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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (43805)	9/2/2008 1:16:33 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224704

Bubriski?..wow, we agree on something--Obama should definitely get rid of his spokesman Bubriski.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (43805)	9/2/2008 2:38:09 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 224704

MARKETWATCH FIRST TAKE McCain's steps on a conservative's landmine Commentary: Questions on Palin keep coming, underlining sloppy decision By MarketWatch Last update: 12:42 p.m. EDT Sept. 2, 2008Comments: 216SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- What was he thinking? From the floor of the Republican National Convention to backyard cookouts on Labor Day, Americans are asking how it's possible that John McCain, who had sewed up his nomination back in the dead of winter, could have settled on a running mate so untested, not to mention one who eluded the vetting process so badly. But that is what happens to a candidate whose preferred choices to round out the ticket get dumped at the 11th hour as a result of a panicked scramble to bring a jolt to the campaign. The revelation that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's unwed 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant certainly has provided a jolt, though it's hard to imagine that's the kind of jolt that McCain had in mind. As a result of this and other, albeit less titillating disclosures from America's Last Frontier, the Republican convention is abruptly veering off script to say the least. McCain is reported to have wanted to run with a moderate, centrist partner such as former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge or even Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Both of them support abortion rights, the leading lightening-rod issue on the right. But when word about them being veepstakes frontrunners seeped into the rightwingosphere, the response suggested McCain was risking an uproar from Christian conservatives at his carefully planned coronation in St. Paul. Between that news and Barack Obama's stirring address before a TV audience of 40 million people, Vietnam veteran and war hero McCain -- whose maverick political career made him a hero to many Republicans and Democrats alike -- dropped everything and met with Palin, the darkest of dark-horse veep candidates. And it seems he barely checked into her inner world before settling on her as his final choice. Rather than selecting a political soul mate who shares in McCain's ability to bridge partisan divides at the root of political gridlock, he has chosen a political unknown who appeals to a feared minority in his party. So much for the bid to attract disaffected Hillary voters. -- Alexander Davis, managing editor

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (43805)	9/2/2008 4:09:29 PM
From: DizzyG	3 Recommendations Respond to of 224704

Big Government Is a High-Stakes Affair By ERNEST S. CHRISTIAN and BILL FRENZEL August 30, 2008; Page A9 The 2008 election is shaping up to be an extraordinarily high-risk affair. Consider, for example, the risk that Republican losses in the Senate might give Democrats control over both houses of Congress, with unstoppably large majorities. And on top of that, consider the risk that Barack Obama will win the White House with an open-ended mandate for radical but unspecified change. Who is Sen. Obama, and what would he do with an open-ended mandate? Except for his own media-packaged self-description, the voters still have relatively little to go on. Mr. Obama's sparse legislative record suggests that he is at the very least a high-tax, big-spending liberal. On the broad issues of the social contract -- those involving personal freedom, America's status in the world, and the role of government versus markets in allocating resources -- he might become the most left-wing, collectivist-minded person ever to be president. The stakes are so high in this presidential election for a fundamental reason that doesn't get discussed nearly enough: The federal government is so large and powerful. In particular, any aggressive president and Congress acting together have it in their legal authority -- under our presently elasticized Constitution -- to exercise near complete control over the economy. A long line of judge-made law since the Supreme Court's New Deal era decision in Wickard v. Filburn (1942) says there is almost no limit, under the commerce clause of the Constitution, to the regulatory reach of the federal government. Thus, a united president and Congress can, as a practical matter, do all or any of the following (plus much more): take your money and give it to someone else; tell businesses what to produce and sell, who to hire and what wages to pay; set all commodity, wholesale and retail prices; control all energy supplies, communication networks and financial markets; replace all private health-care with a government system; prescribe the curriculum for all schools; determine which students get a slot in elite universities; diminish political and other speech; and enroll all citizens above the age of 17 either in the military or in civilian corps for periodic instruction and service. Children could be required to spend the summer in government "youth" camps. Obama or no Obama, alarm bells about the size and scope of government should have been going off for years, but weren't. They may yet, in November -- after it is too late. Mr. Christian, an attorney, was a deputy assistant secretary of Treasury in the Ford administration. Mr. Frenzel is a former Republican congressman from Minnesota who served on the Ways and Means and Budget Committees. online.wsj.com

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (43805)	9/2/2008 4:16:53 PM
From: DizzyG	7 Recommendations Respond to of 224704

The Sun is going to rain on your Man Made Global warming parade, Kenneth. :) Sun Makes History: First Spotless Month in a Century Michael Asher (Blog) - September 1, 2008 8:11 AM The sun has reached a milestone not seen for nearly 100 years: an entire month has passed without a single visible sunspot being noted. The event is significant as many climatologists now believe solar magnetic activity – which determines the number of sunspots -- is an influencing factor for climate on earth. According to data from Mount Wilson Observatory, UCLA, more than an entire month has passed without a spot. The last time such an event occurred was June of 1913. Sunspot data has been collected since 1749. When the sun is active, it's not uncommon to see sunspot numbers of 100 or more in a single month. Every 11 years, activity slows, and numbers briefly drop to near-zero. Normally sunspots return very quickly, as a new cycle begins. But this year -- which corresponds to the start of Solar Cycle 24 -- has been extraordinarily long and quiet, with the first seven months averaging a sunspot number of only 3. August followed with none at all. The astonishing rapid drop of the past year has defied predictions, and caught nearly all astronomers by surprise. In 2005, a pair of astronomers from the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson attempted to publish a paper in the journal Science. The pair looked at minute spectroscopic and magnetic changes in the sun. By extrapolating forward, they reached the startling result that, within 10 years, sunspots would vanish entirely. At the time, the sun was very active. Most of their peers laughed at what they considered an unsubstantiated conclusion. The journal ultimately rejected the paper as being too controversial. The paper's lead author, William Livingston, tells DailyTech that, while the refusal may have been justified at the time, recent data fits his theory well. He says he will be "secretly pleased" if his predictions come to pass. But will the rest of us? In the past 1000 years, three previous such events -- the Dalton, Maunder, and Spörer Minimums, have all led to rapid cooling. One was large enough to be called a "mini ice age". For a society dependent on agriculture, cold is more damaging than heat. The growing season shortens, yields drop, and the occurrence of crop-destroying frosts increases. Meteorologist Anthony Watts, who runs a climate data auditing site, tells DailyTech the sunspot numbers are another indication the "sun's dynamo" is idling. According to Watts, the effect of sunspots on TSI (total solar irradiance) is negligible, but the reduction in the solar magnetosphere affects cloud formation here on Earth, which in turn modulates climate. This theory was originally proposed by physicist Henrik Svensmark, who has published a number of scientific papers on the subject. Last year Svensmark's "SKY" experiment claimed to have proven that galactic cosmic rays -- which the sun's magnetic field partially shields the Earth from -- increase the formation of molecular clusters that promote cloud growth. Svensmark, who recently published a book on the theory, says the relationship is a larger factor in climate change than greenhouse gases. Solar physicist Ilya Usoskin of the University of Oulu, Finland, tells DailyTech the correlation between cosmic rays and terrestrial cloud cover is more complex than "more rays equals more clouds". Usoskin, who notes the sun has been more active since 1940 than at any point in the past 11 centuries, says the effects are most important at certain latitudes and altitudes which control climate. He says the relationship needs more study before we can understand it fully. Other researchers have proposed solar effects on other terrestrial processes besides cloud formation. The sunspot cycle has strong effects on irradiance in certain wavelengths such as the far ultraviolet, which affects ozone production. Natural production of isotopes such as C-14 is also tied to solar activity. The overall effects on climate are still poorly understood. What is incontrovertible, though, is that ice ages have occurred before. And no scientist, even the most skeptical, is prepared to say it won't happen again. dailytech.com LOL! Diz-

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (43805)	9/2/2008 7:49:17 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 224704

Tuesday, September 02, 2008 The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows Barack Obama attracting 48% of the vote while John McCain earns 43%. When "leaners" are included, it’s Obama 51%, McCain 45%. This is the highest level of support enjoyed by Obama at any point in Election 2008

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (43805)	9/3/2008 8:14:25 AM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224704

A new Gallup poll out yesterday says that the percentage of Clinton loyalists planning to vote for Obama in November jumped from 70 percent before last week's convention to 81 percent after, and the percentage saying they are certain to back Obama increased from 47 percent to 65 percent.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (43805)	9/3/2008 6:21:15 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224704

September 3, 2008, 5:31 pm Top G.O.P. Pundits Fault Palin Selection By Kate Phillips ST. PAUL — Two prominent Republicans — one of them a close ally and former aide to Senator John McCain — were caught on a live mic on MSNBC bemoaning the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin and the controversy surrounding her. Mike Murphy, who worked on Senator McCain’s campaign in 2000 but declined to join this year’s, citing tensions with top campaign staff members, can be heard in near-anguish talking about the fallout from her candidacy. “I come out of the blue, swing-state governor world, Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney,” he said. But the McCain campaign just decided to run with Palin, he said, adding “It’s not going to work.” Peggy Noonan, speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and columnist, interjects: “It’s over.” Asked whether Ms. Palin is really the most qualified, Ms. Noonan responds rather incredulously, “The most qualified? No. I think they went for the — excuse me — political (expletive) about narratives. … Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and that’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.” Mr. Murphy then dives in with a rejoinder: “The greatest thing about McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.” (Hat tip to Ben Smith at The Politico for the clip.) The McCain campaign — especially Steve Schmidt, its chief strategist, has been slamming the media for questioning whether Ms. Palin was properly vetted, and campaign surrogates from former rivals of Mr. McCain like Mitt Romney and Rudolph Giuliani have fanned out across the TV networks and cable TV to defend Ms. Palin’s credentials. But even one of Senator McCain’s top campaign representatives — Meg Whitman — told Fox News today that it was perfectly fair and “the right thing to do” for the media to scrutinize Ms. Palin’s background and the selection process. Just as it had for Senator Barack Obama or Mr. McCain, she added. She also dismissed another charge being leveled by top McCain aides and Republicans who are complaining about how Ms. Palin has been treated. Asked whether sexism in the media was at play here, Ms. Whitman, said: “I wouldn’t say there really has.”