Money corrupts, and government money corrupts absolutely

This is the the professional description of physicist Harold Lewis:

Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; Former member Defense Science Board, chmn of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on Nuclear Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Former member, President's Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman APS study on Nuclear Reactor Safety Chairman Risk Assessment Review Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former member USAF Scientific Advisory Board


On October 6, 2010, Harold Lewis resigned his membership in the American Physical Society (APS), a membership he had maintained for sixty-seven years.  His reason?  The APS position on climate change/global warming, and the way funding has forced or coerced scientists into endorsing the manmade global warming theory.  In his letter to APS president Curtis Callan, Lewis wrote the following passage:


"It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford's book organizes the facts very well.) I don't believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion."


In it's response to Lewis's charges, the APS denied that, as an organization, it benefits financially.  They also said that the society maintains the highest ethical standards because, well, it maintains the highest ethical standards. 

"If it's not close, they can't cheat"

"If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It" is a book Hugh Hewitt wrote a few months prior to the 2004 Presidential election.  He wrote it in response to the Democrat shenanigans that went on in various areas during the previous two campaigns in 2000 and 2002.

Six years later Hewitt's point seems more relevant than ever.  In an election which many are calling historically important -- the complete direction and role of government is at stake -- Democrats have managed to find ways around rules, ways that are breathtakingly arrogant and audacious.

In Nevada, some early voters who intended to vote for Republican Sharon Angle found that after they submitted their vote, Democrat Harry Reid's name was already checked.  This happened not once, but several times. Election officials deny any fraud was committed, and made excuses.

In related news, it turns out that, interestingly enough, voting machine technicians in Nevada are members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  The SEIU has been a major Democrat supporter and donor, donating millions of dollars to Democrat candidates and causes.  Former SEIU head Andy Stern was Obama's most frequent White House guest in 2009, and White House political Director Patrick Gaspard is a former SEIU lobbyist.

In North Carolina, a man tried to vote a straight Republican ticket, but got the opposite result.  He tried four times, and every time his vote showed a straight Democrat ticket.

Then of course, there's the case of First Lady Michelle Obama violating Illinois state law by electioneering in a polling place.  While not an earth-shaking action in itself, it's an indication of what people on the Democrat side perceive as permissible.  The Democrat-controlled Chicago Board of Elections refused to investigate the matter.

In the "not-quite-cheating but it might as well be" department:

A week before election day, a federal appeals court voted 2-1 to strike down an Arizona law requiring people to provide proof of citizenship before they can vote.  Arizona, of course, has a huge illegal immigrant problem.  Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett disagreed with the decision (and plans to appeal.) He compared the ruling to allowing passengers to pass through airport security unchecked as long as they sign a paper saying they're not terrorists.

As it turns out, Democrats have catered to the illegal population, so it's not a stretch to say that the federal court (of which former Supreme Court Justice and infamous Liberal Sandra Day O'Connor is a member) added significantly to the Democrat voter roles.

Incidentally, you have to show a photo ID to buy some cold medicines.  

It looks like it's time for another edition of Hewitt's book.

The Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Obama Conundrum

Which Obama are we getting these days?  The Obama of 2004:



or the Obama of 2010:
"We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends"

Latro, Ergo Sum #5

"I rant, therefore I am."

Lately I find myself becoming outraged by an unusually large number of things. Here is a partial list of things that outrage me:

1. People's egos preventing anything from getting done.
2. Actual, tangible bigotry.
3. Someone using "racism" as an excuse so they don't have to make their argument.
4. Politicians who lie and who are so arrogant that they don't care if we know they're lying.
5. Being forced to spend money on something I didn't think I'd have to spend money on.
6. Planned and designed obsolescence in electronics.
7. Cats who barf in unexpected places.
8. People who make my children's lives harder.
9. The high cost of razors.
10. Deceptive pricing in stores.
11. Not being able to compare apples to apples when shopping for insurance or investments.
12. Waitng 45 minutes after showing up on time for a doctor's appointment.
13. People who don't answer their phones.
14. Dealing with the consequences of getting old.
15. Not being good at something I used to be good at.
16. Waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep.
17. Grammar nazis.
18. Quizzes that cheat.
19. Sitting at the keyboard when the words won't come.
20. Having a million story ideas and realizing that most of them will never see daylight.
21. Having an idea for something that I have absolutely no clue how to execute.
22. Coming up with an original idea for something only to find out that other people have known about it for years.
23. When a celebrity says something incredibly stupid and I have no way to tell them how stupid they are.
24. Losing tools.
25. When things I used to like become things I don't like anymore.
26. Consistently bad service at a business I have to patronize.

Okay, that's enough for now.  As you were.

Whaddaya know?

"There's no such thing as shovel-ready projects." - Barack Obama, in a recent interview with New York Times magazine.


This after Obama and the Democrats touted "shovel-ready jobs" for months to sell their stimulus bill to the public in 2009. I guess, as Ron Ziegler would have put it (and did,) those statements are "inoperative." 

I hate always being right

From a story in no-friend-to-Conservatives Time Magazine:  "With the exception of core Obama Administration loyalists, most politically engaged elites have reached the same conclusions: the White House is in over its head, isolated, insular, arrogant and clueless about how to get along with or persuade members of Congress, the media, the business community or working-class voters. This view is held by Fox News pundits, executives and anchors at the major old-media outlets, reporters who cover the White House, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and governors, many Democratic business people and lawyers who raised big money for Obama in 2008, and even some members of the Administration just beyond the inner circle."

Other People Say Smart Stuff, Too - Part XXIII (Genius edition)

An absolutely brilliant quote from Dick Armey, on being told that Obama stimulus checks had been sent to dead and incarcerated people:  "Well, we knew that Democrats would use stimulus funds to repay those who voted them into office."