I Hate You, Bristol Palin

The Onion could not have done it any better.  Any mention of Palin in any MSM venue brings out the nuts in flocks.  I noted this in  Palin haters congregate like a flock of demented crows.

Now NRO's David Kahane writes a perect parody that has to be read to be apprecaited.  Excerpt: 

Watching Bristol waltzing about in a slinky dress on national television and coming in third behind Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey and Disney’s Kyle Massey is enough to cause me to lose control of my Prius and possibly sideswipe a homeless shelter for unwed lesbian mothers awaiting deployment to Afghanistan in our new post-DADT army. I’m sure I’m not alone in my despair.

You see, we liberals are locked in an eternal profane embrace with you, the Palin family. You are the living, breathing antithesis of everything we hold dear — credentialism, law schools, expensive restaurant meals, gun-free zones, live-in mothers-in-law, the Punahou School, and skinny black ties worn with white shirts. Why can’t we quit you?

Read the whole thing.

Oh, THAT Moderate Islam!

For reasons that seem to escape most people who imagine that all religions are somehow the same, the issue of what defines  Moderate Muslims® seems to be open to question.  Some of the most prominent Moderate Muslims include people like Anwar Al-Awlaki who was invited to rub shoulders with the Pentagon brass because he was the kind of Moderate they could use to reach out to the millions of others just like him.  We hope that here are not millions of other just like him because he inspired -  among others – the Fort Hood assassin,, the Christmas Day bomber and several of the 9/11 hijackers.

Then there is another award winning Moderate Muslim,® Muzzamil Hassan who cut off his wife’s head after she filed for divorce.  It remains to be seen whether this act falls within the orbit of “Moderate” when applied to Islam.

The question is not fully settled because in Pakistan Moderate Muslims® are threatening those who agree with murdered Governor Taseer with death.

JAMES TARANTO is a national treasure as the Wall Street Journal's editor of "Best of the Web."

He found the following story in a Reuters dispatch from Islamabad:

A Moderate School of Islam

"Five hundred Pakistani religious scholars have warned that anyone who expresses grief over the assassination of a senior ruling party official who opposed the country's blasphemy law could suffer the same fate," Reuters reports:

The Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan group of scholars making the veiled threat is actually from a moderate school of Islam in Pakistan.

It is a vocal critic of Taliban militants violently opposed to the government and its ally Washington.

The group is one of the largest representing scholars from the mainstream Barelvi sect of Sunni Muslims. Although moderate, they have been leading protests in favour of the blasphemy law.

The hardline stand taken by the moderates illustrates how difficult it can be for Washington, which sees Islamabad as indispensable in its war on militancy, to persuade Pakistani leaders to crack down harder on religious extremism.

So a moderate Muslim is one who calls for the murder of those who oppose strict blasphemy laws and for the murder of those who grieve the victims of such murders. To be clear, that's according to Reuters, not us. And as evidenced by its careful use of the phrase "war on militancy," Reuters is very precise about the use of language.

Reuters reports that

Taseer, a liberal politician close to President Asif Ali Zardari, had championed the cause of a Christian woman sentenced to death under the blasphemy laws which critics say are used to target religious minorities, often to settle personal scores.

The Taliban wing of the Democrat party has not decided on the proper manner of showing gratitude for the killing.  There are reports that the faculty at UC Berkeley praised the moderation, "courage" and religious zeal of the killer, saying his action had made Muslims and their supporters around the world proud and showing that those opposed to moderate Muslims building a mosque at Ground Zero were wild eyed religious bigots.

The bodyguard who killed Taseer, identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who also used moderation, only shooting Taseer 14 times from a distance of about six feet.  Then he ran out of bullets.

“You ain’t nothing! You a punk faggot!”

Respected Democrat elder statesman, the Reverend Al Sharpton, did not achieve his eminence by accident.  His image was carefully built and he is much carressed by Democrats seeking the urban ethnic vote. 

From the Smoking Gun via The PJ Tatler:

Al Sharpton, then a rotund Brooklyn reverend with a prodigious konk....the civil rights leader is seen yelling at an audience member who likely had commented negatively on Sharpton’s weight, race, bow tie, or affiliation with Tawana Brawley. Perhaps all four.

Saying that he was “tired of them acting big,” Sharpton told the unseen audience member, “You ain’t nothing! You a punk faggot!” Gesturing for the Downey fan to come up to the stage and rumble, Sharpton added, “Now come on and do something.” Since becoming a respected leader, Rev. Al has dropped the term “punk faggot” from his fiery verbal repertoire, records show.

Compare and Contrast

John Boehner begins his term in office by cutting the budget to run the House by $35 million dollars. He decided to skip the party put on by one of the freshmen representatives and begins the day by vacuuming his apartment.

By contrast, outgoing speaker Nancy Pelosi, the one who commuted from Washington to San Francisco on a luxurious government C-32 (757) jet, treating the Air Force like her personal airline, spent her last days at a $10,000 a night Hawaiian resort.

Nancy Pelosi’s final days as Speaker of the House were spent at the exotic Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka’upulehu in Kona on the island of Hawaii.

Escorted throughout her trip by a mini security motorcade that included Secret Service and Hawaii County Police officers, Pelosi was seen at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Kailua-Kona, where she received Communion. Parishioners greeted her warmly, Hawaii Reporter was told. Two police SUVs were on guard outside the hotel during her week long stay.

Pelosi, who traveled to Hawaii by private plane, spent the holidays in Kona last year at the same hotel in an elaborate suite that reportedly rents for $10,000 a night.

The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai’s details its luxurious setting and amenities on its web site: “Gloriously revitalised, this natural tropical paradise offers more than ever to explore – with a newly expanded Spa, beachfront dining, fashion boutiques and new Deluxe Suites, in addition to Jack Nicklaus signature golf. Set on the Big Island’s exclusive Kona-Kohala Coast, this showpiece resort captures the essence of Hawaiian design, culture and tradition.”

Air Pelosi

The contrast is stunning.  Note that the article was carried by a local paper, the Hawaii Reporter, not any of the major media outlets.  If not for the Drudge Report, no one would know.  It's the way that the MSM slants the news best; by NOT COVERING things that reflect badly on their side of the political spectrum.

Instead, the big news is that the skipper of a carrier made raunchy movies to boost the morale of the troops a few years ago, thanks the the intrepid Virginian Pilot and its brain damaged staff.

Since the MSM is useless as a source of information and positively harmful as a propaganda tool, the Navy people in Tidewater Virginia should consider dropping their subscriptions.

Obama's Energy Plan Coming Together Nicely.

Let’s see:

• Bankrupt power producers who use coal and drive electric bills through the roof. If Congress won’t pass “Cap & Trade,” have the EPA do it via carbon dioxide regulations: check.
• Have the price of gasoline rise to the point where many Americans can’t afford it. Stop oil exploration and production via government regulation: check.
• Have Government Motors produce an electric car and give a huge tax credit to anyone who buys it: check.
• Check your flanks: nothing to worry about from the brain damaged media.

It’s all going according to plan. Life is good. Hate to leave sunny Hawaii, but I guess I have to show up for work just to keep the rubes quiet.  Don't want to get the Christie treatment!  Oh who am I kidding?  I crack me up sometimes.

Barack

Welcome Small Dead Animals Readers.  Make yourselves comfortable and check the place out. 

Palin haters congregate like a flock of demented crows.

Let there be a news story about the Palins and the raving nuts flock like a bunch of demented crows.  Reuters carries a story about Bristol Palin buying a house in a Arizona suburb.  And what a great deal!

The 20-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin and third-place finisher on "Dancing with the Stars" quietly bought a five-bedroom, 3,900-square-foot home in the Cobblestones Farms neighborhood of Maricopa for $172,000 on December 10.

The story itself in not really very much.  What's fascinating is the glimpse the comments give into the minds on the Left.

Samples:

• What the hell is Maricopa’s Mayor doing giving Todd Palin a personal city tour? See if he was using taxpayer money. then if he is. Indict, Baby, Indict!

• Isn’t Pheonix the #2 kidnapping capital of the world? Why can’t we keep the Fox News narrative consistent?

• What really bothers me is that Bristol is glamorizing unwed pregnancy. Her mother (SP) seems to be a big supporter of this. Self-righteous born again Christians, who don’t believe in anything but abstinence (which clearly doesn’t work) seem to be rewarding this girl for getting pregnant in high school. And buy the way, who takes care of the unplanned baby while Bristol is doing a TV show? Most likely the same situation as who takes care of Sarah’s baby. She is so busy being a “star” she has no time to be a mother to a baby. Got to love those “family values”!

• Hurray! One last Nutjob-Palin in my state! Now, how do we encourage the rest of them to leave? We’ll miss you like a toothache, Bristol!

• hmmmm, 40 minutes south of town would make it a great place to buy drugs from the Mexicans hauling the pot into the US. She must know where the money is, makes perfect sense to go where the cash flow is.

• What a sad state of affairs that this no talent, done nothing but gestated inside a dumb, lying, quitter of a mother, is given any attention at all, and that the conservative movement is so desperate for leadership that they have to hang on to her and those like her. This country will perish like Rome for it.

Reagan and Palin: the MSM views are amazingly similar.

At Hot Air, portlandon notes the amazing similarities between the conventional wisdom about Reagan before the election in 1980 and Palin today.

It gives me a chance to remind us all of what Reagan was putting up with 6 months before the ’80 elections:

Time Magazine – March 31, 1980

“National opinion polls continue to show Carter leading Reagan by an apparently comfortable margin of about 25%. They also show that more moderate Republicans like Ford would run better against the President. This suggests that Reagan is not the strongest G.O.P. choice for the November election and that he clearly faces an uphill battle.”

“Party operatives are plainly unhappy with his selection. In Massachusetts, where both Bush and Anderson defeated Reagan, party leaders are not yet reconciled to the Reagan candidacy. Says one: “There’s a vacuum of leadership at the national level; and what appears to be the Republican Party’s response? A 69-year-old man who has done virtually nothing for years”

“Reagan has a history of committing rhetorical blunders that drive away voters. His quest in 1976 was damaged when he suggested vaguely, without proper research and consideration, that $90 billion in federal programs should be turned back to the states. He then spent months explaining that the affected programs would not be eliminated, only transferred. As Governor, Reagan was outraged by student unrest and once proclaimed: “The state of California has no business subsidizing intellectual curiosity.”

“Worse perhaps than the verbal gaffe is Reagan’s relentlessly simple-minded discussion of complex problems. He is aware that he is charged with this failing, and in his 1967 inaugural address on becoming Governor of California, he asserted: “We have been told there are no simple answers to complex problems. Well, the truth is there are simple answers, just not easy ones.”

Time Magazine – March 31, 1980

1980:

1.Reagan was behind President Carter by 25%

2.Establishment Republicans didn’t like Reagan

3.Reagan was a blunderer who makes Gaffes

4.Reagan is simple-minded

5.Regan was an old man who hadn’t done anything in years.

2011:

1.Palin is behind President Obama by 25% + percent

2.Establishment Republicans don’t like Palin

3.Palin was a blunderer who makes gaffes

4.Palin is simple-minded

5.Palin is a young women who hasn’t done enough.

The Reagan who governed and the Reagan who ran seem to be two different people.  The media solons didn't like him and the chattering classes thought he was a simpleminded fool.  Those who didn't disdain him characterized him as a dangerous ideologue.  He was an actor! by God.   Jimmy Carter was a sitting president who had the media in his hip pocket.  Sure, we had 15% inflation, but are you going to turn the country over to a simpleton like Reagan?  Not a chance!  "Turn him over, he's done" was the conventional wisdom.  If only the Republicans had run a moderate like Ford again, we would not be faced with Jimmy Carter's second term.

Ask yourself at this point, what is the biggest political story of 2010?  If your answer isn't the Tea Party movement, people should stop listening.  And who is the darling of the Tea Party?  Who has the energy?  Who has the charisma?  Who is the MSM telling us can't win?

Go Sarah!

Washington Post's Colman McCarthy opposes stopping Hitler.

Sometimes what's inside a man is reflected in his outward appearance.

Colman McCarthy has now gained a level of notoriety that has eluded him before. Most commentators are denouncing his remarks about the American military and ROTC on campus. In keeping with the theme of peace, he also opposed the Civil War and World War 2. Americanglob linked to this article in the Santa Barbara Independent:

“Hitler could have been waited out. He might have been overthrown by his own government. Who knows? To have 50 million people killed : Hitler would have died within 10 years no matter what he did.”

He was not asked whether the Holocaust was exaggerated, but remains firm in the belief that resistance to the Holocaust was immoral.

Which brings up a more important issue that the personal beliefs of a lone crank. Colman McCarthy was a columnist for the Washington Post for years and was invited by that paper to address the issue of the return of ROTC to the Ivy campuses. What responsible major media outlet believes that someone with McCarthy’s belief system should have their opinions validated by publishing them? Does the Post also print the editorial judgments of Holocaust deniers? It’s not a rhetorical question; does anyone know?

The Washington Post has a well deserved reputation for having nutcases on its staff.   Of course, CBS is also in the running for having the biggest idiots in top slots (I'm leaving MSNBC out since stupidity is part of their marketing plan; they're crazy by design).

One other question.  We know that the Civil War ended slavery in the United States and we know that World War 2 stopped Hitler’s genocide.  Should the person who opposed both of these actions - with the knowledge of hindsight - be accused of being in favor or slavery and anti-Semitism?   We ask because it was exactly this kind of reasoning that led many on the Left to accuse Rand Paul of being a racist for expressing doubts about the constitutionality of the Civil Rights law of 1964 … in an article in – of all papers – the Washington Post.   

NOTE: edited 8:02 pm.
UPDATE:  I have been admonished by Scott Johnson of Powerline that I have mis-spelled McCarthy's first name.  I have corrected that and apologize to all who were confused by my egregious error.  It's Colman not Coleman.

Top execs at cash strapped University of California demand dramatically higher pensions.

The following gluttons want their pensions to go from $183,750 to $300,000.

First let me give you their names. 

Satish Ananthaswamy, CFA senior portfolio manager, Office of the Chief Information Officer

Marie Berggren, chief investment officer

William Coaker Jr., senior managing director of equity investments, Office of the Treasurer

Lynda Choi, managing director, absolute return, regents' Office of the Treasurer

Linda Fried, senior portfolio manager

Gloria Gil, managing director of real assets, Office of the Treasurer

Jesse Phillips, senior managing director, investment risk management, regents' Office of the Treasurer

Tim Recker, CFA managing director of private equity, regents' Office of the Treasurer

Dr. Jack Stobo, senior vice president, health services and affairs

Randolph Wedding, senior managing director, fixed income, Office of the Treasurer

UCSF
Dr. Sam Hawgood, vice chancellor and dean, School of Medicine

Ken Jones, chief operating officer, medical center

Mark Laret, CEO, medical center

Larry Lotenero chief information officer, medical center

John Plotts, senior vice chancellor

UC Berkeley
Christopher Edley Jr., dean, School of Law

Richard Lyons, dean, Haas School of Business

UC Davis
Steven Currall, dean, Graduate School of Management

William McGowan, CFO, health system

Dr. Claire Pomeroy, CEO health system, vice chancellor/dean, School of Medicine

Ann Madden Rice, CEO Medical Center

UCLA
Roger Farmer, chair, Department of Economics

Dr. David Feinberg, CEO of the hospital system; associate vice chancellor

Franklin Gilliam Jr. dean, school of Public Affairs

Dr. Gerald Levey, dean emeritus

Virginia McFerran, chief information officer of the health system

Judy Olian, dean and John E. Anderson chair, Anderson School of Management

Amir Dan Rubin, chief operating officer of the hospital system

Dr. J. Thomas Rosenthal, chief medical officer of the hospital system; associate vice chancellor

Paul Staton, chief financial officer of the hospital system

UC San Diego
Dr. David Brenner, vice chancellor for health sciences; dean of the School of Medicine

Tom Jackiewicz, CEO, associate vice chancellor of the health system

Gary Matthews, vice chancellor, resource management & planning

Dr. Thomas McAfee, dean for clinical affairs

Robert Sullivan, dean, Rady School of Management

UC Irvine
Terry Belmont, CEO, Medical Center

Here's a link to the story:

Three dozen of the University of California's highest-paid executives are threatening to sue unless UC agrees to spend tens of millions of dollars to dramatically increase retirement benefits for employees earning more than $245,000.

"We believe it is the University's legal, moral and ethical obligation" ....

Here's the UC website. You can find ways of contacting these greedy bastards directly.

Forget about nuking the Norks, let's aim one at UC.

"Nuke the Norks" is link trolling? I'm just not with it.

Glenn Reynolds expected to be doing better in Andrew Sullivan’s Malkin Award poll.  Referring to references to his comment as link trolling. 

Let's see if it works.

Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks. Nuke the Norks.

So You Lost Your Election

Iowahawk give some pointers to Washington's dispossessed. 

Congratulations! You're almost there in your new non-Washington job. You've gotten a callback from a prospective employer who wants to interview you for an opening. This can be daunting, but it's important to remain calm, relaxed, and prepared. Before the big interview, make sure you are neat and clean, and wearing appropriate business attire. In many ways your job interview will be like an important televised Congressional debate, and your main goal is to sell yourself. But remember -- always think of your interviewer as an undecided voter, not your opponent. It's a common mistake, as recently experienced by one ex-Capitol Hill layoff victim:

Job Interviewer: so, Mr. Grayson, I see here you would like to join the cast here at Disney World. Tell me about yourself. What is it about Alan Grayson that qualifies him to wear the Donald Duck costume?

Alan Grayson: You're in no position to question my fitness for this position. The people of the Magic Kingdom already know why you want the Donald Duck constume.

Job Interviewer: I... uh...

Alan Grayson: You want to wear the Donald Duck costume because it gives you the cover you need to kill people. That's right - you want to kill people! Face it, beneath those feathers and behind that bill, you are no different than the Taliban.

Job Interviewer: now just a minute, I...

Alan Grayson: You be quiet, you murderous webfooted terrorist! I have the floor.

Job Interviewer: Is that a gavel?

Alan Grayson: You are out of order! [bang] Out of order!

Job Interviewer: Security!

Read the whole thing.

$5.00 GAS!

Why isn't the MSM asking what Obama is going to do about this? 

Or is this part of the plan?

Like bankrupting utilities that use coal?

To save us from Global Warming ... uh ... Climate Change ... err ... Global Climate Disruption.  It's nothing that $5 gas and skyrocketing utility bills won't solve. 

At least it's a plan.

Got that? No matter what the weather, it's all due to warming. This isn't science; it's a kind of faith.

From Investors Business Daily: The Abiding Faith Of Warm-ongers

Nothing makes fools of more people than trying to predict the weather. Whether in Los Angeles or London, recent predictions have gone crazily awry. Global warming? How about mini ice age?

The sight of confused and angry travelers stuck in airports across Europe because of an arctic freeze that has settled across the continent isn't funny. Sadly, they've been told for more than a decade now that such a thing was an impossibility — that global warming was inevitable, and couldn't be reversed.

This is a big problem for those who see human-caused global warming as an irreversible result of the Industrial Revolution's reliance on carbon-based fuels. Based on global warming theory — and according to official weather forecasts made earlier in the year — this winter should be warm and dry. It's anything but. Ice and snow cover vast parts of both Europe and North America, in one of the coldest Decembers in history.

(Read the whole thing) in IBD.

As if to prove their point, here is an article written by Judah Cohen for the NY Times (and reprinted in the Virginian Pilot) and linked by DRUDGE. Bundle Up, It’s Global Warming

THE earth continues to get warmer, yet it’s feeling a lot colder outside....

How can we reconcile this? The not-so-obvious short answer is that the overall warming of the atmosphere is actually creating cold-weather extremes. Last winter, too, was exceptionally snowy and cold across the Eastern United States and Eurasia, as were seven of the previous nine winters.

For a more detailed explanation, we must turn our attention to the snow in Siberia.

Cohen brings in El Nino, solar variability, arctic sea ice, Siberia, the Jet stream, snow reflecting heat into space, and none of them is persuasive ... unless you are a true believer.

And to think that atheists make fun of Christians for their faith.

Phil Jones and the clowns at East Anglia should be forced to spend the evening outdoors as punishment for thier global warming hoax.

Via JammieWearingFool, from the UK Mail Online

Christmas Day is the coldest ever with mercury plummeting to MINUS 18 as UK heads towards the biggest December freeze since 1890

Traditional family walks to help the turkey go down could be off the cards today as December 25 is the coldest Christmas ever.

The mercury plummeted to -5.9C at Glenlivet in 1996, but that record was smashed last night when temperatures dropped to -17C at Worcester and -18C at Altnaharra in northern Scotland.

Some areas enjoyed a traditional white Christmas, with snow falling in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and north east England.

Most parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland were sunny and dry but daytime temperatures are set to remain below freezing.

In other parts of Europe, snow, ice and freezing termperatures are creating havoc for Christmas travellers.

As some Parisians frolicked in the blanket of snow covering their city, air passengers stranded at Charles de Gaulle airport were having a less joyful time after being evacuated from one of its terminals amid fears for their safety because of an accumulation of snow on the roof.

Bernard Cathelain, deputy director of the Paris airport authority ADP, said the terminal was still operating but passengers had been asked to move.

Le Monde newspaper reported about 60 centimetres of snow had built up on the roof of the terminal and about 2000 people had been evacuated. Firefighters have been sent in to clear the snow.

It added to the woes at Charles de Gaulle, where freezing conditions and a strike at the main French factory producing de-icing fluid forced the cancellation of half - about 400 - of scheduled flights. A supply of glycol was flown in from the US but many passengers already faced missing traditional Christmas Eve dinner.

Fresh snow falls and cold weather have caused travel chaos elsewhere in France and across Europe, shutting airports and causing big delays to trains and aircraft. Dusseldorf airport in Germany shut for several hours, causing the cancellation of about 65 flights.

UPDATE: On this side of the pond Blizzard :

A winter storm that brought a rare white Christmas to parts of the South was barreling up the East Coast early Sunday, with forecasters predicting 6 to 10 inches of snow for Washington and blizzard conditions for New York City and New England.

Airlines canceled hundreds of Sunday flights in the Northeast corridor, with more likely to come as the storm intensifies.

Snow in Chesapeake, VA

Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina declared states of emergency early Sunday or Saturday night. As North Carolina road crews tried to clear snowy and icy highways, Mid-Atlantic officials spent Christmas Day preparing for up to a foot of snow, plunging temperatures and high winds.

From AccuWeather:

Blizzard Looms for Philadelphia, New York City, Boston

The corridor from Salisbury, Md. to Philadelphia to New York City to Boston to Portland will be faced with roughly 18 hours of heavy, wind-whipped snow.

Total snow accumulations within this zone will exceed a half foot. More than a foot will bury places from the New York City area to Bangor, Maine.

Strong winds will significantly blow and drift the snow around, leading to an all-out blizzard from Philadelphia northward.

Hallelujah!

Sacramento-area pilot punished for YouTube video showing security flaws. Big Sis Strikes Back!

A fifty year old pilot who's been deputized to carry a gun in the cockpit, is an active member of the Army Reserve and flew mission for the UN in Macedonia has been visited by

... four federal air marshals and two sheriff's deputies arrived at his house to confiscate his federally-issued firearm. The pilot recorded that event as well and provided all the video to News10.

Dissent does not appear to be the highest form of patriotism when Democrats are in charge.  Of course once the FCC controls the Internet, stories like this are not apt to show up.

Power Line labels it Gangster Government. 

As for the folks running the show in the Obama administration, you have to wonder who these people think they are. It's a question that applies to several cabinet officers and administrative agencies and goes right to the top of the administration.

Glenn Reynolds notes:

This is precisely the sort of vindictive — while fundamentally ineffective — behavior we expect from Janet Napolitano. And once again, we are not disappointed.

The Original Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

On this day (+2) in 1931, America was spiraling into the depths of the Depression. Thousands of banks had closed and there was a national panic that more closings might be imminent. And large corporations announced huge layoff programs, stunning many who thought they were safe. Those who had a job were grateful just to be employed.

Among those were a group of construction workers in New York City. As they stood amidst the rubble of demolished buildings in midtown Manhattan, they talked of how lucky they were that some rich guy had hired them for a new but risky development.

And since it was near Christmas, they decided to celebrate the fact that they had a job. They got a Christmas tree from a guy in a lot on the corner who apparently had discovered that folks with apartments suitable for 18 foot trees were not too free with the green pictures of dead presidents in 1931. So the workers stood the big tree up in the rubble and decorated it with tin cans and other items in the lot. A photographer saw it as a perfect symbol of 1931. It caught on immediately and each Christmas as the project proceeded a new tree was put up. And even after the project (Rockefeller Center) was completed, management put up a new (and much bigger) tree each year.

Thanks to Art Cashin for his yearly reminder of how much we have to be grateful for.  We are again in the middle of tough times for a lot of people.  Let's light up a Christmas tree in our homes & in our hearts, and let us be grateful if we have a job.  And let us extend our hands to those who do not.

A lesson for those who hate the rich, in 1931 the name Rockefeller was synonymous with wealth.  He was the one who gave those construction men their jobs, and they were glad to have them.

Top 10 Hoaxes Perpetrated by the Left and Trumpeted by a Complicit Media

Megan Fox has the roundup: all the way from books with pee on them in the Harvard library to fake anti-Muslim flyers.Click HERE to read.

Or .... you can just pick up a copy of the Virginian Pilot.

A Scientific Theory Is Judged By Its Predictive Power

John at Powerline points out that if a scientific theory makes predictions that do not come true, it's false.

Dr. David Viner is a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia; the leading climate research organization in the world, and the source of the infamous leaks of e-mails that showed how the data on climate change was "massaged" and how scientists that did not agree got blacklisted from peer reviewed publications.

Here's his prediction in the year 2000

Sledges, snowmen, snowballs and the excitement of waking to find that the stuff has settled outside are all a rapidly diminishing part of Britain's culture, as warmer winters - which scientists are attributing to global climate change - produce not only fewer white Christmases, but fewer white Januaries and Februaries. ...

According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".

"Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said.

Can we review how that prediction turned out?

And from the Daily Mail via the Drudge report Report UK: Coldest December since records began...

We're not talking about a nobody making predictions about the weather in a week, we're talking about an official "climate scientist" at the Mecca of "climate science"  making the kind of long-term prediction that should prove the validity of global warming.  In fact, the exact opposite of the prediction is happening, so the charlatans who brought us the first prediction are ramping up the wattage.

Extreme Special Forces Extraction Afghanistan