Sykes said. She added that she did have one worry for the night: "I just hope nobody gets shot or killed."

There is a bit of turn around logic that should be delivered. Maybe someone should walk into that idiots home and destroy it and tell them they should be happy they aren't dead. Clever thing to be telling the press.

Read the rest from the example that we should all be taking from California. (or not)

More Hands Out for a Bail Out

I suppose I don't find this any more disturbing than the auto bailout. Probably this industry doesn't need a bailout though. I'm guessing their profits will always be there.

Seems everyone is lining up for a government handout, but in the case of the porn industry, you may wonder where the hands have been.

TMZ is reporting that Hustler's Larry Flynt and "Girls Gone Wild" creator Joe Francis are asking for a $5 billion federal bailout of adult entertainment because "the economy has made America's appetite for sex go limp."

The Web site claims adult DVD sales are down 22 percent in a year, numbers which are sure to deflate expectations at this weekend's AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.

I have to say I hate Larry Flynt. He's almost as big of a scum bag as the auto industry CEOs or those from the banking industry.