The view from London

A shameful week for America's liberal elites. The top 10 most ridiculous left-wing attacks on US conservatives following the Arizona shootings

The Arizona shootings were not caused by rhetoric (Picture: REUTERS)

This has been a hugely shameful week for sections of the American Left, who have exploited a horrific tragedy that claimed six lives, in order to advance political attacks upon some leading conservative politicians and media commentators, as well as an entire political movement in the form of the Tea Party.  As Charles Krauthammer noted in The Washington Post, “rarely in American political discourse has there been a charge so reckless, so scurrilous and so unsupported by evidence”.

I have compiled below a list of some of the most egregious examples of Leftist hysteria over the past week.

1. Paul Krugman, The New York Times, January 8, 2011

We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party activist.

You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate.

2. Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, January 8, 2011

This morning in Arizona, this time of the ever-escalating, borderline-ecstatic invocation of violence in fact or in fantasy in our political discourse, closed. It is essential tonight not to demand revenge, but to demand justice; to insist not upon payback against those politicians and commentators who have so irresponsibly brought us to this time of domestic terrorism, but to work to change the minds of them and their supporters – or if those minds tonight are too closed, or if those minds tonight are too unmoved, or if those minds tonight are too triumphant, to make sure by peaceful means that those politicians and commentators and supporters have no further place in our system of government.

If Sarah Palin, whose website put and today scrubbed bullseye targets on 20 Representatives including Gabby Giffords, does not repudiate her own part in amplifying violence and violent imagery in politics, she must be dismissed from politics – she must be repudiated by the members of her own party, and if they fail to do so, each one of them must be judged to have silently defended this tactic that today proved so awfully foretelling, and they must in turn be dismissed by the responsible members of their own party.

3. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, Press Conference, Tucson, January 8, 2011

When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100071922/a-shameful-week-for-americas-liberal-elites-the-top-10-most-ridiculous-left-wing-attacks-on-us-conservatives-following-the-arizona-shootings/

Old School Jet Retooled to Slay Stealth Fighters

It’s been just three weeks since China unveiled its new J-20 stealth fighter, and already the U.S. Air Force has plans well underway to defeat the mysterious plane from Chengdu.

No, the Pentagon won’t be buying more F-22 Raptors from Lockheed Martin. Instead, the U.S. military’s main flying branch has turned to an older jet that, with upgrades, could prove to be an even better J-20-killer than the newer, more expensive F-22. That’s right: the Boeing F-15  Eagle, one of the stars of the 1991 Gulf War, is quickly shaping up as America’s main countermeasure to China’s new fighter for the next 20 years.

To be fair, the F-15 and F-22 (and, later, the F-35) will probably usually work in teams. But the F-15, with its better sensors, could prove to be the backbone for U.S. and allied forces in any Pacific dogfight.

The magic is all in the Eagle’s nose. Compared to the angular, stealthy F-22, the totally non-stealth F-15 has a more capacious nosecone that can carry a larger radar. The larger the radar, the more likely it is to detect the J-20, despite that plane’s potentially very small frontal radar cross-section. The F-15 also routinely carries more fuel and missiles than the F-22.

The Pentagon has begun fitting new, electronically scanned Raytheon APG-63(V)3 radars to around 175 F-15Cs dating from the 1980s. In a few years, the 220 ’90s-vintage F-15Es — normally optimized for ground attack, but also capable of air combat — will get new APG-82(V)4 radars, also from Raytheon.

To pay for this electronic transformation,  the Pentagon has set aside some of the roughly $34 billion it will save by shutting down several redundant Air Force headquarters and command centers and delaying production of the troubled F-35 stealth fighter-bomber.

Those T-shirts at the “Memorial”in Tucson. Recycled campaign material.

"Together We Thrive" Theme was Recycled Obama Campaign Slogan

"Together We Thrive" comes from the Organizing for America website, which is Obama's website.  It was written by John Berry IV.  John Berry's blog, Together We Thrive, February 11th, 2008.

Montel Williams Hit With $1 Million IRS Tax Lien

The Smoking Gun, IRS Socks TV Personality Montel Williams, Wife With $1 Million Tax Lien:

TV personality Montel Williams has been hit with a $1 million federal tax lien, according to IRS documents recorded this week in New York City. Williams, who hosted his eponymous talk show for nearly twenty years, is being dunned in connection with his 2008 and 2009 individual tax returns.

Mr. Williams has had a tough month: he was detained at the Milwaukee airport on January 5 when TSA agents discovered drug paraphernalia in his luggage.

The solar wind lights up the night

Check out this stunning image of an aurora as seen in Tromsø, Norway. The solar wind combines with moonlight and snow for a once-in-a-lifetime view. Even more spectacular views might arrive today, when stronger solar winds hit our magnetic field.

More of what planes may look like in 15 years.

#conceptart

The aircraft of 2025 can go up to 85 percent of the speed of sound while carrying up to 100,000 pounds

Check out Boeing's concept drawings of a super-advanced aircraft in 2025. NASA gave Boeing, plus Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, contracts to study cleaner, safer, and more fuel-efficient aircraft designs for 14 years hence, and here's the first look

I would expect to see more of this in the Arab world.

Revolution: Tunisian dictator flees country after weeks of public protests

Change.

Why Europe flounders

EU Erases Christianity From Costly Diaries

A major part of the EU's agenda is to erase European Civilization and replace it with a mostly Muslim hodgepodge imported from other parts of the world. Toward this end:

The European Union has sent millions of diaries to schools which list the dates of Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish and Chinese festivals — but omit any mention of Christian celebrations.

In an extraordinary move, three million 2011 notebooks were printed at a cost of £4.4million to the taxpayer. Around 350,000 of the diaries have already been shipped to schools in the UK alone.

There is no record for Christmas, Easter or Lent - despite bureaucrats carefully listing the EU's self-styled 'Europe Day' on May 9.

Not to worry, it was just a mistake.

EU officials have described the diaries as 'a rather gross error' but were at a loss to explain how it might have occurred.

MSNBC Exonerates Jared Loughner

Jared Loughner almost certainly had never heard of Sarah Palin back in 2007 when he first developed the psychotic fixation on Gabrielle Giffords that climaxed in mass murder. He did not follow the news, and there is no evidence whatsoever that he was motivated in any way by any conservative. But that's not going to stop MSNBC from exploiting the tragedy.

Spinning the news is behind this astonishingly vile network. Now they invent it out of whole cloth. Check out the graphic they've been running with Tucson stories:

That is to say, the words of those who don't agree with MSNBC's depraved political agenda caused Loughner to act. This isn't lousy analysis or even wishful thinking. It is a bald-faced lie.

The lie is working on those who choose to drink the Kool-Aid:

Who else would be to blame? Sarah Palin of course. Evidence of any connection whatsoever is unnecessary. Like Bush 43 and Emmanuel Goldstein before her, Sarah Palin is responsible for all things bad.

Even among Americans at large, an alarming 32% have been duped into taking seriously the "mainstream" media's surreal presentation of the killings as caused by conservatives being allowed to express their views.

They are killing us on the Border.

Mexican gunman fires across border toward U.S. highway workers...

BIG SIS CHOP: $1B Bush-Era 'Virtual Fence' Axed...

Celebrating 70 Years of Jeep

 

1941 Willys MA

The U.S. military asked 135 automakers in July 1940 to bid on a vehicle that would replace the hodgepodge of Model T's and motorcycles that made up the Army's fleet. According to specs, the vehicle had to weigh less than 1,300 pounds, have four-wheel drive with a two-speed transfer case, be able to carry 600 pounds, and feature a wheelbase of less than 75 inches.

Three automakers -- Willys, Ford and American Bantam -- responded. Most of the Fords and Bantams got shipped to the Soviets and the British as part of the Lend-Lease program, but the Willys (pronounced like the name of the character in Diff'rent Strokes) MA ended up the most successful of the three.

The future of air travel?

#airplanes

This Is What You Will Fly In 2025 According to NASA

Last year NASA awarded contracts to three teams at Lockheed Martin, Northrop Gurmman and Boeing to create a perfect plane for 2025, silent and with low fuel consumption. Here is what they came up with, which could enter service in 2025

As we have said before: they do not believe in the Constitution. Germans shake their head.

Obama Wants Bloggers to Register With Feds

AP Graphic

Federalized security screening at airports has been such a success that President Obama wants to apply the same government "expertise" to the realm of online commerce and commentary. The White House cybersecurity adviser joined Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on Jan. 7 to announce what amounts to a national ID card for the Internet.

Their plan is straightforward. Instead of logging onto Facebook or one's bank using separate passwords established with each individual company or website, the White House will take the lead in developing what it calls an "identity ecosystem" that will centralize personal information and credentials. This government-approved system would issue a smart card or similar device that would confirm an individual's identity when making online credit-card purchases, accessing electronic health care records, posting "anonymous" blog entries or even logging onto one's own home computer, according to administration documents.

Really, Mr. President? $1 Billion to Get Re-elected

AP

Why economy is good here in Texas

Texas, California, and the Tale of the Coyote

I’ve already had a couple of blog posts commenting on how Texas is kicking California’s you-know-what. Being a fiscal policy person, I always point to California’s punitive state income tax as an example of bad policy and highlight the absence of any income tax in Texas to explain the success of that state.

But sometimes it’s just culture and attitude. Here’s a joke comparing the two states, but it’s based on something that actually happened in Texas.

CALIFORNIA: The Governor of  California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps  out, bites the Governor and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects  upon the movie “Bambi” and then realizes he should stop; the coyote is  only doing what is natural.

2. He calls animal control. Animal Control  captures the coyote and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases and $500  for relocating it.

3. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects  the dead dog and bills the State $200 for testing it for diseases.

4. The Governor goes to hospital and spends  $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his  bite wound bandaged.

5. The running trail gets shut down for  6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to  make sure the area is free of dangerous animals.

6. The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds to  implement a “coyote awareness” program for residents of the area.

7. The State Legislature spends $2 million  to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently  eradicate the  disease throughout the world.

8. The Governor’s security agent is  fired for not stopping the attack somehow and for letting the  Governor attempt to intervene.

9. Additional cost to State of California:  $75,000 to hire and train a new security agent with additional special  training re: the nature of coyotes.

10. PETA protests the coyote’s  relocation and files suit against the State.

TEXAS: The Governor of Texas is  jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A Coyote jumps out, bites  the Governor’s leather boot, and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor shoots the coyote with his State-issued  pistol and keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP  hollow
point cartridge.

2. The buzzards eat the dead coyote.

Misc

Mexican gunman fires across border toward U.S. highway workers...

OBAMA PLANS BILLION-DOLLAR REELECTION CAMPAIGN...

Global Warming: Dire Prediction for the Year 3000...

A strong desire to kill non-Moslems…in Penn.

A federal judge denied Emerson Begolly a pretrial release to a halfway house yesterday after the FBI produced evidence that the 21-year-old “loner” had
corresponded on a radical jihadi website about methods of committing terroristic acts. The defense objected to his detention, arguing that the evidence pulled together by federal prosecutors all consisted of constitutionally protected rights of bearing arms and free speech:

A 21-year-old loner from Armstrong County had an arsenal in his bedroom, a radical Islamist online persona and videos suggesting paramilitary training before his arrest last week for biting two FBI agents, federal prosecutors charged in court Thursday.

As a result, Emerson W. Begolly will remain in jail pending trial, U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill decided, over the strenuous objections of a defense attorney who said his client was nonviolent. A magistrate judge’s decision last week to ship him to a halfway house, which was stayed during its appeal, was shelved.

Mr. Begolly “has a strong desire to kill non-Muslims and many other groups of people,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song. “He was preparing, and he was getting closer and closer to bringing his words and aspirations to fruition.”

As we have said many time, warmer is good, it is colder than causes the problems.

Climate change has guided 2,500 years of European history

Climate has been the secret driver of history, particularly in the preindustrial world. Empires and kingdoms rose to power when it was warm and wet and toppled when it became cool and dry...and climate might not be done guiding history.

Researchers have long suspected a link between climatic variations and historical trends, but we generally don't know enough about historical climate conditions to say for sure. Now Swiss and German researchers have used precipitation records glean from Central European oak tree-rings - a shockingly accurate method of recording year-to-year climate shifts - to give a rough sense of the last 2,500 years of European climate.

Their findings speak to the power that climate wields in shaping human history. Although the current warming event is unlike anything we've ever seen before in terms of how severe and long-term it is, there are evidence of hot and cold periods in Europe's history that are either more severe or longer-lasting than the current climate change.

Those events consistently track major historical shifts. Periods that were unusually warm and wet coincided with the rise of the Roman Empire and prosperity in the Middle Ages. As the climate fell into chaos between about 250 and 600 CE, so too did the Roman Empire. The obvious link between climate and these events is that preindustrial, agrarian societies were heavily dependent on the quality of their crop yields to sustain their civilizations. As such, it's unsurprising that long stretches of favorable crop conditions would line up with long periods of political stability and economic prosperity.

But that doesn't make climate's invisible guidance any less amazing, particularly when you consider its full scope. In their paper, the researchers link together over a dozen specific climatic phenomena with their corresponding historical event. Here are some of the highlights:

April/May/June precipitation was generally above average and fluctuated within fairly narrow margins from the Late Iron Age through most of the Roman Period until ~AD 250, whereas two depressions in June/July/August temperature coincided with the Celtic Expansion ~350 BC and the Roman Conquest ~50 BC...Distinct drying in the 3rd century paralleled a period of serious crisis in the Western Roman Empire marked by barbarian invasion, political turmoil and economic dislocation...Falling lake levels in Europe and Africa accompanied hemispheric-scale cooling that has been linked with an explosive, near equatorial volcanic eruption in AD 536, followed by the first pandemic of Justinian plague that spread from the Eastern Mediterranean in AD 542/543. Rapid climate changes together with frequent epidemics had the overall capacity to disrupt the food production of agrarian societies...

And climate wasn't just capable of building up and tearing down societies. The researchers argue that climatic factors were also at work in the onset of the devastating Black Death in the 1300s as well as the mass migrations of Europeans to the New World in the last few centuries:

Wetter summers during the 13th and 14th centuries and a first cold spell ~1300 agree with the globally observed onset of the Little Ice Age, likely contributing to widespread famine across Central Europe. Unfavorable climate may have even played a role in debilitating the underlying health conditions that contributed to the devastating economic crisis that arose from the second plague pandemic, the Black Death, which reduced the Central Europe population after AD 1347 by 40-60%. The period is also associated with a temperature decline in the North Atlantic and the abrupt desertion of former Greenland settlements. Temperature minima in the
early 17th and 19th centuries accompanied sustained settlement abandonment during the Thirty Years' War and the modern migrations from Europe to America.

Although agrarian societies are far more vulnerable to sudden climatic shifts than industrial ones, the researchers close their paper by suggesting that climate can still very much affect the course of history, and that policymakers might want to consider whether their jobs will even still exist if current climate patterns go unchecked:

Linking palaeo-demographic to climate proxy data challenges recent political and fiscal reluctance to mitigate projected global climate change, which reflects the common societal belief that civilizations are insulated from variations in the natural environment. The historical association between European precipitation and temperature variation, population migration and settlement desertion, however, questions the wisdom of this attitude.

Unreal.

Paedophilia 'culturally accepted in south Afghanistan'

British forces were advised by a military study that paedophilia is widespread and culturally accepted in southern Afghanistan.

Older, powerful men boosted their social status by keeping boys as sexual playthings and the practice was celebrated in song and dance, a military study claimed.

American social scientists employed to help troops understand the local culture reported that homosexual sex was widespread among the Pashtun ethnic group in southern Afghanistan.

Strict separation of men and women contributed to young men turning to each other for sexual companionship.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8257943/Paedophilia-culturally-accepted-in-south-Afghanistan.html

Cair to Muslims, help terrorist by being silent.

American Muslims Told to Resist the Feds

The Council on American Islamic Relations website is promoting an upcoming conference that encourages people not to talk to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The poster, which appeared on the website of CAIR's California chapter, features a sinister looking FBI agent with the headlines, "Build a Wall of Resistance," and "Don't Talk to the FBI."

Wonder why energy prices are going up? Why coal is up 60%?

President Obama Pulls Coal Mine Permit

AP File

The Obama administration Thursday reversed a Bush-era decision and blocked a bid to build one of the largest mountaintop removal coal mines in Appalachian history.

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is revoking a permit already issued, taking back its approval for Arch Coal's Spruce No.1 mine in southern West Virginia. EPA said the mine would cause unacceptable damage to local waterways and public health.

Interesting.

NPR: 'Foxhole Atheist' Furious AP

Multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on soldiers: Witness the rise in suicides and other stress-related disorders. A few years ago, the Army noticed that some soldiers fared better than others, and it wondered: Why?

One reason, says Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, is that people who are inclined toward spirituality seem to be more resilient.
"Researchers have found that spiritual people have decreased odds of attempting suicide, and that spiritual fitness has a positive impact on quality of life, on coping and on mental health," says Cornum, who is director of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness.

Well that did not take long. 6 dead, 14 wounded is an “accident?”

Pelosi Calls Tucson Murders an 'Accident'

"This resolution is a fitting tribute. It is a great resolution. Please, read it again and again. Carry those names in your heart. Remember, each of these people because, again, a tragic accident took lives, wounded people in the expression of ideas."

When NPR started there were limited choices. There are now more channels than anyone can remember, let alone watch. (Gov’t $$ should not be spent here. If you are not willing to cut Gov’t $$ here, what are you willing to cut?)

NPR Launches Offensive Against Congressman

AP

National Public Radio is accusing Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., who is leading a Republican charge to cut public funding to the broadcaster, of trying to stifle free speech, a move that puts the embattled network on the offense as it fights fallout from its decision to fire Fox News contributor Juan Williams.

Lamborn immediately fired back, saying the whole point of not funding NPR is to enhance competition and viewpoints.

The tit-for-tat comes just a week after the NPR news editor who fired Williams resigned as the network's board of directors completed its independent review of the dismissal. The directors recommended new internal procedures for personnel decisions and disciplinary action, and cancelled NPR CEO Vivian Schiller's annual bonus because of "concern over her role in the termination process."

Lamborn first introduced his NPR defunding legislation in June, but it didn't receive much attention until the network fired Williams in October over remarks he made on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" about his anxiety over seeing people dressed as Muslims on airplanes.

Hmmm…

IRS to Offer Tax Refunds on Visa Debit Cards

The Treasury Department announced yesterday that it would give 600,000 low- and moderate-income taxpayers the opportunity to receive their 2010 tax refund in the form of a MyAccountCard Visa® Prepaid Debit Card (FAQ).

This is what O said he wanted to do in the campaign. (Coal prices are up 60%, it is intentional.)

WHY THEY’D RATHER TALK ABOUT SARAH PALIN (CONT’D): $5 a gallon gas? Washington insiders are wondering if the next real economic crisis facing President Obama is when gasoline prices spike to $4 or $5 per gallon. At today’s press briefing, a White House press spokesman rebuffed queries about the possibility

Why Canada is going to HELL.

DIRE STRAITS NOW banned in Canada as homophobic.

Dire Straits ix now branded a homophobic hate group:

It was No. 1 in 1985, but it’s unacceptable for Canadian eyes and ears today.
The Dire Straits song “Money for Nothing” was ruled by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council to be “extremely offensive” and thus inappropriate for airing because it uses an anti-gay slur. . . .
The Canadian broadcasters’ “Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code” requires them to “ensure that their programming contains no abusive or unduly discriminatory material or comment which is based on matters of … sexual orientation” among other things. . . .

A compliment to Pres Clinton. Learned yesterday that he lowered federal spending as a % of GDP from roughly 19% to 16+%. It can be done.

Unsustainable

A Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that by a 71-18 percent margin, Americans do not want the federal debt ceiling raised. I am not sure whether that is a viable option, but the message the public is trying to send is clearly correct. The country's debt has been rising at an accelerating rate for some time. Whatever one may have thought of the debt prior to the time the Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007, it is beyond dispute that the debt we have been racking up since that time is unsustainable. At The Corner, Veronica DeRugy offers this graph, which charts both federal debt and the statutory debt limit; click to enlarge:

Just returned from Egypt. The number of educated unemployed was staggering. Remember, revolutions are lead by middle class and for a middle class to be with out work is like a farmer without food.

Tunisian Rioters Overwhelm Police Near Capital...
Jobless youths rampage, using FACEBOOK...