Where is Nancy's Secret Plan?

One of the complaints that I have received is about the high cost of gas nowadays. Not that the State legislature can deal with the issue without causing other harm. (Give up the gas tax and the roads go to hell). But then, I found this, and about fell out of my chair laughing. It is well worth the look.



Which just goes to show that politicians will lie through their teeth, knowing that they cannot do what they are promising, and yet, we still buy it. Why do we let them get away with this?

UPDATE Apparently, the Republican caucus sent the following to Ms. Speaker Pelosi:

Dear Speaker Pelosi:
Two years ago this week, you stated that House Democrats had a "commonsense plan" to "lower gas prices." In light of the skyrocketing gasoline prices affecting working families and every sector of our struggling economy, we are writing today to respectfully request that you reveal this "commonsense plan" so we can begin work on responsible solutions to help ease this strain.
Today, the national average for regular unleaded now stands at $3.51 per gallon, according to AAA, which is $1.18 higher than it was at the
start of the 110th Congress – a more than 50 percent increase. In fact, gas
prices rose more in the last 15 months than they did in the six years prior
to Democrats taking control of both Houses of Congress in January
2007.
In the midst of a slowing economy, falling home values and soaring costs of living, this is a heavy premium for working families to bear.
Americans, particularly those in suburban and rural communities, are paying more simply to commute to work each day. America's truckers, faced with the prospect of paying $1,200 to fill up a tank that just a few years ago cost $600, must now consider taking less work or going out of business altogether. We have seen reports of school districts where filling up buses is already costing as much as $70,000 more than originally budgeted.
Once a nightmare scenario, $4 gasoline is now a very real possibility of becoming a summer staple. In some cities, including San Francisco and Chicago, it is already a startling reality.
We noted with great interest, then, that on several occasions you have announced the existence of a Democratic plan to lower gas prices. In fact, it was two years ago this week, on April 24, 2006, when you pledged that "Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas
prices." Just two weeks after that, you stated that Democrats had "real solutions" that would "lower the price at the pump."
Yet 15 months into the 110th Congress, you have yet to reveal this "commonsense plan."
House Republicans stand ready to work with you and our Democratic colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to address America's energy crisis. As part of that effort, we respectfully request that you reveal the "commonsense plan" to lower gas prices you promised two years ago. The ability to fully consider its provisions, details and costs – including any proposed new taxes on gasoline or energy as we have seen in the past – is critical if we are to effectively serve our constituents facing ever-increasing prices at the pump.

This is Interesting

One of the things that I have learned so far in my campaign is that many of my good friends who are Democrats are glad that I am running, but just can't support me because I am running as a Republican. Apparently, tolerance and being open minded requires adherence to a one Party government.
Libertarians have absolutely no place in the Democratic Party. We do not accept that government is the solution to any of our problems, while my Democratic friends seem to believe that anything can be solved with the right government bureaucracy. On the other hand, some Republicans, especially social conservatives are frightened by the libertarian approach of letting each person make choices for themselves.
Ron Paul created mixed feelings in my mind, because I disagree with some of his foreign policy positions. I do not believe that we have the ability to hide behind our oceans and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. On the other hand, it is obvious that he has a message that resonates with a large portion of the population.
I was somewhat worried that the Paul supporters would just sit out the coming election, and then I found this:


While McCain may not be the ideal choice. We still have to choose. Deciding not to choose is still a choice, and the consequences can be horrific. If McCain can garner the support of the Paulies, he just may yet win.
In spite of what my wife (The Good Democrat) thinks, I want McCain to win.
Otherwise, God help us all.

Watch Out for those Sneaky SOBs

at Left in the West. I was posting a link from LITW to Big Sky Cairn, who was looking for any Sinestra member that would call out Jay Stevens on his purposeful lies, and I noticed it seemed longer than usual.
Here is the link: http://www.leftinthewest.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=E32A1B4CF23755C1C595CA3F68E023E2?diaryId=1678

Do you notice the "jsessionid=" part of the URL? Now what exactly is that, I wonder? Could it be a way to snoop into your computer? Maybe a way to track who is linking to that post? Perhaps it's just a way to catch Wulfgar when he is using his State computer when he should be working.

Whatever the purpose, I would advise everyone to not use it since it seems to be a pretty sneaky invasion of your privacy.

UPDATE A friend who is computer literate has taken a look at the jsessionid matter and thinks that it is innocuous.
Therefore, I am wrong, and I apologize.
Steve

There He Goes Again

I have decided that it is apparently pointless to argue with people who deliberately misstate facts. Hence, Matt Singer, this one is for you:

Well, there he goes again.

Don't try this at home

Seems a motorcyclist in Oregon wanted to record how fast his bike went, so he mounted a video camera aimed at his speedometer. The recording shows that he hit 164 mph.
The fastest that I have ever taken a bike was 138 on the Autobahn. The front wheel started to feel like it was floating which scared the hell out of me, so I slowed down to a reasonable 120.
That just seemed so much safer.

On Exceptionalism and Bitterness

Mark Steyn is always quite insightful and entertaining. While he lacks the ferocity of Hitchens, he still is quite astute of an observer of the American condition. Consider this article. Some of the best parts:

Where was I? Oh, yes. In my book "America Alone," I note a global survey on optimism: 61 percent of Americans were optimistic about the future, 29 percent of the French, 15 percent of Germans. Take it from a foreigner: In my experience, Americans are the least "bitter" people in the developed world. Secular, gun-free big-government Europe doesn't seem to have done anything for people's happiness. Consider by way of example the words of Keith Reade. He's not an Obama speechwriter, he's a writer for the London Daily Mirror. And the day after the 2004 presidential election he expressed his frustration in an alarmingly Obamaesque way:

"Were I a Kerry voter, though, I'd feel deep anger, not only at them returning Bush to power, but for allowing the outside world to lump us all into the same category of moronic muppets. The self-righteous, gun-totin', military-lovin', sister-marryin', abortion-hatin', gay-loathin', foreigner-despisin', nonpassport ownin' rednecks, who believe God gave America the biggest d*** in the world so it could urinate on the rest of us and make their land 'free and strong.'"

Now, haven't I heard something like that recently? Oh yeah, Barak's "bitterness comments."
Mr. Steyn goes on to point out that the Europeans, unlike the moronic muppets in Kansas have voted their own best interests.

i.e., cradle-to-grave welfare, 35-hour workweeks, six weeks of paid vacation, etc. – and as a result they now face a perfect storm of unsustainable entitlements, economic stagnation and declining human capital that's left them so demographically beholden to unassimilable levels of immigration that they're being remorselessly Islamized with every passing day. We should thank God (forgive the expression) that America's loser gun nuts don't share the same sophisticated rational calculation of "their best interests" as do Thomas Frank, Obama, too many Democrats and the European political establishment.

I got to thinking about the above, and it reminded me of a very well appointed prison. And the socialism of Europe is a prison. While some of the countries are experimenting with individualism, the vast masses really only want their 35 hour work weeks, six week vacation and three week spa prescriptions, which does sound nice. Think about it, no real worries, concerns or challenges. But no opportunity to excel either. You are confined to mediocrity. Which, if you are sub-mediocre is an advantage, and if you are mediocre has no drawbacks. But if you aspire to more, you are going to be stopped and dragged back to mediocrity, less you disturb the other animals in their pleasantly appointed stalls.
Don't get me wrong. It is clear that the opportunity to succeed includes the opportunity to fail. And, as mentioned above, the comfort of mediocrity has its advantages. But it also steals from us the wonderful fruits of both success and failure.
For while success needs to be worked on to continue, and failure is that fraud that needs to be overcome, mediocrity is forever.

Are You Being Lied To?

When Carol and I got together for the MisConBlog Meetup, she said to me that she really resents feeling like she is being manipulated. I have to agree with her wholeheartedly on this point. Maybe, it's because I am getting older and crankier, or maybe it's because I have more access to information than ever before. In any event, I am finding that there seems to be a concerted effort to mislead all of us about essential facts.
As I had mentioned earlier, there are those who seem to go out of their way to purposely mislead us. Or they are so misled themselves, but confident that they are right, that they fail to think critically about the information that they are purporting to rely on.
But it's not just my friends on the Left. Even supposedly "professionals" are trying to mislead us.
Apparently, there is an active effort that is being coordinated to control what we think about subjects. And this is not a recent phenomenon as shown here, here here, and I could keep on listing them, but I think that you get the point.
No longer do we have unbiased news reporting, but the sort of "advocacy journalism" that is pure propaganda. What the Left forgets is that if it can be manipulated by their side, it could surely be manipulated by their opponents as well.
Ahh, but I can just hear Mark T.'s keyboards a clacking that news comes from corporations, and corporations are evil. Therefore, it is already slanted in favor of the Right. Yeah, those bastions of Conservatism like CBS and Reuters are in the tank for the Republicans, aren't they.
While I understand that people can have varying opinions about what needs to be emphasized, that should not apply to objective information gathering. How can we discuss a situation, if we cannot even agree what the situation is?
Maybe more of us need to borrow the line from Reagan - "Well, there you go again." to dismiss nonsense from the Left. Just smile, chuckle a little bit and pat them on the head, then send them out to play with their make believe stories, while we grownups discuss serious matters.

More Humor from Jay

I suppose he might actually be serious, but this is amusing in its own right.

"Faith," of course, is belief in something that lacks proof. It's pretty clear then that worry over global warming isn't a matter of faith, but of reason.

And if we're going to point out a group of people who cling to an idea that not only has no proof, but contradicts accumulated evidence and scientific inquiry, then we'll have to admit that it's the deniers who are acting on faith. Faith that Big Energy's efforts to influence the debate isn't profit driven. Faith that there's a 100% chance everything's going to be hunky-dory - after all, if there's even, say, a 10% chance global warming is man-made and as cataclysmic as conservative predictions make it out to be, it would be folly, or even criminal, to ignore it. Faith that the myopic views of a tiny number of politically-and economically-motivated commenters are what represents "reality."

If there's a religion here, it's in the denial of the problem.

Hmm, so belief in something that hasn't happened yet is proof of the statement, but not believing the statement is heresy? What is this, the Spanish Inquisition of the 21st Century?

But then Jay attempts to shred Craig of MTPolitics for his reporting on the makeup of the Climate Change Commission that the Gov himself handpicked.

Speaking of deniers, I just want to quickly comment on Craig's post equating Exxon funding of denier science with non-profit funding for policy groups. Again...I'm not sure the logic here. Exxon has a profit motive to misconstrue the debate and encourage us to make decisions that are self destructive; the groups listed in Craig's post seem to be interested in...well...preserving the environment and stopping global warming.

Jay either is blissfully unaware, or is active in denial of the idea that some people are using the hysteria of climate change as a tool to reorient society into their own image. Restructure the entire political and financial system, and apparently you are operating out of self interest. Point out the obvious flaws and you are a dupe of Exxon.
Nice try.

But what are the facts? Facts are easy, because they have occurred. That means they may be open to interpretation but they still exist. Predictions are not facts, by virtue of not being yet proven. Using "sophisticated computer models" does not change a fiction into a fact. It just means that you are using a model. When they can get the weather right in 10 more days, I will be closer to accepting their argument. But ten days out is impossible right now. Why someone thinks that 100 years out is more accurate is delusional. But surely, we can look to the past, since that has happened, right? Of course, when was the thermometer invented? Apparently in 1714. So, how widespread was its use? And how accurate were the observations that were made using these thermometers? But we are better than that now, aren't we? What do the data show, since the fact that it has occurred means that it is observable and testable.
Some reports are that 2006 is the warmest year on record, Others say that it was the 5th warmest. Of course, others say that 2007 is the seventh warmest year on record.
And still others say that it was the second warmest year on record.
At least a few show that the data relied upon is corrupt. In fact, in spite of the above assertions, some say that the warmest years on record was 1934, not 1998 or 2006 or 2007.

But that is to be ignored in this new Calvinist society, where we are all sinners, and not all of us are qualified for salvation. Only the true believers will be allowed into Paradise. I am sure that Jay believes that he will be one of the saved. Just like all the Calvinists before him.
Guess that explains why I am a Lutheran.

Oh, and Jay, if you doubt me, just put your hands on your desktop tower, and feel the warmth of God's love coming through to you.
Or is it climate change?

Deception as a Political Tool.

Carol at Missoulaopolis is taking Jay Stevens to task, and rightfully so it appears. I have to wonder sometimes, does Jay think that I am stupid, or is he being stupid? I realize that it is easy to bite on the line that has been handed to you, especially if it would impact your perceived opponent. But if given the chance to correct a mistake, why wouldn't you?
One reason might be that your assertion is correct. In this instance, that is obviously not the case. Another reason might be that you are unable to admit that you made a mistake. This is indicative of a major mental illness, and if I am elected to the Legislature, I promise to help people like this. Another is, that the lie is more effective than the truth. This is cynicism carried to its ultimate level.
Let's face it, a majority of the American voting public don't really pay attention to the news. They rely on what they hear from a (supposedly) reliable source. The first item in carries more weight than the truth.
Another example is Obama's 100 years of war with McCain. Obama is way too smart to not know that he is misquoting McCain.
So, maybe this is the new version of politics. The trouble is, that the so called "Reality Community" is much better at this version of variable truth than the conservatives are.
Too bad for the country.

UPDATE Here is another example, where Rove is the target. Maybe Jay Stevens actually is a journalist. Personally, I would want to punch anybody out that used that slur.

Update #2. More actual deception from his messianic holiness Barak:

Never Too Late

to say Thanks!

Pullitzer Winner

The essence of wit is truth. This is just too true. Have you ever noticed how bad the economy always ends up at the end of a Republican Presidency. Did you notice how we are still better off than during Clinton's miracle years?

Economic oddities

When Dave and I met over the weekend, as usual, our conversation went all over the place as two elderly sufferers of ADHD is wont to do. One of the things we were talking about was the price of oil at over $100 per barrel is not having that great of an effect in Europe because the Euro is over 50% stronger than the greenback. In essence, while we are paying the higher price, because of our devalued currency, the Europeans are paying the equivalent of $66 per barrel. Obviously, this is a tremendous benefit to them. But how long can it last?
Forbes magazine has this article which is predicting the end of the Euro within three years. The interesting thing about the article is its prescription to horde dollars because the Euro will suffer one heck of a sell off if and when Spain, Italy and France bail on it. The effect on the hording will rally the dollar, making our imports cheaper and our exports more costly.
I have a bucket with old currencies that I thought were worthless since the creation of the Euro. Maybe I should dig around and find them again. While they were often quite colorful and interesting, they could be worth something once again.

Budge is Busy

setting up my campaign web site Steve 4 HD 96, but we had a meeting in real life, and we were discussing the Clinton tax returns. Dave pointed out that the Clintons gave a lot of money to charity. Then he made the salient point: Is one of the charities the Clinton Library?
That would change the perspective of their "benevolence" if true.

Grown Ups are Finally Showing Up?

Thanks to Instapundit, I found this McCain ad, which I have got to admit has sent a shiver up my spine. Just for fun, listen to the words without the imagery. It is some pretty powerful stuff.

Interesting Reports

I had been considering the purpose of blogs, doing a little navel gazing as it were. I mean, I just don't go out and get the real story like GeeGuy at Electric City, nor do I have the time to dig up the skewing of commissions like Craig at MTPolitics. Most of my posts are in the nature of commentary on other news or postings.
I decided that I'm okay with that. Especially when you get these two YouTube postings to compare:

First - Thanks to Mike at The Last Best Place:




And if that wasn't fun enough, Criag at MTPolitics has this:



As the Good Book says, "By their fruits shall you know them." Now, if we can just get people out of the "feel good" Obama nonsense to actually listen to what they really mean, we might be able to make some progress in this country.

Soooey, Pig, Soooey

The LA Times has an article about pork spending. You remember pork. That was one of the things that caused Republicans to sit on their hands during the 2006 elections. You might also remember how the Democratic leadership was going to make all pork spending transparent.
Well they did. Make it transparent that is. They have done nothing to reduce it. Seems as though the good citizens represented by the junior Senator from New York are being bought off at the tune of almost $300 million. This year. So far.
Barak Obama on the other hand has only 53 earmarks for nearly $100 million. Boy, that fiscal responsibility thing seems to be catching. Good thing all those politicians learned from the last election.
Oh, and John McCain, no earmarks.

The Problems with Education in Montana

Michael Nicosia, who is a Superintendent of Whitefish Schools and vice chair of the Montana Quality Education Coalition, has penned a guest editorial in the Missoulian today. He is attempting to explain why a 7% increase in state wide funding did not result in a 7% overall increase in money to the schools. He doesn't mention that approximately 51% of all the State money goes to administrative overhead. Having been in business for 8 years, I know that overhead is the thing that kills you when it comes to making any money. Surely the same must apply to teaching our chillins, doesn't it? How many senior policy analysts at the OPI would we have to let go to raise teacher pay by 10%. No matter how you answer that question, the answer is going to be pretty scary.
While the Montana Quality Education Coalition is suing the State, I think that they should be worried about being sued for malpractice themselves.

Welcome Your Highness

The Viceroy's Fuguestate has been added at long last to the Dextra roll. And boy am I glad of it. His post on everything that is dangerous had me laughing so hard, I 'bout fell off my chair.
And a special thank you to Craig of MT Politics for putting together Dextra that lets me read the newest posts from the Viceroy and others. Over the weekend, Dextra was down. You never know how much you appreciate something until it is gone.
Great job Craig, and welcome aboard Viceroy.

The End of an Era?

While providing hours of entertainment, the Democratic presidential campaign is beginning to reveal something that I thought would never happen. Are the Clintons finally toast?
During the 90's, Bill ran as a centrist DLC member who wasn't going to shake things up too much, even though he would have liked to. Gays in the military? After the disastrous introduction, it settled into the perfectly unsatisfactory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Throw in welfare reform, which he opposed until he knew it was going to pass with bipartisan majorities, and which he promptly trumpeted as his idea, and you have someone who was always so quick to exploit a situation to his advantage. Even if it meant compromising on his principles. Okay, that may not be true, since I am not even sure that he has any principles besides winning.
But the height of chutzpa, had to be the Lewinsky business. When the story first broke, his polling told him that if he admitted it, he would have to resign or he would have been impeached. But by dragging it out, he was able to get enough people outraged at Republicans for noticing that the emperor had no clothes, and somehow conveyed the idea that lying under oath was just about sex, so it was okay. Never mind abuse of power, perjury, or just plain fecklessness, his political jujitsu made his prosecutors the bad guys.
He could only do this with the complicity of the main stream media. Their unwillingness to ask questions that they knew would result in embarrassment offered a shield of invincibility that could not be broken. In fact, I sometimes wonder why the whole Superdelegate group isn't populated by the media, since their impact has been so great in protecting Democrats.
But that aside, I assumed that Hillary would benefit from the same protectionism that Bill had enjoyed. Now, there is no way that Hillary is as astute as Bill in being able to manipulate people, but surely, Bill wanted back in the White House so much, he would do anything to make her get there. If he is, it isn't working any more.
Mark Steyn has a good commentary on the present Hillary situation. I keep waiting for her to start complaining that Obama is a part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy that has been haunting her and Bill since they first emerged as the power couple of Little Rock.
Without the power that Bill used to wield, the Superdelegates just may not hand her the election like she expects. The problem for the Democrats though, is that I don't think that the "Smartest Woman in the World" is going to pick up on that until the convention.
After she is denied that which she feels is rightfully hers, there are two possibilities that come to mind. First, she withdraws gracefully, goes on to win the Senate Majority leader position, and carries water for the Obama Presidency.
Sorry, it's hard to type that while rolling on the floor, doubled up with laughter.
The other possibility: She uses every tool in her toolshed to defeat Obama. That way she will be in a good place to go again in 2012 without all the unpleasantness of a Carter-Kennedy feud.
In my lifetime, there have been some impressive achievements. The Space Age, Viet Nam, Watergate, Reagan, the end of the Cold War, the end of the Soviet Union and the rise of Islamo-fascism. Now I get to add to that the exposure of the hypocrisy of the Clintons.
Aren't you glad to be alive to see it?

How Courts Should Be

The Corner has an article where Scalia is complaining about the press coverage of their decisions. As noted:

He singled out for criticism a New York Times editorial on the case headlined "No Recourse for the Injured." The media often make it appear as though the court is reaching policy judgments on its own rather than basing its decisions on the text of the law at issue in a case, Scalia said.

The Court's purpose is not to create new policy - like Affirmative Action. It's purpose is to discern what the law is, not what it should be. Fixing it is the province of the Legislature.
Now, if everyone would just get to work doing their own jobs. . . .