The world turned upside down

I don’t know which is more bizarre, me posting an uncritical link to a Maureen Dowd column, or Dowd penning a column taking the One to task for his, incompetence lackluster performance as President.  I mean, Dowd is even more left than fellow NYTimes columnist Bob Herbert, who incidentally ripped the Prez in his column (called him a liar more or less) on Obamacare.

Oh, and blue state governors are unhappy as well.

But at least the Obama team is keeping us safe.  Just ask Janet Napolitano.

The Great Uniter

Hey, got to give credit where credit is due.  Obama promised to unite the country and it looks like that has now been achieved–at least the left and right are coming together more and more these days.  In opposition to Obamacare.  But still…

But once again we see that the wonders of ObamaCare seem not so wonderful to liberals. They don’t like the idea of consumers being forced to buy health-insurance policies from big, bad insurance companies. They don’t like the idea of smacking middle-class employees who managed to obtain generous health-care plans from their employers. And you don’t hear too many of them cheering for the massive cuts in Medicare. (Liberals always told us our society was to be judged by how generously we treat the old and sick.)  So why did all those Democrats vote for this thing? Ah, it was historic!

Only rare pieces of legislation attract opponents as diverse as does ObamaCare. But this is what comes from passing something, anything, in a mad holiday rush with the purpose of delivering a political “win” for the White House and avoiding a humiliating failure for the Democratic congressional leadership. But as the Left and Right discover what’s in that legislation, there may in fact be a broad consensus building over the need to just start over. There has got to be something that makes more sense than this.

In the words of another famous liberal (Joni Mitchell) “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone…”

How high’s the water, mama?

Well, I don’t know about the water, but the ice is thick on the streets this morning.  We got maybe a half inch of snow yesterday which wouldn’t be a problem.  Unfortunately, with the temps being in the single digits Fahrenheit, any snow melted with chemicals or tire friction is now good ol’ fashioned ice.

Ain’t no way I’m driving on that slippery slope outside my apartment.  No way, no how.

So I’m *ahem* reluctantly taking the day off work.

It’s A Wonderful Lie

Who can forget that great holiday classic with Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey?  Well, courtesy of Iowa Hawk, we get this year’s remake “It’s A Wonderful Bill”.  Enjoy it here.

Oh, and if you are wondering why you don’t see much of the original “It’s a Wonderful Life” on television, well you can thank our friends in Congress for that too.

Man, I would have preferred a lump of coal to that Obamacare bill, but I guess with greenhouse emissions and all that wouldn’t have been political correct.

Ah well.

Merry Christmas to all!

Season’s greetings from Korea, to my family and “fringe” readers.  Wishing everyone, including Catholics, people under the age of 30, Democrats, blacks, muslims and a significant portion of the other minorities including the asian women that do or do not think and act like Michele Malkin) and most especially all you angry scared middle age white men, best wishes for a happy holiday.  And if I left anyone out, Merry Christmas to you too!

I had a house full of Koreans over for a Christmas dinner last night.  Ribeye steaks have become my traditional feast staple in Korea it seems.  I cooked them to near perfection (comparatively speaking, meaning not blackened) and my guests appeared to enjoy them.  I was also pleased that my famous Aunt Pat’s recipe fruit salad was a big hit as well.

This evening I will spend some time with my Dolce Vita family and enjoy a turkey dinner and probably some darts as well.  Hey, I’m easy to please.

I do especially miss being with my children and grandkids on this special day but distance and time never lessen the love I hold for them in my heart.  Thinking of you all!

You can’t handle the truth

Channeling Colonel Jessup, Tigerhawk reminds why Obamacare is a killer…

Senator, we live in a world that has patients, and those patients have to be treated with technology. Who’s gonna invent, develop it, and build it? You, Senator Sanders? You, Senator Reid? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for high health care costs, and you curse new medical technology. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That new medical technology, while expensive, saves lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about in front of cameras or in committee hearings, you want me on that production line, you need me on that production line. We use words like innovation, quality, and safety. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent helping injured people. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and walks by virtue of the very medical technology that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a biomedical engineering degree, and get to work inventing better medical devices. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Dismissed!

Obama’s pen pal

Well, the One has sent a missive to the One in North Korea.  No word on the contents as yet, but the assumption is Obama is begging Kim to return to the six nation talks to denuclearize the DPRK.  Good luck with that.

I’m guessing the Prez did his usual grovel about America’s past sins and promised an enhanced goody bag in return for promises the NORKs won’t keep.  In other words, business as usual.
Man, I would love to see these guys get into a classic “mine is bigger than yours” contest.  Those egos are both so massive it would be a tough call on who would be prevail.

‘Tis the season

Well, this rather unique and creative Christmas decorating idea has been making the rounds on the ‘net, facebook, and email.  I guess that makes it pretty much inevitable that it would wind up here on LTG as well.  Just remember, you saw it here LAST!

xmas.jpg

A guy that works for Federal Air Marshalls in the states had an unusual Christmas decoration.

He said the bad news was that he had to take it down after 2 days. He had more people come screaming up to his house than ever.  Two things made him take it down:  First, the police advised him that it would cause traffic accidents – they told him they almost wrecked when they drove by. Second, a 55 year-old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against his house and didn’t realize it was fake until she climbed to the top. She was one of many people who attempted to do that.  His yard couldn’t take it either. He has more than a few tire tracks where people drove up into his yard.”

Same Time, Next Year

So, I happened upon a movie I quite fancy on YouTube.  Yeah, it’s a just silly romantic comedy starring Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn, but I’m a sap for romance.  Plus, the theme song by Johnny Mathis and Jane Oliver is worth the price of admission.

Actually, the price of admission is free here at LTG.  ‘Cause I am posting the links to each 10 minute chunk right here.  Enjoy!

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

part 7

part 8
part 9

part 10

part 11

part 12

part 13

Th-th-th-that’s all folks!

What are they afraid of?

I mentioned in the previous post that the global warming zealots want anyone with questions to “shut the hell up”.  Now, comes news from the Copenhagen climate conference that journalists who persist in asking inconvenient questions will be silenced with the help of armed U.N. thugs.

I guess there are worse fates than being forcibly silenced.  Here’s the reaction a commenter got when he questioned the faith (it is a religion you know) of an AGW true believer:

I have zero respect for you people and I hope you all contract cancer and die painful and slow deaths.

Well Jacob, that’s about the only way you’ll get me to shut up.

What is it you don’t want us to find out?

The truth will set you free

It is beginning to look more and more like the frenzied effort at damage control in the wake of revelations of questionable scientific practices regarding climate change is failing.  Even the MSM (in this case CBS) is reporting on the apparent conflicts of interest amongst leading proponents of AGW who are receiving millions in grants and government funding that would be at risk should another cause of the recent warming trend be discovered.

As the science scandal known as ClimateGate grows, the largest U.S. physicists’ association is finding itself roiled by internal dissent and allegations of conflict of interest over a forthcoming review of its position statement on man-made global warming.

“It is Socolow whose entire research funding stream, well over a million dollars a year, depends on continued alarm over global warming,” says William Happer, a fellow Princeton University professor and head of the Happer physics lab who has raised the question of a conflict of interest. The reason: the ostensibly neutral person charged with evaluating a statement endorsing man-made global warming is a leading proponent of precisely that theory whose funding is tied to that theory.

Petr Chylek, a fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and an adjunct professor at New Mexico State University, said in an open letter that climate scientists “have substituted the search for truth with an attempt at proving one point of view.” And 141 scientists have signed a statement at CopenhagenClimateChallenge.org that says actual evidence of human-caused global warming is lacking and “unproven computer models of climate are not acceptable substitutes for real world data obtained through unbiased and rigorous scientific investigation.”

The point I’d like to emphasize is that questioning the scientific methods and integrity of AGW proponents does not make you a climate change heretic skeptic.  And although the zealots for global warming want the rest of us to “shut the hell up”, true science demands that the inquiry continue.