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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (79512)	1/30/2010 2:31:33 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 89467

Napolitano sleeps in SOTU, and missed this meeting ~SECRETARY NAPOLITANO MISSES HEARING ON CHRISTMAS DAY BOMBING ATTEMPT Friday, January 29, 2010 By Bret Baier foxnews.com Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine: Fighting Mad Top House Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee are chastising Secretary Janet Napolitano for skipping Wednesday's hearing examining the attempted Christmas Day bombing. Pennsylvania's Chris Carney said: "I am very dismayed that the secretary herself isn't here. I mean it's probably fair to ask — where the hell is Secretary Napolitano?" Jane Harman of California scolded: "she should have been here... I am very personally disappointed that she isn't here." Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said he spoke to Napolitano personally two days before the hearing and the issue did not come up. Thompson says he was first told Napolitano would be out of the country. The committee later discovered her plans had changed and a deputy was sent. DHS says it's 'unfortunate' that these members chose to raise this when they did, since they didn't raise concerns in many conversations with Napolitano right before the hearing. Scapegoat Many liberal media outlets often take shots at Fox News Channel. We're used to it now. Some are very interesting. The liberal-leaning Salon.com is running a correction to an article from former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich blaming Fox News for leading the charge against President Clinton and other Democrats in the 1994 mid-term elections. But that would have been tough, since Fox News was not even created and launched until 1996. The article published Tuesday, titled, "Is the President Panicking?" compares President Obama's spending freeze to Mr. Clinton's shift to the right before the elections that saw Democrats lose eight seats in the Senate and 54 seats in the House. Salon made a correction Thursday. The revised article no longer mentions Fox, instead saying that then-Republican Congressman Newt Gingrich led the charge. Family Ties It turns out Barack Obama and Scott Brown have more in common than just their political professions. Genealogists say the president and newly-elected senator from Massachusetts are tenth cousins. The family line can be traced through both men's mothers, ultimately descending from Richard Singletary of Haverhill, Massachusetts who lived in the 17th century. Brown says he's glad to be in such distinguished company. With Kid Gloves And finally, animal rights activists want to replace the symbol of Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil, with a robot. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA wants to relieve Phil of what it calls the stress from exposure to large crowds, the media, and human handling. It says: "an animatronic groundhog would attract new and curious tourists — and the real groundhogs would finally get a good winter's sleep." But the president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club says Phil is actually treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania. — Fox News Channel's Megan Dumpe Kenworthy contributed to this report. 88888888888888888

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (79512)	1/30/2010 3:39:31 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 89467

Stunning: NASA GISS Admits No Evidence of AGW In The US, Won't Be For Decades! Published by AJStrata at 8:18 pm under All General Discussions, CRU Climategate, Global Warming It is amazing what you find when you pull back the PR spin from public facade of the AGW crowd and they become honest about the global warming canard. In my previous post I discovered Jim Hansen of NASA GISS noting the US temperature data is so noisy (yet it is the most accurate, most measured in the world) that you cannot pull any conclusions from it, and basically the 1930's and 2000's are statistically the same temperature! I thought that was a pretty stunning admission. Until I read further into the email trail up and Judicial Watch (page 71 of 215) and discovered this from August 15, 2007 The email is from Reto Ruedy at GISS, one of Hansen's top analysts. It is a headline worthy admission. There is no evidence of CO2 driven global warming in any of the US temp data – even though we are accused of being the CO2 generating capitol of the world. What's more, they do not expect to see any evidence of AGW in the US for 2-4 more decades! I think we could afford to wait a little longer to see if this theory holds up. And yet, without ANY evidence of AGW active in the US, Americans are supposed to cripple our economy and shell out billions in tax dollars? How could AGW be evident everywhere else but not here in the great CO2 producing center of all human kind? These "NASA" scientists are admitting they have never yet measured any global warming in the US outside natural causes. Stop the Presses! The Strata-Sphere » Stunning: NASA GISS Admits No Evidence of AGW In The US, Won’t Be For Decades! (29 January 2010) strata-sphere.com

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (79512)	1/30/2010 7:15:38 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 89467

Lech Walesa at Chicago Tea Party: Lech Walesa Stumps for Adam Andrzejewski at Chicago Tea Party (Video) Basically, the tea party movement is our solidarity movement. Our proponents of totalitarianism / totalicareism don't like it one bit. Friday, January 29, 2010, 10:31 PM Jim Hoft Nobel Peace Prize winner and Solidarity co-founder Lech Walesa spoke in Chicago today at a tea party rally and campaign stop for conservative Adam Andrzejewski. FOX News Chicago video ABC7 has more on the rally today in Chicago: A Polish politician who spearheaded the movement that led to the fall of communism in Poland is taking a stand in Illinois politics. Lech Walesa, the former polish president, is endorsing Polish-American Adam Andrzejewski in the Republican race for governor. Walesa an iconic figure of Poland’s rise from communism but today Lech Walesa is hoping to give Adam Andrzejewski a lift in the race for governor. he two men joined together for an event at the Union League Club of Chicago. Walesa says his endorsement is about more than merely sharing Polish heritage. He believes the Hinsdale businessman would bring a new honest approach to Illinois government. “Because he has no baggage. He is open. He can put things in order. Clean house,” said Walesa. The former Polish president is well aware of the stain of corruption in Illinois politics. He joked, tongue-in-cheek, that he won’t need to visit his chosen candidate in prison. “He doesn’t depend on anyone and this is his greatness,” said Walesa. “We’re gonna defend the taxpayers of Illinois. We’re gonna bring good governance to Springfield. This is a new era of governance that we can work on together,” said Andrzejewski. Andrew Marcus from Founding Bloggers and Big Government was at the Adam Andrzejewski fundraiser this morning before the tea party rally and sent this photo. UPDATE: Founding Bloggers has photos up from the events today. gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (79512)	1/31/2010 2:34:50 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 89467

lvrj.com THOMAS MITCHELL: A few reminders for the constitutionally challenged "The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon ... has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right." -- James Madison As recent events have clearly amplified, the average American's grasp of the content and purpose of the U.S. Constitution is woefully inadequate and too often inaccurate. Ask a friend, a family member or a co-worker about the Constitution and what it does. You are likely to be told it grants Americans their rights and assures democratic elections and fair trials, or something along those lines. You'll also learn these things belong only to individual Americans. Foreigners and corporations are not covered. No Miranda rights for the knickerbomber. Corporations have no free speech rights. Not in the Constitution. Never mind what the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, saying laws limiting free speech by anyone are tantamount to censorship. One persistent online commenter insisted recently, "Since you brought the issue up, again, Mr. Mitchell, please point out to me language in the Constitution that permits a corporation to petition the government for redress. And since there is no such language, how can such a right be claimed by corporations?" The Constitution does not permit. It does not dispense rights. It grants limited powers to the various branches of government and then provides checks and balances. Such as Article 1, Section 8: "The Congress shall have power to ..." The Bill of Rights does not grant rights, either. Those 10 amendments limit the power of government to encroach on the rights presumed to belong to all of us. The Founders were students of the proponents of natural law, especially John Locke and his treatises on government. For the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson drew from Locke's argument that government must protect the people's life, liberty and property or it may be legitimately overthrown. James Madison embraced Locke's concepts of checks and balances in the Constitution. Madison even thought the Bill of Rights unnecessary because such rights are presumed. "A man, as has been proved, cannot subject himself to the arbitrary power of another," Locke wrote in "The Second Treatise of Civil Government" in 1690, "and having in the state of nature no arbitrary power over the life, liberty, or possession of another, but only so much as the law of nature gave him for the preservation of himself, and the rest of mankind; this is all he doth, or can give up to the common-wealth, and by it to the legislative power, so that the legislative can have no more than this. Their power, in the utmost bounds of it, is limited to the public good of the society. It is a power, that hath no other end but preservation, and therefore can never have a right to destroy, enslave, or designedly to impoverish the subjects." Rights come from nature, not government. Look at how the Bill of Rights is phrased. None says the state hereby grants these rights to its citizens. It should more properly have been called the Bill of Prohibitions. "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech ..." The freedom is presumed and Congress shall not interfere. Additionally, "... the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed ..." The right exists. Don't infringe. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons ..." "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial ..." As well as "... the right of trial by jury shall be preserved ..." Preserved, not granted. "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." They are enumerated, not granted. And those not enumerated are retained by the people. Don't imagine what you want the Constitution to say or pretend it says something it does not. If you, like the president, don't like what the Constitution says, amend it. An amendment banning corporate free speech probably would pass, because most people think the rest of us are too gullible to resist a message backed by money. If that's the case, this experiment in democracy is over. Thomas Mitchell is editor of the Review-Journal and writes about the role of the press and access to public information. He may be contacted at 383-0261 or via e-mail at tmitchell@reviewjournal.com. Read his blog at lvrj.com/blogs/mitchell.