Ted Kennedy Lied Re: Waterboarding

Use Pause button as necessary.

Sweet Jesus, What a Bunch of Morons

Congress close to raising fuel economy standards



If these go up, guess who pays for the manufacturing upgrades? You guessed it, the consumer. Open up your wallets wide, here come the Demoscum!

Is this news? I guess so. Jennifer Love McCall

Full Story

She is about as intelligent as a rock. Congratulations and good luck with that.

Et tu, Youtube?

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Recently, The New York Times did an analysis of the “face time” the various candidates received through midsummer on all networks and cable outlets. The distinguished historian Dan Carter dug a little deeper into the Times’ data, comparing the amount of interview time all candidates received on just CNN and Fox. Carter’s finding: On CNN, it was precisely six hours and two minutes for the Democrats and exactly the same for Republicans. On Fox, the news reporters and hosts interviewed Republicans for 12 hours and six minutes and Democrats for 1 hour and 36 minutes. Fair and balanced, indeed.

Posted on Gil's blog titled Fox math: When 12 equals 1

Ok, now here is the truth. (It took me awhile to come by this informaton)

As you can see from the graph, CNN and MSNBC both give the Democratic candidates the most face time (with the exception of Jigga-Who? Duncan Hunter) and Fox News does give the most face time to the Republican candidates. I find that very fair and balanced, since it's two on one.

Boy, old Gil sure isn't a Christmas tree expert

O Christmas tree…
…how dead are your branches?

WGAL is doing a piece on people buying Christmas trees right about now. And the Intell had a bit this morning about how customers are “swarming” county farms.

I don’t understand. It’s Nov. 24. There are more than four weeks until Christmas. Are any of these trees going to have a single needle left come Dec. 25?

Source

Life of Christmas Tree
When you get your tree home and before you bring it inside, cut at least 1 inch on a small slant off the bottom. This creates an open "wound" that the trees root system can take water through. As long as you keep the bottom of the tree and the entire cut area filled with water, you should get a good solid month out of the tree before it starts to dry out and lose its needles.

Source

The Capitol Christmas Tree Cutting Ceremony appears to have been held November 18th.

Source

LOL! Why is this guy using up LNP's bandwidth? What a waste!

Democrats' tone shifts on Iraq

As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health care and the economy.

Full Story in the New York Times

My Lousy Newspaper Career, by Gil Smart

Family and Thanksgiving by Gil Smart Nov. 25, 2007

Assistant news editor Gil Smart's "Smart Remarks" have been appearing in the Sunday News since 1998, but he's actually been writing the column on and off since 1987, when it first appeared in the La Roche College (Pittsburgh) student newspaper "The Crossover." A 1989 La Roche grad, Smart worked for the Cranberry Journal and North Journal newspapers in suburban Pittsburgh from 1989 to 1994, and came to the Sunday News in July 1994. He, his wife Kimberly, son Alex and daughter Anabelle live in East Hempfield Township.

Source

Could Gil be referring to Greg Smart, his brother, charged in 1991 with possession of marijuana (misdemeanor) and paraphernalia in Allegheny county?

Daughter of Marv Adams of LNP Doesn't Want to be Seen with Him

Daughter Abigail, 11, is growing up fast, too fast, and I'm becoming an embarrassment to her, much too fast. She no longer wants to hold my hand when we cross streets. She tells me:

"I don't want anyone to know I'm with you."

Source

Can anyone blame her? I can't.

Media Bullshit on Scott McClellan Falls Apart

Full Story

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said last night that the president ``has not and would not ask anyone to pass on false information.'' She directed reporters to call McClellan, saying he believes the excerpts were taken ``out of context.''

McClellan didn't return a phone call and an e-mail requesting comment.

McClellan doesn't suggest that Bush deliberately lied to him about Libby's and Rove's involvement in the leak, said Peter Osnos, founder and editor-in-chief of Public Affairs Books, which is publishing McClellan's memoir next year.

``He told him something that wasn't true, but the president didn't know it wasn't true,'' Osnos said in a telephone interview. ``The president told him what he thought to be the case.''

In an interview with CNN in March, McClellan said he had said what he ``believed to be true at the time'' and ``it was also what the president believed to be true at the time, based on assurances that we were both given.''

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be thankful that Gil's column doesn't come out until Sunday.

Case Dismissed, Get Over It Nimrods

Plame case dismissed

Armitage admits leaking Plame's identity

Get over it!

Bye Bye Blanco

RNC Chairman Congratulates Louisiana Republicans on 2007 Gains

WASHINGTON – RNC Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan released the following statement today on the Louisiana elections:

“Today represented a continuation of October’s Republican victories in Louisiana. Voters made it crystal clear that they had had enough of Democrat ineffectiveness when they elected Bobby Jindal and gave him an almost entirely Republican cabinet to work with. Now they’ve sent the same message at the state legislative level by sending more Republicans to Baton Rouge to work with Governor Jindal on his positive agenda for Louisiana. I’m proud of the RNC for its role in Louisiana’s 2007 victories, but more importantly, I’m eager to see Governor Jindal and his Republican partners enact their ambitious agenda for the people of Louisiana.”

Source

CodePink heckles Hillary

Full Story

Video

Kumbaya and its racist connotations, Gil cares more about Americans than Arabs

Then maybe we could all join hands and sing "Kumbaya."

From a recent column by Gil Smart.

Surprising since he has harped on and on about racism in Lititz. Now he is referencing a song that literally makes fun of the way Africans and/or Southerners talk.

Kumbaya originated with the Gullah, an African-American people living on the Sea Islands and adjacent coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia.

Translated from its Gullah dialect, it means "Come by Here". "Kumbayah" is the phonetic result.

Gil's November 18th Column

Gil's Column

Things Are Just Starting to Heat Up

Click Graph to Enlarge

Isn't it good that Democrats were elected last November so that they could cap this and take care of the rising gas prices? Thanks Dems!

Idiots Still Touting "Global Warming" Hoax Today

The IPCC released its "Climate Change 2007" report today.



As you can see, the global temperature has gone up a whopping 1 degree celsius and sea levels have risen by about 150mm. A little less than half a foot. This was over the course of three decades.

It should come as no surprise that the IPCC is not comprised of scientists. Its own site states "The IPCC was established to provide the decision-makers and others interested in climate change with an objective source of information about climate change. The IPCC does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters."

Diamonds or Pearls?

Unbelievable Story

CNN Plays Softball, Opts to End Debate With 'Diamonds-or-Pearls' Question

San Diego Wildfire Cause Determined: Largest Contributor Was Power Lines

Full Story



Note: Previous stories have announced another cause as arson. Only Harry Reid and environmentalist wackos think that the cause was global warming.

Mrs. Planter, How You Doin'?

Howard Dean, how is that gas price thing working out?

Pump price to jump twenty cents in next two to three weeks

Pakistan isn't Iran

Pakistan isn't Iran

Michael Shank, government relations adviser, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University - Arlington, Va.

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., believes that Pakistan in 2007 is similar to how Iran was in the late 1970s. The senator is exhibiting an unfortunate lack of knowledge vis-à-vis Pakistan ("Biden warns that Pakistan's crisis is more dangerous than Iran's '70s upheaval," On Politics, USATODAY.com, Thursday).

Biden believes that because Iran overthrew a corrupt, U.S.-backed leader and reinstated a conservative religious regime, that Pakistanis will similarly overthrow the inept, U.S.-sponsored President Pervez Musharraf and install a religious leadership. This won't happen. Religious political parties never have ranked high in Pakistan's public opinion. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, the only Muslim political party that is extreme enough to mimic what happened in Iran, won only 11.3% of the vote in Pakistan's last election.

Also, most of the street protests in Pakistan are not religiously affiliated. Many of my colleagues protesting in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad are secularly minded university faculty and students, human rights activists, architects and artists. This is not Iran in the 1970s.

Moderates in Pakistan, of which there are many, should be supported. Musharraf should not be.

Source

What did Gil leave out this time?

Gil's Nov 11, 2007 column

"In the long run, the only way to defeat the terrorists is freedom ... during the Cold War there were loud voices in Washington that argued in favor of accommodation with the Soviet Union. Because they believed the watchword of our policy should be stability. The watchword of our policy should be freedom."

Source

In the long run, the only way to defeat the terrorists is to advance freedom as the great alternative to radicalism and repression. We can have confidence in this cause because we have seen the power of liberty to transform nations and secure peace before. Here at the Heritage Foundation, you understand this better than most. During the Cold War, there were loud voices in Washington who argued for accommodation of the Soviet Union -- because they believed the watchword of our policy should be "stability." At Heritage, you knew that when it came to the Soviet Union, the watchword of our policy should be "freedom."

Hopefully, someone will also inform Mr. Smart that Pakistan is not traditionally considered part of "the Middle East". According to Wikipedia, it is a country in South Asia.

A Youtube video to make Bill Clinton's head spin

Democrats: A Failure to Lead

Full Story



A Failure to Lead
The Democratic Congress is more interested in acting out than in taking positive action.

BY KARL ROVE
Friday, November 9, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST



This week is the one-year anniversary of Democrats winning Congress. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid probably aren't in a celebrating mood. The goodwill they enjoyed after their victory is gone. Their bright campaign promises are unfulfilled. Democratic leadership is in disarray. And Congress's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point in history.

The problems the Democrats are now experiencing begin with the federal budget. Or rather, the lack of one. In 2006, Democrats criticized Congress for dragging its feet on the budget and pledged that they would do better. Instead, they did worse. The new fiscal year started Oct. 1--five weeks ago--but Democrats have yet to send the president a single annual appropriations bill. It's been at least 20 years since Congress has gone this late in passing any appropriation bills, an indication of the mess the Pelosi-Reid Congress is now in.

Even worse, the Democrats have made clear all their talk about "fiscal discipline" is just that--talk. They're proposing to spend $205 billion more than the president has proposed over the next five years. And the opening wedge of this binge is $22 billion more in spending proposed for the coming year. Only in Washington could someone in public life be so clueless to say, as Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi have, that $22 billion is a "relatively small" difference.

Let's also be clear about what it means to roll back the president's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, as the Democrats want to do. Every income-tax payer will pay more as all tax rates rise. Families will pay $500 more per child as they lose the child tax credit. Taxes on small businesses would go up by an average of about $4,000. Retirees will pay higher taxes on investment retirement income. And now we have the $1 trillion tax increase proposed as "tax reform" by the Democrats' chief tax writer last month.

Failing to pass a budget, proposing a huge spike in federal spending and offering the biggest tax increase in history are not the only hallmarks of this Democratic Congress.

Beholden to MoveOn.org and other left-wing groups, Democratic leaders have ignored the progress made in Iraq by the surge, diminished the efforts of our military, and wasted precious time with failed attempts to force an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. They continue to try to implement this course, which would lead to chaos in the region, the creation of a possible terror state with the third largest oil reserves in the world, and a major propaganda victory for Osama bin Laden as well as for Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.

After promising on the campaign trail to "support our troops," Democrats tried to cut off funding for our military while our soldiers and Marines are under fire from the enemy. For 19 Senate Democrats, this was simply a bridge too far, so they voted against their own leadership's proposal. Democrats also tried to stuff an emergency war-spending bill with billions of dollars of pork for individual members. Now the party's leaders are stalling an emergency supplemental bill with funding for body armor, bullets and mine-resistant vehicles.

After pledging a "Congress that strongly honors our responsibility to protect our people from terrorism," Democrats have refused to make permanent reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that the Director of National Intelligence said were needed to close "critical gaps in our intelligence capability." Their presidential candidates fell all over each other in a recent debate to pledge an end to the Terrorist Surveillance Program. Then Senate Democratic leaders, thinking there was an opening for political advantage, slow-walked the confirmation of Judge Michael Mukasey to be the next attorney general. It's obvious that this is a man who knows the important role the Justice Department plays in the war on terror. Delaying his confirmation is only making it harder to prosecute the war.

Democrats promised "civility and bipartisanship." Instead, they stiff-armed their Republican colleagues, refused to include them in budget negotiations between the two houses, and have launched more than 400 investigations and made more than 675 requests for documents, interviews or testimony. They refused a bipartisan compromise on an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, instead wasting precious time sending the president a bill they knew he would veto. And they did this knowing that they wouldn't be able to override that veto. Why? Because their pollsters told them putting the children's health-care program at risk would score political points. Instead, it left them looking cynical.

The list of Congress's failures grows each month. No energy bill. No action on health care. No action on the mortgage crisis. No immigration reform. No progress on renewing No Child Left Behind. Precious little action on judges and not enough on reducing trade barriers. Congress has not done its work. And these failures will have consequences.

Democrats had a moment after the 2006 election, but now that moment has passed. They've squandered it. They have demonstrated both the inability and unwillingness to govern. Instead, after more than a decade in the congressional minority, they reflexively look for short-term partisan advantage and attempt to appease the party's most strident fringe. Now that Democrats have the reins of congressional power, their true colors are coming out and the public doesn't like what it sees.

The Democratic victory in 2006 was narrow. They won the House by 85,961 votes out of over 80 million cast and the Senate by a mere 3,562 out of over 62 million cast. A party that wins control by that narrow margin can quickly see its fortunes reversed when it fails to act responsibly, fails to fulfill its promises, and fails to lead.

Mr. Rove is a former adviser to President George W. Bush.

Weather Channel Founder: Global Warming ‘Greatest Scam in History’

Full Story



COMMENTS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

By John Coleman

jcoleman@kusi.com

it is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM.

Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data back in the late 1990's to create an allusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental wacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the "research" to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.

Environmental extremist, notable politicians among them then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild "scientific" scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda.

Now their ridicules manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmental conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minutes documentary segment.

I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party.

However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you "believe in." It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a nonevent, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won't believe me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.

I suspect you might like to say to me, "John, look the research that supports the case for global warming was done by research scientists; people with PH D's in Meteorology. They are employed by major universities and important research institutions. Their work has been reviewed by other scientists with PH D's. They have to know a lot more about it than you do. Come on, John, get with it. The experts say our pollution has created an strong and increasing greenhouse effect and a rapid, out of control global warming is underway that will sky rocket temperatures, destroy agriculture, melt the ice caps, flood the coastlines and end life as we know it. How can you dissent from this crisis? You must be a bit nutty.

Allow me, please, to explain how I think this all came about. Our universities have become somewhat isolated from the rest of us. There is a culture and attitudes and values and pressures on campus that are very different. I know this group well. My father and my older brother were both PHD-University types. I was raised in the university culture. Any person who spends a decade at a university obtaining a PHD in Meteorology and become a research scientist, more likely than not, becomes a part of that single minded culture. They all look askance at the rest of us, certain of their superiority. They respect government and disrespect business, particularly big business. They are environmentalists above all else.

And, there is something else. These scientists know that if they do research and results are in no way alarming, their research will gather dust on the shelf and their research careers will languish. But if they do research that sounds alarms, they will become well known and respected and receive scholarly awards and, very importantly, more research dollars will come flooding their way.

So when these researchers did climate change studies in the late 90's they were eager to produce findings that would be important and be widely noticed and trigger more research funding. It was easy for them to manipulate the data to come up with the results they wanted to make headlines and at the same time drive their environmental agendas. Then their like minded PHD colleagues reviewed their work and hastened to endorse it without question.

There were a few who didn't fit the mold. They did ask questions and raised objections. They did research with contradictory results. The environmental elitists berated them brushed their studies aside.

I have learned since the Ice Age is coming scare in the 1970's to always be a skeptic about research. In the case of global warming, I didn't accept media accounts. Instead I read dozens of the scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct when I assure you there is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. It is all a scam, the result of bad science.

I am not alone in this assessment. There are hundreds of other meteorologists, many of them PH D's, who are as certain as I am that this global warming frenzy is based on bad science and is not valid.

I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.

In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped.

The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway.

I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend.

Gil's "ninnies" at it again?

Exclusive: FBI: Al Qaeda May Strike U.S. Shopping Malls in LA, Chicago

Flashback - Gil Smart Calls FBI a Bunch of Ninnies

Confidence in Congress is at all time low in Gallup poll

Full Story

Time has great guide to "Global Warming"

Let me say that "Global Warming" is not all it's cracked up to be. The hysteria surrounding "global warming" is way out of hand. But if you want to actually read about it and get some great ideas about what you can do to prevent it (if you actually buy into it), Time has released a great, informative Guide which you can probably pick up at your local grocery store.

It's one of the view sources I've seen that actually tells you what to do about "global warming" instead of just creating alot of hysteria about it.

Nutty Kucinich and 21 Democrat nobodies try to impeach Dick Cheney

Full Text of HR 333

List of 21 Democrat co-sponsors

Katrina helps tilt political races ... towards Republican

Full Story

Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, whose popularity suffered in Katrina's aftermath, did not seek re-election.

In Mississippi, [Republican] Gov. Haley Barbour was benefiting from relative success in managing the post-Hurricane Katrina rebuilding of the state's devastated Gulf Coast. He was considered a heavy favorite for re-election over Democrat John Eaves.

Right back to you

Bellicosity and hubris.

Isn’t that the Republican Party’s official plank?

Gil Smart, on his blog

And the Democrat's official plank is pompous obliviousness.

Democrats in Trouble by Rush Limbaugh

Full Story

Interesting story from the Wall Street Journal today: "Frustration Builds for Democrats." I want to warn you about this, because the story is correct, and that we all need to be really, really, really careful. Because this is when Democrats get really nuts, when nothing works, when they've been trying left and right to get things done in Washington, and nothing works, and they start getting frustrated, that's when they blame us for their failures. That is when they decide we need to be punished for not understanding their brilliance.

"The way in which Senate Democrats wavered and then consented to the confirmation of Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general reflects the party's broader struggle to make headway on its national-security agenda, despite President Bush's unpopularity. On questions such as Mr. Mukasey's stance on waterboarding, warrantless wiretapping and the war in Iraq, Democrats have been stymied by Republicans in Congress and the White House. That has sparked frustration among supporters, especially those on the left, who anticipated that last year's congressional takeover would force some policy changes. These dashed expectations are one reason polls give Congress an approval rating lower than Mr. Bush's. The difficulties faced by Democrats on these issues look certain to complicate the party's bid to expand House and Senate majorities and regain the White House in 2008, a wartime election in which national security will be a major issue."



This takes me to a companion story found today in the Washington Times: "Change Called Crucial for '08." It's by Donald Lambro. "Democratic strategists are warning their party and its presidential contenders that they have failed to connect with the voters' demands for change. In a memorandum on the state of their party one year before the election, strategists James Carville and Stan Greenberg said that 'Democrats have yet not found their voices as agents of change, except perhaps on Iraq, and risk falling short' of their political potential in 2008. 'The conservative attack machine will soon launch nuclear war against the Democrats' nominee when he or she emerges, and a lot of the discontent in the country could fragment and push voters to third parties and some even back to the Republicans, particularly if progressives fail to tackle key grievances, like immigration and taxes.'" Well, hell's bells. This is Carville and Greenberg's memo. If they fail to tackle key grievances like immigration and taxes? The Democrats are on the wrong side of both. What do you mean, fail to tackle 'em?

They have tried to tackle immigration and they've had it stuffed right back down their throats. They keep trying to go back to immigration. Amnesty! They're pushing amnesty at every crook and cranny. Nook and cranny. "Crook" works better in their case. They're having it rammed right back down their throats without any KY Jelly to lubricate it on the way going down! It's hurting! These guys think that, my gosh, they're having all kinds of problems, tackling key grievances, taxes? You think the people of this country want their taxes raised? "The dire warnings by Mr. Carville and Mr. Greenberg coincided with a nationwide Quinnipiac University poll that showed former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, the Republican front-runner, leading Mrs. Clinton by a razor-thin margin, 45 percent to 43 percent. The survey of 1,636 voters also showed that just as many voters had a favorable view of Mrs. Clinton as those who had an unfavorable view." Yes! She is perfect polarization, which is not what you want in a presidential candidate. I'll get to that in a second.

"'The "Clinton Express" has hit a bump. Future polls will show if it's been derailed,' said Maurice Carroll, Quinnipiac's director of polling." Now, I want to go back to this last sentence on the number of voters. "The survey of 1,636 voters also showed that just as many voters had a favorable view of Mrs. Clinton as those who had an unfavorable." What an artful spin of an absolutely, totally negative result in a poll! When half the people hate your guts, that's the story, if you're running for president, when half the people disapprove of you. Yet they write this thing up, "Just as many voters had a favorable view of Mrs. Clinton as opposed to those who had an unfavorable." It's called burying the truth or burying the lede. So the Democrats are frustrated, nothing is going right, they're not tackling the right key issues here, according to Greenberg and Carville.


Then in Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria: "This Won't Be The Iraq Election." Where have we heard this before? Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you, where have we heard this? Where have you been told that the 2008 presidential race will not be about Iraq? I told you that. I told you it's going to be about the future of the country. It may be about national security. I know a lot of people thought I was nuts, because Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, that seems to be the one issue, but it's not. And now Fareed Zakaria has gotten a hold of it. "Petraeus' new strategery is working, though not exactly for the reasons initially advertised." Why? Well, because of success in March to victory, the economy will be number one -- that's what this guy says, economy is going to be the number-one issue because we're going to have to victory in Iraq; the Democrats are not going to be able to run very much on it. But I told you that. That's exactly what I mean when I tell you you're on the cutting edge of societal evolution when you listen to this program.

One more thing before we get to the phones. This is from the Financial Times by Michael Franc, who is the vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation. The headline says it all here: "'Democrats Wake Up to Being the Party of the Rich.' -- A legislative proposal that was once on the fast track is suddenly dead. The Senate will not consider a plan to extract billions in extra taxes from mega-millionaire hedge fund managers. The decision by Senate majority leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat, surprised many Washington insiders, who saw the plan as appealing to the spirit of class warfare that infuses the Democratic Party. Liberal disappointment in Mr. Reid was palpable at media outlets such as USA Today, where an editorial chastised: 'The Democrats, who control Congress and claim to represent the middle and lower classes, ought to be embarrassed.' Far from embarrassing, this episode may reflect a dawning Democratic awareness of whom they really represent. For the demographic reality is that, in America, the Democratic Party is the new 'party of the rich'.



"More and more Democrats represent areas with a high concentration of wealthy households. Using Internal Revenue Service data, the Heritage Foundation identified two categories of taxpayers -- single filers with incomes of more than $100,000 and married filers with incomes of more than $200,000 -- and combined them to discern where the wealthiest Americans live and who represents them. Democrats now control the majority of the nation's wealthiest congressional jurisdictions. More than half of the wealthiest households are concentrated in the 18 states where Democrats control both Senate seats. This new political demography holds true in the House of Representatives, where the leadership of each party hails from different worlds. Nancy Pelosi, Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, represents one of America's wealthiest regions. Her San Francisco district has more than 43,700 high-end households. Fewer than 7,000 households in the western Ohio district of House Republican leader John Boehner enjoy this level of affluence.

"Income disparity -- to use the class warrior’s favourite term -- is greatest among the districts of lawmakers that lead each party's campaign arm. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen chairs the Democratic congressional campaign committee. With more than 36,000 prosperous households and a median income of nearly $70,000, his suburban Washington district even out-sparkles Ms Pelosi's. In contrast, fewer than 5,000 such wealthy households are found in the largely rural district of his Republican counterpart, Tom Cole from Oklahoma. The median income there is only $35,500."

So the Democrats are the new party of the rich based on their constituents, based on what they represent. Who could doubt this? Hollywood. San Francisco. New York. They are the new party of the rich. This is why Dingy Harry put off the vote or actually tabled this whole thing on raising taxes on hedge fund managers and portfolio asset managers because they're largely Democrat contributors. Dirty little secret, isn't it? They're largely Democrat contributors, plus, they were lobbied quite a bit. Dingy Harry, author of the Rush Limbaugh smear letter, lobbied heavily by a number of people, but the truth is out now. The difference is that the Democrat wealthy feel guilty about it, or want us to think they feel guilty about it.

Some Funny Posts About Gil Smart

In a league with Imus



After reading Gil Smart's screed ["Smart Remarks," Oct. 28] there are several conclusions to which I have come:

1. His writings are tedious and predictable.

2. Mr. Smart is impassioned but not particularly intelligent.

3. He is one of the most prejudiced writers in Lancaster Newspapers.

4. He is emotional but not logical.

5. He is not interested in trying to understand his opponents' point of view; he states their "beliefs" (which may or may not be an accurate representation) and then attacks those "beliefs."

6. He reminds me of a newspaper Don Imus; mean-spirited, prejudiced, lacking any sense of humor, a dim bulb who does, however, have a better haircut than Imus.

-Jim Nissley, Lititz


A Smart solution?



I must take exception to Gil Smart. He manages to blame everything bad on the conservatives; this time global warming. There must be an awful lot of conservatives to be responsible for that.

His solution? Impose an additional $1-per-gallon gas tax to make people drive less. He uses driving of a Hummer and invasion of countries as examples that this action might be effective.

Mr. Smart, where did your Smart brain go just then? Nobody who drives a Hummer is concerned about fuel efficiency, regardless of cost.

I'm on a fixed, disability income. I drive to the store, to visit my family sometimes, to church, once in a great while on a vacation out of the area. Probably the same sorts of things you do, except for work (and maybe church). Are you asking me to curtail those activities? Will you?

Why don't you ask the celebrities and the wealthy, such as Al Gore, to move out of their oil-consuming mansions, limousines and airplanes. For them, a $1 increase in gas cost will mean nothing at all.

And the global warming argument itself is fraught with logical fallacies that the media is loathe to talk about. Catastrophes such as you cite have been a part of the globe since the beginning of time.

-Jim Harris, Ephrata

Reprinted for purposes of criticism and comment as allowed by the Copyright Fair Use Act

Even Specter says Mukasey OK

USAToday: Specter says he will back AG nominee



Even he must know that Ted Kennedy told a giant, fat fib when he claimed Yukio Asano received 15 years of hard labor for "waterboarding". (In fact, he did not. Search this blog for previous stories at the top of the page.)

Irony: Spreading more lies in a column that alleges conservatives spread lies

While people of all political persuasions forward things that resonate with them, the right-wing e-mail phenomenon has become so pervasive that The Nation magazine actually did a story on it, titled "Smear forward." In it, the magazine notes that e-mail, long an efficient way to disseminate information, has become a particularly effective way to disseminate disinformation, false tales, smears that are often factually incorrect but serve a partisan purpose.

A case in point would be the tale, completely untrue, that Barack Obama attended an Islamic "madrassa" school as a child. The story became so pervasive — via e-mail — that mainstream news outlets picked up on it.
Source

Ironically, Mr. Smart does not seem to realize the origins of the Obama-madrassa school story. It was the Hillary camp. Foxnews later picked up on this story (linked below) and was later criticized by left wingers for creating this "false impression".

Insight magazine article: Hillary's team has questions about Obama's Muslim background

Another told of how Hillary flat-out refused to meet with mothers of sons and daughters who were killed in combat, a story that is also false.

Ok, is Gil really going back to 2000 or 2001 to prove this point? Check here. Yes, it is a false story that circulated in 2000 which had some basis in events that actually occured (but were "blown out of proportion").

And the Ghost of General Patton thing has been circulating on Democrat and Conservative news groups since about early June 2004.

You got anything since the last election cycle there, Gil old boy?

The Politics of Parsing

Dems Schumer/Feinsten Back Mukasey for Attorney General

Full Story

WASHINGTON -- Michael Mukasey drew closer to becoming attorney general Friday after two key Senate Democrats said they would vote for him despite his refusal to say whether waterboarding is torture.

The decision by Sens. Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein to back President Bush's nominee came shortly after the chairman of the committee, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced he would vote against Mukasey, a former federal judge.

"This is an extremely difficult decision," Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement, adding that Mukasey "is not my ideal choice."

In announcing her support for Mukasey, Feinstein, D-Calif., said "first and foremost, Michael Mukasey is not Alberto Gonzales," referring to the former attorney general who resigned in September after months of questions about his honesty.

Including Leahy, five of the Judiciary Committee's 10 Democrats had said they would vote against Mukasey's confirmation after the nominee earlier this week refused to say that waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, is torture and therefore illegal.

But with nine Republicans on the panel, Schumer and Feinstein's support for Mukasey virtually guarantees that a majority of the committee will recommend his confirmation when it votes on it next Tuesday.

That's because waterboarding is not torture and it was never punished with 15 years of hard labor in WWII. Ted Kennedy is a giant, fat phony.

Norman Hsu (criminal Dem moneyman) on Ice

Gaunt and glancing nervously at reporters, disgraced Democratic moneyman Norman Hsu appeared in a California court yesterday and agreed to spend another 10 weeks behind bars while his lawyers do "research."

Latest Word That "Stuck on Stupid" Liberals Seem to be Stuck on: Waterboarding

Ok, now that I have provided the "final word" on waterboarding - the issue is mysteriously reappearing over and over again in the main stream media. Most recently, the phony issue has been used as an excuse to discriminate against a Bush nominee for attorney general named Michael Mukasey.

Ted Kennedy knows full well that Yukio Asano was not sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for "waterboarding", even though he attempted to slip this phony claim into the public mind. He must have known that the charge was specifically "water torture" and that Asano had a slew of other serious charges leveled against him that comprised the 15 year sentence.

The Asano sentence had nothing to do with what Kennedy alleges to be "waterboarding", but has to do with the "water cure". The main difference is that in waterboarding, the water never enters the mouth or nose. The water cure does. And even THAT does not necessarily mean it is "torture" unless there is actual submersion in water.

Refer to this article for more specifics. This is a "been there, done that" moment for some considerable time now.

What, historically, has been the Democrat position on waterboarding? I think the picture included says it all.



Things that make you go "hmmmm: : these are troops under a Democrat President's command engaged in waterboarding...