Say Anything Blog

For me, you have to stretch the definition of “criminal” pretty far to include someone who is perhaps a bit lazy with yard work.

Just a few days after the Interior Department decision, in what was clearly a bow to the politically correct eco types, environmentalists are crying that the Bush Administration didn’t go far enough by listing polar bears as threatened.

They want global warming laws to be part of the package:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Conservation groups returned to court to challenge Bush administration efforts to help save the polar bear, saying federal officials’ refusal to include steps against global warming violates the Endangered Species Act.

In court documents filed late Friday, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups asked a federal judge to reject Interior Department actions that were announced last week.

Can these people possibly be any more transparent?

Kassie Siegel, climate director for the CBD, said the administration’s proposal “violates both logic and the law” because it did not address the primary threat to polar bears. The listing of polar bears under the law is significant, she acknowledged, but the groups want them classified as endangered, a more serious category than threatened.

There was an ancient fable about a camel that was freezing on a cold desert night. The Bedouin owner allowed the camel to stick its nose under the tent to keep it warm. Then came the neck. Then, before he knew it, the whole camel was in the tent and Bedouin was out in the cold because of his generosity.

This action on the part of the enviros is the camel’s nose under the tent and it was graciously allowed to get there by an overly generous Interior Department’s decision to declare a non-threatened species as threatened. The politically correct enviornmentalists’ intent is clear: stop oil production and force all of us to live according to how they think we should live.

Didn’t waste any time getting under the tent, did they?

I on the original ruling two years ago, and noted that the Bush administration had appealed it.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. discriminates against blind people by printing paper money that makes it impossible for them to distinguish among the bills’ varying values, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The ruling upholds a decision by a lower court in 2006. It could force the Treasury Department to redesign its money. Suggested changes have ranged from making bills different sizes to printing them with raised markings.

The American Council for the Blind sued for such changes but the Treasury Department has been fighting the case for about six years.

“I don’t think we should have to rely on people to tell us what our money is,” said Mitch Pomerantz, the council’s president.

Can’t wait to find out how much this is going to cost taxpayers. 

And no, I’m not being cold hearted.  America’s population is about 300,000,000.  Of that number, there are about 1.3 million people who are legally blind.  Of course, being legally blind doesn’t necessarily mean you cannot see at all (I once knew a guy who was legally blind who drove his own car, though not legally of course) so I don’t know how many of that number are totally blind.  But even if all 1.3 million are they still only represent 0.4% of our entire population.

Does anyone really think it’s a good idea to spend the hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars it will take to revamp our currency just to comply with this judge’s ruling in favor of less than one half of one percent of our entire population?  It sounds like lunacy to me, especially in light of the federal government’s other more pressing problems.  Like the massive federal deficit and several behemoth entitlement programs that are set to implode in coming years.

Also, i’s worth noting that the President of the National Federation of the Blind has come out against changing the currency for the sake of the blind.

That’s right, the AARP of all organizations is rallying opposition to initiated measures to create an oil trust fund in the state and cut personal/business income taxes.

The organized campaign to pass a permanent oil tax trust fund into the state’s constitution could meet some big organized opposition this fall.

North Dakota’s 86,000-member strong AARP branch has been reaching out to other groups across the state to form a coalition against that measure.

The coalition also is being organized to combat two other potential ballot measures that are in the petition stage: a statute change that would cut personal income taxes by 50 percent and a constitutional change that would restrict government spending growth to the inflation rate.

Linda Wurtz of the AARP said her group’s opposition to the measures is rooted in the organization’s nationwide policy to oppose setting tax policy in a state’s constitution. A similar measure in Colorado has had negative consequences on that state, she said.

“You can’t predict now what kind of situation your legislators will face in two years or 10 years,” Wurtz said.

What’s really going on here is the AARP is the nation’s biggest, baddest proponent of entitlement spending, and if the state cuts taxes or diverts funds into an oil trust fund that’s lest money for the group to lobby for.  Put simply, the AARP doesn’t want you to keep more of your money.  The AARP wants the government to have that money so that the politicians the AARP lobbies can spend it as the AARP sees fit.

You’ll remember that this is the organization which opposes any effort to fix the Social Security boondoggle and supported the expansion of Medicare to include a prescription drug entitlement.

What’s really troubling about the group, however, is that it lobbies for increased entitlements for a core constituency that pays little or nothing in taxes in the first place.  Most retirees don’t pay much in the way of income taxes or payroll taxes, so when the AARP demands massive new entitlements it’s not the group’s membership that will be paying for them.

Which is exactly why the AARP doesn’t want to see a cut in state income taxes.  The group’s membership doesn’t really pay those taxes.

Rove is right.  She is the stronger candidate, but is invoking Rove really the way to win the Democrat nomination?

What a ditz.

Ms. Venkatesan’s scholarly specialty is “science studies,” which, as she wrote in a journal article last year, “teaches that scientific knowledge has suspect access to truth.” She continues: “Scientific facts do not correspond to a natural reality but conform to a social construct.”

After a winter of discontent, the snapping point came while Ms. Venkatesan was lecturing on “ecofeminism,” which holds, in part, that scientific advancements benefit the patriarchy but leave women out. One student took issue, and reasonably so – actually, empirically so. But “these weren’t thoughtful statements,” Ms. Venkatesan protests. “They were irrational.” The class thought otherwise. Following what she calls the student’s “diatribe,” several of his classmates applauded.

Ms. Venkatesan informed her pupils that their behavior was “fascist demagoguery.” Then, after consulting a physician about “intellectual distress,” she cancelled classes for a week. Thus the pending litigation....

As I said, what a ditz.  She doesn’t teach she bullies and when someone stands up for what’s right rather than defend her position she quits and sues the students.  People like this are unfitted to be in education business or pretty much any business I could think of. 

In Minnesota:

In an attempt to report about the new findings from the Department of Education, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS went to Tarik ibn Zayad Academy in Inver Grove Heights.

While on school grounds, our crew was attacked by school officials. Our photographer was injured while wrestling with the two men over the camera.

OK, this is a state funded private school.  The State Department of Education investigated and found they were breaking the law by teaching religion in a public school.  The TV station goes to do a followup news story and the reporters get mugged.

I was reading on Ed Morrisey’s post that the Minneapolis Star and Tribune has done some good work on this issue.  The reporter was rewarded with a petition by other “journalists” to fire her for her work.  After all we can’t hold Islam to the same rules we hold Catholics.  You know who I’d be firing. 

Back on the issue, is there any reason now for the state of Minnesota to fund this religious indoctrination center?  Look to the state government and Tim Pawlenty to try to do nothing. 

*Sigh* I see Rob beat me to the story.

Great news: the Coalition Forces in Iraq are on pace to report the lowest monthly casualties since the Iraq War began. This is testament to the success of the surge, and the political and military progress made by the Maliki government. Is this an 'acceptable' level of casualties? There is no such thing. It is unacceptable that the enemy continues to have the ability to inflict injury and death, and we have to work smarter to make sure the bloodshed ends. However, the war, as such is over.

Last December, I said "let's see if the trend actually holds. Six more months of this (just one more Friedman Unit), and I am convinced that the war is over in all but name." Well, that Friedman Unit has come and gone, Basra has been pacified, Mookie al-Sadr is cowering, and tremendous political progress and reconciliation in Iraq has been achieved. Things have gone so well that not even Nancy Pelosi can suspend disbelief any longer.

The Iraq War is over, and we have won a crushing victory. There will continue to be casualties, but the conflict is no longer a 'war' but a terror campaign. To call it a 'war' implies that our enemies are 'warriors', an appellation they do not deserve.

Crossposted from Ken McCracken

I’ve been hearing an endless number of ads on the radio for Byron Dorgan’s (and “Republican” Governor John Hoeven’s!) energy summit in Bismarck featuring some guy who won the Nobel Prize for something or the other.

I don’t really care what Dorgan has to say at the summit, but since he’s here in North Dakota waving the “energy” banner about perhaps it’s time for some enterprising reporter at a state media outlet to ask the Senator a few tough questions.

Like “Why, if you support lower gas prices and moving America away from foreign oil, did you vote against an amendment in the Senate that would have opened up a small portion of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration?”

Or “Why, if you really want cheaper gas and less foreign oil, did you vote as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to kill legislation that would have allowed the exploration and exploitation of oil shale deposits in Colorado?”

Or even “Why do you support drilling for oil in North Dakota if you don’t think we should drill for oil in Alaska or Colorado?”

These are perfectly legitimate and topical questions for the Senator, and it’d be interesting to see him squirm as he answers them.  Sadly, though, I don’t think there’s a reporter in North Dakota interested in asking the Senator any tough questions.

But this didn’t happen in Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan but rather in Minnesota.

Troubling to say the least.  I’m all for being tolerant of other cultures and religions, but Muslims are going to have to learn that freedom means freedom in America.  That means that not only are you generally free to do as you please within the confines of our laws but you also must tolerate others doing as they please.  Up to and including criticizing you and your beliefs/culture.

That’s not very “PC” by modern standards, but that is the principle upon which this country was founded.

Interesting:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is entering the Kentucky and Oregon primaries on Tuesday with one of the most pugnacious political messages of her campaign: That she is ahead in the national popular vote when all votes are counted, including from the unsanctioned primaries in Michigan and Florida, and that party leaders who have a vote as super-delegates should reflect this level of appeal.

I think this speaks to the swing state problem Obama is going to have.  He’s probably going to win the Democrat nomination, but when he does he’ll have won it without support from Florida and Michigan - key swing states both - that not only would probably have pushed the contest in Hillary’s direction but are probably going to influence the general election.

When you add that in with Obama’s weakness in places like Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania you begin to see the problem.  Obama doesn’t have broad support from moderate Democrats, or even moderate Americans in general.  And without that kind of support he’s not going to win a general election.

Heck, were it not for Florida and Michigan having to sit this primary season out he might not even have the Democrat nomination.

Because in the mainstream media there’s no such thing as good economic news.  Unless a Democrat is President, naturally.

Forecasters downgraded their projections for economic growth. They now predict the economy, which grew by 2.2 percent last year, will slow to 1.4 percent this year. That’s lower than the 1.8 percent growth projected in February. If the new figure proves correct, it would mark the weakest growth since the last recession in 2001.

So we’re in a recession...because the economy is projected to grow at an admittedly slow 1.4%.  Do these economic reporters even know what a recession is?  It’s commonly defined by economists as two or more consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.  We haven’t even hit one quarter of negative growth yet, nor are we predicted to.

Do you know what you call an economy that has continued to grow even amidst all the furor about the housing and credit markets and the media sensationalism that has gone along with it?

Resilient.

Glad it’s not my money! Yet.

The massive child welfare operation that began in early April with a state raid of a West Texas ranch owned by a polygamous sect cost nearly $7.5 million in the first 19 days, according to records from Gov. Rick Perry’s office....

And the costs are likely to grow; it could be a year before Child Protective Services and the courts sort out whether the children — removed because of what state officials say is a pattern of abuse — can return to their parents.

Sort out?  I mean they had a valid reason to raid the compound right?  Now they’re going to screw around for a year until they decide that some families weren’t abusing their kids can have their kids back.

Assuming that any of these families are clean, I hope they sue the pants off of Governor Perry and every other head of an agency and what not in Texas.  The people of Texas should be outraged as well for the incompetence of the authorities here.

If crimes have been committed, where are the arrests and indictments?

By inadvertently pointing out that farmers have a 19% gross profit margin in addition to all the subsidies (via email).

WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Grassley today encouraged Iowans who work for major food manufacturers to make their voices heard in opposition to a national smear campaign against ethanol.

“A national association employing high-priced Washington, DC, spin doctors has launched a misleading and disingenuous assault on ethanol,” Grassley said. “The facts are that biofuels are a very small factor in rising grocery costs and just 19 cents of every food dollar spent by consumers goes to farmers. I’m calling on companies who are members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association to protest the trade association’s target and tactics. Every employee of these member companies can join in. We’ve got to speak truth to power and fight back against this smear campaign.”

Personally, I wouldn’t care if every single car in this country ran on ethanol.  I’ve got nothing against the fuel itself.  But what drives me nuts is the insistence by people like Senator Grassley that ethanol is the future, and if we don’t subsidize/mandate it endlessly we’re going to be in trouble.

As far as I’m concerned, if ethanol can’t sustain itself in an open energy market without subsidies then it isn’t the right fuel for America.  Period.  And while I’m willing to listen to arguments about ethanol’s limited role in food prices, I find them unconvincing.  Fuel crops are diverting food away from grocery markets and using up land that could be used for food crops.  The mandates and subsidies for ethanol have made the market inflexible, and that’s hurting everybody.

And rightfully so, I think.  She should disclose her tax records.

But it is curious to see Democrats going after Cindy McCain even as Obama claims his wife’s campaign speeches are off-limits.

Well, it’s certainly a change I guess.  Though at this point I’d say it’s more likely that the doddering old fool just doesn’t want to back a loser.

Here’s that picture of the Obama rally in Portland that the liberals are all in vapors about:

My reaction?  Yawn.

It’s Portland.  It’s not exactly surprising that a liberal like Obama would draw a big crowd in one of the biggest urban centers of the Pacific Northwest.

Someone wake me up when Obama can draw a crowd like that in a swing state like Pennsylvania or Kentucky.  Though that’s got about as much chance of happening as Bill and Hillary sharing a bed together.

Barack Obama is a liberal.  The most liberal Democrat in the US Senate, in fact, and every Democrat who has been elected to the White House since Lyndon Johnson has done so by campaigning as a moderate.

Meanwhile, Barry spends most of his days trying to explain why he chose Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright as a mentor and why rural Americans are gun-and-god clinging bigots.

Those things may not matter in Portland, but they do matter in Ohio and Pennsylvania.  And Portland alone isn’t going to elect anyone to the White House.

You know, that has dozens of teachers and administrators under arrest and/or under investigation?

Well, it would have been a bigger story if it had involved Catholic Priests or Republicans instead of unionized educators.

Which Iraq going well and the economy not doing anywhere near as bad as the liberals and their mouthpieces in the media would have us believe, what are Democrats going to campaign on this election season?

Cops are refusing to pay traffic camera fines in Maryland.

Among the thousands of drivers who have been issued $40 fines after being nabbed by Montgomery County’s new speed cameras are scores of county police officers. The difference is, many of the officers are refusing to pay.

If they don’t have to pay them, why should we?