“Four years ago we raised a banner of bold colors — no pale pastels. We proclaimed a dream of an America that would be ‘a shining city on a hill.’” Ronald Reagan

What the kids are really learning in school

‘Greenies’ scaring our children with misinformation

“The most insidious part of the Earth Day movement is how it has fully infiltrated our schools. They are successfully scaring the pants off our kids.

So much so that a new Opinion Research poll of America’s preteens shows that one in three children fears an Earth apocalypse. An astonishing 75 percent of black children and 65 percent of Hispanic children believe the planet will be irrevocably changed by the time they’re adults.

What does that tell you? There are larger concentrations of minorities in the cities. There’s also a larger concentration of liberals pushing this apocalyptic garbage in the cities.

They are brainwashing our kids into losing sleep over a myth. Almost 60 percent of metropolitan area kids as a whole feel we’re doomed while 47 percent of suburban kids have such fears.”

I found this column by Phil Valentine pretty interesting.  I wish more people [like those clowns in Congress] would accept the fact that arctic ice is actually increasing.

Castro & the Congressional Black Caucus

Every once in a while, elected liberals allow their real selves to show.  Remember when Maxine Waters talked about nationalizing the oil industry?  In a similar fit of honesty, the Congressional Black Caucus members who recently met with Fidel Castro [and his gracious wife] have been all over the media today lavishing praise on Castro.  By their active endorsement of Fidel Castro, they’re showing their true, Socialist-leftist colors.  Check out this excellent blog post from All American Blogger for more:

Congressional Black Caucus Praises Communist Cuban Dictator

The fact that these elected representatives: a) probably traveled to Cuba at taxpayer expense and b) are praising a murderous, racist, homophobic, Communist dictator who clearly presides over an abysmal failure of a country should outrage all who stand for liberty.  Castro’s disastrous policies have resulted in the death of countless Cuban citizens and poverty for all who live under his regime.  It’s time more people questioned the judgement of free Americans who express envy for the misery that is Cuban society.  This kind of praise for cruelty, oppression and totalitarianism ought not be tolerated from these ignorant nincompoops in the Congressional Black Caucus.  The CBC members can be contacted through the Congressional Black Caucus homepage.

A quote from Ronald Reagan

“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.” 

Ronald Reagan

Had to REALLY search to find this on the MSNBC site…curious.

Orbusmax had this one up today.

MSNBC Poll of 1.8 million:  Obama earns “F”

This article comes to us courtesy of WorldNet Daily.  Apparently the results aren’t really in line with the MSNBC agenda so they’re not making a big deal of it.  I searched for it using the search box at the top of the MSNBC home page and didn’t find it.  When I searched on Google (which, incidentally, significantly increased my carbon footprint) several blog posts came up first but I actually did find the MSNBC poll page.  If you’d like to vote, click here.

Some good investigative work on “green” schools in Washington State

I heard an interview with Todd Myers [Director of WPC’s Center for the Environment] on the radio the other afternoon.  He’s been conducting an investigation into the efficacy of Washington State’s “green schools” mandate and has concluded that supporters of the mandate have made exaggerated the cost savings of green schools.

“Lawmakers passed the mandate for one-size-fits-all “green” government building construction standards in 2005 based on numerous promises, including that it would reduce energy costs for state buildings and increase test scores. WPC looked at the data and discovered the top-down mandate has failed to live up to its proponents’ promises and in some cases is actually using more energy and costing more than non-green buildings. After reviewing WPC’s research, KING 5’s Susannah Frame decided to investigate school district claims, resulting in at least one official confirming there are no actual cost savings from these mandates.”

And a link to the KING 5 story:

Investigators: Green school claims oversold

There’s video of the report available at that link as well. 

“It [Gray Middle School, Tacoma] has impressive environmentally friendly features everywhere you look. Some of them include banks of windows for lots of natural light, recycled beams from an old high school, rubber flooring that doesn’t require chemicals, drought tolerant landscaping, and a filtration system that circulates fresh air all day long.”

There’s a video on the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s website that promotes the benefits of these green schools.  In the video, the SPI and Department of Ecology claim that in exchange for an approximate 2% increase in design and building cost, green schools cost 10-15% less in operating costs.  Kudos to Susannah Frame at KING 5 and Todd Myers at WPC for digging for the truth on this one. 

“Large districts in the state tell us it’s [green school construction] between 3 and 7 percent more expensive. That adds up.

Half a billion dollars will be spent on school construction in the state this year.

If green mandates cost 5 percent more, that’s $25,000,000 additional dollars. All that money comes from local school district tax dollars.

After the first year, the legislature pulled all funding for the green schools mandate.”

That last sentence made me wonder:  if the very people [the Legislature] who imposed this green school mandate don’t believe in it enough to fund it, why is it still in effect?

They really are turning over every rock to find more revenue…

Senate passes bill hoping to lure ‘Twilight’ vampires

“The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill designed to make the area more attractive for television and film productions, like the teen vampire thriller ‘Twilight,’ which was shot in Kalama – though the popular book series actually takes place in the Olympic Peninsula town of Forks.

Speaking in favor of House Bill 2042, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, said she was disturbed that the ‘Twilight’ sequel is supposedly going to film in British Columbia to take advantage of the better deals producers can get there.

‘This has to do with making our state more competitive in motion picture production,’ Kohl-Welles said.”

Senator Kohl-Welles, our state could be more competitive in so many ways–not just motion picture production.  You could focus less on giving sweetheart deals to selected sectors of the economy and more on enabling Washington’s native industries.  Just a thought.

Budget cuts are coming…so why are we paying for artists’ lofts and performing arts facilities?

House capital budget priorities

From the Washington Policy Center’s blog, here’s a list of some expenditures listed in the Washington State Legislature’s capital budget.  I highlighted a couple that I found particularly ridiculous.  Does anyone else find it ironic that our lawmakers are threatening draconian cuts to public safety, public health, education and transportation [some may refer to these things as “priorities”] while throwing around millions for theaters, museum expansions and artists’ lofts?  [Speaking of those artists’ lofts, here’s a link to Artspace Everett.]

•    Apple Awards (for schools) – $250,000
•    Washington State Historical Society – $12,250,000
•    Eastern Washington State Historical Society – $1,939,000
•    Admiral Theatre-No Theatre Left Behind – $140,000
•    Artspace Everett Lofts – $1,000,000
•    Building a Foundation for Discovery – $250,000
•    Campus Consolidation (Cornish) – $375,000
•    Convert Key Bank To Everett’s Plaza Theatre – $500,000
•    Cottage Renovation (Hedgebrook) – $20,000
•    Downstairs at the 5th – $800,000
•    Federal Way Performing Arts Center – $325,000
•    Gateway Center (Lummi) – $150,000
•    James Ctr for the Performing Arts (Sequim) – $150,000
•    Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center – $475,000
•    Legacy Project (Imagine) – $200,000
•    Modular Classrooms for Dance (Gladish) – $30,000
•    Museum Expansion (Maryhill) – $1,500,000
•    New Hands On Children’s Museum  – $1,000,000
•    Phase II Renovation (Mt. Baker Theatre) – $1,000,000
•    Reconstruction of First Stage, Issaquah – $400,000
•    Seattle Opera Center – Phase I Design – $650,000
•    Stage Two (Whidbey) – $450,000
•    Vashon Arts Center – $1,115,000
•    Visual Arts Education Center (Sno Co.) – $1,000,000
•    Viva Vera Capital Campaign – $70,000
•    WA Hall Acquisition and Rehab – $400,000
•    A Home for Opportunity – $325,000
•    Building the new Eastside Clinic – $1,900,000
•    Community Center for Sand Point Housing – $350,000
•    Donald G. Topping HOPE Center – $1,934,250
•    Dove House – $240,000
•    Duvall Multi-Service Center – $617,985
•    East Central Community Facilities Expansion Project – $231,500
•    El Centro de la Raza Safety & Systems Improvements -$250,031
•    Emmanuel Family Life Center – $400,594
•    Eritrean Community Center Expansion – $300,000
•    Family Services Center – $1,265,000
•    Ferndale Boys & Girls Club – $752,847
•    Giant Step – $520,761
•    Greenbridge Early Learning Center – $1,419,281
•    High Point Neighborhood Center – $2,000,000
•    Highline YMCA – $2,000,000
•    Milgard Work Opportunity Center – $1,850,000
•    Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood Education and Training Center – $881,847
•    Northeast Community Center Expansion – $1,800,000
•    Pierce County Therapy Center – $128,000
•    Rainier Vista & Rainier Valley Teen Center – $3,906,000
•    Repurposing Daybreak Star – $87,500
•    Riverwalk Point Community Building – $79,253
•    Rotary Support Center for Families – $3,500,000
•    Technology Access Foundation Community Learning Space – $1,500,000
•    The Keller House Services Center – $600,000
•    YMCA/YWCA Central Spokane Facility – $3,500,000

Founder’s quote of the week

“He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.”
Samuel Adams

State sovereignty in 2009

States Rebellion Pending

I ran across this opinion piece by Walter E. Williams this morning and liked it.  There is a growing number of states that are beginning to push back against the oppressive hand of the federal government.

“Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks. He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully declared unilateral independence and went to war. Today it’s the same story except Congress is the one usurping the rights of the people and the states, making King George’s actions look mild in comparison. Our constitutional ignorance — perhaps contempt, coupled with the fact that we’ve become a nation of wimps, sissies and supplicants — has made us easy prey for Washington’s tyrannical forces. But that might be changing a bit. There are rumblings of a long overdue re-emergence of Americans’ characteristic spirit of rebellion.”

Hilarious blog by TOTUS

You may have heard about this blog already but I’m linking it up anyway.  Obama’s teleprompter has quite a lot to say and is also a fairly prolific blogger.  Get the inside view of the administration from the one electronic communications device that knows all–the TOTUS.

Barack Obama’s Teleprompter’s Blog

“Reflections from the hard drive of the machine that enables the voice of the Leader of the Free World”

 

 

I’m going to file this one under “good news”

Dodd’s stock with voters began dropping before AIG

“Dodd’s decision to move his family to Iowa to campaign for a doomed bid for president, his initial refusal to release documents of his two controversial mortgages with Countrywide, criticism of how he financed a vacation cottage in Ireland, and now his involvement as Senate Banking Committee chairman in the bill that ultimately protected bonuses for executives at insurance giant AIG have all taken their toll.”

Land of the free…

Lead poisoning law has side effect

“In all his years of riding motorcycles, 63-year-old Ted Micone of Yakima County has yet to see a child get lead poisoning from one.

That’s why he’s baffled by a new federal law that took effect Feb. 10. It came about after a deluge of China-made products were recalled starting in 2006, prompting outcries from parents and consumer groups.

Included in the law are revised lead limits for off-road and recreational vehicles designed for kids – effectively halting the sale of such machines across the country.”

Honestly, I’m speechless.  Just since February, this lead law has restricted individual freedom and negatively affected businesses of all kinds, from toy stores to consignment stores and now ATV dealerships.  The federal government is also usurping parental authority–as a parent, I view it as my right and responsibility to make decisions about my child’s safety.

Enough gravy for Greg

A runaway gravy train

Not many people take Greg Nickels seriously.  And that number could be diminishing.  I found this article by Nicole Brodeur in the Seattle Times fairly entertaining, even though I don’t necessarily agree with her analysis of the AIG situation. 

“Mayor Greg Nickels announced the other day that he was falling on his checkbook by decreasing his own pay and the salaries of about 100 other top executives in city government.

Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis made much of the fact that salaries will be frozen at 2008 levels, as if this is a huge sacrifice. He makes $187,317 a year, poor thing.

I appreciate putting the brakes on payroll, but frankly, gentlemen, I’m confused.

Just 90 days ago, Nickels was fighting for the right to give big raises to the city’s highest-paid employees — some by as much as 37 percent.”

Liberal hypocrisy at its finest

AIG bonuses: Some repaid, Congress to vote on tax

While AIG has been roundly criticized, attacked and demonized for awarding bonuses [per contract] to some of its employees, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s outrageous bonuses haven’t gotten much play.

Fannie plans bonuses of $1M for 4 execs

Socialized medicine and prescription prices

Canadians Pay 2X As Much For Generic Drugs

Take a look at Carpe Diem today.  If more people did, socialized medicine would never be imposed on the American people.

“The evidence suggests that generic retail drug prices are higher in Canada than they are in the United States because of various provincial and federal policies in Canada that are not found in the US.”

More tea, anyone?

Thousands Rally Downtown Against Government Spending

Dateline: Cincinnati.  Police crowd estimate: 4,000!

Obama’s poll numbers interpreted

Obama’s Poll Numbers Are Falling to Earth

“It is simply wrong for commentators to continue to focus on President Barack Obama’s high levels of popularity, and to conclude that these are indicative of high levels of public confidence in the work of his administration. Indeed, a detailed look at recent survey data shows that the opposite is most likely true. The American people are coming to express increasingly significant doubts about his initiatives, and most likely support a different agenda and different policies from those that the Obama administration has advanced.”

While I agree that it is simply wrong for commentators to keep gushing about Obama’s popularity [while ignoring the growing unpopularity of his socialist policies] it probably isn’t going to stop.  After all, some may say that it was wrong of the MSM to whitewash Obama’s record as the most liberal Senator.  What about ignoring his radical associations with people like Reverend Wright, Father Pfleger and William Ayers?  How about not investigating his career prior to being elected to office?  The MSM has displayed more curiosity about Michelle Obama’s biceps than about the real Barack Obama and how his left-wing policies will affect America.

“Polling data show that Mr. Obama’s approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001. Rasmussen Reports data shows that Mr. Obama’s net presidential approval rating — which is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove from the number who strongly approve — is just six, his lowest rating to date.”

Did you catch that?  Lower than George W. Bush!

“Overall, Rasmussen Reports shows a 56%-43% approval, with a third strongly disapproving of the president’s performance. This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative.”

And suddenly, I’m feeling positive.

A sad little opinion piece from Peggy Noonan

There’s No Pill for This Kind of Depression

“…the economy isn’t the only reason for our unease. There’s more to it. People sense something slipping away, a world receding, not only an economic one but a world of old structures, old ways and assumptions. People don’t talk about this much because it’s too big…”

I feel sad writing this but Peggy Noonan’s piece really resonates with me.  She attempts to explain and define the malaise that we’ve found ourselves in.  Read it and see what you think.

The dichotomy that is Obama policy

Should we believe Obama’s words or actions?

“President Barack Obama calls for an end to earmarks and then signs a budget for the rest of this year containing over 8,000 such congressional raids on taxpayers’ purses.

He calls for a new era of fiscal responsibility and then sends to Congress a ten-year plan for deficits as far ahead as the eye can see.

He calls for sacrifices from all and then proceeds to give 95% of American families a tax cut. He promises to revive the housing industry and then asks Congress to reduce the deductibility of mortgage interest.

He calls for the reform of the education system and then signs a budget that eliminates funds that keep a few poor kids in private schools, and out of the clutches of the Washington education system’s bureaucrats.

Confused or cunning? I report, you decide.”

Check out this article by Irwin Stelzer in the D.C. Examiner.  I heard this guy interviewed on the radio this morning.  He presents a pretty articulate list of issues where the things that Obama says and the things that he does differ.

 

Current poll results

From Real Clear Politics:

An average of four polls indicates that 50.8% of those questioned think that the country is on wrong track.  But an average of five polls tracks Obama’s approval rating at 60.8%.  Not sure how people aren’t connecting the two of those numbers yet but I’m confident that it will happen eventually.  Incidentally, as usual, there are a lot of us that disapprove of what Congress is up to.  Not that they seem to care…

Victor Davis Hanson on why Wall Street is still worried

Obamafusion

Just a few of the money lines:

“A redistributive economy in which government ensures an equality of result is Wall Street’s worst nightmare.”

And:

“Given the amount of debt the US is incurring (and the decades needed to pay it off), given the loose talk about the ‘rich’, and given the rumors about nationalization, investors are unsure whether the United States will remain a safe haven for investment, or even offer a climate for profit-making, since it would either be taxed to the point of seizure, or its beneficiaries would be culturally and socially demonized.”

And:

“There is much talk about Obama merely returning to the tax rates of the Clinton administration. But that is misleading for two unfortunate reasons: (1) Clinton did not tamper with FICA ceilings and other deductions in addition to the income tax hikes; (2) he had spending limits imposed by the post 1994-Congress, so at least his income tax increases led to a balanced budget. But Obama is not only raising taxes far higher in aggregate than did Clinton with the present trillion-some spending hikes, but ensuring that we will still end up with astronomical deficits. So we get the tax hikes of Clinton — but without the balanced budgets; and we get far higher deficits than under Bush — but sans the tax cuts.”

Card check pressure tactics

The Union Cudgel

“Big Labor’s drive to eliminate secret ballots for union elections has united American business in opposition, so labor chiefs are putting on the brass knuckles: The new strategy is to threaten companies with government retaliation if they don’t stop lobbying against turning U.S. labor markets into Europe.”

Union leaders are calling on tax cheat Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to prohibit companies that have received TARP money from lobbying against card check.

“The letter targets in particular the Principal Financial Group, based in Des Moines, which it says should be denied TARP money because of the ‘scale and scope’ of its lobbying. But wait — Citigroup spent three times more money on fourth-quarter lobbying than the $515,000 spent by Principal, the unions admit. So, what gives? It seems Principal’s real sin is that it ‘lobbied on 26-labor related bills . . . including the Employee Free Choice Act,’ and it is the only TARP applicant or recipient to have disclosed doing so.

In case Mr. Geithner doesn’t get the political point, the letter helpfully notes that ‘there is now a Congressional effort underway to curb lobbying by TARP recipients.’ Senators Dianne Feinstein (California) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) are leading that effort to limit corporate political speech, and Ms. Burger copies no fewer than 13 Members of Congress on her Treasury missive.

The double standard here is remarkable. Every year, unions collect millions of dollars in grants from government agencies they lobby. In 2002 and 2003, the Service Employees International Union — the main driver behind Ms. Burger’s consortium — lobbied the Department of Health and Human Services while receiving between $563,226 and $938,388 per year in grants. Imagine if Tom DeLay had ever said that labor unions or AARP couldn’t speak up about Medicare because they or their affiliates had accepted federal grants. The headlines would have read: ‘Republican Gag Rule.’

Labor chiefs are desperate to pass their easy-organizing agenda this year, because they know liberal majorities on Capitol Hill won’t last. They also know they haven’t been able to organize workers with a level playing field, so they want to rewrite the rules so their organizers can see which individual workers are voting no and apply peer and other pressure. Most workers can see how unions have contributed to the destruction of Detroit, U.S. steel makers and so many other industries. That’s why unions need government-sanctioned coercion to prevail both against business and with workers.”

Have a drink on me

Found this on Seattle talk radio host Dori Monson’s blog.  [He’s on 97.3 KIRO.]  How would you like to have a vanload of beer delivered right to your apartment?  And what if you didn’t have to pay for the beer?  Jackpot!  And if you didn’t have to pay for the apartment either?  Double jackpot!  Chronic boozers in Seattle don’t have to go out to the bar or the convenience store these days…they’re drinking and living on the taxpayer’s dime.  1811 Eastlake is a housing project especially for alcoholics funded by various government entities such as HUD and the Washington State Housing Finance Commission.  Rehabilitation is not a high priority at 1811 Eastlake–the residents [all of whom have alcohol issues, to put it mildly] are allowed to drink in their apartments.

Seattle drunk house project gets beer delivery

According to the Downtown Emergency Service Center’s website, the drunks in this housing project are offered social services including mental health and substance abuse counseling, on-site health care and meals plus field trips to local food banks.  This facility can’t be cheap to keep running.  In this era of hard times for the taxpayers, could we at least cut off the free beer?

Stimulating the Washington DOT

Where’s that federal “stimulus” money going?

Great post from Sound Politics…just in case you’re curious how stimulus money is going to be spent in Washington State.  I especially like the part about how stimulus money is being used to fund projects that Washingtonians have already been funding with our gigantic gas tax.  So…technically, we’re paying twice.

The legislature just doesn’t get it!

From Joe Turner’s Political Buzz, here’s a nice list of the tax increases that the Washington State Legislature is considering. 

Here are tax hike options for lawmakers (and voters?)