NASA manager pitches a cheaper rocket

I don't know the details of this, but I never liked ARES-1 and this sound similar to the Jupiter Rocket, so it might be good...



NASA manager pitches a cheaper return-to-moon plan | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY [This Post Continues after the jump...]

EPA suppressed report skeptical of global warming

So much for science not taking a back seat to ideology... so much for Obama's "Change"

E-mails indicate EPA suppressed report skeptical of global warming | Politics and Law - CNET News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Revision for space vision?

Revision for space vision? - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Four recommendations for Obama's common-ground talks. - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine

This is harder than I thought...
especially providing contraception for minors at government expense...


Four recommendations for Obama's common-ground talks. - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Han Solo, P.I.

Gizmodo - Han Solo, P.I. Is One Pitch-Perfect Mashup - Mashup



Side by Side
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New NASA Administrator Will Have His Hands Full

Pajamas Media » New NASA Administrator Will Have His Hands Full



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Couple Ordered to Stop Bible Study at Home Without Permit

Developing

Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit

They're backed down... as expected..

County won't force permit on Bible study leaders [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Judge rules family can't refuse chemo for boy

This is wrong on so many levels.

Even if you believe the parents are "killing" their child, isn't that their choice?
His mother could have freely chosen to kill him before he was born, but now she can't?

But that's a silly argument, because (despite what some say) they would not be choosing to kill him, they would be choosing to avoid a medical treatment they disagree with. A medical treatment that has it's own pros and cons, benefits and nasty side-effects.

I now what I would choose, but can I force it onto someone else? If you're pro-choice, I don't see how you have a choice (pardon the pun) in the matter. Even if you're pro-life, isn't a 13 years old, old enough to make home decision for himself? Now, this article implied the kid is 13 but can't even read, so maybe he's mentally much younger, but if he was an average 13 year old, he should be able to make up his own mind.

It would indeed be a tragedy if this child dies. But is it the role of government to stop ALL tragedies? It is worth violating the parents and the child's rights just to keep him alive? Give me Liberty or give me Death! is how the saying goes... meaning that liberty is MORE important than life itself.. I guess we don't believe that anymore. At least this judge doesn't.


Judge rules family can't refuse chemo for boy - Kids and parenting- msnbc.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Majority of Americans Are Pro-Life

WOW... what a sea change.. I had given up hope.
It doesn't mean it will happen automatically, but it might one day...

Poll: Majority of Americans Are Pro-Life for the First Time - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Former fundamentalist

I would like to meet this guy sometime... just to talk..


Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible - CNN.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

The Story of Stuff' Is Full of Misleading Numbers

I like "The Story of Stuff" because it makes one think. I don't come any where close to the same conclusions the author wants me to, and it's so bias and one-sided that it's laughable and easy to ignore.

Now it seems like it also lies and exaggerates...

Viral Video 'The Story of Stuff' Is Full of Misleading Numbers - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Maine legalizes same-sex marriage

Maine legalizes same-sex marriage - CNN.com

It's just a matter of time now... eventually it will be voted in just about everywhere. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Mom says Patriot Act stripped son of due process

Mom says Patriot Act stripped son of due process :: WRAL.com


Absolute power corrupts.... absolutely...

I don't have a problem with the power for government to act quickly... but it has to work both ways.. they have to act quickly to correct any mistakes they make. I don't know if this is a mistake or not, but it sounds like they are QUICK to act, but slow after they get the person. It shouldn't take them that long to clear or charge this kid.. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Ten Years Later, Boy's 'Hand of Hope' Continues to Spark Debate

Ten Years Later, Boy's 'Hand of Hope' Continues to Spark Debate - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Breaking: Gay Marriage Opponent Topless Photos Leaked

This is unbelievable.. they should definitely have the TITLE removed over this...

iowahawk: Breaking: Gay Marriage Opponent Topless Photos Leaked



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Creationism is not 'Superstitious Nonsense'

This is incredible.. how a person so hostile to religion can be allowed to teach when a person equally supportive of religion would be fired is beyond explanation.

FOXNews.com - Student Wins Suit After Teacher Says Creationism 'Superstitious Nonsense' - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

Other great (but legal) comments by this same teacher:

"when you put on your Jesus glasses, you can't see the truth."

"Conservatives don't want women to avoid pregnancies — that's interfering with God's work"

"When you pray for divine intervention, you're hoping that the spaghetti monster will help you get what you want."

Can you imagine a teacher saying "all truth comes from Jesus" or "divine intervention is a reasonable explanation for things" or anything about God and pregnancies? Such a teacher would be fired very quickly, but this guy is a 20 year veteran.

But I am amazed the court actually called at least one statement of his illegal. I'm sure he'll keep up his work though, as if he were on a mission from his non-God. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Waterboarding Led to Info that Aborted 2nd 9/11-Style Attack

Wow... this needs to be known...

and it looks like water boarding has been used on only THREE people... that's it.. Three people! You would think it's been used on thousands from the way the media and the left talk about it..

CNSNews.com - CIA Confirms: Waterboarding 9/11 Mastermind Led to Info that Aborted 9/11-Style Attack on Los Angeles [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Obama’s Spending vs Spending Cuts

Obama’s Spending vs Obama’s Spending Cuts — in Pictures » The Foundry [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Antarctic Ice Growing, Not Shrinking

Opps... we got that one wrong... but the EPA just declared CO2 a pollutant they can regulate...
So they can regulate whenever I exhale..

This is not quite the same as the Government trying to control my BREATHING, but it's close...


And all for NOTHING...

FOXNews.com - Report: Antarctic Ice Growing, Not Shrinking - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News



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1040 Forms from 1913-2006

This is interesting.. the very first tax form isn't all that different (in appearance and terminology).
I don't know if the underlying tax rules were significantly different, but the paperwork was just as bad.

Tax Analysts: Tax History Project: Tax History Project [This Post Continues after the jump...]

It's Bad for Our Democracy to Exempt Half the Country From Income Taxes

Ari Fleischer Says It's Bad for Our Democracy to Exempt Half the Country From Income Taxes - WSJ.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Bush Deficit vs. Obama Deficit in Pictures » The Foundry

Bush Deficit vs. Obama Deficit in Pictures » The Foundry [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Understanding the Financial Crisis.

Instapundit » Blog Archive » FROM REASON TV, Understanding the Financial Crisis. …

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Lost in Space: NASA Is Still Without a Chief

We're waiting...


FOXNews.com - Lost in Space: Months After Obama's Inauguration, NASA Is Still Without a Chief - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Woman who plays music to horses told to get licence

This is absurd. You can't listen the radio at "work"? What if she bought and paid for CD?

It's crap like this that is bringing down the music industry. They want to keep making money off of (someone else's) past work. It's BS and I wish this lady could challenge it in court, or at least the court of public opinion.

I see little difference in these incensing fees and the bonuses paid to the AIG executives, and there should be a similar public outcry over getting paid forever for "owning" a song. Notice I said owner, not writer or performer.. they probably sold it long ago and even if they didn't, how much of this license fee would they actually see? How would this company know WHICH songs were played so the right performers could get the money? It's a scam and should be shutdown!!

Woman who plays classical music to soothe horses told to get licence - Telegraph [This Post Continues after the jump...]

So Much for Obama's Promise of Unity

So Much for Obama's Promise of Unity and us all coming together as a nation. Of course this is the fastest way for us the see the mistake we've made in electing so many Democrats to office. I just hope the damage can be undone later.


Reid Leaves Open Option for Extreme Maneuver on Health Care, Energy Overhauls - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Obama's Attack on Charitable Giving

Charities Skeptical About Obama's Proposed Tax Change - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com:

"Ironically, Obama's proposal to change tax policy is intended to help raise hundreds of billions of dollars for expanding health care -- but Hillman said in the near-term, the tweak to charitable donations policy could put more strain on hospitals that rely heavily on philanthropy."

This is incredible stupid. Someone willing gives money to an objective "good cause" (ie an approved charity) and in the past the Government gives a tax break to the person giving the money. The tax break isn't extra money, or less taxes on the rest of their money, it just a simple deal - If you give money away to help others, the government won't make you pay taxes on that money.

Example:
Now,
You give $100 to a worthy charity of you choice
You don't pay taxes on that money.

New plan (with correct math - it's very complecaited!)
You give $100 to a worthy charity of your choice
You also give $7 to the government (to fund some atrocity like medical experiments on human embryos)
for a total of $107

or more likely...
You pay $7 in taxes on the $100 of income if you give it away
If you keep it, you pay $35 (and only "keep" $65)
So for every $100 you make, you can keep $65 or give $93 away
Where as before, you could give away the whole $100


This is a stupid plan, and it's SO Stupid I think it's a distraction and I question the real reason behind it... which I think will be to re-categorize what is and isn't an "approved charity"....more on that later. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

'Cold Fusion' Rediscovered

FOXNews.com - Navy Chemist May Have Rediscovered 'Cold Fusion' - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

Man, I hope this is true..

Hyper-drive, transporters and Anti-gravity can't be far behind... (seriously. things have to start somewhere, cheap clean power will open up a world of other discoveries...) [This Post Continues after the jump...]

FACT CHECK: Obama Having It Both Ways

Some things NEVER CHANGE... Obama is saying one thing, and writing another in his budget.

FACT CHECK: Obama Having It Both Ways on Economy? - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Texas School Board Set to Vote on Evolution

Texas School Board Set to Vote on Challenge to Evolution - WSJ.com

Wow... maybe there is hope after all... [This Post Continues after the jump...]

An American's Creed - Dean Alfange

It is my right to be uncommon ... if I can;
I seek opportunity ... not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stole calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout.
I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud, and unafraid; to think and act for myself; enjoy the benefits of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, ‘This I have done, and this is what it means to be an American

This is from Dean Alfange, the FOUNDER of the LIBERAL party of New York...
I guess liberal meant something different in 1942 [This Post Continues after the jump...]

New Test Can Detect Early Alzheimer's

I wonder how soon I should start having this....

and what can be done if the tests are positive....

FOXNews.com - New Test Can Detect Early Alzheimer's, Study Finds - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News




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An Astronaut's Advice

Retire the Space Shuttle by 2010

Use the International Space Station

Send Explorers Beyond the ISS—Soon

Reaffirm America's Place in Space

Unleash the Commercial Space Industry

Inspire the Next Generation of Space Explorers

An Astronaut's Advice for President Obama - NASA's Space Shuttle, Exploration and Getting Back to the Moon - Popular Mechanics: "n"



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More Americans say they have no religion

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

The Associated Press: More Americans say they have no religion

I just realized this is from the AP... Now I wonder how accurate the reporting on this study is... [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Barack Got Enemy

Ouch, this would hurt!

Obama is masterful! He says "lobbyists" won't like his budget, but that's silly. Tons of lobbyists LOVE his budget because they're getting lots of pork, and they're going to keep quiet about it.

The ones that got nothing are going to complain, but then everyone will think they are the evil lobbyists that Obama warned them about. So now, only people that oppose this budget are "lobbyists" as if all the special interest group that are rolling in the money now have some how risen above the dreaded "lobbyist" label.

It's brilliant, and I'm afraid it's going to work.

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: Barack Got Enemy [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Obama to Reverse Bush Abortion Regulation

This is the soft of thing I would have expected from the OLD Washington... I guess things haven't changed much at all.

To think that a medical professional could be forced to participate in an abortion is... well UNthinkable to me. Why do pro-choice people want to give everyone a choice but the doctor?

Official: Obama to Reverse Bush Abortion Regulation - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Politics in the Guise of Pure Science

so much for "change"

Findings - Politics in the Guise of Pure Science - NYTimes.com



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Floridians Unite - Orlando Tea Party

I just might have to attend this things... you know.. reporting on it for my blog... maybe wear my PJs....

Floridians Unite - Home



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Holder: US is nation of cowards on racial matters

Holder: US is nation of cowards on racial matters

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Eric Holder described the United States Wednesday as a nation of cowards on matters of race, saying most Americans avoid discussing unresolved racial issues.

In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder, nation's first black attorney general.

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, Holder said, but "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race."

He urged people of all races to use Black History Month as a chance for frank talk about racial matters.

"It is an issue we have never been at ease with and, given our nation's history, this is in some ways understandable," Holder said. "If we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us."

He told Justice Department employees they have a special responsibility to advance racial understanding.

Oh, and this is SUCH a GREAT way to start the conversation.. calling us all COWARDS!

It's an indication to me that they, black leaders, are NOT serious about having a real conversation. They are laying the ground work for labeling ME the coward for walking out on the hypothetical "conversation". Why? Because they know I'm going to walk out because they are not being serious. I have no desire to talk with some that is only going to whine about their victimization and then call me a coward to not wanting to listen to it.

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Questioning Obama

Before anyone goes nuts, place note that it doesn't say "Opposing Obama" but just Questioning him and his policies. Something every voter should always do.


The Obama-cide Shop [This Post Continues after the jump...]

The Illustrated Road to Serfdom

WOW..

I hope everyone reads this.
I'm not saying it IS happening, just that it honestly COULD happen.
The emotion, rather than logic, that got Obama elected is troubling to me, and could be the beginning of something like this. The power of the government over the economy is certainly increasing now, and rather illogically and quickly. And don't forget the speed in which is "must" be done.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
-- Thomas Jefferson (Attributed)

The Illustrated Road to Serfdom [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Former astronaut, Harrison Schmitt, speaks out on global warming

I think the scientific pendulum is starting to return to reason, but the political pendulum is still moving left!

Former astronaut speaks out on global warming - BostonHerald.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Federal obligations exceed world GDP

We're doomed....

Federal obligations exceed world GDP


...the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit [ed: should be true DEBT] of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.

The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Obama's So-Called Stimulus: Good For Government, Bad For the Economy

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White House may move to buy mortgages

White House may move to buy mortgages - Personal finance- msnbc.com

It seems to me that this is the root of the problem. Bad mortgage mixed in with good ones and no one wants to trade them around. Maybe there's more to it than that, but buying a $300K mortgage on a house worth $200K for $200 would be a small "punishment" to the bank with the mortgage (similar but easier than what they would get from a foreclosure). The Government could then refinance with the home owner at $200K and then sell that "good" mortgage back into the system.

In this case the government loose NOTHING (but some time value of the $200K).

The down side is two fold

A- The bank holding the "bad" mortgage almost assuredly isn't the bank that MADE the bad mortgage, so we're punishing the wrong bank.

B - The homeowner might not be able to really afford the "new" mortgage either so the government may end up kicking them out of the house anyways. Which is bad PR is they do, and another "bad" mortgage in the system if they don't. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Essay - Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live - NYTimes.com

Essay - Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live - NYTimes.com

Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live
By CARL SAFINA

“You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat-catching,” Robert Darwin told his son, “and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.” Yet the feckless boy is everywhere. Charles Darwin gets so much credit, we can’t distinguish evolution from him.

Equating evolution with Charles Darwin ignores 150 years of discoveries, including most of what scientists understand about evolution. Such as: Gregor Mendel’s patterns of heredity (which gave Darwin’s idea of natural selection a mechanism — genetics — by which it could work); the discovery of DNA (which gave genetics a mechanism and lets us see evolutionary lineages); developmental biology (which gives DNA a mechanism); studies documenting evolution in nature (which converted the hypothetical to observable fact); evolution’s role in medicine and disease (bringing immediate relevance to the topic); and more.

By propounding “Darwinism,” even scientists and science writers perpetuate an impression that evolution is about one man, one book, one “theory.” The ninth-century Buddhist master Lin Chi said, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” The point is that making a master teacher into a sacred fetish misses the essence of his teaching. So let us now kill Darwin.

That all life is related by common ancestry, and that populations change form over time, are the broad strokes and fine brushwork of evolution. But Darwin was late to the party. His grandfather, and others, believed new species evolved. Farmers and fanciers continually created new plant and animal varieties by selecting who survived to breed, thus handing Charles Darwin an idea. All Darwin perceived was that selection must work in nature, too.

In 1859, Darwin’s perception and evidence became “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” Few realize he published 8 books before and 10 books after “Origin.” He wrote seminal books on orchids, insects, barnacles and corals. He figured out how atolls form, and why they’re tropical.

Credit Darwin’s towering genius. No mind ran so freely, so widely or so freshly over the hills and vales of existence. But there’s a limit to how much credit is reasonable. Parking evolution with Charles Darwin overlooks the limits of his time and all subsequent progress.

Science was primitive in Darwin’s day. Ships had no engines. Not until 1842, six years after Darwin’s Beagle voyage, did Richard Owen coin the term “dinosaur.” Darwin was an adult before scientists began debating whether germs caused disease and whether physicians should clean their instruments. In 1850s London, John Snow fought cholera unaware that bacteria caused it. Not until 1857 did Johann Carl Fuhlrott and Hermann Schaaffhausen announce that unusual bones from the Neander Valley in Germany were perhaps remains of a very old human race. In 1860 Louis Pasteur performed experiments that eventually disproved “spontaneous generation,” the idea that life continually arose from nonliving things.

Science has marched on. But evolution can seem uniquely stuck on its founder. We don’t call astronomy Copernicism, nor gravity Newtonism. “Darwinism” implies an ideology adhering to one man’s dictates, like Marxism. And “isms” (capitalism, Catholicism, racism) are not science. “Darwinism” implies that biological scientists “believe in” Darwin’s “theory.” It’s as if, since 1860, scientists have just ditto-headed Darwin rather than challenging and testing his ideas, or adding vast new knowledge.

Using phrases like “Darwinian selection” or “Darwinian evolution” implies there must be another kind of evolution at work, a process that can be described with another adjective. For instance, “Newtonian physics” distinguishes the mechanical physics Newton explored from subatomic quantum physics. So “Darwinian evolution” raises a question: What’s the other evolution?

Into the breach: intelligent design. I am not quite saying Darwinism gave rise to creationism, though the “isms” imply equivalence. But the term “Darwinian” built a stage upon which “intelligent” could share the spotlight.

Charles Darwin didn’t invent a belief system. He had an idea, not an ideology. The idea spawned a discipline, not disciples. He spent 20-plus years amassing and assessing the evidence and implications of similar, yet differing, creatures separated in time (fossils) or in space (islands). That’s science.

That’s why Darwin must go.

Almost everything we understand about evolution came after Darwin, not from him. He knew nothing of heredity or genetics, both crucial to evolution. Evolution wasn’t even Darwin’s idea.

Darwin’s grandfather Erasmus believed life evolved from a single ancestor. “Shall we conjecture that one and the same kind of living filaments is and has been the cause of all organic life?” he wrote in “Zoonomia” in 1794. He just couldn’t figure out how.

Charles Darwin was after the how. Thinking about farmers’ selective breeding, considering the high mortality of seeds and wild animals, he surmised that natural conditions acted as a filter determining which individuals survived to breed more individuals like themselves. He called this filter “natural selection.” What Darwin had to say about evolution basically begins and ends right there. Darwin took the tiniest step beyond common knowledge. Yet because he perceived — correctly — a mechanism by which life diversifies, his insight packed sweeping power.

But he wasn’t alone. Darwin had been incubating his thesis for two decades when Alfred Russel Wallace wrote to him from Southeast Asia, independently outlining the same idea. Fearing a scoop, Darwin’s colleagues arranged a public presentation crediting both men. It was an idea whose time had come, with or without Darwin.

Darwin penned the magnum opus. Yet there were weaknesses. Individual variation underpinned the idea, but what created variants? Worse, people thought traits of both parents blended in the offspring, so wouldn’t a successful trait be diluted out of existence in a few generations? Because Darwin and colleagues were ignorant of genes and the mechanics of inheritance, they couldn’t fully understand evolution.

Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, discovered that in pea plants inheritance of individual traits followed patterns. Superiors burned his papers posthumously in 1884. Not until Mendel’s rediscovered “genetics” met Darwin’s natural selection in the “modern synthesis” of the 1920s did science take a giant step toward understanding evolutionary mechanics. Rosalind Franklin, James Watson and Francis Crick bestowed the next leap: DNA, the structure and mechanism of variation and inheritance.

Darwin’s intellect, humility (“It is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance”) and prescience astonish more as scientists clarify, in detail he never imagined, how much he got right.

But our understanding of how life works since Darwin won’t swim in the public pool of ideas until we kill the cult of Darwinism. Only when we fully acknowledge the subsequent century and a half of value added can we really appreciate both Darwin’s genius and the fact that evolution is life’s driving force, with or without Darwin.

Carl Safina is a MacArthur fellow, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University and the president of the Blue Ocean Institute. His books include “Song for the Blue Ocean,” “Eye of the Albatross” and “Voyage of the Turtle.”
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Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan

I'm not posting this because I think these health care proposals are necessarily BAD.
I honestly don't know and I doubt many in Congress do either.
They should be openly debated as a SEPARATE bill and not part of the emergency "must past" Stimulus bill

Obama is losing any chance he ever had to really lead and unite the country. He should insist on a clean stimulus only bill and veto anything else. But he's not. He's using the cover of the economic crisis to enact far reaching changes that few know about and many would oppose.

So much for Changing Washington...


Bloomberg.com: Opinion



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50 De-Stimulating Facts

Obama was supposed to bring CHANGE... But here are 50 ways that Washington has already CHANGED Obama... oh wait, Obama hasn't really changed at all, he's always been a socialist.

50 De-Stimulating Facts by Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson on National Review Online

Summary:

• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
• $300 million for grants to combat violence against women
• $2 billion for federal child-care block grants
• $6 billion for university building projects
• $15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
• $4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
• $1 billion for community-development block grants
• $4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
• $650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”

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House Passes $819B Stimulus Package

So much for CHANGE!

Obama can't control the democrats in congress like I knew he wouldn't be able to.
At least the republicans aren't falling for it, I just hope they don't fall into the other ditch and oppose everything they try and do.


House Passes $819B Stimulus Package - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

The Obama presidency: Here comes socialism

Buckle up!! We're in for a rough ride...

TheHill.com - The Obama presidency: Here comes socialism

The Obama presidency: Here comes socialism
By Dick Morris
Posted: 01/20/09 06:12 PM [ET]

2009-2010 will rank with 1913-14, 1933-36, 1964-65 and 1981-82 as years that will permanently change our government, politics and lives. Just as the stars were aligned for Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson and Reagan, they are aligned for Obama. Simply put, we enter his administration as free-enterprise, market-dominated, laissez-faire America. We will shortly become like Germany, France, the United Kingdom, or Sweden — a socialist democracy in which the government dominates the economy, determines private-sector priorities and offers a vastly expanded range of services to many more people at much higher taxes.

Obama will accomplish his agenda of “reform” under the rubric of “recovery.” Using the electoral mandate bestowed on a Democratic Congress by restless voters and the economic power given his administration by terrified Americans, he will change our country fundamentally in the name of lifting the depression. His stimulus packages won’t do much to shorten the downturn — although they will make it less painful — but they will do a great deal to change our nation.

In implementing his agenda, Barack Obama will emulate the example of Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Not the liberal mythology of the New Deal, but the actuality of what it accomplished.) When FDR took office, he was enormously successful in averting a total collapse of the banking system and the economy. But his New Deal measures only succeeded in lowering the unemployment rate from 23 percent in 1933, when he took office, to 13 percent in the summer of 1937. It never went lower. And his policies of over-regulation generated such business uncertainty that they triggered a second-term recession. Unemployment in 1938 rose to 17 percent and, in 1940, on the verge of the war-driven recovery, stood at 15 percent. (These data and the real story of Hoover’s and Roosevelt’s missteps, uncolored by ideology, are available in The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes, copyright 2007.)

But in the name of a largely unsuccessful effort to end the Depression, Roosevelt passed crucial and permanent reforms that have dominated our lives ever since, including Social Security, the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, unionization under the Wagner Act, the federal minimum wage and a host of other fundamental changes.

Obama’s record will be similar, although less wise and more destructive. He will begin by passing every program for which liberals have lusted for decades, from alternative-energy sources to school renovations, infrastructure repairs and technology enhancements. These are all good programs, but they normally would be stretched out for years. But freed of any constraint on the deficit — indeed, empowered by a mandate to raise it as high as possible — Obama will do them all rather quickly.

But it is not his spending that will transform our political system, it is his tax and welfare policies. In the name of short-term stimulus, he will give every American family (who makes less than $200,000) a welfare check of $1,000 euphemistically called a refundable tax credit. And he will so sharply cut taxes on the middle class and the poor that the number of Americans who pay no federal income tax will rise from the current one-third of all households to more than half. In the process, he will create a permanent electoral majority that does not pay taxes, but counts on ever-expanding welfare checks from the government. The dependency on the dole, formerly limited in pre-Clinton days to 14 million women and children on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, will now grow to a clear majority of the American population.

Will he raise taxes? Why should he? With a congressional mandate to run the deficit up as high as need be, there is no reason to raise taxes now and risk aggravating the depression. Instead, Obama will follow the opposite of the Reagan strategy. Reagan cut taxes and increased the deficit so that liberals could not increase spending. Obama will raise spending and increase the deficit so that conservatives cannot cut taxes. And, when the economy is restored, he will raise taxes with impunity, since the only people who will have to pay them would be rich Republicans.

In the name of stabilizing the banking system, Obama will nationalize it. Using Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to write generous checks to needy financial institutions, his administration will demand preferred stock in exchange. Preferred stock gets dividends before common stockholders do. With the massive debt these companies will owe to the government, they will only be able to afford dividends for preferred stockholders — the government, not private investors. So who will buy common stock? And the government will demand that its bills be paid before any profits that might materialize are reinvested in the financial institution, so how will the value of the stocks ever grow? Devoid of private investors, these institutions will fall ever more under government control.

Obama will begin the process by limiting executive compensation. Then he will urge restructuring and lowering of home mortgages in danger of default (as the feds have already done with Citibank).

Then will come guidance on the loans to make and government instructions on the types of enterprises to favor. God grant that some Blagojevich type is not in charge of the program, using his power to line his pockets. The United States will find itself with an economic system comparable to that of Japan, where the all-powerful bureaucracy at MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) manages the economy, often making mistakes like giving mainframe computers priority over the development of laptops.

But it is the healthcare system that will experience the most dramatic and traumatic of changes. The current debate between erecting a Medicare-like governmental single payer or channeling coverage through private insurance misses the essential point. Without a lot more doctors, nurses, clinics, equipment and hospital beds, health resources will be strained to the breaking point. The people and equipment that now serve 250 million Americans and largely neglect all but the emergency needs of the other 50 million will now have to serve everyone. And, as government imposes ever more Draconian price controls and income limits on doctors, the supply of practitioners and equipment will decline as the demand escalates. Price increases will be out of the question, so the government will impose healthcare rationing, denying the older and sicker among us the care they need and even barring them from paying for it themselves. (Rationing based on income and price will be seen as immoral.)

And Obama will move to change permanently the partisan balance in America. He will move quickly to legalize all those who have been in America for five years, albeit illegally, and to smooth their paths to citizenship and voting. He will weaken border controls in an attempt to hike the Latino vote as high as he can in order to make red states like Texas into blue states like California. By the time he is finished, Latinos and African-Americans will cast a combined 30 percent of the vote. If they go by top-heavy margins for the Democrats, as they did in 2008, it will assure Democratic domination (until they move up the economic ladder and become good Republicans).

And he will enact the check-off card system for determining labor union representation, repealing the secret ballot in union elections. The result will be to raise the proportion of the labor force in unions up to the high teens from the current level of about 12 percent.

Finally, he will use the expansive powers of the Federal Communications Commission to impose “local” control and ownership of radio stations and to impose the “fairness doctrine” on talk radio. The effect will be to drive talk radio to the Internet, fundamentally change its economics, and retard its growth for years hence.

But none of these changes will cure the depression. It will end when the private sector works through the high debt levels that triggered the collapse in the first place. And, then, the large stimulus package deficits will likely lead to rapid inflation, probably necessitating a second recession to cure it.

So Obama’s name will be mud by 2012 and probably by 2010 as well. And the Republican Party will make big gains and regain much of its lost power.

But it will be too late to reverse the socialism of much of the economy, the demographic change in the electorate, the rationing of healthcare by the government, the surge of unionization and the crippling of talk radio.


Morris, a former adviser to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and President Bill Clinton, is the author of Outrage. To get all of Dick Morris’s and Eileen McGann’s columns for free by email, go to www.dickmorris.com. To order a signed copy of their new best-selling book, Fleeced, go to dickmorris.com.
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Most Floridians OK with homosexuals adopting

Most Floridians OK with homosexuals adopting -- OrlandoSentinel.com


I've never understood this. Why allow them to adopt and raise children but not allow them to marry? [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Minimum wage increase stirs debate

Fla. minimum wage increase stirs debate | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY

I tend to think that most Minimum Wage earners are teenagers, and giving most of them more money is a bad idea.

I think we should spend more on training programs to get adults out of minimum wage jobs, instead of requiring high wage for them. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Is dissent still patriotic?

Is dissent still patriotic? - The Denver Post

Do all Americans truly have a yearning to fundamentally "remake" our nation? There must be a subversive minority out there that still believes the United States — even with its imperfections and sporadic recessions — is, in context, still a wildly prosperous and free country worth preserving.

Some of you must still believe that politicians are meant to serve rather than be worshiped. And there must be someone out there who considers partisanship a healthy, organic reflection of our differences rather than something to be surrendered in the name of so- called unity — which is, after all, untenable, subjective and utterly counterproductive.

How about those who praised dissent for the past eight years?

Is there anyone who still believes the Constitution was created to ensure each citizen liberty and the ability to pursue happiness rather than a guarantee of happiness — and a retirement fund, health care, a job, an education, a house ... ?

Yes, two important historical events transpired Tuesday: The first was the peaceful transfer of power from one freely elected politician to another (an uninterrupted streak we often take for granted). Then there was the first presidency of an African-American, which proves we can transcend our unsightly past.

After that, what we had was just another election. We conduct one every four years. For those of you not shouting hosannas, it might have occurred to you that we are suffering from a rampant sickness in American life that casts government as the author of your dreams and an Illinois politician the linchpin of your hopes.

Tom Brokaw — whose hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, corraled thousands of innocent Asian-Americans into internment camps and assaulted the Constitution at every turn — went as far as to compare Obama's inauguration to the Czechs' fight for freedom over Communist oppression.

George Bush's administration, which I have a multitude of problems with, is not comparable to a tyranny, despite the protestations of his emotional detractors.

Liberals rightly recoil at the prospect of conservatives dictating which morals they should live by. Obama, though, has spent the past year preaching his own brand of morality — with a list of demands. Everyone, you see, "must" sacrifice. Michelle Obama recently explained, "Barack Obama will require you to work. . . . Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."

Those of us who refuse to buy left-wing orthodoxy will remain "uninformed" and, inevitably, "selfish."

To be fair, I'm uncertain what Obama is going to require of me during these next four to eight years. I do know, right off the bat, that if he passes his centerpiece trillion-dollar, ideologically driven government expansion (in the guise of a "stimulus" plan), he will be demanding my grandchildren work overtime to pay it off — and that's after they're done paying Bush's tab.

Obama challenges Americans to have "a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves." So if you find massive concentrated power in Washington a turn-on, you've found your higher purpose.

But surely, most of you have found meaning in something greater than yourselves long before some politician demanded it.

To require such fealty to power in the name of patriotism was once repugnant to the left. Now, with the right guy in charge, apparently it can once again be embraced.

Change, indeed.

Reach columnist David Harsanyi at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@ denverpost.com.
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Text of Obama’s inaugural address

Text of Obama’s inaugural address | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY


PRESIDENT OBAMA

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.



Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it).”

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

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America passes a milestone!

We now have more people employed in government than manufacturing.

America passes a milestone! « Fabius Maximus [This Post Continues after the jump...]